One of my favorite quotes of all time comes from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, delivered during the darkest days of World War II: “Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never” This advice especially applies to small business owners – entrepreneurs who face daily challenges in getting everything [...]

What do you think about the “tiny home” craze? With house prices rising across many US markets, many Americans have chosen to forego the traditional 2000-3000+ square foot home and instead opt for much smaller living spaces. How small? There’s really no “official” answer.  Tiny homes typically range from as low as [...]

I’m sure you’ve heard a thousand times or more that you need to put money away “for a rainy day.” But have you ever wondered, “exactly how much?” Of course, for each of us the potential cost of that “rainy day” differs – as well as the budgetary impacts such a [...]

One of the givens every holiday season includes multiple renditions of the song “Baby it’s cold outside.” Written by Frank Loesser in 1944, it garnered fame 5 years later in 1949 when performed in the film “Neptune's Daughter.” The song’s refrain “Baby it’s cold outside” implies that nobody would want to go [...]

The common stereotype about truck drivers is pretty much based on the movie “Smokey and the Bandit” – with good old boys hee-hawing as they high-tail it across the US. Nowadays, however, the trucking industry is far more diverse – in fact, they’re making a significant effort to get more women [...]

Even during “Fat-City” economic times, the age-old tradition of penny pinching never goes out of style. And while the hardest of hardcore frugality may not be everyone’s cup of tea, there’s no question that everyone loves to get a good deal. After all, why pay full price when you know someone [...]

Leadership in life and business often requires you defy conventional wisdom and take a different path. In recent years, Apple Computer took this concept and made serious marketing hay with their tagline, “Think Different.” But they weren’t the first to put that concept to work. For example, here a similar thought [...]

Netflix recently released a documentary on Microsoft founder Bill Gates: “Inside Bill’s Brain – Decoding Bill Gates.” I won’t provide any spoilers, but as the trailer notes, Bill does have a unique ability to identify problems and come up with different approaches as solutions. Software’s only part of it – for [...]

Here’s three “spooky-goofy” factoids you may not have known about Halloween: 1. Jack-O-Lanterns Weren’t Always Pumpkins Back in the day, the term “jack-o-lantern” comes from an Irish legend of “Stingy Jack,” a rascal who managed to win a drinking bet with the devil… turning Old Scratch into a coin which he [...]

There’s a story about Lee Iacocca when he took over then struggling auto maker Chrysler way back in 1979. Iacocca spent the first week calling people into his office – managers, VPs, Directors, you name it. Once they arrived, he would them a piece of chalk and then tell them to [...]