Funding and Building your Business

Career Pizzazz. Employees feel more valued when their organization provides a mentorship program. This was the clear message from a recent national survey. Last year the American Institute of CPAs published a “top talent survey”…

When it comes to recycling, many retailers struggle with what to do with tons of cardboard, mountains of glass bottles and piles of plastic. By KATHY MULADY SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER But Tom Olsen, manager at…

You wouldn’t leave your small business’s valuable merchandise unattended or unsecured, but have you sufficiently protected your company’s name or a cutting-edge service from competitors who are two steps behind yet willing to capitalize on…

Since venture capitalists have put the brakes on investing in startup companies, angel investors are in the driver’s seat — and they’ve grown very choosy about who they’ll bring along for the ride. By STACY…

John Turton has just walked through the doorway of a small record shop in Oakland, Calif., when his eyes lock on a target. There, on the wall above the cash register, is a copy of…

Last week I wrote about how managers who are excluded from decision making that affects their work can try to get included and make their views known to senior executives. But what should they do…

e-commerce hasn’t died. It’s just gone underground. At a time when acres of glassed-in offices hold the ghosts of failed dot-coms, one of New England’s more successful online businesses operates from the musty basement of…

A common misconception that many business organizations have is the "someday" mindset: Someday, somehow, someone will come along and sprinkle magic dust on employees, transforming them into the leaders of tomorrow. By JIM SWEENEY Seattle…

At the height of the dot-com boom, some Web heads brashly predicted that e-commerce would soon replace traditional stores as the preferred forum for shopping. By Jake Batsell Seattle Times business reporter For some shoppers,…

If you monitor your employees’ Internet usage, you’re not alone. According to a survey conducted late last year by the American Management Association, the ePolicy Institute and US News & World Report, 61.6 percent of…