Startup Blog Insights - Best of 2014

Happy New Year everyone. We wrap a great year of Startup Blog Insights for 2014 with the Top 10 articles of the Startup Blog with Taffy Williams -- Examiner.com writer and entrepreneur. We do a deep dive on the top 10 blogs of 2014 with Taffy's insights into what he feels made them one of the top hits for 2014. Let's start off 2015 right, give it a listen or view!

Let’s do the Startup Blog count-down Audio

#10 - Working hard is not enough
"It is easy to work hard and accomplish little.  The objective is to work hard and accomplish great things. " - Taffy Williams

#9 - Focus is important but so is agile thinking
"Focus is driven into entrepreneurs by investors and experienced managers. The ability to be more agile in one’s thinking comes from practice. When the situation dictates, agile thinking should take the lead over focus. " - Taffy Williams

#8 - Startup Blog Insights - Are Your Partners Agile and How does Your CEO Spin?
"take any standard agreement that becomes a contractual arrangement. It does not take very long for one of the parties to review the agreement and decide that some clause means something different than originally intended in preparing the contract. This often occurs at a time of confrontation or desire to renegotiate the agreement. Sometimes, there is no need for the interpretation differences to occur for one of the parties to abandon what was originally agreed to." - Taffy Williams

#7 - Agile and non-agile entrepreneurs must communicate clearly

"Clear communication is required when describing a fix to a problem and information provided must be explicit; remember, you see the fix, they may not." - Taffy Williams

#6 - Agile success generates great feelings
"Highs and lows are part of being an entrepreneur. No matter how hard you try there will be failures and successes. Finding ways to convert failures to successes generates a great sense of satisfaction.- Taffy Williams

#5 - Startup Blog Insights - Agile Contingency Planning and Agile Success
"It is rare that events go according to plans, but when they do it is truly a great thing. One activity that enhances success is the ability to consider those events that may sidetrack the business and develop ideas about a means of tackling them should they occur." - Taffy Williams

#4 - 7 short hints for startups and entrepreneurs
"Business can be like being a dog in a dog sled race! If you are not the lead dog, the view never changes." - Taffy Williams

#3 - CEOs walk a fine line when using a positive spin

"One of the many tasks a CEO performs is engaging and explaining the company to the investment community.  They may use a positive spin to present their data in the best manner.  Positive spin is a method were data, while factual, is presented in a manner to highlight the positive and down play any negative." - Taffy Williams

#2 - Agile thinking helps entrepreneurs achieve success

"It is easy to stay locked in to a rigid way of thinking and in performance of activities. When traveling, you see a road and proceed down the path until you find an impediment or blockage. Then what do you do? This is where many entrepreneurs get stuck and have problems overcoming problems. They create a plan and fail to consider alternatives or potential hazards. Once faced with an impediment, they lose time while deciding how to react." - Taffy Williams

#1 - 6 Environmental factors that may affect your business

"Many factors can affect the survival and growth of your business local competition, talent pool, travel convenience, traffic, proximity to suppliers, and regional support. The choices you make in the early selection of location for your business may affect its growth and health in the long term." - Taffy Williams

#Bonus - Taffy talks a little about his new book Think Agile