Small Biz Talk

Feb 16

Facebook Is Changing! How Will Your Company Page Be Impacted?

Posted by Adam Zobel | Marketing, Marketing Advice, Small Biz Talk | No Comments

If you haven’t heard about it yet, let me be the one to break the news to you.

Facebook is changing in a massive way, and things will never be the same.

To quote the R.E.M. song, it’s the end of the [Facebook] world as we know it. But before you crawl into your social media bunker and wait for impact, we’ve put together a quick overview of what you need to know to survive.
Read More

Aug 01

Millennial Hipster Surprised to Learn He Can’t Paint Remotely

Posted by Adam Zobel | Humor, Small Biz Talk | 2 Comments

After receiving his PhD in Arboreal Habitats from a major online university, 31-year-old Asher Flynn of Douglas, OH, was hired by Finishing Touches Painting Company. Read More

Sep 29

Hire Estimators Who Have Social Media Experience

Posted by David Chism | Small Biz Talk | 3 Comments

If you are looking to hire a salesperson (estimator) for your home improvement business, may I suggest that you strongly consider this prerequisite: Make sure the prospective estimator has some experience with social media and is not afraid to do a little bit of social media work when he/she comes to work for you. Read More

Jul 19

When Trying To Connect On LinkedIn, Don’t Do This…

Posted by David Chism | Small Biz Talk | 2 Comments

Dear LinkedIn Connection,

I received your request to connect with me here on LinkedIn. I normally review each request before approving the connection. My first few years on LinkedIn, I thought it was best practice to connect with as many people as possible. It seemed as though the aggressive LinkedIn users were doing the same thing. Why not follow “best practices”, eh? Perhaps that was an okay technique early on. It at least made my profile look more impressive! Read More

Nov 13

How Much Does It Cost To …

Posted by David Chism | Marketing Advice, Small Biz Talk | 6 Comments

Where I live in Maryland, most homeowners have asphalt driveways, not concrete. I have one as well! It starts out as a single driveway (for 1 car) and ends up at the garage accommodating two cars. For a while now, I have been thinking that I’d like to expand my driveway to fit more cars and make it easier to get in and out. But I had no idea what it would cost to do this sort of project. Is this a $3,000 project or a $10,000 project? Because this is not my line of work, I decided to go online to see what the World Wide Web had to say about it. I asked Google: “What does it cost to repave a typical driveway?” Read More

Dec 09

How Do You Motivate Your Team? An Interview with Kevin Nolan

Posted by David Chism | Small Biz Talk | No Comments

Exploring the Ideas of Accountability, Reward, and Response

We as human beings respond to things.

I know. That sounds like an incredibly simplistic statement, but when you slow down and think about it, it’s also incredibly powerful. As business owners and managers, you have an opportunity to draw specific responses from your team by the way you lead, manage, delegate, and encourage. As marketers (and we are all marketers in a way!), we strive to elicit a certain response from those who read our materials, find our websites, or explore our reputations.

The trick is to find just the right key to unlock the response you’re looking for. Read More

Aug 19

30 Year Employees Don’t Exist Anymore

Posted by David Chism | Small Biz Talk, The Obvious | No Comments

Always Be Recruiting

The number one problem I have been hearing about from clients this year is not a lack of leads. No, leads have been strong across the U.S. The problem has been a lack of good people. I have actually been asked if I can provide recruiting services, not marketing! If you do need help finding good help, I would recommend contacting my friends at Summit Services. They provide headhunting services for estimators, office staff and, I believe, help with hiring field employees too. Read More

May 21

3 Important Words To Understand in Your Business

Posted by David Chism | Marketing Advice, Small Biz Talk | 2 Comments

Marketing, Advertising & Branding

Three words, or terminologies, are kicked around often in the mind of many small business owners when it comes to growing one’s business: marketing, advertising & branding. Many times branding and advertising are combined into the one word, “marketing.” So when one thinks of branding, he is thinking “marketing.” Or another might say, “I need to do some advertising”, he typically is thinking, “I need to market my business”. These important terminologies are actually quite different from each other and yet play a significant role in working together. Read More

Aug 07

How to Create an Away Message in Gmail on Your Phone

Posted by David Chism | Small Biz Talk, The Obvious | No Comments

How many times have you rushed out of town or taken a day off only to forget to set an away message on your email account? I’ve done this plenty of times in the past. I used to have to wait to get in front of a desktop computer, login and set the away message. If you are using Google Apps for Business (Gmail) there is a more simple way to set an away message remotely, right from your phone. Read More

May 14

How To Ask For More Work and Get It

Posted by David Chism | Small Biz Talk | No Comments

A few months ago, I wrote a blog called “Would You Like Fries With That.” I was inspired to write on the subject of encouraging your employees to ask for more work because they are more influential than most of us think. They can easily build rapport on a project better than the salesman and close more additional work. Read More

1 2 3 4 Next »