By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker You are in a dark cabin at night. You have a box of matches, a kerosene lantern, a candelabra, and a stove. Which do you light first? Many people when confronted with this question will debate the merits of the various options, and most will not come up with [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker Cool new products get reviews, articles, advertisements, and talk show segments. The companies that make them get to look on like proud parents while their offspring skyrocket in the public eye. But what about unsexy products and services? Where are their limelights? Who sees the B2B that saves its clients [...]
By Ed McLaughlin This article originally appeared on LinkedIn Publisher Entrepreneurs are a brazen bunch. They feel so strongly about their business vision that they are willing to do almost anything to make it a reality. They accept the responsibility to produce a quality product that provides a superior value proposition. Like professional athletes, entrepreneurs love [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker It's taken months - maybe years - to get to the point of launching your venture. You hammered an idea into the shape of a business, found a way to fund it, acquired all the talent you needed to run it, found a location for your operations, and even [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker I believe strongly that the spirit of entrepreneurship belongs in every company, at every stage of its development. Startups are inherently spirited in that way, but larger, more established companies sometimes have trouble retaining that spark. Some companies don’t worry about R&D, thinking that they have a profitable routine [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker - this article was originally published on LinkedIn Publisher The Internet is great. It's the biggest repository of human knowledge ever made. There are 52 billion web pages currently indexed by Google. That's a whole lot of information. Not having a central authority to regulate it means it's a whole lot [...]
By Omar Douglass, Guest Writer for The Purpose is Profit Blog If there is one thing that any experienced small business entrepreneur knows, it is the value of a great team. No matter how competent you may be or how rock solid your business model is, the success of your startup depends on the people you [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker I know I've been writing about openness and communication and honesty a lot, but bear with me. Previously, I've talked about the importance of honesty and openness with employees and clients, in life and at work. I believe they are the bedrock of success and that the most important place for [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker A company can live or die by its culture, as much as any nation. Culture spans thousands of years of history, elements of language, religion, and aesthetics, all woven together in a glorious tapestry that can blanket kingdoms and define empires. It can drive people to feats of genius or [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker Before we discuss the process of building a sales team, let’s take a step back and talk about the two vital roles that contribute to an organization’s success. Internal producers develop products, and external producers sell products. The required skill sets are different. Capable product developers are steeped in [...]