People are recognized as leaders for different reasons, but to be a leader, other people must be willing to follow you. Some people find the power to be leaders from their history of successes or their expertise. Others rely more on their personalities. Some demonstrate strong values or an ability to empathize that makes others willing to follow them. The most common bases of leadership are charisma, expertise, authority, success, commitment, values, and empathy.

The budget cycle is the period of time between one budget and the next. It involves a series of steps that form a cycle.

The budget cycle involves the creation of the budget, its validation (by testing current versus expected performance), the examination of variances (actual versus budget performance), the implementation of any corrective actions, and the revision of the budget based on feedback.

Franky Descoteaux is a speaker, business coach, podcast host, video producer, and consultant for startup, growth, and crisis-stage businesses and nonprofits. She has launched four businesses and two nonprofit programs, coached a number of entrepreneurs, and managed several crisis turnarounds. Skye Learning was thrilled to feature Descoteaux in Introduction to Small Business Management, a course in Skye’s Certificate in Small Business Management.

Dreams of financial independence and career flexibility drive many people to start new businesses, but only half of those enterprises survive after five years. Although the payoffs can indeed be significant, many who hope to start a business underestimate the required upfront and ongoing commitment to maintain the business.

Check out our latest infographic and learn about some of the challenges you might face when starting your own business.

Small business, which is defined by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as a company with fewer than 500 employees, is vital to the health of the U.S. economy. Today, more than half of America's workers either own or work for a small business. 

Why do people want to own or manage a small business? They'll tell you that running a small business lets you control your own destiny. You get to pick the people you work with. You establish your own work-life balance. You decide how much risk you want to take. And you enjoy the rewards of success.

This week, Skye Learning is spotlighting Shelly Berman-Rubera, a business coach and strategist who is the founder and president of Small Business Results (SBR). She is a Certified Small Business Coach with a Master Certification in Business Management. Skye was thrilled to include her in Introduction to Small Business Management, a course in the Certificate in Small Business Management. 

For 20 years, Berman-Rubera was the small business owner of a lifestyle and fitness company called Professional Fitness by Shelly. For the past 16 years, she has focused on personalized, boutique-style business coaching. Berman-Rubera’s practice is founded on her “SBR Signature System,” including her 6 Steps to Small Business Results.

Your employees will look to management for guidance on how they are expected to accomplish given goals. You will be called upon to decide the order or priority of tasks, the individuals responsible for completing them, the manner in which they are to be performed, and the tools that will be used to measure progress.

Managers must consider a number of factors when setting schedules and assigning work tasks, including the skill levels and experience of workers and how well a given set of employees work together. Flexibility is key when dealing with unanticipated scheduling problems.