The signs are everywhere but if you don’t have a road map it’s easy to get lost. That’s very true in today’s mobile world, although your company vehicle does not have wheels and it fits in the palm of your hand. Yes, welcome to the increasingly challenging world of digital marketing. Promoting a business digitally is nothing new, but it’s growing and changing every day. It’s becoming more and more…
Good software can enable your small business to increase sales by saving time and money while expanding capacity. But you must choose wisely — because the wrong software can be an expensive mistake. Here is my tried-and-true checklist for choosing software to support your business operations: Testimonials from Businesses Like Mine Find vendors with a meaningful number of testimonials from other small business owners. Look for testimonials from businesses like…
Editor’s Note: Leadership can mean different things to different people. The Valley Business Report turned to experienced business leaders in the Rio Grande Valley to learn more about their views on leadership in their own words. Through a question-and-answer format, Leadership Matters presents comments on leadership from Valley CEOs and other business leaders. Sergio Contreras is president and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership. The RGVP is the primary…
I sat up when saw this missive. It was scribbled on a social media post. I can’t find the source, but it truly impacted me: We all understand that time is precious, but it rarely sinks in. We know we have a limited time in any relationship, job or situation. We realize we will all die some day.” But, we also think that the end is really, really, really, REALLY…
Selling is hard work, and successful sales people constantly push the envelope and step outside their comfort zone. “There is nothing good inside your comfort zone,” Chris’mere Mallard told about 30 sales people during a recent seminar at the Weslaco Area Chamber of Commerce. And, to prove his point, Mallard used interactive tactics to put most everyone in the room on the spot, either in group exercises or individual challenges.…
Leadership is not the task of getting things done. It is equally not the task of getting people to want to get things done, despite the frequently quoted definitions offered by some of our modern leadership teachers. Leadership is the task of shaping the character, potential and contribution of others for their own sake and the sake of society at large. The tasks that we leverage to go about doing…
For this blog about Hurricane Season preparedness, we thought it would make sense to get some business continuity tips from a real expert — a business owner who survived multiple disasters. Three Brothers Bakery, a 69-year-old business owned by Janice and Robert Jucker, suffered losses of around $1 million after Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston last August. In 2008, the destruction caused by Hurricane Ike forced the couple to close the…
As they grow, local small businesses often promote longtime employees to supervisory or management positions without providing training in essential skills. Conflicts arise when an individual does not know how to be a boss – how to delegate work, how to guide subordinates to keep projects on schedule, how to deal with a team’s strengths and weaknesses, how to listen. Workplace conflict, whatever the cause, leads to inefficient operations…
In the early days of car manufacturing, Henry Ford said, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” For Ford, this was an issue of costs and efficiency. By only offering one color, he could lower his costs by being able to buy that color paint in mass quantities at significant discounts versus higher prices for smaller amounts of many…
The Rio Grande Valley dodged a bullet last year as Hurricane Harvey made its way up the Texas Gulf Coast, where it left a trail of damage and flooding from Corpus Christi to Houston and beyond. Record-breaking rainfall left southeast Texas besieged by deep water that trapped people in their homes and made it next to impossible for businesses to operate. Every year as hurricane season starts in June, Valley…