Archive for October 2004
Small Business Survival Index 2004 Ranks the States
Today, the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council released its rankings of the states according to their respective public policy climates for small business and entrepreneurship in the Small Business Survival Index 2004. According to the press release, the Small Business Survival Index for 2004 has been revised and expanded, including the addition of S-Corporation tax [...]
Signal vs. Noise: “Just heard about this: 25% of all consumer dollars spent online are spent at eBay properties (eBay, PayPal, Half, etc). Yowzers.”
Why the Draft Is Bad For Business
David Henderson: Many of you who have made or are now making your fortunes would not have done so if the draft had been in the way. Consider Bill Gates, who in 1975 dropped out of Harvard to start Microsoft: during the draft years, young men like him who left college risked being certified as [...]
Kirsten Osolind: Appears lack of sleep is indicative of most entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur Magazine notes that Inventor Thomas Edison reportedly slept just three to four hours a night (though he took daytime naps); Martha Stewart gets by on four or five hours; and Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of online career center Monster.com, sleeps anywhere from [...]
Mom and Pop Businesses Face Extra Challenges
Startup Journal: family-owned businesses must deal with specific — and potentially messy — issues. On one hand, they often benefit from loyalty and stability. Everyone has a vital stake in the business. On the other hand, dissension over money or child rearing might spill over into, say, a meeting to discuss marketing with a colleague. [...]
Great Speakers Get Butterflies, Too
Michael Cage: “Great public speakers and people scared to death of talking to a group experience the same physiological responses when going before a group … nervousness, build-up of energy, butterflies in the stomach. The great speakers take those signs as proof they are about to deliver a great speech, while others take them as [...]
Good morning! I’m back and rested from a quick, last minute, trip to central Nevada. If you sent me any email, or are expecting one from me, I’m just a bit behind — but I should be caught up soon!
→ snobiz.com Developed by Crystal Fresh, Inc., the shave ice industry leader, Sno Biz dry-mix products stir into syrups that taste as vibrant as Hawaii and as refreshing as mountain snow. Unlike Sno-Cones or other chunky flavored ice, SnoBiz shaved ice treats taste good all the way—smooth and flaky. Deliciously different. That’s why Sno Biz [...]
This week’s Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Business Pundit.
→ mcdonalds.com McDonald’s is the world’s leading food service retailer with more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries serving 47 million customers each day. McDonald’s has always been a franchising Company and has relied on its franchisees to play a major role in its success. McDonald’s remains committed to franchising as a predominant way of [...]
→ supercoups.com SuperCoups® is a premier co-op direct mail company that offers cost-effective integrated advertising solutions to America’s small businesses. Since 1982, SuperCoups® has delivered local coupons with super savings to consumers while helping small business owners grow their businesses and maximize their advertising budgets. Super Coups offers direct mail coupons and internet coupons. The [...]
→ tuffy.com Tuffy Auto Service Centers specialize and excel in services including exhaust, brakes, suspension, alignment, lube/oil/filter, and air conditioning. Since 1970, Tuffy has been committed to treating their customers and employees with honesty, respect, and professionalism, providing quality parts and service at an exceptional value and recognizing that satisfied customers are the foundation of [...]
Taking a Job vs. Starting A Business – Part 2
Travis McMenimon asked a small groups of businesss bloggers whether or not they recommended getting a job after school, or diving straight into entrepreneurship. I already posted my answer, but you can read the other responses on his weblog: Odyssey of the Mind.
Om Malik: “At Business 2.0 we are trying out a new technology, and as part of the effort we are basically putting the whole magazine online. You can read, it flip through it and if possible crash-test this little effort of ours. Here is the link to get the magazine.”
How Long Should You Hang Onto Your Home-Based Business Dream?
Vishal P. Rao: It has been said, “that most entrepreneurs fail three to five times” before they actually start a business that succeeds. Although it is imperative that entrepreneurs be persistent, not being able to accept failure, when it is obvious that failure has occurred, can be extremely detrimental. So, how does an entrepreneur “know” [...]
Taking a Job vs. Starting A Business
Travis McMenimon wrote: Should young entrepreneurs go out and get a real job after graduation, gain industry experience, then quit and start a company? Vs. Should young entrepreneurs just go out and start a company which they have the passion for and make mistakes while they are still young and have relatively “nothing to lose”. [...]
Amazon: “Many a small-business owner has at some point entertained the idea of either acquiring a franchise or franchising his own business. This unique, indispensable guide tells him how he can choose either path to running his own show, and save time and money in the process. Franchise Bible helps the reader first determine whether [...]
Amazon: “Entrepreneur Magazine’s Ultimate Book of Franchises includes everything you need to know about buying a franchise. Culled from Entrepreneur magazine’s more than 20 years of research and reporting on the world of franchises, this book is packed with practical, how-to advice to guide you through every step on the road to franchise ownership.”
Entrepreneur: “Even if they build a working model that does the job, many inventors find out too late that the product costs so much to make, it can’t be sold for a profit.”
Patent Tips for a Small Business
Dennis Crouch, Patent Attorney: 1. If someone at your company has an idea that may be patentable, act quickly. You can lose rights by disclosing the idea publicly or by offering it for sale before filing for a patent application. This type of disclosure can even occur before you make any engineering drawings or working [...]
I’m not sure if he believes it or not, but in a great post on creating thirty second radio spots, Paul Williams captures what I believe is the most important insight into radio and television advertising today: Seems Clear Channel believe[s] bad ads are causing radio listeners to change channels. With a thousand channels to [...]
BusinessWeek: You must be willing to take calculated risks. You must move toward the edge and almost step over it. You must truly utilize out-of-the-box thinking and rat-like cunning. You must be ready to lead by example and empower your teammates to make decisions and handle crisis situations. You must have a management style that [...]
Here are three new bloggers I’ve been meaning to promote*: Jim Bursch has started a new blog detailing his trials and tribulations of taking an idea and trying to turn it into a viable business: The idea is called Quinset: A platform for hosting online talent contests. Accounting for Non-Accountants’ Blog is a new weblog [...]
Finding U.S. Government Grants and Contracts
Deborah Kluge: It’s a lot easier these days to search for and identify federal government grant and contracting opportunities. There are web sites and services that can help you do this: Grants.gov. You can go to this site and search for government grants by keyword, or you can browse them by category or agency. If [...]
Creator of Blogger is a Serial Entrepreneur
Evan Willians, co-founder of the Pyra, the company that created Blogger, is leaving Google just one year and eight months after Google acquired his company. He explains that he’s leaving not because of any conflict, but because he’s a serial entrepreneur and doesn’t like working for someone else: The reason I’m leaving probably comes down [...]
The Role Of Compensation In Startups
Steve Bayle: “A couple of questions from one of the members of the Otter Group about compensation prompted me to post what I think is the role of compensation in startups. Compensation is a management tool, and like any tool can be applied for the benefit of the company or the detriment. More often, it [...]
Creating Info Products to Sell
Entrepreneur: “Can’t think of a subject that you’re qualified to write about? Try compiling a directory. A directory is nothing more than a listing of specialized information targeted to a particular segment of the buying public. For example, my company publishes a drop-ship and wholesale industry directory that lists company names, addresses, phone numbers and [...]
What’s Wrong With Multi-Level Marketing?
Dean VanDruff: ” This article will analyze four problem areas with MLM. Specifically, it will focus on problems of I) Market Saturation, II) Pyramid Structure, III) Morality and Ethics, and IV) Relationship Issues associated with MLMs. Thus, you can properly assess your ‘instincts.’” via the Quixtar Blog.
Warren Meyer: One fateful day, I decided that A) I hated working for other people and B) I had no groundbreaking entrepreneurial ideas of my own so that C) if I wanted to own a decent sized business, I would have to buy one. Unfortunately, I had NO CLUE how to go find companies that [...]
Bad Names Can Kill a Brand’s Potential
AdAge: When things go wrong, why is the blame almost never placed on the most obvious factor? The name itself. [Take Schlotzsky's (which recently filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition) for example:] Who can spell it, who can pronounce it? Furthermore, the name is dangerously close to “schlock,” Yiddish slang for poor quality.
The 52nd edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Drakeview.
According to Jason Kottke, there are at least three billionaire bloggers: Pierre Omidyar, $10.4 billion George Soros, $7.2 billion Mark Cuban, $1.3 billion
Learning Entrepreneurship in South Africa
CS Monitor: All across South Africa – in every elementary and middle school – kids are crafting business plans, doing market research, balancing budgets, and hawking everything from hot dogs at 50 cents a pop to car washes for $7 each. In a dramatic bid to tackle this country’s persistent unemployment rate of at least [...]
Curt Rosengren: “Nothing keeps people stuck in a career they weren’t meant for more than fear.”
Is Your Home Zoned for Business?
Entrepreneur: “The fact is, unless you’ve taken the time to thoroughly investigate your city and county zoning regulations, you’re leaving yourself wide open to the type of scenario mentioned above. Your business could be shut down before it even sees the light of day—or, worse, shut down when you’re already in business. To help prevent [...]
Most Common Small Businesses In the United States
If you’re looking for a new business idea, this alphabetical listing of the 802 most common small businesses in the United States might be just the thing to help.
Amazon: “The new, fully updated edition of a classic presents all the nuts and bolts of building a business; from obtaining initial permits and licenses to locating financing, finding the right business location, developing a bookkeeping system, and hiring employees. This newly updated ‘bible’ of the industry continues to reflect the latest thinking in tax [...]
Insuring a Home-Based Business
Quicken: The same general principles of insuring a small business apply to home-based businesses, but there are also some special considerations you should be aware of. Never rely exclusively on your normal homeowner’s policy. If you do, bad things can happen: After your computer is stolen, you may find out that it’s not covered by [...]
Starting a Business With Minimum Resources
NFIB: “There are three main ways to bootstrap yourself into a new business: 1. study the necessary techniques using books, video tapes or the Internet; 2. associate with someone who’s already an expert and have them teach you as you go; and3. gradually phase into the work through on-the-job training, perhaps as a part-time employee.VThe [...]
Steve Pavlina: “First, thinking that you absolutely have to do something is a major reason for procrastination. When you tell yourself that you have to do something, you’re implying that you’re being forced to do it, so you’ll automatically feel a sense of resentment and rebellion. Procrastination kicks in as a defense mechanism to keep [...]
Seven Key Tax Deductions for Small Business Owners
Employee Benefit Plans Automobile Expenses Taxes Home Office Depreciation Professional Fees Meals and Entertainment via PRWEB
