Owning a small business often means wearing every possible hat available, from marketer to sales clerk and inventory manager to HR professional. Learn from the experiences of the small business owners who are NFIB members as well as the best experts for each industry. Below you will find small business tips for everything from taxes and regulation to promotion and networking.
Technology develops so quickly that it can be hard to keep pace. But every dazzling tech trend shouldn’t require a costly website update. So how can a small business owner tell if his or her website is ready to rock—or ready for a revamp? Is it mobile-friendly? Smartphones became the mobile majority in 2012, and the number of smartphone owners continues to...
For a small business, every expense matters, which is why it isn’t always easy to fork over the cash for advertising expenses. But a time will come when you may need to take marketing efforts from in-house to one advertising agency. Ad hoc marketing materials are clouding your message. Christie Summervill, CEO of compensation consulting company BalancedComp in Wichita, Kan., had a...
With the availability of cheap but quality video equipment (hint: it fits in your pocket and is more prevalent than ever), video content is the next big thing for small business owners who want to market on a budget—and get noticed online. Don’t agree? Read on to learn what video can do for you. Video improves your website’s search engine optimization...
There’s a social media powerhouse on North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago. On the outside, Chicago Music Exchange—a retailer of new, used and vintage music equipment—appears to be a relatively unassuming store on a well-trafficked street with some pretty cool guitars in its window. Nothing about its facade would suggest that it’s the gold standard of social media marketing for independent businesses. But...
The Small Business Owner: Tim Thoelecke is president of InOut Labs, a company that provides wellness and drug-testing services, based in Morton Grove, Ill. The Book: The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It, by Michael E. Gerber Why I Read It: I had a business that relied heavily on my participation in the day-to-day...
Small business owners, by their very nature, are risk takers. Their accountants, however, usually are not. “Accountants tend to be risk averse,” says Kenji Kuramoto, founder of AcuityCFO and CEO of AcuityComplete, a financial services company in Atlanta. “That translates to accountants being slow adopters of technology.” Number crunchers who embrace IT at dial-up speeds could bring a small business to...
How did the chicken cross the road? Well, if that chicken lives in western Pennsylvania, it might have been driven down the road and to the home of a renter. An apartment renter, you ask? No, to a renter of the chicken itself, via the Freeport, Penn., recently launched small business Rent the Chicken. Small Business Inspiration Last year, when Jenn Tompkins had...
This stuff isn’t going to sell itself. Good business starts with good marketing, and while you may be selling as best you know how, there are things coming down the pike you make not know about. Here are 11 hot marketing trends you need to be aware of for 2014. 1. Revving up reviews Online reviews matter, but buying them is unethical....
For a holiday filled with candy hearts and chubby Cupids, Valentine’s Day can be daunting for small business owners. With everyone looking for the right way to say “I love you,” the volume of orders, exhausted staff and last-minute calls can spell doom, even for an established business. Here are four tips to survive—and perhaps even thrive—this February 14. 1. Prepare,...
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