It seems like a joke, but it’s true. You CAN learn real-life lessons from The Simpsons. On a previous post, we looked at a diverse group of Springfield’s  small businesses, from “I Can’t Believe It’s a Law Firm!” to Ned Flanders’ “Leftorium.” Today, we shall examine other Springfield enterprises that can teach us a thing or two about running a small business. Mr. Plow & The Plow King When Springfield is struck by a snow [...]

The American financial crisis seems to never end, with a rising debt ceiling, plummeting stocks, and conservative spending from consumers. Veteran and new business owners will be feeling the blow of this recession, like every other sector in the economy. In addition, small businesses have to contend with slow growth, low sales volumes, and playing catch-up with financial obligations. Business owners who want to keep growing can resort to a simple solution: the merchant cash [...]

Is there such a thing as too much customer service? Domino’s Pizza doesn’t seem to think so. In the latest effort to separate itself from other fast food pizza restaurants, Domino’s has launched a campaign where customers can give instant feedback to cooks, managers, and the company in general. In 2009, a video that went viral featured 2 Domino’s employees putting cheese up their noses, and then using it to prepare sandwiches and pizzas. As [...]

The battle between small, “mom and pop” businesses and mega stores like Walmart, Home Depot, Costco, and K-Mart has been raging since the inception of these retail giants. Now, people are speaking out against Walmart and urging others to boycott the store by not shopping there and spreading the word. A page on Facebook was created, named “National Walmart Boycott Movement” where users can have discussions and link to news stories and videos relating to [...]

Marketing is an important aspect of businesses of all sizes, garnering new customers, building brand identity, and developing an establishment. In many small businesses the owner has to add marketing to their duties, and it can be a hard enterprise if he/she isn’t familiar with advertising. This is especially true of social media, with new sites popping up right and left, and seemingly popular sites going into disuse (e.g. MySpace). Reading tutorials always helps, but [...]