In episode #34 we discuss a topic that will feel very familiar to most (all?) small business owners. How do you carve out time to work on your business when you need to spend so much time working in your business? How do you schedule time to “think big”?

Our second topic is about an employee who seems to call out all the time because of deaths in the family. Should you require proof of death?

Join hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks as they tackle these topics and more on this episode of the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

Interact With Us

* Sign up for the weekly newsletter so you never miss an episode.

* Do you have a question you’d like Elizabeth and Gene to answer? Submit your question to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

* Leave us a review on iTunes and we might read it on the show.

* Learn how The Hartford’s small business insurance can help protect your company.

Links

* Cameron Dallas

* The Report of the Week (Fast Food Reviewer)

* Why You Should Do a Company Retreat For Yourself (and How to Do One)

Download Our Free eBooks

* Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner’s Handbook

* How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

* How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

* 21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Welcome back to another episode of the Small Biz Ahead Podcast. This week we have a question from a fashion blogger. Gene, I’m assuming you have a lot of experience in that.

Gene: Yes, anybody whose taken a look at me can tell about my fashion sense. (laughs)

Elizabeth: And a question about an employee who I guess has been claiming a lot of deaths in the family recently, and how a small business owner may deal with that. So we will be right back with question number one, after we hear from our sponsor.

QUESTION #1: Growing My Business While Busy

Elizabeth: Okay, question number one is from Julie in Atlanta. Julie writes;

“I run a fashion blog that is actually profitable and supports my family, including my husband and child. My husband takes the pictures and does some tech work, and I do the styling, writing, and corresponding with my clients. We use a virtual assistant who responds to my emails and moderates comments on the blog. Here’s the problem: while the blogging bubble may never burst, I know it’s going to evolve so I need to be putting aside time to do some strategic thinking.

If you work for yourself, does it matter what hours you work? What if you’re more productive in the evening than you are from 9-5? Next we delve into the home office tax deduction on this week’s episode of the Small Biz Ahead podcast with Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks.

Welcome to another episode of the Small Biz Ahead Podcast. Sign up for the weekly newsletter so you never miss an episode. Do you have a question you’d like Elizabeth and Gene to answer? Submit your question to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

Interact With Us

* Sign up for the weekly newsletter so you never miss an episode.

* Do you have a question you’d like Elizabeth and Gene to answer? Submit your question to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

* Leave us a review on iTunes and we might read it on the show.

* Learn how The Hartford’s small business insurance can help protect your company.

Show Notes

* How to Manage Myself To Get Stuff Done as a Small Business Owner

* Stressed? Not Sleeping? Here’s What Science Says About Sleep and How Much You Need to Be a Productive Small Business Owner

* 6 Apps to Help You Form Better Habits

* 5 Ways to Make Tax Prep Season a Little Easier

Transcript

Elizabeth: Welcome back to the Small Biz Ahead podcast. Gene and I are again here to answer all of your, what is it, burning questions.

Gene: Questions about life, business. You know, your marriage, child rearing.

Elizabeth: Talk about dogs.

Gene: Correct, anything you want to throw out here we’re happy to talk about.

Elizabeth: Anything you want to ask us, you can, we can be your Oprah Winfrey.

Gene: Yes.

Elizabeth: We do have a form where you can submit a question. You can also email us at [email protected]. You could just send us an email or a message on social media, and those get to us too. Today we have two great questions. The first one is about your work schedule if you’re a business of one. We’ll be right back with that after we hear from our sponsor.

QUESTION #1: 9-5 Work Schedule

Elizabeth: Okay we’re back with a question from Justin from Abilene, Texas. Justin writes:

“I’m a business of one. Does it matter if I stick to a normal Monday-Friday schedule, or am I free to work when I want?”

I think a business of one, as long as you’re responding to your customers when they need to be responded to, you should just set up a schedule that follows your most productive times. That’s something that we’ve talked about before.

Gene: Sure, first of all, I guess it depends on your business.

What’s the biggest customer service mistake you can make as a small business owner? Gene and some of our listeners disagree! We also talk about what to do about a pushy administrative assistant in your small office on this week’s episode of the Small Biz Ahead podcast.

Interact With Us

* Sign up for the weekly newsletter so you never miss an episode.

* Do you have a question you’d like Elizabeth and Gene to answer? Submit your question to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

* Leave us a review on iTunes and we might read it on the show.

* Learn how The Hartford’s small business insurance can help protect your company.

Links

* The Biggest Customer Service Mistake You Can Make

Download Our Free eBooks

* Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner’s Handbook

* How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

* How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

* 21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Small Biz Ahead podcast. Today we’re going to talk about customers. There’s no doubt about it customers can be jerks, but is letting them know you think that they might be a jerk before they’ve actually done anything jerky ever a good idea, Gene?

Gene: Sure it sounds like you’ve met some of my customers, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: We’re going to be right back with question number one, which is all about how to treat customers when they might potentially become a jerk after a word from our sponsor. Gene, we actually don’t have a question. We have some responses to an article that you wrote.

Gene: All favorable, everybody happy with what I wrote?

Elizabeth: You wrote an article about the biggest customer service mistake a small business owner can make. We posted the article on Facebook. It got 1100 likes, 441 comments, and 254 shares as of today.

Gene: What was the mistake? I’m trying to think …

Elizabeth: The mistake were small business owners who put those little signs up in their store or their office or their retail shop saying complaints file to the back or … What were some of the other ones?

Gene: I figured it was some of the antsy signs like ask any question you want, just don’t ask it of us. Things like that.

Elizabeth: It’s basically scolding a customer saying don’t ask us any stupid questions.

Gene: Like ha, ha, ha. I walk into … I was thinking what motivated me is I see these around, but there’s a deli near me. This deli, by the way, is a popular delicatessen near where I live and all that,

As a small business owner, how do you balance your family life with your work life? You might have started your business to have control over your time, but you may find the reality of running a business is that you're working too much. On this episode of the Small Biz Ahead podcast, hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks discuss tactics to help you balance work time with family time.

Links

Meal Delivery Kits:

Blue Apron

Plated

Sun Basket

Virtual Assistants:

UpWork

Zirtual

Instagram for Business

Download Our Free eBooks

Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner's Handbook

How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Welcome back to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast, or should I say, "Hey, guys. Welcome back."?-

Gene: Hey, everybody. Look at these really cool lipstick that somebody sent to me. Oh, and-

Elizabeth: This is Gene's-

Gene: it's our Small Business podcast.

Elizabeth: Gene's Kim Kardashian impression.

Gene: Hey, guys.

Elizabeth: Thanks for that, Gene.

Gene: She's awesome.

Elizabeth: Yeah. You actually wrote an article about how you think she's an amazing businesswoman-

Gene: I've written a number of articles about her. By the way, I just want to it to be on record. I have no desire to ever meet or talk with Kim Kardashian or any of the Kardashians, but it drives me nuts when people bash her for being vapid and a dolt and-

Elizabeth: Yeah. Oh, I know.-

Gene: Whatever. I think she's super smart. I think that if you watch her show and watch her in action ... Look, you try to build something out of nothing.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: It's a woman who really does have no talents except for the fact that she can promote herself and her lifestyle.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: The woman has tens of millions of followers. Their whole family does.-

Elizabeth: I think the real-

Gene: Powerful.-

Elizabeth: I think the real brains there might be the mom.-

Gene: The mother. Yup. Kris Jenner is-

Elizabeth: The original Momager.

Gene: She is manager. She is managing it all, but Kim is very much behind it.

What fascinates me about all those women is they're in their 30s, so they're no longer kids. They're no longer in-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: Their 20s. It'll be fascinating to see how they evolve themselves over the next 20 years.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

As a small business owner, how do you balance your family life with your work life? You might have started your business to have control over your time, but you may find the reality of running a business is that you're working too much. On this episode of the Small Biz Ahead podcast, hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks discuss tactics to help you balance work time with family time.

Links

Meal Delivery Kits:

Blue Apron

Plated

Sun Basket

Virtual Assistants:

UpWork

Zirtual

Instagram for Business

Download Our Free eBooks

Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner's Handbook

How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Welcome back to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast, or should I say, "Hey, guys. Welcome back."?-

Gene: Hey, everybody. Look at these really cool lipstick that somebody sent to me. Oh, and-

Elizabeth: This is Gene's-

Gene: it's our Small Business podcast.

Elizabeth: Gene's Kim Kardashian impression.

Gene: Hey, guys.

Elizabeth: Thanks for that, Gene.

Gene: She's awesome.

Elizabeth: Yeah. You actually wrote an article about how you think she's an amazing businesswoman-

Gene: I've written a number of articles about her. By the way, I just want to it to be on record. I have no desire to ever meet or talk with Kim Kardashian or any of the Kardashians, but it drives me nuts when people bash her for being vapid and a dolt and-

Elizabeth: Yeah. Oh, I know.-

Gene: Whatever. I think she's super smart. I think that if you watch her show and watch her in action ... Look, you try to build something out of nothing.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: It's a woman who really does have no talents except for the fact that she can promote herself and her lifestyle.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: The woman has tens of millions of followers. Their whole family does.-

Elizabeth: I think the real-

Gene: Powerful.-

Elizabeth: I think the real brains there might be the mom.-

Gene: The mother. Yup. Kris Jenner is-

Elizabeth: The original Momager.

Gene: She is manager. She is managing it all, but Kim is very much behind it.

What fascinates me about all those women is they're in their 30s, so they're no longer kids. They're no longer in-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: Their 20s. It'll be fascinating to see how they evolve themselves over the next 20 years.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

As a small business owner, how do you balance your family life with your work life? You might have started your business to have control over your time, but you may find the reality of running a business is that you’re working too much. On this episode of the Small Biz Ahead podcast, hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks discuss tactics to help you balance work time with family time.

Links

Meal Delivery Kits:

* Blue Apron

* Plated

* Sun Basket

Virtual Assistants:

* UpWork

* My Virtual Workforce

* Zirtual

Instagram for Business

Download Our Free eBooks

* Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner’s Handbook

* How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

* How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

* 21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Welcome back to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast, or should I say, “Hey, guys. Welcome back.”?-

Gene: Hey, everybody. Look at these really cool lipstick that somebody sent to me. Oh, and-

Elizabeth: This is Gene’s-

Gene: it’s our Small Business podcast.

Elizabeth: Gene’s Kim Kardashian impression.

Gene: Hey, guys.

Elizabeth: Thanks for that, Gene.

Gene: She’s awesome.

Elizabeth: Yeah. You actually wrote an article about how you think she’s an amazing businesswoman-

Gene: I’ve written a number of articles about her. By the way, I just want to it to be on record. I have no desire to ever meet or talk with Kim Kardashian or any of the Kardashians, but it drives me nuts when people bash her for being vapid and a dolt and-

Elizabeth: Yeah. Oh, I know.-

Gene: Whatever. I think she’s super smart. I think that if you watch her show and watch her in action … Look, you try to build something out of nothing.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: It’s a woman who really does have no talents except for the fact that she can promote herself and her lifestyle.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: The woman has tens of millions of followers. Their whole family does.-

Elizabeth: I think the real-

Gene: Powerful.-

Elizabeth: I think the real brains there might be the mom.-

Gene: The mother. Yup. Kris Jenner is-

Elizabeth: The original Momager.

Gene: She is manager. She is managing it all, but Kim is very much behind it.

What fascinates me about all those women is they’re in their 30s, so they’re no longer kids. They’re no longer in-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: Their 20s. It’ll be fascinating to see how they evolve themselves over the next 20 years.-

Elizabeth: Yeah.-

Gene: You know what I mean? What their fans, you know. I am fully confident that they will. That they will-

Elizabeth: Think about-

Gene: Continue to-

Elizabeth: What will an 80-year-old Khloe Kardashian be doing?

Gene: You laugh and you say, “An 80-year-old Kim?” Honestly,

As a small business owner, should you turn your back on an employee who is stealing office supplies? How do you address it? Join hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks as they discuss this hot topic, and how to manage your own work hours as a business owner on this episode of the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

Links

Can Orange Glasses Help You Sleep?

Freakonomics: The Economy of Sleep

Download Our Free eBooks

Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner's Handbook

How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode.

Gene: Hey, guys. That sounds so funny. Hi.

Elizabeth: Hey, guys.

Gene: You know it's funny, I follow on Snapchat ... I'm going to admit this to everybody, as a 52-year-old man I'm admitting this publicly, I do follow Kim Kardashian ...

Elizabeth: I knew you were going to say that.

Gene: ... And Khloe Kardashian on Snapchat. I know that sounds incredibly creepy, and I guess it is. My wife also follows them as well. I'm a huge fan of hers, and I'm fascinated by their lives. You just reminded me, what Kim Kardashian does on Snapchat, and Khloe does, that people send them products. She'll be like, "Hey guys, look at all this great new cosmetics I got from this company," or like, "Hey, everybody." That's the way she talks on Snapchat, it's very funny.

Elizabeth: This is a big topic. We should talk about this some other time, but there's a huge industry out there of influencers who influence their marketing. If you do have a product, and you want to do some research.

Gene: If you want Kendall Jenner, Kim's younger sister, to send a tweet, I read it's $150,000.

Elizabeth: That's crazy.

Gene: You're in the wrong job, that's all I can say. So am I. Isn't that amazing? That's what they charge, one tweet.

Elizabeth: There are a lot of influencers, mostly fashion bloggers on Snapchat, who if you send them ... I don't think you have to pay them for this. They will go through and open the boxes, and boxes, and boxes of products they get every day and just be like, "Oh, isn't that cute. I got another pair of shoes from J.Crew."

Gene: You have to pay them for that? Really? They'll do it for free?

Elizabeth: I don't know. I think they do that for free.

Gene: I would think they get paid for it.

Elizabeth: I guess I'm just really naïve.

Gene: Yeah, that's naïve. Why else would they do it, I'm sure they're going to get paid.

Elizabeth: I thought the Kardashians always said, "Hey, dolls."

Gene: No, I don't think so.

Elizabeth: "Hey, guys."

Gene: Kim hasn't called me in a long time. It's more like, "Hey guys, Hey everybody, look at this really cool ...

As a small business owner, should you turn your back on an employee who is stealing office supplies? How do you address it? Join hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks as they discuss this hot topic, and how to manage your own work hours as a business owner on this episode of the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

Links

Can Orange Glasses Help You Sleep?

Freakonomics: The Economy of Sleep

Download Our Free eBooks

Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner's Handbook

How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode.

Gene: Hey, guys. That sounds so funny. Hi.

Elizabeth: Hey, guys.

Gene: You know it's funny, I follow on Snapchat ... I'm going to admit this to everybody, as a 52-year-old man I'm admitting this publicly, I do follow Kim Kardashian ...

Elizabeth: I knew you were going to say that.

Gene: ... And Khloe Kardashian on Snapchat. I know that sounds incredibly creepy, and I guess it is. My wife also follows them as well. I'm a huge fan of hers, and I'm fascinated by their lives. You just reminded me, what Kim Kardashian does on Snapchat, and Khloe does, that people send them products. She'll be like, "Hey guys, look at all this great new cosmetics I got from this company," or like, "Hey, everybody." That's the way she talks on Snapchat, it's very funny.

Elizabeth: This is a big topic. We should talk about this some other time, but there's a huge industry out there of influencers who influence their marketing. If you do have a product, and you want to do some research.

Gene: If you want Kendall Jenner, Kim's younger sister, to send a tweet, I read it's $150,000.

Elizabeth: That's crazy.

Gene: You're in the wrong job, that's all I can say. So am I. Isn't that amazing? That's what they charge, one tweet.

Elizabeth: There are a lot of influencers, mostly fashion bloggers on Snapchat, who if you send them ... I don't think you have to pay them for this. They will go through and open the boxes, and boxes, and boxes of products they get every day and just be like, "Oh, isn't that cute. I got another pair of shoes from J.Crew."

Gene: You have to pay them for that? Really? They'll do it for free?

Elizabeth: I don't know. I think they do that for free.

Gene: I would think they get paid for it.

Elizabeth: I guess I'm just really naïve.

Gene: Yeah, that's naïve. Why else would they do it, I'm sure they're going to get paid.

Elizabeth: I thought the Kardashians always said, "Hey, dolls."

Gene: No, I don't think so.

Elizabeth: "Hey, guys."

Gene: Kim hasn't called me in a long time. It's more like, "Hey guys, Hey everybody, look at this really cool ...

As a small business owner, should you turn your back on an employee who is stealing office supplies? How do you address it? Join hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks as they discuss this hot topic, and how to manage your own work hours as a business owner on this episode of the Small Biz Ahead Podcast.

Links

* Can Orange Glasses Help You Sleep?

* Freakonomics: The Economy of Sleep

Download Our Free eBooks

* Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner’s Handbook

* How to Keep Customers Coming Back for More – Customer Retention Strategies

* How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

* 21 Days to Be a More Productive Small Business Owner

Transcript

Elizabeth: Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode.

Gene: Hey, guys. That sounds so funny. Hi.

Elizabeth: Hey, guys.

Gene: You know it’s funny, I follow on Snapchat … I’m going to admit this to everybody, as a 52-year-old man I’m admitting this publicly, I do follow Kim Kardashian …

Elizabeth: I knew you were going to say that.

Gene: … And Khloe Kardashian on Snapchat. I know that sounds incredibly creepy, and I guess it is. My wife also follows them as well. I’m a huge fan of hers, and I’m fascinated by their lives. You just reminded me, what Kim Kardashian does on Snapchat, and Khloe does, that people send them products. She’ll be like, “Hey guys, look at all this great new cosmetics I got from this company,” or like, “Hey, everybody.” That’s the way she talks on Snapchat, it’s very funny.

Elizabeth: This is a big topic. We should talk about this some other time, but there’s a huge industry out there of influencers who influence their marketing. If you do have a product, and you want to do some research.

Gene: If you want Kendall Jenner, Kim’s younger sister, to send a tweet, I read it’s $150,000.

Elizabeth: That’s crazy.

Gene: You’re in the wrong job, that’s all I can say. So am I. Isn’t that amazing? That’s what they charge, one tweet.

Elizabeth: There are a lot of influencers, mostly fashion bloggers on Snapchat, who if you send them … I don’t think you have to pay them for this. They will go through and open the boxes, and boxes, and boxes of products they get every day and just be like, “Oh, isn’t that cute. I got another pair of shoes from J.Crew.”

Gene: You have to pay them for that? Really? They’ll do it for free?

Elizabeth: I don’t know. I think they do that for free.

Gene: I would think they get paid for it.

Elizabeth: I guess I’m just really naïve.

Gene: Yeah, that’s naïve. Why else would they do it, I’m sure they’re going to get paid.

Elizabeth: I thought the Kardashians always said, “Hey, dolls.”

Gene: No, I don’t think so.

Elizabeth: “Hey, guys.”

Gene: Kim hasn’t called me in a long time. It’s more like, “Hey guys, Hey everybody,

As small business owners, we all go through phases of being disenchanted with the day-to-day work of running our businesses. Join hosts Elizabeth Larkin and Gene Marks as they discuss how to get yourself out of a rut and how to keep your employees form calling in sick repeatedly.

Interact With Us

Sign up for the weekly newsletter so you never miss an episode.

Do you have a question you’d like Elizabeth and Gene to answer? Submit your question to the Small Biz Ahead Podcast

Leave us a review on iTunes and we might read it on the show.

Download our new eBooks:

* How to Safeguard Your Small Business from Data Breaches

* The Ultimate Guide to Business Credit Cards: The Small Business Owner’s Handbook

Show Notes

* Always Out: What To Do When An Employee Keeps Calling In Sick

Transcript

Elizabeth: Welcome back to another edition of the Small Biz Ahead podcast. We’re happy to have you back this week. Gene, I have a question about an article that you wrote about recently … Actually, I think you tweeted about it. If you want to follow Gene on Twitter, it’s @genemarks, and if you want to follow us on Twitter, it’s @smallbizahead. It’s about how Amazon is changing their return policy for Amazon Marketplace.

Gene: Yeah, and a lot of Amazon merchants are not thrilled about that. What it used to be with … If you’re in Amazon merchant, when you would sell something and somebody wanted to return it and get a refund, you were actually given some time to evaluate whether or not that refund … Remember you’re an independent merchant, you’re just selling through Amazon. I forget how many days you are allowed to determine whether or not the refund or the return was reasonable and then make that refund. Amazon’s policy, if you buy directly from Amazon and you want to return it, they just take it back no questions asked. Obviously, the merchants themselves, they were given the ability to ask questions and potentially not give …

Anyway, Amazon changed their policy and said, “Listen, if you’re going to be an Amazon merchant, you’re going to abide by our return policy which means that if somebody wants to return something, no questions asked, you just take it back.”

Elizabeth: Great for the consumer.

Gene: Great for consumer, and this is what Amazon does, but if you’re a small business, and Amazon has, as we know, many, many, many merchants that sell through their site. A lot of them are a little bit up in arms about that because it exposes them.

Elizabeth: It really does deter me from buying from Amazon if it’s something that I’m not sure about. I will buy something I’m not sure about from, let’s say, Nordstrom or Target because they just take everything back, and –

Gene: Well, it’s not just that. It’s also there’s not really a trend in that when you’re in retail. Zappos,