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5 Steps to Make 2012 Your Best Year for Your Business By Learning from 2011

01.05.12 By Raj Malik

Raj Malik is CEO & Co-Founder of KikScore, an exciting startup that helps small online businesses use their own track record of reliability and trustworthiness to increase sales and close more leads. Raj is a contributor to his company’s blog at blog.kikscore.com, a past speaker at SXSW and is passionate about helping small business and entrepreneurs succeed.

It is early January and 2011 is just behind us in the rearview mirror.  The economy is still making it hard for many businesses to grow and build momentum.  As we start January and the new year we can do two things for our business planning for 2012: You can yet again try to create a brand new strategy for the new year or you can pause, look back and do some serious reflecting.  Reflect on what?  There is a massive amount of data, feedback and information from the operations of your business from 2011.  How about you take that information and create a plan for 2012 based on the good, bad and hard lessons learned from 2011? Read more from Raj Malik

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Brand is a Noun; Brand is a Verb

09.23.11 By Isha Edwards

Isha Edwards is an idea catalyst whose skills and experience enables her to implement a brand-driven approach to establishing, operating, and growing a business.

According to the American Marketing Association, a brand is a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”. Besides being a name, a brand may also be a symbol (The Coca-Cola Company), motto (Nike), color combination (Tiffany & Co.), and even a sound (NBC).

To distinguish between brand names or characteristics and the brand or branding process, brand is best defined by two of the eight parts of speech.  Brand is mostly used as a noun because it literally translates to the name of a person, place or thing. If a person, place or thing does not have a memorable name or other identifying characteristics, differentiation is limited as is consumer awareness and, subsequently, sales. When used with an object, brand is also a verb. Although branding usually begins with a name or image, it continues with lights, cameras, and a whole lot of action!
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5 Skills & Traits Every Entrepreneur Should Nurture for Success

07.25.11 By Raj Malik

Raj Malik is CEO & Co-Founder of KikScore, an exciting startup that helps small online businesses use their own track record of reliability and trustworthiness to increase sales and close more leads. Raj is a contributor to his company’s blog at blog.kikscore.com, a past speaker at SXSW and is passionate about helping small business and entrepreneurs succeed.

There are hundreds of thousands of books, blogs, textbooks and journals on what you need to have as an business owner to succeed.  Some of these books that try to inspire business owners include everything from Jack Welch’s Straight from the Gut to Good to Great and Built to Last by Jim Collins.  In this post, I want to give some practical tips from experience on skills and traits that I have seen that increase the chances of an entrepreneur and business owner actually succeeding.  Here are some of those traits and skills: Read more from Raj Malik

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Tools for Connections: Where Tribes Meet

06.30.11 By Robert and Daphne Mallory

Robert and Daphne Mallory are a husband and wife writing, editing and marketing team in the business and telecommuting sector. A former journalist and an attorney, they consult with political campaigns, large corporations, small businesses and anyone else that needs a kick in the pants to make their dreams come true.

In Part 1 of this series, we explored the idea that leading a tribe is the key to entrepreneurial success. A tribe is only a tribe if the members are connected to one another. Your job is to provide the means for connections, based on their preferences and where they gather. You also have to know what the best fit for your tribe is. According to Seth Godin, author of “Tribes,” great leaders establish the foundation for customers, employees and other groups to make connections. Your tribe is waiting for you to do that and it’s a marketing strategy that will propel your idea into a profitable reality.

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5 Steps on How to Cut Distractions and Focus More on Achieving Your Business Goals

06.29.11 By Raj Malik

Raj Malik is CEO & Co-Founder of KikScore, an exciting startup that helps small online businesses use their own track record of reliability and trustworthiness to increase sales and close more leads. Raj is a contributor to his company’s blog at blog.kikscore.com, a past speaker at SXSW and is passionate about helping small business and entrepreneurs succeed.

As I talk to more and more entrepreneurs and startup founders, I hear one consistent operational challenge that these businesses face.  The challenge actually is faced by companies big and small and is not unique to startups and entrepreneurs.  It’s a very basic challenge and that is keeping your business, your team and the company’s strategy focused and away from unnecessary distractions.  So often lack of focus turns into a major hurdle for businesses to successfully implement, execute and achieve their strategy and goals.  The less focused you business is the harder it is to succeed.

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Your First Hire: 3 Tips on How to Make it a Good One

06.27.11 By Brianna Sylver

Brianna Sylver is the President and Founder of Sylver Consulting, an international innovation research and strategy firm. She’s dedicated her life to helping individuals and organizations to define their next opportunities for growth.

“First hire” is a phrase that can make any entrepreneur’s heart rate quicken. People equal overhead and responsibility, which is scary! But, consider this, without people, how are you comprising the growth of your organization? The answer is “significantly.”

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