Many people have heard the popular phrase “climbing the corporate ladder” in reference to the development of a person’s career.  This conjures up mental images of pushing people out of the way to claw your way up to the top.  This hyper-competitive view of the world has created a dour image of professional success in the minds of many people.
It is most certainly true that there is an element of “dog eat dog” competition when it comes to careers, but it is also true that there are many people who …

In the current world, and in most work environments, email has become an indispensable part of life.  And this has happened for good reason … email allows people to rapidly communicate across large distances, sharing content and ideas.  This increase in the speed of communication has enabled business models that were not possible in the past and has catapulted business to perpetually faster rates of speed and innovation. The unfortunate side of this fantastic tool is that the rapid rate of communication it enabled has also enabled rapid mus-communication.
Because …

One of the most interesting and unique economic phenomenon to emerge over the last 10 years is the impact of technology in creating products that are free to the consumer.  Chris Anderson writes about this in his book entitled “Free”.  The most unique aspect of this business model is that it generates tremendous profits for those who know how to use it correctly.
Typically, the advent of a “free” product or service is a sample that is intended to give consumers a taste that entices them to pay for the products …

When most people think of small or medium business, they instantly think of the shops and stores in their local community.  While these businesses certainly represent a certain portion of small business, there is a much more important segment to consider . . . and that segment is the single person home-based business.  Why is this segment so important?  It is important because anybody can start a home based business and scale it into a vehicle for generating recurring cash flows.  One of the most compelling mediums for this brand …

The terms ‘profit’ and ‘loss’ are common parts of the business vernacular, but not many people fully understand their role in a market economy.  This has become even more pronounced after the recent financial crisis, as the government has attempted to perpetuate a system of profits without losses.  The problem implicit within trying to build a market economy without both profits and losses is that it will inevitably lead to one of two extremely undesirable results.
One sentiment that was popular in the middle of the 20th century was the notion …

A persistent situation has developed among the current political and economic climate that forebodes of large potential problems in the future.  This situation finds its source in a phenomenon that we refer to as “Evading the Obvious.”A  The way this effect manifests itself is a stalwart refusal to recognize and adapt to the economic realities.  This issue is modestly problematic when constrained to people and absolutely catastrophic when employed by the political authorities.
The reason for this is because people are limited in the extent to which they can impact the …

If you take the opportunity to walk into a bookstore and wander over toward the section on business books, you will see a vast multiplicity of titles on all manners of business, investment, and strategy.  Many of these books outline a ‘system’ for acquiring wealth that involves some clever means of generating superior profits from what appears to be a minimal amount of work.
However, there is a relatively simple principal that is the basis of all business success.  That principal is that you should always seek to offer a product …

When traveling on the journey of business and life, many people have a natural inclination to structure their activities to avoid mistakes.  This tendency is quite rational, in light of the fact that most of us learn through our education to prevent mistakes whenever possible.  When going through school, we strive for a high grade point average . . . one mistake can blow the average.  When working at a job, we strive to be promoted . . . one mistake can ruin your career.  The incentives that we regularly …

One of the oldest and most frequently cited geometric axioms is that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.  While this is most certainly true in the sphere of mathematics and geometry, the path we take through business and life rarely (if ever) moves in a straight line.  Because of this, much of our ability to realize success is dependent on our ability to adapt to the twists and turns that we are presented with on a perpetual basis.
This is especially important for our financial calculations and …

The recent release of an S-1 Document by Groupon for the purpose of a public stock offering has brought the failures of its business model into the light.  At the end of 2010, Groupon refused a reported $6 billion dollar buyout offer from Google.  Their public stock offering is for $750 million dollars, which is significantly less than what was offered to them by Google and will be insufficient to finance their current rate of operating losses for more than another couple of years.  In retrospect, it appears that refusing …