How many times have you heard in recent times “Small business is getting crushed.” Or “40% of small businesses have closed their doors for good.” Or “You’ll own nothing and be happy.” To someone who is an eternal optimist, like me, all the negativity can drive people to “give up” their will to be in businesses. Yes, these are discouraging signs of deeper fissures in our economy, and yes, their effects will be felt for years. However, I challenge you to change your attitude about what’s possible during severe economic disruption and recognize it for the opportunity that it presents.

One of the major mistakes I see people make on their LinkedIn Profiles not exploiting the header graphic. This is premium real estate. Most people waste it. You have about 3 seconds to telegraph your value and capture a stranger’s interest on your website and I don’t see why it would be any different on your social media profiles.

The biggest reason generic resumes aren't effective is that every company is in the market for a different version of you. Ultimately the "you" that Company A wants to buy is different from the you that Company B is in the market for. This truth is essential to an understanding of why generic resumes don’t work. Resumes, as well as the individual themselves, must be tailor-made for the unique role they will assume.

So you want to get left behind in 2016, huh? Winning and leading from the front takes too much energy. I can understand if you need this year to catch your breath. For those of you who need to stop to smell the roses, here are some things to avoid in this new year, so you can do just that.

We've all been there. You spend what seems like an eternity problem-solving for a prospective customer or client, then... radio silence. Over time, I've developed five ways to help guarantee a followup response and bring the deal to a close so, here they are.

The internet has come a long way since the advent of the .com domain. One question I get asked frequently is "which TLDs are commercially viable?" This article is a summary of the advice I give all my clients with respect to new TLDs.