How to Hustle a Neighborhood Business for New Customers

There are lots of tips and tricks to make your small business grow and earn new customers. But what do you do if you're in a small town?
I was intrigued to view the following methods put in place by the small town where the company I work for recently moved to when they changed the location of our base of operations and set up shop in a new town, a small town.
I was surprised by the number of visitors we received in the following weeks after our open house. Lots of people came by dropping off resumes as expected, but what surprised us all was a load of gift baskets delivered. Each employee received a basket of goodies put together by the local businesses. The bank provided a branded mug. The local hardware store provided a blank key. A baby store provided a unique coupon. Etc.
We were new in town, and our neighboring businesses brought a warm welcome to us and intimately shared with us how they might share their services with us: future customers.
Perhaps it was the great work of a chamber of commerce. But several co-workers found some new places to conduct their business via a simple gift basket.
They hustled to get our business as we set up our new business. And new business is the life blood of any business.
The summary and bottom line is you need a great product or service and then you need a method for attracting new customers. There are endless ways to find new customers, however, not all methods are created equal. The most successful business that participated in the gift basket was a restaurant that served lunch nearby and provided a coupon for a free something. We were able to sample the quality, risk free, and ultimately returned many times more during the lunch hour. Some of us even returned in the evening with our families and friends to share the great food with them.
Once you find a proven strategy for finding customers, it's best to focus on that one method. However, it's important not to miss the one time unique events as well. In this case, I believe it was the power of the connections, the chamber of commerce, which could be a network of your own kind in other circles, that brought about the successful neighborhood welcome campaign.

Look around, how might you help a business, even one unrelated to yours, achieve success when you both work together? 

Zombie Apocalypse Disaster Kit with Links

There are many lists of useful items that would go well in your disaster kit. Things like, water, duct tape, and bandages, all belong in your (Hurricane, Flood, Earthquake, Tornado, or Zombie Apocalypse) Disaster kit. But what I really needed, was a complete list with links to the best products. This is my attempt at that list. (Disclaimer: Amazon links are affiliate links. Items are all in the top #100 of their category. Ideas for list items taken from the CDC and from FEMA.)

• Water—one gallon per person, per day (3­day supply for evacuation, 2­week supply for home)
• Single Bottles
• One-Gallon Container
• Purifier Tablets or bottle
• Food—non­perishable, easy­to­prepare items (3­day supply for evacuation, 2­week supply for home)

• 72 hour kit meals
•  Food bars
• Flashlight

• Battery ­powered or hand­crank radio (NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)
• Extra batteries
• First aid kit - (Stop the bleeding with a bit more variety, a bit more Complete)
• Medications (7­day supply) and medical items. (Stop the pain, reduce a fever.)
• Multi­purpose tool
• Sanitation and personal hygiene (feminine, too) items (bucket toilet seat)
• Copies of personal documents (medication list and pertinent medical information, proof of address, deed/lease to home, passports, birth certificates, insurance policies) (Keep them safe)
• Cell phone with chargers
• Family and emergency contact information
• Extra cash
• Emergency blanket 
• Map(s) of the area (printed and protected)

Consider the needs of all family members and add supplies to your kit. Suggested items to help meet additional needs are:

• Medical supplies (hearing aids with extra batteries, glasses, contact lenses and solution, syringes, cane)
• Baby supplies (bottles, formula, baby food, diapers)
• Games and activities for children
• Pet supplies (collar, leash, ID, food, carrier, bowl)
• Two­-way radios
• Extra set of car keys and house keys
• Manual can opener

Additional supplies to keep at home or in your kit based on the types of disasters common to your area:

• Whistle
• Compass

• N95 or surgical masks
• Nitrile exam gloves
• Matches (strike anywhere are better, no need for the box)
• Rain gear
• Towels (this little thing is super absorbent)
• Work gloves
• Rope
• Hatchet
• Tools/supplies for securing your home
• Extra clothing, hat and sturdy shoes
• Plastic sheeting and/or tarps
• Duct tape and electrical black tape
• Scissors
• Household liquid bleach
• Entertainment items
• Blankets (more comfy than mylar)
• Safety Glasses
• Sleeping bags
• Empty 5 gallon bucket and a Gamma lid to reseal it
• Garbage bags
• Shovel - folding

• Cargo straps
• Lighting
• Flashlight
• Two-Mantle propane lantern
• Food Preparation
• Standard gas grill (portable)
• Camp stove
• Dutch Oven
• Can opener
• Power 

• Car power inverter
• Generator

• Solar chargers (portable electronics and larger)
• Batteries
• Fuel Sources
• Gasoline (gas can/jug) (fuel life extender/stabilizer)
• Propane cylinders (large-gas grill size, and small-camp stove size)
• Charcoal
• Wood
• Oil (for your lamp)
• Matches
• Guides and Information
• Books 

• The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead

• U.S. Army Zombie Combat Skills
• Boy Scout Handbook
• The Scout's Outdoor Cookbook (Falcon Guide)
• Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe in a Crisis
• U.S. Air Force Survival Handbook
• Protection
• Pepper Spray (for bears, I actually carried some for a summer job)
• Ammunition 
• Crowbar - Gordon Freeman's very own from Half-Life

Where to put all your stuff? 

• Hydration backpack
• Bucket
• 
  

Other Useful Items

•  Israeli Gas Mask
• Movies and TV shows to help you learn what will and won't save you

• Resident Evil
•  28 Days Later
• The Walking Dead
• I am Legend

• Games to help you brush up on your Zombie survival skills
• Half-Life
• Left 4 Dead
• Plants vs. Zombies

Pre-Packaged Disaster Kits

 Could you do better by just purchasing a pre-made bug-out bag? Maybe. At least you'll know what's inside if you build one yourself. However, it simplifies the buying process, here are two ready-made options.

• Bag Style

• Bucket Style

Do you have a better product recommendation? Let us know in the comments. 

Avoid the ID10T Error

You may have heard it, or you may have been told that you were experiencing an ID10T error. And now that you see it written out, you immediately know that you do not want to experience this kind of user error. So, how do you prevent yourself from becoming just another ID10T error, or even several other well known user errors?

Look Twice.

It's surprising how often some of the most frustrating problems are caused by NPI. Not Plugged In!

This is especially true if you've recently ripped open your computer and are frantically troubleshooting what could be wrong during finals week. You're desperately trying different ideas, and suddenly...nothing happens. Wait! It was working, sort of, just a minute ago. What just happened?

Oh, yeah, plug it back in.

• the power cord

• the memory card
• the battery

Save yourself from receiving the ID10T label and check to see if your problem isn't just NPI.

(The Kindle version of the book is currently free on Amazon)

Deal: 8GB Class 10 Micro SDHC Memory Card with Adapter

I try not to spam you too often with deals that I think are mildly interesting or fairly good. :)

But, if you happened to be in the market for a new SD card for your camera - this one might fit the bill nicely.
I personally didn't jump on this deal because we just bought a new 32GB card for our new camera. Yeah, our old camera died. :(   So we had to upgrade. :)


Anyways, the Class rating on SD cards is important when you start saving video and taking lots of high res pictures. The higher the Class rating, the faster the read/write times to the card. New cameras suggest at least a Class 4 or 6. Obviously, the higher the Class rating, the more expensive the card.

Another caveat to this deal is that you'll want to check out your camera's maximum SD card size that it can handle. It won't do you any good to buy this 8GB card and find out that your camera only can handle a 4GB card. Essentially, you'll pop it in, and your camera will only see 4GB instead of the true 8GB. It can be a bit difficult to find the actual specs on max card size for your camera, so some searching may be involved.

The fact that the actual memory is just the microSD form factor size is not an issue. Even if your camera only accepts the standard SD form factor size, the adapter will not negatively affect performance because it is just a direct connection pass through adapter. I just smile at how a standard was adopted and technology zoomed on ahead.

This might be a good deal, if I needed more cards for my camera. I also thought it might work as an upgrade to my current jump drive, but then I'd need a USB adapter like this.
Suddenly, it's not such a great deal. Too bad it didn't come with that kind of adapter to begin with. Although, it's so tiny, it's hard to hold on to and not lose. A friend of mine already lost his.
And if I'm going to spend $12 on an adapter, I start to wonder why I didn't just go for a 17million and one card reader, but that wasn't the original intent, so yeah, back full circle. This might be a good deal if I wanted a smaller card...whatever.

Final thoughts: The deal isn't so hot for some because of the rebate. Additional research on Amazon and Newegg also shows only average reviews. But, regardless, I hope the above information will aid you in your quest the next time you upgrade.