Marhardt Consulting · Field Notes
The Journey
Lessons, field notes, and updates from the work — small business technology, automation, and building for Main Street.
Series
September 5, 2026
The 10 Tasks Your Small Business Should Automate First
Ten tasks worth automating before anything else, ranked by payoff. Each comes with a simple trigger: if you do it by hand more than three times a week, it qualifies.
September 5, 2026
The Clarkston Small Business Guide to Winning Local Search
A 90-day plan for winning local search in Clarkston and Oakland County: complete your Google Business Profile, build a review habit, fix the website fundamentals, and earn local links.
September 5, 2026
Local SEO Basics: How Small Businesses Win Their Own Backyard
Local search runs on proximity, relevance, and prominence. What each one means in plain English, the five moves worth making on a small budget, and the SEO services you should never pay for.
September 4, 2026
What Website Maintenance Actually Covers (and What It Should Cost)
Website maintenance is either real work or a hosting markup with a nicer name. Here is what it should include, what the market charges, and the questions that expose the difference.
September 4, 2026
Email Follow-Up Automation: The Channel Small Businesses Leave on the Table
Follow-up, not newsletters. Five short email automations that recover stalled quotes, earn reviews, and bring quiet customers back, each written once and running forever.
September 4, 2026
What Is a CRM, and Does a 5-Person Business Actually Need One?
A CRM is a shared memory of every customer and conversation. Here is the honest answer on when a small business needs one, when a notebook still works, and what the ROI numbers really say.
September 4, 2026
How to Get More Google Reviews (Without Begging or Buying Them)
92% of consumers read reviews before trying a local business. How to earn more Google reviews with a direct link, a well-timed ask, automated requests, and smart replies, without ever begging or buying.
September 3, 2026
7 Signs It's Time to Redesign Your Website
A website fails slowly, then suddenly. Seven signs yours has slid too far, each with a two-minute test, plus an honest answer on redesign versus refresh.
September 3, 2026
Google Business Profile Setup for Oakland County Businesses
The map box at the top of local search results decides who gets the call. A step by step guide to claiming, verifying, and filling out your Google Business Profile the right way, plus the mistakes that get profiles suspended.
September 3, 2026
Getting Paid Faster: Invoicing Habits That Fix Small Business Cash Flow
Most small businesses are waiting on money they have already earned. Five invoicing habits, from same day billing to polite automated reminders, that shorten the gap between finishing the work and getting paid.
September 3, 2026
Phone Tag Is Costing You Customers: The Case for Online Booking
Around 40% of online appointments get booked outside business hours, while most calls to small businesses go unanswered. Why online booking wins customers you never hear about, and how to add it without losing control of your calendar.
September 1, 2026
The Real Cost of Missed Calls for Small Businesses (and the Fix)
Most calls to small businesses go unanswered, and most callers never try again. The conservative math on what that costs you, and the three fixes that catch the work you never knew you missed.
September 1, 2026
Slow Website, Lost Customers: Why Page Speed Matters for Small Sites
Your customer is on a phone, on cell signal, in a parking lot. Every extra second your site takes to load sends some of them to a competitor. What makes small business sites slow and how to check yours in two minutes.
September 1, 2026
What Is a Fractional CTO? (And When a Small Business Needs One)
Senior technology judgment, a few hours a month, no executive salary. What a fractional CTO actually does, the signs a small business needs one, and the red flags to avoid.
August 31, 2026
Your Website Is Your First Impression (Customers Judge in Seconds)
Before anyone calls you, they looked you up. What customers decide in the first few seconds on your website, and the small fixes that make you look as good online as you do in person.
August 31, 2026
Contractor Websites: What Homeowners Check Before They Call
A homeowner with a $15,000 project does homework before calling anyone. The checklist they run on your website, the red flags that quietly cross you off, and the trust builders that get you the call.
August 30, 2026
What Should a Local Business Website Include? A No-Fluff Checklist
The eight things every local business website needs, from the five-second answer to page speed, with the most common mistake to avoid at each step.
August 28, 2026
AI for Small Businesses in 2026: What's Useful and What's Hype
Every tool you own suddenly has an AI badge on it. Here is what AI actually does well for a small business in 2026, what is still hype, and a simple rule for telling the difference.
August 28, 2026
DIY Website Builder vs. Hiring a Pro: The Honest Math
Building your own website is genuinely the right call for some businesses. For the rest, the hidden cost is your hours. The honest math on DIY builders, professional builds, and a third option that spreads the cost out.
August 28, 2026
The 5-Minute Rule: Why Lead Response Time Makes or Breaks Local Businesses
Answer a quote request in five minutes and you are far more likely to win it. What the MIT and Harvard research says about speed to lead, and practical fixes for owners who are busy doing the work.
August 26, 2026
Do You Really Need a Website If Your Business Is on Facebook?
Facebook is free and it works, but your reach is capped, your customer information is scattered across chat threads, and none of it connects to the tools that run the job. Where a page falls short, where it genuinely wins, and why the answer is both.
August 25, 2026
Machine Shop Websites: What Buyers and Procurement Actually Look For
Before an RFQ ever reaches your inbox, an engineer or buyer qualified you from your website. What they scan for, what disqualifies a shop, and why word of mouth alone loses the next generation of buyers.
August 24, 2026
How to Choose Software for Your Small Business Without Getting Burned
Most business software fails in the gap between the demo and daily use. Seven steps that keep you from buying a tool your team abandons three weeks in.
August 22, 2026
How Much Does a Small Business Website Cost in Michigan?
The straight answer on website pricing for Michigan small businesses: real 2026 ranges, what moves the price, the ongoing costs nobody quotes, and when DIY actually makes sense.
August 18, 2026
What Is SEO? A Plain-English Guide for Small Business Owners
SEO gets sold to small business owners as magic. It is not. Here is what it actually is, the handful of levers that move it, and how ranking locally turns into real revenue.
August 17, 2026
You've Outgrown Your Spreadsheets: 7 Signs Your Shop Needs Real Systems
Spreadsheets run more small shops than any software ever built. Here are the seven signs yours have quietly become the bottleneck, and what real systems actually look like at small-shop scale.