Get All Access for $5/mo

Four For Friday For Entrepreneurs

By Mikal E. Belicove

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Q1 - Inspiration: What was the inspiration for starting your current business?

Q2 - Hiring: What are the three most important things you look for when hiring new staff/employees?

Q3 - Personal Politics: Do the personal or political leanings of third-party vendors play a role in determining who you choose to work or partner with? For example, if you learned that a potential business partner was strongly opposed to a socially-charged issue that you were strongly in favor of (e.g., universal health care, gun control, abortion, etc.), would that information in and of itself be a determining factor in your potential or continuing business relationship?

Q4 - Dogfooding: When a business owner or leader says their company "eats its own dog food," what they mean is that the company and its employees use the company's own products and services in preference of or in replacement for like or competitive products or services. So for example, if you manufacture nutrition bars, the only nutrition bars you eat are your own. Or, if you're Microsoft, you use your own software in-house on a daily basis. To what extent do you go to encourage 'dogfooding' within your company?

Mikal E. Belicove is a market positioning, social media, and management consultant specializing in website usability and business blogging. His latest book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Facebook, is now available at bookstores. For more information, visit MikalBelicove.com.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Science & Technology

AI Marketing vs. Human Expertise: Who Wins the Battle and Who Wins the War?

Uncover the truth about AI in marketing and why it's a ticking time bomb for unprepared businesses! As AI revolutionizes the marketing landscape, understanding its long-term impact is crucial.

Fundraising

Working Remote? These Are the Biggest Dos and Don'ts of Video Conferencing

As more and more businesses go remote, these are ways to be more effective and efficient on conference calls.

Growing a Business

The Best Way to Run a Business Meeting

All too often, meetings run longer than they should and fail to keep attendees engaged. Here's how to run a meeting the right way.

Starting a Business

How to Find the Right Programmers: A Brief Guideline for Startup Founders

For startup founders under a plethora of challenges like timing, investors and changing market demand, it is extremely hard to hire programmers who can deliver.