Protectionist Threats

May 7th, 2012

Is protectionism on the rise?

Writing in the January 12 Wall Street Journal, columnist Bob Davis declared: “A wave of protectionism is swelling around the world that could further damage struggling economies.”

Davis noted that “the World Bank forecasts that global trade will shrink by 2.1% this year, the first decline since 1982.” He pointed out a variety of developing problems:

• “Under World Trade Organization rules, countries establish formal tariff levels, which are often very high, and then apply lower tariffs. That gives them leeway to boost tariffs without violating WTO rules.” Ecuador, India and Russia (not a WTO member) have recently increased tariffs.

• So-called “dumping” complaints (that is, products being sold below a certain price deemed appropriate by competitors and government bureaucrats) are on the rise.

• Other means of protectionism are in the works. “Indonesia is requiring importers to get special licenses as a way to control imports of clothing, shoes and electronics.”

Protectionism, of course, is never good for the economy. Trade shrinks as government barriers rise. Economic opportunity is lost. Lost competition and reduced consumer choice leads to higher costs.

There are two ironies here.

First, there is a great deal of talk around about the threat of another depression.

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How To Establish Credit For Your New Small Business?

May 7th, 2012

As a new business owner, you will be using your personal credit history and potentially personal assets to secure any credit lines from institutions. It is possible that you may be able to get 30 day terms on purchases from a couple of vendors, but for the most part you will be paying by credit card or COD. Over time, you will obtain 30 day terms from your vendors. As far as banks are concerned, you are likely to be required to go the SBA route which requires the business owner to nut up roughly 25% of the assets in the firm and, depending on your credit history, collateralize the loan with some assets. Even this loan will require you to personally guarantee it. As the firm grows and acquires assets, loans can be setup with security from the firm itself and if your business is strong you may be able to avoid a personal guarantee on this loan eventually.

With regard to Dun and Bradstreet, I wouldn’t bother contacting them. If you have been in business a while, they will already be tracking your credit. Furthermore, if you are just starting your business, they will begin tracking your credit via the firms you do business with.

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What Is Freight Bill Factoring

May 6th, 2012

Writen by Marco Terry

Trucking company owners know that cash is king and prompt paying clients are critical to the company’s success. But, what can you do if you get a good client that insists on paying their invoice in 30 days or more? How do you pay fuel, drivers and repairs while you wait to get paid?

In the past, the only option you had was to take the client and grit your teeth.

However, there is an option that has been gaining popularity with the trucking community. It’s called freight bill factoring. Freight factoring eliminates the payment wait and gets your freight bills paid in a couple of days. But, transportation factoring is very different than a business loan. It works by selling your freight bills to a freight factoring company, who pays you for them and then waits to get paid by your customers/freight brokers.

Transportation factoring can be easy to use and works as follows:

  1. You deliver the load and issue a freight bill
  2. You sell the freight bill to the factoring company, who pays you a first installment of 90% to 97% of the freight bill
  3. You get immediate money while the factoring company waits
  4. Once the factoring company gets paid, any remaining reserves (less a small fee) are returned as your second installment

Freight factoring rates vary, but they go from 1.5% to 3% per 30 days depending on volume, duration of transactions and customer selection.

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How To Cut Expenses And Manage Your Business

May 6th, 2012

Writen by Arun Pal Singh

If you own a small business, you should know that often times it can be the little things, rather than the large expenses, that can eat away at your budget. But many times, small business owners will try and increase their profits by looking around at what larger expenses they can cut.

If you are looking to save some cash in your business, why not pay attention to our “small time” cost cutter ideas. You’ll find that if you add them up, they may just save you more than a penny!

And actually together they do save a lot.

#Change Your Plastic Options

If you own a small web site that doesn’t do tons of online business, then chances are you don’t need a merchant account. These can be costly, and probably won’t pay for itself unless you do a robust business. But instead of losing business by not accepting credit cards, you can use one of the other options such as Paypal or Clickbank. 2checkout.com is another good option for the few countries not accepted by clickbank.

With these types of payment systems, clients can use their credit cards, and once the transaction is complete, the money is instantly deposited in your online account. Then you will simply need to transfer it to your bank account.

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Stop the Federal Tobacco Tax Hike

May 5th, 2012

Unfortunately, it is not taking very long for the Democrat-controlled U.S. House of Representatives to try to start hiking taxes. Can you help to stop them?

As various media reports have noted, the U.S. House of Representatives is getting set this week to vote on a bill expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The bill would wind up boosting the number of individuals enrolled in the program from 6.6 million to more than 10 million.

That, of course, means rising costs for taxpayers. The proposal would increase the federal tobacco tax, with the levy on a pack of cigarettes jumping by 156 percent, from 39 cents to $1.

There are many problems with this tax increase. In a January 9 letter to each member of the House of Representatives, SBE Council President & CEO Karen Kerrigan explained four reasons for opposing this tax increase:

First, small retailers would get hit hard by this large tax hike. Higher taxes translate into reduced sales, less foot traffic and fewer purchases of other goods, and lower earnings. That means less money available for investment, expansion, and hiring and paying employees. Already, many small firms and retailers are teetering on the financial edge.

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7 Card Tricks That Improve Your Personal Networking Power

May 5th, 2012

Writen by Debbie Jenkins

CARD SHARK

7 Card Tricks That Improve Your Personal Networking Power

The humble business card has been a mainstay of business and industry for years. But despite it’s small size and cost, it’s one of the most powerful marketing tools you will ever possess. Because of it’s low cost many people take the business card for granted and don’t even think of the effect it can have on their networking and sales success. Here are a few tips for making your card do the business for you…

Card Tricks

Your business card can perform many different promotional jobs and usually all at once. I call these little jobs “Card Tricks” because they work like magic.

All you need to do is be aware of what you want the end effect to be and then set your business card up to work the magic for you.

Here are 7 Card Trick ideas:

Get a Most Wanted Response (MWR)

Get Read (Break The Ice)

Get Kept (And Referred To)

Get Passed On

Qualify/Disqualify Prospects

Sell Stuff

Make You A Celebrity

1. Get A Most Wanted Response

This is the action you want your new contact to take next as a result of your communication.

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Facing Unfair or Excessive Regulatory Enforcement Actions?

May 4th, 2012


Office of the National Ombudsman Is Available to Assist America’s Small Businesses with Federal Regulatory Enforcement Actions

When America’s small businesses face unfair or excessive federal regulatory enforcement actions, the Office of the National Ombudsman at the U.S. Small Business Administration is available to ensure fairness in the enforcement process.

Created by Congress through the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, the Office of the National Ombudsman’s primary function is to work with small businesses and federal agencies to ensure that regulatory or compliance actions are handled and enforced fairly by all federal agencies. The National Ombudsman is empowered to receive, substantiate, and report to Congress complaints and comments from small business owners regarding regulatory enforcement actions taken against small businesses by federal agencies.

“The National Ombudsman helps small businesses navigate the seas of federal regulatory enforcement. With a strengthening regulatory paradigm, it is essential that regulatory enforcement be effective, and not excessive,” National Ombudsman and Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Nicholas N. Owens said. “The National Ombudsman’s focus will continue to enhance transparency for small businesses served, and strengthen the relationship between the small business community and the government.”

It is the primary mission of the Office of the National Ombudsman to assist small businesses when they experience excessive or unfair federal regulatory enforcement actions, such as repetitive audits or investigations, excessive fines, penalties, threats, retaliation or other unfair enforcement action by a federal agency.

Also, the National Ombudsman’s office works with 10 regional fairness boards whose membership is comprised of 50 small business owners from across the country.

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North Carolina’s Economy

May 4th, 2012

So, how’s the economy in North Carolina? A January 9 Wall Street Journal article summed it up this way:

The Tar Heel State lost a bigger percentage of jobs, 1.1%, than any other state from October to November 2008, shedding 46,000 positions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A record number of people in the state are now out of work, and its unemployment rate of 7.9% for November was the highest in 26 years, up from 7.1% in October and 4.7% in November 2007. Some state economic observers are predicting double-digit unemployment for 2009.

The story correctly notes some of the larger economic trends at work that have hit North Carolina hard.

But it also is worth noting that policymakers in North Carolina could take steps to improve the state’s climate for entrepreneurs and investment. On SBE Council’s recently-released “Small Business Survival Index 2008,” which ranks the 50 states and District of Columbia according to their public policy environments for entrepreneurship, North Carolina ranked a poor 39th, or 13th worst.

What troubles the state?

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What is LLM Taxation

May 3rd, 2012

Each and every person has to think about taxes at one or the other point in life. There is no one who can escape this. And when the taxes are so wide spread then the need for lawyers in the field of taxation is equally widespread. There are a lot of people who are in the field of business and for these people words like property, acquisition, amalgamation etc are very much important and government of every country is the one, who needs a part or say a share of the profit. This share of the government is what is termed legally as taxation.

The tax lawyers are the once who are always there to support the business owners. For these lawyers a lot of programs in LLM are available all round the world. With the degree for LLM in taxation one would be well trained in international tax law as well domestic tax law. With llm taxation one can get a good amount of detail about what LL M in taxation offers and where would one get after getting the degree in the same.

One who would opt for the course in LLM in taxation will be trained well theoretically as well as practically after clearing the course that includes five courses in all.

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New Class-Learn Quickbooks!

May 3rd, 2012

Lets face it, if you are starting a business or are already operating one you need to know how to keep books. Even if you have a bookkeeper or you outsource it, you should still know what you are looking at every month. This workshop will provide you with the information you need to get started on the right foot. Quickbooks is the recognized leader in small business recordkeeping software and the University of North Florida SBDC is offering a class on January 22nd that will get you up and running.
  • Start in minutes, save hours: Nearly 70% of users say they save 3 or more hours/week on bookkeeping.

  • Easy to set up, learn, & use: no accounting knowledge needed

  • Be ready at tax time with complete & accurate records

  • Know where you’re making money, & where you’re not

Click here for details.

The Benefits of Facilities Management to Businesses

May 3rd, 2012

Businesses can grow at a rapid rate these days if you are successful and there are associated growing pains with the process. As your business grows, you find yourself taking on more staff, which can often lead to an upgrade in terms of the size of your premises. Larger buildings also incur a number of changes to the core structure of the business, including a number of extra toilets, the need for catering for staff, and the requirement of maintenance.

This is where facilities management can come in, and benefit a growing business. You’ll find that a growing business picks up an accumulation of assets, and these don’t just include the employees and the building. The grounds on the building, the meeting rooms, the computer equipment etc. all costs money, and these need to be properly maintained. Facilities management can offer the first and foremost, basic solution, of cleaning of any offices. An integrated service will be able to look after every issue associated with your business premises and assets. Integrated solutions are advisable to save time and money, because one company can look after everything. So what is covered by an integrated facilities management solution?

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Thriving in the New Jacksonville Economy

May 3rd, 2012

The Beaver Street Enterprise Center always has something interesting happening and this event could not be more timely. We have had dark days in the small business sector. If you want to hear from insiders how to cope and maybe even excel in 2009, this event is for you. You will hear from experts like our own Area Director Cathy Hagan as well as local entrepreneurs who are living it just like you are. The event is January 15th at the Beaver Street Enterprise Center located just past I-95 on Beaver Street. For $15, they promise you will learn ten strategies for thriving in this economy and give you lunch…Bring a friend/guest and they get in free!I’m in. Call 904-265-4700 to register or contact Selisa Grimes at [email protected]
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