How to start, maintain and run a profitable business

  Many people, when turning 50, start to evaluate their lives, achievements, mistakes, and so on. It is the so-called middle of the life analysis. I would say that 50 is the highest point in life. A person customarily received an education, gained experience in life and career, and achieved so-called wisdom. Some people can be retired and live happy lives full of positive emotions, exciting hobbies, vacations, and trips. They are the lucky ones. The vast majority still struggle to understand their purpose in life and find a suitable career that would excite them and give them financial rewards. How to find a purpose in life and career? It is million dollar question. On the Internet, you can find many blogs regarding this challenging subject. Some bloggers advise meditating and finding an answer in the subconscious mind. Other bloggers recommend making a list of your hobbies and favorite classes in college. Some even recommend going to college and receiving an education. It can work...

  I have been a professional manager all my life, and it is a very demanding and stressful job. You are between a rock and a hard place every day. From one side, you need to run a business efficiently and smoothly. On the other hand, you must deal with employees' personalities and personal problems. Originally I am from the old Soviet Union, and in my home country manager should be demanding and always in control. When a manager compromises on something with his subordinates, this signifies the weakness of an authoritarian management style. It mirrors how authorities run the whole country. Many years ago, I found a job at Dunkin Donuts. It was my first job in America, and I worked hard. In about a year or so, I became a store manager. Of course, I knew only one style of management. I became a control freak and confronted my subordinates about anything I considered a violation of Dunkin Donuts standards. Plus, I tried to purge a system of thievery in my store. I started to suspect s...

  Water can be our best friend. It relieves our thirst and helps us in gardens. Also, water can be our enemy and bring destruction and damage. Emotions can be like water and flow freely without resistance. Our minds and emotions are connected when we feel angry, upset, happy, or satisfied. Do you always control your mind and emotions when starting a business venture? Do you always calculate all risks and obstacles or make feelings-based decisions? For example, you are looking for a location for your business. You like an architectural style of a particular building and some attractions nearby. Suddenly, you forget about the benefits of your company being in this area. You want the idea of your company being here. Another example is you come to a client's office to sign a service agreement. You like the interior, and everybody is so friendly and nice. Sometimes they even order excellent catering just for you. Your mind starts to get foggy, but emotions run wild. You forget about you...

A business enterprise needs to forecast the demand for its products or services. What can businesses do to predict the future sale or order of supplies? You can build statistical models or use your judgment. For the majority of business owners, a daily routine is quite complicated. A business owner sometimes doesn't have time to build a statistical model. A business mustn't run out of supplies or be understaffed. You can't let your clients or customers down. Big corporations can afford to hire consulting firms to do forecasting for them. Although, even the most sophisticated forecasting models don't give any assurances. So, what is the solution then? Any forecast has some flows. Political, economic, or weather problems can affect it. I think small business owners have an advantage in forecasting. Why? A small business owner is involved with business regularly. That gives an advantage in comparison with big corporations. A daily sales volume gives an idea about stuffing...

  We all know that a company's success is based on two components: operational and marketing. One can't function without another. There are many examples when great innovative companies that have been destroyed without effective marketing.  Many companies don't have an effective marketing strategy, because companies think that their invention will be sold by itself. In fact, marketing strategy is very important and should be based on careful research and analysis. How can a company conduct R&D? What information can be used for marketing segmentation?  The most popular approach is to find demographics and geographic data. We can add also firmographics (information about industry and company), and psychographics( information about customers' motives to buy). Data on demographics, geographic, and firmographics aren't that difficult to find in the Internet Era. Although, psychographics are the most important. According to Thomas V. Bonoma and Benson P. Shapiro's...

      I' ve noticed lately that many people want to start their own business. That's great. However, to start a business you need to have a character and a business idea. Also, it is important to do a research on your potential customers or clients? Who are they? Where do they live? What is your business idea about? If you've decided to start another courier company or website design business, how will your business be a different from hundreds of other businesses in your area or in that industry? How will you market your business? Then you need to figure out where you're going to operate? Is it going to be an Internet business or bricks and mortar business? Also, very important how easy to enter an industry where you want your business to be? If it is easy, then most likely you will compete on price.   Do you see how many questions? Nowadays it is difficult to come up with some unique business idea. Unless, you are a great inventor and had created some new technolog...

  How did you design your business structure? Did you imitate someone or did you design your business model yourself? We all want our business to be successful and of course profitable. Nowadays, because of social networks, we witness a boom of innovations in marketing, technology, biomedical research, pharma. Our time is revolutionary. It seems like anybody with a new idea can become rich overnight. Many people try to follow in the footsteps of those entrepreneurs who become successful in business and independently wealthy. Let's face it we all have different personalities, educational backgrounds, skills set, talents. That is great because life would be boring. We all can't be the same. When you design your business you should ask yourself a question what is your goal? What do you want your business to be in about 10 years? It all starts with those questions? There are plentiful amount of business structures: functional, teams, stimulation, system design. Although, all those ...