Mason Deerfield Chamber Blog
The State of Small Business
The chamber is the Voice of Business and as the Voice of Business, there’s something we feel the need to express to everyone in this community. Inflation is being felt everywhere, from Fortune 500 companies to solopreneurs just starting out. However, the difference between large-scale companies and smaller ones are their reserves. According to JP Morgan Chase, the average small business runs with only 27 days of operating expenses in reserves. Increases in utilities, goods and services, real estate, and
Christina R. Metcalf
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“Small Businessing” Ain’t Easy
There was a time when the biggest concern a business had was bringing in customers. These days, we know you’re worrying about a lot more. You’re wondering where you will find qualified employees. When you do find them on paper or through an application, you keep your fingers crossed that they will show up for their first day of work, or better yet, the interview. Once you hire them, you hope they’ll come back the next day and the next. You worry about how you will sell items if you can’t get anything on
Christian R. Metcalf
How to Get Certified as a Woman-Owned Business
If you’re a woman who owns a business and you’d like to apply for federal contracts, getting officially certified as a woman-owned business is essential. The federal government’s goal is to award at least 5% of its contracts to women-owned small businesses each year. While the certification process may seem daunting, it’s not that difficult if you know the basic application rules and materials needed.
Christina R. Metcalf
4+ Tips for Attracting More Tourists to Your Business
It’s that time of year again and many of us are preparing for a return to normal when it comes to the seasonal onslaught of tourism. Even with high transportation costs people are traveling and still—hopefully—buying. If you’d like to attract more tourists to your place of business, here’s how you can prepare.
Christina R. Metcalf
5 Professionals You Need on Your Small Business Team
If you’re a small business owner without the resources to hire a large full-time team, you can still meet your business needs through freelancing or turning to independent business professionals. This can be an economical way to accomplish your goals without having to cover the cost of full-time employees. 5 Professionals Every Small Business Needs Even if your budget is strapped, a successful business requires the services of the following types of professionals. These professionals do things that you
Christian R. Metcalf
6 Ways to Make Your Business Stand Out During a Local Event
Does your town host a Wine Walk, Holiday Stroll, First Friday, or other downtown event where they close off streets and encourage people to get out and support business? If so, you may know that those events often bring the crowds but also bring “tire kickers,” people who are just out for a stroll, not really interested in what you sell. They’re just going into each business, poking around, and usually leaving empty handed. The hard part of that is that you likely brought in full staff to ensure you had
Christian R. Metcalf
5 Great Lessons from Customer Service Mistakes
A cruise ship captain once said, “There’s always a weird person at your dinner table. If you’re sitting with several couples and you can’t figure out who the weird one is, chances are it’s you.” The same can be true of customer service. Every business is convinced they offer stellar service but if you can’t think of a company in your area that offers bad service, it might be you. It’s statistically impossible, not to mention an abuse of a superlative, for every business to offer “the best” service. One
Christina R. Metcalf
How Easy Is It to Do Business with You?
It’s not uncommon to hear old timers (of any age) complain that young people don’t have it as hard as they did. It’s a common lament that younger generations are not as battle worn as the Silent Generation. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen. But the one thing that is true is that people will not do business with you if you make it hard to do business. There’s just too much competition and not enough interest. To attract sales and become interested in your business, you want people to
Christina R. Metcalf
27 Engaging Ways to Use Mother’s Day in Your Marketing
Mother’s Day is an ideal way to honor the women in your life who have helped you become the person you are today. In recent years, it has surpassed the celebration of one’s own mother and encompassed grandmothers, women we think of as second mothers, mother-in-laws, fur moms, best friends, and even female mentors. Mother’s Day is also a great way to honor women in our world who have made a difference. Broadening the definition of mother also allows for a more inclusive celebration on a day that can, for
Christina R. Metcalf
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Do You Have These 10 Things on Your Business Website? You Should.
If you’re a small business, you probably bootstrapped your website content, picking it up here and there, copying what you like from other sites (hopefully not word for word), and adding as you go. That’s the way most small businesspeople do it unless you’re lucky enough to know someone who offered their writing services or have it in your budget to have it written for you. But do you ever wonder if you have the type of content that will transform the casual web visitor into someone who buys? Here are
Christina R. Metcalf
