A weekly roundup of small-business developments.Dashboard
What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.
The Big Story: Optimism Up, Hiring Down
Gallup reports that the optimism of small-business owners has risen to its highest since 2008. Optimism is also up among chief financial officers. Small-business revenues are recovering from their recessionary depths. The latest jobs report is a disappointment, and ADP says there?s a slowdown in hiring. Weekly unemployment claims fall slightly. Meanwhile, small-business net employment growth is outpacing the national average. But small-business hiring took a step back in April, and Joyce M. Rosenberg explains why. The number of new companies continues to slide.
The Economy: Heading to the Cliff
Federal Reserve policy makers are sounding the alarm over a ?fiscal cliff? at the end of this year, when ?scheduled U.S. tax hikes and spending cuts could pose a big threat to the fragile economic recovery.? Two Pauls debate whose economic policies are more outdated. Lawmakers,?according to the Treasury Department, will not have to refight their epic battle over the debt ceiling until after the November elections. Alan Greenspan says stocks are ?very cheap,? while Martin Feldstein says we have a Fed-fueled stock bubble. Lance Roberts says monetary and fiscal policies have little effect on when recessions occur.
The Data: Restaurants Perform
Personal income and expenditures increased. The Restaurant Performance Index (pdf) matches its post-recession high. Construction spending (pdf) rises slightly. The I.S.M. manufacturing index indicates faster expansion but the nonmanufacturing index shows slower growth. General Motors lifts its outlook. Steel consumption is expected to be strong. Factory orders fell in March by the most in three years.
Management: Ridiculously Simple
David Butcher shares six tips to motivate employees, including: ?Be specific in praise.? Uzi Shmilovici says the earlier you start collecting and analyzing data, the better your decisions. Terrence Russell explains how to be in the office without being in the office. An entrepreneur who started 11 companies over a 20-year period documents his stumbles in a book. Joe Brancatelli explains why United Airlines is the worst ever (again). The Jetman demonstrates a better way to travel. Here is a ridiculously simple way to get more revenue and build your audience. Tara Hornor explains what every female business owner needs to know. Mike Michalowicz says this management method is a better way to handle stressful situations. Lynn Greiner says that business-process management will help clear the bottlenecks that can hinder a business. There were 13 occupational fatalities a day in 2010.
Marketing: A Two-Second Pitch
Virgin Airlines lets you use Richard Branson?s head to cool your drinks. Yahoo introduces an online marketing dashboard for small businesses. Jeff Bullas offers five ways to turn Twitter into your most powerful social media tool. Diana Maria says there are three things you need to know about keywords. Tuesday is the best day for auto brands to publish Facebook content (but Sunday is the most engaging day for telecom and consumer goods). Kevin Casey gives five tips for handling complaints on social media, including: ?Don?t forget you?re still dealing with people.? Here?s a surprise: social-media-savvy consumers will spend more when they get good service and drop companies when they don?t. Tracey Lawton says there is a five-step checklist for sending out e-mail broadcasts. Social media marketing is nice, but TV ads still rule. Here?s a two-second business pitch that worked. Can you guess which age group sends the most text messages? Franny Oxford gives advice for speaking to strangers at professional events. Ashton Kutcher looks for a date (and gets in trouble). Anna Farmery says that this new cultural business model will emerge over the next few years.
Start-Up: Go to Delaware, Young Man
Some say start-up chief executives crave venture capital, not crowdsourcing. A tech start-up raises the profile of small businesses ? and $4 million. Peter Thiel has three rules for starting a business, including, ?Be a Delaware C-corp.?: ?This separates your business and personal affairs, offers flexibility when it comes to issuing stock, and makes it possible to exit the business by going public.? A ?Pinterest for commerce? start-up is growing 20 to 30 percent month-over-month. Here are six ways to lure talented engineers to your start-up.
Around the Country: Philadelphia?
Philadelphia sets its sights on becoming America?s next big tech town. A new TV show features a skilled pair of entrepreneurs who trade up from low-value items to get what they want. Street Fight plans a ?Summit West? on local marketing strategies. A new report explains why companies relocate. These are the 10 most expensive ballparks. Chief Executive magazine lists its best and worst states to do business. A student has 13 years of perfect attendance.
Around the World: Luxembourg?
Michael T. Snyder offers 22 signs that the Spanish economy is heading into a great depression. Unemployment reaches a record high in the Euro zone. Darcie Connell suggests five reasons entrepreneurs flee America, including a desire to escape from suburbia: many expats ?grew tired of suburban sprawl.? America presses China over its currency. Here are 42 things you will see only in China. TripAdvisor users say London is the best place to visit, and this flyover shows why. Canadians dominate the world?s 10 strongest banks. And in case you didn?t know, Luxembourg is the fifth-largest holder of American securities, debt and equity.
Finance: Selling Out
One study finds small-business owners are finding it less difficult to obtain credit; another shows there was less lending to small businesses in March as companies lost confidence in the economy. TD Bank kicks off a campaign to discuss the borrowing needs of 30,000 small businesses. John Adams reports that banks are finally putting together the right mix of payments and banking technology to satisfy small-business clients. Sales of small businesses rise as prices decline. The Small Business Administration needs investors for its new early stage capital program. Citibank rolls out a rewards program for small businesses.
Red Tape: Imports Week
Contractors are preparing for new rules. John Arensmeyer says small businesses want the government to invest in clean energy. Apple avoids paying a lot of taxes. Sandra Block reports that most student loans would be unaffected by the coming interest rate increase. Scott Lincicome reports on a new Web site and an ?imports week? sponsored by several trade associations that rely on imports to remain competitive. Joe Smith explains how to use a paper towel. The Small Business Administration adds a business matchmaking event to its National Small Business Week schedule. A lion tries to consume a baby.
Technology: Blackberry 10
The geek world likes the new Blackberry 10 and a college geek automates his dorm room. The Android phone is failing to get into businesses. Greenpeace is after some companies for their ?dirty cloud? computing. Barnes & Noble has a partnership with Microsoft. Intuit grabs for a bigger chunk of the small-business, software-as-a-service market. New wearable devices can track people through a wireless network. Marc Andreessen says there is no tech bubble (and the smartphone is still underhyped). Google introduces automatic translation in Gmail. Dave Mosher explains a future of automatic pilots and robotic farmers. A study says the cloud saves the government more than $5 billion a year. Facebook is now helping organ donors. Evernote is worth $1 billion. Symantec reports that small-company security problems can threaten large corporate nets. M.I.T.?s Technology Review identifies 10 technologies set to transform the world. A computer glitch summons 1,200 residents to jury duty and causes a huge traffic jam.
The Week?s Bests
Prerna Gupta explains why entrepreneurs become disillusioned: ?There is no such thing as success. It is a moving target. A mirage. By the time you attain what you thought was your wildest dream, reality has moved on and left your dreams in the dust. And the desire for success grows stronger still.?
David Lavenda says that great ideas often come in pairs: ?Ideas do have their unique time in history. When there is a profound interest in solving a problem, more than one person will work on it, and each will have access to the same assortment of knowledge and underlying technology. What develops is a race to make the discovery or create the invention. And in some cases, a race?s ?photo finish? produces a duplicate invention.?
Gabriel Aidra thinks team building is a waste of time: ?I?m not saying that relationships and communication and cooperation aren?t important, they most certainly are, but going to a team-building workshop ? that?s like explaining the concept of friendship to two strangers and then expecting them to be friends. ? It just makes no sense.?
This Week?s Question: Are you disillusioned?
Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.
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