Our small company is considering bringing on two or three summer interns. Half of me thinks this is a great way to get some help with projects, tap into the knowledge of a younger generation and give back to our local students. The other half of me thinks this is going to be a management nightmare that will suck my working hours dry. How can we ensure a successful summer for everyone involved?

Numerous times a week, I’ll be in a conversation with someone who says, “Sorry it took so long for me to get back to you. I get about eleventy billion emails a day.” I often say the same. Yet if I were to weed out all of the unnecessarily forwarded emails and the eternally sinful replied-to-all responses, my inbox would probably be down to a tidy 36.

It’s a challenge that faces many entrepreneurs of self-built companies. How do you gracefully and lucratively transition a business to a successor or new owner when it’s time to retire?

The challenge of finding sales talent keeps some companies from growing or even surviving. That’s why sales training boosters say it’s time for university business schools to turn out graduates who can take sales jobs and quickly hit their numbers without months — or even years — of on-the-job training.

A well-organized focus group provides feedback you can use to create a strategy to move forward, build on what’s working well, remove obstacles and finally articulate a clear and concise elevator pitch for your brand. Here’s how to conduct one: 

For all its importance to business survival, companies tend to fail miserably at hiring sales staff. A 2011 survey of more than 400 firms by DePaul University researchers found that hiring one seller costs $29,000. But a lot of that money flutters out into the ether; a third of recruits don’t make it through their first year.

All too often, companies fall into bad habits and need a systematic reset of their marketing program in a way that is manageable and sustainable in the long-term. They need to do away with bad habits and increase the good. So where should you begin?     

In our current era of the startup, responding to disruptive innovation has become a new and often harsh reality. When disruptive innovations and emerging trends radically shift your market and throw you off your game, how do you respond?

These local businesses take teamwork to the next level with bold colors and innovative designs that inspire creativity and collaboration. Show us your company’s collaborative space for a chance to take over our Instagram account! 

Ask Andy Paul or Ana Manzano about launching their businesses and they’ll answer with smiles. The two previous winners of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s Calling All Dreamers contest have gone on to successfully launch their dream companies, including brick-and-mortar storefronts that will serve as milestones in the revitalization of downtown’s shopping corridors.