Six Design Mistakes to Avoid in Your Store | Entrepreneur.com

Retailers know they must provide quality products and good service to thrive, but too often, they overlook the importance of store design to their success.

Shopkeepers sometimes try to cut corners or simply don’t plan their commercial space well. They may skimp on lighting fixtures, for example, or fail to allot enough space for the inventory they will need to carry. “There is a tremendous amount of failure in retail,” says Jerry Birnbach, a Somers, N.Y.-based store-planning consultant. “Had [store owners] done a little due diligence upfront, they would not have failed.”

Here are six common mistakes to avoid when designing your store:

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Using Great Storytelling To Grow Your Business | Fast Company

Every two months, I pull together a community of innovators. We meet somewhere in New York City, usually a boardroom overlooking a park or cityscape. But last month we all found our way into an acting studio operated by The TAI Group to learn about storytelling.

The members of this group certainly already know something about the topic. They are senior executives at some of the largest corporations, partners in some of the most prestigious consulting and private equity firms, and several cutting-edge entrepreneurs. But the more you know, the more you realize there is to learn, and this group wanted to learn more about how to use effective storytelling to drive change in and grow their organizations.

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The Pros and Cons of S Corporations | AllBusiness.com

Once you’ve made the decision to structure your business as a corporation most likely for the liability protection a corporation offers, you still have a decision to make: Will you form a C Corporation or an S Corporation?  Tax concerns often play a major role in this decision. Like the partnership business structure, S Corporations do not pay any federal income taxes. Instead, the business’s profits and losses

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  Sales and Marketing Funnels – Taking Stock: A Self-Evaluation | Getentrepreneurial.com

For self-employed professionals and small business owners, it’s essential to periodically assess what is and isn’t working in your business, and then to make the necessary adjustments. Because small businesses often don’t have the flexibility of larger firms, this periodic evaluation is even more important for you than it is for larger companies.

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Are We Guiding Our Ship? | Boaz Rauchwerger

Did you see the story on Thursday about the shelling and sinking of that rust-stained fishing trawler in Alaskan waters?

The Ryou-Un Maru, about 200 feet in length, was swept away as part of a giant debris field generated by the 9.0-magnitude tsunami that struck Japan on March 11, 2011.

The U.S. Coast Guard sank the trawler after it was determined that the unmanned vessel posed a hazard to mariners and Alaska’s marine environment.

This ship, until its sinking, was drifting aimlessly, unguided, across the Pacific. No one was onboard running the ship and guiding it by using the rudder to get it to a specific destination.

Isn’t that an interesting analogy to life? Too many of us, including me in the past, set sail for an un-specified destination. We don’t define specific goals and then we get upset when we arrive at the wrong destination.

We don’t use a mental rudder to guide our journey and to make course corrections when necessary.

The majority of people, some estimates have it at 97%, do not write down specific goals and then they get disappointed with what the future gives them. What is the difference between no written goals and that ship drifting across the Pacific?

Nothing.

And what happened to that ship? It was sunk.

That ship, during its nearly 13-month drifting journey, traveled about a mile per hour. That’s not a fast pace. However, when you add up all of the miles it traveled in 390 days, that’s a lot of miles.

Time, for all of us, goes by at one minute at a time, 60 in each hour, 1,440 in 24 hours.

May I suggest that we all take a moment today to write down some specific goals for the next five years, for the next 12 months, for the next 30 days, for this week. Make the short-term goals believable and then take action.

Let’s identify where you want your ship to go, give it some power with specific, achievable goals, and let’s keep our hand on the rudder in case we need to make course adjustments.

You are special. You are unique. You are destined for greatness! Have a powerful day!

A Goal-Setting Affirmation

This week I’m writing down specific 5-year, 12-month, 30-day goals, and goals for this week. I’m taking action on my believable short-term goals.

Boaz Power Corp., 642 Baywood Dr., Newport Beach, CA 92660, USA