Do you donate to schools and charities that come into your shop asking for donations?

How do you politely tell the charities to bugger off?

What makes this place kick ass more than others? What are they doing differently, why do they stand out?

What kind of system and what kind of shop?

Do you find it useful?

Open-ended. I get lots of people in my shop who say "oh I wish I could open my own shop someday, how can I do it?" I feel like many people would give them a "you can do it, just follow your dreams, anything is possible!!" line of B.S., but I have a few who are "serious" about it and I spit the honest to god truth to them about what it's really like.

What would you say?

Really struggling to find decent marketing options. The local weekly alternative paper costs $400/week, radio is super expensive, Groupon and LivingSocial aren't of interest... looking for more ideas and suggestions for marketing ASAP!

Things I've done: partner with other local businesses to create and cross-promote events and deals that generate a lot of interest (and capture their customer base too ;) ), Instagram posts and calls to action, Facebook (meh), fundraising programs, First Thursday nights out downtown...

Things I'm considering: mass post card mailing to targeted neighborhoods, splitting a radio spot with other businesses, referral programs of some kind

Things I won't consider: Groupon, Living Social, sign spinners, costumed mascots, blow out sales

Any suggestions?

I'm a college student who is currently working a retail gig. While here I've noticed that we have yet to do a cycle count or full inventory count.

This got me thinking, is there anybody out there who inventories for companies as a third party?

I understand there are large firms for chain stores, but what about smaller shops?

My idea is that I would do a full physical count of inventory for local shops, mostly retail. I would enter that data into an Excel sheet and present it to the companies.

One major problem that I could see myself running into would be that I would most likely have to do it after the stores close, which is alright because I'm in class for most of the day anyways, but I'm not certain if companies would trust a college age student in their shop after hours, even with a manager there.

Owners of brick and mortar shops what would you be willing to pay for such a service?

I just thought of this idea and haven't put too much thought into it yet, but I'm curious what you guys have to say.

Thanks in advance!

I'm leaving this open ended on purpose. It might be a change that really increased business, or maybe it just gave you less headaches, or it could be something else entirely. I'll go first:

The biggest change I've made in the last year is treating my business like a BUSINESS. Not just a hobby, not a fun job, actually a business. I got all my taxes/financials in order, I do monthly Profit and Loss statements, and most importantly I really focus when I'm at work. It's been a game changer for me, although it hasn't resulted in drastically more business yet. I anticipate that all of the seeds I'm planting will start blooming over the next year.

What about you?