Everyday operations, printing and shipping tips for small businesses
Greg Holloway 
Most small businesses do not have a marketing budget. They have marketing expenses: a boosted post here, a box of flyers there, a sponsorship someone asked for at the last minute. Without a plan, money goes to whatever feels urgent, and it is almost impossible to tell what is actually bringing in customers. A budget … Read more
You have the design, the message and the perfect spot on the wall, and then the print order form asks a simple question that stops you: what size? Pick too small and your poster becomes background noise that nobody reads from across the room. Pick too large and you pay more than you need to, … Read more
Digital ads come and go in a scroll, but a well-made printed piece stays on a counter, a fridge or a bulletin board for weeks. For local businesses especially, print is still one of the most direct ways to reach people who live, work and shop nearby. The challenge is knowing which pieces to invest … Read more
Many small businesses run for years on handshakes, emails and good intentions. That works until a partner leaves, a client refuses to pay, an employee walks off with a customer list or a landlord disputes who owes what. At that point, the question is simple: what does the paperwork say? If there is no paperwork, … Read more
Walk into almost any hotel lobby, visitor center, car dealership waiting room or doctor’s office and you will see them: tall, narrow cards lined up in a display stand, each promoting a tour, a restaurant, a service or an event. These are rack cards, and they remain one of the most practical printed marketing pieces … Read more
Every small business has a busy season. For a gift shop it is the weeks before the holidays, for a tax preparer it is spring, for a landscaper it is the first warm months, and for an online store it might be a single promotion that triples orders overnight. The busy season is when you … Read more
Inventory is usually the biggest pile of cash a product business owns, and it sits on shelves instead of in the bank. Too little stock and you lose sales, disappoint customers and pay for rush shipping. Too much and you tie up money, run out of space and end up discounting items that went stale. … Read more
Overhead is the money you spend just to keep the doors open: rent, software, insurance, utilities, supplies and the dozens of small subscriptions that pile up over time. None of it directly produces a sale, and that is exactly why it tends to grow unnoticed. When revenue dips or prices rise, overhead is often the … Read more
Few things are more frustrating than taking time out of a busy workday to get a document notarized, only to be turned away because you brought the wrong ID, signed the page in advance or showed up without the other signer. Notaries follow strict rules, and when a requirement is missing they simply cannot complete … Read more
When a business has two or three people, buying things is simple: someone notices you are low on toner, grabs the company card and orders more. Add a few more people and the cracks show quickly. Two employees order the same item in the same week, a “quick” software purchase turns into an annual contract … Read more