FastUpFront Small Business Blog

With the rising costs of health care and the tangible benefits that come with living a healthy life style, it’s almost a no-brainier that implementing a wellness program in your small business can offer a potentially big payback. And don’t think that it will necessarily cost you big bucks. Just because you can’t afford to [...]

Despite an urge to paint email usage as out-dated and irrelevant compared to all the popular, fast-paced social media platforms out there, small business owners should not discount email as a primary marketing medium. The fact is that email marketing just works; whereas the jury is still out when it comes to leveraging the surge [...]

Conducting an online survey is a great market research tool that can give you invaluable insight into your target market’s attitudes, behaviors, and make up. But creating an effective online questionnaire or poll (even a short one) involves much more than just throwing together a few of your burning questions. It is a thought-out and [...]

If you are thinking about starting a small business, then chances are you are going to need some outside advice, training, and other various forms of support along the way to get your venture up and running. Luckily, there are many, many organizations and individuals you can turn to in order to get the support [...]

As the economy continues to huff and puff along, many would-be entrepreneurs and professionals may be debating the value of investing in a business-related degree as opposed to making their way in the working world or taking an entrepreneurial route without that big, framed certificate hanging on the wall. After all, there are countless people [...]

When it comes to marketing a business the frequent complaint from small biz owners is that marketing rarely works or just isn’t worth the expense. For those business owners I offer the reasons below as to why that may seem to be true.   1.) You Try to Do It Yourself. Yeah, I know, you’d [...]

As life and business seem to be approaching the speed of light, the need for cheap, nimble electronic payments and personal money transferring services has only increased. But if you are relying on either your bank or a traditional payment processor to move your money, then chances are you’re swooning in fees and long waits [...]

As many small business owners continue to debate whether or not to heed the clarion call for all-things-social media, the Internet landscape has only gotten more complex and confusing. As a time-strapped, cash-strapped small business owner, you may be wondering where do you even start? Try asking that question, and be prepared to get back [...]

Now that the iPad has opened the floodgates on tablet computers, and the cost to own one of these devices is getting more reasonable (several models are selling for $200-$400), you may want to consider using them in your small business. Most of the research that has come out lately, such as this study by [...]

The web is literally saturated with professional women bloggers, and plenty of these women have been recognized as some of the biggest movers and shakers in their respective industries. But more often than not, when I visit some of these “influential” blogs I get the feeling that no one’s home. Even where there are comments [...]