Wakeman Area Business Association

Very important article for us. It also touches on something that I talked about last year for the business association that with gas prices creeping up we need to emphasize shopping local to save money.

I will copy the whole article here, but here is the link to make sure I show the source.

Being in business in a small town or a rural area is different from being in a metropolitan area. Your local economy is certainly different from the national big picture. That’s why rural small business needs its own list of trends for 2009.

Here are my picks for the top trends for rural small businesses.

1. Local Economy - Each small town economy is different. Of course we are all interconnected, but each region has different dominating factors, whether it’s agriculture, minerals, small manufacturing, or something unique. It’s a better indicator for your business than the Dow Jones. Two bad wheat crops in a row will touch my business quicker than the tightening of the national credit market.

2. Energy Production - Oil and natural gas prices have fallen far from their record-breaking levels in 2008, but are still high enough to support continuing exploration. Wind power and other alternative manufacturing and production have boosted many local economies. This means opportunities to build businesses supporting larger energy production companies, as well as new opportunities in helping small businesses, local governments and homeowners adopt renewable energy.

3. Shop Local - High gas prices were the catalyst; lingering interest in shopping locally is one result. Combine that with the falling economy, and we’re seeing more small towns start or revive hometown shopping promotions. Searches on Small Biz Survival for “shop local” have quadrupled over the last four months. As an individual business owner, it’s your job to constantly, repeatedly communicate what you offer to your local customers.

4. Online Shopping - High gas prices have had a second effect for small town businesses: driving sales online. Entrepreneur.com reported a prediction that online retail will rise 17 percent this year to $204 billion. If you can compete online, it’s high time you do. As a small town business, you have a chance to tell your unique story and create an online shopping experience that big businesses have to pay dearly to try to replicate.

5. New Residents - Small towns will continue to see an influx of residents, escaping from metro areas. If the economy slides seriously downhill, I expect this to accelerate. Have you thought about how your business would serve new residents?

6. Atwoods Effect - Many new residents will be of the gentleman-farmer type. They may only have half an acre, but to them it’s a spacious ranchette. They need all the farming and country accessories that go with a rural lifestyle. You can be the one who provides them.

7. Regional Tourism - Instead of flying out to the tropics, many city residents will be looking for chances to travel regionally. Expect to see more family driving tours. The big beneficiaries will be the businesses that offer a slice of rural life, or a connection to the culture. This can be anything from traditional food making, old time crafts, old-fashioned farms, and even modern but rustic wineries.

8. Wildlife Assets - 87.5 million U.S. residents fished, hunted, or watched wildlife in 2006, up from 82 million in 2001, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. All together, they spent $122 million, primarily in rural areas where you find most of the wildlife. Small town businesses have opportunities to provide the individuals with more services, not only lodging and food, but also equipment, and even other activities for families.

9. Local Foods - Transporting food long distances costs not only dollars, but also has an environmental impact. Foodborne illnesses have been linked to imported foods and huge food processors. Put that together, and you have a growing group of people who are actively seeking local foods from smaller producers. (Do a Google search for “localvore“.) Small town businesses can take advantage of this by not only feeding local residents, but also by reaching the nearby metro areas. Local food businesses can band together to promote a regional food experience.

10. Millennial Generation - The millennial generation is bigger than the Baby Boomers, more entrepreneurial, more civic minded. You’ve never had a better chance to engage the youth of your community. These are the kids who will help many small town businesses adopt new technology.

Bonus Trend:

11. Online Interaction - Even in my small town of 5,000 people, I’m seeing waves of locals on Facebook and other social networks, as well as reviews of local motels and restaurants on TripAdvisor. Not only should you be present in these places to interact with your customers, but you can also actively encourage your fans to post their reviews.

Part of the Small Business Trends 2009 Trends Series.

* * * * *

About the Author: Becky McCray is a small town entrepreneur, co-owner of a liquor store and a cattle ranch. She writes at Small Biz Survival about small business and rural issues, based on her own successes and failures.

From Seth Godin’s Blog

Article written by Jonathon Fields for Small Business Trends

It wasn’t so hard to skate by when all ships were buoyed, when everyone was flush with cash. You didn’t have to work so hard to show you were the best. Or at least better than others. You just had to be good enough to take a big enough piece of the pie to get by.

Not any more (though, honestly, that’s never been my approach anyway).

When money gets tighter, people get pickier. Which means, if want to continue to not only survive, but thrive, you’re going to need to dig a bit more deeply into the differentiation well and publicly showcase why you are the woman, man or business that people should be handing their money over to.

Perfect example. Walking down the block looking for a place to grab lunch with my wife on a weekday, we passed 7 or 8 restaurants and every single one was close to being empty. Then we poked our heads into the local pub. We’d never been there before. And, it was packed.

Not because people were drinking their troubles away. They were all sitting and eating. And, 75% were moms in their 30s and 40s. Whaaa?

It wasn’t long until we figured out what was going on. This little pub had figured out a way to shine, while all the restaurants around them stumbled. Along with their standard menu, we were each given a long, 6 inch wide piece of paper and a red pen.

On the paper were about 50 different options for chopped salad mix-ins. We each sat choosing our salad items and, a few minutes later, two giant finely-chopped salads arrived at our table. We dove in, couldn’t finish either and reveled about how we never about this hidden salad gem before. But, clearly others had.

Since then, this little grill has become our go-to place for taking out, ordering in and the occasional dinner with friends, family style.

Because … they get it.

People are looking for value more than at any other time in decades. And, if you can’t strongly differentiate yourself, you and your business become fungible … replaceable … interchangeable.

And, that’s an awful place to be in a down economy.

So, how will you differentiate and showcase your unique value in 2009?

I’ve met enough small business owners to know that there are still plenty of you out there who have yet to move into the 21st century. For whatever reason, you’re still doing plenty of stuff that could be automated in your business. Or you’re doing things yourself that could be accomplished more efficiently by outsourcing to an expert.

Now is the time to take action. You simply cannot continue to do things the same way and expect different results, especially in this down economy. You will not survive.

Your primary focus, if your business is living on the edge between a red or black bottom line, should be cash flow. And to increase cash flow you have to sell. Anything that takes you away from selling is a threat to your cash flow. 

That’s why when I read the recent Intuit “Get Paid” survey results, I just shook my head. The survey was conducted in early October 2008 and included responses from 751 small business owners with less than 10 employees.

According to the results, 66 percent of small businesses still handwrite invoices, use word processing programs and spreadsheets, or simply don’t have a standardized method. 

Are you one of those businesses? It’s time for a change. You can sign up for online invoicing tools that will cost you about 10 bucks a month. Or you can use the free Billing Manager version provided by Intuit. Your time is worth more than 10 bucks a month. And if you’re spending your time manually invoicing, you’re not selling so you suffer a double whammy — you’re costing your business money and you’re not available to make a sale.

And here’s the case for outsourcing to an expert. Nearly 20 percent of small business owners admit to forgetting to invoice or follow up on an overdue invoice. Over 50 percent of these respondents admit that they are simply “not organized” and “lack an automated system for creating and tracking invoices.”

Ack! Find someone to take care of this for you now. Would you want to tell a bankruptcy judge you just were “not organized” and that’s why your business failed? How embarrassing would that be? You can find a reasonably priced virtual assistant who can handle this for you. That way you don’t have to worry about being disorganized and you can spend all of your time focusing on pumping up your bottom line by selling your heart out.

You can do your business a whole lot of good — and increase those sales too — simply by accepting credit cards. According to the survey, only 30 percent of small businesses accept credit cards and only 22 percent accept electronic checks. The most common forms of payment are standard checks with 85 percent followed by cash with 59 percent. People don’t carry much cash these days and plenty of them couldn’t find a check if they tried. And 20 percent of small businesses admit to having lost a customer because they could not accept credit cards. Don’t let that be your business.

If you’re serious about making the most of your cash flow, take a hard look at the things you are doing in your business. I bet you find at least one thing you can change by automating or outsourcing. Why not do that now and let me know what you found by leaving a comment. Or if you have a tip to offer, tell me about that too.

* * * * *

About the Author: Denise O’Berry is a small business expert who provides tools, tips and advice to help small business owners be successful. O’Berry is the author of “Small Business Cash Flow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success” and Founder of the Minding Your Own Business online network. Her blog can be found at Just for Small Business.

A recent study funded by the Small Business Administration (SBA) shows that for businesses with fewer than 20 employees, the cost of complying with federal regulations is approximately $7,647 per employee! Broken down by type, the study found that compliance with environmental regulations cost $3,296; with non-tax economic rules $2,127; with workplace regulations $928; and with tax compliance $1,304. Moreover, this amount doesn’t factor in the additional costs of complying with state and local regulations. Click here to read the SBA study, “The Impact of Regulatory Costs of Small Firms.”

Reprinted from smallbiztrends.com

CLEVELAND (Oct. 27, 2008) - Kevin O’Connor today announced the launch of his
Wirth Business Credit operation, part of a national business finance company that specializes in
providing small business owners with fast and flexible financing options for capital goods. His office is in Hudson, Ohio and he works directly with local small business owners throughout Cleveland.

“The latest Wall Street financial crises and teetering economy are hitting small business owners nationwide in the form of tighter credit and borrowing standards from traditional lenders, who are jittery about potential risk,” O’Connor said. “This presents a major dilemma for small business owners, who often lack the upfront cash and stringent collateral requirements that traditional financial institutions are now enforcing. Wirth Business Credit helps to fill the gap for small business owners who are stranded.”

Specializing in Small Business Finance

Wirth serves small business owners whose capital goods financing needs range from $5,000 to $250,000, providing financing for a wide range of traditional business equipment in a variety of industries such as IT, telecom, manufacturing, and construction. It also supports expenses that banks
typically do not, including software and soft costs such as installation, freight, associated consulting fees, and sales tax.

Leasing is a major focus for Wirth. According to a recent Equipment and Leasing Finance Association report, U.S. businesses leased nearly $600 billion in capital goods in 2006, yet credit lines are the dominant form of financing in the small business segment. The report found that very small businesses use leasing for less than 7 percent of their equipment investments, while larger businesses use leasing for about 30 percent of their equipment investments.

O’Connor said that small ticket leasing is an underused finance strategy in the small business market, despite the many benefits it can offer. “Leasing can help small business owners to acquire the latest business-critical tools and technology with minimal upfront cash, which is key for small business
owners who usually do not have an abundance of cash on hand. It also enables them to manage cash flow and preserve cash and credit lines for growth rather than tying up cash into fixed assets, and it offers tax write-off opportunities that bank loans do not. Through Wirth, I can provide
affordable, flexible and fast equipment leasing and financing options that help small businesses succeed,” O’Connor said.

“I am also eager to partner with equipment vendors to help them extend their sales into the small business market,” he added.

Well-funded, Extensive Small Business Expertise

Wirth’s parent company, Winmark Corporation, is the franchisor of Play It Again Sports , Once Upon A Child, Plato’s Closet, and Music Go Round stores. The company works with more than 850 small business owners across the country and has 25 years of experience helping those franchisees to succeed. Winmark uses strong earnings, growth and cash flow from its retail franchises help to support Wirth’s growth. Founded in 2006, Wirth has 58 territories across the U.S. and continues to expand into new markets.

“While banks and financial institutions are struggling, Wirth Business Credit uses a different financial model. As a result, the company is well-funded and has the cash available to fund equipment leases,” said O’Connor. “Plus, Wirth focuses exclusively on serving small businesses. We understand their unique financial and operational needs and challenges, and we make it easy and fast for them to secure the financing they need. As the local Wirth representative, I work directly with other local small business owners and serve as their direct link to a single financing source. ”

Different from Brokers and Traditional Lenders

Wirth is different from equipment leasing brokers and commercial lenders
because it:

- Provides customers with personalized service and a direct link to their financing source.

- Focuses exclusively on helping small businesses.

- Finances a wide variety of items including computers and software, office equipment and furniture, restaurant equipment, auto repair equipment, construction equipment, telephone systems and materials handling equipment, plus soft costs such as installation cost, freight, associated
consulting fees and sales tax.

- Offers a streamlined, one-page application for transactions under $50,000, which can be approved within hours. Larger transactions require a bit more information, but still can be approved in just 48 hours.

- Provides fixed rate leases so business owners don’t have to worry about rising interest rates impacting their bottom line

- Can structure monthly payments to fit the customer’s budget.

About Kevin O’Connor

With more than 20 years of experience as highly successful BtoB manufacturer’s representative, sales representatives and sales manager, O’Connor saw Wirth as a unique opportunity to a own a business that is relationship sales focused, and that crosses all industries and services.

Local small business owners, small business consultants and equipment distributors who would like to learn more about Wirth Business Credit can visit Kevin O’Connor’s Web site at www.wirthbusinesscredit.com/clevelandsw. They can also contact him directly at 330-474-1184 or
kocconnor@wirthbusinesscredit.com.

About Wirth Business Credit

Wirth Business Credit and its affiliates have nearly 20 years of experience helping small businesses
succeed. Wirth is a subsidiary of Winmark Corporation, a franchisor of more than 850 small businesses nationwide. Winmark Corporation’s award-winning family of brands represents the largest resale retailer in North America: Once Upon A ChildR, Plato’s ClosetR, Play It Again SportsR and Music Go
RoundR. Each business recycles goods and offers affordable options for consumers by buying and reselling quality used brand name items such as clothing, sports equipment, musical instruments, baby equipment and furniture. Winmark also owns Winmark Capital, which offers tailored leasing
programs for medium and large-sized companies.

From Seth Godin’s Blog

Actual conversation at a local shoe store: “Do you have dress shoes in a size 6?”

“No, I’m sorry we don’t.”

“We’re from out of town. Do you know any place we can get some?”

“I’m sorry I don’t. Perhaps you’d like some in a size 8?”

Now, what are the chances that someone who wants a size 6 is going to buy an 8? Zero. The game is over. You lost.

Instead of feigning ignorance about the whereabouts of your competitors (you really don’t know where other shoe stores are?) and instead of pretending you don’t have a phone book, what would happen if you actually spent that spare minute being incredibly helpful. “Ask for Jimmy! Tell him Sal sent you…”

Of course, the recipient of this friendly advice would tell everyone at the wedding exactly what happened. And some of those folks wouldn’t be from out of town…

Marketers, salespeople, athletes and politicians spend their days losing. Losing RFPs, losing someone browsing through a store, losing a race.

If it’s close, the right thing to do is to lean into it, to persevere, to push at the end when it can really pay off. But what about when it’s not? What happens when the RFP doesn’t match (at all) what you sell, but the competition is a perfect fit?

If you’re not qualifying people relentlessly enough to have many opportunities like this, you’re not really qualifying them. You’re just spending all day grabbing what you can grab.

It seems to me that this is the perfect opportunity to be a statesman. This is when you earn the right to be seen as a trusted advisor, not a self-interested shill. Two months or two years from now, when you interact with that person or organization again, we’ll remember that you were the one who spoke up on behalf of the competition, the one who helped us find a better fit, the clearly disinterested advisor who helped us choose between the two remaining good choices.

Your ego might not enjoy it, but in the long run, your organization will.

Copied from Small Business Trends

Here in the United States you can get a Federal income tax deduction for having a home office.

With so many entrepreneurs and small businesses being run out of home offices (estimated from 10 million to 20 million businesses), the home office deduction could be significant.

I say “could be” significant because, if you’re like me, you don’t take a home office deduction.

Part of the reason is the complexity in the tax rule. The home office deduction is needlessly complex. You have to calculate square footage, for heaven’s sake. Apparently, this deduction is underutilized, and for once the IRS agrees (I’m not kidding!).

Well, the good news is, bills have been introduced in both the Senate and House of Representatives to simplify the home office deduction rules. Representative Charles Gonzalez (D-TX) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced companion legislation in both houses of Congress, called the Home Office Tax Deduction Simplification and Improvement Act.

The Act will create an optional standard deduction for small business owners in lieu of the square footage calculation. Also, there is a nod to the way small businesses operate today over the Internet, with two key changes according to the National Small Business Association:

“First, to reflect an economy in which many business owners conduct business through the Internet or over the phone, the legislation would allow the home office deduction to be taken if the taxpayer uses the home to meet or deal with clients regardless of whether the clients are physically present. Second, the bill would allow for de minimis use of business space for personal activities so that taxpayers would not lose their ability to claim the deduction if they make a personal call or pay a bill online.”

The Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy applauded the moves by both legislators, noting:

“… tax compliance is 67 percent more burdensome for the smallest businesses compared to their larger competitors. Tax complexity, combined with the fact that 53 percent of America’s small businesses are home-based, prompted Advocacy’s support ….”

I also applaud this legislation. If small businesses are to thrive, particularly during a down economy, we need less regulation, less paperwork, less tax, less government. All of those add expense and make it harder to operate a business. Each burden may seem like a small thing by itself … but keep piling them on and soon you have a mountain of small things.

Unfortunately we’ve had more more more of taxes, government and regulation in recent years, from both political parties. It’s good to see things moving in the right direction, even if it’s just one thing like simplifying a tax deduction.

For details, please see Representative Gonzalez press release and Senator Snowe press release.

From The Church of the Customer Blog:

In researching the science of how things replicate and spread, I’ve spent time time catching up with the work of Dr. James Watson who, with Francis Crick, discovered the structure of DNA in 1955, eventually earning the duo the Nobel Prize.

Dr. Watson could easily be a consultant about success. He gave a fascinating talk at Google last year and began with “a few reasons why we became famous.”

In the interest of replication and spreading his knowledge, here’s my summary of Dr. Watson’s prescription for work:

1. Have an important problem to solve.
While in college, Watson saw an x-ray photograph of DNA. It captivated him. What was its physical structure? The two-dimensional structure of DNA had already been solved, but no one knew its three-dimensional structure “probably because it was too complicated.” Except for Linus Pauling and “some people in London,” no one else was working on the answer. That was the motivation Watson and Crick used. “We worked on something before it’s time had come,” Watson says.

2. Give yourself time, but cap it.
The choreographer Twyla Tharp says the paradox of creativity is that it’s better when it’s restricted. That squares with Watson’s teaching, too. “You shouldn’t work on a problem if you think it’ll take you 10 years, particularly when you’re young. You’ll be out of a job.” Watson recommends giving yourself three years to solve a big or important problem. “People will sort of of trust you and put up with you for three years,” he says.

3. Talk to your competitors.
The x-ray of DNA that inspired Watson was taken by Rosalind Franklin. She was trying to figure out the 3-D structure of DNA, too, but she didn’t want to work with Watson and Crick. “She didn’t like Francis because he was loud.” Plus, Franklin wanted to discover the structure herself. Watson and Crick reached out to their competitors; “you tell them what you think, and they’ll tell you what they think and pretty soon, you can get very close to the answer.”

4. Never be the brightest person in any room.
If you are, no one can help you. Neither Watson or Crick knew chemistry, even though it was at the heart of what they were trying to solve. Watson had copied diagrams out of a chemistry textbook, but the textbook was wrong. If he and Crick hadn’t made friends with a quantum chemist who helped them with their chemistry equations, they never would have discovered the double helix, Watson says. The lesson  is that “It was very useful for me to be brought up thinking I wasn’t bright because it was very easy then to ask for help.”

5. If you need help, ask for it quickly.
“Don’t wait a week to ask for help!” Speed matters. After all, you only have three years.

From Guy Kawasaki:

1. Focus on cash flow. I understand the difference between cash flow and profitability, and I’m not recommending that you strive for a lack of profitability. But cash is what keeps the doors open and pays the bills. Paper profits on an accrual accounting basis is of no more than secondary or tertiary importance for a startup. As my mother used to say, “Sales fixes everything.”
2. Make a little progress every day. I used to believe in the big-bang theory of marketing: a fantastic launch that created such inertia that you flew to “infinity and beyond.” No more. Now my theory is that you make a little bit of progress every day–whether that’s making your product slightly better, increasing your skill in one small way, or closing one more customer. The reason the press writes about “overnight successes” is that they seldom happen–not because that’s how all businesses work.
3. Try stuff. I also used to believe that it’s better to be smart than lucky because if you’re smart you can out-think the competition. I don’t believe that anymore–this is not to say that you should strive for a high level of stupidity. My point is that luck is a big part of many successes, so (a) don’t get too bummed out when you see a bozo succeed; and (b) luck favors the people who try stuff, not simply think and analyze. As the Chinese say, “One must wait for a long time before a Peking duck flies into your mouth.”
4. Ignore schmexperts. Schmexperts are the totally bad combination of schmucks who are experts–or experts who are schmucks. When you first launch a product or service, they’ll tell you it isn’t necessary, can’t really work, or faces too much competition. If you succeed, then they’ll say they knew you would succeed. In other words, they don’t know jack shiitake. If you believe, try it. If you don’t believe, listen to the schmexperts and stay on the porch.
5. Never ask anyone to do something that you wouldn’t do. This goes for customers (”fill out these twenty-five fields of personal information to get an account for our website”) to employees (”fly coach to Mumbai, meet all day the day you arrive, and fly back that night”). If you follow this principle, you’ll almost always have a good customer service reputation and happy employees.

I hold these truths to be self-evident and hope that you can use them to kick butt and change the world.