Quality is inconvenient. Exceeding expectations is inconvenient. Putting our best out there is inconvenient. Giving our client more value than they feel like they’re paying for is inconvenient. Doing more than we’re required to do so that we can be one of the best in our industry is inconvenient. It’s easy to be just another run of the mill business. …

Growing a small business is hard and typically involves putting our product out there and seeing what happens. Older people would have called it “running it up the flagpole to see who salutes.” Regardless of what we want to call it, we need feedback from others in order to get any better. Someone, a client, an associate, or maybe a …

We’d like to think that all customers are intelligent, using their keen powers of observation to weigh out the available options and choose the one that makes the most sense given their particular needs. We’d like to think that clients utilize all the available resources they have, comparing and contrasting the positive and negative attributes between competitive offerings to choose …

Lots of businesses say that they’re the best in their field. It’s an easy claim to make, and very few consumers are smart enough to ask to see the evidence. Far too often, in today’s digital world, a post somewhere is all the proof that’s needed. That works great, if you’re looking to work with customers that aren’t smart enough …

Operating a small business in today’s environment is a daunting task. There’s so much that we need to learn that, at times, is can seems overwhelming. We do the best we can, but it feels like there’s always something new to try, read, or listen to. The incoming information never seems to stop. Maybe the problem’s not the endless tide …

Lots of times we get caught up. Caught up in the idea that we’ve got to win. We’ve got to be the biggest. We’ve got the be the best. We’ve got to leave every one of our competitors in our dust. While striving to lead the pack can be a worthwhile consideration, it isn’t always our best course of action. …

It’s tough to start a small business that can sustain us over the long haul. It’s temping, and often a really good idea, to simply mimic what other successful businesses in our industry are doing. However, if we stop a minute to think about it, if we’re just replicating something that’s already available, that turns us into an easily replaced …

It’s unfortunate, but when you’re a small business owner there’s a target on your back. There are some people out there who see us as an easy meal ticket; basically a way to get free money. They know that they can accuse us of doing something, or not doing something, and sit back and wait. They are well aware that …

I’ve got a great idea. I just don’t have the time to implement it. If I only had more money, I’d do this. My schedule is so booked, I just can’t get to it. They all sound like good reasons, don’t they? Almost makes us believe that we’re doing so well that we can’t follow up on any of our …

As small business owners, we’re called on to provide our clients with information that they likely didn’t know before they hired us. In the role of “all-knowing sage” to our customers, it’s easy to fall into the trap of talking over their heads, offering them specialized information that’s second nature to us but often Greek to them. While we know …