June 2025 Summer is here. Kids are home. Are we losing our minds yet? Jk jk. But for real, for many of us, summer isn’t the time to do major heavy lifting with our businesses. So, this month I wanted to share 5 simple — but so freaking effective — PR strategies that you could easily implement. Let’s do it. Set up a testimonial input form — and ask clients/customers to fill it out Your customers and clients are absolutely one of your biggest assets when running a small business. And you should...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
May 2025 A note from Nisha: Ages ago, I asked my longtime front Nikia Phoenix to collab with me. And today we’re finally making it happen. Finally! Nikia and I have known each other from our high school days in Aiken, but we really solidified our friendship when we were both at USC (Go Gamecocks!). She is a champion of women and self-care, and I’m so excited for her to launch us into summer; cause I know y’all are limping to the end of school just like I am. Nisha & Nikia - Circa 2002 Hello...
3 months ago • 4 min read
April 2025 Yea. I said it. Perfection ≠ a good business owner. Trust me. I spent way too long chasing that before I finally said to hell with it and got to work on just doing the dang thing. Last year, my business wasn’t perfect. It was an absolute struggle, and I was stressing over everything all day every day, even losing my mind if I didn’t complete my task list. Needless to say, it wasn’t helping anything. Perfection is an ideal that doesn’t exist. We’ve made it up and we hold ourselves...
4 months ago • 2 min read
February 2025 Being a business owner is hard, let’s not make it harder than it should be. There are simple ways we can promote our businesses and ourselves. So let’s get into the 5 I want to talk about today. Set up a coffee meeting I said this last month, and I’m going to say it again — and again and again. Use 👏 your 👏 network 👏 to build growth within your business. Consider this a challenge to reach out to and set up one coffee meeting with a reporter or a fellow business owner or someone...
6 months ago • 3 min read
January 2025 2025 is here. Not sad to see 2024 end, to be honest. It was so hard in so many ways, and I spent entirely too many hours trying to figure out what’s next for NPatel Communications. Finally got my act together in Q4, and I’m already seeing the fruits of that labor (and I do mean labor!). No new clients — yet — but we’ll get there. But that’s enough about me. Let’s talk about how you can set yourself up for business success this year. ’Cause 2025 is going to be our year! It has to...
7 months ago • 2 min read
December 2024 Guys, 2024 has been a hard year. So hard. Professionally it’s been crazy hard for small businesses across the country (mine included), and, personally, it’s been hard juggling all the things that come with being a wife, mom and business owner. However, with challenges comes opportunity, right? That’s what I keep telling myself anyway. My goal with this newsletter is to build a strong community of small businesses who support each other. So, in full transparency, here are 4...
8 months ago • 3 min read
November 2024 The power of a good story lies in its ability to capture people’s imagination and take them to a new place. At least that’s what the experts say. And I agree. Even for small businesses – ESPECIALLY for small businesses. At its simplest, storytelling for your brand is really just about making an emotional connection with someone. Now, emotion doesn’t have to be tears (though that’s obviously a big one). An emotional connection with someone can include joy, peace, amusement,...
9 months ago • 3 min read
October 2024 It’s time to do business prep for 2025. I know. I know! Don’t panic, but it’s time. And I’ve got some steps for you to take below to help prepare you for next year. 2024 has been….wild….for small businesses, but I know we’ll come out stronger in 2025. Before we get started I want to say that I know this is go-time for a lot of product-based businesses, so if this is your busy season, just move this whole exercise into Q1. For more service-based business where this is your down...
10 months ago • 2 min read
September 2024 The last couple weeks I have been consistently getting up every morning at the….ummm…we’ll call it the butt crack of dawn…to get movement in. I walk my neighborhood, do weight training, and just move my body. I usually try to listen to a business podcast or some of the classics — I’m talking Ludacris, Juvenile, OutKast, NKOTB, Dave Matthews Band. But I digress. If you know me personally, you KNOW I do not like getting up early. Hate it. But I’ve got goals — and a wedding to go...
11 months ago • 3 min read