This isn't a rhetorical question. Decision making is part of daily business life. It seems that each day brings more decisions than the last, so how do you ever make progress? You delegate decision making to other team members and employees.

Does it make sense to let individuals make their own decision every time? Perhaps not, but don't miss the positive advantage decision making can add. It is important to first address good decision making practices to your entire venture. After all you hired and built your team the way you have for a reason. If they are the experts (and they should be for their primary role) they are in the best position to make an informed decision for a topic in their own domain.

Remember if you slip into micro-managing you have caused two major issues. The first is that you will spend most of your time researching and making decisions for others instead of focusing on your own important decisions. The second is that your team may become irritated by the lack of control in their own w…

Point taken. Any time you find yourself in a meeting, discussion or brainstorming session keep the following points in mind. When used correctly, counter points can diffuse an escalating situation and place the focus back on progress. Preparedness is key in using counter points, if you aren't prepared you've already lost.

Preapre Your Counter Points

• Research Early - Complex topics require focused thinking time. The earlier you start researching additional information on the topic, the more time you have to find connections and opportunities.
• Read and Reread - Review all documentation ahead of time. Take care to read and reread material to ensure you have a good understanding of the material and the context.
• Capture Questions - As you research and read you may find yourself asking questions. Write down all questions as you think of them. You may find some questions answer themselves after futher reading or research. Remaining questions should be discussed with the rest of the group.
• Prespective Shift - Thi…

You may find yourself wondering why I'm suggesting you should aim to be like Royal Crown Cola. I believe RC Cola to be a fitting metaphor. Startups historically have messy paths to success, and in that trail is usually a rich and interesting history of how the company came to exist. This is true of Royal Crown Cola.

It is easy to get caught up in the excitement and think you will become an overnight success and will be the top performer of your industry. The truth is overnight success usually takes time and patience. This is my point for modeling yourself after Royal Crown Cola. Usually startups begin from an existing frustration. This is true of RC Cola, who created an offshoot cola because of a disagreement with a Coca-Cola bottler over price. Coca-Cola even waged assult after assult with lawsuits prohibiting Royal Crown's usage of "cola" on their beverage. Royal Crown Cola was indeed a scrappy pioneer creating the first diet cola before its larger rivals arrived in that market.

I think many lessons can…

This topic has been on my mind for a while, but recently it resurfaced during a great discussion on Twitter. Let me be clear, if your venture isn't on Twitter, you should really consider jumping on board. The main reason is because it is a real time platform to find, engage and service your customers.

If you are looking to increase your results or just keep your results consistent, you must proactively engage with your customers. Keep in mind that with the speed of technology you are no longer the sole voice of your brand. Your customers will greatly influence how your venture is perceived by others. That may seem like a jarring thought, but if leveraged correctly your users can be another positive voice for your business.

Ways to Drive Customer Engagement:

• Loyalty / Reward Programs - This type of engagement can be as simple as a punch card with a free or discounted item after a specific number of purchases. Loyalty rewards help drive a consistent customer base back to your business. The complexity and c…

That is correct, read the title again. Okay, now we can proceed.

Customers are the fuel to your entire venture (or at least the majority when you factor in smart investment strategies). Without a genuine focus on customers you business may likely stall or even shutter.

Customer Service and User Experience should be two of major driving forces of every business venture. If you are going into business you need customers to survive. If you want more than basic survival, your customer service must be responsive, transparent and honest. If you want your customers to stay with you as loyal and repeat customers you need to create engaging and meaningful experiences. There are specific reasons your existing customers come back to you. There are specific and perhaps different reasons new customers are drawn to your products or services.

This is not to say that customers, especially loyal customers, are extremely sensitve to price increases, business model changes or brand reworkings. Customers are flexible and wil…