Commentary / Opinion

Charles Clement thinks he’s found an affordable and scalable way to inspire more people to work on solving the world’s social problems.

Gender matters. It impacts the type of businesses entrepreneurs start, their aspirations for growing the business, and how they the fund it.

LinkedIn groups are an interesting way of taking the pulse of a specific community on a topic and collecting feedback on challenges you face. It’s also a way of becoming a thought-leader, by answering the questions of others. Yet, it is not one of the top five reasons nonprofits use social media.

As the results of Ditch Digital Dabbling: How Small Businesses + Nonprofits Can Master Online Marketing demonstrate, nonprofits need to take a deeper dive into online media. Well, an opportunity is knocking at your door.

Disturbed by the wasted money and ecological irresponsibility of buying toys, then throwing them away after a month? Want organic clothes for your baby? Can’t find the learning tools your special needs child needs? How about being able to sample high-end beauty products without cruising the counters of department stores? Or you “never have anything to wear” when an important occasion comes up? And, oh, those hot flashes!

“Tech-enabled business,” like “stay-at-home” Mom, are terms that have taken on new meanings for entrepreneurs.

Whoa! Just what do you have to do to lose your place at a nonprofit? Greg Mortenson has been ordered by the Montana attorney general to repay $1 million to the Central Asia Institute he founded because he misspent the charity’s money. By agreement with the Montana attorney general, Mortenson resigned as executive director and can no longer be a voting member of the board.

This year, the underlying theme in nonprofit governance seems to be that a good board is active, works hard, and provides a lot more than money to the operation of the organization.

Strange as it may seem, workplace flexibility is no longer just a mommy-track thing or a benefit given to employees by a generous business owner.

When you start digging, you find out all sorts of interesting things, both good and bad. I’ve been researching the success factors that unite highly successful women entrepreneurs. Along the way, I’ve learned about ways in which small businesses can help themselves move up the ladder of success, how focusing on work/life fit can help a company grow and, yes, the factors that help women entrepreneurs succeed as well as pitfalls to beware of.