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A study by the Relational Capital Group revealed that 87 percent of consumers say they’ll stick with a brand after a recall if the company handles it well. People understand that mistakes happen, but they also prefer brands that demonstrate honesty and responsibility when dealing with those mistakes.

Of course, the scope of the fallout of a product recall depends on the nature of the error itself. A single faulty part requires significantly less damage control than a software bug that affects every user. In some cases, a product recall can even mean losing millions of dollars.

However, if a problem isn’t a critical function of your business, you can easily turn it into an opportunity. Even when dealing with a more widespread issue, acceptin...

No marketing budget to speak of. At best, basic video, photography and editing skills. This doesn’t sound like a winning recipe for launching a successful ad campaign. Not by a long shot. But, if you fit the profile, you’re probably not at so great of a disadvantage as you might think.

Thanks to StoriesAds.

StoriesAds is a tool that lets you make Instagram Stories ads in just a couple of minutes. It’s currently free to use, and pretty much anyone capable of uploading a video has sufficient design chops for success.

Created by online video maker Shakr in collaboration with the inbound marketing and sales platform HubSpot, StoriesAds supplies templates that make building a stories ad extremely easy. You select a template, then customize visu...

Congress passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act way back in April of 2012 — and the startup world rejoiced. Finally, we’d be able to raise money through non-accredited investors, just like all of our friends were doing to pay for their EPs and trips to South America and medical procedures! Crowdfunding — which the startup world invented — was finally a legal option for startups.

So what’s so great about the American JOBS Act, anyway? The ability to raise equity crowdfunding without having to make a public offering is probably the most significant change that the JOBS Act made, of course. Any startup founder can tell you that raising money from friends and family — or, if you have the right type of product, running a crowdfund...

Our minds approach solving big problems — or big business goals — differently. Some people are analytical; some people are logical; some people are creative; others are visual.

Visual Mapping

Visual mapping is a straightforward strategy that takes your largest business goal and breaks it down into chunks that you can easily act on.

If you’re the type of person who needs to see how everything connects, and the thought of putting everything into a spreadsheet makes you feel like sleeping — Well, you’re in luck, you visual learner, you. This business template is perfect for the way you think.

Alright, grab a pen and paper (or download our handy template here)

Go ahead and write your “ultimate business goal” right in the center. Then, write d...

We’ve all read the articles, seen the reports, heard the advice: one-on-one meetings are key to running a startup effectively. So why is it that only a third of managers actually follow that advice and meet with their employees on a weekly basis?

In my experience, it’s because most one-on-one meetings are bad. They’re difficult in the best of circumstances, and that difficulty is often compounded by managers at startups being less experienced on average. The result is meetings that are poorly run, poorly planned for, and really, really awkward.

As humans, when we’re faced with an uncomfortable situation that will theoretically help us succeed in the long term but will be painful in the short term, we’re just not going to do it. This is tru...

What is a private investor?

The short answer: A private investor is a person or company that invests their own money into a company, with the goal of helping that company succeed and getting a return on their investment.

The long answer: The field of private investment is more varied than the short answer might make it seem at first. It's important to note that while some types of private investors may be from firms that focus solely on investments — like VC firms and angel investors — they are never from banks (for example, SBA bank loans).

The four main types of private investors

a. Friends and family

Family and Friends are often the first private investors that startups and small businesses turn to. They're a great re...

Don’t miss out! Check out the previous editions here:

–Getting Your Idea Going: There is no perfect idea
–Getting Your Idea Going: Popular Excuses for Not Starting
–Getting Your Idea Going: When to Jump Ship
–Getting Your Idea Going: Don’t Quit your Day Job
–Getting Your Idea Going: Share your Idea with Everyone

Long before you set up shop and hang your shingle, your job as a Founder is to spend as many cycles as you can validating whether your business idea even merits a logo.

Validating your business idea isn’t a dark art. It’s literally asking people whether they would use or buy what you’d make.

The challenge is: How exactly do you go about doing that? Since most Founders are only validating a business idea for ...

In Silicon Valley, where it costs next to nothing to build a company based on just software and a clever business model, some people still make hardware. Physical goods. Things that have to be manufactured, boxed up, shipped, plugged in. Things that break.

It might seem that the economics of making hardware are at odds with the cycle of easy money and fast startups, but there are still people who think that hardware is a good business because it is so difficult.

One of those people is Nick Weaver, the 28-year-old founder of eero, a company that has turned the un-sexy world of WiFi routers on its head. Before he started his company, he was the guy at his family house who kept the network equipment up and running. Often this meant nerdy netw...

Growth expert Steve Patti joined us for a Clarity Live webinar last week to share some of his key lessons for growth. We’re sharing his top tips to keep you on the right track for startup success.

Steve’s three steps for startup growth are outlined below.

Step One: Understand the Approach for Becoming Customer-Centric

Get the Story Right: Be clear about why buyers should care about what you have to sell. Nail your positioning statement and then quantify it in terms of business outcomes that matter to customers.

Apply It: Once the brand positioning is defined and quantified, apply it to your messaging strategy, content production, lead generation tactics, and in your sales process so that you become your positioning.

Keep It Relevant: Audit ...

Owning a startup, to many, is the epitome of the American dream. Who doesn’t pine the work day away thinking about being their own boss, escaping the hamster wheel of being a salaried employee or clock puncher, and making your own destiny?

However, one area where may new entrepreneurs and small business owners fall short is dealing with the law and regulations. Typically, new business owners starting out have not had to worry about legal issues in their past jobs; now however, at the helm of your own company, that lack of knowledge can be detrimental.

Ignorance of the law can inhibit your company’s growth, expose you, your employees, and your customers to significant liability risk, and even put you into legal jeopardy if you run too far a...