Our friend Bob Sawyer, Pixels and Code, has a great question for discussion. How do you offer to help without offending? I came across a web site last night that is in dire need of help. This is a landscape supply company. The site was built in 2002. Aside from being poorly coded (the owner…
If you know how to blog, podcast, share photos online, and basically use social media tools, you could start a business today. Dress professionally.Get a pad of paper and a pen.Go to a business.Ask questions. This is where the magic happens. Ask them what they are doing to reach out and connect with customers. What…
Just (adverb): merely, only.Usage: a way to acknowledge insignificance.Example: I’m just a small business owner. I’ve just got one employee. It’s just a small town. We all use it. We use it all the time. We are in the middle of a conference, listening to the speaker, hearing great wisdom and success. We think, “But…
Each Friday, I open the brag basket as a fun place to give someone a pat on the back, brag, or promote yourself and your projects. Tony Katz explained why this matters: It’s ok to have success, it’s ok to have great things happen in your life and it is ok to talk about those…
Our Friend Chris Penn took my rant on the rural workforce shortage and ran with it. The result? He’s spilling the secret over on the Financial Aid Podcast. Will we be overrun with city folks seeking the land of opportunity in the small towns? Um, no. I can’t tell you how happy I would be…
Speaker on small town business and social media It’s tough to find speakers who really understand small town and small business realities. And most techie speakers have trouble translating new technology into plain language. I help conference organizers provide useful information to audiences, especially small business people, small town and rural residents. My successes and…
If you accept credit cards, you can’t avoid receiving offers for a merchant cash advance. Seems like every day someone calls our store to offer one! But have you ever actually used one? If you have, Marketplace would like to talk with you. Marketplace is the business show on public radio. They are researching these…
Don’t let Zane Safrit’s Iowa cornfield backdrop fool you. He’s a sharp CEO-level business guy. In the cornfields. Since 2006, Zane has been exchanging ideas with us. We seem to write about many of the same topics: failure, innovation, small towns, customer service. But he also brings great knowledge on word of mouth, health care,…
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