Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Food

As an architect, contractor or engineer, you’re expected to be an expert in your field who delivers quality work. However, your educational pursuits and years of on-the-job experience working for someone else probably didn’t prepare you to own and operate your small business. You are a pro in CAD software, but a novice when it comes to accounting programs.

The truth is running a business is never as easy as costs versus profits. To help your small business grow, you’ll need to brush up your small business management knowledge.

Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, Business, Management

The Holidays are such an important time of year for small businesses. For many, especially in retail, the Holidays may make or break the entire financial year. Craft fairs and holiday markets have become popular among both consumers and small businesses during this time. But are businesses doing all they can to maximize their retail sales from holiday markets?

Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, Retail, HR & Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership, Management, Starting a Business, Growing a Business

Owning your own retail business can be an exciting, albeit challenging, undertaking. When you look around at some of the larger brands you can see how shifts in consumer behavior and brand loyalty has changed the success and trajectory of a once rather predictable industry. For instance, Wal-Mart announced earlier this year that they would close 269 locations in 2016, accounting for roughly three percent of their stores.

Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, Retail, HR & Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership, Management, Starting a Business, Growing a Business

There’s something exciting about getting your business to the point of being able to bring on new employees. Your business is growing and you’re successful enough to be able to hire people to share some of the load.

On the other hand, there’s something tricky about hiring the right person for the job. As a manager or business owner, there’s a lot on the line in terms workplace culture and customer service quality, not to mention the time and resources it takes to train them. Hiring the wrong person and having them leave is something all companies seek to avoid, but it does happen.

Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, HR & Organizational Effectiveness, Leadership, Management, Starting a Business, Growing a Business

Office politics exist in every workplace setting and are difficult to avoid. Even though you don’t need to participate in office politics to survive, putting your head in the sand and “not getting involved” isn’t practical either — if you aren’t careful, you can be embroiled in a problem you didn’t see coming.

The following top 10 best practices for navigating workplace politics and personalities should help you stay ahead of the game and keep you focused on why you are there — to do your job.

Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, Communications, Leadership, Management

It’s a reality for most business owners, but no matter how successful you think you are, there’s always more to learn. Whether it’s marketing, sales, operations, or finance, you can’t know everything and there’s always gaps to fill. But how do you know when it’s time to invest in additional training and education? Will it be worth your time? And what areas should you be focused on?

Here we’ll discuss the importance of business education and what questions you need to ask yourself to determine if it’s time for you to invest in additional training.

Topics: Professional Development, Small Business, Starting a Business, Growing a Business

Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Food

 Katie is owner and creator of Kerfluffle, a peanut butter swirled with marshmellow fluff. She used SBDC's Getting Your Recipe to Market program to bring her yummy fluff to households around the area.

Topics: Small Business, Business Profiles, Food

There’s probably no better way to get customers interested in your food product than giving them a live demo. They not only get to look, taste, and smell your product, but they get to experience your brand and the story behind everything.

With that being said, when you do demo your food product at a live event, you want to make sure it’s a memorable experience for consumers. Not only do you need to showcase your product in an effective manner, but you need to get creative in order to stand out in the eyes of potential customers.

Topics: Small Business, Growing a Business, Food