If I were to expound upon all the challenges and trials I’ve faced running a small business, you might ask what monumental changes I made to make things better. Looking back, what surprises me is how much of what has improved has been due to small and simple modifications in how I managed the business.

U.S. small businesses hired the most workers in nearly eight years in December, the latest sign of vigor in the labor market and the broader economy. The National Federation of Independent Business said on Wednesday small business owners added an average of 0.24 workers per firm last month, the largest since February 2006.

It's not breaking news that the relationship between marketers and consumers has shifted in favor of consumers. Today, consumers are better informed than ever, and a recent Nielsen study suggests that they prefer to gather information from their peers rather than from marketing materials. As a result, brands need to be less like marketing machines and more like 'friends', telling stories and sharing experiences.

Too many small business owners aren’t doing all they can to encourage online reviews and get customers to post them. As a result, they have few or no reviews and get passed over in favor of businesses with more feedback.

 How can you encourage customers to leave reviews? Here are a few suggestions.

With untold millions of cars, including mine, crusted with salt from the recent snow and ice in the North, South, East and West, it’s a good time to consider the humble carwash. Who knew? It turns out 2014 is the 100th anniversary of the "production line" car wash.

When the Garden Market Shopping Center was planned in 1958, there was a large tract of unused property behind the barber shop at the southwest corner of the property. Soon, village residents were patronizing the town’s first automatic car wash.

Since the second location of Palms Car Wash opened April 27, owners David Beseda and Russel Moore have been branding their business with a new mascot and sponsoring community events in Northwest Austin. Palms Car Wash also designed a new mascot named Soft Foam Jerome to build the brand and inform customers about the company’s soft-foam technology, which is gentler on vehicles.

Cars were lined up through the lot, spray was misting out of the cleaning bays and suds were swirling down every drain. It was a sunny Saturday following a week or more of snow and salted roads, and drivers in the Augusta County area were packing local car washes.