Michael Costigan

Michael Costigan has earned a reputation as a leading young authority on self-identity, making positive choices, and becoming a leader. He succeeds in getting through to teens and offering both them and the adults who care about them practical and realistic advice. He’s spoken at numerous conferences including Silicon Valley’s leading teen entrepreneur conference, Teens in Tech.

10 Keys to Staying on Track for Success

By | June 2, 2011

It’s a question that’s pondered and discussed a lot: Is there a “formula” for success? If you scout around a little online, you’ll undoubtedly find a number of people who claim to have the formula – or secret, or plan, or whatever… for a price. But in the many years my brother Adam and I [...]

Turning Crisis into Opportunity – The Bright Side and then Some

By | May 31, 2011

In a 1959 speech that was otherwise unremarkable, John F. Kennedy said something profound: “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word ‘crisis.’ One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity.” The part about the Chinese character for [...]

Are you providing customer service or sales assistance?

By | May 30, 2011

How often have you visited a store and found that the customer service assistant knows less about their products than you do? As a business owner, how much are you paying for “customer service” employees who add little or no value to the customer’s experience in your store? Let me begin with a couple of [...]

Get Answers to these 8 Questions Before You Join a Startup

By | May 18, 2011

If you really want to impress a startup founder as a potential employee, or you want to be a smart investor, you need to know the right questions to ask. These are the questions that get past the hype of a founder’s “vision to change the world,” and into the realm of real business strengths, [...]

How to Not Have to Eat a Horse

By | May 13, 2011

Businesses are a lot like nursery rhymes. For every over-worked, shoe-dwelling old woman, there’s another who’s prepared to eat cats, dogs, and horses (whole, presumably) in order to catch a fly. Apparently this second old lady didn’t hear that honey is the thing you need to catch flies. Strange as it may sound, there’s a [...]

Hidden Jewel of a Down Economy: Exit Alliances

By | May 10, 2011

With the way the economy has been over the past three years, you might be having trouble seeing any bright spots. A report came out several months back that said we are officially out of the recession, but looking at the unemployment numbers and empty storefronts in so many cities around the country, you have [...]

5 Ways to Focus on Business Momentum, Not Motion

By | May 4, 2011

Too many entrepreneurs confuse motion with momentum. We all know someone who repeatedly tells us how “busy” they are, when it’s hard to see what they get done. Momentum is moving things forward (mass x velocity). Founders or employees in constant motion, but with no momentum, will kill any startup. It is true that motion [...]

Operating a Startup in Stealth Mode is Very Risky

By | April 26, 2011

Every time I hear about a new startup that is in stealth mode, I wonder what problem they are hiding from whom. Of course they pretend that they are trying to avoid alerting competitors prior to launch, but too often it becomes an excuse to move slowly in a world that’s all about getting to [...]

Facebook + Warner Bros: A Blow to Netflix?

By | March 11, 2011

Although Netflix has stated they aren’t threatened by the announcement earlier this week that Warner Bros. Entertainment would begin offering streaming movies on Facebook, we have to wonder. After all, by far the most prevalent options for streaming full length feature films online have been Netflix, iTunes, or Amazon for quite some time, with Netflix [...]

Too Busy for Social Media is Not Good Business

By | January 12, 2011

I have a friend who runs a nationwide “traditional” business, and business is down, like it has been for most people. I suggested that he add some social network marketing initiatives, and his answer was he is “too busy.” According to this study from last year, over 65% of existing small businesses still ignore social [...]

Leading Edge Becomes Bleeding Edge with Feature Creep

By | December 27, 2010

This insidious disease kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. “Feature creep” (or scope creep) refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product before first delivery. The instigators are all well-intentioned – executives [...]

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