It was a really lousy week.

One of 37signals's key products is Campfire, a real-time chat tool for small businesses. For about a week in mid-December, Campfire, which users access via the Web, kept bouncing on-…

Dear Norm,
My new business puts on-site medical examination rooms in assisted-living communities. There is an urgent need for such rooms, because most communities don't have one. Doctors and dentists from outside have to treat…

Dear Norm,
Fifteen years ago, I answered an ad in the paper for a sales job in the foundation repair industry and got hired. The owner ran the business out of his garage and had two installers, plus me. With…

Dear Norm,
My wife, Michele Baratta, and I have a jewelry business, which we converted six years ago into a direct-selling company. Previously, she had sold her jewelry wholesale to customers such as Nordstrom, Sundance Catalog, and Macy's, as well…

For many years, Seth Newman had one big regret. In 1997, Newman, president of Action Envelope, a $12 million envelope retailer based in Lindenhurst, New York, passed up a chance to buy the domain name…

Hardly a day passes without someone asking me for business advice. It might be a student or a struggling entrepreneur or an up-and-comer at a larger company. I'm sure most successful entrepreneurs experience the same…

1. How big is your business?

2. Assess the factors by which you will measure your success (be as specific as possible).

3. What are your…

Bruce Flohr is one of Saras Sarasvathy's original CEO subjects, and he recognizes in his story many of the traits her research identified. Certainly his company followed the opportunistic trajectory of…