Author: Gabrielle Jones
You’re an entrepreneur on the move. Your business is growing by leaps and bounds and you have a great product or service that your clients are excited about. You’d like to access capital to grow your office space or hire more administrative staff, and you think you’re ready to take the ultimate step: going public. However, you may want to think twice. Facebook’s IPO performance recently begs the question is going public the way to go?
Whether you work for a start-up, a massive private corporation, or a small non-profit, we all have one thing in common regardless of occupation: we sit, a lot, every day. Therefore employee ergonomics is usually a large concern for any successful business, so, a few members of the AdvantEdge team recently took a simple but drastic step to test one of the most commonly cited ways of bettering office wellbeing: replacing our desk chairs with exercise balls!
In the business world, you are where you eat. And whether you have full-time or virtual office space, eventually you will have to step outside your work zone and engage in that ever present business staple: the power lunch. Esquire's Eat Like a Man blog says "Washington is a business-lunch city, and they know how to turn out an excellent meal in whatever time you have available." Keeping this in mind, here are a few places that consistently top the District's best lunch restaurants lists.
Social media has rapidly become one the most effective tools for marketing and advertising your business. Creating a successful social media campaign allows businesses of all kinds to reach consumers on both a national and international level in real-time. Whether you’re using social media for a small business or revamping your current corporate marketing strategies, the most important aspect of social media is implementing a plan. According to Neil Patel of Entrepreneur, one of the biggest social media mistakes is not having a clear strategy. Patel writes that businesses should begin by asking themselves 6 main questions:
It's tax time here for the executive office industry! So it probably is for you too, and if you thought preparing your personal taxes was difficult, wait until you take on the maze of forms and regulations necessary for filing taxes for your business. Tax conundrums are abundant, but so are solutions. Here are some suggestions to get your business pointed in the right direction.
Though many people make New Year’s resolutions, 4 out of 5 of us will break them. However, small business owners have a resolution that they can't afford to let go of: growing their business. “With economic pressures likely to continue in 2012, it will be more important than ever for small business to find creative ways to grow sales and keep a close eye on cash flow,” Fred Graziano, head of Government and Small banking for TD Bank, tells Marketwatch. So if your resolution is to grow your money tree, here are a few tips for making 2012 a fiscal success:
Shopping, cooking, entertaining, oh my! The holidays can be a stressful time, and it's no wonder there is a term for the “Holiday Blues.” There is stress from work, as all of your clients and business partners want their tasks completed before the end of the year. Then there are the holiday parties, which might claim to be optional yet are functionally obligatory. Though you might be pressed for time your absence could be bad for business. On top of these time constraints there is financial stress as well, and no one wants to start a new year in the financial doldrums. Here are a few simple tips on how to brighten your holiday season and have a stress free holiday:
It may be hard to believe, but in a matter of days many of us will rise out of our turkey comas only to setup camp outside of Target or Best Buy in anticipation of Black Friday deals. 'Tis the season of giving and who better to give to than clients who gave all year long. Repaying their business, referrals, or contributions to your reputation with some holiday giving is a must.
Whether it's quibbling over poached office supplies or serious harassment, tension and disagreements in the office are inevitable. Experts say managers spend around 25 percent of their time resolving conflict, making avoiding and diffusing it a necessary skill for every manager and business owner. Combating conflict can be a complex conundrum, but here are some tools that will help.
Becoming a successful entrepreneur is often a tiring game of trial and error. Late nights, early mornings and lots of coffee in between. Feeling stressed is inevitable, but there are a few ways to help cut down on the headaches. Here are a few tips to guide you along your way when starting a start-up.
