Doug and Polly White
Principals, Whitestone Partners Inc., a management-consulting firm
Doug and Polly White own Whitestone Partners Inc., a management-consulting firm that specializes in helping small businesses grow profitably. They are also co-authors of Let Go to GROW, a bestselling book on why some businesses thrive and others fail to reach their potential.
Business Taxes
Selling an Asset? Here's How to Calculate Your Donation to Uncle Sam.
The important term you'll have to deal with here is 'book value.'
Cost Cutting
5 Steps to Cutting Overhead Safely
If you have the stomach for it, you can usually find ways to cut overhead without cutting efficiency.
Funding
2 Reasons You Don't Need Funding for Your New Business
You have a great business idea. But a lack of funding isn't your issue; it's a symptom.
Ready To Launch
5 Steps to Keep Your Startup on Track
The only way to grow your business is to stay focused on your priorities.
Business Optimization
Understand Profit, Cash Flow and ROI to Ensure Your Business' Financial Health
Remember: You can't buy beer with profit; you can only buy beer with cash.
Marketing Bootcamp
5 Steps to Improving Your Website's SEO
The days when people found you through the 'Yellow Pages' are long gone. Here's what you need to do.
Customer Experience
Tailoring Your Sales Pitch to Your Customer's Personality
Once you recognize and tailor your pitch to your customer's dominant type, among the four types, you'll see positive results.
Planning
Is Planning Your Bugaboo? 5 Steps to Keep Your Startup on Track
Fire up that Excel spreadsheet, and get started breaking down tasks so you can actually complete them.
Customer Experience
5 Tips for Dealing with Unhappy Clients
If you simply demand pay, you will have won the battle and lost the war.
Diversification
Risky Business: Should You Diversify?
Do you suffer from 'magpie' syndrome, always chasing after the next shiny object? Think carefully before you do.
Termination
Have to Terminate an Employee? Here Are 5 Best Practices.
Important points include minimizing the departing staffer's embarrassment -- and keeping an eye on his or her actual departure.
Marketing Bootcamp
5 Tips for Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail should be a never-ending cycle of testing and learning. Are you ready to start?
Make More Happen
How to Calculate 'Breakeven'
Follow these steps carefully. If you miscalculate, you're poised to make all kinds of bad business decisions.
Setting prices
Understanding the Difference between Gross Margin and Markup
Does your head explode trying to figure out your smartest price? Help is on the way.
Job Interview
What Does a 'Realistic Job Preview' Entail?
In one example, candidates for a job that entailed stacking boxes did just that, to understand what they were in for.