I'm trying to make sure I'm approaching the owner and not their employees. Many of these small businesses have shared inboxes, outside of trying to guess the owner's email (with some success), are there any searchers out there that have succeeded from other methods? How do you ensure you're not setting off alarms with employees on outreach? Am I overly concerned about this?
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I agree with Amory above, snail mail with hand written addresses do seem to get read more often, I would also suggest a direct phone call to the business and asking for the owner. I don't think you need to be too sensitive about rocking the boat at the target as most attractive targets get approached fairly regularly, and so employees aren't too likely to get upset about the mere fact of an approach. As long as you're not too blunt about why you're trying to get hold of the owner (i.e. you've come across the business and would like to understand it better for potential partnerships etc.)
Tim