By Jon Swanson We have a local mechanic. He’s a nice guy. We’ve talked often over the last few years, more often than I would like some months. He does the work. He’s nearby. He’s friendly. But almost every time there is work to be done…I have to go back. Something is missed. A bill…
Scott White, The BIG Kahuna, shared a story of a small business mistake: Last night my wife and I went to a birthday dinner at one of the nicest St. Thomas restaurants. We really happen to like this restaurant. There were 8 of us in total. The food was fantastic. The service was white glove. What…
Not everything that goes “viral” is good for business. Example: Pizza Hut commissioned a short video, hoping for it to go viral and spread their brand. The video shows a couple of guys going into small independent pizza places and having a Pizza Hut pizza delivered to them there. What’s the message? It says nothing…
This is just my opinion, but I wouldn’t choose to use Twitter to promote my tourism business the way @Gabriola007, Gabriola Gables Waterfront Estate in British Columbia is doing it. There are no rules for using Twitter, so I’m not saying that they are doing it “wrong” because they aren’t following my advice. They are…
How often do you break out of your search tab? I have a search tab open watching “publishing” and another watching “books.”The books tab is full of book readers – 1000s of them…The “publishing” tab is full of reports of the death of books and publishing and how no one reads books anymore.Maybe more of…
Common mistakes can kill your small business. That’s why we have an ongoing series of examples: so we can learn together. Today’s example is from the recent panic buying driving up prices in the firearms industry, post-election. One small business quickly raised prices on their website. Unfortunately, they forgot to update the list price. The…
Are you afraid of buzz? What does that cost you? A local small business owner asked me to not share photos of her renovated historic building until after she has a grand opening. I was surprised. I mentioned that her renovation had been featured in a newspaper article, with photos! She said again, “don’t show…
Common mistakes can kill your small business, but most of them can be easily corrected or avoided. Today’s bad example: mis-using your service providers. Dear Client: Saying, “I don’t like this,” is not feedback. Tell me WHY you don’t like it. I am a writer, not a mind reader. Love, Kristen –@KristenKing, via Twitter If…
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