If you’re a business owner, there are a lot of tangible things you have to think about if you want to be successful. You need to be profitable – which means you have a handle on your costs and that you have a pretty good idea of how to sell. You need to be able […]

This is a guest post from Jill Goodwin – thanks Jill. “The more you tell, the more you sell”—David Ogilvy Branding plays a crucial role in the process of marketing your business. Small businesses in particular need to cultivate broad-reaching brand awareness in order to gain the public’s trust and establish themselves as contenders in […]

This is a guest post from Will Cotter (see short bio at the end) – thanks Will! It is every entrepreneur’s dream to grow their business. Growth means that the public trusts the service or product you are providing and that what you offer is a highly sought-out solution to an existing problem. That said, expansion […]

You’re probably familiar with the statistics on small business failure rates – based on a recent study, about 50% of small businesses (with employees) will fail within the first 5 years. It’s an interesting data point, but I think it’s also misleading. I think the problematic word is failure – it’s not that most of […]

I’ve recently talked to several business owners who are at a point where they are actively starting to think about exiting their business. I’ve also recently met with several business owners who are looking to aggressively grow their business. That’s not surprising considering what we do at Aspire, but what might be surprising to you […]

This is a guest post from Jori Hamiltion (see her bio at the end of the article) Empathy is understanding other people, sharing their feelings, and seeing things from perspectives. You’re essentially able to put yourself in their shoes. The benefits your personal life can reap with empathy are evident. But so are the advantages […]