Small Business Gets a Boost from Technology

Recently I was invited by the folks at Brother to take part in a blogger conference called Who Says a Slow Economy Has to Slow Your Small Business Down? The top-notch bloggers were people I admire a lot; they have devoted their careers as well as their blogs to helping small businesses to look big. Technology has played a huge part in the effort to help the small guys compete with the big ones. On the customer-facing side, the Web and blogs make it easy to meet-and-greet (and sell to) customers all over the world. Those same tools have also given businesses access to the deep expertise of people like those who participated in our discussion about small business:

Steve Strauss, who writes the online column Ask an Expert with USA Today (Steve, who is also known by his online persona MrAllBiz, led the blogger discussion)

Bob Phibbs, aka the Retail Doctor, who made a convincing case that every small business--even the local gas station--would be well served with a decent and updated Web site

Gene Marks, who helps small businesses to locate and evaluate the right software

Yvonne DiVita, president of Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC, whose blog Lip-Sticking teaches how to effectively market to women online

Tom Collins, a former appellate lawyer (read: excellent writer), who manages the Knowledge Aforethought and BusinessBloggingBootCamp blogs.

Jay Heyman, creative director of Porte Advertising, Inc., and author of the blog All You Need Is A Good Idea!, offering marketing advice to businesses of all sizes

Carmina Perez, whose blog Mogulette-in-the-Making offers tips and tools for helping small businesses thrive

I argued that behind the scenes, technology has made it much easier for small businesses to look and act big. If you look at the Top All-in-One Printer selection, you'll notice that heavy-duty, hard-working machines that print, scan, fax, and copy are half the price now than just a few years back. Even color laser printers, once thought to be affordable only by the big guys, are now within the realm of even the smallest mom-and-pop shop.

How have you taken advantage of technology, behind the scenes or in front of your customers, to make your small business look big? We'd love to hear your stories. Post a response or use my contact page to send them along. Every story is helpful to other small businesses. I'm looking forward to hearing yours.

By the way, the video of the conference will be available on YouTube shortly. I'll post the link when it is. Trust me, you can learn a lot from these interesting, fun, and distinguished speakers.