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Do you understand basic accounting and bookkeeping? And do you need to? Well, yes and no. In the grans scheme of things as an entrepreneur if you succeed big, then you succeed big. But for most of us the devil is in the details and you need to understand the basics of how money works in your business. Which means understanding properly what things like net and gross mean as they apply to your business. Ken Rutkowski is here to set you straight in this Business Rockstars Minute. View more »

There's light at the end of the tunnel. That's a pretty trite phrase but it is grounded in reality. Success in business is a struggle and there are many 'tunnels,' but if you get through them there will be a light at the end. In this Business Rockstars Minute, Ken Rutkowski talks about why and how you should never give up in the struggle to succeed with your business. View more »

Small business owners and 3D printers have the potential to be a perfect couple. Like any strong relationship, both parties are continuously making efforts to adapt and make things work independently, while collaborating could be extremely beneficial for both ends. As the 3D printing industry has made waves in 2014, with shipments of 3D printers projected to double next year, small business owners are constantly adjusting to finding ways to improve and grow. View more »

In this Business Rockstars Minute with Ken Rutkowski, he takes a look at the controversial topic of comparing men and women in business and the unfortunately very real perceptions that exist. He is going to banish a few hidebound misconceptions and challenge some old assumptions. But the bottom line is that while there are real differences, gender isn't any kind of barrier or influence on success when you start your own business. View more »

In this Business Rockstars Minute with Ken Rutkowski he takes a look at how you can be more effective in your use of social media. When you take a break or when you are busy, you really want to find a process and tools that can help your social media engagement and posting keep humming along. View more »

What's the secret to entrepreneurial success? How can you learn to make sure your small business will be as much of a success as it can be? There's a simple secret which Ken Rutkowski reveals in this video - and it is something everyone can do. View more »

As a small business owner, you may find yourself in a position where you need to hire an employee or two. Finding and retaining the right team to help you accomplish your company’s goals is an important skill. If you set things up correctly from the start, your staff should stick around long term. View more »

Ever wanted a better education? Or more education? Or even any education? How about if you could take courses from schools like Harvard or MIT or almost any global elite university - and you could even take them for free? Ken Rutkowski tells you how in this Business Rockstars Minute. View more »

In this Business Rockstars Minute video with Ken Rutkowski he takes a look at a completely counter-intuitive idea - that taking a break is great for business. But it's true. Taking a break for work done at the right time and in the right way can be the best thing for your work that you can do. Want to know why and how to do it successfully? View more »

If you’re a small business owner, running a shop or online company, there are days when you might feel that you’re all alone in the world, the only one experiencing the kind of problems you encounter. It’s important to know that there are plenty of options you can turn to for support. View more »

Although nothing beats getting referrals from your loyal customers’ circles of friends and family, if you want to expand quickly, you’ll need online reviews as well. They go a long way toward spreading the word about your business to customers who might not otherwise find you. View more »

The Adminstrator for the US Government's Small Business Administration (SBA.gov) discusses small business, job growth and the US economy. View more »

The most amusing (and strangest) online business running on the TV Store Online site has nothing to do with memorabilia, and only shows up as a sub-category in a box labeled "costumes." That site is Ugly Christmas Sweaters, and it celebrates a really peculiar (and increasingly popular) Christmas phenomenon: wearing, competing in, and partying around the ugliest, silliest sweaters you can find. View more »

If you have a business that could possibly cater to local clientele, it is essential that you learn to promote your product or service to consumers in your surrounding region effectively. And if your business appeals to customers far and wide, you’ll need to create a flexible marketing campaign that reaches everyone. Believe it or not, it’s possible to do so on a shoe-string budget. View more »

In this Business Rockstars Minute video with Ken Rutkowski he talks about a strange group of people that he calls the $30K Millionaire. These are the people that are masquerading as someone they are not. They seem to be useful to you but turn out not to be. Watch out for these people because they can use up your valuable time, energy, contacts and ideas. It always pays to make sureyou are dealing with the right people. View more »

We held a live twitter chat yesterday on recognition, publicity and PR for small business with Jonathan Hisrshon. Called 'The Guru of Silicon Valley' by BusinessWeek, Jonathan is the principal of Horizon Communications, one of Silicon Valley's premier high-tech PR agencies. View more »

In this Business Rockstars Minute video with Ken Rutkowski he talks about your attitude to prospective partners and even customers. The basic message is to be open to opportunities but not to naively believe everything you hear and to do that he suggest emulating a famous dictum from back in the Cold War: Trust but Verify. How do you do that? View more »

Some entrepreneurs are top-notch experts in their industry, brilliantly skilled in their craft, but they’re missing one key element. They don’t know how to market. Remember, if you have an excellent product or service, but no one knows about it, you can’t succeed. View more »

The Roadside MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business takes a look a look at an innovative small business in Southern California that has combined its innovation with process and product expertise along with highly skilled employees to create the largest and best industrial mixers in the world. View more »

Getting the sale is one of the toughest challenges a business owner faces. Maybe not one sale, but sales again, and again, and again. Sales people have to be persistent and creative without being annoying. And as a business founder and owner you are going to be a sales person whether you like it or not. What does it take? Find out in this Business Rockstars Video with Ken Rutkowski. He lets you in on a secret to just how persistent you really need to be. View more »

Depending on your political views, beliefs and other factors, you will react very differently to it but please bear with us. Our mandate here at Yahoo Small Business Advisor is to encourage and support small business owners. And typically that means VERY small businesses. Like under 5 employees small. How is that relevant? Well the question is what does our global pool of natural resources have to do with you? The answer is actually not very much. You may or may not make use of them in a small way as part fo the resources going in to your business. But no matter what they are somewhere between meaning nothing to you and meaning a very small amount to you in terms of your business. View more »

Perhaps the single biggest challenge in any form of business, but especially in starting a new venture, is trusting people and knowing with whom to partner and who you should stay away from. It's a challenge and one that can make the difference between strong partnerships and success and between misplaced trust and failure. And the same skill is useful again and again. IF you can successfully evaluate new people that you meet. View more »

Imagine dedicating yourself to a line of work in which the chance that you will ever make a bundle of money, or even a comfortable living, is laughably miniscule. No matter how good you are at what you do—or how hard you work—your success or failure depends on things that are utterly indifferent to your aspirations. Add to this that the lifestyle choice you’ve made by doing what you do is perpetually misunderstood by others, who insist on romanticizing what is, in reality, a gritty and often heart-breaking job—who tell you, at every opportunity, that they long to do what you do. View more »

Six tips to take your customer service from ordinary to great. View more »

When it comes to customer service, failing to plan is almost akin to planning to fail, according customer service consultants and several successful small business owners. View more »