Category Archives: Business
Business constraints and resource allocation
Anyone who has been near the project management discipline has heard about the “Project Triangle“. That’s the rule of thumb that essentially says that when you’re building something you can have it good, fast, or cheap–pick any two. You can … Continue reading
Everyone’s an expert–and a critic
Last week I mentioned an encounter with a customer who offered us some unwanted business advice. While this gentleman was a more extreme example of the know-it-all customer, he was by no means the first. When it comes to small … Continue reading
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Be a good customer
I had an interesting encounter with a customer today that got me thinking more about how I act in public. Our store’s custom is to call out a greeting to a customer as they enter to let them know we … Continue reading
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Business Management BS
Matthew Stewart recently posted a lengthy criticism of management theory and MBA’s at The Atlantic. He feels that most management theory is “inane”, and that one would do better pursuing a degree in philosophy (suspiciously, what he studied): The strange … Continue reading
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Measuring Social Media effectiveness
Everyone would like you to think that social media is a numbers game, especially the social media platforms themselves. Numbers are easy to measure. They’re empirical. They make nice-looking graphs. They’re not entirely wrong. You want numbers. You want a … Continue reading
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Friend and partners
My wife recently showed me an article by Justine Lopez in “Romantic Homes” magazine (May 2011 issue) about three friends who went into business together. They shared some tips on how to run a business with friends and still remain … Continue reading
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First learn walk, then learn fly
My company reached an important milestone today, though I doubt anyone but the three partners will notice. After nearly five months of business, we implemented formal cash control on our tills. Now, that may seem like we’re closing the barn … Continue reading
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Social Media requires vigilance, not obsession
One of the hardest tricks of social media is balancing the amount of time you spend on it. It’s addictive, as most people on Facebook will likely attest. It’s easy to keep logging in to see if anyone has commented, … Continue reading
Patience and balance
Since I’m the one who loves to measure things, it’s become my role among my business partners to track our business metrics. I enjoy keeping data, analyzing it, and reporting on it, but time after time I am reminded of … Continue reading
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Use more than one metric
The company my friends and I started five months ago is finally showing a profit. You’d think we’d be thrilled–and we are, but only cautiously so. Our monthly profit-and-loss sheet is looking fairly good. Our income is exceeding our expenses. … Continue reading
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