If one book could revolutionize your small business, it’s Work The System, by Sam Carpenter. (Want a quick preview? Read the guest post Carpenter shared with us, Five Common Mistakes People Make When Starting Up a Small Business and How to Steer Clear of Them.) In the book, Carpenter walks you through his method of…
Every local business website needs to cover some basic information, but too often, we miss something basic. I just searched for some local businesses, and found many that were missing essential info. It’s easy to do, because you’re too close. You think everyone will know, you assume they can figure it out. But it doesn’t…
Straight from my email, meet Benjamin M. Martin. He’s looking for help with a small town restaurant: I live in Clarendon, Arkansas, population 1,700 or so (yes, seventeen hundred, lol). It’s in eastern rural Arkansas, commonly referred to as the Delta. The vast majority of people here are farmers and ‘old school’ where the fast…
Each week, I open the Brag Basket. It’s designed as a fun place for you to share your projects and accomplishments. But you can also cheer for other people, give shout outs, congratulate, and even give someone a well-deserved pat on the back. The Brag Basket is open for everyone, whether from a small town,…
I drink a lot of coffee. So when we saw the sign that said, “World’s best coffee” at the Coldwater, Michigan exit from I-69, I decided that we had to stop later in the day. Nancy and I were going to her folks to return a computer that I had been working on. It’s a…
What will be the biggest trends for rural small businesses in 2009? Anita Campbell of Small Biz Trends asked me. I came up with 11 trends to consider. I must admit that I didn’t make up the phrase, “the Atwoods effect.” That was my husband’s idea for trend #6: Many new residents will be of…
Karen Wylie is writing a terrific new rural small business blog, Backroads Business. Karen is the owner of The Blue Ridge Soap Shed in the mountains of Western North Carolina. She focuses on rural business, seasonal business and home business. Karen’s just getting started, but it’s well worth a look. Tell her I said hi!…
If you’ve started a new business during the past year, you may be wondering how to file your first tax return as a sole proprietor. Here’s the run-down for businesses in the USA. How do you know if you’re a sole proprietor? If you haven’t incorporated, you are a sole proprietor. If you formed an…
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