Vendors/suppliers
I attended a trade show down south last week and was surprised at how busy it was. In spite of the economy, attendance by both exhibitors and attendees was strong.
In fact, many companies I spoke to told me that this is not the time to skimp on marketing. While most of them are not planning any over-the-top campaigns, they're still continuing with efforts to attract leads and customers. So in light of that I wanted to go back to a story we did a while ago on "Your Business" called Trade Show 101.
Now more than ever, if you spend thousands of dollars on a trade show, you want to make sure you get a return on that investment.
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With the credit markets gummed up, everyone is holding their breath and waiting for banks and other lenders to re-open their money spigots. But for many small businesses the funds may be too little, too late.
Until recently, GiGi Stetler's 35-employee business -- RV sales Broward in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- was booming, hitting sales of more than $20 million in 2007.
In 2008, the business "crashed," she said. Sales plunged to $11 million, and three months ago she let go of the bulk of her staff and now only employs nine. A decline in sales and the tightening of credit was the double whammy for her business.
"We can barely pay the electric," she laments.
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Cheryl Rae owns a beauty salon and supply shop called Scarcella's in French Valley, Calif., and over the past few months she's found it harder and harder to pay the bills.
Consumers are bypassing her salon-grade shampoos that can run upwards of $25 for cheaper drug store versions, she said, and many regulars aren't getting their hair cut as often.
Right now, she's a few months behind on her rent, and the bills just keep piling up.
"The economy has hit us hard," said Rae, and she wonders how much longer she'll be able to keep her doors open.
It turns out Rae is not alone. An increasing number of small business owners are having trouble paying bills, according to a new survey.
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My mom owns a two family home but lately her tenant just can't seem to find the money to pay all the rent.
He's a residential contractor but times have been tough. His wife ran a small dance studio, but the economy put a crimp on her business too and she had to shut it down last year.
It's a tough situation for all involved, including my mom who loves her tenants but also needs the rent money.
This became even more apparent when the toilet in my mom's home overflowed causing major damage to the bathroom and the ceiling below. She needed the rent money to repair the damage.
What to do?
You guessed it. Barter.
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One of Barack Obama's battle cries has been to encourage businesses to produce more in the good ol' U S of A.
That will be a good thing for shoppers like me who have been frustrated that hardly anything is made here anymore.
Whenever possible I try to by U.S. made goods, and I've written in the past about trying to go totally domestic, but failing miserably.
Lately I've renewed my efforts because of all the scary product news coming out of China.
It hasn't been easy.
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I received an e-mail recently from a telecommunications company touting how they are cutting prices to help small businesses struggling in the current economy.
Now, I've covered business long enough to know that few, if any, business owners change their operating strategies just to help others. So I e-mailed back to ask why.
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It's getting ugly out there for small- and medium-sized businesses.
According to a semi-annual economic report by PNC Financial Services Group, "the outlook for the nation's small and mid-sized business owners is at a new all-time low."
Here are some of the report's key findings.
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When a big conglomerate comes knocking, it can be tempting to sell off all or part of the company you nurtured and grew.
But sometimes it can spell doom.
Whatever happened to Mad River, a tea and soft drink company that was bought by the Coca-Cola Company in 2001?
"Coke bought Mad River, put it into its distribution system and killed it," says Seth Goldman, the president of organic beverage company Honest Tea.
It's a strange quote coming from a man who recently sold 40 percent of his firm to Coke.
Goldman doesn't think his company will suffer the same fate.
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I recently interviewed a small business owner in a lavish conference room where he showed me his new idea for large screen video ads, but I kept walking into walls and the conference room's table.
No, I wasn't drunk folks. I was doing a bad job navigating my avatar.
An avatar is a computer simulation of you. I created one in the virtual world known as Second Life. I made the mistake of having my eight-year-old daughter help me design the avatar, which looks like a six-foot Lara Croft bunny rabbit.
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Recently, a colleague from New York told me about her new strategy for being more productive -- cut back on face-to-face meetings.
With e-mail, phone calls and even Twitter available to us, who needs real human contact?
Her strategy made sense. She had more time to do her work because she wasn’t out gallivanting around Manhattan meeting friends and business associates.
Long lunches, she found, were one of the worst time sinks.
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