Customer Service: Reducing Damaged Deliveries

I saw this article and thought I’d share it with you. As you are building your business, getting the purchased product to your customers is a large part of your customer service practices and it doesn’t matter if you get your customers’ shipments delivered on time if they arrive at the dock unusable. It is [...]

Worst PR Disaster of All Time: Who is Doing Your Company’s Marketing and Customer Service?

In my many years of starting and building companies, I have learned the importance of building a solid team with people who share your vision and values. In the current internet environment, one of the critical pieces of your management puzzle is marketing and customer service. If you do this well, the customers will spread [...]

Steve Jobs: 7 Rules of Success

I was a big fan of Steve Jobs. I think his entrepreneurial drive and focus makes for great study.  Jobs was a rebel and a misfit and he imparted a sense of purpose and belonging for all the other rebels and misfits out there. Instead of brushing them aside or pointing at them for being [...]

List of Private Equity Firms in Chicago in 2011

Someone sent me this list of local private equity firms operating in the Chicagoland area and I thought I’d share it with you.  Private equity firms in Chicago vary in their investment industries, region, size and many other factors but there is a common goal among all private equity firms: to take a company with [...]

Who Pays What Amount of Taxes in the U.S?

FROM IRS:       In 2009, according to the IRS,  taxpayers who made $1 million or more paid 24.4 percent of their income in federal income taxes on average; those making $100,000 to $125,000 paid 9.9 percent on average; those making $50,000 to $60,000 paid 6.3 percent on average.  

The New Heroes: Social Entrepreneurs

I love this new series on PBS about ordinary folks who have a passion to make a difference in the world.  The New Heroes series tells the dramatic stories of 14 daring people from all corners of the globe who, against all odds, are successfully alleviating poverty and illness, combating unemployment and violence, and bringing [...]

From AP: FACT CHECK: Is Obama’s Jobs Plan Paid For? Seems Not

We have got to get a place where our leaders do what is best for the country, not is what is best for their careers.  President Barack Obama’s promise Thursday that everything in his jobs plan will be paid for rests on highly iffy propositions.  It will only be paid for if a committee he [...]

Economists Survey: Spending Cuts Needed, Not Tax Increases

According to a survey done by the National Association for Business Economics, the majority of economists believe that the federal deficit should be reduced only or primarily through spending cuts. The survey out Monday found that 56 percent of the NABE members surveyed felt that way, while 37 percent said they favor equal parts spending [...]

Whoa! US Debt Up $239 Billion the Day after Debt Deal

U.S. debt shot up $239 billion on Tuesday — the largest one-day bump in American history — as the government flexed the new borrowing room it earned in this week’s debt-limit increase deal.  The debt subject to the statutory limit shot way past the old cap of $14.294 trillion to hit $14.532 trillion on Tuesday, [...]

White House Quietly Signals There Will Be No Default

While officials from the Obama Administration raised their rhetoric over the weekend about the possibility of a debt default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, they privately have been telling top executives at major U.S. banks that such an event won’t happen. In a series of phone calls, administration officials have told bankers that the [...]

FREE Copy of One of Francis Chan’s Books

Any Francisc Chan fans out there?  Right now, you can get a FREE Copy of Francis Chan Books. You can receive one free copy of either Crazy Love, Forgotten God, The Big Red Tractor, Halfway Herbert, or Ronnie Wilson’s Gift.  I ordered my free copy of Crazy Love!

Warren Buffett Has the Answer

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offered one of the best quotes in all the drama about the debt ceiling: “I could end the deficit in 5 minutes,” he told Becky Quick. “You just pass a law that says, that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting [...]

Do You Believe 80% of US Citizens Want Increased Taxes?

I am not sure what country our President lives in but I think his numbers are way off… President Obama on Friday July 15 kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats’ demand for tax increases. [...]

Three Critical Traits To Be a Successful CEO

Leaders today need to be at home navigating a ship through 40-foot waves — oceans that will never again be serene — and still be able to guide their crew safely from port to port. They must remain highly effective in an environment of extraordinary, ongoing stress.  In researching their new book, Better Under Pressure, [...]

Interesting US Unemployment Rates in March, 2011

Unemployment dropped in two-thirds of U.S. states in March of 2011, the Labor Department said Tuesday. However, it looks Connecticut and New Jersey climbed among others.  That’s the most to see a decline since June. Below is each state’s unemployment rate last month, compared to the previous month and a year ago.   State unemployment [...]

Mark Driscoll in Chicago – April 1-2, 2011

Mark Driscoll is coming to Chicago April 1-2, 2011 to Harvest Bible Chapel – here’s the conference’s pitch: How is your love life? Think it could or should be better? Married? Single? College Student? No other area of our life impacts our quality of life more than this one. It can lead us to the [...]

8 Steps to Gain The Success You’ve Always Wanted

As we think about New Years resolutions, I came across this but don’t know who the author is to give proper attribution.  These are 8 great points in how to be successful in life, especially when you are an entrepreneur.   Leave a response and tell me what you think. 1. Take 100% Responsibility for Your [...]

Did You Know: Facts about the Upcoming Tax Increases on January 1, 2011

In just 120 days, the largest tax hikes in the history of America will take effect.  They will hit families and small businesses in three great waves on January 1, 2011: First Wave: Expiration of 2001 and 2003 Tax Relief In 2001 and 2003, the GOP Congress enacted several tax cuts for investors, small business [...]

Next Page »