SCORE Central Coast Business Resource Library

Time is a precious asset. You need to prioritize and make cuts wherever possible. However, there are ways to save time without actually skipping any important items on your list.

Here are 7 low-cost but highly effective marketing tips to help any small business find customers and generate sales quickly.

The SBA now offers the Export Business Planner, a free, customizable tool for small business owners considering exporting. The planner lets you work through the critical processes of export readiness and planning using an easily accessible document that can be updated and referenced often, as your export business grows.

Toxic people poison those around them. They gain satisfaction by creating disorganization and a stressful atmosphere. Life is stressful enough for most of us. Allowing a toxic individual to ravage your immediate environment can cause havoc on your mental well-being, and can lead to physical challenges.

Lack of awareness about your credit score can impact your business’s goals and vision.

Some entrepreneurs go into business with the intent to build, sell, and move on. Others spend decades building and running their businesses. Regardless of your intention, you need to have a strategic exit plan.

A recent study at Stanford found productivity per hour declines sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and productivity drops off so much after 55 hours that there’s no point in working longer.

We operate in a business climate where the pace is accelerating exponentially while seething with the competition. While many companies want to keep up, only a few actually do.

We live in uncertain times. Particularly as entrepreneurs. Even when we have stability, we worry it may be fleeting, since so much of our professional lives are outside our control. Hiring a new team member is a gamble, not just for the balance sheet, but because we may not be able to guarantee their paycheck.

While many large businesses provide good customer value, consolidation in industries from banking to mobile phone carriers has decreased competition and in many cases worsened customer experiences. Some large businesses like Zappos and Starbucks excel at customer experience, but most customers find increasingly larger organizations offer significantly less personal service.

When you enjoy and are passionate about your business, prospective customers can tell. Your enthusiasm makes them feel good about supporting you.

The hardest part of starting a business is not coming up with the idea. Despite the pain, many feel during the process, it is not preparing a good business plan (particularly if one has a SCORE mentor). The hardest part is getting the scratch.