Weekend Reading: My fav’s from this week: 2/5/10

Posted by Heather Villa, CMA, MBA, MSM on February 5, 2010 in: Weekend Reading

Think You Can Sell Hot Dogs?
The Single Greatest Way To Discover Innovation
Self-Promoting Loser
‘Next Gen’ CPA Firm? “Now We’re Talking…”
Taking Control of Your Life Once and For All
You CAN Do That: What Happens When You Dare to Dream – Whether you’re into X-Game sports or not, this video is worth taking a few minutes to [...]

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Business “best practice” in today’s economy

Posted by Heather Villa, CMA, MBA, MSM on February 5, 2009 in: Coaching

We’re living in turbulent economic times. Economists are now predicting that most of 2009 will continue this way with a market resurrection in the end of 2009 and through 2010. Larger businesses may have the assets and borrowing power to survive. But smaller businesses do not and many of them are wondering if they’ll survive [...]

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An Innovation Mindset – “Should you listen to your customers?” Continued

Posted by Heather Villa, CMA, MBA, MSM on January 28, 2009 in: Coaching, Just Blogging

Yesterday I talked about the tricky balance between the customer always being right and Henry Ford’s admission that if he had listened to people, he would have invented a faster horse.
Ford states it well and if I were to restate what he said I would put it a little more bluntly: the customer doesn’t really [...]

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Should You Listen to Your Customers?

Posted by Heather Villa, CMA, MBA, MSM on January 27, 2009 in: Coaching, Just Blogging

Businesses need to work hard to stay competitive: they need to find new customers, outpace the competitors, stay on top of marketplace demands, and continually innovate. One problem that many businesses have is that they listen too closely to their customer.
I’ll pause here a moment while you pick your jaw up off of the floor. [...]

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What’s stopping you?

Posted by Heather Villa, CMA, MBA, MSM on January 23, 2009 in: Coaching

Creating new products or services is fun! I love the idea of taking an idea and helping someone develop it, turn it into something real, and then sell it. And I know my clients like it, too, because I stay busy with this work!
Unfortunately, I’m seeing a dangerous trend in the market that impacts this [...]

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Staying Ahead of the Competition…

Posted by Heather Villa, CMA, MBA, MSM on January 11, 2009 in: Coaching, My Stories, Tools & Resources

As a business consultant and entrepreneur, the big ‘C’ word (Competition) is always looming over my head and the heads of my clients. I notice that my clients, colleagues and competitors are always ‘focused on the competition’. It is difficult not to be, I understand, but at the same time if you are focusing more [...]

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