Continuing on my earlier article on communicating simply, here is one more reason why you should always use easy to understand language in all communication. According to Chip & Dan Heath, the authors of Made to Stick, Simplicity is one of the key attributes of ideas that stick.…
Warren Buffet offers many great lessons that every small business owner can adopt. My favorite – Talk and write like a human. Don’t embrace corporate speak. The conversational tone with your customers will help them relate to you better. Make them feel like they are doing business with a…
The Economist discusses a futile plea for tax simplicity. (The article is behind paywall). Here are a few interesting points from the article. “The federal tax code, which was 400 pages long in 1913, has swollen to about 70,000. Americans now spend 7.6 billion hours a year grappling with…
Most software is designed to be complex enough. Adding complexity to the buying process just makes it a nightmare for customers. Here is the latest example from Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 product page. Via John Gruber. Complexity is the number one enemy of software designers. This story is not unique…
Great advice from one of the greatest entrepreneurs ever – Even in a big business like the Virgin Group, I sit down now and again and sign every single cheque that goes out, and I ask my managing directors to do the same. For a month. Sign everything…
If you are a small business owner (online retailer or otherwise), using the free Google Apps to manage your business is a no-brainer. You can get your own customized email addresses (For example, if you own www.greentoys.com, then you can set up email addresses for your employees as…
This business week article discusses how to build a good credit history and a credit line once you restart your small business after declaring bankruptcy. The key take aways are – Approach lenders at community banks who evaluate your application by sitting down and talking with you, looking at…
This one is a bit off topic, but I found this fascinating. These guys have a well defined business model. To be eligible for employment as a pirate, a volunteer should already possess a firearm for use in the operation. For this ‘contribution’, he receives a ‘class A’…
Today, my first guest article was published on Practical eCommerce. Titled “Inventory Management: Use 80-20 Rule”, I discuss the following topics in the article – Use the 80-20 rule to decide what levels of inventory to carry on which products. Analyze competitors and listen to customers to choose new products.…