Jim Blasingame's Blog, page 23

Be a single-issue voter for your small business

Americans are afforded a privilege which, while not rare on Earth, is certainly unavailable to billions of other Earthlings: We’re allowed to vote for those who represent us in government.

The words “privilege” and “allowed” are used with a purpose: the U.S. Constitution gives Americans the right to vote, but does not require us to do so. If voting were a legal requirement, in the 2000 election 100 million Americans could have been arrested, as pundits lamented the “Vanishing Voter” phenomenon...

RESULTS: What are your future plans for offering health care to your employees?

The Question:

What are your future plans for offering health care (HC) benefits to your employees?

36% - We have and will continue to offer HC benefits.

11% - We currently have HC benefits, but plan to discontinue.

31% - We don’t have HC benefits and won’t provide them in the future.

0% - We currently don’t provide HC benefits, but plan to start.

22% - We don’t have employees.

Jim’s Comments:

Of our respondents who have employees, those who provide healthcare benefits are not far below those who do...

Keep chasing entrepreneurial liberty

John Ray, a Puritan-leaning 17th century English naturalist and botanist who refused to take the religious oath required by the Act of Uniformity during the Restoration, proposed “Lean liberty is better than fat slavery.”

Many small business owners would say it this way, “The worst day in my own business is better than the best day as an employee.”

I’m not proposing employment is akin to slavery, but there is no question it can put chains on your entrepreneurial spirit.Before you leave your jo...

Patience is not standard entrepreneurial equipment

One of the markers of American culture is the “sticker” on the window of a new car. This document reveals to shoppers a listing of standard equipment and options, plus, of course, the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, or MSRP.

But what if someone is shopping for an entrepreneur? That may sound silly, but prospective employees do it all the time. Not so much for price, as the list of “equipment.”

You would expect this list of entrepreneurial standard equipment to include characteristics lik...

RESULTS: How do you feel today about your decision to be a small business owner?

The Question:

How do you feel today aboutyour decision to be a small business owner?

66% - I’ve never regretted my decision to be a small business owner.

13% - Things started off rocky, but I’m now happy with my decision.

21% - It seems my best days as a small business owner are behind me.

0% - I wish I had never done this. What was I thinking?

Jim’s Comments:

As you know, in the intervening years since the financial meltdown of 2008, we’ve gone from where survival was seen as success to weatheri...

Celebrate your customers this week

This week is National Customer Service Week. It’s always the first full week of October, which this year is October 6 - 10. Started by the International Customer Service Association (ICSA) in 1988, it has become a national event as proclaimed by the U.S. Congress.
According to the ICSA, the purpose of National Customer Service Week is “to create a positive message that lasts all year long and to provide a productive opportunity to generate an even stronger commitment to customer service excell...

Small business can’t fund an economic expansion alone

How’s the economy going?

In my long career, it’s hard to imagine a time when you could get as many different answers to this question.

We know the answer if we’re talking to any of the millions of chronically unemployed or under-employed; they’re not represented in the misleading U3 unemployment index used by politicians and the media. And the same goes for the millions who were forced to transition from unemployment to early retirement, disability or welfare.

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Photo courtesy of morgueFile

How ab...

You should never have “a customer from hell”

“This is one of those customers from hell.”

That’s what a small business owner said to me during one of my road trips across the country to check on how things are going out on Main Street.

“Ann” was responding to my query about her business. Her full quote was closer to, “Business is good. But right now I’ve got to spend most of the day dealing with this customer from hell.”

Photo courtesy of Blue Wolf Consulting

When I was a pup commission salesman right out of high school working in big ticket...

Small business owners tackle risks

A friend of mine with a good job once observed, “It must be frightening being a small business owner.You know, not having a guaranteed paycheck, benefits, and all.”

I told him, “You’re right.It scares the hell out of me.”And then, remembering being downsized twice in 18 months, I hit him with, “It’s almost as frightening as when I was an employee.”

In that spirit, here’s a jewel I came across by John A. Shedd, American author and professor, from his 1928 book
Salt from My Attic.

“A ship in the...

Small business: The best boots on the ground

Small business owners are worried about world affairs.

In a recent online poll we asked our audience about that and almost three-fourths are either very or extremely concerned about the state of the world.

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Photo Courtesy of AGV Study Abroad

In recent years terrorists have inverted this reality by employing to murderous advantage two icons of the very society they claim to hate: technology and markets. But just as these icons are ironic levers for terrorists who place no value on life, they becom...