Branding and marketing experts may not want you to know this, but some of the most successful, profitable brands on the market today were built by entrepreneurs who didn’t have MBA’s in marketing, attend college or even have any business training.

We have all seen the headlines: plant closings; mass layoffs; reductions in force.  In the first month of this year alone, nearly 600,000 jobs in the United States have been lost.  In Virginia, nearly 6,000 jobs have disappeared during that same time period, hundreds in the Hampton Roads area.  To some extent, every business is looking for ways to boost the bottom line, but figuring out a way to maintain high levels of quality and service while controlling costs may be the ultimate challenge.