Baseball Starting Lineups

The phrase Starting Strength" (SS) has two distinct meanings. Never lose sight of why you went into business in the first place — perhaps you had a niggling small business idea that kept you up at night, you noticed a gap in the market or you wanted to share your expertise by offering your services to businesses or individuals who need it.

One reason software-as-a-service (SaaS) has grown so rapidly in popularity—Forrester Research estimated $170 billion in cloud subscriptions in 2020 Bookmarks (see this) even before COVID spiked work from home—is that SaaS gives even the smallest businesses access to advanced technology on a pay-as-you-go basis.

A surprising percentage of business owners, who are some of the hardest-working people on Earth, tend to get a little lazy or sloppy with their personal finances: they spend too much, they don't save enough for retirement, they make excessively risky investments (or make the mistake of parking their money in the bank and earning 0% interest).

For your coffee shop, you'd want to explain what you do (sell coffee), your services (the drinks you offer), what makes you special (maybe the coffee you serve is rare or locally roasted), and what you plan to do next (expand to another location, new products, etc.).

Studies conducted by the Small Firms Economic Development Initiative found that 70 percent of small businesses that receive mentorship from experienced business owners survive their first five years, compared to 35 percent of small businesses that aren't advised by an industry mentor.