​This year has been a little more difficult to figure out new year’s resolutions. Part of that is because we’re all still reeling from the “lessons” we learned in 2020. Even the best prepared businesses lacked preparation for a global pandemic. Still, the new year is a great time to reexamine what you’ve been doing and how it can get better. Here are a few ideas:

​Concern over the holiday shopping season is one that's looming large on most business owners’ minds.  Will it be a good one? Can it be so good that it makes up for a disappointing spring and summer? If you're concerned about these things, you're not alone. And there are things you can do to make your business sales this holiday season better, even if you don’t have a lot of time.

​Do you have a business newsletter? If you don't, what's holding you back? Is content the issue? Are you just not sure what you're going to tell your customers in every newsletter?
 
Newsletters are a great way to stay connected with your audience, especially if you have a long buying process or you run a business that thrives on repeat business. If either of those things is true, sending out a newsletter can keep you top of mind even when your customers aren’t quite ready to buy what you sell. Newsletters are a good nurturing and connection tool when you offer your audience something they want.
 
This comes down to content.
 
You want to make sure that you offer your audience something of value. To help with that, we've detailed a few things that you should put in a newsletter to get more opens.

​Six months into the COVID and we’re all still trying to figure out what’s going on. Should masks be required? Will kids be going back to school? Do we need goggles?
 
But what we do know is that a lot of customers are still concerned about their health and the health of those around them. Because of that, there are several things you should be doing (and marketing) in your business.

​With numbers of COVID infections increasing daily in many states, people are wondering when it will end and when we can begin to start feeling confident in an economic recovery.
 
No one knows for sure when recovery will begin.
 
In the meantime, there are a few things we know about how business and customers have changed. You can use that knowledge to restructure your marketing in order to better position your business for a stronger recovery. 

​If there's one thing 2020 has shown us, it's how to bolster our communication skills. We've had cause for a lot of really difficult conversations with our customers. Nobody ever wants to give bad news but 2020 seems like the year we have to keep reiterating and sharpening our communication skills with difficult messages.
 
But if you feel like you've had challenge after challenge and you're still wondering the best way to deliver those difficult messages, let's take a look at a few tactics you might use.

​Many business owners are currently wondering how they might get more involved in the conversations about race and creating a culture that celebrates diversity. When conversations about race and the workplace arise, the first area of consideration is often hiring practices but it extends to so much more in a business than who you're choosing to employ.
 
In fact, racial tensions can crop up even in businesses that are very focused on equality. If you want a more diverse culture in your workplace, here are a couple of areas to focus on in addition to fair hiring practices.

​This question has been asked for as long as there have been businesses and differences of opinion. Recently, this topic has been brought to a head with the black lives matter movement. It used to be that taking “no stance” was the safest. But with the death of George Floyd, there are many individuals who see a lack of a stance as a stance of its own. This has been a deeply dividing issue with some business owners wanting to get involved while others have worried that standing for the cause was akin to supporting mass destruction of property and being anti-business.
 
So what should a business do? 

​Making ends meet is top of mind for a lot of business owners and employees these days. Even if your business is open, reduced revenue may make it necessary to furlough employees. Rather than close altogether, many small business owners have decided to move to a one-person staff until things pick up again. This can be incredibly stressful on the person “left behind.”
 
Whether it’s a boss or a lone employee, the following tips will help decrease the stress behind being the only person representing the business.