Carol Tice

“Carol is a reliable, resourceful and productive writer who is quite adept at working from home independently. She can be counted on to do what she says she’ll do, with competence and professionalism. I highly recommend her.”–Don Nelson, Puget Sound Business Journal

I have thousands of articles in print — and pixels. Below is a selection of my favorites.

Quicklinks:

Blog posts Seattle Times Career & Job stories Seattle Magazine

Allbusiness.com Puget Sound Business Journal Misc.

Alaska Airlines Magazine

Online financial tools

Entrepreneur magazine:

Business finance

• Can a Purchase Order Loan Keep Your Business Growing?
  The loans companies make when they’re hard up.
• Where to Go When You Can’t Find the Dough
  Creative business finance options.
• Feels Like The First Time: How 3 Entrepreneur Got That First VC Round
  Great first-timer VC stories here.
• Running the Numbers
  Story on whether multi-unit franchising is for you.
• Tax Time. No Dough. Don’t Sweat.
  What to do if you can’t pay your taxes. Besides cry.
• Sell Without Selling Out
  A sale doesn’t have to mean the end of social responsibility.
• Launch for Less
  Great anecdotes in here on how to start your business on the cheap.
• In Too Deep?
  Top 5 Ways to tell you’re overusing your business credit card.
• Up and Running
  Start your business in 30 days.
• 7 Tips to Score VC Cash
  Entrepreneur StartUps! Some great VCs quoted here.
• The Truth (About Loans) Is Out There
  Entrepreneur StartUps! How to get a bank loan today.

Franchising

• Franchise Your Business in 7 Steps
  How to tell if your business is cut out to sell franchises.
• Next Big Thing or Next Big Flop: Researching New Franchisors
  Investigation of the higher risks of signing on with a new franchisor.
• How to Research a Franchise
  The nuts and bolts of figuring out whether a franchise would work for you.
• Turn it Up in the Down Turn
  Why buying a franchise can be a good idea in the down economy.
• Super Sleuthing
  How to investigate franchise offers and get the real scoop.
  

General business topics

• Lean LaunchPad: A Crash Course in Startup Success
  This groundbreaking Stanford program is now being used by federal agencies to help speed the birth of new businesses. 
• Women-Only Networking Grows
  Women like to hang out with the gal-pals when they network.
• What You Can Learn From…
  Cover feature on finding business inspiration in unusual places.
• Silver Lining
  10 real estate businesses primed to thrive in the down market.
• 5 Things That Changed E-ship
  Lead feature for Entrepreneur’s 30th anniversary issue.
• The American Business Revolution
  A 30-anniversary look back at how entrepreneurship became the force it is today.
• Building the 21st century leader
  Cover story on leadership trends

Blog posts:

• I have been the anchor blogger for Entrepreneur magazine’s Daily Dose for more than three years, posting three times a week. My posts there have received more than 1,000 Retweets – more than once.
• My new Reality Check column for Entrepreneur brings readers lessons from business-oriented TV shows, and some of those posts get 1,000 retweets, too.

For Copyblogger:

• 50 Can’t-Fail Techniques for Finding Great Blog Topics (featured in Best of Copyblogger 2010)
• 5 Steps to Captivating Readers With Your Secret Message
• The Secret Weapon That Makes Your Content Successful
• 40 Questions You Need to Ask Every Copywriting Client
• 5 Ways to Quickly Write High-Quality Content

Seattle Times

Real estate features:

• Home loan modification mess
  How problems at the federal mortgage-modification program played out in Seattle.
• Ravenna Kibbutz a magnet for Jewish newcomers
  Seattle Times story on an unusual intentional community in North Seattle.
• Sellers of million-dollar homes test the for-sale-by-owner market
  For sale by owner: Mansion. How technology and the down market have brought us upscale FSBOs.
• Homework & Chutzpah
  How one couple bought a home in Seattle by submitting lowball bids.
• Borrowers little helpers: Home buyers turns to peer loans
  How to get a bunch of strangers you meet online to stake you to your down payment.
• Buying Homes for Quick Resale
  The brave (or crazy?) house flippers who kept going in the middle of the downturn.
• Buying a bank-owned home
  What it takes to buy a bank-owned home in today’s real-estate market.
  

Financial makeover stories:

• Retire comfortably and save for kids’ future
  
• Charting income, moving forward with goal
  
• Get out of debt and get a better job
  

College Guide stories:

• Hot Majors – find your passion
  Seattle Times College Guide cover story.
• Calling in a pro: More parents are hiring college consultants; is it effective–or fair?
• The new landscape of financial aid
• New Ways to Get B.A.s
  
• Quality Schools to “B” Students — Welcome
  

 

Career & Job stories

• 7 Lucrative Jobs from Obama’s Stimulus Plan (Yahoo!hotjobs)
  
• 10 Well-Paid Careers with No 4-year Degree (Yahoo!hotjobs)
• Green Jobs That Make $30 an Hour (Yahoo!hotjobs)
• 10 Well-Paid Federal-Government Jobs (Monster.com)
• Six Top Industries Hiring in 2011 (AOL Jobs)
• Emerging Jobs in Social Media (AOL Jobs)
• Recession-Proof Jobs in Infrastructure (AOL Jobs)
  
• Highest-Paying Trades (AOL Jobs)
• 7 Unusual Work-At-Home Jobs (AOL Jobs)

• 8 Jobs That are in High Demand for the Future (PayScale)
• Well-Paid Jobs That Won’t Be Outsourced (PayScale)
• Training for Green : Useful Certificates, Licenses, and Degrees (PayScale)

Seattle Magazine

• Tender Mercies
  Profile of the Pediatric Interim Care Center in Kent, and the challenges of keeping it funded.
• Talking Trash
  I find out how much trash Seattle creates, and where Seattle’s trash ends up….mostly, in a big canyon in Oregon.
• Is there a road to Justice?
  Washington state’s lax DUI laws were tightened up a bit after this piece.
• No Place Like Home
  Our state’s older foster kids…and why there is no mandate to find them adoptive homes.

Allbusiness.com

• Shark Tank‘s Celebrity Investors Share Their Business Secrets
  Boy, this was fun, interviewing all the billionaires on Shark Tank. Favorite quote? “They’re dead to me…”
• Blank Label’s Shanghai Adventure
  Well, here’s one way to get your startup’s team to bond — have them all move into an apartment together…in Shanghai.
• Kickstarter and the ‘Donation’ Fundraising Model
  Hot new way to get money for your business.
• US Microfinance Gets a Needed Boost
  New funding for smaller business loans.
• Tapping 401(k) Money for Your Business? Be Wary
  The IRS’s dim view of ROBS transactions.
• ‘The Gulf Oil Spill: What Disaster Planning is All About
  What you can — and can’t — do to protect your business from the unimaginable.
• The Business Boot Camp for Saving the World
  The Unreasonable Institute’s boot camp for startups with a social mission
• Young Entrepreneurs Grow Their Business With Crowdsourcing
  Quirky, Groupon, and other cool crowdsourcing companies.
• Using Income Statement Ratio Analysis to Stay on Track
  If you’re not using ratio analysis on your business, this technique will blow your mind.

More publications

• Invisible Recovery
  Seattle Business magazine story on where Washington State’s federal stimulus money went.
• Out from under the klieg lights
  The Los Angeles Times magazine assignment I’ve wanted for ages — about how the quality of light in Seattle differs from the light in L.A.
• Reinvent your bar
  Nation’s Restaurant News story for the annual NRN50.
• Need a Financial Chief? Order Out
  Washington CEO (RIP) — My article on the boom in hiring temp CFOs.
  

Puget Sound Business Journal

• Amazon at 10
  Amazon at 10: Ten vital questions for the next decade.
• Inside Starbucks store-opening machine
  More interesting than ever, in light of Starbucks’ recent retrenching.
• Generous compensation for execs draws scrutiny
  My Best in Business award-winner from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW). A local hospital was sued after its CEO compensation was revealed in the story.
• Bringing Nordstrom Back
  Part of multi-article feature package done on Nordstrom’s 100th anniversary.
• Eddie Bauer CEO’s leap of faith
  Still one of my favorite personal profiles I’ve ever gotten to do.
• Nonprofits pay trustees well
  Exposed overpaid board members at charities around Puget Sound.
• Amazon v. eBay
  And why eBay will always be better…
• Seattle’s underfunded pension plans
  A story about that inconvenient little fact most public companies bury on about page 137 of their 10K…their pension plan is short of cash.