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Lesson learned from a coffee grinder Many years ago we were invited to a neighbor's home for a cup of coffee. Sounds simple enough, but the entertainment began when he took out a bag of coffee beans and a coffee bean grinder. It was an experience in entertainment I will not forget. People love entertainment. In 2017, the average family spent $2,900 annually on entertainment. Today, that number is $3,635. So, let's look at our businesses. Granted, the number of people wanting to shop online or go through the drive-thru is increasing. But when they do so, there is little opportunity for interaction and additional sales. The same is true for businesses offering delivery. While I see the increased effort to improve online, drive-thru, and delivery services for customers, I do not see an effort to make the face-to-face experience more entertaining. If there is nothing special when I walk into a store to buy a shirt, I can easily stay home and buy it online. But then that business does not have an opportunity to show me additional items that I might purchase. Entertainment is a part of what we do. And it goes a long way to someone preferring our business over another business. Game Over - Article of the Month Compared to closing your business, hopefully, you will come to a point when you decide to sell your business. As the article of the month discusses, we hope that a decision is made three years or more before you offer your business for sale and that you begin to prepare for the transaction. This will greatly be to your benefit. All in this month's article, "Game Over". Now, Discover Your Strengths - Book of the month You may be able to know something about your strength as you lift something up. However, do you know about your strengths and talents when it comes to owning and managing your small business? Would making decisions be easier if you knew what your strong points are and how to use them? Would you gain confidence when you are able to identify your talents? Don Clifton's, "Now, Discover Your Strengths" not only explains how to find your strengths and talents, the book provides an assessment to help you in your journey to increased success. Financial statement explanation - The financial statement, also known as the income statement and the balance sheet can be confusing. To help eliminate that concern we created the financial statement explanation tool. This tool will walk you through all the steps of where the information goes on the income statement and balance sheet. Just click on the first step and thought balloons from start to finish. This is a great learning tool. Each month we highlight one of the 47 free tools on the Profits Plus website; we call them "calculators". While some provide analysis by numbers and ratios, some are assessments and others are self-examination questions. Many are downloadable while others, because of the complexity of the calculations going on behind the scenes, are a part of the website and allow you to print your answers. None of them require you to give any personal information nor are there any "cookies" tracking you or your information. Internet Tool for Your Business Munch Day - Staff Incentive for Your Business We are borrowing a restaurant promotion known as, "Taco Tuesday". While the promotion is designed to bring customers to the restaurant or food truck, a staff incentive could be to bring a mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack to everyone in your business. If your business has restaurants and food truck owners as your customers, you could rotate the weekly treat from among these businesses. There does not need to be a goal or requirement of your staff for this treat to occur. It is a way of telling your staff you appreciate them and enjoy working with them. We want to recognize A Carrot A Day by Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, whose book provides the basis for each month's incentive idea.
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MARCH 2026
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With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading Small Business Management Expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.
Small Business
Every time I see the logo for Target stores, I think about small businesses and the need to know which people to target as their customers. Of course, of most importance is the person who has spent any money with your business.
I ask businesses if they know how much the average person spends with their business. Most offer a quick response with a dollar amount. That answer is incorrect as they are telling me what the average existing customer is spending. The average person in any community spends no money with that small business.
Looking for new customers without any plan of how to do so is just spending money. That is why every small business needs to know how to find and use information. Find ideas in the March Small Business Advisory.
Small Business
Employee retention; is it important? Or is it easier to lose an employee and wait for the next applicant to walk in the door? The Small Business News for March shares some statistics of the expense you incur when you make the change instead of working to retain a current employee.
It is baseball season and we use the sport as an explanation of the cost of growing your business. In Boston's Fenway Park, left field has a wall that is know as the green monster.
And that is what growing your business is - a monster! You can't successfully grow your business without a plan and knowing you will have the cash on hand to pay for the growth.
Are you selling something or persuading the customer? With your employees are you repeatedly telling that employee or are you persuading them to excel?
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Ciaidini is our suggested book for March 2026. Most definitely an appropriate read.
All this plus the Internet Tool for Your Business and a staff incentive idea for your business.
