Read
This week's idea.
One idea, why it works, what it costs, and how to try it by Friday.
Read the latestFor Canadian businesses with 10 people or fewer
One idea a week. Try it by Friday.
Small, cheap ideas that make a business better: an offer, a price move, a way to treat customers, a local play. Most cost nothing but an afternoon. Each one comes from something I've watched work.
Where do you want to start?
Find
Find an idea for your situation.
Slow month? New competitor down the road? Pick what's happening and get three ideas to try, cheapest first.
Open the finderAsk
Ask.
Tell me what's going on in your business. I answer by email, and the questions other owners share become articles.
Ask the questionWhy "brilliant"?
Most business advice is about the big move: the rebrand, the second location, the campaign with a budget.
The ideas here are smaller than that: a different way to answer the phone, a price on the menu that moves, a note that goes out the day after the job.
Brilliant in the old sense. Something brought into the light so you can see it clearly. Most of these cost nothing. All of them can be tried this week and dropped next week if they don't earn their place.
Six situations. Pick the one you're in.
Every idea on this site belongs to one of these. Start with the one that's costing you sleep.
Slow month.
The phone has gone quiet and the calendar has gaps. Ideas that fill next week without a discount you'll regret.
A new competitor.
Someone opened up down the road with a bigger sign. Ideas that make you the obvious choice anyway.
Raising prices.
Costs went up and your prices didn't. Ideas that move the number without losing the customers you like.
More referrals.
Your best customers would send people if you made it easy. Ideas that make asking feel natural.
Keeping customers.
First-time buyers who never came back. Ideas that turn one job into the next three.
Standing out.
You do good work and it doesn't show from the outside. Ideas that make the difference visible.
The latest ideas
All ideasThe first idea lands soon. Check back on a Tuesday, or get it in your inbox.
Get the weekly ideaOne idea every Tuesday, five minutes to read.
The idea, why it works, what it costs (usually nothing), how to try it by Friday, and how to tell whether it earned its place. That's the whole email.
Who's writing this
I'm Paul Hughes. I spent more than 40 years in IT and management consulting, in over 30 countries, and a lot of that time was spent inside businesses watching what made the good ones good.
In 2019 I settled in Kingsville, Ontario and started Doorways Into Your Business, working with businesses that have a handful of people. This site is where I write down the small things I've seen work, so you can try them without hiring anyone.
What's going on in your business?
Tell me the situation: the slow month, the competitor, the price you're afraid to raise. I answer every question by email, usually within two business days, and the ones that would help other owners become articles, with your details left out.