In the start-up of a business, unless you’ve just invented the cure for cancer, you’re going to need to market or advertise. Truthfully, even if you’ve invented the cure for cancer, you’re probably going to have to market and advertise, possibly even more than normal. After all, you’ll have to convince the skeptics that you’ve invented the cure for cancer. Yet, to advertise effectively, you’ll have to develop strong marketing. Therefore, let’s analyze the difference between marketing and advertising. Then, I’ll dive into how to develop a marketing plan.

In many businesses, vendors and suppliers are common. Many times, you can’t operate a business without them. In spite of the fact that you may become friends with vendors and suppliers, you’ll still have to negotiate pricing, warranties, and service with them to keep your costs down and your profit margins high. Ultimately, the relationships you have with vendors and suppliers can help drive the success or failure of your start-up business. Therefore, you want to master the art of negotiation. You want to know how to get the best prices from suppliers and vendors in a way that is honorable and above reproach. You want to do so without burning bridges or harming anyone. So let’s jump right in and learn nine ways you can negotiate pricing. 

As you’re building your BIG IDEA into a business, you’ll probably need to hire employees. Most likely, you’ll even experience some form of employee turnover or volatility throughout the course of your business. So how do you hire “good” employees? How do you know who’s capable, loyal, trustworthy, and dependable? Do employees like that exist? Can you weed out the unmotivated, unqualified, and unreliable? Well, over the course! In my years as a business owner, I’ve developed my own hiring practice, based on expert advice and what has worked for me. Therefore, I’d like to share the requirements for how to hire the right employees for your startup.