5 Things Small Business Owners Need To Know This Week

Five Things To Know This?Week:

1) Overcoming Your Fear of the Unknown

2) The Fundamentals of Web3

3) Need New Content Ideas?

4) The State of Rural Entrepreneurship

5) Resource of the Week: What’s Hot for 2023—Free Webinar

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Happy October Small Business Edge Readers!

I often tell you how much we appreciate your feedback about this newsletter (and our other content) and how seriously we take it.

Let me share an example with you. Last week, I received an email from Barbara Weltman, a good friend and one of the country’s top business tax experts. Barbara paid me a nice compliment on our newsletter, and added, “There is no easy way to share your content online or give you credit for it.”

Wow, what were we thinking? I relayed the suggestion to our team, and one week later, each item has a series of share buttons underneath it!

Thank you, Barbara, for the suggestion and to everyone else who's written to us with comments and compliments. We read and appreciate every one of them.

Until next week, I hope you carpe diem the heck out of this week and have a lot of fun doing it.

Brian

Brian Moran,?CEO, Small Business?Edge | Brian Moran & Associates

[email protected]

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1. Overcoming Your Fear of the Unknown

The authors of this article from the?Harvard Business Review?say we “humans are wired to fear the unknown.” And that’s why uncertainty, whether personal or professional, can be “nerve-racking, exhausting, or even debilitating.”

But they argue that people don’t realize that “uncertainty and possibility are two sides of the same coin.” In uncertain times like those we’re currently experiencing, that’s good to know.

The authors offer four solutions for dealing with your fear and learning to navigate through the “gateway of the unknown.”

Read more?about “transforming your relationship with change. ”

2. The Fundamentals of Web3

Do you fully understand Web3? Yeah, me neither. But with so much buzz about new digital technologies like cryptocurrencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens), I thought I should learn more.

This new article from McKinsey does a great job explaining the fundamentals of Web3, what it is and what its use cases will be, its possibilities and limitations, and how disruptive it will be for businesses.

Learn more?about Web3 and how it will?impact your business .

3. Need New Content Ideas?

Since creating content is now such an essential part of most marketing efforts, small businesses often struggle to come up with new ideas for their content.

If you need help in this area, there’s a really useful post on the Constant Contact blog that offers great advice, from planning your content to getting ideas relevant to your business.

Read more?about how and where to get?content ideas for your website .

4. The State of Rural Entrepreneurship

According to SCORE’s new Megaphone of Main Street: The Small Business Rural/Urban Divide, while most (75%)?of America’s small businesses have returned to pre-pandemic or better sales levels, many rural small businesses are struggling—53% say they feel “somewhat or extremely negative about the economy and its impact on their businesses.”

SCORE’s survey of small businesses shows that when compared to non-rural businesses, rural entrepreneurs are:

• 30.2% more likely to cite inflation as one of their top three business concerns
• 32.4% more likely to cite supply chain disruptions
• 9.3% more likely to report higher costs of doing business
• 24.5% more likely to report higher vendor prices

Learn more?about the?challenges facing rural small business owners .

5. Resource of the Week: What's Hot for 2023-Free Webinar

My long-time friend and colleague Rieva Lesonsky loves to keep track of the trends that impact small businesses. Here’s your chance to learn the latest information and to find out the latest business ideas and trends as we head into 2023.

Rieva is giving a webinar on Thursday, October 6th,?for the Small Business Administration (SBA), and you can join—for free. She’ll be talking about the consumer behaviors that have changed in the last few years and how you can pivot your small business to address those demands, the hottest businesses for 2023, how the country’s changing demographics impact your small business, and a lot more.

You’ll?learn more?at the free event, which starts this Thursday at 10:30 am ET. You can?register here .