These Small Business Owners Are Making Their Own History
When we honor African American History Month each February, we typically look back at some men and women who influenced the course of history in mighty ways. But just as important are the smaller events that change the course of history in families and communities. There is no doubt that for many in the African American community, getting firmly planted on a path that leads to financial success is difficult and fraught with obstacles. Last summer we watched as many African American small business owners in Ferguson, Missouri were dealt severe blows. But despite the challenges and hardships, the entrepreneurial spirit among African Americans is strong and their success stories are many. In their own unique, yet powerful ways, they are defining an important stream of Black History in our country and the lessons they have to share will benefit all Americans who have the courage to pursue the American Dream. I went looking for some of these stories and asked for African American business owners and entrepreneurs to share their wisdom. Here’s a sample of the sage advice and encouragement I received. Alvin J. Woods owns The Media Model in New York City where he specializes in branding and public relations. He comes right to the point, “No one cares – work harder.” “As a business owner, you have to come to terms with comprehending that no one cares. It may sound a bit harsh, but no one truly cares enough about your business brand to help you through a financial downturn,” Woods explains, adding that this should motivate you to work hard so you’ll be prepared for the difficult times. “We all have the same 24-hours in a day, don’t waste your time looking for someone to save you or help when in need – just work harder,” he advises. Dr. Dominique’ N. Reese owns Reese Financial Services where she helps her clients create a foundation for wealth through money mastery. In some ways, she echoes Woods: “Practicing diligence in the midst of discouragement is a factor of success and has worked well for me. It’s very difficult to do, which is why most don’t do it, but when it is done, it does pay off.” “The secret to my success has been a relentless pursuit of my vision – my dream – and good relationship management skills. I have had some moments in building my business when I became deeply discouraged and almost gave up, but then I sought motivation or it came to me through some ‘right-place-right-time’ experience,” Reese explains. Kimberly Ramsawak is the founder of Tourism Exposed, an online community that helps students and career changers find their dream jobs in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. Kimberly urges budding entrepreneurs not to “waste time getting ready – just start!” And once started she has two important “secrets to success as an African American entrepreneur”: Focus on what you can control and don’t ever underestimate the power of persistence. Are you noticing a theme here? This doesn’t surprise me; if there is one thing that entrepreneurs from the African American community understand, it’s the importance of being persistent. Many have experienced persistence that has stretched through several generations of family members. Dana Rankin, owner of Carter’s Coffee Corner and Not Just Hoopz Jewelry, is...
read moreDon’t Depend On Homeowner’s Insurance for Your Home-Based Business
Here’s a scenario for anyone running a home-based business: The UPS guy makes a business delivery to your house, but slips, falls and sues. Are you covered by your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance? You’re probably not, and that’s just one example of why owners of home-based businesses need to seriously consider their insurance needs. Business equipment and inventory losses beyond $2,500 will not be covered by the typical homeowner’s policy should you suffer a loss. In the same way, if you see clients at home and they suffer an injury like our UPS guy did in the opening paragraph of this article, you’ll need some kind of business coverage to protect you. Three levels of policy coverage Coverage options vary somewhat by state, but generally speaking you have three “upgrades” to select from, depending on your business and your exposure to risks. At the “bare bones” level, you may be eligible to get a rider on your homeowner’s policy to cover equipment and inventory beyond $2,500 or whatever amount is included in your standard homeowner’s policy. The Insurance Information Institute says that in some cases you can bump that $2,500 up to $5,000 for as little as $25 per year. Overall, coverage can be increased to $10,000. In the same way, you can add a liability endorsement to your homeowner’s policy that would cover our UPS guy and a few other business visitors. However, adding the endorsement is limited to home-based businesses that receive very few visitors at home, like freelance writers. You need to check in your state to see how far you can push this before you need to go to the next step in this insurance progression. When adding riders and endorsements to your homeowner’s policy won’t cover the amount of equipment or inventory you keep in your home, or you need better liability coverage, there are in-home business policies available. Additional areas covered by these kinds of policies would include, off-site property, loss of important documents, accounts receivable, and perhaps some loss of income if you suffer a disaster or fire that shuts you down. Further, these policies may cover a few employees that you might have working at your home. They also give you broader liability coverage. Standard business owner’s policy The top level of coverage is a standard business owner policy. This is really the same coverage a brick-and-mortar business would carry and delivers broader coverage than a policy written specifically for a home-based business. Along with everything you need to consider in order to purchase sufficient coverage for your home-based business, you also need to check your automobile insurance to see if you’re covered while you’re out driving for your business. Further, if you have employees, none of the policies mentioned here cover workers compensation, health or disability...
read moreGood 2014 Economic Figures? Check Your Math
Sometimes there are troubling phrases that creep into our language so slowly that few people stop to consider the consequences. “The new normal,” is one of these. When real GDP growth for 2014 was announced last month, it came in at 2.4 percent. Politicians crowed about how the economy grew throughout the year, pointing to the GDP numbers as well as falling unemployment figures. However, since 1950, our economy has averaged a real GDP growth rate of 3.2 percent. Without any historical perspective all the happy talk about the 2.4 figure would make a casual observer think that we did quite well in 2014. Keep this up for a while and our leadership will have established a “new normal.” And hey, if it manages to tick up to 2.8 percent, many of our citizens will think we’re experiencing an economic boom. Grading the economy However, if you do the simple math of comparing our Post WWII historic average of 3.2 percent to last year’s 2.4 percent, you’ll see that it’s fully 25 percent below average. If we were school teachers and we gave an “A” to a growth rate of 3.2 percent, we’d have to give last year’s 2.4 percent at best a “C” grade. And frankly, my little comparison is being very kind; last year’s growth didn’t get close to our nation’s long-term average growth rate. If your child scored 25 percent lower than his school’s solid “C” students, there would be some uneasy moments at home on report card day. Consumer spending was a bright spot and really helped out in the fourth quarter. This is good for many small business owners. The oil shale boom fueled the economy as well. In 2014, North Dakota and Texas ranked one and two in their job growth rate at 5.4 and 4 percent respectively. Further over the last decade, we owe a lot to the Lone Star State. According to a report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, between 2000 and 2013, Texas employment grew by nearly 25 percent while the rest of the US expanded by less than 5 percent. Warning: With oil and gas prices falling so dramatically, this boom may be over for a while. Also, a strengthening dollar will hurt exports, which were already lackluster. Get a job Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO at Gallup, put the unemployment picture in its proper perspective recently. He noted how the media, White House and Wall Street were celebrating a 5.6 percent unemployment rate. He then went on to list all the categories of workers that are excluded when the U.S. Department of Labor starts counting up unemployed folks: Anyone who has stopped looking for a job over the last four weeks, Anyone who works a minimum of one hour and pockets $20 in a week, and Part time workers who need and want fulltime employment. As bad as that is, Clifton cited a figure that is even more tragic. Right now our economy only has full-time jobs available for 44 percent of the adult population. That figure needs to be at least 50 percent, which would require the creation of 10 million new jobs. If there are not substantial improvements in our economy over the next few years, we will certainly be stuck with a...
read moreHow Laughter Can Prove Very Profitable
The first week of April is “officially” Laugh at Work Week, although I’m a little unclear who’s in charge of making that designation. You’ll note that it starts with April Fools Day, which we have discussed on these pages before. But we shouldn’t limit our workplace chuckles and guffaws to one week. Research and personal experience teach us that good humor puts us in, well, a good humor. If you’re the boss, you need to be approachable. If your employees feel like they are walking on egg shells any time you’re around, you’re in deep trouble. The only way you have a chance at learning what is really going on and what is on your employees’ minds is to establish open lines of communication. What’s so funny? Being able to recognize and humorously comment on your own foibles is one of the best ways to make those around you feel comfortable enough to tell you the bad news when it occurs. But this isn’t the only reason you, and your crew, need to take yourself lightly and find the humor in situations. Science has demonstrated a strong correlation between a sense of humor and good health, which will translate to less absenteeism at your workplace, along with a more well-adjusted workforce. People who laugh have lower blood pressure on average, their brains are better stimulated and they may even suffer less heart disease. The old saying that “laughter is the best medicine” may be far closer to the truth that we ever realized. You may even want to recruit employees who demonstrate a good sense of humor. Not only are they likely to be more healthy, there’s a good chance they’ll spread their good vibes to their co-workers. However, even more importantly: a good sense of humor correlates to higher intelligence and greater verbal creativity. Maybe one of your interview questions should be, “Tell me a favorite joke of yours or a funny experience you once had!” Just kidding. But hopefully you can get a feel for a candidate’s sense of humor. By the way, with today’s premium on content and social media marketing, bringing on new employees who have the ability to be verbally creative is a major plus for most businesses. The last laugh There’s another adage that comes to mind, “Sometimes, the only thing you can do is laugh.” Anyone who has been involved in the world of small business for any length of time knows that occasionally you find yourself in an impossible situation. Let’s face it, sometimes we fail. Hopefully our failures aren’t big enough to sink us or cause huge problems; but $#%^ happens, as they say. In those situations, breaking the tension with a good laugh is often the best – and only – thing you can do. When you’ve experienced a set back, try to come out of it smarter and with a smile on your face. If you can do that, you’ll be ready to do battle another day. Now that we have a feel for many of the great benefits of sharing a few laughs over the course of a workday, be sure to put humor on your to-do list. Don’t let your meetings get dull and boring; have a few laughs. Put a few special days on the...
read moreThis Week in Small Business: The Importance of Selfies to the Survival of Western Civilization and much more…
Marketing today is like the Space Race back in the 1960s. There’s more research being devoted to developing new models than ever before and that’s reflected in this week’s news. Also, pundits continue to hedge their bets on which way the economy will trend in the medium and long term. Marketing Nemo Chu outlines a four-phase marketing process that he used to build two seven-figure companies in three years. Lots of specific details included. Of course, word-of-mouth marketing is always fantastic and these tips should help. Does the term “marketing” make you think “expensive” and “no measurable results”? If so, you’ll benefit from Neil Patel’s article How to experiment with marketing without ruining your business. Know the difference so you can create the right content: Content Marketing for Lead Generation vs Demand Generation. And if you’re new to blogging, these five basics will help you avoid looking like a newbie. Are “selfies” more important than we think? Steve Colquhoun believes they make the marketing world go around. That’s the micro view. For the macro view, study these six transformational changes that are coming to the marketing world. There’s been a lot of talk – both positive and negative – about marketing on Facebook, but one thing is certain: You need to know how to make its graph search work if you want any chance at success. Re: Email subject lines. Here are the ones with the best and worst open rates. And here’s an infographic on the biggest email marketing myths. If you need a solid primer in how to do keyword research, the Moz blog has this one. And since we’re talking fundamentals here, unfortunately most fail at digital marketing. This Forbes article sums it up and offers solutions. Inspiration “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” said Mark Twain never, but here’s the true story on how small biz has made a comeback. They say the first step is the most difficult. Larry Alton offers tips on how to start following your passion and Kimanzi Constable helps you transition out of your day job and into the life of an entrepreneur. Odd, but true Did you know that the NFL didn’t have a YouTube channel until just before the SuperBowl? That tidbit is included in these revealing digital marketing stats. Management Your finances get audited, why not audit your business looking for ways you can innovate? Silicon Valley professionals are mostly white or Asian men. Here’s how a one tech company managed to hire a more diverse workforce. If you own valuable intellectual property you have to be able to get the most value from it yet protect it at the same time; Should you assign it or license it? Falling gas prices give small business owners opportunities to expand and try new strategies. If you need a primer on how to use “big data” this is an overview and there’s also a related white paper. Need a location for your small business? Washington D.C. posts the highest earnings for small biz owners. Conference attendance costs both time and money. I offer six tips to maximize your ROI in this article I wrote for Chamber of Commerce.com. And speaking of events, MarTech, the Marketing Tech Conference, is set for March 31-April 1 in San Francisco. Economy, politics,...
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