Articles

The number one most effective form of shareable job aid I have seen is the...

If you’re wondering whether interruptions from colleagues have disappeared during the COVID-19 pandemic, rest assured,...

I’m fond of saying, “If you don’t have authority, you’ve got to use influence.” Sounds...

If you are doing your best to build real influence at work—by serving others and...

Certain types of employees, more so than others, tend to jump into projects outside their...

Many of us have embarked on worthy crusades to tame our inboxes and therefore our...

Everybody has bad days or bad moments. But, even if you are not feeling it...

We have all known someone with a reputation for saying “yes” to any new request...

Overcommitment syndrome emerges when everything on your to-do list is “urgent and important.” New priorities...

To avoid burnout in today’s workplace, you have to be savvy about which projects you...

It’s not enough to align yourself after the fact. You want to help inform the...

Real influence is the power you have when other people really want to do things...

In a recent article, "What does it take to succeed in business?" my CEDF colleague,...

Previously I have written about my conclusions in Five Disciplines of Our Most Profitable Clients....

Santa may have come late this year to small business owners but he finally arrived...

An article in the Wall Street Journal recently reported that U.S. digital advertising for the...

We recently featured a webinar about establishing an ethics program and why this is important,...

Editor’s Note:  The author is founder and CEO of Netology, a Stamford-based IT services provider...

Editor's note: Many businesses have been significantly impacted by the pandemic. And while, fortunately, many...

Previously I’ve written about five fatal flaws that I’ve seen that commonly causing small business...

There are really only three ways that a company can compete: cost, innovation, or customer...

The Last of the Spirits, from Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a...

This is an excerpt of an article published in the August 2020 issue of Realizing...

In the space of a few months the COVID crisis has brought the country from...

This is an excerpt of an article published in the August 2020 issue of Realizing...

Businesses this March quickly went from normal to cautious to a standstill. No wonder small...

One symbol of the collaboration revolution must surely be the little “mail” icon on our...

Editor’s Note:  The author is a CEDF client who operates Awesome Toys and Gifts in...

I've been taking calls from business owners worried about conflicts with customers over deposits for...

There are very limited exceptions to the law.

I am speaking hourly with business owners that have dwindling revenues or no revenue in...

Nate Berger of KnockMedia in New Haven provided an excellent introduction to the world of...

The mythology of American entrepreneurship goes something like this. You research a problem that startlingly...

In business, anything is possible, but you need money. I wrote the book “Get the...

It may seem like the oldest lesson in marketing to give customers what they want...

Recently I was asked to pinch hit for a presenter at an SBA-sponsored Reboot workshop...

In recent months, this column has addressed competition with Amazon from a couple of different perspectives. While...

A recent article in these columns discussed the response a small business has to take to compete...

As critical as it is in a lender’s decision making process for a term loan,...

Show up, believe in yourself and be fearless. That’s the key. A few weeks ago I...

Character and past performance matters a lot in the world of lending as every business...

Networking is an an oversimplified concept that to some people means shaking a lot of...

There has been so much hand-wringing over the difficulties caused to Main Street retailers by...

Among the options available to small businesses, revenue-based financing (RBF) seems to be getting more...

Millions of people love Amazon for the instant gratification, the almost universal selection and the...

I stopped at one of my favorite spots early one morning recently before my first...

It’s often taken on authority that the right way to sell is to develop a...

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth...

In surfing with my internet news reader app recently, I ran across a documentary about...

Business is often depicted as a struggle, a battle, a war. It's an apt description,...

One of beloved baseball legend Yogi Berra's famous malapropisms was "You can observe a lot...

As usual, Warren Buffet's 2019 shareholder letter has drawn attention for what some may consider...

The internet age has disrupted so much about pricing of products and services. In decades...

It’s not unusual for a borrower to submit a loan proposal to a bank or...

Company of One by Paul Jarvis is a contrarian's message against the popular business mantra of growth at...

It was probably inevitable that the tried and true friends and family approach to small...

It’s pretty easy to throw stones at airlines nowadays, what with stories of passengers being...

Among the many offerings of CEDF’s business advisory services as explained on our website is...

This time of year small business owners who only infrequently take a glance at their...

I used to snicker in journalism school when our professor explained that the obituary section...

There’s a well-worn business story, likely worked over by the internet to the level of...

In recent weeks I have attended seminars and business forums where the question of the...

The work, worry, and sacrifices required of those going into business is not much of...

One of the burdens of being a solopreneur or a company with just one or...

The Small Business Administration has many excellent educational programs for entrepreneurs. Inside the curriculum of...

An article in the Wall Street Journal recently caused quite a buzz with many other...

When personal computers began making their way into businesses in the late 1980s the country...

Having begun my business career in a chain store retail environment the importance of achieving...

If you can forget the torture inflicted in eighth grade science class surrounding the forced...

Once in a while, the conversation between a CEDF business advisor and a client turns...

I recently sat in on a teleconference seminar hosted by CEDF about the range of...

Marketing programs can certainly get expensive in a hurry and lots of options are out...

It’s probably natural that a nonprofit lender like CEDF, will encounter a lot of small...

Most every business wants to be easily findable on the internet.  As the internet has...

Most of CEDF’s borrowers have five of fewer employees. Businesses of this scale are often...

Key Performance Indicators or KPIs are a staple of business, especially in corporate life, and...

Americans have revered the economic freedom of the independent business operator and honored the dignity...

One of the most revered concepts in marketing dates to the early 1940s and is...

There are basically only two methods for determining the selling price of a product or...

During my ten years as a small business owner, I experienced plenty of opportunity to...

The internet has changed so much about we used to think of as simple advertising....

If we asked a room full of business owners to raise their hands if they...

Business owners who survived The Great Recession are recognizing that the consumers who were influenced...

I wish I could say that all of our CEDF borrowers experience smooth sailing after...

It might seem like a peculiar question, but deciding what to do with profit happens...

A recent article in Inc. magazine online discusses six excellent concepts – three things you should never...

Love it, hate it, or avoid it completely, social media quite literally drives many conversations...

A few weeks ago I read an article dealing with the reality that even a graduate...

Writing last month’s Chalkboard article, "Five Disciplines of our Most Profitable Clients," inevitably got me thinking about the...

In the conventional world of Main Street small business, the model has been virtually the...

Not being a coffee drinker, I indulge in the guilty pleasure of buying a $1...

Early in my career I worked in the office of a specialty retailer that had...

Working as a business advisor provides exposure to different company sizes, a range of industries,...

Here’s a simple, yet misunderstood concept. Before interviewing candidates for employment be sure to evaluate...

Replay the outstanding CEDF teleconference featuring Jeff Grandfield. Approximately two million commercial lease renewal transactions take...

One of the great joys and motivations of owning a small business is freedom. You...

Businesses have always faced threats of whispers, rumors, false claims or complaints that tell only...

Even as the nation recovered slowly from the Great Recession, commercial bank lending policies for...

Memberships in chambers of commerce and other organizations or associations provide wonderful opportunities for business...

What used to be considered, civic spirit, self-interest, or just plain neighborliness on the part...

Business owners are famous for being self-sacrificing. Besides the long hours, in many enterprises they're...

You may have heard some clichés about knowing your customer. Perhaps you’ve heard some about...

Business owners of all kinds accept credit cards, not just retail stores. And while certain...

I frequently speak to clients about finding and exploiting their Dominant Selling Idea – a...

A very common problem among CEDF clients is the inability to “get out of production...

CEDF clients come from a wide variety of industries, but a surprising number accept credit...

Are you "too hungry to eat?" Knowing what your product or service really costs to provide...

Top performers in industries with perpetually high turnover learn how to keep the perfect from...

Talk is cheap until you say "Thank You." This university study reminds business owners that sincere...