​Making ends meet is top of mind for a lot of business owners and employees these days. Even if your business is open, reduced revenue may make it necessary to furlough employees. Rather than close altogether, many small business owners have decided to move to a one-person staff until things pick up again. This can be incredibly stressful on the person “left behind.”
 
Whether it’s a boss or a lone employee, the following tips will help decrease the stress behind being the only person representing the business.

​Have you ever noticed that there are influencers on social media who mention an item and no sooner than they do it sells out? The cynical side of me believes there are certain people out there who could talk about how chic dust bunnies are and suddenly there'd be a host of people growing their own dust bunnies like they were chia pets.
 
But it takes a special personality, doesn't it?

Why did you open the doors to your business? Today's business owners often say it's because they want to make a difference, fill a need, solve a problem, or support their community. There's little doubt that business ownership isn't just about making money; it's about making a difference. What role will your business play in supporting, molding, and developing our community? That's left up to your goals.

Our Members Make a Difference Daily

Our members make a difference in many ways. There are countless ways and opportunities to support our community, give back, or open doors for those living here. We've seen members take on incredible challenges or offer simply support.

Creating Important Jobs

Your business is already doing so. For example, you're creating jobs for the community, which ensures that people can find a way to support their families and to work towards reaching their financial goals. Sometimes, the jobs our members offer can provide new opportunities not otherwise present in the community.

Empowering Employees

Our members also empower their employees. Imagine the opportunities to learn, grow, and expand. Some help to support the educational goals of their employees by supporting flexible scheduling, tuition reimbursement, or continuing education access. This can change the future path of an individual, allowing that individual to achieve his or her goals. Many times, they come back to the community to use those new skills to better it as well. It's comprehensively worth the investment from all sides.

Contributing to the Positive Culture of the Community

Our members also contribute to the positive culture of the community in many ways. As an independent local association, we help facilitate opportunities to do this by communicating needs. However, many of our members find ways to contribute on their own. They may help to support a sports team by contributing financially or purchasing uniforms. They may help to sponsor an event taking place to raise money for a charity. Though some do so through well-recognized events, festivals, and programs, others do so behind the scenes. They contribute because they believe in supporting the efforts of the organization, residents, employees, or just the community as a whole.

Are You Building a Legacy?

Some entrepreneurs build their businesses themselves as their legacy. They work hard to grow and scale. Others view their greatest impact as what they leave behind within the community. It is the steps they take to make the community better than they found it. Do you hope to leave an imprint? Do you plan to achieve incredible goals?

Many of our members look to find the good and praise it. They volunteer, give away their time, providing discounts on products or services, or simply give their knowledge. They work to support charities, children's activities, and seniors. They listen, learn, and act to help others in our community to achieve their goals or meet their needs.

As the Chamber of Commerce, we're proud of the business's efforts to take these steps. We encourage every member to take another look inside to find out they can build a legacy.

​If you have a website for your business, you may have an untapped treasure chest at your disposal. Even if you don't make large amounts of money on your website, you can be bringing in something. This article will show you how. 

​If your business is shut down or you're just looking for new streams of revenue, a popular idea is course creation. This could be a course that showcases your knowledge on a subject, a course that is designed to complement whatever it is you sell, or a way to make money that does not involve an exchange of time for money. If you are someone who sells an hourly service, there are only so many hours of the day that you can bill for virus or not. But if you create a course you can bring in money even when you're not actively performing the service in which you get paid for.
 
Technology being what it is, courses are easier than ever to create but expectations are higher as well. So, it's important you do a few things as part of your course creation prep. This article is laid out to help you ask the right questions before you begin preparing your course.