If your cousin’s kid took a class in high school about building web pages, is that <i>really</i> the guy you want to design one of the major elements of your marketing campaign? (Even though I’m sure he’s a very nice kid.)

If you are still resistant to the idea that you need a presence on the internet, welcome to real life. Not only do you need a web page. It needs to be a very good web page. When a potential customer visits your page, you have exactly five seconds to draw them in before they go elsewhere.

Do you ever walk into the office and feel like the Cheshire Cat has been running your business?

My brother owns his own business. He is a roofer and is very good at it — but he is not especially tech savvy. He’s a little old-fashioned. Quality work for a fair price … the kind of thing you hope for in a business owner. His best advertising is satisfied customers and word of mouth.

I was picking up Chinese takeout. Behind the counter a handwritten sign read, “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” While I was paying I asked the hostess if they ever actually did that. I mean, how can you run a business if you refuse clients, right? She said that sometimes, when someone is exceptionally rude, the management will ask them to leave. That surprised me. I would have thought that $50 from a rude person would deposit in the bank just as easily as $50 from a more polite patron. I guess that sometimes it’s just not worth the hassle.