NASHVILLE, April 23, 2024 – The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Tennessee District Office today honored three Middle Tennessee Businesses for their commitment to excellence, entrepreneurship, and community engagement in the spirit of National Small Business Week. The celebration was hosted by the Tennessee Small Business Development Center in Nashville at the Avon Williams campus…
I’ve been an entrepreneur for over five years now. And to be honest, I didn’t grow up wanting to do that. After watching movies like “Baby Boom” and “Secret of My Success” I was 100% certain that I wanted to major in business in college, then graduate and get a corporate job in a tall,…
Attending conferences can be exciting. Just being around hundreds of like-minded individuals sharing ideas and aspiring for greater recharges our batteries and offers the promise of fresh perspectives on what seems like age old problems. But conferences are an investment – in time and money. Yet year after year, many of us make the sacrifice. We’re…
“Entrepreneurs aren’t ordinary people,” said Eric Schurenberg, President and Editor in Chief of Inc. Magazine, to a crowd of expectant entrepreneurs hoping to unlock the door to the kingdom of entrepreneurial success. Coined “America’s hardest-working event for serious business owners,” GROWCO 2015, an Inc. event, brought out some of the most innovative minds in business…
While many holiday bargain hunters are already planning which big box retailers they’ll pitch their tents in front of this year, many small business owners are busy firing up social media and printing out coupons to commemorate the five year anniversary of Small Business Saturday, officially launched by American Express in 2009. But, the…
Blockbuster video stores are closing. It was recently announced that the remaining 300 US stores will close by January. For those of us who can’t remember the last time we’ve walked into a Blockbuster, this is no surprise. But you wonder. How can a company that once dominated the movie rental market, employed 60,000 people, and had 9,000 retail locations at its peak in 2004 be down…
Ok, so maybe not literally 3 seconds, but it’s close. Your customers or potentials are bombarded with thousands of messages everyday and let’s face it, they’re overwhelmed. Today’s information sharing age is rigorous and shows no signs of slowing. Forget about reading, people are glancing at things and you only have seconds to make a…
The truth is, as a business owner, regardless of the industry you’re in, you are first and foremost in the people business. It’s those people you encounter, be it in person or through social media, that you hope to win over and turn into lifelong clients. Business is very much people business and many of…
Let’s say you’re sitting in a room of familiar business owners. I walk in and give each of them a slip of paper and ask them to write one word on it that describes you best. What would they write? This happened to me once in a mastermind group. Attempting to work through a mock…
Today, I’m going to give you permission to do something that you’ve probably dreamt of, but never imagined you’d be able to do. There are very few guarantees in life, but if you take advantage of this opportunity, I promise you’ll thank me. Today, I give you permission to say, no. No to bothersome clients…
This morning I did something I have never done. While rushing into the gym, I left my smart phone, my lifeline, in the car. I didn’t even notice it until I climbed onto the elliptical, jammed my ear buds in my ears and reached for my phone to check messages before getting started. For a…
As women, regardless of our various levels of success, either working within the home, running a small business, or climbing the corporate ladder, one truth became very clear to me while chatting with my fellow gal pals during our daughters’ dance class. You are given the ‘stink eye’ (thank you Juno, the movie, for this…