Mine Your Own Business

Happy National Entrepreneurs' Day

We postd on Mine Your Own Business last week in Small Business Saturday Follow-Up about the movement to empasize sales at small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This would be similar to the already well established Black Friday for large retailers and Cyber Monday for online sales. In the article we referenced in the posting there was a comment on how there was also a movement to make November 19th National Entrepreneurs's Day and that we hoped it would become a reality.

Well we got our wish. President Obama has proclaimed this week National Entrepreneurship Week and Friday National Entrepreneurs' Day. President has a lot of good things to say about entrepreneurs and how important they are to the American economy. You can read all about it at this article from AOL Small Business. While you're on the page, you might want to check out some of the video links at the bottom of the page.

 

Small Business Saturday Follow-Up

We did a posting on Wednesday this week about Small Business Saturday, a new movement designed to increase sales for small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We then ran across an article that went a step further and provided a summary of entrepreneus' movements around the country. There are five movements mentioned in the article, which gives a brief description of the primary focus of each movement.

We did notice one thing that puzzled us in the article, the first link to Small Business Saturday actually links to an unrelated previous posting (at least I didn't spot the relationship). The second link to the 20 organizations that are sponsors does work and from there you can explore the whole Web site for Small Business Saturday. Overall the article provides a lot of great information and hopefully the movement mentioned in the article to establish a National Entrepreneur's Day will become a reality.

Some Times Things Are Not as Bad as They Seem

This short posting is a little different than usual since it really doesn't involve small business directly, but it does provide some encouraging news on a Friday afternoon. A recent article in Time makes the point that perhaps the results of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico may not be as disastrous as originally predicted. Some of the effects will not be known for some time, but at this point it appears we may have dodged a bullet in this disaster.

Two more interesting aspects of this article is that there is a link to a counterpoint to the article about two thirds down on the first page of the article and there is also a link to some very interesting comments. This does relate to small business in one sense, when you are facing some difficult issues in your business the final results may not turn out to be as bad as they initially appeared.

Tis The Season

The title of this post might lead to you think this was going to be a post on the holiday season, but instead this post is about something that is with us year round, unfortunately. There was an article in a local newspaper describing how it is the season of scams in St. Louis and one in particular that has really been prevalent is a scam targeting elderly St. Louis South County residents.

The article describes how a team of vacuum cleaner salesman posing as dealers for the Kirby company get seniors to buy junk vacuum cleaners by displaying and demoing a brand new high end Kirby. They then sell them a used, junk vacuum cleaner that has been placed in a brand new box. In one instance they even grabbed the victim's one year old vacuum while the other "salesman" kept the attention of the consumer.

The article provides a lot of other examples of some of the tricks they used and concludes with some tips consumers can use to try to protect themselves. Maybe one other thing any small business owner can do is make a copy of the article and place it in your store to warn your customers.

The Economy that Wouldn't Die

From the US Census Bureau:

"New orders for manufactured durable goods in June increased $1.6 billion or 0.8 percent to $215.4 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today.  This was the second consecutive monthly increase and followed a 0.1 percent May increase.

"Shipments of manufactured durable goods in June, up two of the last three months, increased $1.1 billion or 0.5 percent to $212.2 billion. This followed a 1.2 percent May decrease.

"Unfilled orders for manufactured durable goods in June, up twenty-eight of the last twenty-nine months, increased $7.2 billion or 0.9 percent to $817.6 billion. This was at the highest level since the series was first stated on a NAICS basis in 1992 and followed a 0.9 percent May increase."

Anyone who thinks that American business, or the American consumer for that matter, is going to roll over and die just because of high gas prices doesn't know us very well, do they?

Good News for Small Business

As you probably know by now, President Bush signed the economic stimulus package into law yesterday.  Here's a press release from the Small Business Administration on the new legislation"

WASHINGTON:  Steve Preston, Administrator of the U.S. Small Business
Administration, made the following statement today on the signing of HR 5140,
the Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of
2008:

"This bill is a win for small businesses in three major ways: tax rebates will
stimulate short term consumer spending, some of which will flow to smaller
companies; a 50 percent bonus deduction on new equipment that normally
would be depreciated over the long term; and, it increases the limit on
expenses that small businesses can deduct from annual income.

"€œSmall businesses create  2/3  of  the  new  jobs in our economy and account 
for  half  of  non-farm  GDP. It is vital for the nation that small businesses
stay healthy and growing.  HR 5140 will give them a much-needed boost which
will enable them to expand their companies and create new jobs.

"€œOn behalf of small business, I applaud the President for his leadership and
Congress for moving with such swiftness and bipartisanship. 

"€œWe continue to urge Congress to proceed with other vital small business
issues such as permitting health insurance pooling and deductibility, opening
up new markets with Colombia, Peru and South Korea, and guaranteeing that
taxes on small business earnings and investment don’t rise."

Say it ain't so, Joe

By now you've heard about the release of the Mitchell Report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.  In case you're interested, you can read the report, all 409 pages of it, here.

MYOB isn't a sports blog or a political blog, and by now there's not much we can add to everything that's already been said and written about the sorry state of sports in general, and baseball in particular. 

But, as business people, this official acknowledgment of something we knew all along, that integrity and honesty are becoming the exception, rather than the rule should be a wake up call for all of us.  When our sports "heroes" are found to be cheating in the name of making more millions of dollars, we have to realize that something we once took for granted has become a rare commodity.

It would be naive to assume that baseball is the only professional sport that has an ethics problem.  It would be even more naive to think that it's exclusively a sports problem.  The fact is that many of us accept this behavior and even expect it.  Was the Mitchell Report really a surprise to anyone?

As we reported here this past summer (Consumer Confidence), Americans trust small business more than any other American institution with the exception of the military.  That's a statistic to be proud of, but it's not something to take for granted.  It's extremely important to guard that trust like gold, because that's what it is. 

We may all wonder when our favorite player hits a home run whether he did it honestly, or if his performance was enhanced by modern science, but we can't afford for even one of our customers to wonder if we've treated them fairly; if we've played by the rules. 

Back in the days when everyone lived by the Golden Rule, integrity was part of the deal.  It was expected.  Toys didn't poison our kids.  Medicine didn't make us sick.  It made us well.  We could buy something with our credit card and not worry about our identity being stolen. 

As the Gallup Poll showed, small business still enjoys Americans' trust.  Only one in four people trusts TV news.  Only 14% trust Congress.  But 59% of Americans trust you. Whatever you do, don't violate that trust.

Tragedy at the Mall

Doug Fleener at the Retail Contrarian blog comments today on our post from yesterday about being prepared for disasters. Reflecting on yesterday's shootings at the Westroads Mall in Omaha, he writes,

"Mike Buckley of Tacony Corporation has a retail blog called MINE Your Own Business. Yesterday, before the shooting occurred, I was reading a new post of his called “Be Prepared”. Mike was sharing some resources for companies to prepare for - and recover from - disasters. The first sentence is almost haunting now. 'Disasters come in all sizes and shapes.'

"As I was reading it I was thinking that I would link to the post so to remind retailers that they need to have a disaster plan for every store. It’s important that managers know what to do in case of tornado, fire, or god forbid the unthinkable, something like what happened in Omaha.

"Every retail organization should review its disaster policies and procedures with their stores and ensure that every employee knows what to do if a disaster occurs. Yes it’s the holiday season. Yes the stores are incredibly busy. But believe me, your employees are already discussing what happened in Omaha. It doesn't matter where they live and work, this event has hit home for them. They will truly appreciate knowing that you care enough to talk with them about the unspeakable."

Normally we'd be ecstatic to be mentioned in a such a highly regarded blog, but there's no way to see yesterday's events as anything but a gut-wrenching tragedy.  The fact that something like this happened on the very day that we posted about disaster preparedness is more than a little scary.  Of course,  a mass-murderer opening fire in a crowded mall was not one of the disasters that we had in mind. 

Lives have been forever changed by one individual's unexplainable actions.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims and to everyone involved.  Retailing and shopping shouldn't be hazardous occupations.  Especially during this normally happy time of the year, we shouldn't have to fear for our lives every time we leave the house.  It's all very sad and confusing. 

I agree with Doug.  If you haven't already, you should take the time to discuss yesterday's events with your staff.  Let them get their fears out in the open, and discuss what you would do is such a thing were to happen in your store. 

You can read Doug's post and our response here.

Guarding the Gates

This is the ninth in our series based on Challenges of the Future: The Rebirth of Small Independent Retail in America, a 64 page white paper by Jack Stanyon, underwritten by the George H. Baum Community Charitable Trust, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, and the National Retail Federation Foundation.  Today we take a look at the trend of community activism.

This is the first time that I basically disagree with Stanyon's position.  What he calls "community activism" is best described as local businesses banding together to stop the spread of retail development in order to protect the "personality" of the local area.  In the past, you saw it most often when Wal*Mart announced plans to move into a new community.  Local merchants would try all sorts of strategies to keep them out. 

Today, we're seeing the same thing happening in major cities.  A recent example is the attempt by the City of Chicago to keep Wal*Mart and other big boxes out of town.  Although the ordinance, specifying that large retailers would be required to pay a "living wage" and provide certain benefits was passed by the city government, Mayor Daley vetoed it.  There have been similar fights in other cities. 

Where Stanyon and I disagree is his statement that "protectionism from increased competition has often proved unproductive.  First, consumers will find their way to where they want to shop--big box, specialty store, or national chain.  Secondly, trying to stop new development often becomes a major distraction for the small retailers when they should be spending time thinking about their own business and improving their downtown or neighborhood shopping areas."

While Stanyon's premise seems sound, local governments are often taken in by the promise of more jobs and a better economy that the big box stores offer.  To get these perceived benefits, they open their wallets and provide outrageous incentives to the chains.  This gives the big stores an advantage that they don't need and that taxpayers shouldn't have to provide.

A good specialty store should have little trouble competing with a big box store on a level playing field.  Their presence may require the independent dealer to change strategy and work a little harder, but the inherent benefits of an agile, flexible, locally-owned retailer should outweigh the advantages of size that the big guys enjoy.

But, given millions of dollars in tax breaks, the chain will win every time. 

While Stanyon has a point that too much concentration on possible incoming competition might distract from running the business and improving the local community,  the two aren't mutually exclusive.  In fact, preventing new competition from getting a sweetheart deal from the local politicians may be necessary in order for the independent to have a business to run.

As most of you prove every day, it's possible to survive and thrive in the face of competition from the big boxes.  In fact, it's been shown many times that having a chain store nearby can actually help the local businesses.  Given the choice between having a Wal*Mart in your town and having one in the next county, it's generally better for the independent to have them in town.  Otherwise, shoppers may do all their shopping in the neighboring community, bypassing you altogether.

The arrival of a big box store doesn't necessarily create jobs.  In fact, it may replace existing jobs with jobs that pay less, giving the area a net loss in income (and tax revenue).  Local stores that don't meet the challenge go out of business, leaving boarded up store fronts that reduce tax revenues and actually add costs for the local government.  As members of the community, it's up to all of us to see that our tax dollars are spent in the most efficient way possible.  Ignoring our responsibility to our fellow citizens to devote 100% of our time to our own business may turn out to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Some Serious Information for Travelers

As you know, recent events have pushed the United States Terrorist Alert level up to orange, the second highest color.  Airport security has tightened considerably and there's a new list of items that can and can't be carried on a plane.

Since many of our dealers are going to be visiting St. Louis next week for Baby Lock Tech, our big annual sewing event, an update on the current rules might be in order.  Here's a link to the "Transportation Safety Administration's (TSA) current list of prohibited items.

Keep in mind that sharp, pointy things are still prohibited, but now virtually all liquids and gels are also banned.  According to the TSA site:

"To ensure the health and welfare of certain air travelers the following items are permitted.

• Small amounts of Baby formula and breast milk if a baby or small child is traveling
• Liquid prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket
• Up to 8 oz. of liquid or gel low blood sugar treatment
• Up to 4 oz. of essential non-prescription liquid medications
• Gel-filled bras and similar prostethics worn for medical reasons

You are permitted to bring solid cosmetics and personal hygiene items as such lipstick, lip balm and similar solids. Please remember these items must be solid and not liquid, gel or aerosol."

That's it.  If it comes in a bottle, can, jar or tube, they're probably going to make you throw it away.  Don't think that they're going to make exceptions, because they're not.  If you try to sneak a container of Jello on the plane, they're going to delay you and all the people in line behind you while they search your baggage.

The new rules also require that everybody remove their shoes and send them through the X-ray machine.  If you're going to fly, do yourself and everyone else a favor and don't wear shoes or boots that are hard to get on and off. 

Air travel isn't as much fun as it used to be, but we all want to be safe.  Get there early, plan for delays, and leave the hair gel in your checked luggage.