Mine Your Own Business

Increased Business Spending

2009-11-09T15:47:39-06:00

An article in USA Today reports that after reduced business spending for six quarters in a row that businesses increased spending on new computers and software at an annual rate of 1.1%. That may not sound too impressive, but after...

Gain Community Support

2009-11-06T15:42:25-06:00

We've done several postings in the past about the importance of supporting local businesses such as the 3/50 Project posted on May 20th of this year. What we haven't mentioned is how small businesses can gain local support from their...

Vaccum Blowups Revisited

2009-11-05T18:05:10-06:00

We did a posting on January 9th this year on how many municipalities were relaxing restrictions on sign ordinances due to the weak economy at Vacuum Blowups. The thought was that allowing more signs, banners, and other creative marketing could...

The Big Picture

2009-11-03T15:43:53-06:00

Many of the postings on Mine Your Own Business concern the daily running of a small business such as keeping good employees, effective advertising, sales and salesmanship, or customer service. Here's an interesting piece that instead focuses more on the...

Something Really Scary

2009-11-01T12:29:50-06:00

Halloween is over, but here is something really scary. You go into work on Monday morning and turn on your computer and nothing happens or you get the dreaded blue screen of death. When was the last time you did...

Small Business Tips from Infomercials

2009-10-30T16:53:59-05:00

Everyone is familiar with infomercials (especially insomniacs who catch them on late night TV). Who would think that they could provide some valuable tips to increase small business sales? Here is an article that provides 10 ideas that small businesses...

Some Light at the End of the Tunnel

2009-10-29T15:53:55-05:00

Tacony Corporation is based in St. Louis and we have already broken the record for the most rainfall in October in St. Louis since they started keeping records in 1873. We didn't break the record by just a little either,...

Social Media and Small Business

2009-10-26T11:43:48-05:00

We did a posting on October 14th on Customer Contact Options where we mentioned social media, but focused on the best use of e-mail and actually making a phone call. We got a comment from one of our readers that...

2010 Economic Planning

2009-10-22T15:34:17-05:00

The economy has been in decline forever (or so it seems), but it has actually been 22 months as mentioned in a recent piece from Business Week. There are many ideas about what is going to happen in 2010, but...

Employee Morale

2009-10-20T16:02:33-05:00

We do a lot of postings on employees, simply because having good employees is so essential to any successful small business. Times are still tough even though there are some signs of possible improvement. Here is an article that describes...