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Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Leanne Hoagland-Smith, Heurist for ADVANCED SYSTEMS the Next Generation of Talent Management, supports mid size to small business who want a new status quo. Call …Read More

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Fools and lies in small business

A Jewish proverb states, “A half-truth is still a whole lie.” How many times in our small businesses do we engage in half-truths? It happens because we may fear the consequences of telling the real truth to our customers, our employees or worse yet ourselves? …

The foolishness of bad hiring

Many small business owners end up as fools because they hire badly. These bad hiring decisions cost thousands of dollars in profits. What business can afford to stay in business when they continue to hire the wrong people or the right people continue to quit …

How this joke hurts the small business bottom line

Small business owners understand profitability is critical to staying in the marketplace. They expect their employees to maximize profitability. Yet, how many employees know with 100 percent certainty the answer to this question: Do you know how this small business makes and keeps money? No …

Small business execs need to do homework before outsourcing

With the economy still struggling, many small business owners to even C Suite executives are outsourcing roles to maximize profitability. This is a proven business growth strategy provided those vendors include an assessment before embarking on any solution. Without the assessment, this can be a …

Are these April Fool’s Day jokes on you or your small business?

Today is April 1, the day noted for practical jokes. For small business owners and professionals this is not a one-time event. It happens numerous times month after month. Here are some April Fool’s jokes that I have discovered during my tenure not only as …

Critical growth categories are more than profit

So many times the business growth solutions fall into the “one size fits all” model. This approach ignores the reality of the different business growth stages and consequently the different challenges being faced within each growth stage. Unfortunately, many of these traditional business growth solutions …

The profit picture goes beyond sales less costs

The traditional business growth model of “sales-less-costs-equal-profits” is simple and may be the reason so many businesses fail in the first year. There are many elements to profit. It’s more of a design, a picture puzzle with just more than the two pieces of sales …

Honesty about profits first step in building growth strategy

Profits are what make businesses from the micro to the macro churn and turn. For without profits, employees to vendors would not be paid for their services not to mention the small business owners or investors. The traditional business growth strategy is pretty simple: Sales …

Your solution approach to business growth may be the problem

Business leaders when confronted with challenges or repetitive issues traditionally take a problem solving approach. And what usually happens is the discovery of more problems creating a business landscape of not just one dug hole, but many. The problem solving approach is probably rooted in …

What’s your voltage meter reading?

Voltage is a term to measure the electrical current (energy) running through a system as well as the energy potential for that system. The origin of this word comes from Alessandro Volta a physicist in the early 1800s. Imagine for a moment if your organization …

How to avoid the repeating the ‘WIIFM’ broadcast

Radio station WIIFM is known as “What’s In It For Me.” Listen to many small business owners and sales professionals at any business-to-business networking event and you will hear numerous broadcasts all on this same frequency. If you have employees, the emotional desire of WIIFM …

Bad bosses keep it negative; stir emotional rancor in workplace

Have you ever had a bad boss? Or maybe a boss who sometimes engaged in bad behaviors? How did that make you feel? If you are a boss, a manager or a supervisor, how do you think your bad behaviors made your direct reports feel? …

Handling emotions properly can help a business enjoy success

February is considered a month of emotions. From the red hearts decorations to all the cards, flowers and gifts just waiting to be received on Valentine’s Day, February month is bursting with emotions. When we examine any business, emotions are present because customers are human …

Positive core values remain critical to success in leaders

Leadership is still a critical aspect of running any small business or organization. And here in Northwest Indiana it is those small business owners, CEO’s and entrepreneurs who truly keep the economic engine running. Today, I would like to introduce you to Marti Masterson, entrepreneur …

Keeping the ‘dead horse’ in the race won’t bring success

Conducting business as we have always done it produces a lot of wasted energy, leaving what I affectionately call a path of dead horses. Human nature truly does not like change and will stay with the same behaviors, the same processes, the same attitudes even …

Small business marketing is both hard and smart work

Marketing is the No. 1 challenge beyond cash flow for at least 90 percent of all small businesses that I have encountered. The hard reality is unless people know about you, your company and your solutions, you as the small business owner or even sales …

Why working harder and smarter is best for small businesses

Many have heard the expression “work smarter and not harder.” This is an erroneous statement, especially for small business owners to sales professionals. What this statement implies is if you just work smarter you will not have to work harder. Does this really make sense? …

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