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With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading small business management expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.

Articles from the Small Business Advisory series are provided to organizations for reprint or redistribution with these two stipulations:

The identification line appearing at the bottom of each article in dark blue must appear with each article in its entirety. The article must be reprinted without alteration.

You can utilize any article at any time as there are no references to specific events or dates in the articles.

Our current SBA article:
   
Upcoming SBA articles: Using Demographics
  The Master's Techniques
  Details Make the Difference
  What You're Doing Speaks So Loud
  Healthy, Wealthy & Wise
 
  Second Fiddle
  I Read Your Book
  Finding Reasons to Write to Your Customers
  Mark It Down, Move It Out!
  Why Ask Why?
  A Slice of the Pie
  Adapting to the Market
  Making Your First Impression
  Breakfast with a Purpose
  Here's Looking at You
  Giving the boss a job review
  Solution by Committee
  Hiring the right employee
  Making the pass
  Building a Team
  Finding profits through the back door
  The Opposite of NO
  Managing with your financial statement
  Party time
  Ma Bell Works Here
  How Much is Enough?
  Creating a Partnership
  Polishing the Crystal Ball
  Problem Solving with SARA
  A 9 Piece Customer Service Plan
  Frontrunner
  Making Your Direct Mail Work
  The Value of a Good Employee
  What's Wrong With This Picture
  Making the sale
  Developing a Profitable Relationship
  The Johnny Appleseed Theory
  The Legacy of the Family Business
  The Walls of Fame
  Are they ever coming back?
  Always ON
  Are you a "My"?
  With a smile on your face
  Leveling the playing field
  The Key Ingredient
  The Emblem of a Business
  Round up the usual suspects
  Some great reading material
  Tag Team Selling
  So, what is "it"?
  Silence is not golden
  Team talk
  Was Michelangelo trained?
  Cheaper is not better
  To Bee or Not to Bee
  Finding the Puck
  Who has the big hat?
  8 steps to solving customer complaints
  Bears and alligators
  What's in your wallet?
  Let's give them something to talk about
  The sky is not falling
  Rethinking a way to more profit
  Ring it up
 
  How fast are you moving?
  Who is your customer?
  Three important documents
  The one in the middle - balance sheet
  The one that means the most
  Tying up some extra business
  Not to decide is to decide
  Smart staffing pays dividends
  Selling as an art form
  A big mistake
  Properly state your profit
  Having Advisors
  Making a big business decision
  Belt tightening in a tight economy
  Utilizing the information from your point of sale
  Making your business plan with the expectation of change
  A change of focus
  The least expensive way to make a difference
  Time for a new way to price
  Five signs to take off
  Consulting with fellow dealers
  Are we having fun yet?
  Minefields and mindfields
  Creating a budget for your business
  Carve more market share
  Potato Chips
  They went that a-way
  What's your score?
  Planning for a successful accountant
  Beating the summer doldrums
  Finding the right management tool
  What you learn when you ask questions
  Jeff, Jerry and David
  Your New Year Resolution
  Is your business an investment?
  Niche departments, niche people
  Rethinking your target customer
  Are you using what you bought?
  Sharing management skills with your employees
  Show your financial statements to your employees
  Be a Hero
  Eliminating crisis management
  Doing it by the book
  Shaw said...
  The need to show pride in your employees
  How are you counting your music?
  What are you doing?
  Abbott and Costello teach business
  Mattresses, Wine and Inventory
  Why?
  Using data to design your business
  What Do You Sell?

 

 

 

 

 

 

PROFITS PLUS, FOUNDER OF...

 

©1998-2026 Profits Plus Solutions, Inc.
Tom Shay
PO Box 128
Dardanelle, AR 72834
(727)823-7205

MAY 2026
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Small Business

AdvisoriES


"It's all fun and games", is the title of the May Small Business Advisory. Too many employees think the business owner is simply renting their time. Showing up is sufficient.

 

This month's advisory shares a series of engaging activities that remind, and reward, employees that making the sale is what creates their pay check.

Small Business

NewS

Top Story

Meeting with the accountant in February before the tax return is due. I am not sure how this became a tradition. There is nothing you can do to change the numbers for 2025.

 

Why not meet in May, instead? One-third of the year would be completed, and a May meeting would allow for a discussion about what can and should be changed for the last eight months of 2026.

Article of the Month

The article of the month for May is titled, "No more tears". The discussion focuses on inventory which is a great investment in your business. But, only if you know how to manage the "open to buy" and will monitor the inventory turn rate.


Book of the Month

Mindset by Carol S. Dweck, PhD. As one who has found over the years that many of the problems in a small business occur because of the mindset of the owner of the business, this book is a must read.

All this plus the Internet Tool for Your Business and a staff incentive idea for your business.
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BOOK US

With over 25 years of frontline experience Tom Shay is America's leading Small Business Management Expert. He's a "Must Have" for your next event.

Small Business

Advisories

The April Small Business Advisory quotes research performed by a faculty member at Purdue. The question was asked of 20,000 people, "What do you want in an experience with a business?".

 

The advisory shares the top five answers, for which the majority require the skills that only a human can have. It is not artificual intelligence or software that deals with customer service management.

Small Business

News

 

Top Story

It has been many years since we received an email from Ron of Arrow Floor Covering. Yet we still read it time and again as there are words of wisdom in his message.

 

Would the next generation want to work in your small business?


Article of the Month

Owning a small business has a lot of similarities to owning a small business. Not so much because of the hours you spent with the business, but because of the commitment you are making to yourself, your employees and your customers.

 

The April Article of the Month is titled, "With this ring, I thee wed".


Book of the Month

Everything in the April edition of Small Business News has a tie to the connection of you and your employees to your business. The same is true with this month's book suggestion which is, "Hit Refresh" by Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft.

 

All this plus the Internet Tool for Your Business and a staff incentive idea for your business.