coaching for small business

Sometimes, to grow your business, you need to take a step back… As business owners, we easily get caught up in those mundane tasks we need to do to keep our business working. But when you’re in the trenches of your business, day after day, it can be hard to see the bigger picture. But […]

The Rested Entrepreneur. Is it a mystical creature or does it actually exist in real life?! Haha, yup they really do exist! I know I’ve been talking about rest a lot lately and for a good reason – when you’ve been in business for as long as I have (30+ years!) I’ve learned a thing […]

It’s not you… Has this ever happened to you – a customer comes into your store or booth, looks around for a while and then when you ask them if they have any questions, they say “no thanks” or even a “there’s nothing here for me”?! Ugh. Customer rejection can feel like a gut punch […]

You can call me the Queen of Procrastination* *sometimes ;) Some days I’m killing it, getting stuff done, really knocking it out of the park. But then on those “other” days, dang, not even close. So, I wondered why that was, why are some days so damn awesome and others are total duds? Sure, there […]

A lightbulb customer is someone who gives you a moment of sudden inspiration or realization. In the early years of Essential Packaging, circa 1995, all of our packaging products came in cases of various quantities. For our first Christmas, we brought in this line of matching gift bags and boxes in assorted holiday patterns. But they […]

Ah yes, the early days when you started your small business… For some of you it might’ve been during the pandemic. For others, it’s been a long time, even years. No matter the timeline, think about when you FIRST started… It was pretty exciting, right? Maybe it started as a hobby and then family/friends started […]

Real world small business experience is pure gold. Back when my husband and I started our first company, Essential Packaging, small business wasn’t ANYTHING like what it is today. We simply didn’t have the same support and resources that are now easily available almost anywhere. When we started in 1995, you couldn’t Google marketing strategies, […]