Ask the Experts

By Brooke Mirenda, CEO of SEDCO  As a Small Business Administration lender, I received notice on Oct. 15, at 5:30 p.m., that the SBA has already exhausted its disaster funding for small businesses.  This occurred just six days after Hurricane Milton devastated Florida’s Gulf Coast. To be clear, this isn’t the fault of the SBA.

By Carrie Zeisse, chief executive officer of Tampa Bay Thrives Tampa Bay residents are no strangers to hurricane season, despite the area being spared a significant, direct, hit for over a century. This past October, however, a devastating one-two punch hit the region. Hurricane Helene’s storm surge was followed by Milton’s high winds and torrential

If you’re a sales director, or manager, you already know you have one of the most difficult and demanding jobs in business today.  Motivating and holding your people accountable, training and coaching your team, generating reports and managing your customer relationships, putting out fires and being held responsible for hitting a company or departmental revenue

Last week, an entrepreneur I know well was speaking at a private mastermind group I’m a part of and as he was talking about how tough things have been for him lately, I looked around the room and saw a lot of heads nodding.  Now this guy has always run a pretty efficient company with

Dear Debbie: A few months ago, you shared how to be a sponsor and speak up. I love it and, yet, sometimes when I get feedback, I get embarrassed and don’t know how to respond. How can I express my regret, and embarrassment, without making the other person feel awkward? Thank you, Imperfect, Embarrassed Feedback

Summer is hot and so is burnout. By this time of the year, the heat, and the mood, in the office, and outside, feels like it would melt gold which, fun fact, has a melting point of 1,948°F.  Executive assistants have been in the cubicle crucibles for the last seven months firing on all cylinders

If you’re in sales and new business development, you know that your job consists of three primary functions: selling (including presenting your solution to a prospective customer or client, then closing for a commitment), servicing the account once you’ve closed it and prospecting for new opportunities. By far, the activity that many sellers find most

So, here we are in August – what some people refer to as the “dog days of summer.” Temperatures and humidity are through the roof, many of your clients, customers and prospects are on vacation and those deals you thought were going to close in June or July just haven’t happened. This time of year

(Reader Alert: This article is about golf; if you are not a fan or a participant – or have little patience for those who are – please feel free to turn the page. But, if you have any interest in improving your “sales game,” read on.) If you’re still with us, welcome to the most

As a recruiter, my first go-to candidate is someone who has depth, personality and has navigated some real-life experiences. Many times though, they have little-to-no college experience. This begs the question:  Should a job requirement for an executive assistant be a college degree?    It’s crazy to me that so many job descriptions read like this:

While numerous economic indicators continue to plunge, lenders have been tightening underwriting guidelines to reduce their risk exposure.  This shouldn’t surprise anyone considering the fact that we all can see the impact of inflation first hand, and most of us have either been laid off or know someone who has. Rising costs and layoffs have

The month of June signifies different things to different people: weddings, graduations, Father’s Day, hurricane season, the Summer Solstice, etc. The kids are out of school, summer vacations are being (or have been) planned and, as a frantic business executive, chances are you’re looking forward to some well-earned time off. All fine and good, and