If you're looking for the right business to start this year, the choices can get overwhelming fast. Should you launch a coffee cart? Go all-in on e-commerce? Start mobile auto detailing on the weekends? The U.S. Chamber of Commerce just published a list of 50 business ideas, and I went through it to find the ones that skip the "build it and they will come" gamble because customers are already looking for them. Eight made my cut, and I'm sure there are some here you may not

Spring home selling season is off to a slow start this year, but waiting around for it to suddenly pick up isn't a strategy. Here are five things you can do right now to unstick it.

One of the biggest obstacles standing between a viable idea and an operating business is money. A lot of new founders think they need a lot to even get started, that they’ll need more as their companies grow, and that they can’t possibly consider entrepreneurship unless they have ample funds. I dispel some of these myths in my new book The Business Money Blueprint , which explains the full gamut of financing, from shoestring budgets to bartering your services to crowdfundin

The right funding is out there for your business. Let's find the one that works best for you.

A lot of businesses get started with way less money than you’d think. They bootstrap, get resourceful and tap into the people and support systems they already have. About 42% of the roughly 35 million small businesses nationwide started with less than $5,000 in capital, according to SCORE. So yeah, you don’t need a pile of cash, but you have to be willing to work from the ground up. Here’s one way to do it: start with the barest version of your business and your minimum viabl

Last Friday marked the first day of Spring after an extended, cold, eventful winter for much of the nation. This is the time of year when homeowners start thinking about moving and buyers start scouring the web for new listings in their favorite neighborhoods. Even in choppy markets, this is when activity usually picks up. According to the National Association of REALTORS®, home sales pick up in the spring, with activity ramping up in March and running through early summer.

In my last blog I covered some of the traditional ways that solo agents can start extending themselves when business picks up. A few readers asked about automated ways to do the same thing. If you run a solo real estate business, you already know the drill: one minute you’re prospecting, the next you’re showing homes, answering texts, chasing paperwork and trying to keep your marketing running at the same time. Doing it all yourself can get overwhelming fast. So I dug aro

When I sat down to write the third book in my business startup series, The Small Business Growth Blueprint , I wanted to dig down into what it really takes to keep clients for life in this fast-moving digital world. You know the one, where your next competitor is a screen tap away and it’s easy for customer to move on. I did some research and also reflected on a few of my own long-standing client relationships to come up with a list of must-haves for successful client retenti

Revenue gets unpredictable when customers don’t stick around. In my new book, The Small Business Growth Blueprint , I show you how to create the follow-up, communication and value systems that keep them coming back again and again.

Most service businesses don't lose clients over one major mistake or miscommunication. They lose them gradually, when small things slip and nobody catches it in time. This week's infographic pulls straight from The Small Business Growth Blueprint and gives you five signs to watch for before a good client relationship starts to unravel. Preview the book on Amazon → https://a.co/d/0dWo9QfP

Every agent dreams of the day they can't keep up with the business coming their way. Then it actually happens and the dream starts to feel a lot like a grind. You're closing deals, showing homes, answering emails, updating the MLS and somehow you’re supposed to be constantly showing up on social too. Something has to give. Here are some tips straight out of The Real Estate Agent's Business Planner : Hire a licensed assistant. You can hand off almost anything, including tra

Most businesses don't lose customers all at once. They just kind of slink away quietly in the space between the sale and the follow-up that never comes. But it doesn't have to be that way. Here's a quick gut check right out of my new book, The Small Business Growth Blueprint: How to Grow Your Business and Turn Customers Into Lifelong Fans , the newest addition to my small business startup collection. Run through these five and be honest with yourself. If any of them hit

A lot of people want a side business but aren't sure where to start. Here's a simple filter you can use before putting time & resources into an idea.

I'm celebrating the 20th anniversary of The Real Estate Agent's Business Planner (5th edition just came out) and wanted to share one of the most asked questions I get from new agents: how much should I spend on marketing? In the book, I write about how real estate coaches typically recommend spending about 20-30% of your projected first-year income on marketing. If you're targeting $100,000 in year one, that's roughly $25,000. Sounds like a lot, right? Here's the thing:

I'm putting the finishing touches on my new book, The Business Money Blueprint: How to Find Funding, Close the Deal and Act on Your Plan and getting ready to hand it off to my copyeditor, but I wanted to share a sneak peek into the self-funding chapter. Along with the usual suspects (like your own savings, credit cards, friends & family, etc.) I dug around and found enough "options most people overlook” to fill a whole chapter. Here are five that don’t require a “yes” from a

I walked out my front door the other morning, pulled it shut behind me and there it was, hanging right on the doorknob. A door hanger with a REALTOR’s name, logo and contact info on it (plus a really cute family photo). I stood there for a second, just staring at it. I mean, I hadn't seen one of those in ages. And there was no scrolling past it, no swiping away and no algorithm deciding whether I'd view it or not. It was just hanging out there, waiting for me to find it.

I was reading Forbes Careers Newsletter the other day and this stat caught my eye: 62% of workers either already have a side hustle going or are planning to launch one. That's a lot of people out there hustling on the side, but it makes sense at a time when we can all use some extra cash and the job market is a bit shaky (on a good day). Of course, having a side hustle and running a profitable business are two very different things. One supplements your income while you keep

You ran into an old friend at the grocery store who mentioned they might downsize next year. A neighbor casually said they're thinking about moving. A past client texted asking if you're still selling. Three potential transactions just landed in your lap. Two weeks later, you can't quite remember which neighbor said what or when you last followed up with that old friend. The past client? You meant to text back. Look, prospecting is challenging enough. Add in tracking ever

Self-funding doesn't have to mean emptying your savings account. You can bootstrap your company using strategies most entrepreneurs overlook. Some are unconventional. Some require creativity. None of them require a massive bank balance or perfect credit score. Here are six: Vendor credit or payment terms. Most suppliers offer net-30, net-60 or even net-90 payment terms. Translation: you get the inventory or materials now and pay later. This keeps more cash in your pocket upf

Real estate agents are natural doers. They show up, pitch in, volunteer, help clients through stressful moves and take on more than their schedules can support. I’ve covered the industry for 25+ years, and one pattern shows up again and again. The agents who build successful businesses aren’t always the busiest ones. They’re the ones who decide early and often where their time should go and stick to it, even when distractions pile up. In practice, this usually comes down