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Entrepreneur

SMB

+7

Twelve Weeks In: What The GAIN Report Has Been About (And What's Coming Next)

Aug 12, 2026

•

3 min read

Twelve Weeks In: What The GAIN Report Has Been About (And What's Coming Next)

Twelve weeks ago I sent this newsletter to a few hundred people and made one argument. I have been making the same argument ever since.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

SMB

+6

What Cities Should Do This Quarter to Cut Their Small-Business Failure Rate

Aug 3, 2026

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3 min read

What Cities Should Do This Quarter to Cut Their Small-Business Failure Rate

Most economic development offices count how many businesses opened. Almost none count how many are still open three years later. That one reporting habit is why so much public money goes into ventures that were never going to make it.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

SMB

+9

The Rental Property Owner's Blind Spot: Contents Nobody Documented

Jul 24, 2026

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2 min read

The Rental Property Owner's Blind Spot: Contents Nobody Documented

You documented the lease, the deposit, and the walk-through. You never documented the couch, the TV, or the appliances. That gap is where deposit disputes live.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

SMB

+7

The High Cost of Counting: Why Manual Inventory Is a Leadership Failure

Jul 20, 2026

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3 min read

The High Cost of Counting: Why Manual Inventory Is a Leadership Failure

Somewhere in your operation right now, a capable person is spending an afternoon counting things by hand. That afternoon costs you more than their salary.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

Probate Attorneys

+9

What Smart Families Do Before a Major Life Transition

Jul 17, 2026

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2 min read

What Smart Families Do Before a Major Life Transition

Every major life transition arrives with a box nobody wants to open: what is in the house, and who gets it.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

Probate Attorneys

+10

The 20X Multiple: How AI Agents Are Rewriting the Math of Property Protection

Jul 15, 2026

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2 min read

The 20X Multiple: How AI Agents Are Rewriting the Math of Property Protection

For most of my career, the way you got a big job done was simple. You added people.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

Entrepreneur

+5

The IT Shop Is the Easiest AI Play in Your Town Right Now

Jul 13, 2026

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3 min read

The IT Shop Is the Easiest AI Play in Your Town Right Now

Every small town has a guy who fixes the printers. He has a key to the chamber office, the clinic, and the law firm, and he shows up at eleven at night when the server dies. He is sitting on the best AI business in town, and most of the time he doesn't know it.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

Probate Attorneys

+7

The Coverage Conversation Your Agent Hasn't Had With You Yet

Jul 9, 2026

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1 min read

The Coverage Conversation Your Agent Hasn't Had With You Yet

Your homeowner's policy covers your belongings at roughly half your dwelling limit. Have you checked whether that is enough? Your agent may not have either.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

Entrepreneur

+5

The $3.5M Sewer Pipe — And What It Taught Me About Knowing What You Actually Own

Jun 30, 2026

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3 min read

The $3.5M Sewer Pipe — And What It Taught Me About Knowing What You Actually Own

A city I ran once came within one signature of spending three and a half million dollars to build something it already owned.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

SMB

+5

The Boomer Business Sale Nobody's Pricing Right

Jun 29, 2026

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3 min read

The Boomer Business Sale Nobody's Pricing Right

Roughly two and a half million boomer-owned businesses are heading for the exit this decade, and most of them are about to be priced on a number that's already wrong. The seller is reading the old margins. The buyer who reads the new ones gets the deal of the decade.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

SMB

+7

The Laundromat Was a Good 2020 Bet. It's a Bad 2026 Bet

Jun 22, 2026

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3 min read

The Laundromat Was a Good 2020 Bet. It's a Bad 2026 Bet

I put laundromats near the top of the 2020 file. I'd cross them off today, and I want to walk you through the math before anyone wires money into one.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

Entrepreneur

+6

The Tree Trimmer Who Should Be Charging More

Jun 15, 2026

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3 min read

The Tree Trimmer Who Should Be Charging More

The most profitable business opportunity in your town might be a man with a chainsaw and a spiral notebook. The notebook is the problem.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

SMB

+3

Why I'm Reopening a 2020 File

Jun 8, 2026

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2 min read

Why I'm Reopening a 2020 File

Six years ago, I built a list of small-town businesses I believed had a real shot. Then I shelved it. This week it came back off the shelf — and AI changed every line.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

SMB

+5

Before You List, Before You Sell: The Asset Inventory Smart Realtors Are Recommending

May 29, 2026

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2 min read

Before You List, Before You Sell: The Asset Inventory Smart Realtors Are Recommending

The contract is signed. The closing date is set. Then someone asks: what exactly comes with the house?

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

Entrepreneur

+4

Andreessen, a Steamboat, and the Cost of Being Early

May 24, 2026

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3 min read

Andreessen, a Steamboat, and the Cost of Being Early

When Marc Andreessen wanted to explain how big AI really is, he reached back to the steam engine. In my family, that is not a metaphor.

Erik Zimmer
Erik Zimmer

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