A health scare spurred Emerald Austin to pursue her entrepreneurial dream, and she opened Royal Gourmet Cookies in March. Austin operates a pop-up location, and she recently sold out of cookies during a grand-opening event.

To better understand how users are interacting with your website, Syed Balkhi explains several key metrics to track in Google Analytics. Among other things, pay attention to top posts, user demographics and website exit pages, Balkhi writes.

Reflecting on his experiences, Martin Zwilling, CEO of Startup Professionals, explains the pitfalls that too many entrepreneurs get caught up in. Instead of rapidly expanding your product line, it's best "to focus and sell more of what you do best," he writes.

Remote workers can get to know each other better when meetings are open early, video and sound are on and leaders pause after asking questions, writes Kevin Eikenberry. "It takes longer for people to speak up in a virtual setting than a face-to-face one, and a good facilitator who waits longer will be rewarded with input and comments," he writes.

Bootstrapping is often a part of the entrepreneurial process, and one study suggests self-funding contributes to company growth more than bank lending does. Abdo Riani outlines three strategies key to bootstrapping, starting with building partnerships.

Entrepreneurs who have received business grants share their strategies for getting this type of funding. For example, Romy Taormina, founder and CEO of Psi Health Solutions, stresses the need to be concise and follow the grant application directions to the letter.

Introversion isn't a simple one-note personality trait, writes The Myers-Briggs Company senior consultant Michael Segovia. Understanding introversion in the workplace means being sensitive to how introversion might manifest and how to accommodate multiple personality traits during meetings and other work functions.

Automation could change the operations of small and midsize manufacturers by helping make up for the shortage of skilled workers, Rich Blake writes. New York's state-supported Buffalo Manufacturing Works is an example of how organizations are helping small manufacturers with automation.

In observance of Thanksgiving in the US, SmartBrief will not publish Thursday and Friday. Publication will resume Monday.