Carmina Santamaria

You are doing all kinds of marketing tactics, and it doesn't seem to work, at least not enough to make it worth it. When was the last time you fell for that flashy commercial running insanely long at 11:30pm? I do! It was over 10 years ago, when those infomercials got me and I spent over one thousand dollars for the "stellar elliptical machine" or something like that. The day came when the elliptical machine of my dreams arrived home and I started putting it together by myself. I made sure to...

When is the last time you confidently said: "I haven't done this before but I know I'll nail it"?

When preparation meets opportunity A couple of years ago, I had coffee with Sarah, who sold her specialty food manufacturing business for an undisclosed amount. In our conversation, she revealed to me that she was able to negotiate a price beyond her expectations even. When I asked her about what exactly helped her during these negotiations, she laughed. She looked at me with a serious face and said she started preparing to sell five years before she actually did. The business was 15 years...