Although owning your own business is about much more than just money, there are times when it’s all about the bottom line.

You can love what you’re doing, make a significant contribution to society, have employees that love you, but if you you’re not making enough to pay the bills and then some, you’re going to be in trouble.

And it’s not all about growing your sales – not too many years ago during the great dot com boom times, there were all sorts of companies that were growing like gangbusters.  They were adding customers, their quarterly revenue growth was incredible…and yet the hidden story was that a lot of them were also losing money hand over fist.

The real measure that’s meaningful is profit – simplistically calculated as Revenue minus Expenses.  here are some ideas for improving profitability. Read More…

Jay Liebenguth is helping us to promote the Linked In KC event over on Hot Talk 1510 radio on his two Thursday shows, Live with Jay and the Heart of the Matter.  He does great stuff and you can find information and archives on his site http://www.livewithjay.com/ - give him a listen on Thursdays, I think you'll really enjoy what you hear.

One of the things you'll hear is our plug for the Linked In KC event that's happening on the afternoon of Friday April 25th.  Take a listen!

[audio:http://www.aspirekc.com/images/linkedin.mp3]

Of course you can get more information on my site at www.aspirekc.com/linked.html or you can learn more and register at www.linkedinkc.com !

I'd love to hear your feedback on the ad and any thoughts you might have on the event.  If you have any questions or if you might be interested in group sales (5 or more) don't hesitate to contact me.

Shawn Kinkade www.aspirekc.com

photo by clearly ambiguous 

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, “biblical”?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes…
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!

It’s pretty much impossible to turn on the TV or read a newspaper without getting hammered with all of the dire news about the economy.  This article from Inc.com is a good example:

Read More…

photo by booleansplit 

I’m a big fan of thinking bigger.

Thinking bigger is how progress is made, how stuff gets invented, how revolutionary change happens.

Thinking bigger is also how you can inspire – yourself and others.  I’m sure you’ve heard the story about the three bricklayers:

A story that well summarizes the power of Vision, is the story of three bricklayers. The story goes, that three bricklayers were working side by side. 

When asked, “What are you doing?”, the first bricklayer replied:

“I’m laying bricks.”

The second bricklayer was asked. He answered, 

“Feeding my family.”

The third bricklayer when asked the question, 

“What are you doing?”, responded, 

“I’m building a cathedral.”

Read More…

photo by  pshutterbug

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to target markets and how important they are to most small business owners.  Clearly the world is a big place and the more you can differentiate yourself and stand out, the more likely you’ll be the provider that gets the first shot at the business.

As an example, I was in St. Louis this past weekend and went to a store called Gringo Jones that’s in the Hill District.  If you like treasure hunting in a crowded, eclectic and interesting space, then Gringo Jones is the store for you.  Even from the street you could tell that this wasn’t a typical store, it’s in an old house and the front ‘porch’ area is packed to overflowing with all sorts of yard architecture making it a bit challenging to even get to the door!

I don’t know what their advertising or marketing was like, but just from experiencing it and word of mouth it was a different kind of store – and that made it memorable.

Read More…