Jim Blasingame's Blog, page 21

RESULTS: How involved will your Thanksgiving travel be?

The Question:

How involved will your Thanksgiving travel be this year?

64% - Just staying home
13% - Less than 100 miles
15% - More than 100 miles
5% - Planes, trains and automobiles

Jim’s Comments:




As you can see, two-thirds of you are staying close to home. This is down from the same poll last year, which showed 83% were going to stay home. One reason for this difference could be that gas prices are almost $1 lower per gallon this year than last.

Regardless of how you celebrated, I hope you...

Make a difference to just one

Even in America, the land of plenty, there are so many people who need food, shelter, a helping hand, and a kind word. It’s true, the safety net created by public and private organizations is multi-layered and highly efficient, but it is, after all, a net not a pillow. Nets have holes.

Looking at the many unmet needs it’s easy to be intimidated by the scale and we feel justified in our indifference because, “Hey, I pay my taxes and contribute to charities, don’t I? What more can I do, right? I...

Small business success requires two kinds of passion

Over the years, when I’ve counseledbudding entrepreneurs, it always amazed me how many haven’t conducted anything close to a prudent amount of research in the run up to starting their businesses. Indeed, they often act as if they must get their business started right now or they’ll just pop.

Photo credit: Anthony Easton, Flickr.com

That kind of impatience and lack of discipline is dangerous and I had to do my best to talk them down off the ledge. The trick was to walk the fine line between slow...

RESULTS: What do you think of executive action?

The Question:
President Obama has indicated he is prepared to take executive action on immigration reform without Congress. What do you think?

0% - The president has the authority to do this and should
51% - Only Congress is authorized to change immigration laws
15% - I don’t care as long as we start resolving the immigration problem
34% - Here they go again. God help us

Jim’s Comments:




As you can see, none of our small business audience thinks President Obama has the Constitutional authority...

What are you thankful for?

Americans punctuate each year with the Thanksgiving holiday as a way of perpetuating a 390-year-old tradition begun by a rag-tag group of our forebears. That first time, in 1621, thanksgiving day wasn’t the proper noun it became. It was just a day set aside by a few dozen humans who risked everything, actually lost most of it, were hard-by to any number of dangers that could cost them the rest, but still felt compelled to be thankful for what they had.

Photo credit to HBC Realty Group

Be thank...

When cause-and-effect met humanity and changed the world

As the 17th century dawned, cause-and-effect was merging parallel universes.

In the Old World, a decision by a group of Leiden Separatists put them on a circuitous journey. Meanwhile, in the New World, a manchild named Tisquantum was born to the Wampanoag Indians.

Both the Separatists and Tisquantum became very important to America’s future, but not before their lives would change and intertwine in ways not to be imagined by either.

Photo credit to BGCNT.net

Seeking religious freedom, the Separat...

RESULTS: What should be the priority of Obama and the GOP?

The Question:
As President Obama and the Republican majority begin their work, what should be their priority?

24% - Fix Obamacare

10% - Immigration reform

27% - Reform the tax code

5% - Foreign policy

34% - I’ll take anything if they’ll just work together

Jim’s Comments:




It looks like the big interest is in Obamacare and tax reform. But more of you just threw up your hands and chose “I’ll take anything, if they’ll just work together.” That sounds like an indictment to me. What do you think?

Sadl...

Celebrating two milestones

If you will permit me, today I would like to talk about a couple of milestones of which we’re kind of proud.

On Monday, November 17, 1997, I began broadcasting The Small Business Advocate Show for two hours Monday through Friday, and ever since that first day the program has been nationally syndicated.This week we’ll celebrate our 17th anniversary and the beginning of our 18th year on the air.

In January 1998, we began simulcasting our show on the Internet, which makes us one of the pioneers...

Why you should care about the net neutrality debate

As policy battle lines are being drawn in Washington, there’s one important issue being debated that might not stay on your radar like Obamacare and immigration.

It’s called “net neutrality,” and I’m concerned it might not get the attention it deserves, even though it could have significant long-term implications. My goal here is to simplify net neutrality so you understand how it can impact your business and how to join the debate.

The term is pretty intuitive.Net neutrality means all Internet...

RESULTS: What’s your experience with consumer confidence during the holidays

The Question:


Some surveys indicate improving consumer confidence going into the holidays. What’s your current experience?

8% - Definitely increased customer activity and sales.

22% - Increased customer activity with some increase sales

56% - Customer activity and sales are about the same so far

14% - Our customer activity and sales have decreased.

Jim’s Comments:

We’ve been polling small business owners about the economy about four times a year since the Great Recession ended, and we’ve never b...