Small Biz Flash

FEATURE Every small business has different insurance needs, but almost all will need General Liability coverage.  And many will also need coverage included in a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP). Other types of insurance could include Workers' Compensation, Employers Liability, Cyber Liability, Commercial Auto, and Errors and Omissions (aka Professional Liability). Today’s guest is Jack Smith, of...

FEATURE Ranking high in search engines results, especially on Google, is a concern of most small businesses.  There are a few basic things you can do to help your site be found, like consistently creating good content (but you don’t have to write a blog post every day or even every week) and fully utilizing Google Business Profile. ChatGPT can help you create content, but don’t depend on it to get...

FEATURE The Department of Homeland Security issued a new Form I-9, also known as the Employment Eligibility Form, on August 1.  If you have employees, you need to be completing an I-9 on every new hire and should have already completed an I-9 for every existing employee.  Penalties for non-compliance are stiff. Today’s guest is Karen Moss, of Innovative Outsourcing: Karen’s email:  kmoss@innovativ...

FEATURE Many small businesses already have a CRM in place, but these platforms can be very robust, and you’re probably not taking full advantage of the functionality available to you. If don’t already have a CRM, some of the most popular for small companies include HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Monday Sales CRM, Insightly, and Pipedrive, to name a few. Other than storing contact information and running your...

FEATURE After you’ve completed the hard work of developing, deploying, and promoting your lead magnet, you’re still not done.  The leads have started to come in, but what’s next?  In most cases, you’ll need to start an email marketing campaign to continue the conversation with prospects where the lead magnet left off and to invite them into an offer to do business with you. Be sure you don’t run a...

FEATURE Once you have developed a solid lead magnet, you want as many prospects as possible to interact with your valuable offer.  You need to promote the lead magnet through a variety of channels. You must first create a landing page for the lead magnet to direct prospects back to, where they will fill out a form with their contact information. Then, you can use your web site, social media, email...

Feature begins at 4:12 (News roundup prior to that) FEATURE Lead magnets are an inexpensive way to get on the radar of more prospects.  They are popular because they work. There are numerous kinds of lead magnets, or lead generators, including downloadable guides or templates, free trials or samples, and on-demand webinars. Your lead magnets need to be useful and valuable – make them worth the tim...

NEWS ROUNDUP 1 62% of owners with businesses of annual revenue between $250,000 and $5 million said inflation was their top concern. https://stories.td.com/us/en/article/small-business-owners-concerned-about-employee-retention-product-shortages-and-inflation-td-bank-survey-shows 2 Small business owners have mixed feelings about artificial intelligence. https://sbecouncil.org/2023/06/28/what-do-sma...

FEATURE There are many aspects to sales that a small business needs to get right.  We discuss the difference between sales process and sales methodology, and the difference between a sales plan and a sales playbook, among other things. Today’s guest is David Lusk, of Evergreen Sales Group: David’s email:  drlusk@evergreensales.group David’s LinkedIn page:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/drlusk/ Everg...

NEWS ROUNDUP 1 The average rate for a Small Business Administration loan has now hit double-digits. https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-rate-increases-hit-small-businesses-the-hardest-7da7fb8e https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/sba-loan-rates 2 Small business groups are calling on Congress to make the small business tax deduction permanent. https://www.jobcreatorsnetwork.com/press_rele...

FEATURE Sales is a foundational to the success of your small business.  No sales means no revenue, which means no business.  But many small businesses struggle to get sales right.  And as they scale, they make costly mistakes, like hiring just one heavy hitter or promoting a hire performer into the sales manager role just because he/she has good numbers.  Today, we talk to expert about how a fract...

FEATURE Many small businesses use email marketing to reach prospects and customers.  But a common mistake is to not segment the list to better target the recipients with messaging and offers they will respond to.  Numerous studies have shown that segmenting your email list and customizing the messages to each segment increases click-through-rates. ---------- NEWS ROUNDUP 1 Confidence among small b...

FEATURE We continue the conversation from last week with an SBA loan expert, talking about the timely topic of credit availability, as well as what paperwork is needed to get a loan.  We also look the right and wrong way to use a credit line. Today’s guest is Laurence Leopold: Laurence’s LinkedIn page:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurence-leopold-4496342/ ---------- NEWS ROUNDUP 1 Small business’...

FEATURE Small Business Administration, or SBA, loans play a critical role in financing many small companies.  In this episode, we discuss the difference between 7a and 504 loans and talk about some of the basic eligibility requirements for getting an SBA loan. Today’s guest is Laurence Leopold, of Byline Bank: Laurence’s email:  lleopold@bylinebank.com Laurence’s LinkedIn page:  https://www.linked...

FEATURE The balanced scorecard is a tool that any small business can use to focus on the important areas of operations, as well as finances, linking them to specific goals to generate better outcomes.  The scorecard moves beyond just the typical financial metrics and aligns daily activities with the company’s overall strategy. https://hbr.org/1992/01/the-balanced-scorecard-measures-that-drive-perf...

FEATURE Today’s guest is Jack Smith, of The American Insurance Group: Jack’s email:  jack@insurancegroup.us Jack’s LinkedIn page:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonsmith1/ The American Insurance Group’s web page:  http://www.theamericaninsurancegroup.com/ ---------- NEWS ROUNDUP 1 Small businesses are filing for bankruptcy at record high rates, according to new data from UBS. https://markets.bus...

FEATURE Today’s guest is Jack Smith of The American Insurance Group: Jack’s email:  jack@insurancegroup.us Jack’s LinkedIn page:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacksonsmith1/ The American Insurance Group’s web page: http://www.theamericaninsurancegroup.com/ According to a survey by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 71% of small businesses polled said they were very dependent on on...

FEATURE If you don’t have systems, you won’t be efficient and you won’t be able to scale. SOPs keep your employees on the same page and promote quality, efficiency, and smoother operations. SOPs are especially important to small businesses that have few employees. Also avoid directions or language that is unclear or could be misinterpreted. Get an employee who is very good at the task in question...

FEATURE Nearly 1/3 of Americans would be unable to cover an unexpected expense of $400. Remember to consult your financial, HR, and legal counsel when creating any specific program. Congress passed the SECURE 2.0 Act, which will enable employers to set up ESAs for their employees tied to their retirement accounts, beginning in 2024. Outside of options available within SECURE 2.0, an employer could...

FEATURE Chances are, few of the commercial depositors had checked into these banks’ health before doing business with them.  But even if they had, the Wall Street Journal reports that SVB’s trouble wasn’t reflected in credit ratings. What can you as a small business owner or manager do to protect your assets, especially if you must keep high amounts of operating capital? One option is to spread yo...

FEATURE Remember the caveats from last week regarding ChatGPT, including it isn’t 100% correct all the time.  And don’t depend on it to dispense legal and professional advice. ChatGPT can help you write a business plan. You can refine ChatGPT’s original output by giving it follow-up commands or asking follow-up questions. ChatGPT can compose scripts for videos, draft procedure documents, and just...

FEATURE ChatGPT is a conversational AI chatbot. Open AI is the developer of ChatGPT and is now offering access to the general public. ChatGPT can help you write content for your small business, such as blog posts.  But, you can’t just copy and paste.  It will need some refining.  Plus, Google can detect AI-generated content. ChatGPT must still be fact-checked. You can also generate a title for you...

FEATURE YouTube ads can accelerate the process of building up your audience on the platform, and give your brand more exposure. One of the great things about YouTube advertising is that you can target viewers based on the keywords they are searching for on YouTube, but also on Google (which owns YouTube). There are numerous other ways to refine your target audience, to get very specific. Among vid...

FEATURE Your YouTube strategy has to be sustainable, so you don’t quit after a few weeks or months. Dig into old blog articles or speeches you’ve given that could be updated and turned into short videos. YouTube’s algorithm rewards videos that hold the attention of the viewer. Once you have the video produced and on your YouTube channel, share it across all your communication channels. You don’t n...

FEATURE Resources: Wyzowl Video Marketing Statistics 2023 https://www.wyzowl.com/video-marketing-statistics/ What is the Ideal Length of Videos on YouTube? https://www.tubics.com/blog/how-to-master-on-long-form-video-content ---------- NEWS ROUNDUP 1 A poll by the invoicing platform Skynova found that 91% of small companies are currently labor hoarding. https://www.skynova.com/blog/small-business-...