For All Women — #SmallBusinessSurvival

 Customer Demographics A dialog was brought up this week about senior discounts and discounts for customers with fixed incomes, low incomes etc… This conversation reminds us of the retailers’ social card we all must deal with. It is the social conscious of our business. Brick and motor retail have an open window to the pulse of its’ community, wherever that may be. Like the old home goods store in a dusty small town, the retail store becomes an expert in what is happening its’ neighborhood, socially and financially. We feel it through our pours of our business. I constantly give...

It seems most of us negotiate everyday in our businesses. Some of us have had formal training, some of us have had to jump in and hope for the best right from the start. My last post of dealing with a vendor over terms I think is a seed to a broader skill we all have to acquirer to succeed in all business. This also is a major skill we need not just with B2B but B2C. A successful negotiation requires the two parties to come together and hammer out an agreement that is acceptable to both. I never gave...

My neighbor came in my store yesterday and told me her retail business is closing. She then said she felt very bad about herself. She had never not succeeded in something in 35 years. I felt  for her. This weighed on my mind all day. I passed the story onto a friend of mine. Her reply was so simple. “That’s really good for 35 years”! Her spin on this really made me think. Yes, it is really good. In fact, it is a great record!  Many times when things aren’t going our way, we forget everything we have ever accomplished...