Pedro Hernandez

The typical small business notebook may get the job done, but it won’t win any beauty contests. With its new line of Latitude PCs, Dell shatters the barriers between today’s stylish consumer-grade PCs and their staid corporate cousins. This week, Dell took the wraps off its latest generation of its Latitude laptops, which not only […]

Want a business that stands the test of time? Take a break from balancing the books and optimizing workflows. Instead, get to work on your company’s culture. David K. Williams, author of The 7 Non-Negotiables of Winning: Tying Soft Traits to Hard Results, knows how to keep employees motivated and invested in a company’s growth. As […]

Can your small business survive the untimely passing of a founder or high-ranking leader? As morbid and upsetting as the thought of losing a business partner can be, it’s one that every small business owner should seriously consider and plan against. The emotional fallout of losing a colleague—and oftentimes a close friend—is gut-wrenching enough. There […]

Need additional cash? Small business have several more funding options today than in the past, says Stephen Sheinbaum, founder, CEO and president of New York City-based Merchant Cash & Capital. His company, a provider of merchant cash advances for businesses (more on that later), is one of several new non-bank financial firms that provide alternative paths […]

Congratulations on your pixel-perfect website. Getting around is a breeze, the expert photography delights and the compelling copy gives it a professional edge. So why aren’t more of your visitors sealing the deal? If your site lacks video, you’re passing up a great opportunity to hook customers, according to Brad Jefferson, CEO and co-founder of Animoto, […]

At work, situations often get personal despite everyone’s best efforts to keep their interactions on a professional level. Things can take a bad turn and eventually, your small business will suffer. People chalk up abrasive attitudes and snippy behavior to the pressures of the job (or a lack of caffeine). Rifts and rivalries form, tearing […]

Add submitting and processing small business expense reports to the list of business rituals that are being re-imagined by the cloud. Certify, a Portland, Maine-based provider of cloud-based business software, has flipped the switch to the final component that fully automates its expense management. The feature, called ReportExecutive, essentially eliminates the hassle of digging through […]

Is your business just doing OK? Has your job become routine and ordinary? If you answered yes, then you’re ready for an upgrade, according to Rana Florida, CEO of consulting firm Creative Class Group. “A lot of us are living through a state of managed dissatisfaction,” she laments. Naturally, that’s no way to achieve success. […]

On April 8, 2014 Microsoft is putting Windows XP out to pasture, so to speak. The software giant is cutting off support for the aging operating system (OS), effectively meaning the end of patches and updates. That spells trouble for small businesses that haven’t upgraded their operating systems in several years or haven’t made plans […]

Mind your manners. It’s good advice to follow, both in one’s personal life and in business. Yet, as ambitious go-getters, small business owners and entrepreneurs can sometimes expose a rough edge while dealing with prospective clients or potential investors. Sure, a great business model and a solid monetization plan will help you get noticed, but […]

Regardless of what you think of Starbucks coffee, it’s hard to argue its success. The global coffee chain is practically unavoidable in major metropolitan areas, suburban shopping centers and even airports. Its original location in Seattle, Wash. has turned into a tourist mecca, and its products can be found in the coffee aisles of grocers […]

PayPal has a question for small business owners. Is your cash register holding you back? If a successful sale means scurrying back behind the counter to ring it up on an ancient register, it’s a sign that merchants may be missing out on some big opportunities to profit from today’s savvy, mobile-device-wielding consumers. Merchants could […]