Online Business Archive

About 12 years ago I worked in a one of the large chain bookstores. Part of the job entailed working at the information desk, answering questions and directing people to where they might find a book. On one particular day shortly before Christmas a customer came in and when I looked up the book she wanted it was out of print. The customer might have gone home disappointed, however, as luck would have it that day there was a win-win-win situation that resulted in the customer, the bookstore, and myself all coming out ahead.
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Popularity: 11%

Let the past and its bad habits be done with.
–Unknown

We are all creatures of habit. Most of us get up at the same time every day and go to sleep at the same time every night. We tend to do the same things the same way we did them before. As a business owner you’ve developed processes to deal with situations that occur frequently. How do you know when the processes in place aren’t working or could be improved? Do you have a process in place to reassess the way you do things?
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Popularity: 9%

On thing that happens when you’re forced out of your routine is to realize some of the things you tend to take for granted. As many of you know I’m saddled with a bit of computer problems this week and am working from an old, though workable laptop. A good part of yesterday was spent getting this old system up to be speed, though as much as I’d like it to be otherwise, I’ll have to do without a few things for the next few days. Now that I’m without them I realize how I took for granted that some things would always be there and I thought it would be interesting to ask each of you what things related to your business might you be taking for granted.
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Popularity: 7%

ask not what your country customers can do for you — ask what can you do for your country customers

What are you doing to provide a more positive buying experience for your customers? How are you practicing customer service?
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Popularity: 8%

Can you really get rich overnight?

Shoemoney published a short video today in response to hearing that question one too many times the last week. Jeremy looks a little tired and perhaps a bit annoyed in the video, but he makes a couple of very good points about making money that I wanted to pick up on here.
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Popularity: 7%

Sometimes you come across an article that just makes you laugh. Such was the case when I came across Thieves steal Herman Munster’s identity, which mentioned how someone was caught trying to sell credit card information in a chat room for the fictional tv character. The story made me laugh, but it also brought to mind an important concept in marketing.
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Popularity: 14%

Yesterday while waiting in line I caught a t-shirt with the U.S. Marine Corps emblem and the following quote

Pain is weakness leaving the body

There’s a lot of wisdom in that quote and I wanted to relate it to business. I didn’t come up with a nice compact quote, but here’s the idea.
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Popularity: 7%

Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.
–Warren Buffett

And the perception of value is why you decide to buy. How much would you pay for an ordinary gray pebble? How much would you pay if I told you that pebble could perform tricks like ’sit’ and ’stay’ and included a manual for how to train your pet rock?
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Popularity: 12%

Having trouble paying off your student loan? Maybe you’ve overextended yourself with credit card purchases or have some other use for some cash. No need to fret. Starting tomorrow (though it looks to be up and running right now) you’ll be able to hit up strangers for cash and ask for donations through the new website being launched by Reality Charity LLC. .
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Popularity: 15%

If you were trying to fly in or out of the North East U.S. a few weeks ago you’ll no doubt remember the problem JetBlue was having in keeping flights in the air and on schedule. The problems started with an ice storm that naturally led to flights being grounded, but once air travel resumed JetBlue found itself lagging in getting their operation running again. We all know things happen and in this case JetBlue dropped the ball. However their response to the situation is more telling about the company than the temporary problems they faced.
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Popularity: 3%