SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS: Here’s your wake up call. ??????????

One of the hardest conversations I have with small business owners is giving them the truth about what's happening to their industry while they sleep. And I say this out of pure love.

Yes, I get it. Your custom moped shop killed it in that college town in 2002. Your restaurant was the number one Google search result in 2007. Kudos. Your video store couldn't keep enough copies of Mission Impossible in stock in '99. High fives.

Your problem isn't that you have a bad product, or that people don't like you. You're a perfectly likable person I'm sure. Your problem is that you still think it's 2002.

I don't necessarily LOVE what Amazon and Netflix and and Alibaba are doing to the world. I love to read real books and listen to records & music on AM radio. I love knowing someone that lives in my community owns that hardware store down the street.

But I acknowledge that the new economy's impact is real and it's swallowing up Fortune 500 companies and mom and pop shops alike. Unless you're Amish, I don't see anyone crying about a tractor putting a team of horses out of work.

There's SO MUCH OPPORTUNITY out there for people willing to adapt. So you're either going to complain about it and go out of business or get to work. ??

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Phil K. James is the founder and Chief Milkshaker at Good Milkshake Digital, a digital agency that finds qualified leads for small business. He's the father to boys and chickens.