Small Business Trends

Engagement Marketing: How Small Business Wins in a Socially Connected World is the new book about how to get and keep customers by engaging with them.

I love the premise of this book because it is utterly realistic for small businesses.  Engagement marketing, according to the book, is the art of “getting new customers through your existing customers, while Read More

Great marketing strategies never go out of style for a reason – because they WORK.  Word of mouth is one of those strategies.  It doesn’t cost a fortune and it works like crazy.  Then, when you add the latest social media tools, you have word-of-mouth marketing on steroids.

Enter Andy Sernovitz (@sernovitz) , the leader of SocialMedia.org, the community for Read More

I find it funny when people from all walks of life speak on how a business is run, but few thoroughly examine a business’ relationship with a community.  A family’s experiment shows the importance of that relationship more than any words could express.

Our Black Year, One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy, written Read More

“What if you don’t want to use social media for your business?”  This is a question that I’m often asked and my answer is the same.  “You don’t have to.”  There is no right or wrong.  There are successful, profitable businesses out there that  don’t have a web site or a cell phone or a social media profile.  And in Read More

Do you believe in luck?  What about being at the right place at the right time?  Do you think that luck was for everyone else or do you think that you can create your luck?  I’ve been thinking about luck lately and almost as if by magic – I received a review copy of Get Lucky: How to Read More

I am always excited to see the results from blending offline and digital business behavior.  Blending ideas has fast become a hallmark of internet-fostered communication, as well as success.

One book that details the best results of this blend is Small Town Rules, How Big Brands and Small Businesses Can Prospect In A Connected Economy, a wonderful distinct Read More

Early on in my career I worked with an engineer named Max who always said, “You get what you measure.” The Accomplishment Journal for Women Entrepreneurs: From Goals to Results: A Simple System To Build Your Business & Be More Effective does just that.

The authors created not just one book, but Read More

“A company’s worst enemy is not always the competition. Sometimes it’s the fear that lives within its own walls.” ~ Breaking the Fear Barrier

Fear is universal. It’s in our DNA, our basic structure. If it wasn’t for fear, mankind wouldn’t exist today. It’s the fear that makes humans aware there is danger. It tells us to pay attention because Read More

“Customers are a mystery to small business owners as they usually focus on themselves. “ – Martha Hanlon (in a handwritten note to me.)

Martha Hanlon is a woman after my own heart.  I can tell that by just reading the cover of the review copy of Customers are the Answer to Everything: How to Get and Keep Read More

I don’t remember exactly how I came to know of Sarah Petty and Erin Verbeck, authors of the new business book “Worth Every Penny.”   At some point Sarah joined me on my radio show to discuss how to compete without focusing on price.

One thing led to another, and then another.  Last year I got Read More