The Best Way to Deal with Email What’s the best way to deal with email? Have it sorted automatically, before you ever see it, into groups based on the frame of mind needed to act on it. Frame of mind might be “reading” for newsletters that are informative, or “read and reply immediately” for work…
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The Brag Basket is still traveling in honor of the many countries where you, our community members, live. This week we celebrate our readers in India. Yes, the basket is always free and open to readers from all over, all weekend, this one August 2-4, 2013. What…
A common issue for small-business owners is having too much to do and too little time. The small-business owner wears many hats. On any one day, he or she may need to make a major decision on anything from adding a new product line to finding new customers to reviewing and even doing the financial…
Each week, I publish a newsletter with a positive view of rural. Recently, I featured the idea of giving your small town a dash of color. Keith Snyder of Lincoln, Illinois, replied with some great news about how his town is letting their color and creativity out. Lots of ideas you can use here….
Many small town businesses enjoy a kind of monopoly: they are the only source for their product in their location. If you are the only pizza place in town, you feel like you have an advantage. But what do you do when you find out competition is opening soon? Do you hate the new business,…
The Brag Basket is our tradition of sharing. The basket is always free and open all weekend, this one July 26-28, 2013. I’m back from my travels, but the Brag Basket is still roaming. This week, we celebrate our readers in Portugal. What good news will you add to the brag basket? Don’t hold back…
Now that most cell phones can access the internet, you might think that wifi access doesn’t matter for tourism. And no one would want to work while on vacation, right? Well, more than ever, wifi and work spaces are important to local tourism strategies, especially in small towns. Let’s start with this key point: Your…
Ratings help your customers decide. They help customers decide which product to buy, but more importantly, they help customers decide whether to buy at all. Online rating sites have shaken up almost every business category. You can adapt that idea in your business whether you sell products in a downtown store, services online, or something…
Since 2006, this site has been helping people like you in small towns move forward without waiting on outside experts, big budgets, or perfect plans. You don’t need any of that to get started.
If you care about your business, your downtown, or your community, you’ll find ideas here you can actually use. Take one. Try it out. Let me know how it goes for you.
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