Author Archives for Mike Sperling

About Mike Sperling

Mike is the CEO and Owner of Sperling Interactive with over 15 years of website design, photography, marketing, and e-commerce experience. He built Sperling Interactive with his wife from the ground up, starting as a small office in his home with only a few employees and clients to one that has 20+ employees and more than 600 clients served all from our headquarters in Salem’s Historic District.

Mike grew up in Baltimore, Maryland where he went to a magnet school for the arts and began his study of photography. From there he went on to Rochester Institute of Technology in New York where he got his degree in Photojournalism and Communications. Before founding Sperling Interactive, Mike worked his way up from staff photographer at the Eagle Tribune Publishing Company to the lead operator and manager of multiple websites for daily and weekly publications.

Mike has a deep commitment to community involvement and civic engagements. In the past few years he and members of our team have become involved in programs that assist the youth, homeless, food insecure, and families at risk through programs at Lifebridge, Paddle for Plummer, LEAP for Education, Harborlight, Bridgewell, and the Enterprise Center at Salem State.

Ever the optimist, Mike believes that there is never a problem that can’t be solved with a bit of ingenuity and perseverance. It’s this positive, can-do attitude and know-how that allowed Mike to be recognized as Small Business of the Year 2019, by the Greater Beverly Chamber of Commerce.

A Quick Guide to Presenting

May 23, 2019 8:41 am Published by Leave your thoughts

Whether you are a first-time speaker or someone who does this regularly, presenting can be nerve-wracking and stress inducing. The old advice of “picture them in their underwear” does little to allay fears and nothing to improve your speaking skills. Instead, we offer a quick review of things to do before and during your next big presentation. Don’t worry, you’ve...


Bookkeeping for Small Businesses

May 15, 2019 8:36 am Published by Leave your thoughts

Who keeps the books for your business? You know the dreaded invoicing, receiving, payables, reconciling, filing, general ledgers, liabilities, budgets, and reports. Many small businesses do not have a dedicated accountant or financial manager to take care of these tasks, which means that, often times, the job falls to a business leader or owner. Chances are, if you are an...


Drones for Business Use

May 10, 2019 8:32 am Published by Leave your thoughts

Over the past several years businesses have cultivated new and interesting ways to add drone technology to their critical tasks. Amazon Prime Air Service is planning to offer fast delivery turnarounds with a drone prototype. Shell Oil Refinery uses drones to complete safety and compliance inspections. Walmart applied for a patented drone system to carry items around the store. And...


Getting Real about Goal Setting

May 8, 2019 8:27 am Published by Leave your thoughts

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” — Fitzhugh Dodson   At the end of every fiscal year, do you find that you are just short of the goals that you so neatly created months ago? Or do you find that your business team took a left turn...


Assembling a Great Management Team

May 7, 2019 3:27 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

If you have seen the Marvel Avengers franchise’s latest installment, End Game, (and, let’s face it, millions of you have seen it) then you know what a powerful, efficient, and productive team looks like. Your business team may not have Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk or any of the other members of the Avengers, but you probably have just as...


Effective Time Management Skills

December 14, 2017 11:30 am Published by Leave your thoughts

Do you ever notice that people around you always seem to get their tasks done and out of the way, while yours seem to pile up, and once you finish one thing, another or more come your way? Let me reassure you you’re not alone in this. Chances are those people are using time management skills to prioritize what needs...


How to Promote your Business without a PR Department

December 13, 2017 11:30 am Published by Leave your thoughts

If you’re a business owner, prospective or current, you may be asking how you can promote your business without a PR department. Promoting your business is essential to gaining new customers and keeping old ones coming back. Business promotion is two-fold. The first part is to actively let consumers know about your business, services, and/or products. Don’t rely on word-of-mouth,...


The Steps to Take to Protect your Customers’ PII (Personally Identifiable Information)

December 11, 2017 11:30 am Published by Leave your thoughts

If you have a company, chances are you keep a log of your customers’ personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, etc… which is readily available to perform business functions. If such is the case, what steps do you take to protect all this sensitive data? It is important to keep this information private...


Developing an Effective Strategy for the New Year

December 4, 2017 12:00 pm Published by Leave your thoughts

While most, if not all, businesses actively look to reach their target customers in an effort to make a profit, there are those that don’t implement an effective business strategy to do so. And what’s worse is businesses which don’t have a strategy don’t even know how it is hurting their business model. Do you have an effective business strategy...


Employee Retention Strategies

December 1, 2017 9:15 am Published by Leave your thoughts

In last month’s blog post, we discussed the difference between recruitment and talent acquisition. This week we will touch on effective employee retention strategies. One of the most difficult situations a business can find itself in is when a top employee quits unexpectedly. Almost immediately the management team must take on a whole slew of challenges, namely replacing the valued...