Category: Advice
Three Tricks to Paying Back Your Loan—Stress Free
A small business loan is sometimes necessary for many business owners to fund growth or meet other short-term cash flow needs. Whether you’re just starting out, looking to expand, building inventory, or just need a little extra capital, securing a loan is a process that many business owners will need to take at one point.…
6 Ways to Lower the Stress of Moving Your Business
Maybe you’ve outgrown your space. Maybe rent in your neighborhood has shot up. Or maybe you need to move to a different city for personal reasons. Transferring the physical location of your business from one place to another can seem like an overwhelming feat, but the details of moving an office space doesn’t have to…
6 Small Business Podcast Recommendations
You might think of podcasts as pure entertainment, stories to listen to on your commute or at the gym. But today’s heyday of podcasting is bringing a variety of voices right to your ears, and many of them have expertise in small business or stories to tell about building and running companies. Here are recommendations…
What’s an MVP and Why Is It Important for My Business Idea?
In the garages and conference rooms of the tech industry, the acronym MVP has nothing to do with sports greats. Forget about “most valuable player.” In today’s businesses, the term stands for “minimal viable product” and refers to the simplest possible form of any merchandise or service you aim to bring to market. The reason…
5 Questions With…Metro Cobbler & Co Shoe Repair’s Sunny Yoo
Our blog series “5 Questions With…” takes a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of our small business customers. Our next installment is below! Name: Sunny Yoo Company: Metro Cobbler & Co Shoe Repair / Hakky Shoe Repair & Tailor Location: Owings Mills & Hanover, MD Products/Services: Shoe and Leather Goods Repair Years in Business: 5…
In Real Life: Businesses That Succeed Offline
Customers can do almost anything online these days. Shopping, ordering groceries, or watching movies are all exchanges many people choose to make using the convenience of the Internet. Still, websites and e-commerce don’t solve everything, and there continue to be some businesses that thrive offline. Perhaps formulas and code don’t always translate to good practices…
Five Ways to Motivate Your Best Employees
No matter how successful your company’s business plan is, how many investors you can excite, or how many hours you spend working yourself, there’s one thing your company can’t do without if you want it to thrive. Star employees. Great employees are the people that make the behind-the-scenes of your business run smoothly. They’re the…
Comfy Office, Happy Employees: 5 Easy Upgrades
Comfortable office spaces are a must for both you and your employees. A comfortable working environment will make your employees more productive. Whether you’re a retail outlet, a technical service provider, or a warehouse, here are five quick tips on how to increase the comfort factor at your office without breaking down the walls—or breaking…
20 Business Tasks You Can Easily Automate
Between long to-do lists, email responses and the never-ending cycle of meetings, the workday can be consumed by the mundane missions of everyday business life. That’s why taking routine, recurring tasks off your to do list is essential for your productivity. While you may be able to delegate some complicated, repetitious chores to employees, you…
5 Questions With…Modwalls’s Rebecca Lonergan
Our blog series “5 Questions With…” takes a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of our small business customers. Our next installment is below! Name: Rebecca Lonergan Company: Modwalls Location: Aptos, CA Products/Services: Online modern tile store Years in Business: 12 Years Facebook: Modwallstile Twitter: @Modwalls 1) Tell us about your business – what do you…
Can Small Restaurants Get Rid of Tips?
The idea of getting rid of tipping has reached a tipping point at some restaurants–most notably high-end dining rooms in big cities. But is the trend here to stay? And will it trickle down to smaller restaurants? In many states, waitstaff at restaurants depend on tips to round out their paychecks. Minimum hourly wages dip…
5 Questions with…Force Fin’s Susanne Chess and Bob Evans
Our blog series “5 Questions With…” takes a behind-the-scenes look into the daily lives of our small business customers. Our next installment is below! Name: Susanne Chess and Bob Evans Company: Force Fin Location: Santa Barbara, CA Products/Services: Underwater equipment Years in Business: 31 Years Facebook: ForceFin Twitter: @ForceFin 1) Tell us about a day…
Planning a Successful Succession for Your Business
Sometimes in business, you may come to a point where the best option is to shut down. Making the decision to close the doors of your company is difficult, but at times, the hardest choice to make is the right one. This does not mean you’re in dire straits. Perhaps you know the right path…
Three Things that Nobody Told You About Paying Overseas Suppliers
There are many small businesses that do business overseas either importing merchandise to sell in their local markets or exporting products to other countries. When James Cole, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Align Commerce, reached out to me about making a contribution to the OnDeck blog I thought it might be helpful for those in…
Start the Year Off Right: Six Things You Should Do This January
This time of year it’s natural to think about resolutions and how we want to make progress within our business and personal lives. These six things aren’t resolutions, but they’re things we can do right now to start the year off right and prepare your business for a healthy and prosperous year. Review your business…