Nobody looks back on their life and thinks they should have spent more time working.

In a sense, this is true. But then again most people are looking back on a life of working for others on projects they aren’t passionate about.

As an entrepreneur, you are not most people. You’re choosing to put your efforts and talents into ventures that fire you up. You’re realizing ideas that excite your mind and your heart. Entrepreneurship is not traditional work. Yet you should still make time for a life. [Read More...]

A slew of imminent automatic federal spending cuts is hanging like a sword of Damocles over Washington right now. But if this series of U.S. government spending cuts, called a sequester in political-speak, actually happens, there could be ramifications to your business.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are deadlocked over how to increase U.S. federal government revenue. Their failure to agree to a deal by March 1, could trigger a number of spending cuts, and that pullback could hurt your business. Here’s how. [Read More...]

President Barack Obama delivered a call-to-action speech on overhauling the U.S. immigration policy from Las Vegas, Nev., Tuesday. In his blueprint for immigration reform, Obama emphasized several changes to the immigration law that would directly impact entrepreneurs.

In particular, Obama called for the creation of a "Startup Visa" for entrepreneurs that create jobs. Those foreign-born entrepreneurs that either secure financing from a U.S. investor or generate revenue from U.S. customers would be eligible for visas, with the potential for those temporary stays turning into permanent residences if their companies continued to grow and create jobs in the U.S. [Read More...]

Companies without a Chief Financial Officer are at a competitive disadvantage. It’s not unusual for small to mid-sized firms to have sophisticated operations and complex cost and financial challenges just like large companies. This often means that the CEO or the owner of the business needs the expertise of a senior financial executive. However, smaller companies often don’t need a CFO on a full-time basis, or they can’t afford the salary and benefits cost of a full-time CFO.

The solution is B2B CFO…

Advantages to business owners of hiring me as On-Demand, As Needed CFO:

Better financial information for key decision-making.
Most small to mid-sized businesses either don’t prepare financial statements and cash flow forecasts, or the data is not reliable.

More time to spend with customers.
Business owners need to spend most of their time with current and prospective customers…or the competition will.

More money from the bank and from vendors.
Bankers and vendors are more sophisticated than ever. They require timely and accurate financial statements that look professional, follow accepted accounting principles, and highlight the company’s key performance ratios.

Other ways I help business owners reach a higher level of success include:

• A sounding board for the owner in making key decisions
• Find out more on my website

Read more great blog posts on Jeffrey Farren, B2B CFO

 

The winners of Entrepreneur's annual awards, handed out at Entrepreneur's recent conference in Dallas, offer a few key lessons that any business owner can -- and perhaps should -- take to heart.

In his book, The Fusion Marketing Bible, author Lon Safko focuses on ways to analyze your marketing efforts and leverage synergies across platforms to produce the best results. In this edited excerpt, Safko lays out the crucial steps to determining your plan's effectiveness: the cost of customer acquisition.

Every business should look at its cost of customer acquisition twice a year and after each campaign. The old business adage goes, "You can't manage what you don't measure." Yet we fail to measure these costs all the time. We seldom take the time to see how effective our marketing was. [Read More...]

In the past few years, the cost of health care for employees in the U.S. has gone up, while the number of small businesses offering health insurance has been on a slow decline, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as "Obamacare," aims to reduce health-care premiums for both individuals and small businesses by increasing the number of healthy people with insurance. [Read More...]

A social media consultant is essentially the eyes, ears and voice of your company online. That means you need someone who can raise your brand awareness, deliver traffic to your website, and boost your bottom line -- all while keeping your company's reputation top-of-mind.

So how do you hire just the right person? Here are 10 key questions you should ask prospective social media consultants: [Read More...]

Small-business job growth showed signs of strain in December, while overall job growth was roughly inline with prior months, according to two reports released this week.

Employment in nonfarm private small-business payrolls rose 25,000 in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the ADP Small Business Report released yesterday. In November, private small-business payrolls rose by an adjusted 37,000. [Read More...]