Outside Advice for your Small Business and Social Media Tips

Shannon and Dave talk through the benefits of having someone unrelated to your business act as a sounding board. Almost like creating your own, mini Board of Directors, it’s valuable to have a trusted confidant or two who can give you honest advice, even if it’s from outside your business, looking in. Then it’s on to social media. Dave and Read more…

Small Business Management Tips from Marilyn Weinstein, Vivo CEO

Marilyn Weinstein, founder and CEO of Vivo, says “When you’re the owner, you don’t have the confidence that somebody else’s money gives you.” One trick is building a small business management team so that you’re the “other person” with the money, and delegating those decisions to someone else. Having a partner can mitigate that from day one, so long as you Read more…

Business advice from Brian Friss of Digistor on the Small Business Show

Brian Friss joins us today on the Small Business Show. Brian co-founded DIGISTOR back in 2001 and one of the first things he did was to throw away the business plan he had. Instead he followed and guided his business through an evolution reflective of his marketplace, even changing his core products as necessary throughout time. Still, a chunk of Read more…

KC Tool Business Interview – Finding your niche and being number one.

Kyle Baccus, founder of KC Tool, America’s number one German tool distributor joins Shannon and Dave on the podcast today to talk about how he started his business. He talks through a number of things he’s learned, including how it pays off to be thoughtful before you start, considering how being in a small niche and having the best products Read more…

Marketplaces Require More Management Than Your Own Store

A good chunk of Shannon’s business revolves around selling in various marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. As such, he’s learned a few tricks over the years that can help anyone selling in these marketplaces, large and small. Learn why it might be good to diversify your public brand in each marketplace; learn why it’s good to get started right away Read more…

Doug Sassaman of RepriceIt Talks Business … and Life

Doug Sassaman of RepriceIt.com joins Shannon and Dave today to talk about how solving his own problem of repricing the items he was selling on Amazon led to quitting his day job and solving the same problem for others. Doug talks a lot about maintaining the work/life balance and ensuring he always reaps the benefits of flexibility associated with being Read more…

“My Life Is Tax Deductible” & Other Intangible Benefits of Running a Small Business

Shannon and Dave intentionally run with no agenda today and the result is them discussing the intangible benefits of running a small business. Some of the best benefits don’t appear on your profit and loss statement, at least not in an obvious way. Opportunities like travel, attending special events, writing off the purchase of your next iPhone and more are Read more…

Shopping Carts & Insurance

What small business shopping cart is right for you? What type of business insurance do you need? Learn this and more on the Small Business Show today. Plus Shannon Jean & Dave Hamilton, your two small business advisors & hosts, talk about their most productive times of the day. Stuff mentioned: Squarespace Weebly Tim Cox from ZingPR X-Cart OpenCart Minimum Read more…

Disaster Strikes! What Do You Do?

Every business will encounter “disaster” scenarios. The real question is about how you, the business owner, handles them? Shannon and Dave have been through them and talk through some of their favorites, using war stories as a basis for sharing the lessons they’ve learned. Communication is the key to solving problems… and about learning to solve them!

Contracts are a Fickle, Necessary Beast

Formal agreements are helpful in that they allow you to document your ideas, goals and parameters at a moment in time. What gets interesting is when one of the parties either interprets it differently from the others or wants to change it entirely. This can be a good time for everyone involved to reflect upon the agreement and redraw it… Read more…