Archive for June, 2009

Client Spotlight: Gary DiStefano Jr., American Abbey Flooring & Design/Rhino Home Pro

June 30th, 2009 admin

Gary, Missy and Gary Jr., of American Abbey Carpet and Floors


How did you wind up in the carpet and flooring business?

I was in Ohio, working for a Fortune 500 company, thinking they were making money in spite of themselves. Visiting my parents over Christmas vacation one year, I talked with my Dad about expanding his 800 s.f. retail carpet store. I jumped at the opportunity to find out if I could manage a business on my own, and moved to Jacksonville in September of 1994. By 1997, American Abbey Flooring and Design had grown to over 4100 s.f. of retail space and expanded our product lines from just carpet and vinyl to include tile, hardwood, laminate, stone and window treatments. While it wasn’t as easy as I thought, it certainly has been more rewarding.

What are you doing to stay afloat in a down economy?

The largest contributing factor to our survival has been our responsible money management when the economy was booming.

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More Tax Hikes in Massachusetts

June 30th, 2009 admin
Lawmakers in Massachusetts have been working quite hard in recent years to make it increasing inhospitable to live, work, invest, and build and run a business in the state.
Most glaring in recent years was the massive and misguided government intrusion into health care. (See, for example, a recent SBE Council analysis.)
But there was more last week. With the new state budget year starting this Wednesday (July 1), Governor Deval Patrick (D) declared on Friday that he would sign a massive tax increase.
The tax hikes include – as reported by the June 27 Boston Globe – an increase in the state’s sales tax from 5% to 6.25%. The state’s meals tax will rise by the same amount, with localities empowered to jack up the rate further to 7%. Local governments also will be allowed to increase the hotel tax by 2 percentage points. And there will be higher levies on satellite television, and on alcohol sold at retail stores.
Patrick actually said: “I will approve the new revenues we need to bring our budget into balance, offset the need for even more difficult cuts, and expand opportunity in the Commonwealth?”
Excuse me?

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SBA ARC Loans in Northeast Florida

June 30th, 2009 admin

Rachel Witkowski writes in the Jacksonville Business Journal this week that not all banks are jumping on the ARC loan bandwagon. We are seeing a lot of activity and have been providing technical asssistance to applicants daily. Check the UNF Small Business Blog often for program updates.

Most bankers have either turned down or tiptoed cautiously into a new small-business relief loan program despite heavy demand pouring in from struggling businesses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration launched its America’s Recovery Capital, or ARC loans June 15 as an effort to temporarily help once-profitable small businesses now strapped with debt.

So far, a handful of banks in the market said they will offer ARC loans, but most said only to existing customers. An ARC loan has yet to be made in the market though applications are being sent to the SBA, lenders said.

Other bankers said they do not plan to offer the loans largely because the time and cost in making the loans well exceeds a typical SBA or business loan.

“Banks just can’t make money on that,” said Jami Bucy, regional sales manager for Alabama and Florida at BBVA Compass.

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U.S. Supreme Court Reverses Sotomayor

June 29th, 2009 admin

In a recent SBE Council Cybercolumn looking at how business should view President Barack Obama’s selection for the U.S. Supreme Court – Judge Sonia Sotomayor – I noted:

“And in the 2008 Ricci v. DeStefano case of white firefighters fighting the city of New Haven’s decision to toss out a promotion test upon which blacks and Hispanics disproportionately scored lower than whites, Sotomayor joined the opinion rejecting the firefighters case. The Supreme Court will decide that case this summer, before she would join the Court, and most analyses point to the justices being skeptical of the city’s case.”

The Court in fact was skeptical – or at least five of the nine justices were – as the Court announced today that is was reversing the decision that Sotomayor joined.

The Associated Press reported:

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision.

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What’s The Best Way To “Get The Word Out” About Your Small Business …. Word Of Mouth Or Social Media?

June 29th, 2009 admin

If you have a small local (niche) market, cheap local advertising is somewhat effective for the purpose of exposure. However, I’ve found that word-of-mouth exposure pays off the best.

Thus, I recommend asking your happiest (perhaps even most enthusiastic) clients to recommend your services/products to whomever they feel might be able to use them. Offer them discounts or even freebie incentives to encourage them to refer your business.

If your referral network grows, you might find your existing clients doing most of the selling of your business/products/services for you. Resulting in reduced courting time and cost of sales for you.

However, I think this only works with higher quality or lowest cost positions on the offer curve. Otherwise, your customers would have a difficult time explaining to others why they should use your business.

On using social media ……

Firstly, your focus should be on the long term rather than short term. In the short term it’s more about giving value than getting it. Building relationships and gaining trust is the first aim. Another aim is to drive people to your website, where they can gain value without spending a cent.

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Capitalization Rules for Article Writing

June 28th, 2009 admin

1. Capitalize the first word of every sentence.
2. “I” is always capitalized, along with all its contractions. Example: I can do it. Example: I’ll do it tomorrow. Example: I’m going to do it now.
3. Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence. Example: She said, “I can do this.”

4. Capitalize a proper noun. Example: Eiffel Tower
Example: Christopher Knight
Example: Federal Bureau of Investigation

5. Capitalize a person’s title when it precedes the name. Example: Doctor Smith
Exception: Mr. Smith, the doctor at the hospital,
came to check up on me.
6. Capitalize any title when used as a direct address. Example: “Will you please answer the question, Senator?”

7. Do not capitalize names of seasons.
8. Capitalize points of the compass only when they refer to specific regions. Example: I have relatives visiting from the South. Example: I drove south to the end of the block.
9. After a sentence ending with a colon, do not capitalize the first word if it begins a list. Example: These are my favorite foods: chicken,
potatoes and bread.
10. Capitalize the first word and all the words in titles of books, articles, works of art, etc. excluding short prepositions and conjunctions. Example: “EzineArticles Writing and Marketing”

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Small Business: Summer Checkup for Profitability

June 27th, 2009 admin

Sound advice from Joyce M. Rosenberg in this recent Associated Press article. Many of our clients are assessing their financial situation and taking a mid-year look at the bottom line. But what about networking? That is worth some analysis as well. We advise clients to reach out to current and former clients. Recently a business owner we are working with visited a customer just to thank him for their business. The result? Two new contracts that couldn’t have come at a better time. We have a reputation at the SBDC for helping businesses with financial assessment, but we also excel at networking. Consider coming in and we can get you back in front of the right people again. The ones who can give you business.

Small companies need holistic midyear checkups

Small business owners might want to put two important items at the top of their midyear to-do lists: get a financial checkup, and do more networking.

Early July is a good time for owners to plan for the rest of the year. But the recession has likely chilled many companies’ plans to expand or make big capital expenditures.

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Healthy Views

June 26th, 2009 admin

This summer promises to be long and hot when it comes to the debate over health care policy. Much has been and will continue to be written on the topic. But I wanted to draw your attention to three important pieces penned recently.

• A doctor shares his skepticism regarding the leading health care reform measures in the Chicago Tribune. Donald Palmisano explains how these measures could quickly wipe out what has taken decades to build.

• Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Scott Harrington, a professor of health-care management and insurance and risk management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, lays out his case for why a government-run insurance plan will crowd out private insurers, and make a single-payer system inevitable.

• And the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page did an excellent job at picking apart the Obama Administration’s assertions regarding the costs of its health care agenda.

Each warrants reading.

Raymond J. Keating
Chief Economist
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council

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Resources For Video Advertising For Small Businesses

June 26th, 2009 admin

Many small businesses require some sort of corporate video or commerical for advertising purposes, whether online viral video, public service announcement or full-on production.

Also, many small businesses require A/V services or equipment for their offices, buildings or events/conferences.

ProductionHUB.com allows you to search and find endless video/digital media/film/live event production resources. ProductionHUB.com also features business directories and classifieds where you can find new or used specialized equipment, all with easy-to-find services by category or location.

Possibly the most useful tool is the complimentary Request Engine on ProductionHUB:

* ProductionHUB does the searching for you.

* Users type in their request (i.e. I need a new projector installed in my office, I need a new Audio Technician/printer/ad agency/set caterer, etc.).

* Request generates competitive bids to your inbox from high-end companies within 24 hours.

Starting up a business takes a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Don’t let yourself waste time searching for production services or quotes when you have resources like ProductionHUB at your disposal.

About ProductionHUB -

ProductionHUB, Inc. is the global online resource and industry directory for film, television, video, live event and digital media production.

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Oil, Gas and Waxman-Markey Legislation

June 25th, 2009 admin

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to consider the Waxman-Markey energy/climate legislation – or the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 – on Friday, June 26. Among the legislation’s many measures that would raise energy costs are a massive emissions cap-and-trade regulatory scheme, and renewable mandates on electricity generation.

The oil and gas industry correctly warns Congress about the ill effects of Waxman-Markey. In a June 23 letter to Congress, Jack Gerard, president and CEO for the American Petroleum Institute, makes three important points:

• “As independent analysis suggests, this legislation will drive up consumer prices for gasoline and other fuels. It also will create huge disincentives for the production of America’s abundant natural gas resources and force jobs and productive capacity overseas.”

• “An analysis of a Congressional Budget Office report indicates that it could add as much as 77 cents to the price of a gallon of gasoline over the next decade. And according to the Heritage Foundation, this legislation could cause gas prices to jump 74% by 2035. That means, at today’s prices, gasoline would be well over $4 per gallon.”

• “At a time that we can least afford it, these provisions and others have the effect of driving up energy costs, creating a competitive disadvantage for American business, and imperiling thousands, if not millions, of jobs.

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A “Red Carpet Solution” for Immigration Reform

June 25th, 2009 admin

President Obama announced that he also wants to tackle immigration reform this year –certainly a hot button issue. It’s hard to imagine how he will get the thorny issue of immigration done given all the other items he’s put on the legislative front burner. None-the-less, immigration reform is an important issue, especially for small firms that require guest workers from other countries in order to meet specialized and seasonal business needs.

If he wants to do immigration reform right, the President should take time out of his schedule to meet with Helen Krieble, a small business owner from Colorado and author of the “Red Card Solution.” Her Solution is a pragmatic approach that addresses the underlying issues driving illegal immigration. Helen is in Washington this week briefing policy leaders and congressional staffers about her plan. She also unveiled the new “Red Carpet Solution” documentary at the National Press Club.

Krieble stresses that it is critical to differentiate between the requirements for immigrants applying for citizenship to the U.S. and non-immigrant workers looking solely for employment in the U.S. Her approach to implementing a non-immigrant worker program is practical and efficient.

Features of the plan include:

• Private management of a non-immigrant worker program, which uses powerful incentives for illegals in the U.S.

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Punctuation tips for writing articles

June 25th, 2009 admin

Here are 10 quick punctuation tips:

1. Spacing After Punctuation: One (1) space only is
required after every punctuation mark (period,
exclamation mark, question mark, colon, semicolon,
commas, etc.), including bullets and numbers.
2. Never use Excessive Punctuation!!!!! This will not
create a greater sense of urgency or strong emotion,
especially in formal writing.
3. Periods and commas always go inside of quotation
marks.
Example: “I think you’re great.”

4. There is never a space before a period or before a comma.
5. When doing this “…” you should use only 3 dots.
6. When using dashes, use two in a row.
Example: Punctuation–10 Rules

7. Use no spaces on either side of a hyphen.
Example: We need twenty-five boxes.
8. Use a question mark only after a direct question.
Example: Can I ask you a question?
9. Use parentheses to enclose words or figures that clarify.
Example: Use only one (1) space after a punctuation mark.
10. If the last word in a sentence ends in a period, do not
follow it with another period.
Example: I know that C.E.O. He is my boss.

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