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Sweet success for two entrepreneurs

June 25, 2019
Success Story: Idaho –
Amazing Glaze Donuts
Dean & Katie Giesbrecht, Owners, Amazing Glaze Donuts, Pocatello, Idaho

Katie Giesbrecht was working as a barista for Double Shot Donuts when the owners of the shop asked Katie and her husband if they would be interested in buying the business. At the time, Katie and Dean were both looking for new opportunities and decided to consider the offer.

They spent seven months working side by side with the previous owners, learning the business operations and working with the Idaho SBDC before the sale of the business went through. In August, 2017, the Giesbrechts reopened the business as Amazing Glaze Donuts.

When asked what makes Amazing Glaze Donuts different than other donuts in the marketplace, Katie and Dean both agree: it’s the recipe. The proprietary recipe includes real Idaho potatoes. “It’s a big part of what we bought when we purchased the business,” said Dean. Katie and Dean both spent time tasting as many donuts as they could before purchasing the business. “We tried everything from vegan to whole wheat. Nothing tastes as good as these.” (more…)

B2B Marketing Trends that Make a Difference (Tips)

June 18, 2019
By Jackie, for Koble –

Koble - helpful tipsComing up with an effective marketing strategy is all about what works for you and what does not. Whether you are a big or small business owner, you have to come up with a plan that will suit your needs and budget.

The first step to doing so is learning the market trends. We are in a competitive world, especially in the B2B market, and that is why you have to do all you can to stay up-to-date with the trends. It helps you maximize your selling power and stay ahead of competitors.

We take a look at the leading B2B marketing trends to look out for this year to help your business grow and optimize leads.

Account-based B2B marketing

This marketing strategy has been in existence for years, but with the rise of digital marketing channels, most B2B companies are now shifting back to account-based marketing. Time changes are making it hard and super expensive for businesses to market and reach their target customers on digital marketing platforms. (more…)

Check Out the Koble Web App for B2B Business Discovery

June 13, 2019
By Jackie, for Koble –

Koble web appKoble is thrilled to announce the launch of its web app for Koble 2.0. The web app brings the ability to search for over 11 million companies in 30 categories, to an SMB or corporate buyer’s desktop.

The web app features Koble Pages – smaller than a website and larger than a listing – which are SEO optmized, and allow for businesses to gain unrivaled visibility online. Businesses can now own a company page which is optimized for search engines with Koble Pages, which are free. With nearly half of US small businesses without a website, owning a Koble page makes a website accessible to every SMB, without having any technical know-how.

Koble has already optimized for eight key categories, namely Accounting, Advertising Agencies, Engineering Services, Information Technology, Legal Services, Management Consulting, Market Research and Public Relations. This will progressively lead to increased traffic being driven towards companies that operate within those categories. Any company on the Koble platform is up to five times more likely to be found in a search. (more…)

Employee Training: What’s Recommended for Small Businesses?

June 11, 2019
ComplyRight - Employee TrainingBy ComplyRight –

Training your staff on essential topics helps create a safe, respectful and productive workplace. There are two types of training: recommended and required. Let’s look at some important areas of training every business owner should consider implementing.

New Employee Orientation

Training should start on an employee’s first day. Orientation helps new hires get acclimated to your business and understand your company culture. Important topics to cover include:

  • Goals and expectations, including job responsibilities
  • Compensation and benefits, including pay dates, payment options (e.g., direct deposit), health insurance and other benefits
  • Work hours, including lunch/break times, as well as clock-in, clock-out procedures for non-exempt employees
  • Code of conduct, including your company values, customer interaction, dress code and other expectations
  • Technology policies and procedures, including how to access email, your social media policy and consequences for abusing company technology
  • Harassment and discrimination, including the different types of harassment, specific examples of inappropriate behavior and how to report a claim

(more…)

What Do All Those Letters Mean?

June 4, 2019
By Shawn Hyde, International Society of Business Appraisers (ISBA) –

Piggy BankLots of people have a series of letters behind their names. These are designations that indicate specific training and education. There are several different sets of letters from different organizations that one can obtain in the field of business valuation. The following describes a little about each of them and their most commonly awarded designations.

Business valuation, as an industry, began being organized in the United States in 1978, with the Institute of Business Appraisers (IBA) and a man named Ray Miles. Prior to then, practitioners were valuing businesses, but there were no collections of authoritative texts or industry experts. In the early years of this industry, certain stars began to shine and publish books to share their expertise with the rest of us. I am speaking of names such as Shannon Pratt, Jay Fishman, Robert Reilly, Robert Schweihs, Gary Trugman, and Chris Mercer. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just those whose names are on the spines of most of the books in my library. (more…)