Business Calcium Blog

Win the Startup Game

Starting a company is a big undertaking, certainly not to be taken lightly. I consider the commitment on par with getting married and starting a family. I’ve had hundreds of top entrepreneurs share their experiences with me about starting a company from the ground up. From their wisdom, and my own startup experience, I developed this list to take to heart, before you start. There are some clear lessons to…

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Build (and Maintain) Customer Loyalty

It is said that before you criticize a man, you should learn to walk a mile in his shoes. There’s a double meaning to that saying when it comes to owning a small business. One relates to actually understanding your own business needs, while the other relates to understanding your customer’s business – a key factor in what will help you maintain a long lasting relationship with them. I have…

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Advisory Boards: Why You Need One

Karen Usher credits her advisory board for driving 85 % growth in revenue in 2002 and an additional 35 % in 2003. Frank Holt believes he would have avoided three costly mistakes if he had consulted an advisory board, so he formed one last May. Every major business decision I’ve made has been shaped by my board of advisors. Running a business is simply easier if you have some help…

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Important Lessons for Online Retailers

In 2000 I launched BuyOnlineNow.com, one of the largest online retailers for brand name office products, from my house. Since then, we’ve relocated to an actual office (which pleased my wife) and grew to a staff of over 25. We maintain monthly visitors of around 100,000 and convert at almost double the average. Here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned over the past few years in eRetailing. Conversion…

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Do You Make These 3 Customer Service Mistakes?

Focusing on Customer Service is something a lot of companies say they do, but just because you say you focus on it doesn’t mean your customers will believe you. A customer can tell when you’re simply blowing smoke, so these are three important things you should consider: 1. Don’t hide behind some list of guarantees. We learned this over a few years. We even had something we called the “7…

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