Small Business Week?

From the Small Business Week web site:

Just because we’re small doesn’t mean our “week” should only be three days long, does it?

Customer Service–Washington Style

I consider myself a good citizen, certainly one who loves my country. But I have to admit that I have some trust issues with the current crowd in Washington, on both sides of the aisle. So, you can imagine my response when I received a letter over the weekend from the United States [...]

Help Fight a Killer!

More observant readers may notice that a new tab has been added at the top of the page.  It’s a page called “Help Fight Diabetes!”.  To make a long story short (and you can read the longer story by clicking the tab) my son and I will be riding in the Tour de Cure, a [...]

Another Virus!

Just last month we were all concerned about a virus that might attack our computers. The April 1 date has come and gone but according to the experts we’re not out of the woods yet.
Now we’re being warned about a different type of virus. This time the target isn’t our computer, it’s us. [...]

Mea Culpa

One thing about the Internet, when you suck it’s right there for everyone to see.  Frankly, this has been a terrible blogging week.  There have just been too many things going on.  For starters, the weather here in the heartland has been awesome.  It’s been in the 70s with sun most of the time.  I [...]

Sweating the Small Stuff

I know you’ve heard the expression, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” Sometimes it may be good advice, but in running our businesses, it’s often the small stuff that can make a big difference. From Seth Godin’s blog comes an interesting story about a bread shop. The shop opens every day at 6:00 [...]

Step Away From the Computer

This blog focuses on small business, quality, and social media.  We try to provide an equal balance of all three.  But as I look at the various blogs, podcasts, twitter streams, and other social media that I follow I’m noticing that there’s way too much coverage of social media.  I mean, how many posts about [...]

They Risked it All

I’ve said it here before, this is a business blog, not a politiical blog.  This disclaimer is invariably  followed by something political.  Events over the last few days have convinced me that I’ve been mistaken.
This is a political blog.  Business and politics are two sides of the same coin and to pretend otherwise is foolish.  [...]

Thoughts for the Day

One thing I really admire is the gift of brevity, something I obviously don’t have.  The ability to make a pithy statement in a very few words is truly admirable.  While bicycling and listening to podcasts today, I came across two wonderful examples:
Never chase the money.  Chase excellence and the money will chase you.
Pat Fraley
Blogging [...]

Saving the Economy 3 Stores at a Time

Thanks to Jay Ehret, aka themarketingguy for pointing out this article from WCCO.com about the 3/50 Project.  The 3/50 project was launched by Cinda Baker, a small business consultant.  The whole thing is really simple.  Consumers pick three local, independent businesses that they’d hate to see disappear and spend $50 per month at those businesses [...]