Our friends Pam and Michelle (and crew) at BatchBlue have launched BatchBook for Sales. BatchBook is a CRM (customer relationship manager) for small business. Think of it as a super-hero address book. Here’s an overview of the new sales features. It now has Deals, a Calendar, and more user restrictions, so you have more ways…
At BlogWorld Expo, I finally got to meet two of Sheila Scarborough‘s travel connections, Doug at Authentic Seacoast (@AuthenticCoast) and Shannon Lane (@Cajun_Mama). We had a great discussion about what makes tourism tweets interesting. Doug said a regional tourism group had an intern handling their Twitter account. He would tweet things like, “I’m going to…
Blogging is a terrific tool for small businesses, but the work of blogging eventually can get you into a rut. That’s why so many blogs stagnate and even die after a while. Long-time friend Chris Brogan asked a pointed question about this, on Twitter. Is your blog phoning it in? Are you tagging along in…
Greg Corombos and John Duoba from the Business Owner’s Toolkit Radio interviewed me for their radio show. We covered a lot of ground, including: What’s different in rural business, and what can all businesses learn? Do shop local campaigns work? How do you start one? What are some keys to success in small retail stores?…
Every week, I open a Brag Basket, so you can introduce yourself or share some good news. So speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer, and everyone feels great. It lets you meet each other a bit. Reading each others’ stories brings us a bit closer to…
Our friend Chel Wolverton helped me connect with award-winning novelist J.C. Hutchins to talk about promoting on little or no budget. I thought small businesses could take some lessons from his success. J.C. is best known for his high-tech 7th Son thriller trilogy, which he released as free serialized audiobooks from 2006-07. With more than 5 million…
[Jennifer Brooks writes a terrific blog about rural/urban fringe issues, and I invited her to do a guest post for us. And I am glad I did! -Becky] Drive, Shop and Be Merry: Tapping Into Rural Tourism & Retail Opportunities at Christmas By Jennifer Brooks Even as large retailers are slashing prices and expecting sluggish…
Jeanne Cole, a regular contributor here, put together some basics for small business, for the Small Business 101 workshop held in Alva. Here are her 4 top tips. 1. Do a business plan for the right reason.Most people only write a business plan when they want money. But the top reason to write a business…
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