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.

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.

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

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.