FastUpFront Small Business Blog

Effective inventory management is one of the keys to running a profitable business, and yet it amazes me how out of touch some business owners can be about the flow of products in and out of their companies. Inventory management is all about balance and flexibility. If you buy too much inventory, too often, then [...]

Among the good ol’ boys club of high-profile CEO’s, excess and frivolousness just seem to come with the territory. But these ten CEOs have become particularly infamous for their gregarious, flamboyant lifestyles, and egotistical flights of fancy. They’re livin’ XXXL – often at the astronomical expense of the companies in their charge. 1.Dennis Kozlowski Tyco [...]

Coming up against an unhappy customer can be unpleasant at best and downright damaging at at worst- threatening to drive away other customers and derail your efforts to run a successful business. But it is an inevitable part of doing business. You just can’t please everyone all the time. That said, there are many ways [...]

Unless you live under a rock, it’s hard to escape the buzz surrounding Facebook’s recent IPO. Unfortunately for the social media juggernaut most of this attention has been negative. A simple search online for the phrase “Facebook IPO” brings up a whole roster of unflattering expressions, such as “horrendous,” “fiasco,” “disaster,” and of course, “flop.” [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Now that 2011 has passed (and what a wild and crazy year it was!) and 2012 is well under way, it’s time to look at some trends that will shape the upcoming year for small business owners. Taken as a whole, in 2012 you can expect to see a lot of maturing and fine tuning [...]

Thinking of selling your business? Hold on, and wipe those dollar signs out of your eyes. There are several factors that can affect the value of a business, and if your company isn’t up to snuff then it can look to potential buyers like the leftovers in a Walmart clearance bin. So before you offer [...]

Here is a collection of the biggest blunders, bloopers, and dumbest business moves of the past decade: 1. The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall Immersed in obscure accounting practices that concealed loses worth billions of dollars, Enron’s downfall at the end of 2001, will certainly be remembered as one of the most notorious scandals in [...]

The spate of foreclosures in the U.S. might be coming to a halt. Homeowners have long been complaining that banks use improper documentation to seize their homes. Their clamoring became so loud that lawmakers and banks have finally taken notice. Now, several of the big guns in banking have declared a nation-wide moratorium on foreclosure [...]