small business

The Rear View Mirror Is Smaller… For A Reason

Thumbnail image for The Rear View Mirror Is Smaller… For A Reason

When my wife and I bought our first minivan about 5 years ago we discovered an interesting feature. I won’t talk about how hurt our feelings were that we had to buy a minivan in the first place… that’s another post for another day. But I will tell you that it was a welcome feature […]

Read the full post here

Using Your Smartphone For Business

Thumbnail image for Using Your Smartphone For Business

For better or worse, my smartphone is an extension of just about every aspect of my life, including my business. It’s my camera, my communications lifeline, my calendar, and my organizational tool. And I am sure many of you would say the same thing. So I wanted to share with you how I use my […]

Read the full post here

Surprise them

Thumbnail image for Surprise them

One of my favorite snacks as a kid was Cracker Jacks. The reason was simple…. there was a prize inside. Same deal with cereal boxes. My brother and I would pick the ones that had a prize inside because, well, we just couldn’t get enough of secret decoder rings and fake tattoo stickers. Toys in […]

Read the full post here

Steve Holt on ‘Dialogue’ – EPlusTV 6 (Video)

Thumbnail image for Steve Holt on ‘Dialogue’ – EPlusTV 6 (Video)

I was fortunate to be asked to to appear on the Dialogue show on Jackson Energy Authority’s Internet television station called EPlusTV6.  We had 30 min. to talk about the right and wrong way to engage in social media. Here are all 3 segments of the show. I would love to hear what you think […]

Read the full post here

The Grass Is Greener Where You Water It

Thumbnail image for The Grass Is Greener Where You Water It

A few months ago I was helping one of my clients with their marketing outreach.  We talked a great deal about their social media outreach and where it fit in their overall marketing plan.  We had spent a great deal of time over the past year revamping and updating their look on all their social […]

Read the full post here

Let Them See Your Passion

Thumbnail image for Let Them See Your Passion

I recently attended a choir concert of one of my kids. It was a pretty big affair, with a choir of about 200, and the choir conductor was an African American gentleman in black tie and tails who appeared to be soft-spoken and genteel. Until the music started. The first song out of the gate […]

Read the full post here

Eating Salad With A Spoon

Thumbnail image for Eating Salad With A Spoon

Around my house each of my family members has some odd eating habits. I am sure you can relate, right? Several of my kids could eat barbecue sauce on just about everything.  They love it. When my wife cooks peas, she loves to drink the pea juice afterward.  It turns my stomach just thinking about […]

Read the full post here

The Power of Connection

Thumbnail image for The Power of Connection

$42.18. That was the price of the meal that we shared, but that was a small price to pay for what I actually got. We’ve all been there.  The business dinner that you really don’t want to go to but you feel obligated to go to it, or maybe even required to go.  The forced […]

Read the full post here

10 Ideas For Using Video To Promote Your Business

Thumbnail image for 10 Ideas For Using Video To Promote Your Business

My last blog of 2011 was about the #1 thing that you need to do for 2012. You can read it here, but I wrote that you need to be doing video. And lots of it. And of course you took my blog to heart and you’ve been doing lots of video, right? Oh, ok. […]

Read the full post here

What 80s Music Taught Me About Business

Thumbnail image for What 80s Music Taught Me About Business

I had the distinct privilege of going on a trip recently in a vehicle that had SiriusXM radio. I have never ponied up the monthly fee to have it myself, so this was a treat for me. And of course, the first station I went to was 80s on 8, where it stayed the entire […]

Read the full post here

The P-Word

Thumbnail image for The P-Word

Just about everybody hates it. The P-word. No, I am not talking about THAT P-word. This isn’t THAT kind of post! I am talking about ‘planning’. Yeah, I know you like to fly by the seat of your pants and ‘go with the flow’, right? Well, if I have any readers left after the first […]

Read the full post here

Millions of Years Away

Thumbnail image for Millions of Years Away

The bright light of the stars that you see in the night sky are deceiving, because what you are looking at might not even be there anymore. Sounds strange, I know, but it’s true. You see, light travels through space at the speed of… well… light. Which is really fast. But some of those stars […]

Read the full post here

Systemic Mediocrity

Thumbnail image for Systemic Mediocrity

Lukewarm food. Games that end in a tie. “Let’s just be friends.” You can probably think of a bunch of your own examples, but most people don’t like things that are ‘mediocre’. Things that are bland, boring, and un-exciting. That state of constant blandness, consistent incompetence, or middle-of-the-roadness could be labeled as ‘systemic mediocrity’. That’s […]

Read the full post here

Once Upon A Time…

Thumbnail image for Once Upon A Time…

Once upon a time there was a small business owner named Bob who was busy. So busy in fact, that he struggled to find time to do all the things that he needed to do. Each morning when the sun shown through his window and awakened his eyes he struggled to get out of bed […]

Read the full post here

Spend some time in the shade

Thumbnail image for Spend some time in the shade

Some of you might be surprised to learn this about me. Years ago when I was in college I had a summer job as a roofer. After that summer I had a deep respect for roofers. It’s not an easy job. For years I wondered why I would drive by a work site and see […]

Read the full post here

Social Media Guilt

Thumbnail image for Social Media Guilt

I read a fantastic article the other day by Stephen Chapman over at ZDNet entitled ‘Social burnout: I am officially sick and tired of chasing social platforms‘. I gotta be honest and say that I have almost reached that point. Actually, I might already be there. I live this stuff every day, so I know […]

Read the full post here

Tales From New England: Be The Canary (VIDEO)

Thumbnail image for Tales From New England: Be The Canary (VIDEO)

This is the final post in my series of posts called “Tales From New England”. This one is about why all business owners need to be like a canary. You know, that little yellow bird?

Read the full post here

Tales From New England: What’s Your Name?

Thumbnail image for Tales From New England: What’s Your Name?

On my recent trip to New England I spent a few days on Nantucket. I had seen the pictures for years about what it was like, but I wasn’t prepared for just how picturesque and quaint it is. Cobblestone streets, historic homes on every street, and that postcard look that everyone knows when you see […]

Read the full post here

Tales From New England: Don’t Hide Your Social Media

Thumbnail image for Tales From New England: Don’t Hide Your Social Media

I just returned from a vacation to New England and I gathered a whole bunch of ideas for new blog posts, which I will be talking about over the coming weeks in my “Tales From New England” post series.  This first installment is about how important it is to not hide what you want people […]

Read the full post here

Losing The Big Picture With GPS

Thumbnail image for Losing The Big Picture With GPS

The last couple of trips that I have taken have provided me an unsettling experience. I am a technology guy so I embrace it wholeheartedly, and promote the use of technology to others in my consulting and speaking. But I do recognize that sometimes technology causes more problems than it solves. One such problem, I […]

Read the full post here

← Previous Entries