Tag Archive for 'small business expert'

Are you funding a formal retirement plan?

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on October 13, 2010
in Business planning
. 0 Comments

One of the markers of any small business is the fact that, kind of like a teenager, your business will always have its hand out for cash. Indeed, there will never be a time when you won’t have a maintenance requirement, operational upgrade or business opportunity demanding precious capital.

But there is another petitioner for proceeds that is just as important as the others which, to its own disadvantage, is often less persistent. Nor does this applicant for assets typically demonstrate the same ROI urgency as do its competitors for cash. The classic small business financial stepchild is a formal retirement plan.

Alas, there is another disadvantage: While the operating options mentioned above can be funded from a number of sources – investment, debt, retained earnings and even cash flow – retirement contributions are primarily funded by excess retained earnings. Excess means profits you’ve determined the business can do without and still fund growth. For a small business, that number too often compares in value to the proverbial widow’s mite.

And, yes, it’s true that most retirement funding is tax deductible; but, as your CPA will tell you, you’re not in the 100% tax bracket. That means the lion’s share of retirement funds is capital that could have gone to something that will always seems sexier.

Consequently, two difficult things have to happen before a small business owner actually funds a retirement plan: 1) Enough retained earnings have to be generated by the company; and 2) Someone has to tell the “teenager” it can’t have everything it wants this year.

We wanted to know how small businesses were managing these two challenges, so we asked our audience what they were doing about retirement. Forty-four percent said they contributed to a retirement plan each year. The other 56% were not funding a retirement plan, citing reasons ranging from not having the spare capital to the weak economy.

As difficult as it is to master the two steps above, 44% is not surprising. But it’s a long way from acceptable.

The good news, as mentioned earlier, is there are many tax deductible retirement options available to fit any small business owner’s financial situation, from the very simple to the not so much. Your seemingly impossible mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find the discipline to budget for and execute the funding of a retirement plan that will take care of you when your business cannot.

Small business brands in the 21st century

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on September 17, 2010
in Branding, Customer Care and Marketing - Branding - Advertising
. 0 Comments

There was a time when most people thought having a brand was just for big companies - you know, like the Nike swoosh. For years, I’ve been telling small businesses that they have a brand, too, maybe even more than one.

But for small businesses, our brands are less tangible. The thing that makes customers remember us is more about the experience they have with us, including the relationship they have with our employees, the way we customize our products and services to their individual requirements and, just maybe, the fact that we remember them every time they connect with us.  Yes, my friends, these are the critical, often intangible, elements of a small business brand.

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about the intangible, emotional, impressionable brand concept with long-time Brain Trust member and world-class brand expert,  Tom Asacker.  Tom reveals how your attitude about your business and behavior around customers is also part of your brand and what compels customers to do business with you - or not. You can find Tom, his many books on branding and his work at acleareye.com.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to listen to this important conversation about what small business branding looks like in the 2nd decade of the 21st century. And, as always, be sure to leave your own thoughts.

Listen Live! Download, Too!

Small business owners answer questions about growth

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on September 1, 2010
in Economy: National and Global, Government, Regulations, Uncategorized and Universal health care
. 0 Comments

One of the big issues these days is why the economy isn’t growing. Many people believe one reason is because businesses, especially small ones, are so uncertain about the future that they aren’t taking the risks associated with growth activity, like hiring more people, borrowing money or other expansion steps.

We wanted to know what small business owners think about this, so we asked our NEWSLETTER subscribers and website visitors to tell us about their perspectives on growth opportunity. Here is the question we asked: Please, tell us where you fall in this issue. “I am not taking growth steps because…”

Here’s how our respondents answered:

23% said:  I’m worried about the economy in general.

15% said:  I can’t get financing to fund growth opportunities.

58% said:  Government actions make me uncertain about the future.

4% said:  We are not experiencing growth opportunities

Perhaps the good news is that only four percent of our respondents indicated they were not experiencing growth opportunities.  The bad news is, as you can see above, 96% of responders were so troubled by three issues that they either can’t or aren’t growing their businesses.

These responses track pretty closely with others I have seen lately.  There is no way to sugar-coat this: When small business owners are troubled, the economy is troubled.  I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I do know that my prediction earlier this year in an article titled, “The shape of this recovery is M” is coming to pass. This recovery is more of a marathon not a sprint.

But we’ve come too far to quit now.  This is no hill for a climber, and you’re a climber.  I’m proud of you. You should be proud of yourself.

To participate in next week’s poll question, visit www.smallbusinessadvocate.com and vote.

Small businesses and the local chamber of commerce

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on August 7, 2010
in Leadership, Management Fundamentals and State and Local
. 1 Comment

One of the most important associations any small business should have is being a member - and one of the owners - of the local chamber of commerce.  I’ve been a member of mine since 1977.  Of course, chambers promote business in the local economy as well as economic development, but they also work on political advocacy issues locally, at the state level and in Washington, D.C.  Chambers also do something no other organization can do: they are able to cut across all of the boundaries between the different stakeholders in a community, like politics, education, arts, sports, etc.  No other organization can do this like your local chamber.

Notice that I used the word “owner” earlier. The chamber is a locally owned, non-profit corporation. It is what its owners make it. That’s you. To paraphrase a great man, ask not what your chamber can do for you - ask what you can do for your chamber.

Being a chamber member is the best investment you’ll make this year. The average annual dues - my estimate - is somewhere in the $250 range. For that kind of money you can’t afford not to be a member.

One of the pilgrimages we make each year is to support the American Chamber of Commerce Executives convention, which is a gathering of professionals who run the day-to-day operations of local chambers for those owners (you) mentioned earlier. For several years now, I’ve been broadcasting my show from this event, as I did this year in Milwaukee. Below are four of those interviews. Take a minute to read what we discussed and listen to the ones that you find interesting. And as always, let me know what you think?

Interview 1. Steve Baas, Government Relations Director for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, and I discuss the importance of local chambers of commerce and what his chamber is doing to support small business. We also talk about some public policy issues, such as the 1099 reporting controversy.  Listen Live! Download, Too!

Interview 2. Steve Millard, President and CEO of Cleveland, Ohio’s Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE), and I talk about what the Cleveland chamber is doing for small businesses, including advocating for revisions of the health care bill that hurt small businesses. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Interview 3. The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce president, Gary Toebben, and I discuss why chambers matter to small business and what his chamber is doing to get ready to host the ACCE’s convention next year. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Interview 4. Allen Hester, President and CEO of the Dyersburg, TN Chamber of Commerce, and I talk about how his chamber worked with federal and local authorities to help small businesses recover from the Tennessee floods of 2010.  Listen Live! Download, Too!

The “Age of the Customer™” goes interactive

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on July 30, 2010
in Customer Care and e-Business
. 3 Comments

One of the major topics I’m devoting a lot of my time and resources to these days is talking and writing about what I call the “Age of the Customer™.”  In this new Age, the Customer is in control and the Seller is subordinate for one primary reason: access to information.  Today, Customers have almost all the information they need to make an informed purchasing decision.

In the new Age, connecting with Customers is more important than marketing to them.  And what better way to connect with Customers than to provide an interactive element to the relationship?

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about interacting with Customers with Joseph Jaffe.  Joe is an outstanding member of my Brain Trust, and we talked about the shift toward interacting with Customers, plus other paradigms that are shifting away from 20th century marketing toward 21st century connection and communication with prospects and customers. In his day-job, Joe is the President and Chief Interruptor of crayon and author of Life After the 30-Second Spot and Flip the Funnel.

I hope you’ll take a few minutes to listen to what Joe and I have to say and, as always, be sure to leave your comments. Listen Live! Download, Too!

The power of small business trade secrets

Published
by
Jim Blasingame
on February 11, 2009
in Cashflow - Credit - Collections, Innovation - Creativity, Intellectual property, Legal and Trade Secrets
. 0 Comments

Forgive me, because I know you’ve heard me say this many times before, but we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto. We’re in the 21st century, and things here are different. And nowhere is this truth more evident than in the world of intellectual property (IP). You know: patents, trademarks, service marks, licensing, copyrights and trade secrets.

One of the cool things about 21st century IP is how easy it is for small businesses to create and leverage it. Unfortunately, too many small business owners get the idea that they don’t own intellectual property because they don’t have a big brand trademark like Nike’s swoosh, or they don’t have patented inventions, like Research In Motion’s Blackberry. But that’s like thinking you can’t cook a delicious steak on the grill at home because you don’t own a restaurant.

The truth is small businesses - including yours - create intellectual property all the time, just not always the flashy kind. One of the best examples of small business IP is a trade secret. This is anything that you’ve developed or discovered that gives your business a competitive advantage. It could be a delivery system or an inventory management scheme. It could be as simple as a finely-tuned payroll-to-revenue ratio, or as elaborate as a customer relationship management program that you’ve created for the way you want to track sales development and customer service.

Either way, it was created by you, your business is leveraging it and, therefore, it’s an asset that belongs to you - which means you should recognize that it has value and should take the necessary steps to protect it.

Recently, I talked about how to value and protect your trade secrets on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, with Brain Trust member and intellectual property attorney, David Dawsey. David’s firm is Gallagher and Dawsey, based in Columbus, Ohio. I think you will benefit by taking a few minutes to listen to what this expert has to say. And be sure to leave your thoughts on this topic.