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…
Just as soon as your small business includes more than just you, there will be people problems. To help you with those problems, our friend Phil Gerbyshak has put up a new resource, The Management Expert.Phil has pulled together a huge collection of over 500 of his management articles. His goal is to help new…
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…
More audiences today are wired, with laptops or smart phones. They are taking notes, Tweeting, and much more. This changes the dynamic of speaking, so here are three tips I picked up at BlogWorld Expo this year. 1. Using a visual can make people stop taking notes and listen to you. This one came from…
Facebook can be a powerful tool for small business, and our friend Shama Hyder of Click to Client (2013 update: Shama’s firm is now called Marketing Zen) shared some outstanding tips in her presentation at BlogWorld Expo. Tip 1: Create a fan Page, not a personal Profile, for your business. Fan pages are the best way for…
Every so often, we feature common small business mistakes, so you can learn from them. Lots of small business make a mistake in setting and keeping their business hours. Here’s an example from a retail business, open only 11 hours per week. But hey, they do say you can call and they’ll come open up….
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