A Weekly Roundup of Small-Business News - NYTimes.com

Dashboard

A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

The Big Story: A Surplus of Yawns

President Obama?s budget, which includes $24 billion in cuts, sets off an election year fight. Here?s a good summary. The Calafia Beach Pundit says that fiscal austerity might not be so bad after all (Paul Krugman disagrees). Accounting Today sums up the budget?s tax changes as does Andrew Fieldhouse. Ezra Klein compares the Obama and Romney budgets and confirms that ?our government is a big insurer with a big army.? Larry Doyle prefers Paul Ryan?s budget. Keith Hennessey says the administration?s 2.5-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to tax increases? ?is bogus.? Kent Hoover breaks down what the budget means for entrepreneurs. The chairman of the House Small Business Committee says the budget is bad for small business. But business groups just yawn. Rick Newman explains why none of it matters anyway. Suzy Khimm points to five things you probably missed.

The Economy: Sentiment at a Lull

Small-business sentiment is in a lull and the National Federation of Independent Business denounces Washington. Barbara Taylor explains how small businesses can hurt the economy. The Pulse of Commerce Index falls. Industrial production and producer prices (pdf) remain unchanged. Retail sales increase, as do the Residential Remodeling Index and builder confidence. But this quarter?s?S.&P. 500 earnings growth was not so hot. Manufacturing tech orders were up in December. The Fed has few supporters for QE3. Here?s a surprise: economists aren?t so good at forecasting.

Your People: Vision, Values and Alignment

Apple scores best for corporate reputation. CareerBliss names the happiest companies in America. One owner creates a strong culture by spending three days a week ?working from home where I focus on just three things: vision, values and alignment.? David Butcher offers five bold ideas for business. Looks like there?s a shortage of demand planning analysts, and guess what: businesses that employ undocumented workers do better. Here?s how to keep sick staffers at home. Gallup reports that health costs and government regulations continue to curb small-business hiring. Fewer tech companies are sending jobs overseas. A man is almost attacked by a jealous monkey.

Management: Be a Doer

Join a Google employee turned entrepreneur for a video interview on Wednesday. Seth Godin points out the curious nature of selfishness: ?Sharing your money, your ideas, your insights, your confidence ? all of these things return to you. Perhaps not in the way you expected, and certainly not with a guarantee, but again and again the miser falls behind.? Roshawn Watson offers the ultimate guide to becoming a doer: ?It is important to every doer to honor his differences and use them to his competitive advantage.? Here are eight inspirational videos to get you pumped. Nipun Mehta offers five reasons to serve others. Or maybe we should all just move to Bermuda.

Ideas: Cultivating Fans and Followers

Krista Neher explains why Google Plus is important. Hewlett-Packard and Business Matchmaking plan to continue their event series for 2012. A South Korean company is revolutionizing the way small businesses get fans and followers. Here?s how Jimmy Kimmel earns nearly $2 million a year on YouTube. Crowdspring?s Mike Samson suggests 10 things entrepreneurs can learn from politicians, including: ?Between elections, good politicians continue to energetically market their ideas, their legislative priorities and their brands.? Here?s how indie brewers are outpacing beer-industry growth. The hotel industry is adapting to travel habits. Delta leads the airline industry in pet deaths. TD Bank introduces a new checking account suite for small business. No joke: A man has a heart attack at The Heart Attack Grill.

Starting Up: Learning From Chuck Norris

The start-up rate is at the lowest point on record, but this entrepreneur is on a mission to change that. There?s an increase in subscription commerce start-ups. And an online payments start-up increased its revenue tenfold in 2011. Evan Peelle says that everything he learned about start-ups came from Chuck Norris, including: ?In the same way that Chuck Norris takes down armies singlehandedly while getting paid like a rock star,? pay-per-click advertising ?can transform your business overnight.?

Around the Country: Toilet Paper Production

Entries for a Black Enterprise Small Business Award are due by March 16. John Splendido offers advice for running on a business trip. Snow or no snow, small businesses in Philadelphia find a way to prosper. A new bill may hurt Rhode Island tanning salons. Toilet paper production is booming in New Hampshire. Manufacturing activity in New York expanded for a third consecutive month.

Around the World: Investing in North Korea

An entrepreneur says opportunities are great in India today and this video explains how to start a manufacturing business there. Some companies are eager to invest in North Korea. Can you guess which country is deepest in debt? Here?s a list of Africa?s top 20 start-ups. The world?s largest shopping malls are in China. Small businesses that rushed to Chinese factories to have their products made are turning to American manufacturers. Meanwhile, the next leader of China tours the American heartland. Mark Perry reports on the emerging world energy map. Frozen canals in Amsterdam make for some pretty cool skating.

Red Tape Update: Linsanity Hits the Patent Office

A payroll tax cut extension deal is completed and the president wants to extend the health care tax credit to more small businesses. There is a voice for entrepreneurs, and he?s right inside the government. When it comes to taxes, entrepreneurs are still climbing Mount Paperwork, and Dan Danner of the National Federation of Independent Business offers suggestions that could make both small businesses and the Internal Revenue Service happier. Inevitably, Linsanity reaches the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Marie Forleo wants help giving away $10,000 to entrepreneurs.

Marketing: Is Sales Icky?

Scott Gerber offers seven examples of marketing magic using Facebook fan pages. In this video, Andrew Lock asks whether Google AdWords is still worthwhile for small businesses. John Souza lists 10 reasons social media campaigns fail, including: ?Content drives your social campaigns, but treating this content like you treat print media content is a bad idea.? Facebook is reportedly tracking calls from small-business pages. A father shoots his daughter?s laptop to get her off Facebook. Some feel that Pinterest combines the best parts of Facebook, Tumblr and Etsy. Jill Konrath lists five things sales representatives should never do. Robbi Hess says small businesses need to engage in both face-to-face and online networking. James Chartrand says being a sales rep isn?t icky: ?If you feel uncomfortable selling, you lack faith in what you sell.? Starbucks attracts gun owners.

Technology: An App to Find Apps

Online software can increase your company?s growth 10 ways. Tom Simonite explains how to upgrade your hard drive to infinity. Tablet sales will ?blow past? PC sales by 2015. Stephanie Buck lists five mobile apps to improve small-business productivity. There are so many apps that we now need these apps to find apps. Kyle Lacy offers stats about consumer mobile use, including: ?Nine percent of all cell owners searched for the price of a product they found in a physical store but ultimately purchased it at that store.? A start-up in Maryland uses cutting-edge chemical technology to improve the efficiency of lithium ion batteries. Google is planning a massive ?Experience Center.? Cloud services for small businesses will hit $68 billion by 2014. A cloud tsunami rolls over Florida.

Boss of the Week

A Philadelphia bakery owner, Sonya Akines, shares the biggest lesson learned during her first year as a business owner: The key to being a successful dreamer and entrepreneur is, ?You change the plans as you go.?

This Week?s Bests

Path to Success. Ingrid Wickelgren explains how to achieve success in seven short steps, including, ?Write a gratitude letter?: ?If addressing an individual is uncomfortable or inappropriate, pen a note to yourself about all the things that are going well or that you feel fortunate to have. Set aside a time each day to do this. For instance, write one journal entry each night just before bed listing the good things that happened to you and what you are grateful for. Too much of the time, we focus on our fears and problems, because those relate to situations we need to avoid or solve to survive. But if you stop to count your blessings, you will realize how lucky you are.?

Leadership Lesson. Hitendra Wadhwa explains how Lincoln became America?s greatest president: ?Changing oneself isn?t easy, so even as president, Lincoln?s anger occasionally consumed him, making him pour it out in letters to critics, errant generals, and others. He had the self-discipline though to not dispatch these ?hot? letters; they were later discovered, unsigned, in a drawer in the president?s desk. In this way, one small step at a time, Lincoln built his self-discipline, and through it, the character of his presidency. Lincoln?s journey suggests that the true measure of a leader lies not in how much we cultivate and exploit our strengths, but in how we work on tapping, in Lincoln?s words, the ?better angels of our nature? to use our strengths in the service of a cause much higher than our own personal gain.?

This Week?s Question: Do you think the president?s budget would help your business?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/20/this-week-in-small-business-lessons-from-chuck-norris/

nextdoor premier fitness dan uggla kryptos student loan forgiveness amy winehouse cause of death amy winehouse cause of death