By Bob Barker Early in the life of the company most CEOs find that generating revenue and managing cash drive every decision. When revenue eventually starts to flow, it can be exhilarating. You reach breakeven, then turn slightly profitable, and at this point it’s easy to believe that just turning the crank on sales is [...]

By Lauren Peters You’re on your way home and stop at the neighborhood HEB or Tom Thumb to pick up a short list of ‘honey, on your way home would you stop and . . .’ You’re standing in the checkout line and spot a strange looking bar code on one of the packages. It [...]

By Keith Owen, PhD, Frank Falkstein, and Ron Mundy Each year organizations spend millions and millions of dollars to train and develop their staffs.  But, when the money has been spent and the training complete, do your people perform better?  Do they contribute more to your bottom line? The Truth about Learning Most of us [...]

By Brian Townley Training tomorrow’s leaders may require an extra measure of patience and a revamped succession plan for today’s management. In an age when the younger generation wants it and wants it now and when the notion of loyalty isn’t necessarily as revered as it once was, we must refocus as we look at [...]

What to Expect From the Upcoming Session of the Texas Legislature  By John Pitts, Lucinda Saxon, and Stacy Armijo There is no such thing as an “easy” legislative session and that’s especially true this year. Coming off the heels of one of the most tumultuous elections in history, your Texas Legislature will consider huge issues [...]

Clayton Christopher Bootstraps His Second Tea-Based Business – This Time With A Kick It’s a drink that won’t appeal to everyone, and that might be part of its appeal. Deep Eddy Sweet Tea Vodka is Clayton Christopher and Chad Auler’s latest venture. Christopher, who started Sweet Leaf Tea and grew it to a national business, [...]

At 24, Shama Hyder Kabani brings a combination of education, moxie, and fearlessness to her title as President of  The Marketing Zen Group.  Kabani earned a Master’s Degree in organizational communication from the University of Texas, started bootstrapping a company in the Great Recession, and her lack of fear is based on her age. “What [...]

Sometimes, a great idea for a business is a lot more exciting to the business owners than to their customers. When hit with customer resistance, the business has to adapt – or die. That happened to Dan Graham, CEO of BuildASign.com. With two friends he’d known since high school, and a fourth partner who had [...]

Like many entrepreneurs, Mike Novak went into business for himself at a young age. He was 28. That was 30 years ago. To begin his journey, Novak first had to go in the wrong direction and experience the corporate world to know it wasn’t where he wanted to stay. The entrepreneurial spirit first showed itself [...]

Picture yourself as a successful Houston dentist with over 400 patients in the process of getting their teeth aligned, and your product provider stops manufacturing. Suddenly you no longer have access to the necessary materials to complete the alignment. Necessity was indeed the mother of invention for Dr. Willis Pumphrey, who began ClearCorrect, a Houston [...]

How to Detect Abuse and Institute Controls to Safeguard Your Business They’re egotistical, risk takers, hard workers, greedy, disgruntled or complainers, have an overwhelming desire for personal gain, are under pressure to perform, inquisitive, rule breakers, under stress, have financial need, are big spenders, have a close relationship with vendors and suppliers, and they can [...]