In 1994, a guy called Jeff Bezos was working in banking when he decided to start up his own business, selling books online. Most people thought that was a stupid idea, for two reasons. One, nobody would want to give a total stranger their credit card number. And, two, if you wanted to buy a…

You’re probably familiar with the saying, “Nothing personal, it’s just business.” People use it as a justification for doing something that’s going to advantage them, to the detriment of someone else. The underlying assumption is that wise-business-decisions and personal feelings are opposites. There’s nothing more personal than taste. So, how wise is it, when launching a business,…

The difference between men and women is a subject that’s been examined from perhaps the beginning of time. Whether you believe the conversation starts with Adam and Eve, or a couple of organisms crawling out of the primordial soup, commentary about what sets genders apart is the province of everyone from archaeologists to comedians. You’d be…

When we talk about a successful business, we usually talk about the idea behind it. We tend to do that because a single moment of inspiration is more exciting to talk about than the years of hard work it takes to build a business. But there’s also another quality that’s vital in making the leap from…

You’re probably familiar with the saying, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” At the same time that saying was coined in England, here in the United States, the sentiment was quite different. In 1790 the Federal Government passed the first Copyright Act, which made imitation illegal. We’re still in the process of working out exactly what…

You might remember a guy called Zach Barker. Zach used to be the director of the startup business incubator, Opportunity Machine. Zach had a basic business philosophy which he summed up in three words, “Get stuff done.” It sounds simple. But in reality, in business, the difference between success and something less is the ability to…

In Acadiana there are a lot of things that differentiate us from the rest of the country. The biggest of all of them is music. You can live in Kansas and learn to make a gumbo. You can live in California and row a pirogue. But there’s no way in the wide world that you…

When we talk about business, we all understand that the basic objective of what we’re doing is trying to make money. Implicit in this understanding is an assumption that we’re trying to make money for ourselves. Or our company. But there are people who dedicate themselves, and their careers, to making money for others. Other people. Other…

Some things about life in Acadiana are unique to this part of the world. And some things we share with the rest of the world. One of those common issues, in business, is making the link between the online world and the real world. These days, over 80% of all retail purchases begin with an online…

You’ve probably heard the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” It’s meant to be motivational – encouraging us to take something bad that’s happened to us, and turn it into something good. Aaron Beam is the poster boy for making lemons out of lemonade. Aaron was one of the founders of a company called Health…