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Comment by Antoinette Robinson on October 28, 2009 at 1:11pm

Kiplinger.com

How To Be Your Own Boss

Before you strike out on your own, make a game plan and get your finances in order.

By Laura Cohn

From Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, September 2009

Talk about bad timing. Just before Shannon O’Brien left her CEO position, the construction firm where her husband worked went bankrupt. So early in 2008, O’Brien and her husband, Emmet Hayes, both found themselves unemployed.

But instead of rushing back to the relative safety of corporate jobs, O’Brien and Hayes decided to parlay their work experience into start-up businesses. O’Brien, 50, is a former Massachusetts state treasurer who ran for governor in 2002 and who had just resigned from heading the Girl Scouts of Greater Boston. She decided to satisfy her entrepreneurial streak and use her expertise to advise renewable-energy companies on how to fund-raise and cut red tape. Hayes, 58, a former state legislator and director of business development for his bankrupt former employer, joined two fellow veterans of the state capitol to found a law firm that does lobbying and consulting.

O’Brien and Hayes had some early gut checks, especially given the slumping economy. “For a time the two of us were saying, “Holy cow, what have we gotten ourselves into?””says O’Brien. But their savings helped them through the lean times, and now both of their enterprises have started to take root.

The couple aren’t alone. With job security sagging even in traditionally stable industries, many Americans, by choice or necessity, are leaving the corporate cocoon to start their own businesses. Brian Headd, an economist at the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, says that the number of one-person operations rises when the economy is struggling. For instance, in 2007, the year the current slowdown began, the number of such firms increased 4.5%. They don’t all make it. Of the more than 600,000 companies started in the U.S. each year, only about half will survive for five years or longer, says the SBA.

How do you make sure you’re among the winners? Start by laying out your plans carefully and getting the best advice you can from other entrepreneurs and experts in the field.

That’s what O’Brien did. She knew she was interested in renewable energy, having made it part of her platform as a candidate for governor. But she wasn’t sure she could carve out a full-time job in the field. So she touched base with New Directions, an outplacement firm that caters to senior executives. Through its seminars, group discussions and one-on-one meetings, New Directions guided O’Brien to the resources she needed to confirm that her idea could fly. She found that start-ups, such as Free Flow Power, a hydropower firm that is now a client, had ideas and energy but needed help to raise money from public and private sources. And she found another key ingredient: passion. Working in clean energy “gets me revved up every morning,” she says.

Do the Legwork

Passion and a market for your services are just the beginning. Before investing real money, you need to focus your plan by finding out everything you can about the sector, and by analyzing competitors’ pricing and marketing.

That kind of legwork paid off for David Miller. After toying with the idea of starting a Web-based fantasy-sports game aimed at families, Miller, 36, attended the annual meeting of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association. He left the meeting convinced that his idea was a good one. By networking and doing research, Miller found that 40% of National Football League viewers are women. So, as he suspected, he could attract women to his site. That was a crucial insight because women tend to control the family budget, and he figures sponsors and advertisers will want exposure to those women. “There’s no reason fantasy sports should just be for dorky guys,” says Miller, who lives in Bethesda, Md.

Miller launched FamilyFantasy-Sports.com in June 2008. Having studied entrepreneurship (he’s working on a PhD in the subject), he knew that a start-up was more likely to succeed when it’s a partnership. So Miller enlisted a friend who lives in Cincinnati. He and his partner dipped into their savings to finance the site, and together invested in the “low six figures” over a period of two years.

They also avoided a big mistake often made by entrepreneurs: They didn’t blow their budget on fancy offices or expensive marketing campaigns. To keep costs low, neither pays for office space, and the company has relied on social-networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, to gin up interest. Through Twitter they got on a local radio program, which eventually landed them a deal with a sports-merchandising company that provides prizes on their Web site to winners of competitions. Miller and his partner hope to break even this year.

Write Your Plan

After seeking advice and doing your homework, write a detailed business plan. It may sound daunting, but the exercise will help you shape your idea. If you need help, seek out your local office of Score (www.score.org). Score, a nonprofit partner of the Small Business Administration, has more than 11,000 counselors who mentor small-business owners on every aspect of starting a firm, including writing a business plan. After that, suggests Jeff Redmond, senior partner at New Directions, set up a focus group to get reactions to your idea.

Such feedback was key for Sara Polon, who last year launched a company that sells soups made from locally grown ingredients. Polon, a comedienne-turned-project-director at a Washington, D.C., travel business, says that working in an office made her “feel like a caged animal.” After reading Michael Pollan’s book on American eating habits, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the 32-year-old decided to jump into the local food movement by starting Souper Girl.

In the depths of the recession last summer, Polon kept her old job but held a series of tastings with her friends to see if her recipes were any good. Once she had a list of 50 vegetarian soups that passed muster, she invested $11,000 of her savings in a catchy Web site (www.thesoupergirl.com) and kitchen equipment.

Then she got to work. Polon rented kitchen space at a local restaurant that needed extra cash, enlisted her energetic, 65-year-old mother to help (Polon says she was raised on soup), and spread the word. Polon’s venture was profitable from the start. She says she made back her initial investment within four months.

Her soup, which sells for $12.75 a quart, comes with witty labels. For example, there’s “Ice Ice Vichyssoise Soup.” Polon says she is attracting so many orders that she is about to hire her first full-time employee. “I’ve never worked so hard in my life,” she says.

Line Up Your Finances

Not everyone can dip into savings to fund a start-up. If you need a loan, your best bet is a small community bank or credit union, where you’ll need a business plan to make your case to the loan officer. The economic slowdown has made lenders stingier, but the stimulus package provided the SBA with $730 million. Part of that money will be used to expand the agency’s micro-loan program, which grants loans of up to $35,000 to new or expanding small businesses. The stimulus bill also boosted the SBA guarantee on bank loans, to 90% from 75%, helping spur lenders to issue money more freely (to find a bank that offers SBA loans, check the “Local Resources” section of the agency’s Web site, www.sba.gov).

To cover your personal expenses while your business gets under way, you should have six months’ to a year’s worth of money in reserve.

Health insurance. This can be a challenge, but it may be easier to find coverage than you think, especially if you’re healthy. Souper Girl’s Polon, who has her own health insurance, pays about $150 a month to participate in a Blue Cross HMO. To get a sense of what’s available, check eHealthInsurance.com or Coverageforall.org. Another good source is the National Association of Health Underwriters (www.nahu.org), which will help you find a local agent. Also check with your industry’s trade group. Some associations, such as the California Association of Non-Profits, offer group health plans. If you’re a veteran, check to see if your local veterans group offers plans.

As a sole proprietor you can deduct the premiums for medical, dental and long-term-care insurance. A health savings account can also help. HSAs allow you to contribute pretax money that you can use tax-free for future medical expenses. For individual coverage, you can contribute up to $3,000 to an HSA in 2009. For families, the maximum is $5,950. And you can contribute an extra $1,000 if you're 55 or older. For a list of insurers that offer these plans, check HSAInsider.com.

Financial expertise. You’ll have to negotiate a maze of insurance, tax and other financial issues, so it’s essential to get a good accountant. If you operate at a loss, of course, you don’t owe money to Uncle Sam. But if you’re a sole proprietor, every dollar of profits you make is potentially taxable.

You may be eligible for more than 100 deductions, so it’s important to keep a meticulous record of what you spend on everything from advertising to travel to office supplies. Unfortunately, only owners of corporations and limited liability companies can deduct their salaries. For guidance on what’s deductible, download IRS Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Businesses (www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p334.pdf). Also handy is “Filing Requirements for Self-Employed Individuals” (go to www.irs.gov and click on “Businesses,” then “Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center”).

Retirement savings. As a small-business owner you won’t have a corporate pension, but you can start a retirement savings plan. The main programs -- a Simplified Employee Pension, or SEP IRA, and a solo 401(k) -- allow you to sock away pretax savings. And as a sole proprietor, you can contribute more to your retirement than would have been permitted had you stayed in a corporate job.

A SEP IRA is easier to set up. Owners of unincorporated businesses can contribute up to 20% of their net self-employment income, up to a maximum of $49,000 in 2009. With a solo 401(k), you can contribute even more. In addition to the 20% contribution, self-employed business owners can contribute $16,500, plus $5,500 more if you’re 50 or older. A solo 401(k) can be more attractive because you can borrow as much as half the balance (up to $50,000). A good place to sort out your retirement options is the calculator at www.401khelpcenter.com.

Retirement savings may take a back seat, however, particularly in the early years of a start-up. Miller, the fantasy-sports entrepreneur, says he didn’t contribute to his retirement savings during his first year of operations, although his wife maxed out the 401(k) plan available to her as an emergency-room physician.

Comment by Antoinette Robinson on October 13, 2009 at 7:40am

Inc.com
October 12, 2009
Today's news
What Comes after Email and Best Industries for Startups

Posted by Max Chafkin at 11:57 AM

The end of email?

The Wall Street Journal gets apocalyptic on our inboxes. "Email has had a good run as king of communications," writes Jessica Vascellaro. "But its reign is over." This may be something of an overreach, but Vascellaro's point is sound. She says that services like Twitter and Facebook, which can be used to let employees and customers know where you are and what you are doing, are replacing email in some cases. Meanwhile businesses' increased reliance on these services raises questions about privacy--if you message someone on Facebook, they're likely to take a look at your profile--and clutter--with so many different services things can get confusing.

How to lift your employees' sagging spirits.

With the barrage of bad economic news, many companies have morale problems. Today's Baltimore Sun takes a look at one entrepreneur's efforts to keep his employees upbeat and positive. Not surprisingly, the most important recommendation in the article is to keep your employees apprised of how the business is doing. That's especially true when the business isn't doing particularly well. As one HR consultant explains, "It may not make them happy and glowing necessarily, but it provides something to think about even in a tough time and it also creates a tie between the company and the employee."

Beware of angels who charge.

Jason Calacanis's latest missive is on angel investors who charge start-ups as much as $25,000 merely for the privilege of making a pitch. "It's low-class, inappropriate and predatory for a rich person to ask an entrepreneur to PAY THEM for 15 minutes of their time," Calacanis writes. "Seriously, what is the cost to the party hearing the pitch? If you answered “nothing” or “the cost of two cups of coffee” you win the prize!" Calacanis asserts that if your idea is good--and you can network--you can kick payola to the curb. And, if you're in the market for funding, check out our directory of angel investor networks.

The best industries for startups.

Scott Shane, blogging for the New York Times, writes today about which industries are the best (and worst) for starting a business. The data is not entirely clear--Shane links to research that shows that paper mills, computer equipment, and guided missiles (!) to be among the best, but his data is from 1982-2000 and feels, well, dated. Nonetheless, Shane is pretty sure about one industry that is tough for entrepreneurs: Restaurants. Industries with lower failure rates include auto parts, funeral homes, and gas stations.

Reducing the number of lonely shopping carts.

According to the New York Times, the number of online shoppers who actually purchase the items in their shopping carts is dwindling. Though there are lots of reasons for abandonment a big one involves consumers shopping around for a better deal--a problem that experts say can be addressed. Overstock.com, for example, has wish lists that let customers "look at 15 products, throw them in your cart and then sleep on it," said Stormy D. Simon, senior vice president for branding and customer care. Other sites, such as those of Neiman Marcus and Gilt, employ limited-time sales and alerts that notify the customer when a product is about to sell out, both of which nudge the shopper to close the deal soon. For more tips, check out Inc.'s advice on preventing shopping cart abandonment.

Ten up-and-coming teen entrepreneurs.

Forget paper routes and babysitting gigs, today's teen entrepreneurs are using technology to make money and create some serious businesses. TechCrunch has a list of Ten Teen Entrepreneurs to Watch, who while not old enough to buy beer, are the brains behind some innovative technology companies. Topping the list is 19-year-old Jessica Mah, who is the co-founder and CEO of Indinero, which has been described as a Mint.com for small businesses. Inc. readers may remember Jessica from our Coolest College Start-ups package, where we profiled Jessica and her previous business, InternshipIN.

Comment by Antoinette Robinson on August 20, 2009 at 11:57am

The Traits of an Entrepreneur
A new entrepreneurship study conducted by Ace Hardware reveals that many small business owners think that, when it comes to the secret of their success, hard work trumps a background in business or finance.
By Josh Spiro | Aug 20, 2009

Ace Hardware, a retail chain headquartered in Oakbrook, Illinois, recently released an entrepreneurship study that should give hope to would-be entrepreneurs without a formal business education.

Of the 500 small-business owners surveyed, 79 percent have at least some college education, but only seven percent think it is important to be "educated in business or finance."

Other traits that ranked high on the respondents' list of keys to entrepreneurial success were industriousness, motivation, perseverance, intelligence, good instincts and passion, in decreasing order.

However, experts disagree on which characteristics are the most crucial. For example, the Small Business Administration offers a weighted, self-assessment tool for people to see if they have the makings of a mini-mogul. "If they do not have a business plan they would not score very highly at all," says Jim O'Connor director of the Small Business Training Network at the SBA.

The assessment tool, with is completed by over 300,000 people each year, also assigns a high value to responses about whether a potential business founder considers themselves a self-starter and whether they have experience in or knowledge of the industry they're entering.

"The majority of people [who start businesses] don't have any kind of background in finance, or accounting, or budgeting," says Rhonda Abrams, author of The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies and CEO of The Planning Shop, a company that does business-plan consulting for entrepreneurs. "They do have some kind of background in the product or service they're going to be providing."

Some basic business understanding is necessary for dealing with things like accounting, and profit calculation, but Abrams says, when it comes to financial know-how, business owners "quickly discover that they both need to learn some of it and hire some of it."

Copyright © 2009 Mansueto Ventures LLC. All rights reserved.
Inc.com, 7 World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007-2195.

Comment by Antoinette Robinson on July 10, 2009 at 9:12pm

Column by Barbara Weltman

Safeguarding Intellectual Property
Trademarks, copyrights and patents aren't just for big corporations. Everything from your company's name to its management style is worth protecting.

Your most valuable real estate may be your intellectual property -- a name, a process, or something else so unique that it's worth protecting. Determine whether you have such assets that need protection and which type of protection is necessary so you can secure your legal rights.

Trademarks
Creating a company or product name, slogan, design, or even a sound or smell that is so identified with a company's brand are assets that can be trademarked. You aren't required to register a trademark, but doing so gives you the presumption of ownership, which means you have the exclusive right to use the mark or license it for 10 years, with 10-year renewals. Unauthorized use of your mark can entitle you to damages.

A trademark is shown by displaying the symbol ™; once federal protection is obtained, the symbol ® can be used.

Copyrights
Creative works -- literary, musical, and artistic -- can usually be protected for the life of the creator, plus 70 years. Copyright protection is shown by displaying the © or word "copyright," the year that the work was first published, and the name of the copyright owner (e.g., © 2007 Barbara Weltman).

Copyright protection isn't limited to the arts and can extend to Web sites, computer software, architectural designs and even recipes and formulas if accompanied by substantial literary explanation. You can't copyright information that is common knowledge and has no original authorship, such as height and weight charts and public documents.

Patents
Previously thought of only in connection with inventions (Thomas Edison held 1,093 patents for inventions such as the electric light bulb, phonograph, and motion picture camera) and medications, today patents can be used to obtain financial advantage for creating processes as well. Examples: Burpee's patents for asexual reproduction of plants, culinary inventions (printing pictures of food on edible paper), and even tax strategies (although Congress may soon restrict this last class of patenting). Patents cannot be obtained for an idea or suggestion; there must be some technical merit worthy of protection.

Application and Fees
Obtaining a patent for an invention gives the owner the exclusive right to make, use, or sell the invention for a set number of years (usually 17 years from the date the patent is granted or 20 years from the filing, whichever is longer). During the patent process, show the public that you're in the process of filing by displaying "Patent Pending" or "Patent Applied for."

Once you believe you have something worth protecting and determine which type of protection is appropriate, move ahead. Learn about your rights for IP property at:
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (www.uspto.gov). Patent fees can be pricey -- there are fees for a search, an examination, maintenance fees, and various miscellaneous fees that can total several hundred dollars or run into the thousands. The basic trademark application filing fee is $310 ($155 for a "small entity"), though there are many additional fees.

Copyright applications are filed with the Library of Congress. The basic registration fee per work is $45. You should note that this protection is only valid within the U.S. To protect your IP overseas, you'll need to take additional action.

Because IP property is so valuable, it's usually wise to invest in the assistance of a knowledgeable attorney. While not legally required, rely on an attorney to advise you and help you secure your legal rights.

After you receive legal protection for your IP property, it's up to you to monitor that your rights aren't being violated (i.e., someone is using your trademark without your permission). Police the Internet and send "cease and desist" letters to violators. If you fail to protect your trademarked brand name, for example, and allow it to fall into generic use, you'll lose your rights.

Comment by Antoinette Robinson on July 10, 2009 at 9:06pm

Madam C.J. Walker
By: Amy Gunderson

As an early pioneer in the beauty industry, Madam C.J. Walker targeted a previously untapped base of American consumer and worker. Mobilizing a network of African-American women as sales agents for her line of hair care products, Walker's sales of hair and scalp conditioners to black women was so successful that she is widely-recognized as the first self-made female millionaire in the U.S.

Walker was born Sarah Breedlove, the daughter of freed slaves in Delta, Louisiana, in 1867. She was an orphan at seven years old, married to her first husband at 14 and by the age of 20 worked in St. Louis as a laundress. With little formal education -- legislators in Louisiana refused to provide funding for schools that taught black children -- Walker was relegated to menial jobs and hard labor until her hair and scalp problems were the genesis for her own business. She began as a sales agent for Annie Malone, another black-owned beauty business, but soon launched her own line of products using a formula that she said came to her in a dream.

The line of products with names like Madam C.J. Walker's Wonderful Hair Grower, were marketed aggressively. Her newspaper salesman husband, Charles Joseph Walker (a marriage that facilitated her name change to Madam C.J. Walker) helped to guide the company's advertising in black newspapers. Many ads showed before and after images touting the products' wonders, a virtual staple of beauty ads today. Soon after moving to Denver and starting sales, Madam Walker traveled extensively in the south, visiting churches and selling products door-to-door. "More than any other single businessperson, Walker unveiled the vast economic potential of an African-American economy, even one stifled and suffocating under Jim Crow segregation," Henry Louis Gates Jr. wrote in a 1998 article in Time magazine.

She built up her network of "Walker agents" and paid them more than what the average unskilled white worker was earning at the time. The thousands of Walker agents around the country set up their own in-home beauty shops to help market products. Additionally, Walker built several beauty schools that served as training grounds for her sales agents and organized workers into a union that paid a death benefit. Her direct sales efforts continued as she traveled to the Caribbean and Central America to expand the company. Her life, as chronicled by A'Lelia Bundles, Walker's great-, great-granddaughter and author of "On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker", reflects a pointed tenacity. "My advice to every one expecting to go into business," said Walker, "is to hit often and hit hard; in other words, strike with all your might."

In 1910 Walker built a factory in Indianapolis, a city with multiple railroad lines that would help make her mail-order business more efficient. The company remained headquartered and owned by the Walker family or trustees of the Walker estate until 1985. The Walker name still has a presence in Indianapolis with the Madame Walker Theatre Center, a registered National Historic Landmark. While the building wasn't completed until after Madame Walker's death in 1919, it served as the home base for manufacturing the Walker line for decades. The business continues today as Madame C.J. Walker Enterprises.

Walker's sales propelled her and her family into affluence. Her only daughter grandly renovated a townhouse in Harlem, while Madam Walker built an Italian Renaissance mansion on Irvington-on-Hudson, not far from residences owned by American industrialists like John D. Rockefeller. Her wealth also led her to philanthropy. Much of her estate was left to charitable causes and Walker notably gave $5,000 to the NAACP's Anti-Lynching Campaign, a donation that was the largest gift to the organization at the time.

Comment by Antoinette Robinson on June 8, 2009 at 8:55am

How-To Guides
Leadership

"Leadership" can be an elusive quality. How does one become a better leader? And what makes a great leader? Although there are no easy answers to these questions, key elements of leadership -- including communication, delegation, and team building -- can be studied and developed.

To help you learn more about what you can do to improve leadership in your company (both your own and the leadership skills of those around you), we've compiled Inc.com's best resources on the topic. Bookmark this guide so you can easily consult it for inspiration and advice.

Assess and Improve Your Leadership Skills

The Psychology of Success

Why do some leaders thrive while others struggle? The answers might surprise you.

Lessons in Leadership
All of us need role models, especially those of us who run our own businesses. Rhonda Abrams shares the lessons her role model has taught her.

Why Leadership Is The Most Dangerous Idea in American Business
If you're an entrepreneur, almost everything about "leadership" as we know it is bad for you. But there's another way to lead. Here are the rules.

The New Face of Confidence
Business leaders may be better positioned than they have been in years to make smart calculations about growth and strategy. Here's why.

The Innovation Factor: What's Your Innovation Quotient?

Can you lead your company in a way that promotes taking creative risks and encourages innovative thinking? Take this 20 question quiz to find out.
Courage: Tap Greater Potential and Thrive Through Challenges
Leading your company through an economic downturn or crisis takes a leader with commitment and vision. Here are some stragtegies for finding the courageous leader within you who will help you and your company survive adverse circumstances.

Building Rapport With Different Personalities
Here are three common personality types with whom many people have a tough time -- and some suggestions on how to increase understanding and build rapport.

Are You Assertive or Aggressive?
Assertiveness can help strengthen relationships, reduce stress, improve your self-image, and make you more successful.

Everything I Know About Leadership I Learned From the Movies
Want to inspire your organization? Earn the undying loyalty of employees? Turn crises into triumphs? Start by renting these 10 videos.

Authentic Leadership: Looking in the Mirror
Being an authentic leader means ensuring that one's corporate actions and rhetoric are aligned, that such actions are meaningful (as opposed to superficial, headline-grabbing moves), and that one's public persona and private self are not at odds.

The Zero-Defect CEO
Smart managers have already removed the defects from their businesses. Next, they use big-league business coaches to do the same for themselves.

Communicating with Employees

Lost in Translation
Thanks to e-mail, BlackBerrys, and text messaging, the face-to-face encounter is becoming a dying art. Here's why you should revive it.

The Power of Listening
How does an old-line manufacturer in a stagnant industry manage to grow 25% a year for 10 years? By taking its employees seriously.

A Fun Read
Zingerman's Community of Businesses uses its staff guide to help communicate its founders' vision and expectations in an effective and entertaining manner.

Powerful Questions Can Have a Powerful Effect
Questions can be one of the most effective communication tools available to us.
When Do You Lie? Strategies For More Authentic, Respectful Communication
Lies come in all shapes, sizes and colors, but large or small, they can still have damaging effects on the people around you. Avoid telling them with these strategies for engaging in honest communications with employees and peers.

The 4-1-1 On Constructive Criticism
Being critical is easy, and offering criticism seems easier still. Yet constructive criticism -- the more refined and effective brand of critical feedback -- is like an art.

Six Coaching Strategies You Can Apply in the Workplace
Coaches of all kinds use similar tools to teach and motivate. Here are six key tools you can use to teach and motivate employees.

Want to Be More Effective? Learn to Listen
Miscommunication may be hurting your company by lowering productivity and increasing turnover. Here's how to improve your listening skills.
Feedback That's More Productive, Less Painful
Giving and receiving clear feedback requires courage and skill. Two communications experts give 10 tips for making feedback more meaningful.

10 Tips for Communicating Change
Transition is inevitable, but exactly what you say and how you say it can make a major impact on how change is handled in your company.

Do as I Say: Quick Tips for Masterful Communication
Tired of doing all the talking and not having your message get through to your staff? Try these suggestions to improve your leadership communication skills.

Delegating Responsibility

Who Can You Trust?
Why so many entrepreneurs have trouble delegating.
The Long-Term Perils of Being a Control Freak
It's an entrepreneurial condition that goes by many names. And for many owners of smaller companies, it's the affliction that both keeps them from effectively expanding their business and from enjoying its success.

Delegation Follow-up
Every time you delegate something, record the task, the employee, and the deadline on your calendar.

Alfred Peet: My Biggest Mistake
The founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea reflects on how his inability to delegate led to his downfall.

If Not Me, Then You
Once upon a time, Liz Cobb's savvy and drive would have made her indispensable as a CEO. But at this moment in Internet time, it may not be enough.

Baby, You Can Drive My Company
Letting go of your company is never easy. One founder offers advice on how she learned to delegate key functions while maintaining control.

The Leader Within
Looking for executive talent to help shed some of those responsibilities? Don't overlook your own staff.

Comment by Antoinette Robinson on May 26, 2009 at 7:26am

Inc.com
Why Circuit City Failed, and Why B&H Thrives

Many companies that have gone bust didn't die because of the recession. They failed for one reason: They treated customers poorly

From: Inc. Magazine, May 2009 | By: Joel Spolsky

When Circuit City went kaput in January, I didn't waste my time on the chain's so-called going-out-of-business sale. First of all, Circuit City never had anything good in stock, even before it decided to go out of business. A year ago, I looked at the retailer's entire selection of laptops, and all I found were these huge, ugly, shiny things festooned with garish stickers announcing that they had "Intel Inside" and were "Vista Adequate" and "Y2K Ready." Also, I had read on the Consumer Reports website that Circuit City's liquidator had actually raised the price on many items for the going-out-of-business "sale."

Truth be told, I don't think I ever bought anything from Circuit City anyway. On weekends, I would occasionally wander into the local branch, attracted like a moth to the bright wall of plasma TVs. When I actually needed a new TV, however, I found the Circuit City salesperson to be so aggressively unknowledgeable and remarkably useless that I fled to Best Buy, where I was helped by a cheerful, 20-year-old twerp who knew everything. I later learned that in 2007, Circuit City had fired the chain's 3,400 most experienced salespeople and replaced them with generic, untrained, near-minimum-wage workers.

So it was no surprise to me that Circuit City failed. The chain's CEO, in an e-mail, blamed the demise on "poor macroeconomic conditions" -- an assertion that was repeated by The Associated Press, which cited "the expanding financial crisis" for the liquidation.

You know what? I don't buy the argument that the economy caused Circuit City's failure. Take one look at its competitors, and you know that the market for consumer electronics and computer equipment remains strong, even in this economy. You can walk into any Apple Store and see large crowds of people lining up to buy computers and iPods. But enough has been said about how wonderful Apple is. I want to tell you about another first-class consumer electronics retailer -- a much smaller business you probably haven't been to, unless you live in New York City or are a professional photographer or an avid hobbyist. It's called B&H.

B&H opened in 1973, and it's an amazing place. If you are in Manhattan, you should visit the store, on Ninth Avenue at 34th Street. The first thing you will notice? The place is humming. Originally a camera store, B&H has grown to carry more than 250,000 items, including all kinds of pro audio, pro video, and computer gear. The company is closely held and somewhat press shy, so it's hard to know how successful it is. "Our business remains strong, particularly considering the overall economic climate," a spokesperson says. I suspect that's an understatement. The store is always packed with customers, browsing through hundreds of varieties of camera bags with every possible combination of lens compartments; the room full of telescopes; and, of course, enough lenses to burn all the ants in the Sahara to a crisp. The electronic superstores in Tokyo's Akihabara district are the only other places where I have seen so much gear under one roof.

And what a roof it is: The whole operation is a crazy Willy Wonka factory. If you want to check out a product that's not on display, a salesperson orders it by computer terminal from a vast stockroom in the basement. Moments later, as if by magic, the product arrives at the retail counter, via an elaborate system of conveyor belts and dumbwaiters. You can try out the gear, see if you like it, and, if you do, the salesperson puts it in a green plastic box and places it on another conveyor belt, which runs, above your head, to the pickup counter. There, an employee bags your purchase. Meanwhile, your salesperson gives you a ticket, which you take to a payment counter. After you have paid, you get a different ticket that you take to the pickup counter to get your merchandise.

At first, this all seemed like incredible overkill to me. But then, as I thought about it more, I developed a theory as to why B&H operates this way. With all the expensive electronics and cameras and lenses and laptops floating around the store, the system creates a series of checks and balances -- typically, five employees are involved in every purchase -- in order to reduce shoplifting and employee theft. That it works at all is not the most amazing thing about B&H, however. The most amazing thing is that the prices are so low that I don't even bother to comparison-shop anymore.

No, wait: The most amazing thing is that the salespeople at B&H really know their stuff. When I recently bought a portable digital recorder, the salesperson knew that some gear was not compatible with flash memory cards larger than 2GB and spent a few minutes surfing the Web to make sure that the 8GB card I wanted would work with it.

No, wait: The most amazing thing is that I have often gone into B&H to purchase a specific product, only to be talked into something cheaper. For example, once I went in to buy a field video monitor to use for some interviews I was conducting. I expected to pay $600 until the salesperson said, "Why don't you just get one of these cheap consumer portable DVD players? They have video inputs, they work just as well, and they're under $100." This was no accident. "The entire premise of our store is based upon your ability to come in, touch, feel, experiment, ask, and discuss your needs without sales pressure," B&H's website says.

But wait: The conveyer belts, the prices, the smart salespeople, the fact that they recommend cheaper products almost as a rule -- none of these is actually the most amazing thing about B&H. Really, the most amazing thing is that because the owners of B&H are Orthodox Jews -- Hasidim, in fact -- the store closes every Friday afternoon for the Jewish Sabbath, and on Jewish holidays. Moreover, B&H's website, which reportedly accounts for 70 percent of sales, shuts down, too. Bhphotovideo.com is, to my knowledge, the only major online retailer that closes for 25 hours every weekend.

Even as competitors like Circuit City go bust, B&H remains packed with loyal customers. And that makes me very happy. For a business owner, there's nothing more satisfying than watching honest dealers expand their operations while the schmucks, with their going-out-of-business markups, go down the drain. It's inspiring to know that starting with the premise of treating your customers well really does pay off.

Joel Spolsky is the co-founder and CEO of Fog Creek Software and the host of the popular blog Joel on Software.


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Comment by Antoinette Robinson on May 5, 2009 at 6:52am

Support for Free Trade Recovers Despite Recession

By The Pew Research Center


May 2009
Despite the economic recession, public support for free trade agreements has recovered after declining a year ago. Currently, 44% say that free trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are good for the country, up from 35% a year ago. Slightly more than a third (35%) say that such agreements and policies are bad for the country, down from 48% in April 2008.

The current balance of opinion is more in line with long-term trends when compared with the April 2008 measure of sentiment. Last year marked the first time in a measure dating to 1997 that a plurality viewed free trade agreements and policies negatively. The current measure is identical to December 2006 and comparable with opinions in 2005 and 2004. Support for NAFTA and other free trade agreements in policies peaked at 49% in early September 2001; at that time, 29% said they were bad for the country.

Other recent national surveys also have found increases in support for foreign trade over the past year. In a survey conducted April 3-5 by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., 56% said they viewed foreign trade "more as an opportunity for economic growth through increased U.S. exports," while 40% said they viewed foreign trade as "a threat to the economy from foreign imports." In June 2008, a narrow majority (51%) said that foreign trade represented more of a threat rather than an opportunity for the U.S. economy.

In an April 1-5 survey by CBS News/New York Times, 66% said "that trade with other countries -- both buying and selling products" is good for the U.S. economy. Fewer (58%) expressed that view in March 2008.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted March 31-April 21 among 3,013 adults interviewed on cell phones and landlines, finds people with low family incomes and Democrats are much more supportive of free trade agreements than they were a year ago.

Nearly half of Democrats (47%) now say that NAFTA and other free trade agreements, and the policies of the World Trade Organization, are a good thing for the United States compared with 30% who view these agreements and policies negatively. In April 2008, only about a third of Democrats (34%) viewed free trade agreements positively while 50% expressed a negative opinion. More independents also express a positive opinion of free trade agreements (up eight points since last year), while opinion among Republicans has remained more stable; currently, 41% of Republicans see free trade agreements as a good thing while 38% view them as a bad thing.

Global Trade a Low Priority

The issue of trade has never rated very high on Pew Research's annual list of the public's policy priorities. But in January, amid rising public concern over the economy, 31% said that dealing with global trade should be a top priority for the president and Congress, down from 37% a year earlier. Among 20 issues, dealing with global trade ranked near the bottom; just 30% cited dealing with global warming as a top priority.

Only about a third of Democrats (33%) and independents (32%), and 28% of Republicans viewed dealing with global trade as a top priority for the president and Congress.

General Support for Free Trade

The public expresses more support for unspecified free trade agreements with other countries than it does for free trade agreements "like NAFTA and the policies of the World Trade Organization." While most respondents were asked a question that mentioned these specific agreements and policies, a smaller group was asked their opinion of "free trade agreements between the U.S. and other countries;" 52% say such agreements are a good thing for the United States while 14% say they are a bad thing; 14% offer no opinion.

Republicans are far more supportive of free trade agreements generally (59%) than when NAFTA and the policies of the World Trade Organization are mentioned (41%). More independents also express support for free trade agreements generally than when specific trade measures are mentioned (51% vs. 43%). The difference is smaller among Democrats.



This article was written by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

The Pew Research Center

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. The center's purpose is to serve as a forum for ideas on the media and public policy through public opinion research. It is one of six projects that make up the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan institution that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

This page printed from: http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/summary/archive/2009/trade_pew.html

Comment by Antoinette Robinson on April 1, 2009 at 4:28pm

Hey Y'all,

I hope some of you caught the Digital Marketing Conference.

Comment by Bennie J. Smith on April 1, 2009 at 4:15pm

Just wanted to follow up on what Antoinette shared regarding anyone interested in seeing yourselves step into your rightful place at the table of negotiations and unlimited potential. But the first thing, as Antoinette pointed out, is that WE NEED EACH OTHER!!!

NO ONE PERSON has all the answers, but we all have a contribution(s) to make. So although it seems we can tend to become incubated within our own circles at times, we need to draw from our own best successful personal and business experiences and share our collective experiences in order to become A FORCE OF ONE.

We are making it happen within our own field of interests and I believe we can come together and put forth our best efforts to help each other like those before us used to do to achieve their short and long term goals.

So Ms. Antoinette...count me in, Sista! Thanks for your energy and input!

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