When budgets are strained, many small-business owners respond by cutting their spending as much as possible. This often involves reducing spending on training services and professional advancement. However, cutting ties with your small-business coach could create even more problems for your business.

Every business owner has thought about what it would take to bring their business to the next level. Regardless of what industry you're in or what place in the market you hold, scaling a business is always something at least worthy of consideration.

Running a small business is an exciting but challenging endeavor. Small business owners get to forge their own path, but this often means sailing through uncharted waters. It is difficult to be an expert in all things, and you may not even know that hiring a small business coach could be worthwhile.

Business leadership and business management are often used interchangeably, but the two terms are actually quite different. As anyone who has been to business development training knows, what makes the two terms distinctive really matters to the way you run your company.

Starting a business is hard. It takes a great idea and the grit to see it through. If you are like many entrepreneurs, the idea isn’t your problem – it's the actual running of the business. You have to think about building a profitable business model, for instance, as well as learn how to manage your company’s accounting, marketing, and HR.

Performance management is an ongoing challenge in most organizations. Managers spend hours huddled over spreadsheets, analyzing employee performance metrics, looking for ways to improve performance and boost production. When mistakes happen – and they do happen – the bulk of the blame is often shoved off onto the employee. What leaders often fail to acknowledge is their role in the errors. This lack of leadership accountability can cause problematic issues to continue repeating. This, in turn, causes a decrease in employee morale as frustration and devaluation increase.