There’s no substitute for a great first impression. When selling your house, that first impression is called “curb appeal.” Good curb appeal can increase home value between . But it’s not enough to pull weeds or trim the hedges. Want to get the most out of your curb appeal? Focus on the part of your house potential buyers and real estate agents interact with first: your driveway. A found that over 94% of the nation’s top real estate agents agree that curb appeal adds dollars to the seller’s bo

Looking forward to hosting a cookout on your new patio? Eager to repave your crumbling driveway? Ready to do something about your unsightly walkway? There are many home improvement projects homeowners want to tackle each summer. The one thing standing in their way is the almighty dollar. Here are four reasons why financing is the best way to pay for home improvements. 1. It’s better to keep your money in the bank. If you can avoid taking large sums of money out of your bank account, you should

Those cracks in the driveway are a personal injury lawsuit waiting to happen. It’s time to hire a contractor to pour new concrete. But is this so-called contractor you’ve called the best of the best, or are they just throwing around jargon to get you to open your wallet? Before you hire a contractor for your concrete project, put them to the test with these four questions. Question 1: What material will you put underneath the concrete? What you want to hear: “I’ll be using a road mix for the

Most salespeople hate making cold calls and most prospects really hate getting cold calls. But what if cold calls didn’t have to be so terrible? Experienced sales and marketing consultant Dave Tester teaches the strategy for successful cold calls in his book Dialing Strangers: Overcoming Hangups and Producing Cold Calls That Sell. The biggest hurdle to making cold calls is rejection. The sting of rejection can turn a confident salesperson into a mess of nerves and anxiety. It’s why so many peop

If necessity is the mother of invention, you could say unfortunate circumstances are the father of innovation. Life never goes as expected, and when you’re trying to run a business, that can be a good thing. Some of the greatest examples of successful startups came when clever entrepreneurs adapted to the unexpected. See what lessons in success you can learn from these amazing startups. There are some life events we have time to prepare for, like having a new baby. And there are some we’re ofte

Is there room for originality in business? Should CEOs follow tried-and-true patterns or gamble on a more creative approach? When you look at the most successful brands in history, from Apple to Walt Disney, the answer is clear. Originality is the key ingredient that helps your company thrive. Just ask the Muppets creator, Jim Henson. Puppetry existed for over 3,000 years before Henson broke the mold. Instead of crafting puppets out of standard wood, he used foam and rubber. Rather than strings

Is it possible to build customer loyalty with consumers who have never been to your business before? According to theories surrounding the IKEA Effect, yes! My brother recently moved into a new place and decided to pursue a fresh start. He tossed out his old coffee table and strolled into a local furniture retail store, looking for a good deal. Twenty minutes later, he called me and complained about how the store tried to convince him to finance his purchase. He was outraged because the interes

Three nerds walk into an outdoor recreation store. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it’s actually a testament to the marketing genius that is REI. By knowing exactly who their end buyer is, REI is able to keep channels of communication always open with their ideal buyer. To clarify, the nerds in question are myself and my friends. Around two weeks ago, Nintendo released a new mobile phone game you might have heard about: Pokémon Go. It became an instant international phenomenon, making