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Themes & Topics
Small Business

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• How do I go about researching a better employee 401(k) plan? (Fortune, June 20, 1998)

• Peter Drucker on how he built a long-standing brand around his own knowledge and how to prepare for a career as a solo act (Inc., March 1998)

• Buying A Business

  • Buying Blind
    There's more to buying a business than negotiating a good deal. First you need to make sure you like what you're going to be doing after the business is yours (Inc., May 1998)

  • Buying a Business
    The firsthand account of one man's search for and subsequent purchase of a company. (Inc. February, 1990)
  • Caveat Emptor
    CEO Brodsky explains why it's riskier for a first-time entrepreneur to purchase an existing business than it is to build one from the ground up. (Inc., August, 1998)
  • The Insider's Guide
    15 steps to owning the company that's right for you & available resource guides. (Inc., October, 1991)

• A Change of (Electric) Minds: Web-based Electric Minds switched business plans after its original revenue model failed. But at what price? (Inc., June 16, 1998)

• The Buzz Factory (Inc., May, 1998)

• Using Supply-Chain Technology to Create Competitive Advantage: New ways to think about how to plan, source, make, and deliver your products (Inc., 4/17/98)

• How to Select a Consulting Firm (Internet Computing, April 6, 1998)

• Capital & Financing

  • Do I have enough to buy a business? (SF Chronicle, March 16, 1998)

  • When it comes to raising capital, Howard Getson is aggressive, manipulative, and obnoxious. And it works (Inc., March 1998)

  • How much working capital is enough? (SF Chronicle, March 30, 1998)

• Customers Service

  • The Mystery-Shopper Questionnaire
    Company uses a customer questionnaire to improve customer service and to determine employee rewards. (Inc., June 1998)

  • You, Me, and All Those Others Just Like Us
    The cofounder of PC Connection explains how her company's success stemmed from its extensive customer support, and describes the complications that arose by operating in rural New Hampshire (Inc., 1998)

  • Neglected customers are ex-customers (SF Chronicle, May 18, 1998)

• Entrepreneurs Should Learn From Failure (Inc., April 28, 1998)

• The Ethics Corner: Is Anything Black and White? (Inc.)

• How to Get Your First Great Idea Five rules to follow that will help you recognize valuable business ideas. Includes case studies of entrepreneurs who quickly transformed ideas into start-up companies. (Inc., April, 1998)

• Entrepreneurship

  • The Only New Business in La Moure, North Dakota
    Mike Kratz, owner of Kratz Aerial Ag Service Inc., was the only person to start a business in his town last year. He describes how he carved a niche for himself in this entrepreneurial vacuum. (Inc., State of Small Business, 1998)
  • The Most Entrepreneurial City in America: Vegas
    A look at why Las Vegas, a city with little history and very few natural resources, is the country's hottest spot for start-ups. It produced over 17,000 new businesses in 1997. (Inc., State of Small Business, 1998)

• Finance

  • How do I analyze my balance sheet? (SF Chronicle, October 12, 1998)

  • Make the Most of Your Cash Flow
    Are you getting the biggest bang for your buck? (Inc., October 29, 1998)

  • Learning to Finance a New Company
    Susan DeFife's Tenacity Got Her Web Site for Women Started (Inc., October 12, 1998)
  • Receivables: How to Get Clients to Pay on Time (SF Chronicle, December 2, 1998)

• Franchising

  • How to Succeed at Franchising: Franchisees say feedback and follow-up are the keys to a well-run operation (Inc.)

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