From the monthly archives:

May 2010

Run a Small Business in Just 5 Minutes a Day

by Rafi Kronzon on May 28, 2010

rock-hard-abs

With salaries frozen, it seems like some small business writers are trying to convince people they can build profitable side businesses by just spending a few hours a week.

First, there’s the story of the Staten Island couple with an online toy store  that works just a few hours a week. Then, there’s the mom who built a million dollar sippy-cup business on the side.

To me,  writing stories like this is the same as writing about lottery winners. Sure, it happens to somebody. Why not you?

Because, the odds are astronomical. It’s not that you don’t have a good idea (good ideas are a dime-a-dozen), it’s that success is all about execution, patience, and desire. If you treat your burgeoning small business as a side project, it will almost surely languish or fail.

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear.

Have a great holiday weekend. Me? I’m going to spend it getting rock-hard abs.

FacebookTwitterLinkedInStumbleUponDiggDeliciousRedditEmailShare

The $55 Baked Potato

by Rafi Kronzon on May 26, 2010

We’re doing some renovations on our office space. Since we had to move out, our landlord was kind enough to let us move into an empty space on the first floor of our building. The previous tenant was a place called “Totally Baked” which sold nothing but baked potatoes. Not a bad idea;  probably would have done great in London. But they tried to go upscale in NYC.  Check out the “Truffle Baked Potato.” Need I say more?

FacebookTwitterLinkedInStumbleUponDiggDeliciousRedditEmailShare

5 Ways to Work Safely at Starbucks

by Rafi Kronzon May 24, 2010 Tips & Tricks

Sometimes it’s nice to get out of the office and focus. A lot of small business people I know, including me, like to work at a local Starbucks or a favorite cafe once in a while.  Like Dustin Hoffman in that brutal scene in Marathon Man, the questions is, is it safe? Almost all wireless networks [...]

Read the full article →

Dumb Resumes – or "How to Easily Screen Resumes" – Part 1

by Rafi Kronzon May 21, 2010 Dealing with Employees

We recently filled a couple of open positions. As much as I *love* reading through thousands of resumes, it did give me a chance to refine my resume screening strategies . Recently, I posted about micro vs macro task employees. I wish I could screen on that, but since I haven’t figured that out yet, I’ve put together a [...]

Read the full article →

Should You Throw Out Performance Reviews?

by Rafi Kronzon May 19, 2010 Dealing with Employees

There is a good blog post in the NYT about the stress of the performance review. The gist is that performance reviews are biased heavily on the individual’s relationship with the manager, not on the actual performance of the employee. Accordingly, reviews are inherently flawed, and cause undue stress on the employee. Some experts suggest we should do away with the [...]

Read the full article →

Three Reasons Selling to Small Businesses is So Hard

by Rafi Kronzon May 17, 2010 Sales and Marketing

 ”The small business market isn’t really a market, it’s a collection of tiny, fragmented markets. That’s why nobody’s cracked it except the Yellow Pages.”  VERY observant. This quote, from a VC who’s name escapes me,  got me thinking about the challenges that businesses face in selling to other small businesses, which is what I do. In turn, I put together three [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries