Your small business has launched. Things are going well. Your day is spent working with your customers or restocking shelves. Yet you have so many other things to do. Nights and weekends are your time for ordering, recordkeeping and planning. Family members, who you hoped to spend more time with, see less and less of…
If you operate a small business of any type–product or service, home-based, Main Street, on the outskirts or outside of town, new or old–you have a common bond with all other small business owners. Your common bond is the close linkages between your family and your business. Actions taken in one easily can affect the…
Small businesses used to have a hard time getting approved to accept credit cards. Getting set up for a merchant account involved passing a credit check, agreeing to a long-term contract, paying monthly fees even if you didn’t accept any payments, and acquiring specialized equipment often with another monthly payment. Square and its competitors…
If no one knows about your business, the odds are it won’t be successful. Getting visible today is harder than ever before. The traditional marketing tools are still used, plus now online tools just add to the clutter that prevents your business from being noticed. This is certainly true for new businesses, but even existing…
Small town businesses have certain advantages over big city businesses. One is that we have the luxury of educating customers, knowing that if they like what they learn, they are likely to make the resulting purchase from us. In a big city, running a tasting or a sampling or a class takes the risk that…
Whether your business is just starting or it has been around for 100 years, the need to remain visible is constant. You need to give today’s consumer a reason to stop at your business. Some have forgotten you exist, others get busy and still others may not realize what changes you may have made, such…
Are you looking for new product ideas for your business? Have you asked your customers? First rule of product ideas: The people in field doing the work always come up with the best ideas. Lisle Corporation (Clarinda, Iowa, population 5,500) makes, among other things, automotive specialty tools. You know, the funny hand tools mechanics use for all…
What makes us make a purchase? The answer is not entirely clear. Yet we do know that six behaviors are part of the buying decision process. Knowing the behaviors is a good first step in helping small-business owners develop a business strategy. However, business owners also must understand that for each person, the behaviors are not linear but…
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