101 Tips From Top 50 Small Business Bloggers

This article is a reprint of Wise Bread's contribution to OPEN Forum from American Express -- where small business owners can get advice from experts and share tips with each other.

Advertiser Disclosure ▾

This page contains affiliate links from which we receive a compensation. Like many publications Wise Bread is supported by affiliate commission from partner companies whose products appear on our site. This may influence which products we write about and the location and order in which products appear. We aren't able to cover every product in the marketplace.

Wise Bread Picks

• Travel Rewards Credit Cards
• Cash Back Credit Cards
• 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards

It's quite easy for small business owners to become distracted by their day-to-day responsibilities. But in this competitive economy you can't afford to miss out on the newest business innovations.

That's why we asked 50 of the top small business bloggers to share their best tips for small business owners. Their response was incredible. While some shared nuggets of wisdom, others gave us actionable tips you can use right away. Here's your crib sheet to the best business advice the blogosphere has to offer.

(This article was written in collaboration with Glen Stansberry, who writes about personal productivity at LifeDev and tweets from @glenstansberry.)

On the Small Business Advantage

1. "Respond. This is the single biggest advantage you have over the big guys. Not only are you in charge, you also answer the phone and read your email and man the desk and set the prices. So, don't pretend you have a policy. Just be human."
— Seth Godin, Seth's Blog

2. "As a small business owner, you have the advantages of speed and flexibility. Use them to your advantage. Like Wayne Gretzky, skate to where the puck is GOING to be, and chances are that you'll get there faster than your larger, more bureaucratic competitors."
— Chuck Frey, Innovation Tools

3. "Show your passion for helping your customers solve problems - and talk to them like you talk to your friends. A real, enthusiastic, human voice is every small business's edge"
— Andy Wibbels, AndyWibbels.com

4. "One simple social business policy might be: Be invested. Be human. Be helpful as if the whole company depends on what you say and do, because customer service is the advantage of small business brands."
— Liz Strauss, Successful Blog

5. "Smaller scale businesses should take advantage of how easy it can be to maintain closer, more intimate ties with their now very values-based end consumers (who have high expectations about brand interaction)."
— Andrea Learned, Learned on Women

On Motivation, Persistence, and Resiliency

6. "Outlast the competition. I was amazed at all the empty storefronts I saw in LA on my last visit. On one particular block, three or four of the ten lunch places were shut down. And the others? Doing great. That's because the remaining office workers who used to eat lunch at the shuttered places had to eat somewhere, and so the survivors watched their business grow. A war of attrition is never pretty, but if you're smart about overhead and scale, you'll win it."
— Seth Godin, Seth's Blog

7. "Don't give up. Most people who are self-employed went through a time when they had no money. And they worried they would lose everything they own, and their career. And they kept going. The people who succeed are people who refuse to quit. If you keep trying to make money from your business, you will eventually succeed so that you don't starve. Really. Just don't quit."
— Penelope Trunk, Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist

8. "Count up your successes regularly. One person I know put a marble in a fishbowl each time she got a compliment or a bit of good press for her business or a nice note from a customer or a big order. Then every time she looked at the fishbowl she was reminded of all the good things in her business. Her employees could see it, too. This is invaluable on days when everything seems to go wrong. It keeps self-doubt from building up – and tearing you down. It also helps employees feel good."
— Anita Campbell, Small Business Trends

9. "If you find yourself in a rut, try thinking back on the reasons you initially wanted to start your own business and don’t lose sight of them. If you need to, write them down."
— Megan Dorn, The Startup Blog

10. "If you do not enjoy what you are doing, try something else."
— Anthony Cerminaro, BizzBangBuzz

11. "Do not be afraid of hard work, learn to multi-task, be flexible and patient."
— Harish Keshwani, BusinessWorks, Inc.

On Starting Up

12. "Don’t start a company unless it’s an obsession and something you love."
— Mark Cuban, Blog Maverick

13. "Be careful about trusting intuition, but be more careful not to bend to the majority for whom 'impossible' is a comforting excuse for inaction."
— Tim Ferriss, The Blog of Tim Ferriss

14. "When starting and growing your business, it's important to bootstrap with your own resources as much as possible."
— Mike Smith, Guerrilla Freelancing

15. "Don't be afraid to skip a step. The people I consider the most successful (by my definition which includes enjoying their work, earning a good living, feeling happy and accomplishing lots of life goals) do not wait for permission from anyone to pursue opportunities."
— Pamela Slim, Escape from Cubicle Nation

On Financial Management

16. "Become a cash flow king. Manage cash flow like there is no tomorrow. Know which vendors can wait and who needs to be paid right away. Always have some money on hand for emergencies and only borrow if you know when you can pay it back."
— Jared Reitzin, Mobile Marketing Watch

17. "Jump on every opportunity to eliminate needless costs, but never stop investing in the long-term future of your business—no matter what is happening in the market."
— Michael McLaughlin, Guerrilla Consulting

On Business Planning

18. "If you don't enjoy planning your business' future, you must be doing it wrong; ease up on the business plan document, do just the planning, just big enough to run your business and control your own destiny. "
— Tim Berry, Up and Running, Entrepreneur.com

19. "Measure EVERYTHING in your business that you care about and use your findings to drive your decisions so they are based on facts, rather than emotions or seat of the pants guesswork."
— Mark Riffey, Rescue Marketing

20. "Define your goals – Be clear on what you want. Do you want 20 more leads in your database? Do you want to generate $995K in net new customer in revenue this year? Do you want to add 15 new clients this quarter?"
— Jared Reitzin, Mobile Marketing Watch

21. "Carefully plan for achievement. Achievement is like building a home. It must be pre-planned, budgeted for, executed with daily hands-on management, have managed solutions (contingency plans), and be ready for situations when other ways to achieve the end result must be applied within a finite time frame."
— Tom Marquardt, The Profit Repairman

22. "The best way to build a career or a business is to test and try a lot of things. If you spend too much time in the planning stages, opportunities pass you by."
— Pamela Slim, Escape from Cubicle Nation

23. "Embrace constraints. Constraints and limitations are wonderful allies and lead to enhanced creativity and ingenious solutions that without constraints never would have been discovered or created."
— Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen

24. "Overconfidence is a killer. Question your business plan as much as you would question your nephew's business plan if he were to hit you up for a loan."
— Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution

25. "This notion of overnight success is an urban legend, and very misleading. If you're starting something new, expect a long journey. "
— Martin Zwilling Startup Professionals Musings

26. "Even though you may have considerable experience in the world of business, you should not assume that you can ‘shortcut’ your way to success in your new endeavor. Certainly, your experience in the real world will stand you in good stead in terms of marketing, customer relations and so on, but you must start with your clean sheet of paper each time."
— Adam Toren, Young Entrepreneur

On Hiring Employees

27. "Hire people who are more talented than you are; your business will never grow if you're worried about hiring people that will outshine you."
— Rich Brooks, Flyte Blog

28. "Hire people you trust and train them to use the time in the ways you want them to move business forward for you. Just as you do in other parts of your company."
— Liz Strauss, Successful Blog

29. "Develop a rich internship program. Interns are a great way to keep the atmosphere fresh and vibrant, but they’re also a great way to transition talented young individuals into your work force. Internship programs also allow you to assess an individual’s skills and work ethic in a real-life setting without any long-term commitments."
— Megan Dorn, The Startup Blog

On Managing Employees

30. "I recommend working collaboratively with people throughout the organization. Ask each individual to identify something in his or her daily work that is inconsistent with the organization’s core values. Randomly sort the individuals into groups of three to six and ask each group to come up with the three most significant misalignments pertaining to each core value. This process allows your organization to quickly identify—without pointing fingers—the four or five most significant misalignments."
— Jim Collins, JimCollins.com

31. "Allow folks to work off hours. Commuting sucks and is a waste of time for everyone. Let folks start at 6am or 11am and you’ll cut their commute in half."
— Jason Calacanis, Calacanis.com

On Leadership

32. "Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead. It’s uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers. It’s uncomfortable to propose an idea that might fail. It’s uncomfortable to challenge the status quo. It’s uncomfortable to resist the urge to settle. If you’re not uncomfortable in your work as a leader, it’s almost certain you’re not reaching your potential as a leader."
— Seth Godin, Seth's Blog

On Innovation

33. "Continuously experiment, improvise and try new things that improve your business and add customer value."
— Steve King, Small Business Labs

34. "Don't underestimate the importance of capturing your ideas - they're the lifeblood of your business."
— Chuck Frey, Innovation Tools

On Your Product

35. "Best beats first. It doesn’t really matter who gets there first, so long as you figure out a way to produce a better solution, doggedly persist in bringing that solution to the world, and continually improve."
— Jim Collins, JimCollins.com

36. "Understand companies that understand user-interface design. Study the best: Google, Apple, Lexus, and Ferrari. They understand that complexity is their best friend, not an enemy. They understand it, so they can exploit it."
— Matthew May, In Pursuit of Elegance

37. "Keep feature creep in check. The one constant source of elegant innovation is observation. The Japanese call it genchi genbutsu which means 'go look, go see.' That allows you to triangulate around the customer: observe them not just by asking them what they want—they don’t always know, can’t always articulate it, and they’ll change their mind tomorrow—but by becoming one yourself."
— Matthew May, In Pursuit of Elegance

On Marketing

38. "Good word of mouth is the best marketing money can't buy."
— Muhammad Saleem, MuhammadSaleem.com

39. "NEVER EVER EVER hire a PR firm. A PR firm will call or email people in the publications, shows and websites you already watch, listen to and read. Those people publish their emails. Whenever you consume any information related to your field, get the email of the person publishing it and send them an email introducing yourself and the company. Their job is to find new stuff. They will welcome hearing from the founder instead of some PR flack. Once you establish communications with that person, make yourself available to answer their questions about the industry and be a source for them. If you are smart, they will use you."
— Mark Cuban, Blog Maverick

40. "The key is finding the advertising channel that best fits your company and your industry and use it to get the biggest bang for your buck. At the end of the day, it’s not about how much you spend or how many eyeballs you reach. It’s about how many customers you can bring in the door while still making enough money to float your boat."
— Rosalind Resnick, Entrepreneur.com

41. "Really think about if you need that $15,000 a month PR firm. Perhaps you can get a PR consultant to work on 2-3 projects a year for $10-15k each and save 75%. More PR firms are wasted half the year while you build up your product anyway."
— Jason Calacanis, Calacanis.com

42. "Focus on generating attention. The Web has liberated us from the tyranny of paying for attention! Small business entrepreneurs can generate attention for their business in four main ways: You can BUY attention (this is called advertising); you can BEG for attention (this is called Public Relations); you can BUG people one at a time to get attention (this is called sales) or you can EARN attention online by creating great information that your buyers want to consume such as YouTube videos, blogs, Twitter feeds, photographs, charts, graphs, and ebooks—and it is all free. How are YOU generating attention?"
— David Meerman Scott, Web Ink Now

43. "Budget enough time and money to market your company; the world won't beat a path to your doorstep if they can't find you on Google."
— Rich Brooks, Flyte Blog

On Brand Management

44. "Forget touchpoints, conversation, or the other detritus of brandingbabble, and focus on doing things — actions your business takes, and your customers take in response — as thereby you'll create and nurture the real value of your brand. Follow the previous point unequivocally and without pause. Unless something furthers this pursuit, consider it to be noise."
— Jonathan Salem Baskin, Dim Bulb

45. "Differentiate Yourself: Create a grid analyzing your business and your competitors. What do you all do similarly? What is the one thing you do that your competitors don't? Focus on this one thing with your customers for an edge."
— Kevin Dougan, Strategic Public Relations

46. "Be Consistent: You’ve spent a lot of money on your name, website and logo. Are you using them consistently across your web site, business cards, signage and even in your invoices/receipts? Take a 360 degree view of your business from your customers eyes and make sure you’re hard-earned identity is served up consistently."
— Kevin Dougan, Strategic Public Relations

On Search Marketing

47. "Be micro-focused and the search engines will find you."
— Seth Godin, Seth's Blog

48. "Don't put all your eggs in Google's basket. Defensible traffic is a must. If you rely too heavily on free Google traffic, you risk losing that traffic next time the search algorithm changes."
— Matt McGee, Small Business Search Marketing

On Social Media Marketing

49. "Ask Why, Not What: It might seem like everyone is on Facebook or using Twitter these days. When the latest marketing fads come into view, don't ask 'what' should I do on sites like this, ask 'why' should my business be on these sites. If your customers don't use these sites, should you?"
— Kevin Dougan, Strategic Public Relations

50. "Find your customers online and where they spend time. Once you've researched where your customers spend their time, use those venues to converse and collaborate with them toward shared mutual gain."
— Steve Rubel, SteveRubel.com

51. "Don't fear the social media space. Small business do excel in social media, because they understand relationships. Though the Internet is often seen as a place to sell, social media has made it a great space for extending customer relationships. Social media tools also offer great ways to connect with other small business to share ideas, to talk with customers for feedback, to announce special events and to find with new partners to make new innovative offers."
— Liz Strauss, Successful Blog

52. "To increase the effectiveness of your activities, you need to integrate three basic components – research / intelligence, content development, and measurement. Remember that relationships are key in social media, so you will need to expand your thinking to earned direct and indirect links through good content."
— Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent

53. "To make participation in comments and social media activities count for you, listen first, be aware of the context - are people talking about your industry in general, a competitor, or your company directly? - and look to engage in an honest, open and helpful manner. Drop the buzzwords, and do a gut check by reading your comment as you would read what someone else left on your blog."
— Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent

On Market Positioning

54. "Find a significant unmet need and fill it well."
— Anthony Cerminaro, BizzBangBuzz

55. "Use design, service or ambiance to differentiate your product in some unique, even if small, manner. No matter how pedestrian or utilitarian the product, make buying it or using it an experience"
— Alex Tabarrok, Marginal Revolution

56. "When aligning yourself against the competition, it always pays to be different and take risks."
— Mike Smith, Guerrilla Freelancing

57. "Own a niche: The Internet has allowed business to get so niche they can make money around the world with the smallest of audiences. Capitalize on this, start small, own a niche and then expand from there."
— Jared Reitzin, Mobile Marketing Watch

On Lead Generation

58. "Reanimate your sleepers - It costs far less to reach back out to an existing list of dormant customers than it does to find and sell to new customers. Offer your sleepers something outrageously compelling to get them buying again. Even if you make nothing on the sale that 'awakens' them, you'll likely make up for it in continuity sales."
— Jonathan Fields, JonathanFields.com

59. "Nurture your leads that aren't sales ready. Lead nurturing isn't calling every quarter to ask if they are ready to buy, but to become a trusted advisor and provide relevant information to your prospects. In fact, a recent study of business-to-business buyers shows that sales people who become trusted advisors and understand the needs of economic buyers are 69% more likely to come away with a sale."
— Brian Carroll, B2B Lead Generation Blog

60. "Use your CRM - Don’t create the biggest database of contacts possible. Instead, seek to create the most relevant database possible that contains the right companies and contacts that influence the buying decision. In the beginning, you won’t have all the data you need. Be patient and you'll build the opportunity profile over time. See each conversation as an opportunity to build a relationship."
— Brian Carroll, B2B Lead Generation Blog

61. "Don’t let up. Be consistent. No matter how busy you are make time to do lead generation activities. As you know it doesn't always stay that way. Try to do at least one lead generation thing every day, even if it is something small, that will help you engage a prospective customer. If you use calling, resolve to make an extra call a day before you leave. If you do networking, strive to meet one more person at an event."
— Brian Carroll, B2B Lead Generation Blog

On Sales

62. "Boost your sales by focusing on how each customer wants to buy, instead of plugging in some standard sales approach."
— Michael McLaughlin, Guerrilla Consulting

63. "Talk to your prospects to discover their most pressing needs then direct your efforts to solving those challenges. Always be focused on being seen as a problem-solver, sharing and giving rather than focusing on your own gain."
— Chris Garrett, ChrisG.com

64. "When you do make a request, frame it in benefits to the prospect. For example instead of 'join my list', say 'get the 10 secrets to ... delivered to your email inbox'."
— Chris Garrett, ChrisG.com

65. "Sell more to existing customers - Create a sleaze-free sales process that upsells and cross sells highly-relevant, value-added products or services to clients in order to bump your average order size by 10-15%."
— Jonathan Fields, JonathanFields.com

66. "Co-operate with a competitor. Up-sell related products after the initial sale. If your customers would benefit by having both of your products, you might negotiate the opportunity to include your competitor’s product inside your own box, or vice versa."
— Martin Zwilling Startup Professionals Musings

On Customer Relations

67. "Treat your customers right, even when they're wrong"
— Muhammad Saleem, MuhammadSaleem.com

68. "Small businesses know that relationships matter. Start asking for ways to connect that go beyond the sale."
— Chris Brogan, ChrisBrogan.com

69. "Then, if you get them, treat these people special, and not like marks. Give them MORE than the others. Encourage them."
— Chris Brogan, ChrisBrogan.com

70. "If you value your company’s survival, it is imperative that you educate those who respond on your company’s behalf to bear in mind that people are publicizing their interactions."
— Rosalind Resnick, Entrepreneur.com

On Networking

71. "Always be polite and cordial, even if you think the entire population of the room/party/event you are at are insipid pond scum not worth the light of day. The irritating, pompous pest with an attitude problem and personal hygiene to rival your average skunk may one day turn out to be your best client, or the one man in town who can provide what you need."
— Derek Heck, Bootstrapping Blog

72. "Never stop learning and associate with right people."
— Harish Keshwani, BusinessWorks, Inc.

73. "Find a partner. There is no single type of person who succeeds at running their own business, the most common characteristic is someone who decreases risk where he or she can. People who run their own business are taking a big risk just by doing that — they don't want any more risk if they don't have to take it. And the most common way to mitigate risk is to partner with people who have skills that you lack yourself. So the successful small business owners have a wide network so they can more easily find the skill set they need when they need it. First in a partner, and then in future employees."
— Penelope Trunk, Penelope Trunk's Brazen Careerist

74. "Be confident in your networking, and always think long-term. Don’t discount someone as a contact because they may not be able to help you out immediately. Don’t run up to people demanding their assistance, either. Networking is a two-way street, and quite often it pays big dividends to be the person offering help, rather than the one asking for it. Make yourself useful to your contacts, start building a relationship, and then take things from there."
— Derek Heck, Bootstrapping Blog

75. "Create a culture of yes. And by that I mean a support system of possibility thinkers - mentors, peers, a coach - who can help foster your greatness. Sometimes that means they'll call you out and challenge your ideologies, but they will always, always be cheering you on in a way the evokes your true strengths. And that where the power is."
— Danielle LaPorte, White Hot Truth

On Blogging and Your Website

76. "Be real when communicating with people on a blog. Don’t try to be someone you’re not. It’s impossible to keep up a facade over time. If you’re serious and more of a deep thinker type, then write that way on your blog. If you’re more of a quick-observation type of communicator, do that. There’s room for all kinds."
— Anita Campbell, Small Business Trends

77. "Consider what need you're meeting for those reading your blog. If you're solving a problem, meeting a need or answering a question that people have - they'll be likely to not only keep coming back to your blog but will also be more willing to go deeper with you and your business in some way by buying a product or engaging your services. Be useful to someone and they'll become loyal to you."
— Darren Rowse, Problogger.net

78. "Realize that your company web site isn't really yours. It belongs to your customers. They'll use it more than you. Put the kinds of content, tools, etc., on there that they want; make it easy for them to be your customer."
— Matt McGee, Small Business Search Marketing

79. "To be effective and efficient with your corporate blog, create an editorial schedule of topics and features that are categorically consistent with keywords you want customers to find you with when searching. Keywords in your categories, post titles and in links between pages will give search engines the information they need to rank blog posts in search engines like Google and Bing. Other blogs will link to your content using those keyword phrases in the title which can send more visitors and increase search rankings even more."
— Lee Odden, TopRank Blog

80. "Be social with your blog. Not only should small business blogs encourage comments by asking questions at the end of their posts, but they can be social through commenting on other blogs related to the topics that are important to customers. Links from comments on other blogs can introduce new visitors to your blog content. Other social options with a blog include running polls, linking out to other prominent blogs (their blog software will let the know you’ve linked to them) add 'share this' buttons to make it easy for readers to save, share and bookmark your content as well as email it others that might find it interesting."
— Lee Odden, TopRank Blog

81. "Don't be overly concerned with how many readers you have; pay attention to getting the readers whose attention you most want looking at your blog. Quality trumps quantity in the blogoshpere (although having both doesn't hurt!)"
— Susie Gardner, Buzz Marketing with Blogs

82. "A successful blogger in any industry knows the appetite their audience has for information and under-delivers just slightly. If you have a blog, keep your readers wanting more, and excited to see your posts!"
— Susie Gardner, Buzz Marketing with Blogs

On the Big Picture

83. "As I get older, I see, more and more, that one of the most common mistakes that small business owners make is confusing business with life; take care of yourself and your people first, and don't let more important things get lost in the business."
— Tim Berry, Up and Running, Entrepreneur.com

84. "Stop working in (for) your business as if you are an employee and start working ON your business, as if it is an investment."
— Mark Riffey, Rescue Marketing

85. "Set aside time to think about how to grow your business. If a business isn't growing, it's usually not staying the same size — it's shrinking."
— Gregory Galant, Venture Voice

86. "Don't blindly follow the advice of gurus. What worked for them may not work for you. Make your decisions from first principal and learn from experience."
— Gregory Galant, Venture Voice

87. "The difference between success and non-success is in an individual’s ability to believe in themselves as their own element of change and the daily commitment of that individual with that knowledge of success to execute those changes. Change gives you the ability to rise above and deliver upon command, therefore leading to more positive outcomes. Embrace change."
— Tom Marquardt, The Profit Repairman

88. "The recession has created a climate of ‘Entrepreneurial Darwinism’ – only the strongest and best managed businesses will survive. To be successful in this economy entrepreneurs must: 1) constantly evaluate their business model to make sure it keeps its relevance and offers true value to the customer in a highly competitive market, and 2) tighten up their finances by keeping overhead expenses to a minimum, paying off debt, and building cash reserves."
— Jeff Cornwall, The Entrepreneurial Mind

89. "Bring your individual passion to your new business venture and focus on solving the real — not imagined — needs of your customers. "
— Dominic Basulto, Endless Innovation

90. "Give things some time to happen and fall in place."
— Harish Keshwani, BusinessWorks, Inc.

91. "Use sustainable business practices: The fact (not trend) of sustainable business practices is one that smaller businesses can more easily act on and should maintain - in order to serve the women's market, especially, more effectively."
— Andrea Learned, Learned on Women

92. "Don't worry about being 'the next Google' or 'the next lululemon' - the next great company always appears seemingly out of nowhere and is unique in everything it does."
— Dominic Basulto, Endless Innovation

On Operations

93. "An idea by itself is almost worthless. It's how you execute that matters. Focus on execution."
— Dane Carlson, Business Opportunities Weblog

94. "Once per week, stop putting out fires for an afternoon and run the numbers to ensure you’re placing effort in high-yield areas: What 20% of customers/products/regions are producing 80% of the profit? What are the factors that could account for this? Invest in duplicating your few strong areas instead of fixing all of your weaknesses."
— Tim Ferriss, The Blog of Tim Ferriss

95. "Decide which areas of your business most need improvement. Then, set aside time every single week to focus on reading, researching, learning and implementing improvements in those areas."
— Becky McCray, Small Biz Survival

96. "Obsess about ideas not tools. Tools are important and necessary, but they come and go as better tools come along. Obsess instead about ideas. Though most tools are ephemeral, some of your best tools are a simple pencil and sketch pad."
— Garr Reynolds, Presentation Zen

97. "Do not be tempted to fly off in different directions when you finally start to build momentum. It is important to constrain your enthusiasm and make sure that you are striving to be the best at what you do. Many business owners make the mistake of cutting themselves too thinly in this way and find that their core business may indeed suffer."
— Adam Toren, Young Entrepreneur

98. "Technology is changing almost all industries and businesses. Understand and follow the technologies that are having the greatest impact on them and take advantage of technology to improve business and competitive position."
— Steve King, Small Business Labs

99. "Use change and turnover to give you the opportunity to evaluate a situation and quickly correct and realign, thus strengthening the whole organization and it's future."
— Tom Marquardt, The Profit Repairman

On Time Management

100. "Say no 80% of the time. 'No, thank you,' is the sweet spot of focus, and it's the most powerful word in an entrepreneur's vocabulary. You'll be tested to use it on a daily basis in order to stay in sync with your authenticity and your brand, your true interests, and what matters most. And when you let your instincts override that knowing 'no' with a feeble yes, it's almost guaranteed to end in resentment, legal fees, or burn out."
— Danielle LaPorte, White Hot Truth

101. "We are all equal in this world to everyone else on just one thing, no matter who we are or what we do: TIME. What we do with those precious moments, makes the difference between success and non-success of those goals and achievements that we want to obtain. Make the most of your resources, especially time."
— Tom Marquardt, The Profit Repairman

Bonus Tips

102. "Eliminate the concept of competition by building a unique brand. If you're doing something no one else is, you effectively own the market. Just be careful - you may not have external competitors, but you still have to wage war on inertia."
— Chris Guillebeau, Art of Nonconformity

103. "Ask your customers what they want, and then find a way to give it to them. I do this with very basic surveys where I ask these questions: a) What is your biggest problem right now? and b) What do you think is the #1 thing we can help with?."
— Chris Guillebeau, Art of Nonconformity

104. "Do the things that make you money."
— Jonathan Mead, Illuminated Mind

105. "Focus on value, and do what you want."
— Jonathan Mead, Illuminated Mind