There are two general kinds of marketing a business can do. You can do brand building or you can do direct response. Brand building is what Coke does, what beer companies do, and what a lot of car companies do. They make expensive commercials whose only purpose is to remind you that they are out…
A lot of people think of small business and entrepreneurship as a highly risky venture. Everyone knows someone – maybe even someone in their family or circle of friends – who went into business and it didn’t work out. There are all kinds of stats floating around on the internet about how 1 in 5…
This is the time of year when a lot of people are trying out goals they set at the end of last year. Some may have already given up and others may be going strong. But usually, these goals are personal in nature and for some reason, most people don’t carry this idea over to…
Company culture is a term you hear thrown around a lot but usually in reference to larger businesses. The reality is though that every business has a culture even if there is only one person there. The culture is generally determined by the owner because they determine what the business is, how it operates, who…
Even though Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol nearly 200 years ago at this point, it’s pretty hard to not end up hearing about it every year around this time. In fact, this year our family went to see the play performed at the Old Globe Theatre here in San Diego. It was mostly the original…
I will freely admit that what originally interested me in being my own boss was the idea of making a lot of money. A million dollars in particular seemed like a great benchmark to reach. But I will also freely admit that this was back when I was ten years old and had no real…
I often hear bad advice given in business and do my best to give a good counterpoint or flat-out retort to help offset someone going down the wrong path. This task is harder though when the bad advice is coming from one of the biggest names in business with a literal trillion-dollar success story. In…
There are only three ways to grow any business: Most business owners focus hard on number three. “If I just had more customers, I’d be in great shape” is a pretty common statement to hear from the average business owner. But often, that’s the hardest one to achieve. And in reality, of course, you should…
Nearly every small business launch I’ve ever seen, including most of the ones I’ve started(!), have made competing on price at least part of their pitch. It makes sense. When you have a brand new business, you’re essentially saying to your potential customer, I know I have no history, experience, reputation, reviews, or references to…
Well, the title may be slightly misleading, because when I tell you the “secret” you’re going to say that’s not a secret at all. But, in my defense, I see SO MANY small business owners blow this that it almost seems like it must be a secret or why else would it not get more…