You Can’t Put Your Heart Into Your Business If You Don’t Show Yourself Some Love, Too.

With Valentine’s Day finally here, February is perfect for reflecting on and celebrating how committed you’ve been to your entrepreneurial endeavors. It’s also an ideal time to assess how well you’ve been taking care of yourself.

As a small business owner, you likely work long hours, eat many meals on the fly (if at all!), regularly forfeit a good night’s sleep, and pass on countless invitations to enjoy activities outside of work. While those sacrifices may seem as though they’ll make you more productive and your business more successful, ultimately they can have the opposite effect.

I urge you to realize YOU are the most important asset your business has. And if you run yourself ragged, ignoring the needs of your mind and body, your business will suffer. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually your entrepreneurial effectiveness will deteriorate due to your self-neglect.

As we celebrate the month of amore, how about showing yourself some love while you’re showing others affection?

To refresh your memory on how to do that, here are some ideas:

Get away.

Working non-stop can leave you frazzled and resentful. Even if for only a half-day, plan an escape from the grind. During your getaway, indulge in an activity you love whether it’s catching the latest blockbuster on the big screen or getting pampered at a spa.

Foreign Qualifying your Business – FAQs

Happy February! With winter now in full swing, we will be talking about a way to get away from the cold with Foreign Qualifying! This month, we discuss the opportunities of Foreign Qualification into another state and what the requirements are for those states.


Q: What is foreign qualification?

A: A corporation or LLC transacting business in a state(s) outside of their state of incorporation is typically required to foreign qualify in those other states.


Q: What constitutes transacting business in another state and when do I need to foreign qualify?

A: As examples, your company is considered to be transacting business in an additional state if…
You have a physical presence in the state
You have employees in the state
You accept orders in the state
You have a bank account in the state

State rules vary and this isn’t a complete list. If you have any questions about whether you need to foreign qualify in a state, you can speak with an attorney.

2017 Financial Goals for Small Business Owners

If you are a small business owner, you should be setting goals as early as possible so that you are not caught behind the eight ball as the year goes by. Sweeping changes are expected in 2017, and you’ll need to be ready. For example, it’s predicted that 2017 will be the year that video finally overtakes text as the No. 1 form of communication on the internet. 2017 will also mark the rise of the independent mobile commerce culture, and, of course, virtual reality is on the immediate horizon.

Here’s how to prepare for the changes ahead.

Target Your Niche Even More Precisely

In order to grow your business, shrink your marketing. The major search engines, like Google and Bing, continue to reward localization and punish wide-net marketing strategies. There is also more competition in 2017 than ever before, including premium prices on the best keywords. You will need to stretch out your long-tail keywords even further and delve more deeply into a local or niche culture in order to get that organic traffic that drives the highest conversion rates.

Bother People

Many small business owners believe that the advent of new communications technologies means an automatic influx of customers. Even with the hands-down best product on the market, this is never the case. More robust communications only means more noise as potential consumers are bombarded with a deluge of advertisements and indirect marketing. In order to stand out, you have to personalize your messages – even going customer by customer. You cannot be afraid to bother people, and rejection cannot bother you.