Simplifying Small Business

About Simplifying Small Business

I'm Karin Velez, a multi-passionate entrepreneur with 25+ years' experience in small business and founder of the Growth Table Small Business Collective. I help you manage the day-to-day tasks of running your operation, whether you’re a solopreneur doing it all on your own or have just a few employees or contractors. I take the tasks that weigh you down and simplify them, so you can spend more time working ON your business and doing the inspirational things that sparked that passion in the first place. Pull up a seat each Wednesday at the Growth Table and let's Simplify your Small Business.

Publisher

Karin Velez

Category

business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

19 Dec 2025

Latest episode

21 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

38 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   21 Oct 2026

   How Many Holiday Emails Should a Small Business Send? - Ep. 37

   Most small business owners worry about emailing their list too much during the holidays, and the research says most of us are barely emailing at all. In this episode, Karin Velez walks you through what goes into a holiday email sequence that drips out over the whole quarter, from the first warm up email in October to the thank you that closes out the year. You'll learn the four phases of a holiday email drip and what to send in each one, a week by week rhythm for how many emails to send as the season builds, and how many to send during the Black Friday through Giving Tuesday sales push. Then Karin shares the real numbers on unsubscribes, spam complaints, and what shoppers say they want, plus four simple ways to stay welcome in the inbox. Let's get into it. Join our community: https://GrowthTableSBC.com (https://GrowthTableSBC.com) References and Resources: 1. Validity, Holiday 2026 Consumer Survey (reported by MediaPost, September 30, 2026) Validity's survey of 1,000 consumers is the most current look at how shoppers feel about holiday email. https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/418411/holiday-glut-shoppers-are-overwhelmed-with-commer.html (https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/418411/holiday-glut-shoppers-are-overwhelmed-with-commer.html) 2. MailerLite, Email Marketing Benchmarks by Industry and Region for 2026 Drawn from 3.6 million campaigns, MailerLite's benchmark report provides the 0.22 percent median unsubscribe rate for 2025 and documents how Gmail's one click unsubscribe change raised the rate from 0.08 percent the year before. https://www.mailerlite.com/blog/email-marketing-benchmarks (https://www.mailerlite.com/blog/email-marketing-benchmarks) 3. SmartrMail, Email Frequency Statistics From Small and Medium Merchants SmartrMail's analysis of its own merchant base, mostly small and medium businesses, shows most merchants send one to four campaigns a month while the best open results come from four to eight a month. https://www.smartrmail.com/blog/?p=4526 (https://www.smartrmail.com/blog/?p=4526) 4. Practical Ecommerce, How to Determine Email Frequency for Maximum Revenue (Return Path study) This article summarizes Return Path's study of 600,000 inboxes, which found subscribers receiving three emails a week instead of two opened 43 percent more emails in aggregate with a similar lift in revenue. It also recommends tracking unsubscribe rate as frequency increases. https://www.practicalecommerce.com/How-to-Determine-Email-Frequency-for-Maximum-Revenue (https://www.practicalecommerce.com/How-to-Determine-Email-Frequency-for-Maximum-Revenue) 5. Attentive, Frequency. Data Backed Guidelines for BFCM Attentive's holiday sending guide recommends ramping email volume up gradually ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, noting that sudden spikes in email carry more consequences than other channels, and that varied content justifies higher frequency. https://www.attentive.com/guides/frequency-data-backed-guidelines-for-bfcm (https://www.attentive.com/guides/frequency-data-backed-guidelines-for-bfcm) 6. Klaviyo, Little Sleepies BFCM Case Study Klaviyo's case study documents how Little Sleepies sent email daily during its Black Friday sale, sent a second campaign on the first and last day only to engaged non-buyers, and grew BFCM email revenue 138.2 percent year over year. https://www.klaviyo.com/customers/case-studies/little-sleepies-bfcm (https://www.klaviyo.com/customers/case-studies/little-sleepies-bfcm) 7. Omnisend, Black Friday and Cyber Monday Email Results Omnisend's BFCM report on its merchants found that automated emails such as welcome series and abandoned cart flows made up about 3 percent of November sends but accounted for 30 percent of email orders. https://www.omnisend.com/blog/early-bfcm-sales/ (https://www.omnisend.com/blog/early-bfcm-sales/) 8. Sender, New Google and Yahoo Rules for Bulk Email Senders This overview explains the Gmail and Yahoo sender requirements in effect since February 2024, including keeping spam complaint rates below 0.3 percent with 0.1 percent as the healthy target. https://www.sender.net/blog/new-google-rules-for-bulk-email-senders/ (https://www.sender.net/blog/new-google-rules-for-bulk-email-senders/)

2. 

   7 Oct 2026

   How to Plan a Short Q4 - Ep. 36

   You probably have fewer working days left in 2026 than you think. When I counted mine, three months turned into thirty-eight days. In this episode, I walk you through a Real-Days Plan, a simple way to plan a short Q4 without overcommitting. You’ll learn how to count your real working days, pick the one number that matters most between now and the end of the year, choose two projects you can finish by December 18, and park everything else on a Not Until January list. Along the way, I share the research on why we underestimate our time and why writing down a plan helps our brains let go of unfinished goals. You’ll leave with a one-page plan that fits your real calendar and lets you rest over the holidays without the guilt. Pull up a seat and let’s get into it. Head to https://GrowthTableSBC.com and scroll to the bottom to get my newsletter! References and Resources: 1. Buehler, Griffin, and Ross (1994), Exploring the Planning Fallacy, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology This foundational study found that people consistently underestimate how long their own tasks will take, even when they remember similar tasks running late. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.3.366 2. Locke and Latham (2002), Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation, American Psychologist This summary of 35 years of goal-setting research shows that specific, challenging goals lead to better performance than vague goals. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705 3. C. Northcote Parkinson (1955), Parkinson’s Law, The Economist Parkinson’s original essay introduced the idea that work expands to fill the time available for it. https://www.economist.com/news/1955/11/19/parkinsons-law 4. Masicampo and Baumeister (2011), Consider It Done! Plan Making Can Eliminate the Cognitive Effects of Unfulfilled Goals, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology This series of experiments showed that unfinished goals create intrusive thoughts, and that making a specific plan for them reduces that mental pull. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024192 5. Dai, Milkman, and Riis (2014), The Fresh Start Effect, Management Science This research shows that people are more motivated to pursue goals after temporal landmarks like the start of a new year. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1901 6. Peter Gollwitzer (1999), Implementation Intentions, American Psychologist Gollwitzer’s work shows that deciding in advance how you will respond to a specific situation greatly increases follow-through. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.7.493

3. 

   23 Sept 2026

   First Impressions are Everything - Ep. 35

   The first thirty seconds a new customer spends with your business carries more weight than the months of marketing that got them to call, click or walk in. The time and money you spent on your website, your social posts, your reviews, your referrals, all of it builds up to this very first moment, and this one moment decides whether any of it pays off. In this episode: Understand why the first 30 seconds of a new customer's first contact decides whether they keep going Recognize the three rapid judgments every new customer makes without realizing it See why those judgments are emotional before they're rational Learn how to run a 10-minute First Impression Test on your own business this week Leave with real fixes for the breakdown points that cost you customers before they've even become customers Let's get into it. Join the newsletter at https://GrowthTableSBC.com

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Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

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