Quick! Where is the switch for the outdoor lights? With an older building, it can be hard to tell. Via Pixabay
Older downtown buildings in small towns are a good use for “smart home” technology. Small businesses struggling with vintage or outdated electrical systems can use smart outlets to control displays more easily.
I thought of this when I was in a local retail store at closing time. The owner and a clerk were talking about which switch controlled which holiday lights and how some of the lights don’t have a switch because they’re plugged into an outlet, but the outlet is high up on the wall and hard to get to. If they put smart switches into the the outlets then plugged the lights into those, they could control all the lights from their phone. No step ladder required.
What else could you control in your business using a smart switch or outlet? Could you set up automated lighting routines that come on and off without you having to remember? How else would you use smart home or smart building tools in your small business?
New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.
- Are marijuana shops good or bad for small towns? - April 22, 2021
- Downtown is your town’s core: How to make your case - February 22, 2021
- Zoom Towns: attracting and supporting remote workers in rural small towns - December 10, 2020
- In an economic crisis, spend your brainpower before your dollars - November 25, 2020
- Video: How to fill empty car dealership buildings for the holidays - November 6, 2020
- How has 2020 changed the challenges rural small towns face? Tell us here - October 20, 2020
- The Idea Friendly Method to surviving a business crisis - October 6, 2020
- Join me for the Rural Renewal Symposium online Oct 13 - September 26, 2020
- Cheap placemaking idea: instant murals - September 11, 2020
- Refilling the rural business pipeline - July 7, 2020
Great article especially for those of us in older small towns.