The one thing that every Smart Hustler knows is that learning is the key to growing a business. Our Smart Business articles are designed to provide the best information in every aspect of business – marketing, finance, social media and more.

5 Ideas for Taking Your Successful Startup to the Next Level

5 Ideas for Taking Your Successful Startup to the Next Level

According to statistics, only 1 out of every 10 startups manages to succeed, while the remaining 90% fail due to lack of experience, incompetence, negligence or even fraud. On the other hand, the minority that achieves stellar success pride themselves on their awareness of the market requirements, their clearly defined goals and the ability to...

New Research Reveals Top Concerns for Retailers in 2016

New Research Reveals Top 20 Concerns for Retailers in 2016

The digital age of today’s world has seen the ever-increasing vulnerability of secure information. Between identity theft and credit card fraud, no information seems 100 percent secure. The same goes for large companies. As major retail branches like Target make national headlines for recent security breaches, it is no surprise that cybersecurity is a top...

Why Small Business Needs to Rethink Pricing Strategies and Creating a Lean Startup

Why Small Business Needs to Rethink Pricing Strategies and the Lean Startup Model

Growing a profitable business is tricky. You start out with a great idea but how do you take it from there? In a recent interview, my guest Lisa Hendrickson (founder of Spark City), shed light on some of the many complex decisions small business owners have to make. Her insights will make you take...

Danny Mizrahi

6 Tips to Differentiate Your Business And Stand Out From Contango IT CEO Danny Mizrahi

  What makes you better than the competition? Why should a customer choose you instead of another company in your industry? Learning how to differentiate your business is important for all small business owners because not only are you competing against other small businesses, but you also have to fight well-known national and global companies...

Cross-border sales

PayPal’s Tips to Grow Your Business Through Cross-Border Sales

Geographic borders used to represent real divisions between where you could and couldn’t sell your products, but the global online marketplace has made borders a thing of the past. Now, more than ever, consumers around the world are willing to do business with a company that is located in a different country. Recognizing the...

EMV

The Switch to EMV Payment Transactions: What It Is & What It Means for Merchants and Customers

With the exception of operators of ATM machines and fuel pump payment terminals (who have until 2017 to transition to EMV technology), merchants who accept credit and debit card transactions now bear the liability associated with a payment security breach if they aren’t equipped to process EMV transactions. However, merchants who have updated their payment...

Tips from Robert Nendza of Leadpages on Buidlding a Marketing Machine

How to Build A Powerful Marketing Machine: Tips from LeadPages VP of Marketing

Marketing is a process that involves more than just driving visitors to your website. It involves building a solid marketing machine comprised of different marketing tools, all of which work together to move people through your funnel from 'lead' to 'customer'. This involves: Turning visitors into leads by capturing their personal information (such as...

5 Strategies to Find out How Your Customers Are Changing

Many of us think of our business as “the corner store” in a high tech world. There’s personality and friendship, service and camaraderie. If something is going on with our customers, we’ll know. You won’t. The reality is that the technical divide is deep. There is an ocean of noise between us and our customers. Our customers...