If you’re waiting until November to start thinking about holiday sales, you’re already late. The holiday shopping season doesn’t begin when the turkey hits the table. Customers start researching gifts, comparing prices, making wish lists, and watching for deals well before Black Friday. For small business owners, that means October is not “too early.” They […]
How to Handle Difficult Customers Without Losing Your Reputation or Your Mind
Every entrepreneur eventually encounters a difficult customer. Whether it’s someone who demands the impossible, complains about every detail, has unrealistic expectations, or all that stuff, and pays late. Dealing with challenging customers is simply part of doing business. The good news is that difficult customers don’t have to become difficult situations. The key is learning […]
AI, Sourcing, and Social Commerce: 8 Small Business Lessons from Alibaba.com CoCreate 2026
By: Leyanis Diaz, SmallBizLady Team Disclosure: I attended Alibaba.com CoCreate 2026 as part of a hosted press trip. All opinions and takeaways shared here are my own. Artificial intelligence is no longer something small business owners can afford to watch from the sidelines. That was one of my biggest takeaways from attending Alibaba.com’s CoCreate 2026 […]
How Do I Grow a Business Someone Else Built?
Buying an existing service business can be one of the fastest paths to entrepreneurship. Instead of starting from scratch, you inherit customers, revenue, employees, systems, and a proven market position. Whether you purchased an accounting firm, marketing agency, consulting practice, insurance agency, HVAC company, cleaning service, home health business, or an existing franchise, you have […]
Is Your Business Ready to Become an AI-Enabled Workplace?
Artificial intelligence isn’t replacing your employees; it’s redefining how successful organizations work. For decades, organizations have adapted to waves of technological change. We moved from paper files to personal computers. We embraced email, cloud computing, mobile devices, and remote work. Each shift transformed how work got done, and organizations that adapted gained a competitive advantage. […]
The AI-Enabled Workplace: 7 Signs Your Business May Be Falling Behind
AI is quickly becoming an everyday business tool that is transforming how we all communicate, make decisions, serve customers, and improve productivity. The question is no longer whether AI will change the workplace. The real question is whether your small business is keeping pace. Many business owners believe adopting AI simply means purchasing a subscription […]
How to Drive Inbound Leads and Turn Them Into Revenue
For many small businesses, inbound leads are among the most valuable sources of potential sales. When someone picks up the phone or goes to your website to contact your business, they are usually much closer to making a buying decision than someone casually browsing online. They already recognize they have a problem and are actively […]
Are You Running a Business for Impact or Applause?
Scroll through social media for five minutes, and you’ll see carefully curated highlight reels of entrepreneurial success. Luxury vacations. Sold-out events. Six-figure launches. New cars. Glamorous conferences. Viral videos. Thousands of likes and congratulatory comments. It’s easy to look at all of that and think, “That’s what success looks like.” But is it? As entrepreneurs, […]
How to Get Your Business Ready for the Holiday Shopping Season
The holiday shopping season can be the most profitable time of year for small businesses, but only if you are prepared. Customers are ready to spend, companies are purchasing year-end gifts, and people are actively searching for products and services that make their lives easier. However, increased demand also brings more competition, tighter deadlines, inventory […]
Thinking About Selling Your Business Someday? Here’s What You Need to Do Years Before the Deal
Most business owners spend years building a company and only months preparing to sell it. Unfortunately, that’s backwards. Steven Covey said it best, ‘Begin with the End in Mind.’ The most successful business exits are not created during negotiations. They are created years before a buyer ever appears. The difference between a good exit and […]
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