Posts by William Manzanares

Last year when Dan Price, founder and CEO of the Seattle-based credit card payment processing firm Gravity Payments, announced that he would raise the company’s minimum salary to $70,000 a year, he was roundly praised by many – and roundly criticized by others, notably his own customers. It seems that in his zeal to do…

In a lot of ways, service industry businesses – restaurants, auto repair shops, beauty salons, etc. – are unique ventures with their own set of challenges and rewards, and number one among these is the people who walk through the door. Service industry businesses depend on the lifeblood of interacting face-to-face every day with a…

With fall having arrived and school now back in full swing, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to get kids interested in business – how to ignite the entrepreneurial spirit in young people starting at the earliest age possible. Myself, I was engaging in business transactions going back to grade school when I…

In the April 29 Tacoma Weekly article “Local entrepreneur talks about the quandary of hiring,” I discussed my three-tier hiring procedure that has worked out rather well for me despite the difficulties of finding quality people to hire. Granted, it’s not a perfect system but I can say that it has allowed me to find…

When big companies fail, we always seem to hear about or read an analysis of why from an outside observer – “business experts” and the like – but never really from someone inside the company laying out exactly why the business had to close. It could be that people just don’t want to face their…

There is perhaps no better endorsement for a product than true testimonials from the entrepreneurs who create and market it. This is the case with Todd and Jocelyn Ellis – a.k.a. Paleo Pushers – who launched their all-natural, preservative free cookies business by making their own and sharing with their friends. Todd Ellis credits his…

A fact of life that all new parents soon learn is that kids grow out of clothes – quickly. So what do you do when your little one’s collection of too-small sizes starts to pile up? You can give things away to friends and family – if you just happen to know someone with a…

Ever watch “Antiques Roadshow” and wish you had some super valuable family heirloom tucked away? You might consider looking through your recipe box rather than your attic. For Aly Cullinane, her family treasure turned into an entrepreneur’s dream. More than 100 years ago, Cullinane’s Great-Grandmother Toots came to Tacoma from Branson, Mo. and brought with…

While on vacation a while back, my friend was trying to solve a problem, and she said “wouldn’t it be cool if there were an app that you could use to schedule your employees and all that it entails without having to call everyone and take hours away from managers’ time?” I did some research…