Photo CC by Joanbrebo

Guest post by Mike Humphrey, Japan

Skiing has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why my parents decided skiing would be our family sport. They were not avid skiers, and we didn’t live in a ski town. Whatever the reason, I was on skis at 3, and my love for the sport began. We would spend every weekend in the winter on the hill.

When I was 15, I became a ski instructor. Skiing is my passion. I love being out on the hill, and I love the mountains.

As I grew older, skiing was still part of my life, but it became a hobby. I went to university and got a job. I started a family, and things were going well. I would ski weekends at our small local hill, but it was slowly being relegated to an afterthought.

That all changed seven years ago when I left my corporate job. It was time for a life choice: continue with my career or make a change. With some savings in our account and dreams of powder turns, I leapt. I left my job and moved our family to a ski town in Japan.

It has been seven years since we moved to the mountains, and it has been filled with joys, challenges, and, of course, skiing. In that time, we have operated two hotels and a restaurant and weathered the storm of Covid. It has been a hell of a ride, and not without its difficulties. Despite the challenges, I would never return to working a corporate job.

Read on to discover the challenges we faced while building a business and our dream life in a small mountain town.

Photo CC by Cookie M

The Challenges of Running a Small Business in a Ski Town

1 – Seasonal Customers

The highs and lows of running a business in a seasonal destination, whether a ski town or a beach destination, are extreme. During the winter, the city’s population triples in size. In the span of 4 months, we get 400,000 tourists visiting our small village of 5,000 people.

The influx of customers is terrific for business but not always for sanity. Imagine the demand for your products skyrocketing for four months and then crashing back to almost zero as soon as the snow starts to melt.

As a business, you need to develop systems and processes to adapt to the extreme shifts in market demand.

Choosing a Business Model

There are generally two models to choose from when you decide what business to run. You can cater to tourists, or you can cater to residents. The best businesses are the ones that can manage to do both.

Catering to Travelers

With this model, you fully embrace the higher-paying tourists. You charge higher prices and focus on optimizing your returns for tourists. During the low times, you minimize your expenses and either shut the business down or drop prices and try to scrape by attracting lower-paying guests.

This is how we operated when we ran our hotel. We were very strategic with our opening dates and only worked during the peak season. During the slow times, we shut down the hotel, went into maintenance mode, and did upgrades.

This worked well when there were lots of guests, but if you have a terrible snow season or a global pandemic, for that matter, you can run through your reserves quite quickly.

Catering to Local Customers

Your goal here is consistent revenue throughout the year. You have to choose your prices to match the local market. Your customer base is smaller during the low season, but during the high season, your revenue jumps drastically.

This is the model we use to run our restaurant. We live and work in the community year-round and provide good food options at reasonable prices regardless of the season.

By establishing relationships with residents and business owners within the community, you can develop a strong clientele that will sustain you throughout the year. Those relationships help you to flourish during the high season when residents recommend your services to travelers in town.

Catering to Locals and Tourists

Matching both markets is a tricky needle to thread, and I haven’t seen many businesses do this successfully. Essentially, you must provide a service that can increase prices during peak times without alienating local customers. The closest we came to this was with the hotel, which had peak and low-time pricing. But this isn’t catering to local businesses; it’s just modifying your pricing to match traveler demand.

Photo provided by Mike Humphrey

2 – Staffing

Ski towns have some unique staffing issues that can be challenging for small businesses to overcome. The small local population combined with the boom and bust market makes staffing one of the most difficult things to deal with.

Staff Training

In a ski town, the money-making window is short, and staff is transitory. We hired 5 – 7 staff during peak season to help run the hotel. They would arrive early to mid-December, 1 – 2 weeks ahead of our first guests.

We rarely had repeat staff, and they had to be fully trained before the Christmas rush. It was trial by fire. You have to get them up to speed in 2 weeks so they can provide the best customer service possible. When the guests do start to arrive, it’s crunch time. You are running at full capacity almost immediately.

It’s the perfect storm. You need to hire the right people and have outstanding training programs and processes in place so they can hit the road running as quickly as possible.

Finding Good Staff is a Challenge

While this may be true for any industry, working in a ski town is appealing because you can ski. There is always a balance between finding a good employee and their desire to hit the hill.

As soon as the ski season starts, it’s too late to hire someone new. You better find the right people at the beginning and make sure they are doing a good job. Having to fire underperforming staff mid-season is a considerable risk.

You have to weigh the negative impact of keeping the employee on versus the risk of being short-staffed.

I have been through both experiences, and it was better to let the person go instead of hanging on.

Here are some tips for finding good staff.

Ask For Recommendations

Ask previous and current employees if they know anyone who would be a good fit. Check with friends and family or other business owners in the area.

Watch Out For Red Flags

Trust is critical; skills can be taught, but trust and work ethic can’t. During the interview process, look for signs that there may be issues. Identify them immediately and be upfront. Don’t move on until you feel entirely comfortable.

Check references. Call them and have an honest conversation. Ask what issues they had with the employee.

Use Contracts To Your Benefit

An employee contract goes a long way to establishing a good relationship with an employee. Reviewing and signing a contract makes your relationship official and keeps your employees committed.

Photo CC by lamoix

Retaining Staff

The boom-bust nature of the ski industry means you can’t always keep staff all year long. The business can’t sustain employees during the low season. You always run a skeleton crew during the off-season and go into maintenance mode.

This means retaining good employees is hard. Expecting people to stick around and barely make enough money to live is unreasonable. Here are some ways to keep staff all year round.

Provide Extended Vacations

Give staff the chance to take time off during the shoulder seasons. They can take the opportunity to travel or go home to see family.

Reduce Staff Living Expenses

Consider alternative living arrangements or provide food through your business.

Collaborate with another business and offer a trade. Provide your services in exchange for cheaper accommodation for your staff.

It’s Hard Work

You have to make hay while the sun shines. For 4 – 5 months, you run flat out. Not only that, it’s playtime as well. You want to be out on the hill as much as you want to run your business. It’s easy to be understaffed and run your employees ragged. It’s a 4-month whirlwind of activity that can be hard to handle.

The critical takeaway is good hiring, training, and processes/systems. Watch for red flags when hiring staff; do not ignore your feelings about people. Don’t get me wrong, I have had some exceptional employees, but I’ve also had some horrible ones. Getting staffing right is crucial to making your small business work in a ski town.

One-on-one Training

When you’re in the thick of things, spending an hour or two with your employees teaching them may feel like a waste of time. But this is time well spent. An hour now could save you 10 – 20 times that time later in the season.

Learn From Other Businesses

We have friends who manage a hostel. They offered to take us through the building to show us how they managed their property. Here are some of the changes we made:

1. We added a self-check-in process for late arrivals
2. Better Signage
3. Better local information Kiosk

Hire an Expert

If you’re unsure how to get better, find someone who has done it before and offer to pay them for their time. Have them watch how you run your business. Then, get them to make recommendations on how to improve.

Lessons Learned

After the season, talk with your employees about how things went. What things did you do well, and what could be improved? What pain points did the employees experience? Your perspective and the perspective of your employees will be different, and it’s essential to record what you learned.

Document

Solid documentation can be a great way to leverage your knowledge and compound your efforts. Keep records of everything you do. I like to use a Google Folder to build up a library of procedures. Whenever I need to use it, I review it and try to improve it. Things to document:

1. Role Descriptions
2. Job Postings
3. Marketing Materials
4. Standard Operating Procedures
5. Annual Schedules
6. Maintenance requirements
7. Licensing renewals

This list will depend heavily on the type of business you run.

Implement

Last but not least, implement. If there is no action or change, then nothing will improve. I like to use project management software like Asana or Wrike to break everything down into manageable tasks. It will eventually get done as long as it’s written down and recorded.

3 – Cashflow Management

Cashflow is king, and managing your finances through a ski town’s boom and bust cycles is tough. Your business depends on tourists arriving at the start of the season to keep it running.

Building a reserve that sustains your business throughout the year is essential. But you also need to balance this against re-investing in your business. Cash sitting on the books doesn’t help your business grow and expand.

4 – Work-Life Balance

Running a business in a ski town is not all fun and games. You must be organized, stay on your toes, and manage your time well. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the pace.

You can use the winter playground if you manage your business well and have the right staff. However, if you don’t, you will run yourself ragged, trying to keep everything afloat.

Final thoughts from a seasonal business

So, if you’re considering launching a business in a ski town, remember these points.

First, be prepared to put in a lot of hard work. It may not seem glamorous, but running a ski town business takes dedication and determination.

Second, be mindful of costs and stay on top of your finances. Knowing what you’re spending and where it’s going can help ensure you stay profitable.

Third, hire and train the right people to help you build a successful business. Finding and building a great team will make your life more enjoyable in the long run.

Finally, take advantage of where you live. Enjoy the mountains, the people, and all a ski town offers. It’s an incredible experience and one you won’t want to miss out on. I have seen too many business owners forget why they started their business and don’t get out and enjoy the lifestyle.

Photo CC by Radek Kucharski

Frequently asked questions: seasonal business

What are the peak seasons for running a business in a ski town?

The peak seasons are typically winter and summer when people come for skiing and summer outdoor activities.

Is it possible to maintain a steady income all year round in a ski town?

This largely depends on your business model. Some businesses are seasonal, while others offer services that are in demand year-round.

How do I attract local customers in addition to tourists?

Offering locals-specific discounts, involving your business in community events, and building a solid local reputation can all help attract local customers.

What challenges should I expect when running a business in a ski town?

Challenges may include:

• Dealing with the seasonal nature of business.
• Maintaining a steady workforce.
• Managing cash flow

How important is fostering relationships with other local businesses in a ski town?

Very important. Strong relationships with other businesses can help you stay informed about local trends, collaborate on joint initiatives, and create a support network.

Any advice on maintaining work-life balance while running a ski town business?

Schedule regular breaks, get involved in local activities, and ensure you take time for yourself and your family. Remember, enjoying your surroundings is part of the ski town experience!

About the author Mike Humphrey

Mike Humphrey is a writer and entrepreneur. He has operated several hotels and restaurants and founded mykhumphrey.com, where he writes articles about business, freelancing, remote work, and living abroad.

Once every few years, an outside consultant comes in and leads a community engagement planning meeting. There are lots of flip charts and post it notes. 

Most of the people who attend hold official titles or formal leadership roles. Almost all are professional middle class white people, in their 30s to 60s. The Same Ten People who seem to be on every committee and board are there. Not many other people outside those groups attend. 

The consultant leads a discussion of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats as these people see them. The usual people bring up their usual topics.

Several ideas are written on big pieces of paper and mounted on the walls. Everyone gets some sticky dots they can use to vote for the ideas they like best. The ideas with the most dots are the winners. 

Maybe a survey is printed in the paper to gather more input. 

The consultant gathers up all the papers, goes away and writes up a plan. It more or less reflects what was on the papers. 

The resulting plan is submitted to the town government several weeks later in a really nice binder. It goes on the shelf in city hall. 

Who is missing from this view of “community”?

When we get these same people together, who speaks for those outside the professional middle class: the wait staff, the retail clerks, the nurse aids, the mechanics, the truck drivers, the office staff? Who brings the perspective of different ethnicities and cultures? Who speaks with a younger voice about the future?

Idea Friendly community engagement

Here’s an Idea Friendly version of community engagement. It doesn’t start with a meeting.

People from throughout the community are encouraged and supported in trying their own ideas all year long.

Small spaces are available to try micro business ideas. People are able to connect with each other at frequent networking and learning events so they can work on even bigger ideas. The whole town is idea friendly.

Throughout the year, the officials are engaged in helping with and watching the experiments.

When someone brings an idea to a city official anytime, they are met with, “Great! What would you need to test that out?”

The existing plans are revisited and revised throughout the year based on the exciting experiments and developments going on throughout the community.

During the next planning cycle, lots of people are personally invited to attend and participate, and ideas that are being actively tried and proven right now are incorporated into the plans. 

Before you write your next plan this way

There are more alternatives! You can use a calendar, a few sheets of blank paper or even a big mock up in a parking lot. You have lots of alternatives to inviting the Same Ten People to write the same old plan. Find out more in the video: Before You Write Your Next Plan from SaveYour.Town.

The same ten people are here! We can get started updating the old plan.

One of the Small Town Rules is to spend your brain power before spending dollars. Be creative about how you handle challenges rather than to throw money at the problem.

Venture capital vs. Bootstrapped

We’ve all heard about startups that have been funded by whatever venture capitalist or angel that has just dropped a truck load of money on them, so they’re just throwing money at every single challenge that comes up. They burn through all that money without doing the creative thinking.

The opposite of that is bootstrapping. Startups funded only by their founders are more likely to say, “I’m going to do it on all my own money, and I’ll figure out how to make it work. Because it’s my money, I’ll make it go as far as I can.”

The free solution

The example I like to share is from my liquor store. When my mom took over the store back in the 1990s, she started carrying a lot more wine than the previous owner had. She needed a place to store the extra wine in the backroom on its side to keep the corks moist and preserve the quality of the wines.

Mom didn’t have any of the specialized wine racking that was available for sale. That costs money. This was for the backroom, so appearances weren’t important. It just had to work. My mom was not about to spend money she didn’t have to.

She dug around and found old bookshelves she already had. Then she took the divided cardboard boxes wine was shipped in, put them on their sides on the bookshelves, and made wine shelves for the back room. It cost her nothing to do that. We were still using those cardboard boxes on shelves 20 years later. We hadn’t spent money on commercial shelving, and it worked just fine.

Why buy expensive commercial wine racking for the back room when you can make your own for free? That’s spending your brainpower before your dollars. Photo by Becky McCray

Have you filled out the Survey of Rural Challenges? Find it here. 

By Chris Brogan

As the world starts to ask what’s going to happen when this pandemic is finally over and we can look at what it will take to jumpstart the economy again, one venture capitalist says we have to save Main Street and not bail out banks and hedge funds. Chamath Palihapitiya said in a CNBC interview that the way back requires a different perspective.

“On Main Street today, people are getting wiped out. And right now, rich CEOs are not, boards that had horrible governance are not, hedge funds are not. People are.”

You know that we spend no time here at Small Biz Survival pointing fingers or laying blame, and we’ve been here with you for years helping rural and small town businesses navigate the world, and that’s why this interview might prove interesting to you. It’s an important voice telling the nation that your business is who needs the help.

Don’t Wait for Handouts

As with all things, anything the government intends to do to help your business won’t come quickly enough for most people. It’s your job to rebuild and get your business back to thriving. Don’t wait for the handouts at all, but when they come available, don’t let your pride get in the way of filling out a few forms to get some “wiggle room” on the way to your recovery. You’ve worked hard and deserve that money more than the usual people who get bailed out.

Get to the Core Business

Over the years, maybe you’ve added and added and added to your business. Coming out of this pandemic might be a time where people will want the core of what you do more than anything else. Everyone is dealing with information overload, choice fatigue, and overall world-weary feelings. Make everything easier by offering your core service. If you do people’s taxes, offer your tax time services and monthly/quarterly bookkeeping. That’s it. Don’t get all that heavy into the other offers. Look at what makes your business important and strengthen that, keep the the “extras” and choices to a minimum.

Upgrade Your Payment Methods Now

Make it easier to accept payment from different sources, such as PayPal, Venmo, CashApp. As people struggle to make ends meet, smaller and faster money transfer technologies are used more. It’s worth your time to get your ability to be paid in multiple ways up and running faster than not. Never forget that YouTube has plenty of free videos to walk you through the setup and use of any new app you don’t yet understand. It’s a lot easier than you think (with a little guidance).

Reach Out

When times are tough, we tend to clam up and go inside. We don’t want other people to know we’re going through a bad spot. And it’s fine not to highlight that too loudly, but rest assured. The entire world is in this with you this time. Everyone out there is missing a payment here and there. People are digging into their life savings more often than they want. You’re not alone.

Reach out to your buyers. If someone hasn’t been in lately and you know how to reach them, do it. Ask if you can help. Offer different arrangements, if possible and if that helps. Don’t cut your prices. Everyone has to eat. You’re not a charity (unless you are). But connect with people and make sure they know you’re here to help. Send mail if you have their email address. Call if you’ve got a number. Keep your customer base warm.

You’re Valuable

We’ve said it all along. Small town businesses and rural companies are the backbone of what makes this nation run. Don’t wait for the cavalry. You’re the one who will save your business and you’re the one who will put this country back on its feet. Go get it.

Business meeting – Photo (CC) bjmccray, on Flickr

Think back to the last meeting in your small business? Does your memory make you cringe?

Or was your response that you only have a couple of meetings and you talk every day, so maybe you never bother with a meeting.

And how did the meeting go? Was most of the conversation off-track and non-business related? Maybe it was business related but focused on small details. A third option was the conversation was about items that have been discussed and discussed and discussed. Finally, your meeting may have been only to make plans for the day, resolve an issue or handle a problem.

Well-run businesses need effective meetings. Yes, they may be of the type that are only making plans for the day and they may last only 15 minutes while standing in the hall. But, you must have a time to get concerned folks such as employees, investors, families, etc. together to talk.

A key thing your meeting should address is a look forward, to make sure you are spending time working ON the business, and not just in the business.

To make your meetings effective, it’s important you do two things. First, you need to have an agenda. This helps you get ready for the meeting and also focuses your effort. It is an important key to stop your meetings from becoming a time to complain or to get caught up in the issues of today.

Second, you need to take minutes or notes. Capture the topics and key points discussed for each topic. Get down on paper your decisions and assignments. Make sure you establish some goals. List the responsible person and a deadline for each assignment and goal.

Often your meetings will start with a look back. Your look back will be examining past decisions made and accomplishment towards the planned goals. And yes, it is important that those accomplishments be supported, supported by qualitative or quantitative data.

Knowing you achieved or did not achieve a goal is nice, but knowing how quickly it happened and by what degree it happened is where you learn for the future. Get into the “weeds,” examine specifics of what worked and what didn’t.

So who will be at your meeting?

The list may change but you need a core group to maintain consistency. This group should include key staff and maybe some family members. Some business owners bring in outsiders such as the banker and accountant. You may be working with an adviser or mentor who should be included. And you may bring in others for specific purposes.

How often you have such meetings can vary? Although we think often in terms of yearly, you probably need at least two meetings a year. Quarterly or even monthly meetings may work. But don’t confuse these planning meetings with meetings you may have to plan and schedule short-term needs.

So move your business forward. Plan and hold regular meetings. Make them effective, and if you need help doing this, search out someone to help get you on the right track.

Meetings are an element of success. The resources spent in developing them offer substantial returns or can be like a boat anchor. Make them the former and not the latter.

Photo (CC) by Boegh, on Flickr

Innovation for the sake of innovation might not be the answer to building your business.

And yet today as we scan the business world, it would seem that the opposite is true – innovate or disappear.

So what’s the truth?

The truth about successful innovation is “it depends.” And it depends on your current customer and the potential consumer base.

Your business strategy needs to build on what the consumer desires. The consumer in question though is not only today’s but the person who has not yet shopped at your store as well as the consumer of tomorrow.  It must balance existing customers with consumers at large.

Successful innovation also includes lead time and a crystal ball.

Innovation doesn’t just happen. Even if you have a great idea, it will take several tries to get it right. So you need time to plan, develop and successfully integrate new ideas into your strategy.

And because time is moving forward, you also need your crystal ball to help select an innovation strategy that matches the forward path your consumer base will probably take.

A recent example of an attempted innovation that didn’t keep the customer in mind was the J. C. Penny focus on changing its business model from one of regular sales to one of fewer sales, lower regular prices, and a different product mix.

The idea failed as the new idea was not what existing customers desired nor did was it attractive to people who were not regular shoppers at the stores. It may have been a workable idea but perhaps the marketing effort didn’t connect. Reuters wrote about the experience, “Innovation is great for any business, but when that innovation upsets your customers, it’s time to put customer experience first.”

Bottom line, innovation is required for a business to remain sustainable. But the innovation must enhance your customer’s experience with your business. Fail to do that and you will fail.

Photo (CC) by Josh MacDonald, on Flickr

If you want to increase the sales of your product, you must get it in front of more people.

While there are many ways to make that happen, a way used by many small businesses is an affiliate marketing program. It’s simple in the concept, one business agrees to carry another’s person’s products, usually on a commission basis.

So as a business owner, you can participate in affiliate marketing in two different ways. First, you can carry the products of another business. This might help you increase foot traffic in your store or bring in a complementary product that would enhance the sale of your own products,

To be effective in this scenario, you and your sales people must understand the product and be able to help the customer see how both products together does a better job of solving an issue than either product does by itself. And while obviously you would love to sell your own product, you need to be able to sell the affiliate’s product as well as your own.

The second way to use affiliate marketing is for you to place your product in another person’s store. If that is the route you choose, be ready to help the other owner understand how carrying your product alongside their own will only help sell both.

It’s important in either scenario that you have a clear understanding of the responsibilities of each party, the financial arrangements, and on issues such as service, product returns/refunds, and who pays for joint marketing efforts. These arrangements must be in writing and reviewed and/or modified at least annually.

Cautionary Note – One aspect of affiliate marketing to remember is that actions of a store handling your products will reflect on your own brand and identify.

Let me share an example. For my daughter’s recent birthday, we know she enjoys key lime pie. So since we were traveling, I searched for the best pies in the area. The store that came up was some distance away but their products were handled by local businesses. I called one, they had it, I drove over and found out that it was out-of-stock. So I called another store and reserved one for a later pickup. But when I arrived, nothing was found under my name. So as I later reviewed the company, the performance of the affiliates played huge in my comments. (Just so you know we did eventually get our pie and it was enjoyed by all.)

So when setting up an affiliate marketing program include some means to determine how your brand is being influenced by the affiliate firm. Sometimes you will get the comments directly but be sure to ask for access to comments that include your product that the other business receives.

Affiliate marketing at times has received some negative stories about it. Yet it has a place in a business strategy.

Affiliate marketing can bring success. But you must plan carefully when setting up the arrangements.

Photo by Glenn Muske

It may be that I grew up in a small town area, but mention “small-town service” to people and they will know what you are talking about.

So when I saw the tagline on this business sign, I felt I understood how this business treated their customers. (You can read more about developing the tagline for your business at my previous post, Seven Steps to a Small Business Tagline. )

I am talking about that feeling of being known, the feeling that someone will take the extra steps to make sure you are satisfied.

Let me give you an example.  Several years back, my family and I were driving through Missouri and we had a flat tire.  I am a farm boy so not a problem, except I couldn’t get the wheel rim loose from the wheel studs. Well, a helpful patrol officer stop and gave me a tip. Not only that but he then led us to the nearest town. He knew a station that, although closed, would probably help us get the tire fixed and get us back on our way. The service station was closed but opened up, rapidly put on a new tire and we were on the road again.

That’s an example of small-town service.

Yet, small-town service does not just happen. I have had similar assistance in the big cities as well.

So what is small-town service?

It begins with conversation and a person willing to listen to what we need. It isn’t about what they have to sell but our needs.

The conversation leads to a connection and then on to assistance. I have experienced people going well out of the normal course of their business to help me get what I want. I have even had a referral to a competitor who had what I wanted. (Remember the scene from “Miracle on 34th Street.“)

Small-town businesses, most often small businesses, should take advantage of their ability to connect with customers. It’s an advantage that businesses in a larger city can achieve only through much more effort. In the small town you don’t have to create community. You are surrounded by it as you work and live.

Small-town service is real. Customers know it when they receive it and will return for more. 

My local pharmacy delivers every day.. Photo of Holder Drug by Becky McCray.

Your customers are your business. Connecting with them means success or failure.

How well does your business do in terms of connecting? You won’t find many answers in this column, but you will find lots of questions you need to think about.

How do you connect with your customers?

I suspect many of you have a phone at your business. Do you publish the number? I know businesses that don’t.

And when you or one of your employees answers the phone, what do you say? What is your tone of voice? Do you ask what the person is calling about?

How long does the phone ring before someone answers? And how quickly are transfers made? What about phone messages? How quickly are they returned? Think in terms of hours, not days.

Then you have the people who walk into your store. Are they greeted, and if so, how? How long are they in the store before the greeting occurs? And how many employees might they pass before someone asks if they need some help?

How about when people leave: Are they thanked for stopping? Do you encourage them to come back again or ask if they found what they wanted? Do you go as far as suggesting where they might find what they are looking for? (I am reminded of that each Christmas season when watching “Miracle on 34th Street.”)

Today you also have to think about how you are connecting online with your customer.

I won’t even ask if you have a website but instead ask how easily people can find your business contact information on your website. Make it visible and on every page. What about a comment/question box right on the website?

Besides the standard information on your website, offer email addresses, driving directions and maps.

Remember that your online audience probably isn’t who you think it is. You may assume it is the “younger” generation. It is, and that group rapidly is becoming the largest spending segment. But every age group is doing online activities, with those 60 and older the fastest growing segment.

In terms of email, how quickly do you respond? You should be responding in no more than four hours.

Finally, don’t forget the online social media channels. You have two issues here. In the first scenario, your business doesn’t have any social media channels. While I might encourage a business to have a channel, you certainly have reasons – time being a big one – for not having such an online presence.

Even if you don’t have a channel, that doesn’t mean your business isn’t being mentioned in social media. So you want to be there to answer questions, thank those who offer positive remarks and respond to negative criticism.

And while you are reviewing what is being said about your business on social media, don’t forget to monitor online review sites for comments as well.

If you do maintain one or more social media channels, the preferred response time is an hour or less in most cases.

Connecting with your customers is crucial. To do it well, remember all the options, practice and train on the methods, and ask your customers how you are doing.

Photo (CC) by LPHR Group, on Flickr

Starting a business is a risky adventure. One in five will not make it through the first year and less than 40 percent, and some studies show less than 20%, will still be in business five years later.

So why do people try? Because being your own boss and running your own business for many represents a dream, the chance to control your life and shape one’s destiny. The desire is so strong that the majority of business owners who don’t make it the first time just try again. And research finds that each effort does provide additional experience that translates into better odds of success.

Yet besides trying it and gaining experience, what else can start-up owners do to increase their odds of staying in business?

• Offer what people want, or better yet need, as opposed to what you want to sell.
• Do your up-front planning.
• Know your costs and project your cash flow. It is often suggested that startup will take twice as long as planned and cost twice as much.
• Market, market and market.
• Keep current with the trends specific to your business and in general
• Knowing more means earning more.

As you look across this list, and other suggested startup tips you may have heard or read, one tool cuts across almost all of the suggestions. That tool is the need to stay current.

The pace of change gets faster each year. Just ask a business owner how his or her business has changed and you will likely get a long answer. And part of that answer may very well include the fact that one change that makes the ability to stay current even harder is the increasing number of sources providing information. The connected world has thousands of such resources.

So your question as a business owner is how to manage the flow?

One source of ideas is to check with your network. Who are they listening to?  Second,  do your own scan of what is available. In addition, once you begin to find some key sources see, in turn, who these key sources are listening to.

In your search, look for curators of information, such as mine, The Update. These are individuals or companies who scan and pull together key articles from a variety of sources. These can greatly reduce the flow. Also, use technology tools that allow you to develop your own curated stream of information or bookmarking technology to store articles for future reading and reference. Following a blog, such as Small Biz Survival, also helps you control the flow of information.

Staying on top of trends, management practices, and general information does not guarantee that your business will be successful. It does though increase your chances of being there tomorrow.