If you’re the typical small business owner, you began your business with an exciting idea, a passion. No one goes into business thinking, “I can’t wait to work on cash flow challenges.” And yet, cash flow is one of the top reasons businesses close their doors. It’s not that they aren’t making money. It’s that managing it is not everyone’s skill set.

Money management challenges are one of the most critical areas you need to master to be successful.

If you have a small business, you should look at gift cards as a strategic tool—not just for boosting holiday revenue. Gift cards can also help you foster long-term customer relationships and assist you in increasing revenue for today for services rendered or goods purchased in the future.

You have a great business. You offer items/services everyone needs, yet you’re struggling to get people in the door. What can you do?

The market is volatile. No, we’re not talking about stocks. The needs and desires of your audience are evolving, and your business marketing needs to follow suit. If you’re not practicing agile marketing, you’re going to fall behind.

Agile marketing is one of the most crucial aspects of marketing for businesses today. It offers significant advantages in an ever-changing marketplace. And the public’s expectations surrounding it (bet you didn’t know they already expect agility in marketing) can mean a potentially costly mistake for businesses that aren’t implementing it.

If you’re like most businesspeople, finding ways to get names on your emailing list can be exhausting. We all want tons of fans and followers. There’s value behind a list of people who are interested in what you offer. Most businesses start their list with people they know. But if you want to turn your email list into marketing gold, you need to get strangers (who will become potential customers) interested in you. That’s no easy task.

It’s the kind of activity that most of us avoid because the thought of it seems so overwhelming.

It’s important to recognize the early signs of burnout and mental health struggles. Ignoring them can have disastrous consequences for you and your business. It can lead to decreased productivity, poor decision-making, high employee turnover, and a toxic company culture. Moreover, mental health struggles can seep into personal relationships, further isolating you from the support you need.

Trust is the cornerstone of customer relationships, driving sales and fostering loyalty. Yet, building that trust swiftly, especially in a competitive landscape filled with countless options for consumers, can be hard. Establishing credibility and rapport takes time and effort. (It’s the one thing you can’t buy at Costco.) But strategic actions can accelerate trust building. By focusing on transparency, communication, and consistently exceeding expectations, you can cultivate trust quickly and effectively. If you want to build trust with current and potential customers, check out these important values.

For the past two years or so, it feels as if economists have been avoiding the words recession and inflation. No one wants to hear those terms. They’ve been pointing to economic equations and data to show we’re not “technically” in a recession because unemployment is low or the inflation rate is lower than it was this time last year.

But if you’re feeling the pinch in your business, an economic turn of words means little to you.

So, what can you do to combat this word no one wants to talk about?

As a business owner, you are well-served by collecting emails and running an email marketing campaign if for no other reason than to remain top-of-mind with your customers. When they’re getting emails from you with exciting news and great deals (who couldn’t use those these days?) they’ll get used to hearing from you and seeing your name.

But you want to do more than just be recognizable and remain top-of-mind. You want your emails to drive purchases. Even if you don’t sell online, emails are an excellent motivator and nurturer for in-person purchases—if you can get recipients to open them.

If you are in a client services business (especially one where your clients might return over and over), one of the best things you can do to set yourself up for success is to understand who you want to work with and who aligns with your skills and talent.

If you’re just starting off, or you’ve fallen on hard times, it’s tempting to work with anyone and everyone. But you’ll end up sabotaging yourself in the long run when you choose to work with the “wrong” clients.

After all, there are limited hours in the workday. If you’re plugging just anyone into those spots, there may not be room for the clients that you find the most desirable.

Summer is a season of change for many small businesses. School's out, vacations are in, and customer behavior shifts as people embrace the warmer weather and longer days. For some businesses, it’s a time of enormous revenue; for others, it can herald a long dry spell.

But with a bit of planning and creativity, summer can also be a season of growth and opportunity no matter what type of business you are in (except maybe snow plowing).

Here are a few ideas that you can start thinking about today.

It’s that time of year when businesses start thinking about summer help. Could you use an intern this summer? Here are several things you need to consider before bringing on your first intern.

There’s an untapped goldmine out there for your business—YouTube. Beyond the fact that it is the second-largest search engine globally (behind its parent Google), YouTube offers a unique space for businesses to connect with their audience, showcase expertise, and build lasting relationships. It’s time to get over your fear of video and embrace the world of YouTube because it can significantly impact your business growth and reach.

Whether you are a business or a nonprofit, operating in the public sector or the private one, serving businesses and organizations or serving individuals, established in your sector or just starting out, running an empire or “lone wolfing” it, your audience wants to get to know you better. In fact, they expect it.

So, what does that look like and how does that benefit you?

If you’re a woman who owns a business and you’d like to apply for federal contracts, getting officially certified as a woman-owned business is essential. The federal government’s goal is to award at least 5% of its contracts to women-owned small businesses each year. While the certification process may seem daunting, it’s not that difficult if you know the basic application rules and materials needed.

If you’re interested in ways to reach more people, and you’re ready to start maximizing technology, it’s time to look at these business solutions.

No matter what industry you're in, you can always learn from techniques used in other businesses. Particularly if those techniques lead you to ideas that help you connect with your audience. In this article, we're going to discuss an easy change that will transform your business's marketing and how people see your business. It's something you can do today regardless of your target market.

There are years to plant, years to sow, years to harvest, and years to lay fallow. And that applies to business too. That doesn’t mean you go dormant with nothing to do. There’s always growth to be had but the outward signs of that growth look different from year to year (or in the case of gardening, season to season.)

We are social creatures. We long for acceptance. We have a fear of missing out. And it’s those very social drives you can leverage to get more customers.