How about this economy? Are you freaking out as a small business owner? Let’s just blow off all those political promises right now and get down to the brass tacks of YOUR small business. Nobody knows what anyone is going to do for the small business owner until the rubber meets the road. You have to rely on your instincts and sound economic principles now to make decisions that are best for you. Here are some things to think about dealing with your business right now.

1. Know your audience. If the buyers of your products have always been online but online sales are dipping, maybe you need to consider selling local. Or maybe the reverse applies. There may be other ways to expand your audience.
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Today I did my laundry. Silly, right? Doesn’t everyone do their laundry? I don’t even want to tell you how many loads I did (8).

Things have been really hectic around here lately. Between online sales, wholesale orders and craft shows, I don’t seem to have a spare minute in my day. Of course, I have that whole parenting thing going on too. Those two kids? That baby in my belly? I’m just rolling along here.
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Today is commercial day. But it isn’t political, so you can breathe easy.

Every once in a while someone will contact me about sending me something free to review. I like it when it’s something fun (like a car) or something that I can use (a printer). Since lots of my business revolves around printing, faxing, copying, ect. beyond the standard office stuff (invoicing, ordering), I was excited to see what the Epson could do.

Is this where I confess that I am loyal to a certain competitor of Epson?
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Most of my sales from my small business is online. Until recently, ALL of my business was online but now my business is growing through wholesaling and craft shows. Wholesaling is a whole different animal. It’s lots of fun. You put out all the money up front to fulfill orders and then you hound people to pay you money. Now I know how my paper guy feels.

But craft shows? Welcome to the mother lode.

You read that right. Craft shows. Your town has a fall festival? Chances are that festival has vendors. Ranging from the size of the event, you can pay as little as $25 for a table at a local elementary school. The top end I have seen is $1050 for a two-day wine event. That seems like so much money but people were paying $85 to wine taste for only 4 hours. If you are willing to pay $85 to attend an event, you probably will not balk at paying $25 for a t-shirt.
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Oh, let’s get political. Why not? Not really. I just want to talk about the bailout and all the conversation it’s generating. I will apologize upfront. My husband is a free market economist. We subscribe to The Economist. You can already see where this is going.

I listened to the partisan politics. Both sides screaming that the people should be getting the bailout, not the financial institutions. I’m not sure exactly how that would happen but wouldn’t that be awesome? A check in the mail for around $ 4,000 to every taxpayer?

I began to argue with my husband about the reasoning for the bailout. I mean, if my business goes under, there is no one to bail me out. With no expectations that the government is going to hand me a blank check, I make careful decisions. If my decisions are wrong, then it’s on me. My husband said that without money, the banks would have no money to loan. Money to loan to whom?
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