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…
You get what you measure. That is, anything you actually go to the trouble to keep records on, you will pay more attention to and likely improve. If you make yourself write down everything you eat, you’ll find yourself feeling accountable. You’ll actually eat less or eat better things so you won’t be embarrassed to…
Small towns are a natural fit for heritage tourism. That’s tourism that shares our common heritage, whether it’s historical, cultural or natural. Heritage brings together your historical museum with your festivals, artists and musicians, your agritourism and parks and nature folks. At its best, heritage tourism is active and engaging. People getting hands-on and actively…
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…
Chris Brogan was one of the first people I connected with in the blogging world back in 2006. We talked recently about farming and ranching, and how that is changing, about urban and micropolitan places, and about being on the front edge of a lot of change. I thought you might like to listen in:…
[Stephanie Ward is a fellow Oklahoman, who happens to now reside in The Netherlands. She’s been a good friend and coach, and I’m proud to offer this guest post from her. – Becky] Recently at a networking event I was talking with two friends and the subject of doing work for free versus paid came…
Any advice on how to conduct a Main Street stroll?The idea is to get our locals to actually come into our stores. We have many retirees with money living in our community but they seem to have no use for Main St. They often drive several hours to the nearest city to shop. We are…
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