Small Business Simplified

How did customers find a small business in 1950, 2000, and today? And how do you keep up with the changes?In this episode, I walk you through more than a century of marketing, from the 1883 printer who gave us the Yellow Pages, to the first banner ad in 1994, the launch of Google AdWords, the rise and cleanup of SEO, the surprising history of email marketing, and the AI tools that now answer your customers' questions before they ever click. You'll hear the lesson each era left behind, why those lessons still hold up, and what answer engine optimization means in plain English. Then you'll get four simple AEO habits built for tiny teams.Pull up a seat and let's get into it.If you want help putting this into action, come join us in The Growth Table Small Business Collective. We're building these habits together with monthly focus week sprints, a growing library of practical resources, and peer support in a private community off social media. Head to https://GrowthTableSBC.com

Most small business owners worry about emailing their list too much during the holidays, and the research says most of us are barely emailing at all. In this episode, Karin Velez walks you through what goes into a holiday email sequence that drips out over the whole quarter, from the first warm up email in October to the thank you that closes out the year. You'll learn the four phases of a holiday email drip and what to send in each one, a week by week rhythm for how many emails to send as the season builds, and how many to send during the Black Friday through Giving Tuesday sales push. Then Karin shares the real numbers on unsubscribes, spam complaints, and what shoppers say they want, plus four simple ways to stay welcome in the inbox. Let's get into it.Join our community: https://GrowthTableSBC.comReferences and Resources:1. Validity, Holiday 2026 Consumer Survey (reported by MediaPost, September 30, 2026)Validity's survey of 1,000 consumers is the most current look at how shoppers feel about holiday email. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/418411/holiday-glut-shoppers-are-overwhelmed-with-commer.html2. MailerLite, Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry and Region for 2026Drawn from 3.6 million campaigns, MailerLite's benchmark report provides the 0.22 percent median unsubscribe rate for 2025 and documents how Gmail's one click unsubscribe change raised the rate from 0.08 percent the year before.https://www.mailerlite.com/blog/email-marketing-benchmarks3. SmartrMail, Email Frequency Statistics From Small and Medium MerchantsSmartrMail's analysis of its own merchant base, mostly small and medium businesses, shows most merchants send one to four campaigns a month while the best open results come from four to eight a month. https://www.smartrmail.com/blog/?p=45264. Practical Ecommerce, How to Determine Email Frequency for Maximum Revenue (Return Path study)This article summarizes Return Path's study of 600,000 inboxes, which found subscribers receiving three emails a week instead of two opened 43 percent more emails in aggregate with a similar lift in revenue. It also recommends tracking unsubscribe rate as frequency increases.https://www.practicalecommerce.com/How-to-Determine-Email-Frequency-for-Maximum-Revenue5. Attentive, Frequency. Data Backed Guidelines for BFCMAttentive's holiday sending guide recommends ramping email volume up gradually ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, noting that sudden spikes in email carry more consequences than other channels, and that varied content justifies higher frequency.https://www.attentive.com/guides/frequency-data-backed-guidelines-for-bfcm6. Klaviyo, Little Sleepies BFCM Case StudyKlaviyo's case study documents how Little Sleepies sent email daily during its Black Friday sale, sent a second campaign on the first and last day only to engaged non-buyers, and grew BFCM email revenue 138.2 percent year over year. https://www.klaviyo.com/customers/case-studies/little-sleepies-bfcm7. Omnisend, Black Friday and Cyber Monday Email ResultsOmnisend's BFCM report on its merchants found that automated emails such as welcome series and abandoned cart flows made up about 3 percent of November sends but accounted for 30 percent of email orders.https://www.omnisend.com/blog/early-bfcm-sales/8. Sender, New Google and Yahoo Rules for Bulk Email SendersThis overview explains the Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements in effect since February 2024, including keeping spam complaint rates below 0.3 percent with 0.1 percent as the healthy target.https://www.sender.net/blog/new-google-rules-for-bulk-email-senders/

You probably have fewer working days left in 2026 than you think. When I counted mine, three months turned into thirty-eight days. In this episode, I walk you through a Real-Days Plan, a simple way to plan a short Q4 without overcommitting. You’ll learn how to count your real working days, pick the one number that matters most between now and the end of the year, choose two projects you can finish by December 18, and park everything else on a Not Until January list. Along the way, I share the research on why we underestimate our time and why writing down a plan helps our brains let go of unfinished goals. You’ll leave with a one-page plan that fits your real calendar and lets you rest over the holidays without the guilt. Pull up a seat and let’s get into it.Head to https://GrowthTableSBC.com and scroll to the bottom to get my newsletter!References and Resources:1. Buehler, Griffin, and Ross (1994), Exploring the Planning Fallacy, Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyThis foundational study found that people consistently underestimate how long their own tasks will take, even when they remember similar tasks running late. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.3.3662. Locke and Latham (2002), Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation, American PsychologistThis summary of 35 years of goal-setting research shows that specific, challenging goals lead to better performance than vague goals. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.7053. C. Northcote Parkinson (1955), Parkinson’s Law, The EconomistParkinson’s original essay introduced the idea that work expands to fill the time available for it. https://www.economist.com/news/1955/11/19/parkinsons-law4. Masicampo and Baumeister (2011), Consider It Done! Plan Making Can Eliminate the Cognitive Effects of Unfulfilled Goals, Journal of Personality and Social PsychologyThis series of experiments showed that unfinished goals create intrusive thoughts, and that making a specific plan for them reduces that mental pull. https://doi.org/10.1037/a00241925. Dai, Milkman, and Riis (2014), The Fresh Start Effect, Management ScienceThis research shows that people are more motivated to pursue goals after temporal landmarks like the start of a new year. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.19016. Peter Gollwitzer (1999), Implementation Intentions, American PsychologistGollwitzer’s work shows that deciding in advance how you will respond to a specific situation greatly increases follow-through.https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493

The first thirty seconds a new customer spends with your business carries more weight than the months of marketing that got them to call, click or walk in. The time and money you spent on your website, your social posts, your reviews, your referrals, all of it builds up to this very first moment, and this one moment decides whether any of it pays off.In this episode:Understand why the first 30 seconds of a new customer's first contact decides whether they keep goingRecognize the three rapid judgments every new customer makes without realizing itSee why those judgments are emotional before they're rationalLearn how to run a 10-minute First Impression Test on your own business this weekLeave with real fixes for the breakdown points that cost you customers before they've even become customersLet's get into it.Join the newsletter at https://GrowthTableSBC.com

You don’t need a nonstop content machine to market your small business. In this episode, learn why naming your marketing goal and choosing your platform on purpose comes before any tactic, then walk through four low cost and free strategies, from QR codes on printed materials to answering questions in the communities your customers already visit. You don’t need to operate your own version of a content studio for your business. You need a clear goal, one or two platforms you can show up on consistently, whether that’s online or in person, and a handful of tactics that fit into the pockets of time you already have.Let's get into it!Need more? Head to https://GrowthTableSBC.com for all the ways to reach me and to sign up for my twice-monthly newsletter, From the Table.