Your customers are your business. Connecting with them means success or failure. How well does your business do in terms of connecting? You won’t find many answers in this column, but you will find lots of questions you need to think about. How do you connect with your customers? I suspect many of you have…
Starting a business is a risky adventure. One in five will not make it through the first year and less than 40 percent, and some studies show less than 20%, will still be in business five years later. So why do people try? Because being your own boss and running your own business for many…
You are new in town. How do you find your service professionals? This includes everyone from your doctor and dentist to your plumber and electrician. Once upon a time, we would ask the people we work with and our neighbors and friends. Today we go online. At this point, I suspect some of you are…
How often are you asked, as a small business owner, for a charitable donation? I have a friend who has labeled this process as being “$20 to death.” Her comment is often accurate as most small-business operators see a steady stream of people asking for money to support charities, sports teams, clubs, civic groups, etc….
Finding a business idea is easy. Finding an idea that will make money and is sustainable is hard. Ideas for businesses are found in many different ways. The idea may an old family recipe or a new recipe you create. Ideas also come from imagination and observation, and may pop up as you solve a…
What do these four things have in common? Keep up building maintenance Develop your online presence Provide good wages and benefits Establish a solid customer service program Give up? Perhaps the article title gave you a hint. Each of these items has been shown to build your bottom line. That’s correct. Spending money in these…
What’s the goal of a marketing program? If you listen to marketing gurus, they talk a great deal about getting bigger numbers. Many of the tips you find focus on increasing how many people see your message or how many take time to read your content. Those are good first steps because developing an awareness…
Want to improve the operation of your business? One simple tip is to listen to and watch what other business owners are doing. This simple piece of advice can save you a great deal of time, effort and money. It can help you from going down a path that others have tried and found unsuccessful….
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