by Chris Hunter | Mar 27, 2016 | Computer Software, Performance Management
Businesses rely on e-mail as a means of rapid and inexpensive communication. E-mail is an essential tool for both internal and internal messaging, but it can become a serious problem if it isn’t managed well. What’s often called “e-mail...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | General - Operations
The National Do Not Call Registry gives you a choice about receiving or refusing telemarketing calls at home. The following Internet address and toll-free number can be used to obtain more information and to register your telephone number(s) on the national database:...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 24, 2016 | Disaster Planning & Recovery
Small businesses can’t afford to become complacent about the safety of their data and business records. Threats from such “net nasties” as viruses, spyware and hackers are more serious than most business owners realize. Microsoft recently conducted a...
by Chris Hunter | Nov 16, 2015 | Change Management, Family Businesses, Leadership
There’s an old saying about a family business that is often true: “The first generation starts it, the second generation manages it, and the third generation shuts the doors.” In fact, only about 30 percent of businesses are passed on to the second...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | General - Operations
by Chris Hunter | Mar 24, 2016 | Change Management, Leadership, Project Management
by Chris Hunter | Nov 16, 2015 | Change Management, Delegation, Family Businesses
Small businesses tend to follow a generational pattern. That is, a highly motivated individual who has a lot of good sense and initiative starts the business. They build it up, and perhaps involve other family members, such as their spouse, siblings and children,...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 24, 2016 | Disaster Planning & Recovery
Disaster recovery is something that’s planned and usually not something that happens.Studies in the U.S. and the U.K. have shown that when a disaster occurs in a small business causing a total loss of data or halting operations for a period of ten days or...
by Chris Hunter | Nov 25, 2015 | Business Development, Change Management, General - Entrepreneurship, General - Personal Growth & Leadership, Leadership, Start-Ups, Strategy
by Chris Hunter | Nov 25, 2015 | General - Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Performance Management, Strategy
by Chris Hunter | Mar 24, 2016 | Disaster Planning & Recovery
by Chris Hunter | Nov 25, 2015 | Business Development, Cash Flow Management & Modeling, Change Management, General - Entrepreneurship, General - Operations, Leadership, Project Management, Strategy
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property or ‘IP’ is a hot issue. It’s defined in the American Heritage Dictionary as “A product of the intellect that has commercial value” and by Commerce-database.com as “any product of human intellect that is unique and un-obvious with some value in...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | General - Operations
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | Meetings
A lot of people hate meetings. They have too much experience of long meetings that meander on forever and never seem to reach any conclusions that can be acted on. Team members may resent meetings because they are already working to deadlines and the last thing they...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | Meetings
by Chris Hunter | Nov 22, 2015 | Business Development, General - Entrepreneurship, General - Operations, Leadership, Start-Ups, Strategy
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | Meetings
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | General - Operations
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | Meetings
Carefully planned and executed, the business lunch can be a valuable tool for acquiring new business, gathering market intelligence, or increasing business from existing customers. It’s also a way of smoothing over little hiccups that occur from time to time in the...
by Chris Hunter | Sep 14, 2017 | Change Management, General - Personal Growth & Leadership, Leadership, Project Management
Not being able to make the changes you want? This tool has been helpful in diagnosis of where you may have gaps.
by Chris Hunter | Nov 22, 2015 | Change Management, General - Entrepreneurship, Start-Ups
The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Fail & What to Do About It Michael E. Gerber, Publisher: HarperBusiness Michael E. Gerber is founder and CEO of E-Myth Worldwide, based in Santa Rosa, California. He is the bestselling author of The E-Myth...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | Meetings
by Chris Hunter | Mar 24, 2016 | Business Development
Entrepreneurs are generally known for being in a hurry, and many could not resist the urge to move as quickly as possible when the advent of the Internet dramatically compressed business and product development cycles. In the years before the Internet, the phrase...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 24, 2016 | Change Management
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | General - Operations
The modern office is full of equipment that is intended to make the most of our human capital. The computing power of the devices found in most small businesses is likely to exceed that used to get man to the moon, but not every office is set up in such a way that...
by Chris Hunter | Nov 16, 2015 | Change Management, Family Businesses, Leadership
The family business is an important part of any national economy. In the U.S. something like 90% of all businesses are either owned or controlled by a family. It’s about the same in Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. And they aren’t all small...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 27, 2016 | Performance Management
Everyone’s heard the expression “What you can measure you can manage”, but just having measurements isn’t the full story. You need to have the right measurements, and then be able to interpret them and use them to develop effective business...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 27, 2016 | Business Plans, Change Management, Ethics, Leadership, Management & Motivation, Values
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | Customer Service Strategies, General - Operations, Selling Skills
Losing a major client can put a big dent in the cash flow of your small business. It can take a long time to recover that lost revenue stream. You may find a new client, but new clients typically purchase less than clients with whom you have an established...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 24, 2016 | Business Development, Change Management
A computer whiz who offers his services to businesses needing I.T. advice says on his website: “When I was employed at IBM I was an employee. While I was unemployed I was a consultant.” His tongue-in-cheek inference is that consultants are between jobs...
by Chris Hunter | Nov 22, 2015 | General - Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property
IP is intellectual property, and a surprising number of small businesses have it but don’t really know what to do with it. More important, many smaller businesses that have IP don’t protect it, and that can mean it’s going to be taken away by a...
by Chris Hunter | Mar 26, 2016 | General - Operations, Legal Issues
Ever since Orwell’s classic novel “1984” was published there’s been a growing sense that Big Brother may indeed be watching us. Walking along a city street, driving on a freeway, or even sitting at our desks there’s an increasing chance that someone could be looking...
Chris’ combination of academic credentials, career experience and temperament ideally suit his calling as a business development advisor. Clients say he has a mind for business and a heart for service.