The Bottom Line   

Businesses are not legally required to provide paid vacation, holidays, or sick leave to their employees. Chances are that a company would find no employees who wanted to work for them if they did not allow any vacation time whatsoever. However, a company (especially if it’s a seasonal one) may need all its employees during the holiday shopping season. For example, during the month of December (e.g. for jewelry stores) employers are within their rights to ask their employees to refrain from taking vacation time during certain periods—or to demand that employees take vacation at certain times.

As a small business owner I understand that a policy which offers vacation time tends to attract high-quality employees—so if you decide to adopt a policy that gives your employees paid vacation, holidays, and/or sick time, here are some ideas to keep in mind:

My family loves to eat; in fact we are so obsessive about food that while eating lunch we are discussing what we are going to be eating for dinner. Hell…all the animals in our family are named after food (Oreo, Peppermint, Pepsi, Cheeto, Squirt, Dr. Pepper, and so on). Because we all love to eat—we eat almost everything, especially lots of Indian food that has tons of spices and garlic that definitely has your breath kicking.

Since food is such a big thing in our family—even at my store I get our staff talking about what their going to have for lunch. Personally, I try not to have anything that will have a customer holding their breath and running for the door. If I do eat a bowl of Garlic Chicken and Lo Mein I make sure to have my toothbrush handy and scrub the hell out of my to...Read More

As a business owner I wouldn’t want to be screening law firms while dealing with a pending lawsuit or contract negotiation. But, when you decide to hire a lawyer, it’s helpful to keep some tips in mind:

1.      Credible Resources. Locate a lawyer through a credible resource such as the American Bar Association which allows people to search by state, city, and even county bar associates. Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory is another type of lawyer locator that’s been around for more than 133 years. Recommendations from trusted friends and small business peers can also help.

2....Read More

Podcasting is delivering audio content to portable media players, phones, and computers on demand, so that it can be listened to at the user's convenience. Many people believe that podcasting is used solely for the distribution of music files, but nothing could be further from the truth. This emerging method of audio file distribution has opened an array of marketing and communication opportunities to businesses.

Podcasting is a next generation of radio. Thanks to the fact that podcasting is integrated into RSS you can receive your favorite podcasts using your favorite RSS reader software. Audio and video podcasts are simple MP3 files and RSS feeds contain links to these MP3 files.

Here is a list of ways podcasting can be used as a maj...Read More

Every mom and pop store has a bathroom—some even have two. You’re an independent store owner doing pretty well, but not well enough to hire a cleaning lady or man to come in at the end of every week to tidy up the little boy’s and girl’s room.

When you first started out you remember cleaning it yourself, late when the staff left to go home or early Sunday morning when the store was closed. You’ve come to your senses realizing that not only do you use it, but your sales staff and customers do too.

Are you still cleaning the bathroom? It’s a necessity and a portion of the store that is used and abused a lot. It’s a dirty job that has to be done. So, are you s...Read More

It’s Friday, and everyone’s getting ready for the long weekend including your employees. Your staff may be surfing the Web a good deal of time—some are probably sending emails to family, friends, and coworkers while others are: shopping, banking, or planning a trip. Reality is that most workers with Internet access don’t see anything wrong with pursuing a little bit of personal business while at work.

Bosses think of it like this--If you have 30 people surfing the net for 30 minutes a day, that’s 15 hours lost. Some don’t see anything wrong with 30 minutes a day and go as far as saying, “It’s well within their rights as an employer.”

I think it’s smart to have built in some tolerance for your employees to take a few moments during lunch or breaks to e-mail their kids, check news sites, or make stock trad...Read More

Our new store’s drawings went to permitting last week—in particular CTAC Review. This type of permitting is typically a 5-day review process and approved projects are issued permits at the time of approval. Each county has their own rules and regulations relating to permitting. If you are in a rush and your small project abides by the guidelines set forth by Commercial Technical Assistance Center (CTAC), then this is a great speedy way to get your drawings permitted.

There is only one hiccup—you have to have your GC (general contractor) picked out before you submit for perm...Read More

According to the Labor Department, roughly 2 million workers nationwide are paid the federal minimum wage or less, making up 2.7 percent of all hourly-paid workers. Half are below 25 years old, while four percent are 65 years and older.

In my opinion, small businesses are small due to finances, and when the minimum wage gets hiked way above the federal floor, these businesses are either going to have to start laying off employees or shut down completely.

Many labor economists have argued that the minimum-wage increase does indirectly affect employment rates. Instead of immediately causing greater unemployment, for every 10% increase in the minimum wage, there’s a 1% “disemployment” that happens. Employers might not hi...Read More

Knowing who your competition is and how they “do it” can help you better define your product or service, improve on it, strengthen it, and educate potential customers.

Getting information about your competitors can give you the leading edge, as it can show you ways in which your company can be unique and can benefit the customer. 

Here are some important questions you should know about your competition:  

• What services are offered by competitors that you don’t offer? Are you and your employees (if any) as well qualified to serve as specialists in your type of industry?
• Does your competitor h

When I was in elementary school, I remember kids who’d raise their hand to report earth-shattering events like, “Teacher, Johnny is picking his nose.” We had a name for these kids—“tattletale”.

Most stores have one sales associate who finds satisfaction in spreading rumors about their co-workers who are becoming more competent and successful in their endeavors.

Because you’re the owner of the store, you see and hear everything. “Johnny took three cigarette breaks instead of two, Johnny came in 10 minutes late and we had to rush to set-up the store, Johnny took an hour and 10 minutes at lunch instead of just an hour.” We’d all like to think we’ve hired a mature group of staff members, yet as good at thei...Read More

Our sign is up and our drawings are in permitting. My spam folder is full and my phone hasn’t stopped ringing with calls from marketers. First, I thought to spend all the time I could creating marketing and new business materials. I finally came to my senses and realized the first two years I should focus on customer relationships.

The first couple of months and quite possibly the first two-three years in a new business, you can’t predict what sort of growth you’ll hit. You do the research, open a venture in the best possible location with the best possible demographics, and limited amount of direct competition but you still can’t determine exactly what sort of clients you’ll work with. Therefore, I believe you should remain diverse in your thinking which means being flexible when it ...Read More