NOWaccount – Finding Customers
To have a business, you have to have customers. After developing an idea, many entrepreneurs start to wonder how to get in front of those customers, how to get them to sign up. All too many take it for...
View ArticleMary Beth Bryant – Never Stop Learning
An essential element to success is continual learning and improvement. Mary Beth Bryant, from CelloLessonsWithMaryBeth.com, has been playing the cello for 20 years, and teaching for 10—but that doesn’t...
View ArticleMary Beth Bryant: A Passion for Helping Others
The mission of business is helping others—plain and simple. A successful, sustainable mission must provide value to its customers, and make their lives better. For Mary Beth Bryant, of...
View ArticleTailfin Marketing: Relationships Lead to Clients
One of the best ways to find new clients comes from leveraging past relationships. Greg Abel is the Co-Founder and Director of Strategy and Client Services at Tailfin Marketing, and shared some of the...
View ArticleTailfin Marketing: Be a Partner
It might be cliché, but no company wants to be thought of as just a “vendor.” Greg Abel and Tailfin Marketing place an emphasis on bringing value to their clients and building relationships—ensuring...
View ArticleTailfin Marketing: Small Business Hiring Strategy
Greg Abel from Tailfin Marketing says his company is built on letting the workplace develop organically. They don’t have a rigid organizational chart with positions to fill when hiring; instead, they...
View ArticleTailfin Marketing: Differentiate Yourself
Tailfin Marketing’s approach is all about identifying differentiation opportunities—ways to show how a business is different from everybody else. How is your idea different from what’s already out...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: Designing a Lifestyle
Louie Northern of Ascend Aerials spent the past decade working as an urban designer and landscape architect, roles that prepared him well for becoming an entrepreneur and owning his own business. Many...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: Coming Up with the Idea
Coming up with the idea for Ascend Aerials began with a love for technology. Louie Northern’s work as an urban designer gave him a lot of exposure to the world of video editing and multimedia...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: Make It Real
When you’re starting a new business, one of the first challenges is making it real—and that includes in your own mind. Making something tangible that you can see and commit to is a big help to getting...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: To Succeed, Believe You Can
Everybody is looking for the ingredients for success. Louie Northern of Ascend Aerials suggests that success in your business requires not only the competence and capability to deliver on what you...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: The Pre-Revenue Stage
Louie Northern’s company Ascend Aerials is currently pre-revenue, meaning they have not yet marketed to the point where they have customers. But that is intentional as a result of working to meet FAA...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: The Challenges of Ascend Aerials
Starting Ascend Aerials has presented many challenges to founder Louie Northern, most notably in the form of FAA regulations. But, he says, overcoming those challenges requires not just the ability to...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: Training and Education
Many professions and businesses require additional training and education above and beyond the knowledge necessary to start and run a business every day. Louie Northern of Ascend Aerials needed...
View ArticleSmall Biz Stories: Protect Your Vision
One of the most important things for an entrepreneur to do at the beginning of a new venture is to protect their vision. Louie Northern of Ascend Aerials suggests that when you are working on an idea,...
View ArticleTailfin Marketing – No Typical Day
Working at a small company, everyone has to wear multiple hats. At Tailfin Marketing, said co-founder Greg Abel, there is no such thing as a typical day. Sure, there are some things that have to be...
View ArticleTailfin Marketing: The Value of Referrals
What’s the best type of market? A warm market. Referrals are an incredibly valuable way to build a business and find new clients. Tailfin Marketing relies on referrals for the bulk of their business....
View Article2015 in Small Biz Stories
We have one more look back at GoSmallBiz’s top stories of 2015, this time sharing our Small Biz Stories from the past 12 months. Our team has done some great interviews with different types of...
View ArticleBurnt Hickory Brewery: Cutting Through the Red Tape
It takes more than passion to start a business. Scott Hedeen, founder and brewmaster of the Burnt Hickory Brewery, tells the story of how he turned his idea into a startup reality, with stops at the...
View ArticleBurnt Hickory Brewery: Choosing a Distributor
Burnt Hickory Brewery brewmaster Scott Hedeen didn’t have the option to come up with an idea and then open up the next day. For his business, as with any other, there were legal and regulatory hurdles...
View Article