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 May 2025 Lead by example, or... "You either lead by example or you don't lead". When I read this quote, I think of a situation I experienced in a neighborhood store 40 years ago. After finding the item I wanted to purchase, I walked to the register in front of the store. The only person near the register was the business owner, who, seeing me approach, hollered, "Susan, you have a customer." I had previously seen this owner operate the register, so it was not an issue of not knowing how to make the register work. The owner wanted the employee to complete the transaction. Of course, this meant that I, the customer, had to wait until Susan completed the task she was working on. The message I took from the owner was that he wanted his staff to take care of the customer, but he was not going to do it. People remember situations like this, just as I have. A couple of years ago, as I came home to Arkansas, I had the opportunity to visit with someone who worked in our family business when I was in elementary school. Having not seen this person in many years, it was a wonderful visit. I remember hearing his stories of working in our business. The strongest memory was this comment: "You didn't work for Frank Shay (my father); you worked with Frank Shay". It is true. "You either lead by example or you don't lead". Article of the Month - Traits of the Great Part 1 What are you missing in your business? As an entrepreneur and owner, have you ever had the feeling that there was something you were missing as you consider what your business does? That was the question asked that became the basis for this month's Article of the Month. Note that the headline says this is part 1 of the article. The June Small Business News will have the second part. We hope you enjoy and appreciate the observations and comments shared in this and next month's article. Book of the month - Business the Bill Gates Way Business the Bill Gates Way by Des Darlove is our book of the month for May. This is not a story about Microsoft and large corporations. It is a story of entrepreneurship. Too often, we see people who become owners of a business. We often see people who, in buying a business, have bought themselves a job. Entrepreneurship is about looking for opportunities and then being brave enough to take a chance on making it work. It does not have to be what you were trained to do or what you went to college for. It is all about what you see in a challenge, need, or opportunity. Internet Tool for Your Business - Jim Roy The gross margin return on inventory shows the relationship of your gross margin to the sales and inventory (at cost) of your business. This number varies from one small business industry to small business industry. For any business, I think it is important that you compare the current GMROI to what your GMROI was last year. It has been my experience that it is better to work on improving your business as compared to hitting some industry standard. 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. Staff Incentive for Your Business - Recognition is for the customer to notice Napoleon Bonaparte was credited with saying, "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon," a memorable way of saying that recognition is important. However, recognition is not important to the recipient; it is important to those who see the recipient. We were in a business the other day. The person introduced themselves as the branch manager but did not have a name tag or business card. It makes you wonder if they just started working there. People in service industries should have plaques or badges on their shirts to recognize their achievements in the industry. People should have name tags indicating the number of years they have been in the business. This type of recognition is important so that the customer will have confidence in the person they are talking with. Recognition works two ways. 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.
