June, 2014

As a small business owner, you frequently have to negotiate, and your skills in this area can directly affect your business results. You need to negotiate with suppliers, service providers, employees, and customers. You started your business because you're great at what you do, not because you enjoy negotiation, but whether you like it or not, this is part of running your own business. 

Every business needs to have insurance. Without it, there is no way to protect the company you built and the livelihood you earn in the event of an accident. With that in mind, the following are a few of the essential things you should be sure your small business insurance offers:

Basic Cover

For basic coverage, you will need general liability insurance. This will protect your business against accident, injury or negligence claims. If someone gets hurt on your premises, this policy will cover attorney fees and medical expenses. Basic coverage will also pay for damages caused by a business owner or his or her employees and claims of copyright infringement, slander, and false advertising.

Business meetings don’t have to be boring.

Yes, they do have a “boring” stereotype, largely because many meetings tend to be dull, unengaging, and far too long. But just because important meetings are focused on company goals and ideas doesn’t mean that a little bit of fun will make it less productive. In fact, getting your team members laughing and interacting with each other will make for a more productive, enjoyable meeting.

Let’s face it – your first product will most likely fail.  Creating a successful product or service is about constantly prototyping, tweaking, refining, making mistakes, learning, and repeating. That might sound like a chaotic mess, but there’s a process behind it – one that can be applied not only to your first product, but to your first startup, website, or small business.