Mine Your Own Business

Credit Card Warning

BusinessWeek had an informative article recently on some new policies that credit-card processors are beginning to implement due to the recession and increasing business bankruptcies. Some credit-card companies have begun to demand that business owners have a cash reserve with the processors in order to satisfy any requests for customer refunds in the event a merchant has gone out of business. The problem is that many processing agreements grant credit-card companies some interesting ways to accumulate the reserve without notifying the merchant.

The article provides much more detail and some past history and examples, so reading the whole article might be a good idea to make sure your small business is not at risk.

What’s Your Favorite Free Computer Download?

OK, I will give you my two --- one for work and one for my free time.

Google Desktop – This one is a wonderful time saver.  You download the free application from Google and you can then search everything on your computer files (Word, Excel, e-mails, etc.) just like you search for websites on Google.  A small search window is inserted at the bottom of your screen that can be used from any application you are running.  (It just showed that I have 139 documents referencing MYOB on my computer.)  Testimonial – One of our Marketing Managers actually stopped me in the hall and thanked me for telling her about Google Desktop.  She said she sues it all the time.

Google Earth – Flying back from Florida earlier this month, we flew right over Cairo, IL, the town at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.  We then flew up the river on the Missouri side on up into St. Louis.  I saw several big developments I had not seen before and wondered what they were.  I got home, went to Google Earth, and downloaded it onto my new computer.  I then started the application, clicked on the satellite view of the middle of our North American continent and zoomed in on St. Louis. I followed the Mississippi river south and “revisited” the sites that I had just flown over.  Included was the largest cement plant in the US, just being completed near Ste. Genevieve.  (It also looks like there is a nice golf course overlooking the river in Cape Girardeau that I might have to check out some day.)  I have also used Google Earth to check out our facility in Southampton, England and see how close it is to the container port.  It is an amazing application, even if you just want to see what your house looks like from the air.

OK, your turn.  Please share your favorite download.

Bill

E-mail Tips

This posting concerns an article that provided a lot of very helpful hints on revising an e-mail before sending it and also many tips on general e-mail communication. The main point of the article is that you increase the probability of people reading and understanding completely your e-mail by effective revision before sending it.The suggestions also apply to any broadcast e-mails you might use to promote your business, so it is helpful from many standpoints.

If you have time, scan through some of the comments. Some of the suggestions in the comments are excellent.

A Follow Up on Some News for Small Business

We did a posting on April 10th on some of the plans the Small Business Adminstration was considering to help with with some of the problems small businesses are facing during the current economic situation. We recently ran across an article in the Washington Post that makes some comments about those plans and their take on it is that the plans  don't go far enough in certain key areas.

What do you think of their criticism, is it justified and do you think some other possible solutions should be implemented?

Made in the USA II

As promised, we have a follow up posting to the one last week on vacuums that are made in America by Tacony. The posting contains all of the original broadcast and a follow up segment featuring John Kaido, Sr. Vice President of Home Floor Care and Joy Petty, Director of Marketing - Vacuums.

The entire broadcast can be viewed here. The file is quite large at 33MB, so some patience may be required on the download.

Made in the USA

Tacony recently got some great press on our Riccar and Simplicity vacuum cleaners that are made in our St. James, MO facility. One very interesting point in the segment is that Tacony is planning to actually increase manufacturing in St. James by bringing back more products that are currently manufactured overseas.

You can view the entire segment here. There was a follow up interview providing more details that we will be posting next week, so please check for the new posting on Monday or Tuesday.

Some News for Small Business

There was an interesting article recently on some of the problems that small businesses are facing during the current recession and that the Small Business Administration has some plans to assist small businesses in the future. Karen Gordon Mills, the recently confirmed new Small Business Administration administrator,  outlined several ideas in her Senate confirmation hearing. You can read the entire article here

What do you think of her ideas, will they help small business?