Who should NOT use them? It’s a rough way to start the day.  You are a restaurant owner and sales have been inconsistent lately. The power bill is past due and must be paid today or your electricity will be disconnected for nonpayment. Last night when you checked, you had sales transactions that were ready Read More

By James Chittenden If you are looking to buy an existing small or medium business, protect yourself by looking for red flags in small/medium business finances. If you are looking to sell a business, clean up your books and implement the controls we recommend below. Clean finances increase the value of a business. Sloppy books Read More

Summer can be one of the busiest times of the year for many small businesses. Whether you’re managing seasonal demand, coordinating employee vacations, or preparing for growth opportunities, staying organized is essential. The right financial tools can help you as a business owner save time, improve cash flow, and make better decisions. Here are three Read More

By Derek Goodman First-time founders, local business owners, and new team leads often have plenty to report, product updates, milestones, decisions, but struggle to make it land with clients, investors, and employees. The core tension is that most corporate communication is clear yet forgettable, so attention slips and trust stalls. Business storytelling turns those same Read More

By James Chittenden Businesspeople can get lost and discouraged when looking for their first round of business funding. Surprisingly, they can have greater success if they use a simple but often overlooked key to fast funding approval.  Loans, investment, and other ways that businesses can obtain capital for growth seem mysterious. The overwhelming number of Read More

By Derek Goodman Growing a business is an exercise in managed courage. While the instinct to scale quickly is natural, the most resilient enterprises are those that treat expansion as a series of calculated experiments rather than a single high-stakes bet. By implementing structured safeguards, business owners can protect their core operations while aggressively pursuing 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