Business Mentors

New York state, at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s direction, continues to implement the most dramatic health-care reform of any state in the country. The state’s reform initiatives directly affect the 25 percent of New Yorkers (6 million citizens) who are eligible for Medicaid.    Beginning with the 79 recommendations of the Cuomo-appointed Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) […]

If you are a home or business owner and someone is injured on your property, your gut reaction is probably to fix or remove the dangerous condition that caused the accident as soon as possible. An uneven brick paver or pothole that causes someone to trip and fall; a bottle of cleaning solution with a

In times of trouble, or times of transition, we expect the company president or CEO to be delivering the messages. Sure, if the news is big enough, but the CEO doesn’t always have to be your organization’s spokesperson. In fact, it can hurt your company in several scenarios.   For example, if your CEO plain

Put yourself in these shoes: You have some terrific news to share about your company. Maybe you are expanding, have made some key new hires, or perhaps you have a merger/partnership to announce.    So, you have your PR person, either an in-house employee or one from an outside agency, prepare and send out a

On the opening track of his 1977 debut album, Elvis Costello sang, “Welcome to the working week. Oh, I know it don’t thrill you, I hope it don’t kill you.” Back then, there were very few opportunities for creative types to break out of the 9-to-5 grind; Costello himself hung onto his day job as a

As a small-business owner or manager, you can probably see the value of showing up on the first page of Google when someone searches for your services. You might even have stumbled upon the benefits and importance of local search-engine optimization (SEO) if you currently have a website. Despite the real value that local SEO

You did write a business plan when you started your business, right? If not, you missed a great opportunity to start recording the history of your toil and its rewards. But, it’s not too late to create one.   You might ask, why write a business plan after the horse has left the starting gate?

In an important 3-2 decision on Dec.1, 2014, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in the Purple Communications case that, except in very limited circumstances, Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) requires employers to open their corporate email systems to union organizing by employees. In addition, firms must open their email

President Obama’s prolific use of social media allows him to set the agenda and frame the debate. Those who are loudest in the media tend to drown out their competitors regardless of whose reasoning is better.   Many media outlets published the unedited footage of the 2015 State of the Union address online. The White

Sending mass emails to the news media, government agencies, and community leaders has become the norm — yet it’s one of the least-effective ways to actually get through to real people. They know when they’re receiving a mass distribution and often ignore it; or maybe they don’t know, because it gets caught in their spam