Starting up
It may sound crazy, but one entrepreneurial experts thinks a recession is a great time to launch a new business.
“The one predictable way to achieving financial success is to own a business,” claims Bill Bartmann, the author of "Billionaire Secrets to Success.” “The current economic landscape is a most opportune time to start a new business. It is all about applying basic common sense.”
Is this man just a nutcase or does he know of what he speaks?
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Richard W.C. Lin says he “ain’t Rockefeller, nor Gates, nor Buffet.”
So, when he passes his New York State property casualty exam, which he’s taking this month, he’ll need money to be able to set up his insurance practice.
Since banks are getting tougher when it comes to lending money, especially to budding, new small business owners, he figures his best bet would be a Small Business Administration loan.
Well buddy, it might not be that easy.
SBA lending is down, nearly 14 percent, and the answer for why is different depending on whom you talk to.
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It’s like we’re watching a scene from that dumb reality show, “The Bachelor,” and in this case the bachelor is Yahoo.
Who will walk down the aisle with Yahoo? Microsoft? Google? Time Warner’s AOL? Even News Corp. is getting into the act, considering a plan to team up with Microsoft in its bid for Yahoo.
(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)
The Bachelor, aka Yahoo, has a lot of hot, crazy babes to choose from. If you’re a small business that wants to place ads on search engines to get people to click over to your Web site, you just may want to tune in.
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I was one of those teenagers who had really bad acne growing up, and I tried everything to clear my skin up.
I even swore off chocolate and Kalamata olives for 2 years but it really didn’t make much of a difference.
When I hit my twenties a friend of mine treated me to a facial for my birthday and I was in shock how much it helped my skin problem. I vowed to get lots of facials so I to could become one of the lucky clear-skinned humans. That is until I found out how much my really nice friend ponyed up for the facial.
It was nearly $100 for a half-hour treatment at some fancy schmancy Manhattan salon. Being a poor journalist at the time, I figured it would be the last time I’d make it to a facial spa.
But what if there were drop-in facial shops that offered cut rates on facials? (Look at all the cheap manicures you can get on almost every street corner today.)
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| Ivan Hunter / Getty Images |
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Let’s say someone asked you to pick the top ten government rules and regulations that get under your skin as a small business owner?
That’s exactly what the U.S. Small Business Administration did.
Last year, the agency solicited comments from the small business community on the rules that cost businesses big bucks, about $1.1 trillion, and last week the dreaded list was released to the press. Now, the hope is, government will get into gear and reform these rules.
Only thing is, the federal agency’s notable initiative may be too little too late.
Hello, did anybody tell these guys President Bush has less than a year left in office?
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There are far too many small business owners out there without a Web site.
Why? It’s too expensive. It takes too much time.
These are pretty lame excuses in today’s here’s-a-free-website marketplace.
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You can’t ever make everyone happy.
President Bush’s FY2009 budget appears to be a boon or disaster depending on the small business advocate you talk to.
“This President is turning his back on small businesses at the very moment our economy needs them most,” says Nydia Velázquez, chairwoman of Congress’ Committee on Small Business.
"We think it’s a substantial win for small business," says Bill Rys, tax counsel for the National Federation of Independent Businesses.
Funding cuts here. Tax breaks there.
It’s like a bad Ginsu knives commercial from the 1970s.
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Ha! Made ya look.
I’m not trying to anger all of you out there, but when it comes to business, men want to be in control, while women are the nurturers and consensus builders.
Isn’t that what’s drummed into our heads day in and day out!
Yet another survey points to just this phenomenon among entrepreneurs.
“Small business owners want to control their destiny,” says Sastry Rachakonda, director of Discover's business credit card, which polled 1000 small business owners with five employees or less in its monthly Discover Small Business Watch is a monthly survey. “However, men and women do this in different ways. For men, it is about being in control and being their own bosses, while for women, it is about having more flexibility with their time.”
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It’s time to trip over the next big idea.
Get out of the office. Get out of the house. Head out into the world.
That’s how many entrepreneurs found the big brands -- like Burt’s Bees and Clif Bar -- that made them rich.
At least that’s the belief of David Vinjamuri, author of the forthcoming book “Accidental Branding: How Ordinary People Build Extraordinary Brands”, and president of ThirdWay Brandtrainers, a marketing training company in New York.
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With all the doom and gloom out there about the jobs outlook, small businesses appear to be thumbing their noses at economists and reporters like me.
I did a story about how hard it’s going to be to find a job this year for my Your Career column yesterday, but it looks like it will be easier for people who are open to working at smaller firms.
A national report put out late last week found that businesses with 50 employees or fewer are in a hiring frenzy, at least compared to their larger company counterparts.
Are small business owners living in an alternate universe?
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| Amy Sancetta / AP |
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