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…
Get out the noise makers. Put on your party hats. Order a cake. It’s time to celebrate the backbone of our economy, the small business. Small Business Week 2016, May 1 through May 7, is a celebration of small businesses across the country. Small businesses mean jobs, dollars and economic growth. According to the U.S….
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….
Is your business the “best-kept secret?” While that question should make you smile, it also should raise a concern. Reaching your full potential will not happen if people don’t know your business exists. How do you know if you are the best-kept secret? If you finish a sale and your customer comments she wishes she had…
If your a small-business owner, this title may have caught you be surprise. Who wants competition? Business owners often see competition only as something that detracts from their own bottom line. Well, you may want to think differently. First, competition keeps you on your toes. Just by their presence, you need to stay better tuned…
There is a relationship between small business success and strong local communities. That relationship is built over time and is circular in nature. At a basic level, the relationship develops when the business is viewed as a community member and supporter, more residents shop there and talk about it. As more residents display those behaviors,…
Building and running a business means handling a variety of tasks and duties. Some of those duties you may enjoy and some you may not. Some of those duties you may be good at and some may frustrate you. One task that many small-business owners continually tell me they neither enjoy nor feel competent at or…
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