In this week’s video I talk about what small business and the gun control debate have in common.
Tag Archive for 'Small Business'
In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, here are the “Top 10 Reasons To Love Small Businesses,” as proposed by our friends over at the Office of Advocacy of the SBA.
10. Small businesses make up more than 99.7% of all employers.
9. Small businesses create more than 50% of the nonfarm private gross domestic product (GDP).
8. Small patenting firms produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.
7. The 22.9 million small businesses in the United States are located in virtually every neighborhood.
6. Small businesses employ about 50% of all private sector workers.
5. Home-based businesses account for 53% of all small businesses.
4. Small businesses make up 97% of exporters and produce 29% of all export value.
3. Small businesses with employees start-up at a rate of over 500,000 per year.
2. Four years after start-up, half of all small businesses with employees remain open.
1. The latest figures show that small businesses create 75% of the net new jobs in our economy.
It’s true: Small business is the heart of the American economy, and it’s why I really do love small business owners.
The Question:
What do you want the federal government to do to help you with your small business?
0% - Initiate more programs to help small businesses
71% - Get out of our way by reducing taxes and regulations
29% - Both of the above
My Comments:
These days it seems a lot of people have their hands out for help from the government; from GM, Chrysler, and AIG, to who knows how many big banks. Then there are the unions, public and private, that rely on government support for their very existence. Big corporations make billions of profits doing business with the government. And one out of every seven Americans - over 50 million - now receives some kind of welfare.
But there is another group of folks out there that is about half the number of welfare recipients, produces over half of the U.S. economy, and sign over 70 million paychecks every week - small business owners. So what does this group want from the government? Well, we asked them about that last week in our online poll, with this question: What do you want the federal government to do to help you with your small business? Here’s what they said:
Not one person chose, “Initiate more programs to help small businesses,” as their answer. But those who believe the government should just, “Get out of our way by reducing taxes and regulations,” came in at 71%. The rest, 29%, allowed that the government should do “Both of the above.”
What if every group of Americans felt the same way small business owners do? I would like to see what that looks like, wouldn’t you?
###
I talked more about what small businesses want from the government this week on my radio program. Take a few minutes to download or listen.
A smartphone is as close to a magic wand or lightsaber as exists outside of the dimension of 
fantasy.
Recent research by eMarketer indicates that more than 130 million Americans will own one of these in 2013. The same group is projecting that number to grow by a third – to almost 200 million smartphones – by 2016. That’s just about every American who isn’t a small child or nursing home resident. Here’s another way to say that: Essentially every one of your prospects and customers. Allow me to spell it out for you: If your business isn’t ready for mobile prime time it’s a dinosaur waiting to become extinct. Any questions?
Here are two important first steps so your business will avoid extinction by mobile:
1. Get your online information optimized for local search. This is critical for a comprehensive online strategy, but mandatory for mobile prime time, because mobile searchers are often trying to literally find a business. If I’m in Peoria and hungry for pizza, you want me to find you in my local mobile search for “pizza in Peoria.
2. Decide whether to invest in a mobile site or a mobile app; either one will get your business ready for mobile prime time. Here’s the difference:
Mobile app: A software application that downloads to and resides on a customer’s mobile device.
- Advantage: Downloaded information, like an article or podcast, that can be used later without an Internet connection.
- Disadvantage: Updated information, like today’s menu or discount, has to be downloaded and will likely take longer to present than a mobile page.
Mobile site: Your website condensed for the smaller mobile screens. When your regular URL is requested from a smartphone, the mobile site presents automatically with the most important elements and less graphics. In other words, form follows function.
- Advantages: Most mobile sites cost less than most apps to create, update and maintain, and a mobile site icon looks just like a mobile app icon.
- Disadvantages: Most mobile sites aren’t as sexy as most mobile apps. And just like your regular
website, a mobile site cannot be used unless the device is connected to the Internet.
Here are Blasingame’s Ready for Mobile Prime Time Rules of Thumb:
1. Not all businesses need a mobile app, but every small business needs a mobile website;
2. Get ready for mobile prime time or get ready for extinction.
The Age of the Customer is being driven by customer expectations, and nowhere is this truer than with mobile.
###
Last week on The Small Business Advocate Show I talked more about mobile computing and the 21st century marketplace with Chuck Martin, mobile-marketing researcher and guru, and author of the award-winning book, The Third Screen. Click on the links below to download or listen to our conversations. Is your business ready for prime time?
What is the current state of mobile computing?
What is the impact of mobile computing on consumers?
Small business can compete against Amazon with a mobile strategy
“Stop and smell the roses!”
Most small business owners wish they had a dollar for every time some “civilian” presumed to pass judgment on the way we spend our time.
Of course, we shouldn’t follow our dream to the detriment of family, health, or spirit. But civilians should 
remember that “stop and smell the roses” is a metaphor. And every human gets to define his or her own metaphorical “roses.”
In fairness, it’s not the civilian’s fault, because they are typically those who work someone else’s dream, as an employee. Since their “roses” are not likely to be found where they work, it makes sense for them to think a small business owner should get out of the business more, or to question why we work on weekends, or to encourage us to play more golf.
When you see small business owners working on their business on a beautiful Saturday, instead of playing golf, don’t presume that they aren’t smelling their roses.
Here’s what civilians often don’t understand about entrepreneurs: We don’t have to leave work to smell the roses.
