How to Listen and Be Heard During National Small Business Week
More often than not, Economics and Politics are like conjoined twins who don’t get along very well. I can hear Economics shouting at Politics, “I always feel used by you!” However, occasionally the two come together and play nice-nice and that happens at least once a year during National Small Business Week. It’s a tradition President Kennedy started back in 1963 that every Oval Office occupant has continued. This year the event runs from May 4-8 with the theme of “SBA: Dream Big, Start Small.” SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet will highlight the week with small business events in Miami, Los Angeles, San Antonio and New York City. The week winds up in Washington, D.C. where national winners will be recognized and receive their awards. While this is an SBA-sponsored week, a variety of larger corporations climb onto the bandwagon, scheduling various events intended to benefit small business owners. Discovering events near you is not the easiest thing to do if you aren’t near one of the major cities mentioned above. Search for events However, if you’re even a novice social media maven and semi-schooled Googler, there is a good chance you can unearth some local gems. Hit Google first with a search like “small business week events.” That’s going to deliver results. Along with the straight web search, hit the link on the Google search results page for “News” to see if it reveals any additional insights. Try adding the name of your community or the largest city within driving distance to that search, just in case Google hasn’t already figured out your location. I recommend searching Twitter as well. When I last checked there was @sbwem and @sbwstl for Eastern Missouri and St. Louis. Ft. Lauderdale is also represented on Twitter with @SBWFLL. If your community is doing anything to mark the week, consider establishing a Twitter account to promote your events. This might be handled by your Chamber of Commerce or other local business association. I suspect that the hashtag #smallbusinessweek will start being used as we approach May 4. It is already appearing occasionally in the twitterverse. Head over to Twazzup to monitor the hashtag action. You may find new events, and even if there’s nothing happening in your hometown, you’ll discover corporate sponsors of National Small Business Week as well as get some business inspiration. Rattle some cages At the top of this, I noted the relationship between economics and politics. National Small Business Week 2015 happens at a time when lawmakers are considering a variety of bills that would impact the small business scene. Click over to Govtrack to scan this list of bills. Perhaps the best way for you and the other small business owners in your community to celebrate this week is to take some time to personally contact your representatives in Washington, D.C. and your state capital. Also touch bases with trade associations and other commercial organizations to see if they are reflecting your needs and desires in their lobbying. Small business is always the 800-pound gorilla in the room when politics and the economy are being discussed. However, usually this gorilla stays pretty quiet. Can’t we at least make a little noise during National Small Business...
read moreWhy We’re Celebrating Small Business Week on a Very Tight Budget This Year
The Small Business Administration says that National Small Business Week – May 4-8 – is for “celebrating America’s entrepreneurs.” But can anyone afford the party favors this year? One of the uplifting facts of entrepreneurship, is that many successful founders start their businesses in slow economies. However, that hasn’t been the case in the past five years when entrepreneurial start-ups have declined. We can thank our elected officials and policy makers for contributing to an environment that make starting, nurturing or growing a small business difficult at best. Missing a low target As I wrote this, January through March growth figures were released. Experts expected a lousy number like an annualized rate of 1 percent. If only it had been that good! The US Commerce Department pegged first quarter 2015 growth at 0.2 percent annualized. In other words, it’s essentially no growth. This comes after last year’s growth was a paltry 2.4 percent. Some pundits will point to the snow storms – as if winter is supposed to be a season for shorts and muscle-tees – but that can, at best, only explain for a small part of the problem. It’s interesting that “income disparity” and the minimum wage have become major national media stories while the disparity between large companies and small businesses has been virtually ignored. Goldman Sachs recently released a report that shows how poorly small businesses have faired during this recovery when compared to large corporations. In fact, historically, small firms, those with fewer than 500 employees, have outpaced big companies in terms of job creation. That situation has reserved transforming our economic landscape. Small Biz is MIA As I noted, the real number of small business firms has declined and revenues have failed to keep pace. Let’s take a closer look at what that means. If we take the historical small business growth rate that the US experienced between 1977 and 2007, and project it through 2012, we fall 600,000 small businesses short. There should be another 600,000 small businesses located across the fruited plain. Think of how many jobs that would add to our economy. There would be work for those millions of individuals who have simply dropped out of the labor force. It would also put labor market pressures on wages and tend to push up entry-level incomes. We probably wouldn’t need a national debate about the central-government-imposed minimum wage. How will it ever be possible to ease the income gap with these kinds of economic conditions? No fiats from Washington, D.C. will change that reality. In fact, so far virtually everything our politicians have done has made the situation worse. When few people are founding new small businesses, it kills the biggest opportunity individuals have to move themselves into the upper income levels. Owning vs earning The only real path for upward mobility is to move from being a wage-earner to a property-owner and the property I’m talking about is a business. When small business formation is as anemic as it is today, you can’t logically expect any other outcome than a widening gap between the rich and the poor. So as we approach National Small Business Week in 2015, this year I think we need to celebrate the “potential” of small business ownership and entrepreneurism, and also give a special pat...
read moreThis Week in Small Business: Good advice to follow, bad advice to avoid
This week’s digest of curated wisdom starts with telling you how to avoid bad advice and ends by taking a dip in the Shark Tank. Marketing and sales There’s a lot of bad marketing advice floating around and here are tips on what you need to avoid. Shopify has put together a series of videos that explains the basics of content marketing. If you’re planning an ecommerce site, or yours isn’t performing up to snuff, review the 10 practical tips here and make sure your bases are covered. Email Be careful about casting too wide a net in your email marketing campaigns, says Paula Chiocci. That are three more tips are here. Social Media/Digital If you understand the psychology of why users continually comeback to Facebook, like, and share items, it should help your social marketing efforts. LinkedIn launched some new tools recently. The “Lead Accelerator” could boost your social media marketing. Along those same lines: LinkedIn can be the best lead generator for B2Bs. Jeff Bullas goes through the steps. Here are three tips to increase your reach on Facebook, although the author also says that you shouldn’t worry about it too much. Pinterest is the ideal social media marketing platform for many small businesses. Here are some of the best tips. Are you taking advantage of the synergy between your social media and content marketing efforts? Here are three ways. Bone up on the seven digital marketing skills you – or someone in your business – need. Content The five points made here about a successful content marketing campaign would be the answers on any marketing final exam. Etch them into your brain. If you’re creating blog content like crazy and not scoring the followers you need, review these 12 ways to increase traffic. You gotta love lists in your content marketing program. Here are 25 list ideas you should scoop up. WordStream founder Larry Kim explains how to use PPC marketing to make your content go viral. Video Google makes the case for online video: Mobile viewers are more likely to watch, share, and feel connected to ads and branded video. Leadership, management and productivity Launching or updating a website soon? Usability is a lot more than just a good looking design. Are you looking for a social media marketing person? Here are the 14 traits they need to be successful. And speaking of hiring, in this article you’ll find the five signs a prospective employee will drain your team dry. Entrepreneur Reva Minkoff aims to stop small businesses from making the same mistakes over and over. See if you’re among the guilty. Rory Vaden says that there’s no such thing as “time management” just “self management.” In this article and podcast he talks about how to procrastinate your way to success! To meet expectations, you have to understand your customers. This article focuses on millennials. Next-generation social analytics are transforming digital marketing speed and accuracy, according to AdWeek. Here’s a list of upcoming small business events. Look it over and follow my site for announcements about my scheduled appearances this Spring and Summer. As April 15 fades in our rearview mirrors, you may be wondering which financial records you need to keep, and which you can chuck. Here’s guidance. Why the Internet of Things Is...
read moreStay Legal in the Evolving Labor Market
The labor market today is becoming a richer and more varied tapestry of options than it has ever been. We still have the traditional salaried and hourly employees, but we have a whole new slate of self-employed or semi-self-employed (the Department of Labor is going to love that term!) workers, including virtual assistants, freelancers, peer-to-peer industry workers – think Uber drivers – temps and others I’m probably missing. Further, digital communications have greatly increased the value of being able to respond immediately to customer requests and maintain a high level of workforce flexibility throughout many industry sectors. Flintstone era labor laws? However, most labor laws were written in a different age. They were developed when work schedules were far more simple and when unions were powerful in private industry. With few exceptions, businesses closed in the evenings…and on weekends…and certainly on Sundays and holidays. Alas, those days are gone forever. Consumers demand much more and that can put employers in a bind. This is rearing its head right now with battles over unpredictable work schedules and positions that require “on-call work.” And the retail industry may be the hardest hit by the controversy. In an effort to respond to customer demand and unexpected employee absences, some businesses will call in workers on virtually no notice. Often the call-ins today are digitally powered, coming via company message boards or text message alerts. When workers discover that they must report on short notice, it makes issues such as arranging child care especially difficult. Employee-friendly scheduling There are various dimensions of this to consider as a small business owner. First, the culture of your company and your ability to achieve the highest levels of customer satisfaction depend on employees who are happy with their work. If you are using a scheduling system that by its very nature causes dissatisfaction among your employees, you have a problem that needs fixing right now. Second, the laws governing these situations vary by state. Eight states plus Washington, D.C. have “reporting time pay laws.” These regulations say that employers must pay for a minimum number of hours when they call someone into work. These states are California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island. If you’re located in one of these states, be certain you understand what your requirements are. It’s also important that your employees are being categorized properly, whether they are exempt or non-exempt. You have more flexibility with exempt, salaried, employees, but you can’t declare someone exempt unless they fit into they categories defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. They must: Meet a minimum salary threshold, Perform duties regardless of the number of hours worked, Hold an executive, administrative or professional position. Don’t abuse good relations Small business owners often develop close relationships with their employees and this can lead to an assumed “flexibility” with regards to labor law. Don’t make this mistake. Not only is it unfair to your employees, it can lead to significant legal problems when the inevitable dispute arises. Although I said that some of our labor laws are out of date, they are still the law and must be adhered to. It will be interesting to see how they evolve in the upcoming years. Imagine trying to write a regulation covering a...
read moreDon’t Pester Customers For their Zip Code and More Radio Shack Lessons
A friend is a ham radio operator and he remembers Radio Shack from the days when it was a paradise for electronic hobbyists. He told me that at one point he hadn’t been in a Radio Shack for several years, but when he did return he thought he had walked into some kind of oddly organized stereo/television/cellphone store. He greeted the news of Radio Shack’s bankruptcy with a little sadness, but more than that, he wondered why it took so long. Analysts have been busy writing the company’s obituary since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. About 2,000 stores will be closed and I suspect that its business partner, Sprint, will convert the others into mobile phone outlets. As the friend I mentioned earlier illustrates, when Radio Shack was healthy, it was catering to electronic hobbyists and innovators. What’s ironic is that these individuals haven’t disappeared, they’ve just moved. Unfortunately Radio Shack didn’t move with them. What’s in a name? The name says it all: Radio Shack. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that the number of people who actually buy a radio today can be counted on one hand. Yes, I exaggerate a little, but my point is valid. Outside of our cars, most of us have very little need for a radio, and fewer still are tinkering with radio circuitry. However, the hobbyists and tinkerers are still around. I’m sure you know many people who have built their own computers. However, Radio Shack never seemed to be able to tap into this market. Further, the elevation of STEM courses in our educational system should have presented a huge marketing opportunity to Radio Shack. Since its founding, Apple has worked tirelessly putting their products into the hands of students, converting them to lifelong Apple users. Radio Shack could have partnered with school districts developing programs and selling components to help educate our youth. The strategy would have bolstered the bottom line and promoted the Radio Shack brand. It’s apparent that the market moved and Radio Shack didn’t move with it. Additionally, management made some mistakes that cost dearly. The zip code debacle Please excuse me while I vent on one specific customer service issue I think we all had with Radio Shack: For years you couldn’t so much as buy a battery at Radio Shack without disclosing your zip code. It was a huge – and unnecessary – annoyance. It was such a big deal that back in 2010, Con Chapman wrote a hilarious send up saying that an acquisition deal had fallen through because a hypocritical Radio Shack refused to tell the acquiring company its zip code. The company finally dropped the policy, but it was too little, too late. That is emblematic of how the company alienated its customers. If a company’s core business goes away and it hassles customers at the checkout counter, extinction is just a matter of time and in the case of Radio Shack, that time came on Feb. 5, 2015. Image: Radio Shack by Mike Mozart, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike...
read moreHow To Know For Sure That You’re Ready For Remote Employees
It’s almost impossible to read articles about small business, startups or productivity today without quickly hitting one that discusses the virtues of remote employees or adding long-distance freelancers to your team. The benefits are unassailable. Here are just a few: A recent ConnectSolutions survey reports that 77 percent of employees working remotely say they are more productive. Small businesses can add skills and talents that they cannot find or afford in the local market. Remote employees are often self-starters, therefore requiring less direct supervision. However, you need to do a self-check before you jump into this area, and if you do decide to move ahead with your plans to bring remote employees on board, you need to be prepared. It starts with you First, consider your management style and the way you think about work. If you are a super-traditionalist who believes work can only be measured by a time clock, you either need to drop your plans or change your attitude. Further, you probably need to adjust the way you organize your workplace, if possible. Generally, the kind of work assigned to a remote worker or freelancer is based in completing tasks and achieving goals. Consider these two scenarios: You ask an in-house employee to complete seven reports by the end of the day. Frankly, you’ve set the parameters in terms of both the quantity of work you need completed as well as the time frame. There’s a good chance the work will “expand” to fill the time. You ask a freelancer to complete seven reports and pay a fee per report. The freelancer finishes them more quickly and moves on to do work for another client or additional work for you. Which of these do you feel most comfortable with? The lesson is that you should have tasks and projects that you need to complete in a timely manner. When you have milestones like that, it often makes sense to turn them over to a remote employee or freelancer. Reach out and touch someone However, you need to have communication systems in place that keep everyone on the same page. There are a range of options today, including Email (as long as it is checked frequently), Instant messaging, Online whiteboard apps, Cloud-based apps, Video communications – Skype and the various on-line meeting systems – and Private social media platforms or “groups.” You also need to standardize file types that you use and perhaps deal with some branding issues if communications to third parties would be involved. For example, if you’re using a freelancer who will sometimes email your clients or others, it might be better if the email came from an address associated with your domain, e.g. j.smith@companyname.com. So if you decide that the benefits would serve your business well as you grow, be sure you’re mentally prepared and have the infrastructure in place to facilitate a smooth “on boarding”...
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