Is Your Company Growing Too Fast?

By their very nature, growing companies tend to change direction frequently. This is especially true of information-publishing companies whose success depends on quickly developing new ideas. When your business is growing fast, it is easy to ignore the inevitable chaos that ensues, thinking that cash flow will take care of everything down the line. There…

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Now or Later?

When you have an unpleasant job to do, do it right away. The natural tendency is to put it off and hope it disappears. And there are situations for which this kind of head-in-the-sand approach works best. Dealing with conflicts between subordinates, for example. My partner almost always ignores such problems, and nine times out…

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The Best Way to Rise to the Top of Any Business

What’s the best way to surpass your peers and outdo your competitors? Work harder than they do. If that sounds daunting, consider this: Most people don’t work very hard. Some spend their workdays doing as little as they possibly can. Lots more stay busy, but achieve very little. They write long memos, discuss issues that…

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As Swine Flu Increases, Smart Investors Take Advantage

When the swine flu scare first hit the newspapers, people were nervous. Then the government jumped in. They told us that swine flu was not very contagious. And they said it wasn’t even serious. “Don’t worry about it,” we were told. I was skeptical. And I was right. Now cases are popping up all over…

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The 3 Essential Functions of Every Successful Business

What I am about to tell you is the most important thing you will ever hear about starting a business. (I have probably started more businesses than anyone I’ve ever met, so please forgive me for sounding like a know-it-all.) Ready? To start a business — any business — successfully, you must be able to…

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Pay Yourself First and Get Rich Automatically

Take any financial planning book in a bookstore and you’ll see the same advice. If you want to accumulate enough money to retire someday, begin by budgeting. By listing expenses and limiting spending, they argue, you can have enough left over every month to save and grow rich. The problem is that when you budget,…

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Five Squares a Day?

Americans were raised on “three square meals a day.” Most Americans are also overweight. So you might be interested to know that changing that time-honored habit can help you lose weight. French researchers found that a group of people who normally ate four meals a day actually gained fat when they switched to three meals…

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Tap Into the World’s Best Ideas

Many, if not most, successful people attribute a share of their success to the books they read. To keep my mind bubbling with good ideas, I read one business or self-help book every week. I don’t read these books cover to cover. I use a speed-reading program I devised several years ago. I’m searching for…

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Wish I Knew Then What I Know Now

In today’s essay, I pass along a bit of brilliance from Dan Kennedy. It helped me understand why, for example, harping on our lousy economy can be hurtful to your advertising. After that, I explain why budgeting is no way to save money, where I get some of my best ideas, and why three squares…

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Online marketing is a science not an art form

Only the faint tick of the grandfather clock broke the silence as I waited for him to acknowledge my presence. He’d summoned me to his office to discuss the great idea I’d outlined in a memo only last week. So new in the company, yet already meeting with the Managing Director! After a few moments,…

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