By Derek Goodman Standing out at a local fair or pop-up market requires more than just showing up and setting up a folding table. To truly capture attention, a small business must blend visual storytelling with interactive engagement to create a memorable brand presence. This guide explores how to leverage high-impact booth design, community connection, Read More

By Derek Goodman For early-stage entrepreneurs and U.S. small business owners building their first startup, the hardest part often isn’t the product, it’s staying ahead of startup legal challenges that show up quietly and then demand attention all at once. Business compliance issues can pile up when paperwork, payments, hiring, and marketing move faster than Read More

By James Chittenden Fortunately, AI is still our servant and not our master, at least for the time being.  For a long time, AI was of poor quality and unreliable. Then it rapidly became quite good, and available to everyone with a Wi-Fi connection and mobile device. Its proliferation offers opportunities and hazards. One fantastic development is the Read More

By Derek Goodman Small business owners face a familiar challenge: staying visible and interesting without burning time or budget. The good news is that creativity is not about flashy stunts or constant reinvention. It’s about making thoughtful, human choices that keep your marketing feeling alive and relevant. Key Points Fresh marketing comes from small experiments, Read More

By Derek Goodman Local businesses everywhere—from corner bakeries to neighborhood garages—face the same truth: economic conditions shift, sometimes slowly, sometimes overnight. Adaptable owners tend to stay ahead, not by guessing the future, but by building habits and systems that absorb shocks. Business planning leads to business preparation. Plan for economic downturns. Key Points Think community-first, Read More

By Derek Goodman. In a town where your storefront catches only a few hundred eyes a day, your digital presence has the power to multiply that visibility tenfold, or more. But “going digital” isn’t about chasing algorithms or plastering your name across social media. It’s about being findable, believable, and relatable in the exact moments Read More

By Jeff Skolnick, CPA The recently passed tax law contains many changes to existing law. The final bill was almost 1,000 pages. I have summarized what I believe to be the key tax provisions of the law. EXTENSION OF AND CHANGES TO CURRENT INDIVIDUAL PROVISIONS Many of the provisions enacted by the Tax Cuts and Read More

By Derek Goodman Sudden success has a way of showing up without knocking. For small business owners, the dream of rapid growth often skips the polite handshake and goes straight to flipping tables. Inventory flies off shelves, inboxes pile up, and operations strain under a wave that once seemed like a distant hope. But with Read More

By James Chittenden Forget the myth of, “it takes money to make money” or that you need unlimited time and thousands of dollars to start and operate a small business. You don’t. You will finish this article with more ideas than you could possibly use if you want to start a business for less than Read More

By James Chittenden BRICS is an economic and political alliance between several countries that seeks to create a new currency while ending the worldwide dominance of the U.S. dollar. BRICS, which is shorthand for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has formed this alliance to increase their economic power while limiting the ability of Read More