Wondering exactly who you can best serve in your small business? Here are a few ways to hone in on your target market. Draw a picture of your ideal customer (or client). How old? What gender? How does this person dress? Where does the person shop? What does she (or he) spend discretionary income on? Has [...]
Marketing for Service Professionals – Are You Doing Too Much?
May 15, 2013 2 Comments
The other day another small business owner complained to me that her business had picked up, but she was almost too rushed to get her customer’s work done. I’d have laughed at the thought of being too busy to actually service a customer, but I could tell she was really frustrated and totally serious. As I listened, [...]
Children, Risk, and Successful Small Businesses
May 9, 2013 Leave a Comment
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about the problems small business owners have with finding and keeping great team members. You can find that post at http://confidentmarketer.com/2013/04/29/get-team-building-right/. It created a lot of discussion and several questions from readers. The pool of workers available for hire and the skills they need to be successful [...]
Which Works For Your Small Business – Bullets or Buckshot?
May 3, 2013 8 Comments
My grandfather used to say “I’ll take buckshot over a bullet in my butt anytime.” (My grandfather was a working carnie, and had a mouthful of colorful language.) Why did Granddad prefer buckshot? Because buckshot is scattered, not targeted. And it doesn’t go as deep when it hits. I see small biz owners who don’t have much [...]
Small Business Owners and Team Building – 5 Ways to Get it Right
April 29, 2013 10 Comments
There’s something stirring in the small business world that bothers me, so today I thought I’d talk about it. More and more frequently I hear war stories of small business owners who have big issues with the team members they’ve hired to help them grow their business. It doesn’t matter whether the team members are [...]
3 Ways My Eye Doc Keeps My Business – Small Business Success Tips
April 22, 2013 16 Comments
For some strange reasons that have to do with my health insurance company’s bureaucracy, I’m now a resident of Florida for medical purposes. Which means I’ve had the unpleasant task of finding new doctors for all the stuff I need, ophthalmology being one. Given the aging population that tends to reside in Florida, there are [...]
Does Steve Martin Have Bright Shiny Object Syndrome?
April 14, 2013 18 Comments
If you’ve been a part of the small business community for very long, you’ve heard the term “bright shiny object syndrome.” People who own their own business tend to have BSOS – which means we flit from new idea to new idea, never really stopping to fully let any one idea mature into a money maker. This [...]
