Running a small business requires you to wear so many hats and learn something new every day. One of the biggest challenges is marketing. Marketing dollars need to work to bring in business. Fourteen years ago our marketing consisted of deciding how big our telephone book ad was going to be. There are so many different opportunities now to get your business name out into the public. Internet ads, promotions, radio, TV, direct mail, email, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. Some forms cost a lot, some are more inexpensive and some, thankfully, are free. Artprize in Grand Rapids is like a gift to the local small business is some respects. So much more foot traffic and out of town visitors to admire our great city and what it has to offer. They eat, sleep, and shop here, giving the downtown area a huge boost to most of the businesses. Artprize advertises the event and we all benefit. We also get to enjoy amazing art and artists in our own backyard. We are thankful to be running a small b ... read more

I have a Fitbit that I may be mildly obsessed with. It was charging one day and I left the house and arrived at work without it. Walking anywhere seemed so pointless. No steps counted. No way to tell if I was going to make my 250 steps every hour that day. Did I even sleep well the night before? My Fitbit wasn’t there to tell me. I’d like to admit I’m exaggerating but I’m not. We have several scanners that have the capability to let us know the health of certain parts of your vehicle. One of these that’s very important is your car battery health. I like seeing the printout from a battery test, especially when it’s bad. It shows the voltage and rates the battery’s health. Here’s my reasoning. It’s cold out. Having your battery fail in Michigan in February will probably be miserable. You could have avoided this by having your battery tested periodically. It doesn’t take long and it’s painless. Finding out that your battery is weak is an opportunity to say, “Hey, I want to get in my car a ... read more