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SMALL BUSINESS : Opening a Small Business : Consultants - Hiring When NecessaryWe start a business wanting to do what we like and know best. However, that starting up also requires us to deal with many other facets of business which, all too often, we know nothing about. So we hire consultants / experts to help us over the rough spots. When you hire those consultants your business is at risk, so do your due diligence. Ask for references, and then call those references and ask as many questions as you can. Take a few minutes to run an Internet search. Don’t forget to search for negative reviews as well, and if you can, follow up with those folks as well. Ask your friends and other professionals. You can’t be too careful. Yes, there are plenty of honest, trustworthy, efficient and competent consultants / experts out there, and they contribute immensely to many successful businesses. And there are lots of frauds as well. In the 1990's there was a sucessful company people worked with. They were successful and popular, and wanted to expand and grow. They hired a consultant who presented a long list of former clients. He quickly convinced the owner to make him the general manager. And the organization crashed within two years. It turns out this expert’s long list of "clients" was a recounting of all the businesses who had hired and then fired him. The employee who discovered and blew the whistle on this creative reframing of the expert consultant’s work experience was let go soon afterwards, and the company, ignoring the timely warning continued its death spiral. In the end, the business owner woke up to the unhappy truth, and the "expert consultant" had one more former client to add to his list. The company survived, barely, at the cost of the owner’s hard earned savings, and after a decade, has not, to my knowledge, recovered to its prior level of success. source: http://articles.bplans.com/starting-a-business/getting-up-and-running/due-diligence-is-necessary-when-hiring-consultants/898 Opening a Small BusinessAspiring entrepreneurs are fairly excited when opening a small business. Sharing this news with friends and family usually generates a response referring to...Starting a Small Business IdeaYou have thought out an angle for starting a small business idea that is going to revolutionize the industry. Are you willing...Good Business PracticesTo succeed in business, it's not enough to be the first, the best, or the most competitive. It's not enough to monitor trends so you know when to make strategic changes that will...Ergonomics and Modern Workspace DesignToday, few small businesses need concern themselves with a lot of hard labor, but workers are breaking their backs at a whole new kind of grind, spending up to fourteen hours...Small Business LoansSooner or later most small businesses need to get a small business loan, whether to get the operating capital for business startup or to finance an expansion. But whether...Small Businesses in the U.S.Even today, the U.S. economy is by no means dominated by giant corporations. Fully 99 percent of all independent businesses in the country employ fewer than 500 people...Other Related Articles: General Small Business Advice Feb 1, 2010Here is some general business advice for anyone opening a business right now...Save Money on Microsoft Business Software 1/26/10Many small businesses pay way too much for Windows, Office, and other Microsoft products. They buy software at retail on store shelves or online, one-at-a-time, and miss significant discount ...Consultants - Hiring When Necessary 1/7/10We start a business wanting to do what we like and know best. However, that starting up also requires us to deal with many other facets of business which, ...Small business owners increasingWith big business struggling on Wall Street and a slow economy, new small businesses are becoming popular. Jeannie Carriker Skane just registered her own small business...Credit crisis hits small business developmentAs the financial crisis deepens, small business development could be facing more challenges when starting a small business and aquiring loans.... |
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