May 4-8 is Small Business Week in the U.S. this year. So what do you see when you walk into or drive by your local small businesses? If you are like many of us, you see a place that offers you goods and services, a place you can go to and get what you want….
When you bring together the idea of pop up (temporary) businesses with the tiny house movement, you get tiny business villages. They make great sense for small towns and rural places. Garden Sheds Turned Incubator: Tionesta Market Village Tionesta, Pennsylvania, (population 500) had a lot that was vacant for 10 years after a fire…
Knowing what your customer wants is the base to building a successful business. Of course, you still must meet that need, let customers know you have what they want, and price it at a level that customers feel is acceptable. But the process begin with knowing the problem they are trying to solve. Market research is…
More people have a home-based business than you might think. On average, one of every 10 households is operating one or more home-based businesses. In rural areas, that number is often higher. And these numbers typically do not take into account farm and ranch operations which, by most definitions, would be considered a home-based business….
Today, you have unprecedented support available to help you build and improve your business and to survive any economic conditions. No matter how small a town or isolated an area you live in, internet access connects you to astounding resources. You can read advice from experts, including those in your own field. You can connect…
Starting a business means a need for money to help pay for a variety of things from registration fees to getting the store ready for customers to buying initial inventory. Potential business owners often struggle to find those first dollars. Asking for help to find grants, or ‘free money,’ is a common request. While there…
If starting a business is in your plans, determining your primary reason for such an effort is vital. You may think that is an odd comment to make because people obviously start a business to make money. That’s true for some, but people start businesses for lots of reasons. Money is not always the primary…
It’s Super Bowl Sunday. I knew two teams were vying for a trophy. And the media didn’t let me forget that lots of advertisers were going for best commercial. What I didn’t know was that I also would be running a contest, a contest in terms of customer satisfaction (the customer being me). Here is the…
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