One of the not-so-secret secrets in business is that companies do not treat all customers the same. This should not be shocking: retailers have “preferred customer” programs; the TSA has a PreCheck program that allows some to skip the long lines; our local big box hardware stores have preferred parking for some customers. Our favorite...Read More

Marketing is the activity of promoting and, hopefully, selling products. It is rare that a business can become sustainable without significant marketing efforts. One website has identified 52 types of marketing, giving a great overview of the possibilities for businesses. In our experience, a small business might focus on a handful of these, and a...Read More

A cognitive bias is a deficiency, an error in the way we process information. We’re all guilty, at times, of letting our cognitive (thinking) biases cloud rational decision making. Good business decision making will sometimes come from “the gut” unexplained–at least to some–ways of reaching decisions. That said, rational decision making based on good data...Read More

We’ve heard it for years: retail is brutal. Competition with big box stores and online channels make it very hard for a locally-owned retail store to survive. This is certainly true to some extent; the traditional models of retails are quickly failing everywhere, but that’s the ‘glass is half empty” perspective. Some retail shops in...Read More

The first day of the work year is a good time to think about some ways to make 2019 better than 2018. Not that last year was bad at all: it was quite good in all respects, but being an entrepreneur I have to believe that 2019 will be even better! Here are five things...Read More