By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker When I was starting my business, USI, I couldn’t wait to lift off. I had decided to leave my corporate career and was impatient to get started as an entrepreneur. But first I had to line up funding. My accountant counseled me to use Other People’s Money. “OPM, Eddie, [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker A recent headline in The New York Times claimed “Small Businesses Are Finding Bank Loans Easier to Come By.” With interest rates low and the economy coming back, bankers and small business experts are saying this is a good time to get a small business loan. Large [...]
by Omar Douglass Contributing Writer for The Purpose is Profit Blog As startup advisor and self-styled “Growth Hacker,” Paul O’Brien, wrote, “Entrepreneurs everywhere are trying to understand not just how to connect, network, and collaborate, but how to develop relationships with the right investors. Incubators, accelerators, and coworking spaces are the place to start.” These [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker Have you been suffering from talent drain? Symptoms include brilliant employees leaving the company, a lack of new ideas, stagnation, and sometimes even eventual corporate death. How can you immunize your company against this dangerous syndrome and keep it healthy? The answer is to introduce a dose of intrapreneurship, [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker Are you hesitating to leap into entrepreneurship? Is it because you have the persistent feeling that you are "not the entrepreneurial type"? I've written previously about how entrepreneurship isn't for the elite and elect, but rather is accessible to everyone. Many people, even if they accept this idea intellectually, [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker Have you ever heard the expression, "A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are for"? Conventional employment can appear to be safe, but charting your own course away from the company where you work can bring you purpose and joy far beyond that of [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker This article originally appeared on LinkedIn Publisher Are you hungry for independent success and control? Are you burning with the desire to start your own business? Are you yearning to hold out your ideas for the world to validate? Take control of the mission for your life. Eliminate [...]
By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker In a high-pressure environment like a startup, emotions and tempers can run very high. With the best of intentions, someone is likely to engage in a behavior or course that isn't what you wanted for your company. The temptation may be to smack down the action down and the person - you [...]
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 [...]