Business management resources for small business owners including accounting, time management, record management, human resources management and project management, retail management and articles about business management issues.
What are the five most important small business trends of the last decade (2000 to 2009)? And how can your small business profit from these business trends today? Susan Ward presents both the small business trends and an action plan to profit from each of them.
What are the most important small business trends of the last decade? And how can your small business profit from these business trends today? Share your thoughts here.
Gift baskets are an ideal way to say "thank you" - and these business and corporate gift baskets will make your clients and/or employees think of you fondly long after the basket is empty.
What are your tips for dealing with difficult people? Add your answers to this page offering strategies for dealing with difficult people.
A book review of Am I the Only Sane One Working Here? by Albert J. Bernstein, Ph.D., a manual for dealing with difficult people.
Hone your business management skills with this outline of four areas of business management most critical to small businesses; money management, business planning, people management and resource management.
Find definitions and resources for the business terms you're looking for with this alphabetical index of common business terms.
Small business owners share their small business success stories about how their small businesses survived the recession. If you're a small business owner, share your small business story here.
Pick up tips for how to survive a recession with these stories from other business owners who tell how they recession-proofed their small businesses.
Diversifying your income stream as the way to make more money is old advice, but in tough economic times, it's advice well worth taking. All of these ideas are ways your business can make more money without spending a lot of money to do it. Here’s how to make more money.
A book review of The Secret Language of Money by David Krueger, M.D. with John David Mann.
What is virtualization? This virtualization definition explains and discusses server virtualization from a small business point of view.
What is cloud computing and how does it apply to your small business? This cloud computing definition explains.
Successfully steering your small business through a recession is not an easy task. But avoiding basic mistakes will make keeping your business ready to take advantage of the turnaround when it comes much easier. Here are five recession business mistakes you don’t want your small business to make.
We all know how important business planning is, but it’s easy to put off in the press of daily events. This year end checklist will inspire you to get to it and make your business planning easier.
A desk and a landline aren't going to get you far if you want to do business nowadays. A computer with Internet access and an email program are necessities. But those are just the basics. You'll also need a variety of small business tools to manage your business and communicate with your customers and/or clients. Here are my picks for the best small business tools.
The mission statement articulates the company's purpose. It announces to the world at large why your company exists. Here's how to write a mission statement in three easy steps and some sample mission statements.
Concerned about recession and wondering how to recession-proof your business? Recession-proof your business by following these seven best practices.
When times get tough, money gets tight. And when money is more difficult and expensive to borrow, it's especially important for small businesses to take steps to ensure that their cash flows keep flowing. Here are five ways to protect your cash flow and help your small business ride out the storm.
A collection of business quotations from the famous and not-so-famous to inspire, amuse, and advise you. Use these business quotations as a "thought of the day" or to add a thought-provoking tag line to your email.
The earlier retirement planning starts the better - especially if you're a small business owner or professional. This book review presents The Canadian Small Business Owner's Guide to Financial Independence by Barry and Mark McNulty as an excellent small business retirement planning resource.
How is your knowledge of business ettiquette? Are you as smooth and polished as you would like to be? Keep track of your score as you go through this business etiquette quiz and discover whether your business manners mark you as a Maven or a Barbarian – or somewhere in between.
Consult this index of business management tips to find ways to improve your time management, project management, document management, and stress management so you can increase your success.
Advisory boards are a powerful management tool for small businesses. But while creating an advisory board is great in theory, how do you persuade people to serve on your small business advisory board? Here's how to approach prospective board members and write an invitation letter that will bring them aboard.
Looking for company Christmas party ideas? Make your company Christmas party an event that staff want to attend rather than avoid with these ideas for hosting a successful company Christmas party.
What is core competency? This core competency definition discusses core competency from a small business point of view.
What is document management? This document management definition includes an explanation of the difference between document management software and document imaging systems and discusses document management from a small business point of view.
Doing a credit check on a customer before you extend credit can save you money and buy you peace of mind. And the best credit check is an accurate credit report. Learn how and where to get credit reports in Canada.
Having trouble achieving the goals you set? Get a goal buddy. Whether the goals you want to achieve are personal goals or business goals a goal buddy can be your key to goal setting success. These tips for a successful goal buddy relationship will get you on the fast track to achieving your goals.
Don't put your audience to sleep with a generic PowerPoint presentation. Scott Stratten explains how to create PowerPoint presentations that will keep your audience alert and get your message across.
Ten tongue-in-cheek rules for "Type A" people to ensure harmony in your household over the holiday season.
Small business owners need vacations, too. If you have a hard time stepping away from your business and going away, here's how to have a truly worry-free vacation.
Once you've sold the product or provided the service, it's invoice time. Here's what information has to be on your invoice and a sample invoice that you can use as an invoice template.
How healthy is your business? Some basic ratio analysis will tell the story. Calculating these three financial ratios will let you check your business’s current temperature, diagnose potential problems, and see if your business is doing better or worse over time.
Properly chosen and implemented, joint ventures can be a great way for your small business to get in on opportunities (and profits) that otherwise you would miss out on. Learn why joint ventures are the best kind of partnerships and how you can start using joint ventures to grow your business.
Without leadership, the ship that is your small business will aimlessly circle and eventually run out of power or run aground. These five keys of leadership will help you transform yourself into a leader.
Have you ever run into problems that resulted in a tense relationship between you and a client? Marshall Zierkel presents five lessons about client relationship management that will help you minimize conflict as it arises and add value to you in your clients’ eyes.
When your motivation flags, your business suffers. Kelley Robertson explains why having a personal motivational plan is important and offers suggestions to help you develop and maintain your motivation.
Want to pursue green procurement policies but finding they're just too much time and trouble? Here's how the 100 Mile Diet idea makes green procurement easier for small businesses.
What is procurement? This procurement definition for small business owners includes an introduction to the key issues and general trends in procurement, such as green procurement.
Feel free to customize this sample business invitation letter and use it to invite people to serve on your own small business advisory board.
What is sales forecasting? This sales forecasting definition includes an explanation of the differences between sales forecasting for new businesses and established businesses.
Designed to help you shape up your oral communication skills, these seven speech lessons will make you sound more polished and professional – and ultimately, because of the power of good communication, become more successful.
Don't let chaos get the best of your small business. Once you start applying these seven principles of good office management, you'll be amazed at the difference good office management makes – and how much more business you do.
While most of us consider business record management to be scut work and tend to give it a low priority, good record management not only makes our working lives easier, but can give us real stress relief at tax time. These seven tips will help you make record management easy.
Tired of seeing the high cost of gas eat away at your bottom line? While we can never escape fuel costs entirely, there are things we can do to save money on gas. Cut your fuel costs with one or more of these suggestions.
Ten resolutions to help you not only increase your business's success in the coming year, but enjoy your success more by keeping work-life balance in mind while you're goal setting.
Sometimes you just have to take your business to the streets and make the pitch face-to-face. These top travel accessories run the gamut from basics such as carry-on luggage through high-tech devices such as PDAS - a packing list for the business road warrior.
Your imagination is a powerful business tool. Learn how to create success by acting with the confidence of a successful person.
There are many costs to doing business that you can't do anything about. There's no way to save money on business registration, for instance, or licensing fees. Fortunately, there are areas where business costs can be cut. Here are ways to save money on a variety of business expenses, from office equipment and energy through marketing and taxes.
Ways to improve your business practices get a lot of press. But what about those small business innovators who have come up with strange and wonderful ways to decrease business? Here are the recipients of this year’s Blewys for the worst small business practices of 2005.
These articles by Management Guide F. John Reh provide the specific information you need to manage the people, money, and operational issues that confront every manager.
Don't know what benchmarking is or why you should use it? Management Guide F. John Reh explains this and how to apply benchmarking to your business.
Management Guide F. John Reh answers the basic questions, "What is management?", "What do managers do?", and "How do I manage?".
At what point should a business person turn the management of her or his successful company over to a professional management team? Management Guide F. John Reh discusses the dilemma of giving up control.
Gathering competitive intelligence about your competitors can give you the facts to make sound business decisions. About Management Guide F. John Reh explains how to do this, and provides a host of sources you might use.
Anne Evans, of Benchmarking Plus, lists ten of the most common mistakes companies make when benchmarking, and how you can avoid them.
An extensive listing of resources for all aspects of managing your small business and current news in the management field.
Industry Canada's Performance Plus gives performance benchmarks for financial planning for Canadian small businesses.
AllBusiness identifies 10 "harbingers of failure" for small businesses to avoid.
