You’ve started a business and registered your business name in your state as your trade name. That’s the name you’ll use on your bank account, tax return, and other official documents. You’re ready to start operating in your state, but you’re not done yet.
Once you start using your...
If you want to sell a product or service to today’s consumers, you need to position and market yourself as an expert in your field. After all, why would they buy something from you when they could probably buy something similar from your competitor who has more experience or accolades?
The good...
First isn’t always good enough for brands, and that’s a lesson many small businesses learn the hard way.
That’s because “first” means something different in the United States than it does in most other countries around the world.
I’m talking about first-to-use versus first-to-file as...
Initiating a business is exciting, fun even. But startup dreamers shouldn’t forget the business of starting a business. Sure, it’s enjoyable to pick out a cool logo, a mission statement, a team of professionals to back your vision and a sweet office rental. But don’t let the looming,...
Wikidata is a free, open source knowledge base. The intention is for Wikipedia to draw its data from Wikidata, and someday you also may be able to use data from Wikidata in your apps and websites — just not quite yet for most of us.
Wikiconfused yet? Let us explain.
Wikimedia, the parent...
Businesses fail all the time. SBA likes to throw statistics at you such as a 95% failure rate within a year of operation and so on. (But see the definitive small business failure rates.)
The reasons as to why businesses fail can be many. Here’s what I think. The reason most businesses fail is...
Today I am going to do something different. Instead of using a bunch of data to illustrate a point, I am going to discuss a single example of a town whose central planners discourage entrepreneurship. Lest you think I will pluck the case study from a World Bank study of a developing country, let...
The year was 1995. Robert Keane, an American in Paris attending business school, started a company. And Vista business cards became part of the way small businesses connected with each other and their customers. Keane’s company, of course, was Vistaprint.
Like many startups, the company...
