AT&T has a series of free seminars called Business Unusual: Big Ideas for Small Businesses. Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran shares more about these webinars.
Some of the issues small businesses are facing includes the supply chain issues. Barbara says supply chain issues are more important to small business than to any large business because they’ve been there before, they know what to do and they have buying clout, but for the small businesses that ordered early they are going to have a great Christmas season.
Barbara says there are a lot of other problems that are paramount to small business owners. The number one being attracting the right help to come in and get your business, not only off the ground, but to keep it on the ground. Employees have changed. She says they now have the control card. They don’t want to work for someone unless they really want to work for someone. Barbara says upping the ante on getting people to come in, offering the benefits that the employee wants to hear is everything today and separates the men from the boys and the boys from the girls and all the small businesses that I have anything to do with.
How does a small business pass on the burden of a higher labor cost to the consumer and how much do they absorb? Barbara says it’s surprising how much a consumer will absorb, especially if they know they are buying from a small business. She says there is a great empathy card out there right now and if you know you are buying from a small business and you think you are helping them on, people will accept the higher cost whether it is shipping or the actual goods because the attitudes have changed. She says people just want to see the little guy do well and they know they are going through a tough time and they want to be part of the solution so surprisingly most of the costs can be passed on.
You can find out more about the webinar series at 888barbara.com
