A big part of doing business is negotiating. We negotiate with vendors, employees and of course, customers. But what are you willing to sacrifice to close a deal? It’s a tough question; one that you should be prepared to answer every step of the way. You need to know what you’re willing to give up […]

I love Meat Loaf. Both the food and the singer. Paradise By The Dashboard Light is a classic Meat Loaf tune about a boy and a girl — he wants…well, we know what he wants, and she wants love eternal. In the heat of the moment, the boy gives in and says, “I’ll love you […]

I’ve joined Grasshopper New Media (GNM) as Director of Operations. Many people that know Chris Brogan and his work with PodCamp are probably asking, “Who the heck is Ben Yoskovitz? And how’d he get so involved working with Chris? Does he have a podcast we don’t know about or something?” You can read all about […]

The Great Big Small Business Show continues to roll along, providing advice, tips and pratical guidance for small business owners and entrepreneurs. We’ve hit episode #8 — and this week we’re talking about client relationships – building them before and after the sale. I didn’t participate in this week’s podcast (I had a power outage […]

As soon as you hire someone you’ll need to start providing constructive criticism. Whether you do it in a formal manner (performance evaluations), or you do it on-the-fly at a project-by-project level, doesn’t really matter; constructive criticism is part of the game. Constructive criticism is important; employees need to understand where they’ve gone wrong, and […]

It seems like one final email to Technorati did the trick. After being ignored and then ignored some more, Janice Myint at Technorati sent me an email yesterday: Please accept my sincerest apologies for the delay in getting back to you. We’ve been experiencing a backlog in support and are working hard to address everyone. […]

We’ve done a bonus podcast show at The Great Big Small Business Show about online tools and resources for small business. Why? One of the contributors missed our deadline for the main episode on online tools and resources (tsk, tsk *smile*); and, We had a lot of demand to talk about this subject. It’s a […]

Are you looking for tools to help manage your small business? Do you run a virtual office with people located in different locations? Do you want to improve the productivity and success of your small business? YES? Then check out Episode 7 of The Great Big Small Business Show — it’s all about online tools, […]

Treat them like people. Don’t think of a customer as a disconnected voice on the phone. Don’t think of a customer as a waste of time. Don’t think of a customer as a pain in the ass. Don’t think of a customer as an open checkbook. You will always have difficult, frustrating, stressful and downright […]