I have a genuine belief in giving back to the community.

Social media is a great way to get customers. Time is money. If you do this right, it costs money. But social media is great because you put stuff out there and see if it works almost immediately. You can test to see if it will be effective for your company. It's easy if you hit a nerve and talk about something people are interested in. It's easy for them to share with their friends.

A lot of us start out nimble. You need to stay that way. You want to have that in your culture. Check to see why things are going wrong and fix them. Understand what's going on in your business so you know if there's a drop somewhere.

I have a genuine belief in giving back to the community.

When starting a new business, people get blinders on. They have an idea, they stick to the idea, but they don't test it or check with their potential audience to see if this is a good idea. It happens all the time. Talk to your customers, see what they like and what you can change or not change.

I talked with people starting up in the middle of the recession and employees, and supplies and office space were cheap. As far as companies that are already in existence, many became more creative with how they spent their money. A lot of them stopped wasting money that they didn't know they were wasting after they looked hard at their businesses. Some had to change business models because of the economy. Their market didn't exist or wasn't as big anymore.

Have a lot of conversations. Look at the implications of changing, but ultimately, you have to trust your gut. Test your conflicting advice as much as you can through research and conversations.