The Life of an Entrepreneur - smooth sailing but watch out for the cliffs. Photo by Kevin Ross Small Business Tips: Don't work from home! Don't work from home, why? Entrepreneurs are in a class by ourselves. We go against the grain. When everyone else is working we're sleeping and when everyone else is sleeping ... well, we're working! Whenever you go against the grain, you place yourself in the minority and it can anything from challenging to incredibly frustrating. [...]

Photo by Kevin Ross Client Relationships How much more of an advantage would it be if you offered a long-term deal? Business owners NEED that income each month to level operating expenses and it's a hardcore unnecessary hustle to keep trying to do one-offs. You are killing yourself in sales, annoying your client base and wasting time when you could be doing other things like finding clients. Business Sales You have to be able to get up and get out and meet your client and potential clients where they are. [...]

Wegmans Poll  - Ranked #2 in the 2018 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient Study® Wegmans Food Markets, a family-owned supermarket chain with 95 stores in the northeast and mid-Atlantic region, was ranked #2 for corporate reputation among the 100 most visible companies, according to the 2018 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient® (RQ) study. “We are so thankful for our employees, who make it possible for Wegmans to be recognized in this way,” says Colleen Wegman. [...]

Payroll Services to save time and money with your business Businesses everywhere, big and small, are turning to automated, online services to streamline their payroll systems. As we all know, a worker is worth his wages. And, a worker is also worth a reliable system that delivers their paycheck on time—every time. Streamlining your company’s payroll system can ensure that your employees are well taken care of. [...]

Most of the time, it all boils down to money but sometimes it's also about being in control - to a fault As black entrepreneurs, we know that it's easier to do things when we do them ourselves, but is it? The answer is HELL NO. It's actually much harder and it's continuously set you back. It's like having your foot on the gas with your car on a platform with no wheels. We must get used to the fact that we do not know everything and we cannot DO everything. [...]

Former Pitbull Manager Strikes Up His own Success with Eatery One of the most delectable dishes derived from the black community is mac and cheese and here is a man who came up with various mac with cheese recipes to start his own business. Derrick Turton once worked for the rapper Pitbull as his manager accompanying Pitbull in concerts and on the road. He decided to start his own business with a mac and cheese truck that has now grown into a bigger business. [...]

Lowell Hawthorne, a 57-year-old Carribean business owner committed suicide in New York over the weekend.  He was the founder and CEO of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill.  He was once featured on the hit show "Undercover Boss" a show about black entrepreneurs who have challenges with their businesses.  He had 120 restaurants in nine states and built an empire. But as we all know being an Entrepreneur is like being manic, the highs are very high but the lows are very low. [...]

ENTREPRENEUR AND 21-TIME GRAMMY® WINNER SHAWN "JAY-Z" [...]

Ask for free or discount services? What I find most amazing about people who ask for discounts is that they are always the same ones who OVERCHARGE other people for their services. And they demand premium rates. This is OUTRAGEOUSLY selfish and unacceptable to your growth. After many years of falling for this trick, I finally had to stop. People who are closest to you will try to make you feel obligated. Like you owe THEM something for YOUR success. No matter how you look at it, that's exactly the way it comes off. [...]

Don't Hire Friends, Just Give them the Money It is not your job to save the world (aka Hire Friends) but if you volunteer, be prepared to work 24 hours a day. I've heard every sob story you can imagine and I'm not falling for it anymore. I'm not saying that it's impossible to have a good experience but it's RARE. Hiring friends is always a problem. It almost always starts with some kind of a sob story which puts you behind the 8 ball from gate. They have an unfair advantage. [...]

WPengine and StudioPress are the BEST Who has the time to repeatedly look for the best web hosting? I know that I don't and I completely understand what it's like to have a site all set up and get a spike in traffic then have your site crash. Right at the time when you could be converting a ton of viewers to your email list. A few years ago. I got the exclusive for one of my sites when a celebrity died. [...]

Allow people to downgrade your business? If someone insults or puts down your business. It's should be as if they insulted one of your children. I lose it. There are times that when people don't get what they want from you and then act like kids in the playground, pissed because you won't play with them. They downgrade your business and try to make you feel bad saying things like ... 'nobody's interested in your business' or you're dated or you don't know what the hell you're doing. [...]