Top 10 Business Tips From This Week's OPEN Forum

1. Start a business with dear old dad. 

There are a number of successful, family-owned businesses that have father and child working side by side. One of the reasons working with your father can be an advantage in your business is that you know what you're getting from your business partner, writes OPEN Forum contributor Geoff Williams. " Because of your family relationship, you should have an acute sense of whether you and your father or child are going to make incredible business partners—or if you'd be better off staying away from each other in the business world." (From "3 Reasons Why Dads and Kids Should Start A Business Together," by Geoff Williams)

2. Improve your invoice system. 

The average invoice gets paid two weeks late. Business owners can cut that time down to size by creating a detailed and easy-to-understand invoice. Also make the company's contact person an individual and not a department—that way, when their invoice is past due, you have an actual person to check in with and see what the issue is. (From "The Simple Secrets of Successful Invoicing," by Carla Turchetti)

3. Build a stable of reliable seasonal workers. 

It's true: Finding good help is so difficult these days. That's why when you find them, you have to treat them well, writes small-business expert Rieva Lesonsky. Ensure that they'll be interested in coming back next summer by treating them to perks and keeping in touch with them throughout the year. "That way, when next summer comes and you need to staff up again, you can more easily reach out to job candidates you already know will do a good job," Lesonsky writes. (From "How to Find Great Summer Employees," by Rieva Lesonsky)

4. Focus on earning your own money. 

There's no shortage of "good" advice for business owners out there. But learn what advice is valuable, and what can be considered "just talk." One of those pieces of advice you should ignore is the idea that you can only grow your business by raising money. Raising money shouldn't be your primary objective, writes small-business consultant Mike Michalowicz. "The real value of a company isn’t how much cash it can raise but how much good, successful work’s being done," he writes. "Spend your efforts earning your own money." (From "The 8 Worst Pieces of Money Advice for Business Owners ," by Mike Michalowicz)

5. Try YouTube's advertising platform. 

"YouTube is the No. 2 search engine in the world and gets over 6 billion hours viewed per month—and that number will only increase," writes Eric Siu of the Young Entrepreneur Council. That type of volume has the potential to really get your company's message out there. (From "4 Reasons You Should Use YouTube Advertising," by Eric Siu)

6. Incentivize your employees appropriately. 

Rewarding your staff for their work can be a great way to boost productivity. But if it's not tied to work that they actually have control over, it can seem unfair to your employees and do the exact opposite of motivating them. (From "Roadside MBA: What Small-Town Companies Can Teach You," by Matthew E. May)

7. Predict your business's success. 

Keeping a close eye on your financial statements is the best way to know just how well your business is doing now, and course correct to insure steady growth. “Without tracking a few key financial figures, you don't know how much is being spent and what can be trimmed, and as a result, you can’t lower overhead costs or expenses,” says Jessie Seaman, a licensed tax professional and a senior associate staff attorney at Tax Defense Network. (From "The 7 Must-Know Financial Numbers for Business Success," by Julie Bawden Davis)

8. Cast your net wider when looking for new staff. 

There are many qualified and experienced workers out there in the job market that are being overlooked due to an unforgivable bias: age discrimination. An AARP survey found that "60 percent of workers between the ages of 45 and 74 have reported seeing or have personally experienced age discrimination in the workplace." But these workers bring to employers smart enough to hire them a wealth of benefits: They tend to be more loyal than younger counterparts and come with a breadth of experience that younger workers can't yet match. (From "Nothing but a Number: What You Should Know About Age Discrimination in Hiring," by Darren Dahl)

9. Talk to your e-newsletter subscribers. 

If you're experiencing a seeming tidal wave of users hitting unsubscribe from your e-newsletter, go to the source to find out what's going on. Your audience can explain what they were looking for in your newsletter better than your suppositions. Perhaps you're sending too many emails they find irrelevant to their lives or you're sharing the same content on Facebook as you do in the e-newsletter, and they decided to stick with Facebook. Whatever the case may be, use their answers to inform your e-newsletter strategy. (From "5 Steps to Fighting (and Winning) the Unsubscribe War," by Erika Napoletano)

10. Plan a destination meeting for your staff. 

Though some experts consider it an unnecessary expense, taking your annual meetings outside of your office and city can be a great way to reward your team for all they do to help your business succeed. (From "Should You Plan a Destination Meeting for Your Business?", by Carla Turchetti)

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