Independent / Small Business Owners

Quote of the Month:
“If you don’t drive your business, you will be driven out of business.”
—B.C. Forbes, Scottish financial journalist (1880-1954)

Marcus Simpson is co-owner of TCG America, a company providing IT services and consulting for small and medium businesses. We all depend on the Internet daily, so companies with employees need to have an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) and be ready to enforce it. The advice is good for households with children, also.

There are 113 million domains registered, with 100,000 new ones each day. “It’s hard to keep track of which sites are good and which ones are bad,” said Marcus.

Quote of the Month:
“To find yourself, think for yourself.”
—Socrates, Greek philosopher (469 B.C.-399 B.C.)

Mike Thompson, owner of People Smart LLC, (and a drummer with the Torques and contributing writer to Business Lexington) is a coach and facilitator. He talked about our learning styles as we get focused on a new year.

“Human development is my science,” said Mike, who has read the Dan Goleman books on emotional and social intelligence, along with material by Howard Gardner about multiple intelligences. A person’s emotional intelligence, or EQ, involves both intrapersonal (between you and you) and interpersonal (between you and other people) skills.

Quote of the Month:
“If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.”
—George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright (1856-1950)

Ralph Weickel, owner of Performance Management, is an executive coach who works with companies to strengthen their financial performance and employee development. Before becoming a small-business owner in 1998 he climbed the corporate ladder in the banking world.