BASEMENT TO BOARDROOM  

Janine Popick


7 Free Apps That Will Make Life Better

These free (or next to free) apps promise to make your life easier.  Read story

5 Ways You Are Turning Your Customers Away

Are you losing customers without even knowing it? Make sure your business and employees aren't suffering from these easy setbacks.  Read story

The Customer Is Not Always Right

In some rare cases it may become necessary to fire a customer that disrespects your team. In those cases, show your team that you have their backs.  Read story

4 Reasons Business Partnerships Fail

Keep your eyes open for these red flags; they could make a partnership go off the rails.  Read story

3 Lessons From the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Disaster

The foundation's recent public relations mess offers valuable takeaways for small businesses.  Read story

5 Easy Ways to Drum Up PR Coverage

Does the press love your business as much as you do? Here are five ways to grab the media's attention--no PR expertise required.  Read story

Taxi Drivers Get Around Card Fees

Small businesses are always thinking about clever ways to save money, and cab drivers are no exception.  Read story

A Simple E-mail “cc” Could Lose You Business

Those few minutes you save by hitting "cc" might not be worth it. Here's why.  Read story

3 Tactics to Become a Better Salesperson

The secret to successful selling? Don't sell right away.  Read story

5 Biggest Event Planning Fears and How to Face Them

Will anyone show up? What if people get bored? Check out these five ideas to set your next company event up for success.  Read story

6 Marketing New Year’s Resolutions for 2012

The new year means new opportunities to grow your business bigger, better and faster. Get started with these six resolutions.  Read story

Anyone in Your Company Can Have a Great Idea – Harness It!

Your "on the street" employees can be an important resource for business-building ideas.  Read story

Do Your Employees Follow You on Social Media?

How, and when, to react to employees' social media posts can be challenging. Here, some tips.  Read story

How a Revamped Office Environment Can Boost Company Morale

My company recently moved to a new space, and even the slightest changes made a big difference in employee morale.  Read story

Areas of Your Business You Should Be Testing

What worked well for your company yesterday may not be the best today. Make sure you're getting the best results by putting various parts of your business to...  Read story

Two Tough Questions From Women in Technology

At a recent Startup Weekend event, an impromptu gathering with young women in tech brought up some interesting questions.  Read story

Thanks for Coming Clean Domino's; Comcast Should Take Notes!

We all can learn a lesson or two on how to correct a negative image. Here's what Domino's is doing right.  Read story

How Much is TMI on Your Website?

Most CEOs are hesitant about putting their e-mail address on their company website. Here's why I do it.  Read story

Cause Marketing: Do a Good Deed to Get a Good Deed

Everybody loves to do good. Here are four steps - and a few creative ideas - to kick-start a cause marketing campaign for your business.  Read story

Internal Communications to Employees: How Much Is Enough?

Internal communications can be a challenge for a growing company. Here are ways to keep "water cooler chatter" to a minimum.  Read story

How to Handle Comments on Your Blog

Blogging is a great engagement strategy, but you need to be prepared for both positive and negative feedback.  Read story

How Do You Know When Employees Need to Get Out of the Box?

Figuring out whether or not an employee will thrive if let "out of the box" is not always easy to do. Here are some pointers.  Read story

Turning Negative Customers Into Positive Ones

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes we fail a customer. And in this era of online communications, it's even more important to address the situation.  Read story

What to Do When Angry Employees Leave

What do you do when you have a bad "break up" with an employee? Here are a few things to think about when it happens, because it will.  Read story

How Your Employees Can Be Your Best Salespeople

How can you get your non-sales employees to help "sell" your business?  Read story

How to Write a Great Internal Newsletter

An internal company newsletter about what's happening day to day can be a great way to create a sense of transparency and open the lines of communication at ...  Read story

Why Documenting Business Operations is Important

How a boring thing like documenting business processes can make your company hum.  Read story

From Lifeguard to CEO

How my first job as a lifeguard ultimately prepared me for running an e-mail marketing business.  Read story

Women Business Owners – Stand Up and Be Recognized!

It's about time women are recognized for their contribution to businesses big and small. Check out what I think about amazing women business owners!  Read story

8 Places To Find Advocates for Your Business

Your business has customers who love you and who love to talk about you. Now it's time to locate those people who love to shout from the mountain tops about ...  Read story

My Company Has Been an Inc. 500|5000 Winner 5 Years in a Row!

How winning and marketing awards can help your business grow.  Read story

CEOs Have More Clients Than Anyone

Trying to make everyone happy - from employees to customers - is a tough job, but someone's gotta do it. This article takes a look at all the different types...  Read story

Managing Your Inbox

So your inbox runneth over with emails. How do you manage to get through it all? For busy CEOs and executives it all comes down to sorting and prioritizing ...  Read story

The Importance of Goal Setting

Your employees would love to know what they can do to not only be successful themselves, but to help the company succeed. The top goals are usually around re...  Read story

9 Things I Learned In 9 Years as a CEO – Part 2

This post is about the final four lessons I learned throughout 9 years leading VerticalResponse. Areas covered include core values, training and loving what ...  Read story

9 Things I Learned In 9 Years as a CEO – Part 1

This two-part post is about the 9 things I've learned leading a growing business for the past 9 years. These lessons might help you ease over your own bumps,...  Read story

Angry Customers: Kill 'Em With Kindness

We’ve learned something over the course of 9 years at VerticalResponse: killing people with kindness will get you everywhere. Here are 3 examples that have...  Read story

How Respecting Competition Wins Business

What should you say when a prospective customer asks, "How are you different from your competition?"  Read story

A Woman in Tech Speaks Out

I run a high tech company in a fiercely male-dominated industry. And even though I accept it, it can be pretty lonely. So I wondered, is it just my imagin...  Read story

How to Deal with Bitchy Co-Workers

There, I said it. I've even used the B-word on my own occasionally. And I'm not talking about using it when it comes to ambitious, driven women, I'm talki...  Read story