Fight Higher Fuel Prices With Street Smarts
It’s no secret that gas prices are on their way up significantly again. Upward pressures due to global demand and unrest in the Middle East always seem to trump increased domestic production. I’m certain the neither of us like it, but there’s nothing we can do about it, except incorporate strategies to reduce our consumption. Small businesses do not have as much ability to absorb these price hikes as large corporations, so that means SMBs need to play all the angles. These “street smart” tips should get your started: Route planning. There are a number of good apps available today that allow you to find the most fuel-efficient way to drive between Point A and Point B. Many are free. See if they take traffic into consideration. For small businesses that need to make deliveries or the solopreneur who calls on a variety of clients, a fee-based app like Route4Me is worth considering. You can get the ideal route for multiple stops. I need to mention one more thing before moving on: not only does efficient route planning save on fuel, it saves on your time as well as all the maintenance associated with keeping vehicles in good condition. Scheduling. Virtually every metropolitan area has distinct traffic flows associated with the morning and evening commute hours. Sitting in traffic is a huge waste of fuel and time even if you’re navigating the most efficient route. Can you make some creative schedule adjustments that would keep your drivers out of the heavy commute traffic? Perhaps stationing a company delivery vehicle off site to allow a route to begin from a more favorable position could be arranged. Maybe starting earlier or later would be a strategy that works for you. Maintain your vehicles. Dirty air filters, under-inflated tires and other maintenance items can erode fuel efficiency. You might want to move up to higher performance air intakes and other upgrades when you have the opportunity. If you have a fleet of vehicles, you could use one to test various upgrades and see if the changes would be worth making to the others. Also, get unnecessary junk out of and off of your vehicle; extra weight costs MPGs. Promote efficient driving habits. Some folks are into “hypermiling” which promotes a wide range of driving tactics to maximize fuel efficiency. Most are not suited for business, however one of the biggest principles behind hypermiling is: go slower and steadier. Here are 100 driving tips—from the ridiculous to the very practical—and if you want to see how the Mythbusters increased their mileage by 30 percent as they held a steady speed of 45 mph, check out the video of the experiment and the after-show. Weigh in on proposed gas tax hike. You need to know that Congress is beginning to consider a proposal to increase the federal tax on gasoline by 12 cents and then index it to inflation. They promise to offset the increase by reinstating some tax breaks. Check out the proposal and let your representatives in DC know if your for it, or against it. Finally, remember that higher fuel prices hit your employees personally as well. More flexible scheduling and telecommuting might work for your business and help increase loyalty among your...
read more3 Precepts To Turn Your Biz World Upside Down
Disruptive innovation. Within the hallowed halls of the country’s top business schools, there’s a fierce debate raging over the concept of disruptive innovation. Some scholars even claim it doesn’t exist. If I can steal a line from former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart when writing his opinion on the landmark 1964 Jacobellis v. Ohio pornography decision: I may not be able to define disruptive innovation, “but I know it when I see it.” Most “innovation” is evolutionary. It effects the flow of commerce in marginal ways, like “veering to the left” at a five-point intersection. Disruptive innovation is like hitting the brakes and swerving to take a sudden sharp right-hand turn that seemed to come out of nowhere. Hacks get hacked Consider Uber, Lyft and Sidecar, the app-based services that connect riders to drivers at cities all across the country. Are they disruptive? Just ask any of the cabbies who are protesting from sea to shining sea. Uber pioneered the idea of connecting riders with private drivers via an app and having the fare settled in the virtual world. Any area of business is susceptible to disruptive innovation. You might be very close to coming up with an innovation that changes the course of your business. The first step you must make is to not idealize disruptive innovation. Do not elevate the concept thinking that it’s only within reach for a few specially blessed individuals. Thomas Edison—whose lightbulb cartoonists use to illustrate an idea—is the one who said that “genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” That leads to the first precept: To develop a game-changing concept, you must be willing to sweat. Don’t go with the flow If we look at notable recent disruptive innovations, they generally occur when two “rivers of commerce or technology” are merged into one new stream. The iPhone merged computing with mobile phones. Uber merged rides with cloud computing. Netflix merged video rentals with online browsing. To sense these opportunities, you have to move beyond the four walls that currently define your business model. Second precept: To develop a game-changing concept, you must engage the world outside of your sandbox. I think my final point is pretty obvious: committing to the development of a disruptive innovation is not for the faint of heart. By its very nature it means that you’ll be navigating through uncharted territory and you are far more likely to fail than succeed. Third precept: To develop a game-changing concept, you must be bold and not afraid of repeated failures. Are you up for a new adventure? If so, step back and start taking in the bigger picture. Grab a copy of Scott Anthony’s “The Little Black Book of Innovation,” talk to people, capture your ideas and go change the...
read moreTwo Court Decisions Set to Shape US Commerce
It has been a big week for businesses, workers, government, unions and the First Amendment. The US Supreme Court handed down two 5-4 decisions that will certainly affect commerce in the years to come. The most widely anticipated decision was the Hobby Lobby case. The Hobby Lobby chain of craft stores is a closely held corporation. On religious grounds, its owners objected to the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that requires providing contraception services. Decision applies narrowly While the Supreme Court decision didn’t let all corporations off the hook, if the corporation is run by a small group of individuals, those employers can claim a religious exception. In practical terms, they will now be treated like nonprofit religious organizations, which have already been able to opt out of the contraceptive mandate. Less direct government control over the day-to-day operations of small businesses is a good thing and this decision seems to go in that direction. We’ll have to see how it plays out in practical terms. Unions take a hit The Supremes also dealt a blow to unions. In the perpetual standoff between business and unions, this seems like a win for business, but only in the most general sense. The decision centered around public sector employees and did not cover private sector employees. Home health care workers who have opted out of union membership cannot be required to pay the union a fee to cover collective bargaining activities. If they disagree with positions taken by the union, requiring payment would violate their right to free speech, the Supreme Court ruled. This could lead to a significant drain on union coffers and membership. The only real increase of union membership in recent decades has been among public sector employees. Weakening the public sector union base, would generally weaken the US union movement overall. While US business didn’t have a dog directly in this fight, I suppose most leaders are cheering the decision. White knuckle outcomes And while each of these decisions will shape the future of commerce, perhaps even more significant is the fact that both were 5-4 decisions. That’s the US legal system’s equivalent of a World Cup soccer match going to a penalty kick shootout. Winners come out knowing that they narrowly escaped defeat and losers have a hard time accepting the decision. I sure like those 9-0 Supreme Court decisions and I wouldn’t object to the US team winning one down in Brazil by a score of 3-0. Both events seem quite rare nowadays, especially when the stakes are...
read moreWhen God Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade and Teach Business Principles
For as long as I’ve been following current events, problems in our system of education have been making headlines. Math, science, test scores and literacy are favorite topics. However, teaching entrepreneurship is a subject I seldom—if ever—see discussed, so I doff my figurative hat to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) for its Lemonade Day. Join in and pledge to buy a glass of lemonade from a young entrepreneur in your neighborhood. It’s a cute and memorable way to put the subject in front of the public, but let’s not drop it after this one event. I think teaching the principles of business and inspiring the attitude of entrepreneurism should be a national priority. Right now STEM education and careers (science, technology, engineering and math) are the hot topic, yet statistics indicate that they aren’t quite the problem some are hyping them up to be. The US graduates about twice as many STEM-trained students as there are new jobs each year and Rutgers Professor Hal Salzman recently pointed out that IT wages today are about the same as when Bill Clinton was president. If there was a huge shortage, market pressures should have pushed them up. Creating world-class STEM professionals is, of course, critical to our future, but cultivating the entrepreneurs who are able to turn great tech ideas into business realities, is even more important. Which Steve did more to change the world, Jobs or Wozniak? Here are six principles we should teach our children if we want to bring out their entrepreneurial best: Goal setting. Get kids to see the connection between today and a point in the future and how the path between those two points can change what the future is like. As they grow older, show them how one goal is a step to another, bigger goal. Selling. Sell is not a four-letter word; it’s the activity that drives the economy, which creates opportunities and allows people to realize their potential and achieve their dreams (goals). Get kids excited to sell. As adults, we can do a lot to make selling a positive experience for children. Financial facts. Money and wealth obey some very strict laws and none of us are exempt. We need to teach these to our kids at an early age and help them create the financial habits required for success throughout life. We are truly doing our kids a disservice if we don’t teach them the facts of financial life. Relationships. Economic relationships and personal relationships have never been closer or more important than they are today. There is a huge “anti-bullying” campaign right now, which is good. However, we should be teaching a proactive approach to positive relationships. Show children how we are all connected and when your neighbor does well, it can help you do well also. Teams and Leadership. For most of us, there are times when we are called to follow and times when we are called to lead. Children need to be prepared for both roles and find which suits them best. Students who want to lead, need to understand the responsibility that it requires. Social responsibility. Giving back to the community, treating employees well and being a good neighbor are all crucial for continued business success. Children need to be taught these virtues...
read moreAre You Buried Under an Avalanche of Apps?
Do the words, “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” ring a bell? If you’re like many small business owners, you and your employees have downloaded beaucoup apps onto your smartphone and other devices, because they seemed useful…at one point in time. There’s another variation on “app creep,” and that’s when one app that you love spins off another app—like Foursquare seems poised to do. In any case, according to a report by Intermedia – Death by 1000 Cloud Apps – small businesses are being bogged down by an over-abundance of apps. The report concludes that this glut of apps makes small businesses contend with: Too many choices, Too much to manage, Too many logins, and Too much risk. Choices We all know how kids freeze when they are presented with a display case full of yummy treats and have to narrow down their choice to one. It’s the same with apps. Small businesses spin their wheels doing all the due diligence required to select an app that is right for their team—well, at least if they really take the time to figure out if it will perform as advertised and if that performance is something that will actually benefit the business. Management According to the math presented in the report, if you have 15 people using an average of 5.5 apps each, that’s 82.5 accounts that will need to be managed day in and day out. Of course, as more apps get added and the business evolves, there are all kinds of data migration and integration issues that must be managed. And don’t forget that as a small business owner, you’re responsible for training existing and new employees on these apps. I’m worn out just reporting these issues… Logins Here’s some more math from the report: It takes an average of 20 seconds to login to an app; that means that a 75-person small business can rack up more than 570 wasted hours and $13,900 per year in lost productivity. You know the old saying, “The devil is in the details.” Small details add up over time and unfortunately because they are small they often go unnoticed. Advice: start noticing. Risk Most of the cloud-based apps you deploy will handle personal data or company information that you need to protect. Multiplying your apps multiplies your risk. Further, employees will have many apps deployed on a variety of devices, which can be lost, stolen or inadvertently left somewhere in a “logged in” state. At the end of “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” when Harrison Ford carefully evaluates each vessel and finally grabs one, the attending knight pronounces, “You have selected wisely.” Small businesses need to take the same care and caution when committing to a cloud app, otherwise they’re just making more work for themselves and decreasing...
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