Keep an aging workforce on the job

Keeping your workforce healthy and on the job is a simple tenant of productivity. However, studies clearly indicate that work-loss days increase with the age of the worker. Adhering to that simple...

How To: Finance the physical growth of your business

At some point, spare bedrooms, home kitchens and cramped offices not only inhibit capacity, but also limit a company's stature. Investing in a commercial property or renovation can help operational...

How To: Create a working business plan

Many small business people think of the business plan as that thing they had to do to obtain financing for their business. While that is one way to describe a business plan, it isn't the right one.

How To: Craft tax savings for breweries with the federal R&D credit

Maine is the proud home of a number of microbreweries, with frequent startups placing us among the top breweries per capita in the nation. Legitimate reduction of income taxes is one way a new...

How To: Communicate after a data breach

While companies tend to have disaster recovery plans that emphasize restoring critical systems, communication plans are too often ignored until after a data breach. An oversight of this kind at the...

How To: Effectively negotiate a technology vendor contract

One of the draws of technology management is the thrill of riding the wave of exciting new stuff. But with growing concerns over data security, executives and IT departments must work closely to...

How To: Calculate the social return on investment to make better decisions

Many projects fail to be accepted by the community or encounter unexpected roadblocks, even though they seem profitable on paper. Just because a project has a financial benefit doesn't mean that it...

How To: Turn new federal overtime rules into a competitive advantage

The new federal overtime rules will more than double the threshold for employers to avoid paying overtime when salaried employees work over 40 hours — moving from $23,660 per year to $47,476...