I can hear you say, “Huh? What is UMAMI?” The Google search definition describes it as “u·ma·mi” - “a category of taste in food (besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), corresponding to the flavor of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate.” I enjoy the definition from Urban Dictionary; “A BS invented flavor that TV chefs pretend to be able to recognize, but can never define.”

You’ve probably learned by now that marketing has a HUGE impact on the success and longevity of a business. It’s important to remember that the world of marketing is always evolving, so staying up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices is extremely important.

With the New Year in full swing I thought it would be appropriate to discuss resolutions with you and why so many people fall off track with no motivation to continue after just a few months. I'll give you one hint... accountability! I have a friend who owns a popular gym franchise and he tells me his holiday season comes around every January/February… not November/December.

It was 2010, I was running a large mobile communication technology organization with over 500+ staff members in multinational offices in the US, Asia, and Europe. I knew I wanted more out of my corporate job than it could truly offer. The 2008 economic collapse turned the technology sector of corporate America upside down. Budget and staff cuts were ways of survival while increasingly more demand for better features and more products. It felt like at the executive level your primary role was to

We know that employee motivation plays a large role in company success. In fact, recent research has found that a strong positive relationship exists between employee motivation and organizational productivity, consistent in a wide variety of business types spread across several different countries. Knowing how to motivate your team can go a long way in improving the efficiency of your entire business. Here are five ways to develop stronger motivation in your team members:

Business owners know you need to spend money to make money. Being wise about your investments, though, is a key aspect of maximizing your ROI and helping your business grow. Fortunately, you can take several steps to effectively budgeting and spending your money.

Most managers know that happier employees are more productive. A wide body of research supports this point. In fact, one recent study found that happy employees are 20% more productive than those that are unhappy. In sales, happiness tends to have an even greater effect, with satisfied employees achieving nearly 40% more sales. It seems clear that satisfied employees are naturally more motivated and this turns into desirable business outcomes. If you suspect that your employees are unhappy,

Small business owners typically work on small profit margins and have modest budgets. This is why they tend to control their spending fiercely to protect their bottom line. It’s essential to keep track of a budget and not spend outside your scope, but allocating budgets to certain things can actually help grow your business. Learn how spending money can help you develop a speedy return on investment and help your business succeed.