Small businesses add flavor to our area. There is a sense of adventure when you explore a small business. You never know what beauties you’ll uncover or what scrumptiousness awaits. Sadly, that’s also why a lot of people choose to patronize chains. With chains they know exactly what they’ll get and there’s a lot of comfort in that.

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.

One way to bring shoppers into your business over the holiday season is by offering deals. That’s how the big box stores work. They bring in customers through loss leaders. While you might not be in a situation to offer products at cost, you can offer deals to bring the crowds in. This year especially, shoppers will be looking for bargains and they may not always think of small businesses as...

There is nothing more convenient than whipping out your phone, typing in a URL (or opening an app), perusing offerings, and hitting a few buttons to buy something…anything…everything. We even get our groceries that way these days. But as convenient as online shopping seems, there are several reasons to shop local.

Whether you like it or not, the mega-retailer is influencing your customers. Its search and suggestions are impacting buyer expectations. Their insanely speedy delivery (especially in urban areas and locations where they have warehouses) has now made it easier to order online and have it delivered than it is to go and pick it up.

Networking opportunities are everywhere. You no longer must leave your house to be able to network, but studies now show that online networking doesn’t hold the same power as in-person networking. Networking is critical to landing a job, learning about opportunities before they are broadcast, and getting more sales for your business.

If you’re a small business you may find it’s difficult to keep up with the resources and marketing dollars of megabrands. But don’t get discouraged. There’s an underutilized tool that can help you much more than you ever considered.

On Sunday, January 21, 1776, in a small New England church, Pastor Peter Muhlenberg delivered one of the most dramatic sermons of his career. Muhlenberg’s text for the day was Ecclesiastics 3 where it explains, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted.”