Sheila Scarborough has been my friend for over 4 years, which is a long time online. She’s one of the most confident and capable people anywhere. She’s made an impressive transition from an officer in the Navy to freelance writer to entrepreneur and business owner. I’ve learned a lot from her about the world of…
As we walked through downtown Belton, Texas, we stumbled on this live window display. The little girl and boy were clearly enjoying being part of the window display, and they certainly caught our eye. We didn’t step in to buy anything, but stopping people in their tracks is a first step. It gives you a…
Since our book Small Town Rules was released by Que Publishing this spring, Barry Moltz and I have been sharing lots of videos, interviews, and guest posts all over the web. So I’m offering this series to share some of these ideas here. Even if you aren’t interested in the book itself, you can learn…
By Jon Swanson “Are you Martha or Molly?” I figured it was a simple question. He acted like he owned the place. “I’m George,” he said. The sign says Martha and Molly’s,but the customer service was George’s. It was a clothes and shoes shop in northwest Ohio, on a road where most of the cars…
If you chase two rabbits, you probably won’t catch either of them. That’s one of those “common sense” business lessons I’ve heard for a long time. Of course, I don’t follow it. My husband and I own a liquor store and a cattle ranch, I speak and write about small business, and I co-founded Tourism…
“Small business” is much too broad. It includes, by various definitions, companies that have up to 500 employees. I don’t know about your small town, but in mine, that would be a *huge* business. You have to start where you are.Then you can grow. And the term “entrepreneur” is even worse, with dozens of definitions…
Every business person, no matter how successful they appear, deals with failure daily. It’s just a part of doing business. Every week, I fail in my business.I never can outguess the customers! Looking in from the outside, you don’t see the whole picture. A smart friend told me he’s intimidated when he looks at people…
It shouldn’t be hard work for your customers to complain. They are helping you to improve, so make it easy for them to get a message to you. Contributor Jon Swanson. Contributor Jon Swanson worked hard to complain constructively to two companies. He heard back from one, but not the other. He finally wrote about…
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