Lessons from "Downton Abbey's" Lady Mary Crawley I admit to being somewhat addicted to the wonderful PBS series Downton Abbey. In the early 1920s, the fictional Lady Mary (played by actress Michelle Dockery above) inherits a 50% stake in the sprawling English manor of her ancestry. Always...
In my latest book, The Entrepreneur's Growth Startup Handbook (John Wiley & Sons/Bloomberg Press), I note nine key personality traits I believe make it more likely you will succeed as an entrepreneur. One key attribute to help you build something substantial: being a macromanager. What is...
In 2001, a group led by OJ Simpson trial attorney Robert Shapiro tried something new. An online site for average folks to inexpensively access legal documents, form a business or make a will. Today LegalZoom is apparently over a $100 million a year business, according...
Searching for talent in a relatively new or fast-growing company is not exactly the same as finding employees in, say a small retail store, or at the opposite extreme, a large company. The difference in a growing entrepreneurial company is that typically the business is either...
As my faithful blogees know, I have been a strong advocate for the changes to SEC Regulation A that are in the process of being finalized. Congress mandated that the SEC implement these changes as part of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of...
Hiring as a Female Boss Reality: for millions of years until about 40 years ago, men ruled stuff. They worked outside the home and women generally took care of the home and children. Women only earned the right to vote in the US in 1920. The...
I believe that much of what makes great entrepreneurs and business leaders is ingrained in their personality, whereas some can be learned. I have found in representing hundreds as attorney and advisor that one key trait of successful business owners is being a natural leader...
The Legal Times tells us that Clearspire started with much promise, but a few weeks ago the "virtual" law firm closed with 25 lawyers on staff. The idea was to have a firm with no office staffed by former big firm attorneys that keep fees low...
Rep. Ann Wagner (R-MO) It took until just before Memorial Day, but apropos timing as the House Financial Services Committee, on May 22, officially approved 11 bills to help small businesses with capital formation and growth. Many on the Hill are fashioning this group of bills...
We all know the stories. Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs, Dell, all geniuses who dropped out of college and become happy billionaires (but are they really happy?). What did they miss? Something important? Would more courses in philosophy or anthropology or psychology have improved their ability to...