Recently, smaller franchisers have found success, reports the Wall Street Journal.

According to Inc.com, small business owners should ignore the pessimism surrounding small business because several trade associations are forecasting an increase in sales this holiday season.  

Investing in a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) application to store your customer data is a wise decision. While the expense and headache from moving from whatever system that you are currently using, whether that be spreadsheets or calendars, can show some growing pains, in the end you will find that your investment of time and money will pay off in a streamlines and secure method for tracking your customers and sales. Gone will be the days of "where did I leave that business card" and tedious tracking of sales to determine when you need to preemptively call on your customers.

You may be considering adding social media accounts to your advertising. Maybe you have been told that social media is a must these days or you wonder if you are missing out on a piece of the pie if you are not using social media account such as Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about your business. While there are up sides and down sides to using social media, you are wise to be checking into these avenues to improve your presence on the internet.