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How patient are you? Would $5 buy you off?

How patient are you? Would $5 buy you off?

Further to the post last Thursday, the 23rd, about the non-delivery of my parcel and the atrocious customer service every small business could learn from, there's been a development. After much searching, I found a chat line for Amazon customer service. I explained...

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Oh no . . . not this stuff again!

Oh no . . . not this stuff again!

I'm not sure how many times I've written about this or discussed it with business owners, but it keeps coming up—being accessible to your customers, especially the ones you've frustrated. And it's not just a small business problem, in fact, my experience (yet again)...

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The Imprint shows coming up later this year

The Imprint shows coming up later this year

The Imprint shows are coming up later this year in Canada and, as usual, I recommend attending shows, if not as an exhibitor, then certainly as an attendee. It's an essential part of keeping up to date on what's going on the industry. You can't keep up with the...

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March is fraud prevention month

March is fraud prevention month

As you might already know, March is fraud prevention month. If your bank is like mine, then you would likely have received at least one email about fraud awareness. And if you're like me, you'd be inclined to hit "delete" and move on. But we shouldn't do that. Online...

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Please just go away!

Please just go away!

I recently had a discussion with a small business owner about a difficult customer. The situation had arrived at a point where the customer was no longer worth the stress they were causing. In situations like this, and given that it's impossible to tease your personal...

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Under-curing . . . and age-old problem.

It's an age-old problem that can catch you unawares. It shouldn't happen in an established shop with experienced staff and good quality control, but things can change. New staff, undetected equipment failure, lapses in quality control especially under pressure and...

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Oh, no! Don’t do this . . .

Oh, no! Don’t do this . . .

If you're going to prepare promotional material for your shop be aware that your credibility will be judged by it. For instance, if you draft an email or a pamphlet advertising your products and services it had better be well designed with eye-catching graphics,...

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An organized business

An organized business

Going back to the book I mentioned in an earlier article, 101 Things I learned in Business School, there is some very good advice on running an organized business. It's about the fact that businesses have departments, even one-person businesses. Understanding this...

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Emergency and disaster planning

Emergency and disaster planning

I've written about emergency and disaster planning before and will again in the future because it is important; I know this from personal experience. As I mentioned in the previous article, BDC has advice on all kinds of planning, including emergency and disaster...

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A plan for implementing your strategy

A plan for implementing your strategy

So this is the time of the year when business owners are urged to plan. And there's no end to the types of plans. In my experience though, moist small businesses don't have the time (or probably the need) to plan to the degree of detail some of the plan-crazy business...

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Your people are capital

Your people are capital

Over the holidays I came across 101 Things I learned in Business School by Michael W. Preis and Matthew Frederick. It's crammed with some useful ideas and concepts, much of it useful to small businesses such as the vast majority of textile screen printing shops in...

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The 8 golden keeps of small business

The 8 golden keeps of small business

I was recently searching through a filing box of stuff I'd once thought worth keeping. And while much of it should have been dumped a long time ago, I found a single page with few words but a lot of wisdom. Since most textile screen shops in Canada are small...

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Video: An accountant like no other

Video: An accountant like no other

What immediately comes to mind when you hear "accountant"? Probably the stereotypical nit-picking, formally-attired, uncharismatic, image of a person we've all joked about at one time or another. For instance, what do you get when you cross an accountant with a jet...

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