Business Mentors

“No one’s ever achieved financial fitness with a January resolution that’s abandoned by February.”  Suze Orman I believe that almost all studies regarding individuals making New Year’s resolutions arrive at the same conclusion. That is, most of them are broken during the month of January or may die a slow death over the remainder of […]

The action and optimism of 2013 has provided a great starting point for the year to come. We believe 2014 will continue to build exponentially on all of the entrepreneurial activity of the region. Upstate New York has truly become a hotbed of action. The tech start-up scene is more than gaining momentum — it

“Faster. Better. Cheaper.”  No, this is not the introduction to a “Six Million Dollar Man” episode from the 1970s. It’s the new mantra of today’s manufacturing companies, which are using innovative methods to get their products to market faster, better, and at lower cost than ever before. Who would’ve thought these words would be used

Your new hire sailed through the interview process. He “wowed” HR, hit it off with the department manager and — based on his stellar résumé — is more than qualified for the position. So why is he failing on the job? It could be because he’s a great interviewee, but not a high performer. In

There was a great running gag on the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” about a fake TV game show called “Homonym.” The host said a word that has multiple meanings and the contestant tried to guess which definition the host had on his card. No matter which meaning the contestant guessed, the host would always reply,

When evaluating loan prospects, the banks will take a look at the “five C’s (character, capacity, capital, conditions, and collateral), but they also pay a lot of attention to your credit scores. The importance of a good credit history has grown over the past decade with the increased use of credit scoring by lenders. Credit

Upstate New York provides a great environment for entrepreneurial activity. One of the key ingredients to building a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem is mentorship. First-time or inexperienced entrepreneurs have a need for consultation and guidance. That mentorship provides for much greater outcomes as the business matures. Strategy, connections, insight, and a few gray hairs provide much-needed

Let’s face it — ensuring environmental compliance can be a daunting task given the proliferation of increasingly complicated regulations. To help the regulated community, in 1995, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a policy entitled “Incentives for Self-Policing: Discovery, Disclosure, Correction and Prevention of Violations,” more commonly known as the “EPA audit policy.” The

In the nonprofit sector, the strategic planning and positioning of your organization typically involves a multitude of “What if?” questions or scenarios as well as predicting future trends. I hope you find the 10 items below helpful as your nonprofit organization and board assesses its strategies for the coming year and for securing the long-term

While it may seem as though you were filing tax returns just yesterday and packing away last year’s records, the time for tax planning for this year-end is now upon us. With a number of significant changes to the tax code resulting from 2013 legislation, tax planning is more important than ever. For a number