SWOT Analysis
When your car starts to make funny noises and quits running well, what do you do? You either stop to do a check-up or you take it to a mechanic. But what about when your business is struggling and you’re not meeting your goals? That’s where SWOT analysis comes in. SWOT analysis is a method used to understand the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats of a company and provides both a high level and in depth look at internal and external factors; a sort of business “check-up.” Investopedia says: “The method of SWOT analysis is to take the information from an environmental...
Read MoreThe “How To” of Goal Setting: Objectives and Key Results
Image courtesy of myrestoredhealth.com Every small business owner knows that goal setting is a key to success. We all know why we need to set goals but the how is where we get hung up. And that’s where Google comes in. Their system of Objectives and Key Results (OKR’s) provides an excellent framework for goal setting and measuring. Here’s a brief intro to the method. In the first year of Google’s operations, John Doerr, big-time venture capitalist and entrepreneur, presented the idea of OKR’s to the founders. He committed them to a test run and now it’s become part of the...
Read MoreThe Measuring Stick: Determining the Strength of Your Workplace
Image source: tothministries.org via Google search Revenue, profit, sales volume – that’s easy enough for us to measure. But what about employee morale? Company culture? A manager’s effectiveness? Overall strength of a workplace? Now that’s tough. But, the Gallup Organization believes it’s possible, and so do I. Over the course of 25 years Gallup studied these and other questions by interviewing over a million employees and gathering their answers to hundreds of similar questions. In the end, Gallup ran an in depth and extremely complex statistical analysis that...
Read MoreProtecting Your Online Reputation for Entrepreneurs
Protecting Your Online Reputation As an entrepreneur or new business owner, protecting your online reputation is essential. Whether or not you run your business online, in our tech savvy and internet dependent world, your online reputation is key to success as a business owner. “Before the Internet connected the entire world, your business reputation was something that you built, not managed. Fallout from the customer complaints you couldn’t fix was of limited scope. Today, the Internet acts like a lens that magnifies every blemish, perceived insult and mistake—and then...
Read MoreCrowdsourcing for Small Business- Maximizing Your Time
Crowdsourcing for Small Business Now that’s you’ve read through GQ’s e-book Accidentally Self Employed and met with him to set up the right business format, you’re on your way to small business success, right? Well, at least you’ve gotten over the first hurdle. According to the Small Business Administration only about half of all small businesses make it past the 5 year mark. Gary and the team here at GQ Law want your business to be one of those 50% who make it. We’re going to be posting a series of tips and tricks to help keep your small business in the...
Read More5 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know
5 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know Paul B. Brown, Forbes entrepreneurship columnist, gives 23 wonderful insights from 30+ years of experience. I’ll give you my 5 favorites. See the full article here. 1. The best way to predict the future is to create it. If you’re wondering if today, this month, this year, is going to be successful, you’re the one that makes it happen! 2. The most important decision you can make is where to spend your time. A common question asked of successful people is, “How do you balance your time?” A common answer is, “You...
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