Friday, 17 February 2012

Small Business Growth Problems

You hear, or read so much about small business being the backbone of the economy,

[caption id="attachment_548" align="alignleft" width="128" caption="Small Business growth can mean problems"][/caption]

about economic recovery by small business growth. What you don't hear about are small business growth problems and why some small business choose not to grow. An article I read recently dealt with a few of the reasons. While written for the American market I'm sure those of us in business

small business growth problems... read more..

Thursday, 16 February 2012

Small Business Help - Couples working together in business

Running a small business is stressful, so couples working together in business must


[caption id="attachment_537" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Randy Rubin and Craig Rubin source: Crypton"][/caption]
be doubly stressful, or maybe 4 times. And yet there are well over a million couples working together in business in the USA. So how do they make it work? Here are some great tips from Randy and Craig Rubin, owners of Crypton a textile company, on business and work balance for

Couples working together in business tips

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

How do you use Social Media in Small Business

I was quite happy with my social media efforts for my kids shoe shop until I came across an article by James Debono which has got me thinking. Do I use social media in small business correctly and if not what should I be doing.

Here's an extract from his blog


[caption id="attachment_524" align="alignright" width="150" caption="is this a marketing site or a social site?"][/caption]

Social media for small business should be more social and less about marketing. Those businesses that

how do you use social media in small business

Monday, 13 February 2012

Is there such a thing as work life balance in small business?

Do you think that having work life balance in small business is achievable? And what


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about in the start up phase when there is even more pressure to work 24/7. Is it necessary to sacrifice family relationships in the name of business?
I was aware, when starting my own small business, of the challenges and time effort required due to my parents

Read more ...

Sunday, 12 February 2012

The importance of logo in business

My bricks and mortar business is changing, it has too. I'm moving from solely children's shoes and adding a sprinkling of women's'. Why I'm doing that is another post. But now I'm worried about the importance of logo in business. Is my cutesy shoe lace logo going to distract from the image that I hope to portray in the future. Do I have to change it?

[caption id="attachment_503" align="aligncenter" width="746" caption="Do I need to change my logo?"][/caption]

 

This is a huge

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Saturday, 11 February 2012

Do customer service expectations continually escalate

I've been sitting here reading yet another article on customer service and thinking yeah,yeah, same old, same old, yadda, yadda, yadda ***. Then is suddenly hit me, there is an expectation gap between customers and businesses. Not only that but customer service expectations continually escalate, they are expecting more and more.
Customer service expectation gap
I learnt a little about 'the audit expectation gap' when studying Audit for my Accountancy qualification, this goes quite away back

customer service expectations....

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Small Business Help Marketing Tips

When I started to read the article below, the word innovation turned me off, I didn't associate the headline that was given with small business help marketing tips. It's funny that a single word can do that, sometimes it all depends on your definition of the word and how it has been used to and by you in the past. In the English language so many words can mean the same thing & also one word can have various meanings. So when I discovered that Steve Strauss was referring to innovating

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