Paying For It versus Doing It Yourself

One of the few things I remember form an Economics course I had in college was about the time vs. money factor.  The professor said that when we have a task to do we should look at it from the prospective of whether or not it is cheaper and easier for us to do the task or to hire someone to do it for us.  We talk about this a lot at BizWorks.  We ask our small business owners to evaluate their per hour worth vs paying someone to do certain things for them.

Things like doing your own books or answering your phone, making copies, cleaning your office, etc.  You have to weigh out these things to see if you would be better off paying someone else at a lower rate than you would make an hour.  This would then free you up to spend your time on the parts of the business that bring in money for you. 

So as we welcome Spring, take a look at the tasks you do in your business and evaluate them to see if you are actually losing money by performing these tasks yourself. 

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

…What Did You Do With 2014

2014 has come to a close so what have you accomplished in your business?  What are the top three things that you are most proud of for the previous year?  Were these things goals you had set up earlier in the year to achieve? 

It’s always a good idea to reflect back on what we’ve done and what has happened to us this past year.  For many it has been a great year and for others they couldn’t wait to see 2014 come to a close soon enough. 

I guess it depends on how the year went for you and your business. Did you make the strides you had hoped to make?  How are things shaping up for the new year? Do you have a plan in place to help guide you so that at the end of 2015 you can look back on a successful year?  The time to think about it all is now.

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...Resolutions to make them or Not?

So here we are with 2014 behind us and 2015 just beginning to unveil itself.  It’s exciting to think about the New Year. What we want to do with this year, how we want to change. I think people make resolutions because of the wonder of a new year. There is always so much promise in those first few months- we can do anything we set our minds to can’t we?

Well can we?  Is it worth making resolutions to have them broken before the end of that first new month of that new year?  I’m not sure. I know I make them every year- every year I’m going to go on that diet and stick to it! Every year I’m going to exercise more and stick with it again!  

Part of me thinks making these promises we never really hold on to is silly.  But on the other hand, making those promises to ourselves gets us excited about the new year and all that promise it holds.  So what are you hopeful for in the new year? What do you want to change? 

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

...You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out

The ending holiday season makes me think about my all-time favorite Christmas movie, A Christmas Story.  I watch it as many times as possible when they show it for 24 hours on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day.  One scene in the movie has the teacher asking her students to write “a theme."   

All the students sigh except Ralphie who thinks it will be the best way for him to talk about wanting a Red Rider BB gun.  In his words this theme would be so wonderful it would get him out of theme writing for rest of his natural born life! Of course the theme was not as well received as he had hoped. 

He believed that everyone should own a Red Rider BB gun and could not understand why everyone was against his having the BB gun. His belief in owning that gun is unwavering. Never does he think he won’t get it- even though everyone adult tells him he’ll shoot his eye out.

What do you believe in whole heartedly?  What are you willing to go against everyone on and hold out that you are right?  Having that kind of unwavering faith even in a BB gun is an amazing thing. How many of us have ever had that kind of faith in anything? 

With the new year, it’s time to think about what we want to accomplish, to think about what we believe in and look at obtaining those things. Even if it is a Red Rider BB gun. 

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Suzanne Cormier

Executive Director

BizWorks (Small Business Incubator)

Follow Suzanne Cormier on Facebook and

Twitter @BizWorksCenter

Small Business Saturday

This week we will celebrate Small Business Saturday.  For those of you unfamiliar with the term- here is what it is:  From Wikipedia:  “Small Business Saturday is an American shopping holiday held on the Saturday after U.S. Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed on November 27, 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which feature big box retail and e-commerce stores respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mortar businesses that are small and local.”

So after the turkey has been digested and you’ve braved the malls and big box stores on Friday, take time to stroll into your mom and pop businesses and spend some of your holiday cash.  Better yet, skip those big box stores and go spend those dollars at a mom and pop store. I’ll bet you will not only find more unique gifts but you might actually help keep that small business owner in business. 

These small businesses are the fabric of our communities.  They help us feel a part of something each time we visit. They get to know our names, what we like and that makes it personal for us.  These people live in our community and are more vested in making our communities more livable.  The only way our small shops are to survive is for us to shop them and keep our dollars local.  It can add up to keeping our small community just that- a community.