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A Comprehensive Guide to Conducting Employee Reviews Lead effective employee reviews that foster growth, strengthen communication, and drive better performance across your team. By: Nicole Fallon , Contributor Regular feedback is crucial to keeping employees engaged in their work and aligned with your business’s goals. A key part of this feedback process is employee performance reviews,…

Running a Business Takes Courage. Here’s How to Build Yours. This quality doesn’t always come naturally, but it’s a skill that any small business owner can develop. By: Erica Sweeney , Contributor Owning and running a business is not for the fainthearted. It comes with stress, uncertainty, risk, and numerous ups and downs. Success often depends…

What Is Mindful Leadership and How Can It Help You Run a Better Business? By practicing mindful leadership, managers may find that their team’s productivity increases and their employees feel more confident in their work. By: Danielle Fallon-O’Leary , Contributor Mindfulness, the practice of being fully present and aware of your surroundings, has gained increasing mainstream popularity in recent years.…

Win at First Impressions You’ve heard the old saying “You never get a second chance at a first impression.” For businesses, that isn’t just a cliché, it’s reality. Customers size up a business long before they make a purchase and often before anyone on your team even says hello. Those first 10 seconds set expectations,…

What Is Customer Stickiness and How Can It Benefit Your Business? You may have heard brands described as “sticky,” but what does that really mean? Here’s what customer stickiness is and how it impacts retention. By: Julianna Lopez , Contributor Every business owner wants to ensure customers return to their store or website to retain…

How to Build a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Small Business Disasters can’t always be prevented, but a recovery plan can help your business bounce back faster. By: Jamie Johnson , Contributor It’s not always possible to avoid the business fallout of a disaster like a pandemic, earthquake, or cybersecurity breach. But with a clear plan in place, you can minimize…

Reflect, Journal, Achieve Journaling has so many benefits—reducing stress, improving self-awareness and  emotional intelligence, enhancing creativity, setting and achieving goals, etc. The Big Life Journal is packed with short, practical reflection exercises that will help you transform your mindset and achieve your goals. My “Two Cents”: I am more of a verbal person versus a written person,…

Look the Part: How Great Design Helps Small Businesses Show Up Bigger Why your content isn’t connecting—and how to fix it. What Small Businesses Can Do to Look (and Feel) More Legit And no—it doesn’t mean spending a fortune. Let’s be honest: Most small businesses don’t have huge budgets. But you do have something powerful—visibility. The question…

No progress for poor areas despite years of NC tier system designed to spark growth NC three-tier system for counties designed to boost job growth. But many communities face chronic unemployment and other problems persist. by Jane Winik Sartwell  October 27, 2025 Jimmie Furr, a volunteer with Anson Crisis Ministry, brings boxes of food to a client…

Beyond the Mixer: Maximizing Your Chamber Membership If your chamber membership is gathering dust because you don’t enjoy networking events, you’re missing out on significant value hiding in plain sight. While mixers and ribbon cuttings get the spotlight, your membership includes strategic resources that can solve real business problems, even for those of us who…