Tyler Kowalske

expert panel

For these business leaders, hindsight is 20/20. Starting a business can be an intimidating undertaking, especially when it’s your first one. You’re often feeling imposter syndrome in full force, and no matter how much planning and research you do ahead of time, rarely does any aspect of business go how you’d expect.  Because of this fact, for many entrepreneurs, hindsight is 20/20. Now with established careers and businesses, they can better reflect on what may have gone wrong or what they could have done better when they first started out. Below, a panel of 14 Rolling Stone Culture Council members share the lessons they wish they had known when starting their businesses and how that knowledge may have helped them grow along the way.

expert panel

To find the right match, you’ll need to look beyond their technical skills. When it comes to finding the right business partner, not just anyone will do. However, they also may not be the type of person you think you need at first. While many entrepreneurs will assume they need to find someone with superior technical skills like marketing or sales to help drive their business forward, it may be the nontechnical skills that make all the difference. Below, a panel of Rolling Stone Culture Council leaders share 15 nontechnical skills you may not realize you should be looking for in a business partner, and why having these qualities at your side could make for the perfect match.

expert panel

You don't need a brick-and-mortar store to make a lasting impression on your customer. By taking advantage of lighting, scents, displays or direct customer service, retail has a straightforward way of creating a memorable experience for its customers. When your business is online-only, however, you don’t have a physical environment to leverage — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other ways to “wow” your customers. Below, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council recommend nine methods for leaving a lasting impression on your audience — and all you need to get started is a little ingenuity.

expert panel

The most valuable information at your disposal is what your customers think of you. No matter what type of business you run, your customers always have an opinion. From being completely happy with your service to thinking your product needs a total overhaul (and every opinion in between), your customers’ opinions can be as diverse as they are. It’s the companies that know how to harness this feedback to inform their decisions that are able to please their customers the most. The first step, however, is to collect that customer feedback. Below, 11 members of Rolling Stone Culture Council suggest a few ways of doing that and what you should be doing with the feedback once you have it.