By Dileep Rao – Guest Contributor Shark Tank has taken the entrepreneurial world by storm. Many of my students are eagerly devouring every episode. I tell them that they are wasting their time or worse, headed in the wrong direction. Based on an analysis of 122 billion-dollar entrepreneurs and hundred-million-dollar […]
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The faces of agility and resiliency: How small businesses are fighting back
With her indoor restaurant closed, Cheesburger Baby’s owner Stephanie Vitori sought out partnerships to help keep her business afloat. In addition to pivoting to takeout and delivery only at her location, she partnered with a bar to run their commercial kitchen, serving up Cheeseburger Baby’s delicious burgers and fries to […]
Many workers hope remote-work flexibility is here to stay. Here are some tips for success
Large and small businesses are finding interesting ways to keep employees engaged and feeling like they are part of the team while they are all still working from home. And amid the new reality, workers are expressing a desire to make the new arrangement work, even beyond the COVID-19 crisis. […]
Pitching to a big enterprise? Here are tips from the other side of the table
Leila Blacking is the senior strategy team leader for innovation at Publix Supermarkets, a Fortune 100 grocery retailer. She has been on the receiving end of hundreds of pitches by small businesses seeking Publix’s business, including food businesses, logistics companies and tech startups. Her advice can help a small business […]
Time is on your side if you have a disaster plan in place – just in case – and follow it
While it is still too early for hurricane forecasters to predict the exact path of Eta, it could strengthen and head toward South Florida over the next week, they say. What we do know is that it’s not too early to dust off your company’s disaster plan. Forecasters say southern […]
Building a startup? Get on board with an amazing board
In launching or growing a startup, there’s one tool every entrepreneur needs in their startup toolbox: A knowledgeable, honest and trusted advisory board. Startup expert Ricardo Weizs, a consultant at Florida SBDC at FIU that specializes in startup growth and access to capital, believes many startups lack industry expertise – […]
Hiring? Today’s remote workplace likely requires different skills and qualities
If you are like a lot of owners of businesses big and small, you learned that your team can work remotely – and maybe even as efficiently as they were before. Some owners and managers who were once opposed to the very idea of a remote workforce have even seen […]
A fighter, Half Moon Empanadas rolls out new branding, store reopenings and expansion strategy
Nearly six months ago, I interviewed Pilar Guzman Zavala, owner of Half Moon Empanadas, after she had to shut all but one of her company’s 13 locations for Argentinian style-empanadas, including the lucrative Miami International Airport sites. She and her husband and co-founder, Juan Zavala, were looking at zero sales […]
Finally hiring again? Small businesses need a plan and we’ll help get you started
Scenario 1: Many small businesses, particularly in the hard-hit restaurant, travel, event planning and retail sectors, had to lay off or furlough most of their workforces when the economy was largely shut down. Now they may need to hire a number of employees again – and the competition is tough […]
How to improve your workplace culture – for our work-from-home reality
What a difference a year makes. Going into Labor Day weekend 2019, many small businesses in South Florida were looking to close out the year strong and budget for a growth year ahead. They were hiring in a tight labor market, with the unemployment rate hovering below 4%, and they […]