Photo CC by Joanbrebo

Guest post by Mike Humphrey, Japan

Skiing has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I don’t know why my parents decided skiing would be our family sport. They were not avid skiers, and we didn’t live in a ski town. Whatever the reason, I was on skis at 3, and my love for the sport began. We would spend every weekend in the winter on the hill.

When I was 15, I became a ski instructor. Skiing is my passion. I love being out on the hill, and I love the mountains.

As I grew older, skiing was still part of my life, but it became a hobby. I went to university and got a job. I started a family, and things were going well. I would ski weekends at our small local hill, but it was slowly being relegated to an afterthought.

That all changed seven years ago when I left my corporate job. It was time for a life choice: continue with my career or make a change. With some savings in our account and dreams of powder turns, I leapt. I left my job and moved our family to a ski town in Japan.

It has been seven years since we moved to the mountains, and it has been filled with joys, challenges, and, of course, skiing. In that time, we have operated two hotels and a restaurant and weathered the storm of Covid. It has been a hell of a ride, and not without its difficulties. Despite the challenges, I would never return to working a corporate job.

Read on to discover the challenges we faced while building a business and our dream life in a small mountain town.

Photo CC by Cookie M

The Challenges of Running a Small Business in a Ski Town

1 – Seasonal Customers

The highs and lows of running a business in a seasonal destination, whether a ski town or a beach destination, are extreme. During the winter, the city’s population triples in size. In the span of 4 months, we get 400,000 tourists visiting our small village of 5,000 people.

The influx of customers is terrific for business but not always for sanity. Imagine the demand for your products skyrocketing for four months and then crashing back to almost zero as soon as the snow starts to melt.

As a business, you need to develop systems and processes to adapt to the extreme shifts in market demand.

Choosing a Business Model

There are generally two models to choose from when you decide what business to run. You can cater to tourists, or you can cater to residents. The best businesses are the ones that can manage to do both.

Catering to Travelers

With this model, you fully embrace the higher-paying tourists. You charge higher prices and focus on optimizing your returns for tourists. During the low times, you minimize your expenses and either shut the business down or drop prices and try to scrape by attracting lower-paying guests.

This is how we operated when we ran our hotel. We were very strategic with our opening dates and only worked during the peak season. During the slow times, we shut down the hotel, went into maintenance mode, and did upgrades.

This worked well when there were lots of guests, but if you have a terrible snow season or a global pandemic, for that matter, you can run through your reserves quite quickly.

Catering to Local Customers

Your goal here is consistent revenue throughout the year. You have to choose your prices to match the local market. Your customer base is smaller during the low season, but during the high season, your revenue jumps drastically.

This is the model we use to run our restaurant. We live and work in the community year-round and provide good food options at reasonable prices regardless of the season.

By establishing relationships with residents and business owners within the community, you can develop a strong clientele that will sustain you throughout the year. Those relationships help you to flourish during the high season when residents recommend your services to travelers in town.

Catering to Locals and Tourists

Matching both markets is a tricky needle to thread, and I haven’t seen many businesses do this successfully. Essentially, you must provide a service that can increase prices during peak times without alienating local customers. The closest we came to this was with the hotel, which had peak and low-time pricing. But this isn’t catering to local businesses; it’s just modifying your pricing to match traveler demand.

Photo provided by Mike Humphrey

2 – Staffing

Ski towns have some unique staffing issues that can be challenging for small businesses to overcome. The small local population combined with the boom and bust market makes staffing one of the most difficult things to deal with.

Staff Training

In a ski town, the money-making window is short, and staff is transitory. We hired 5 – 7 staff during peak season to help run the hotel. They would arrive early to mid-December, 1 – 2 weeks ahead of our first guests.

We rarely had repeat staff, and they had to be fully trained before the Christmas rush. It was trial by fire. You have to get them up to speed in 2 weeks so they can provide the best customer service possible. When the guests do start to arrive, it’s crunch time. You are running at full capacity almost immediately.

It’s the perfect storm. You need to hire the right people and have outstanding training programs and processes in place so they can hit the road running as quickly as possible.

Finding Good Staff is a Challenge

While this may be true for any industry, working in a ski town is appealing because you can ski. There is always a balance between finding a good employee and their desire to hit the hill.

As soon as the ski season starts, it’s too late to hire someone new. You better find the right people at the beginning and make sure they are doing a good job. Having to fire underperforming staff mid-season is a considerable risk.

You have to weigh the negative impact of keeping the employee on versus the risk of being short-staffed.

I have been through both experiences, and it was better to let the person go instead of hanging on.

Here are some tips for finding good staff.

Ask For Recommendations

Ask previous and current employees if they know anyone who would be a good fit. Check with friends and family or other business owners in the area.

Watch Out For Red Flags

Trust is critical; skills can be taught, but trust and work ethic can’t. During the interview process, look for signs that there may be issues. Identify them immediately and be upfront. Don’t move on until you feel entirely comfortable.

Check references. Call them and have an honest conversation. Ask what issues they had with the employee.

Use Contracts To Your Benefit

An employee contract goes a long way to establishing a good relationship with an employee. Reviewing and signing a contract makes your relationship official and keeps your employees committed.

Photo CC by lamoix

Retaining Staff

The boom-bust nature of the ski industry means you can’t always keep staff all year long. The business can’t sustain employees during the low season. You always run a skeleton crew during the off-season and go into maintenance mode.

This means retaining good employees is hard. Expecting people to stick around and barely make enough money to live is unreasonable. Here are some ways to keep staff all year round.

Provide Extended Vacations

Give staff the chance to take time off during the shoulder seasons. They can take the opportunity to travel or go home to see family.

Reduce Staff Living Expenses

Consider alternative living arrangements or provide food through your business.

Collaborate with another business and offer a trade. Provide your services in exchange for cheaper accommodation for your staff.

It’s Hard Work

You have to make hay while the sun shines. For 4 – 5 months, you run flat out. Not only that, it’s playtime as well. You want to be out on the hill as much as you want to run your business. It’s easy to be understaffed and run your employees ragged. It’s a 4-month whirlwind of activity that can be hard to handle.

The critical takeaway is good hiring, training, and processes/systems. Watch for red flags when hiring staff; do not ignore your feelings about people. Don’t get me wrong, I have had some exceptional employees, but I’ve also had some horrible ones. Getting staffing right is crucial to making your small business work in a ski town.

One-on-one Training

When you’re in the thick of things, spending an hour or two with your employees teaching them may feel like a waste of time. But this is time well spent. An hour now could save you 10 – 20 times that time later in the season.

Learn From Other Businesses

We have friends who manage a hostel. They offered to take us through the building to show us how they managed their property. Here are some of the changes we made:

1. We added a self-check-in process for late arrivals
2. Better Signage
3. Better local information Kiosk

Hire an Expert

If you’re unsure how to get better, find someone who has done it before and offer to pay them for their time. Have them watch how you run your business. Then, get them to make recommendations on how to improve.

Lessons Learned

After the season, talk with your employees about how things went. What things did you do well, and what could be improved? What pain points did the employees experience? Your perspective and the perspective of your employees will be different, and it’s essential to record what you learned.

Document

Solid documentation can be a great way to leverage your knowledge and compound your efforts. Keep records of everything you do. I like to use a Google Folder to build up a library of procedures. Whenever I need to use it, I review it and try to improve it. Things to document:

1. Role Descriptions
2. Job Postings
3. Marketing Materials
4. Standard Operating Procedures
5. Annual Schedules
6. Maintenance requirements
7. Licensing renewals

This list will depend heavily on the type of business you run.

Implement

Last but not least, implement. If there is no action or change, then nothing will improve. I like to use project management software like Asana or Wrike to break everything down into manageable tasks. It will eventually get done as long as it’s written down and recorded.

3 – Cashflow Management

Cashflow is king, and managing your finances through a ski town’s boom and bust cycles is tough. Your business depends on tourists arriving at the start of the season to keep it running.

Building a reserve that sustains your business throughout the year is essential. But you also need to balance this against re-investing in your business. Cash sitting on the books doesn’t help your business grow and expand.

4 – Work-Life Balance

Running a business in a ski town is not all fun and games. You must be organized, stay on your toes, and manage your time well. It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the pace.

You can use the winter playground if you manage your business well and have the right staff. However, if you don’t, you will run yourself ragged, trying to keep everything afloat.

Final thoughts from a seasonal business

So, if you’re considering launching a business in a ski town, remember these points.

First, be prepared to put in a lot of hard work. It may not seem glamorous, but running a ski town business takes dedication and determination.

Second, be mindful of costs and stay on top of your finances. Knowing what you’re spending and where it’s going can help ensure you stay profitable.

Third, hire and train the right people to help you build a successful business. Finding and building a great team will make your life more enjoyable in the long run.

Finally, take advantage of where you live. Enjoy the mountains, the people, and all a ski town offers. It’s an incredible experience and one you won’t want to miss out on. I have seen too many business owners forget why they started their business and don’t get out and enjoy the lifestyle.

Photo CC by Radek Kucharski

Frequently asked questions: seasonal business

What are the peak seasons for running a business in a ski town?

The peak seasons are typically winter and summer when people come for skiing and summer outdoor activities.

Is it possible to maintain a steady income all year round in a ski town?

This largely depends on your business model. Some businesses are seasonal, while others offer services that are in demand year-round.

How do I attract local customers in addition to tourists?

Offering locals-specific discounts, involving your business in community events, and building a solid local reputation can all help attract local customers.

What challenges should I expect when running a business in a ski town?

Challenges may include:

• Dealing with the seasonal nature of business.
• Maintaining a steady workforce.
• Managing cash flow

How important is fostering relationships with other local businesses in a ski town?

Very important. Strong relationships with other businesses can help you stay informed about local trends, collaborate on joint initiatives, and create a support network.

Any advice on maintaining work-life balance while running a ski town business?

Schedule regular breaks, get involved in local activities, and ensure you take time for yourself and your family. Remember, enjoying your surroundings is part of the ski town experience!

About the author Mike Humphrey

Mike Humphrey is a writer and entrepreneur. He has operated several hotels and restaurants and founded mykhumphrey.com, where he writes articles about business, freelancing, remote work, and living abroad.

Photo (CC) by Richard Stephenson, on Flickr

Of all the reasons why small-business owners start businesses, two are noted most often. They are a desire to be in control and having more time for family.

Yet once in business, many owners indicate that neither goal has been achieved.

By its nature, control should allow for deciding how much you want to work. Yet realistically, the question of when and how much you work is more often customer driven along with the ability of the business to support hiring additional staff and managers. The bottom line for small-business owners is they struggle to find a balance between work and life.

When small, the owner has few resources to hire additional help to cover some of the required tasks. Days are seen as a treadmill consuming all available time. Opening the doors, ordering stock, working with customers, marketing to potential customers, making sales, handling customer service and looking forward can’t wait.

As such, small-business owners get frustrated with the lack of control and not being able to have a “life.” And home-based business owners feel it even more.

The owner does not need to feel this way, however. With prioritizing and planning, it is possible to run a successful business and to realize the personal goals such as control and family time.

Start with schedules, and then follow what you planned out. Adjustments will be needed, but a simple schedule makes you aware of your priorities and subtly forces you to work on the most important items first.

Another opportunity for small-business owner is to mix family and business. That may mean having family members help in the business, with the trade-off that you spend more time at home. Also understand that the business flow goes up and down, as do family demands. Understand the cycles and plan accordingly.

However, mixing family and business for home-based business owners can be troublesome. Being at home often sends the message to the family that you are available. You need to set boundaries. Even very young children can learn that a closed door means you are at work. Also, set times, such as the morning, when you focus on work.

Organization of your business and work space also lends itself to achieving the work/life balance you want. As with prioritizing, you want to spend your time on those tasks, whether work or family, that provide you with the most value.

For example, having the tools to do a job in one space and doing related tasks all at one time is helpful. Cluster meetings together, do office work at one time and even set aside certain times for handling the influx of communication you receive each day. And cut down on unnecessary communication. Be selective in what you read and handle. The old standard, “Only handle a piece of paper once,” remains true whether it is paper or an email. You can read informational items in those spare moments that come along.

Work/life balance is possible. It takes effort but many owners will tell you it can be done.

Photo (CC) by David Rickard, on Flicker

Does your business have a sustainable advantage?

Having one or more sustainable advantages gives you an edge in the marketplace.

Advantages can be developed in several ways. Perhaps the most commonly sought after advantage is price. However, a price advantage is rarely, if ever, sustainable. Another business will find a way to offer a lower price, even taking a loss sometimes on that one item. Our landscape is littered with businesses that relied on a price advantage.

Another means to gain the advantage is in the use of rare elements, talents or processes. The outside shell of your automobile is such an example. Companies gained an advantage in developing a special process for bending and molding sheet metal. Then aluminum came along followed by fiberglass and now we have plastics and carbon fiber. All of these initially required an expensive and somewhat unique process to form the body of a car. But over time, the process got cheaper and more companies decided to use it. And so the advantage was lost. Not only was the advantage lost but some companies got attached to the old way of doing things and got left behind.

Another advantage used by some companies is to hire the best personnel available. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t. A management style that works at one business might not fit with another business. Also, there are always new people coming along looking to challenge what works. Plus new technologies and tools leave the old ideas behind.

Two more recent advantages companies have adopted are free shipping and overnight shipping. Again, these gave a temporary bump to a company but a scan of the marketplace finds they no longer make your company unique.

I recently heard about two more advantages that companies are trying. While they offer some temporary advantage, I suspect that neither will be sustainable.

The first was when United Airlines gave a $10,000 voucher for a customer who was booked on an over-sold flight. It was a satisfactory means of customer service perhaps but did they just set an impossible standard to maintain. Who made the call and will everyone be treated equally? Stay tuned to this one.

The other one, by Ace Hardware, says if you buy supplies from them for a painting project and then need something else or more of something, they will deliver it for free. How often I have needed more paint or tape or whatever in the middle of a job. Sounds like a good idea. Time will tell if this gives them an advantage and if it is sustainable. I suspect that the speed in which they can respond will make or break the idea. If I am in the middle of painting, I will want things quickly. And then there is the issue of sustainability? This could be something other businesses could easily duplicate.

As you think about sustainable advantages, there is one more thing to consider. As mentioned, sustainable implies a time horizon. My comments have looked at it over a long period of time. Perhaps though you only need it for a month or a year. Then sustainable is much easier to get and maintain. It also implies you are planning for what will your next advantage. You may decide to break a big change into several small changes each of which give you a new advantage.

Having an advantage makes your business memorable. Maintaining the advantage brings long term success.

Photo (CC) by Innovative Impact Media, on Flickr

Help? I am swamped.

So get an ad in the paper and get some employees, right?

Sorry, this isn’t the time. When you are overwhelmed is not the time you want to hire someone for several reasons.

First and foremost, you will rush the process. Steps will be skipped such as reference checking.

Second, you will speed up the process and maybe not get your advertisement into all of the right places or allow the position to remain open long enough to let candidates discover the opening, check out the possibility and get their paperwork in.

Also, you won’t have time to get your network in action to find and encouragement applicants.

Fourth, you are more likely to take someone who “sort of” meets the job duties instead of finding the best person for the job.

Finally, you probably won’t know exactly what you want the new person to do. And when you do have the person on board, you won’t have time to adequately train and mentor him or her.

So when is the right time to hire and how should an owner go about the process?

Determining the right time is tricky. The scenario outlined above certainly indicates reasons why you should not wait too long.

But as cash flow problems is one of the most common issues for small businesses, hiring someone too early will just increase the likelihood of it happening. You want to hire someone when that person will make money for the business. This can occur through increased production or sales most likely.

Also, as you consider hiring, you want to have all of the tasks the new person will perform part of the same skill set. Hiring a person to do what are really parts of two separate positions requiring two separate sets of skills doesn’t work. First, you have the problem of finding people with such unique backgrounds. Then there is the problem of getting the right balance in the work. The job mix in often controlled by what the person prefers to do versus what actually needs doing.

The need to hire can fill you with dread, higher costs, need for additional time spent managing, cash flow issues, hiring the wrong person, etc.

Don’t let the fears and unknowns stop you. It’s a great time. Your company is growing. Understand the issues, include it in your planning, and make it happen.

Photo (CC) Chris Potter, on Flickr via stockmonkeys.com

As you probably know, if you are going into business, the odds your business will be around in five years are not good. But they aren’t as bad as you may think, either.

Approximately one-third of businesses close within two years. At the five-year mark, about one-half of all businesses have closed. We don’t approach the commonly cited numbers of 70 to 80 percent of businesses being closed until the 10-year mark.

Also remember that 15 to 20 percent of businesses that close are actually successful, they are breaking even or they are making money, but the owners closes the businesses for other reasons.

So your business chances may be better than you expected. But as an aspiring or startup business owner, what can you do to increase your odds of being one of those who remain in operation?

The first major task is to build a business that solves a problem. That seems simple, but lots of businesses are built because someone has something to sell.

And is your solution something that will last for some time, or will it have a quick burst of sales and then disappear?  This means both finding a niche that has some future potential as well as looking forward to what you need to do when the market changes.

Solving a problem is only the first step. People must be willing to pay for your solution. And what they pay must cover your costs and provide a profit.

Ask yourself if other people already are providing the solution. If so, is the market big enough to support another player, and how will you distinguish yourself from the competition? Plus, how easy will entering the field be for others? Answers to these questions will help you understand if you are selling something special or if it is simply a commodity.

As you can see, planning is a key to business continuity. You also need to have adequate cash reserves. When you hear that getting started will take twice as long and cost twice as much money as planned, don’t discount the warning. While these vary, the reminder that things won’t go as planned is very accurate.

Building a sustainable business requires sacrifice, planning, and the ability to pivot and change. Are you ready?

Photo (CC) by 401(K) 2012, on Flickr

You probably have heard the phrase, “follow the money.” The phrase became popular the book and movie, “All the President’s Men,” by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. These Washington Post reporters uncovered the details of the Watergate scandal, which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.

Today, this phrase remains valid for small-business owners who, when looking to succeed, need to “follow the money.”

Most business owners take this task seriously and record income and expenses so they can determine profitability. They look at what part of the operation generates the greatest revenue and, likewise, where they spend the most money. They often make changes, across quarters and years, to ensure growth remains steady and that no one area is bouncing up or down.

But to get the most out of following the money, digging deeper is necessary.

Starting on the income side, you need to look at where your business generates the most money and who are the clients buying your products and services.

Once you have identified who is buying, you need to search for why they buy. From these two pieces of information, you perhaps can sell more to your existing markets as well as find new customers through marketing additional benefits that may appeal to others.

This research also may give you the information you need to move into new markets. And it may identify where your clients are hearing your messages about your business and its products and services.

On the expense side, your task is to dig deeper into the categories to see where you may have leaks, or money that is dripping away. However, that task can be very time-consuming, so the savvy small-business owner must balance his or her time against the potential savings.

When evaluating your expenses, you need to consider new ways of doing things. Might you benefit from implementing technological changes? Balance such changes against maintaining customer and employee goodwill.

Finally, when looking at expenses, be sure to consider how a line item expense relates or correlates to the income side of the equation. An obvious example here is marketing. It may seem like an overhead item that can be trimmed. But what might be the ramifications of reducing your marketing efforts?

Perhaps spending more money on certain marketing tools will increase revenue substantially. The same might be said for salaries, the cost of your location, technology, etc. You don’t know what the best steps to take are unless you “follow the money.”

You can’t deny that “follow the money” is a great line for books and movies. Yet it also is very powerful when building a successful business.

Photo (CC) by Alan Turkus, on Flickr

People complain about your business. 

It’s true. It happens but most of the time you never hear about them. On average for every one complaint you do hear, there are 26 other complaints that people have.

That’s a substantial number.  And while many of the complaints are perhaps minor in nature, they are something that the person who has the issue is upset with, upset enough that they may be out telling other people.

While telling other people in our face-to-face conversations has always been around, today we have social media which makes it easy to complain to our “friends” and beyond.

Before social media, the estimate was that someone with a complaint will tell 10-20 other people. Today those numbers have substantially grown. Just think if those 26 unheard complaints. If each person tells 20 people, you now have over 500 people forming an opinion about your company. And the numbers can just keep growing and growing if the complaint is a good story.

And the complaint process can happen anywhere and at any time. I no longer have to come to your store, I can just go online and voice my discontent.

So what’s the message? 

You need an easy to use, very visible complaint process.

In addition to having a process, it must be available for people who come into your store or who want to do it online. You must make sure that people know of your process. And you must take the time to respond to complaints. Not only must you respond, but I would encourage you to make your complaint metrics available. How many complaints have you received? How long did it take to respond on average? How many of the complaints were successfully resolved or, at least, the customer felt you listened and tried to do the best you could.

The complaint process not only helps you maintain good relationships with your customers, but it provides you with an important information tool. For many small-business owners, it provides key data on where changes need to be made.

And just one final thought. As I noted in the title of this blog, don’t label it a complaint process. This sets up a mindset for people. Instead call it feedback or some other similar word.  You want your customers to be able to say thanks as well.

It’s human nature that people will complain. Accept this fact and use it to your advantage.

Photo (CC) by Josh MacDonald, on Flickr

If you want to increase the sales of your product, you must get it in front of more people.

While there are many ways to make that happen, a way used by many small businesses is an affiliate marketing program. It’s simple in the concept, one business agrees to carry another’s person’s products, usually on a commission basis.

So as a business owner, you can participate in affiliate marketing in two different ways. First, you can carry the products of another business. This might help you increase foot traffic in your store or bring in a complementary product that would enhance the sale of your own products,

To be effective in this scenario, you and your sales people must understand the product and be able to help the customer see how both products together does a better job of solving an issue than either product does by itself. And while obviously you would love to sell your own product, you need to be able to sell the affiliate’s product as well as your own.

The second way to use affiliate marketing is for you to place your product in another person’s store. If that is the route you choose, be ready to help the other owner understand how carrying your product alongside their own will only help sell both.

It’s important in either scenario that you have a clear understanding of the responsibilities of each party, the financial arrangements, and on issues such as service, product returns/refunds, and who pays for joint marketing efforts. These arrangements must be in writing and reviewed and/or modified at least annually.

Cautionary Note – One aspect of affiliate marketing to remember is that actions of a store handling your products will reflect on your own brand and identify.

Let me share an example. For my daughter’s recent birthday, we know she enjoys key lime pie. So since we were traveling, I searched for the best pies in the area. The store that came up was some distance away but their products were handled by local businesses. I called one, they had it, I drove over and found out that it was out-of-stock. So I called another store and reserved one for a later pickup. But when I arrived, nothing was found under my name. So as I later reviewed the company, the performance of the affiliates played huge in my comments. (Just so you know we did eventually get our pie and it was enjoyed by all.)

So when setting up an affiliate marketing program include some means to determine how your brand is being influenced by the affiliate firm. Sometimes you will get the comments directly but be sure to ask for access to comments that include your product that the other business receives.

Affiliate marketing at times has received some negative stories about it. Yet it has a place in a business strategy.

Affiliate marketing can bring success. But you must plan carefully when setting up the arrangements.

Photo (CC) by Stefan, on Flickr

If you have been reading my Wednesday contributions to Small Business Survival, you know to expect some tip for your business operation or some new idea seen elsewhere.

This week you will find something different. I need your thoughts. I have an opinion but am I realistic?

Here is the situation. Over the weekend, I stopped into a local café. It’s the type of place where you place your order before you grab a table.

As I was placing my order, I noted that they took “Android Pay” (not an endorsement – it’s just a popular payment option, one of several).  I had the app loaded on my smartphone but had never used it. Also it was quiet in the restaurant so I had the time to fumble around.

So my wife and I place our order. I then indicated I wanted to try the app. I brought it up on my phone assuming that something more would appear on the app that I would press and then be on my way.

Wrong!!. Nothing happened. I tried a couple more things but couldn’t find a menu or list of instructions. Of course, now I am feeling somewhat embarrassed. So I asked the clerk for help.

She responded, “I don’t know what to do.”

After fumbling around for a couple of minutes, I just dug out my plastic and paid.

So my question. Is it fair to expect people in a food business (or any other business) to be able to answer your tech questions? She had been helpful on our food questions that morning.

POST YOUR RESPONSE IN THE COMMENT BOX!! Perhaps you might respond differently as a small-business owner and as a customer. If so, indicate that. (This question is a great way to learn from each other. After you respond, share the question with your friends.)

So, what are my thoughts??

I am flip-flopping between she should be able to help or that’s beyond her job description as my smartphone is not part of their business. In terms of the latter, she deals with food. Tech may not be her thing. How far does customer service go? It’s a new world with new tech coming out all the time. Or (now my bias comes out), maybe a millennial could help but can I expect a boomer (of which I am one) to do so? But doing this represent a whole new category of employee training (and it would be constant training as fast as technology changes).

Yet on the flip side, not being able to help might cost them business. Plus what do customers think when you can’t help. How does it affect not only sales but your brand?

Is there a middle ground?  Just saying we can’t help you, doesn’t help your business. Would having the instructions on your website be an answer?

HELP!!!

For me, it’s a challenge. I am going back as I know have checked out the instructions. Here is a YouTube video showing someone using the app as well as instructions from Google.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyEWsB128Dc

How to pay – https://support.google.com/androidpay/answer/6224824?hl=en 

You don’t have to open the Android Pay app to make a purchase with your NFC phone. Just follow these steps:

1. Wake up and unlock your phone.
2. Hold the back of your phone against the contactless payment terminal.
3. If prompted, choose “Credit” regardless of your type of card.
4. For debit card transactions, you may have to enter a PIN. Use the PIN you set up with your bank.

Photo by Becky McCray

Whether you are starting a business or looking to grow your business, there is always a need for capital or financing.

With the advent of Internet, new opportunities for capital have developed. Plus all of the old methods are also still a possibility.

Typically, you, the owner, make the first investment into the business. It may be savings or income from your day job or from another family member. You may also look at borrowing from family and friends. Sometimes it may be sweat equity but it may also be the home you live in put up as collateral.

Another commonly used technique is bootstrapping, finding ways to get the job done cheaper or with bartering or doing without.

And don’t forget the goal of making money which can be another source of funds with which to build your business.

Pam Schallhorn, a colleague from the University of Illinois Extension, recently introduced me to a free ebook, “Startup Wisdom: 27 Strategies for Raising Business Capital.”

This book, done jointly by the Washington State Department of Commerce and Washington State University Extension, covers the methods I just listed plus other funding options such as angel investors, crowdfunding, and “Shark Tank.” It even mentions the use of lottery winnings (not likely to happen). Free money is not discussed (typically a myth) but it does discuss grants which are hard to find and are the closest thing to free. Realize thought that they often come with restrictions, may require matching funds, and take time to both write the application, wait for the review process and then wait even longer for the funds to arrive.

When looking for funding, you need to prepare yourself. A business plan is often needed and some want proof of feasibility. For any type of loan, you will need a clean credit record.

During the course of your business, you probably will use multiple means of financing. Different scenarios may make the various alternatives more or less acceptable.

A useful tip is to build a relationship with your banker. At some point in every business, a loan is often needed. And even if you never go that way, your banker can be a good adviser to your business.

It’s important not only to build the relationship but to work at maintaining it. Keep your banker in the loop with what is going on with your business.

Financing is part of building your business. Take the time to learn your options.