Playing Catch-up

As I’ve been away from the blog for a couple weeks, I figured I’d do a quick “short-takes” style look at the interesting developments on a few of my favorite blogs…
<ul><li>As you’ll recall, I’ve said that one of the key things that many small business owners overlook when trying to increase profits is slashing costs. Douglas Kersten at Small Business Blog is on the same page… “Every six months I look at all of my expenses and determine what I can cut, reduce in cost, refinance at a lower rate, etc…“
</li><li>Anita Campbell is advocating a business model I’ve always loved: Taking your business to the customer. I called it a “luxury service” in a recent post, as it makes an existing service more convenient for busy customers.
</li><li>Everybody’s favorite unconventional business author Seth Godin is talking about people’s inability to search properly. How can we as small business owners take advantage of the fact that most people don’t know how to find stuff on the net?
</li><li>Rob at BusinessPundit questions starting a small business in the retail sector… and with good reasons. “First of all, to be in a good location you will have high rent costs. Secondly, your cash flow suffers because you have money tied up in inventory… …But the biggest problem is that if you are successful, your model is easy to copy.” These reasons (and others) are why I’ve stayed completely clear of a traditional retail business.
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