Jim Blasingame's Blog, page 34
February 6, 2014
SBA Poll Results: Why are you not hiring?
The Question:
What single issue will have the greatest impact on your decision to hire new employees or not?
68% - The overall economy
11% - Obamacare
8% - Technology alternatives
14% - Outsourcing alternatives
My Comments
This is not a “chicken or egg” quandary. No one ever founded a small business so they could hire people. They hire people so they can grow their business. So when facing troubling circumstances, small business owners stop hiring.
We wanted to know what current troubling circumstanc...
February 4, 2014
“86″ your Filters
Several years ago I was introduced to the word paradigm and to the concept itself. It’s often considered an overused word which many avoid as a cliche, but I like it. To me, nothing fits the bill like paradigm when you want to describe the way each of us view our world.
Paradigms are mental filters we have created. And only information with which we have learned to be comfortable and successful is allowed to pass.
In Executive Thinking, Leslie Kossoff wrote
As humans, we are not limited to seein...
February 3, 2014
Customers now co-own your brand message
As previously revealed in this space, the Age of the Seller is succumbing to what I’ve named The Age of the Customer®. In this new Age, control of the relationship between Seller and Customer has shifted to the latter.
This paradigm shift is largely caused by online platforms that are: 1) increasing the access customers have to information about Sellers and their products; 2) allowing customers to express and share what they’ve learned about and experienced with a business.
The first element ab...
January 30, 2014
SBA Poll Results: Minimum Wage Increase
The Question:
If the federal minimum wage is increased, how will it affect your business?
70% - It won’t impact my business at all.
11% - The increased payroll expense could put my business in jeopardy.
5% - It will prevent me from expanding.
14% - I will start replacing employees with technology.
My Question:
The response to last week’s poll reflects a sea-change in the workplace on Main Street. Not that long ago, more small businesses would have been significantly impacted by an increase in the mi...
January 29, 2014
Small business is like a bunch of bananas
I like bananas any way you want to fix them: banana splits, banana sandwiches, bananas on my cereal, and of course, just a banana by itself. Once I even ate a banana dipped in chocolate. Mmm! Mmm!
But before I can eat a banana, I have some business to take care of–I have to lose the peel. A banana peel is actually a double problem: It tastes bad, and if you step on it, you will slip and fall. Everybody knows that. The banana peel has become our metaphor for danger underfoot.
So with two out of...
January 28, 2014
It’s The Age of the Customer – are you ready?
Markets were born when humans chose to acquire what they needed by trading with each other rather than producing it themselves or taking from someone else by force. The moment of proto-market conception was when the first seller offered to trade with the first customer, and that offer was accepted.
For millennia, this marketplace dance was as beautifully simple as it was exquisitely effective, having at its nucleus three primary elements:
The product, controlled by the seller
Product information...
January 27, 2014
The Age of the Customer®
My latest book The Age of the Customer® is now available for purchase at the locations below. Click the images to purchase the book and to view more information about maintaining relevance with your small business.
This Has Never Happened Before.
You’re operating your business in a time when something is happening that is so momentous it has never happened before. Jim Blasingame identifies it as an epochal marketplace shift that’s causing the 10,000-year-old Age of the Seller to be replaced by...
January 23, 2014
SBA Poll Results: Should unemployment benefits be extended?
The Question:
Already extended 73 weeks, should the federal government extend unemployment benefits another 13 weeks?
17% - Yes, as long as necessary.
5% - Yes, but only one more time.
27% - Not unless it’s paid for with spending cuts.
51% - No. It has to stop sometime.
My Comments:
Almost 8 of 10 of our respondents think it’s time to stop extending unemployment benefits. Instead of asking Congress for an extension, in my opinion, the President should stop the anti-business behavior and rhetoric of...
January 22, 2014
January 21, 2014
Attitude is everything
In the world of small business, attitude is everything. Yes, I know, profit is essential and cash is king. I’ve been guilty of spouting all of those types of platitudes, however true, myself. But more than anything you can buy, sell, count, hold, or distribute, assuming what I call The Small Business Success Attitude is essential to entrepreneurial success. Here is The Small Business Success Attitude:
I accept that my small business will face challenges every day. As I begin my day, I will ass...
