Today’s roundup starts with news that the Federal Reserve Chairman wants to help small businesses and includes stories about the struggle to find good workers and why failing is a good thing.
Bernanke plugs small businesses
In a speech today in Washington, D.C., Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke revealed that he is a friend to small business. As Scott Lanman and Timothy R. Homan of Bloomberg report, Bernanke urged policy makers to think hard about how to support small business owners and encouraged banks to review lending policies for small businesses. Do you think government is doing enough to help small businesses?
SBOs struggle to find good workers
There are 14 million unemployed workers in the U.S., 3.4 million job openings (in September alone) and small business owners are still not able to find qualified workers. What gives? As Kathleen Madigan of The Wall Street Journal writes, 40 percent of small business owners are struggling to find workers that will show up on time and are qualified for tasks needed—namely computer skills. Are you grappling with this problem?
Daily deal sites are not good for small businesses
If you were surprised by Groupon’s $700 million initial public offering, you’re not alone. As Jason Fell of Entrepreneur writes, daily deal sites don’t help small businesses bring in new customers—instead, they attract existing clients. Sites can become better partners by limiting redemption time periods and letting SBOs decide who gets their offers. Do you favor daily deal sites for your business?
SBO offers employees $50,000 bonus for 5 years of service
Back when you were an employee, if your boss offered you a $50,000 check for every five years of service (stay 25 years, get $250,000 cash), would you stay? Who wouldn’t? That is exactly what’s happening at SIB Development and Consulting in Charleston, South Carolina. As Catherina Clifford of CNNMoney Reports, SIB owner Dan Schneider instituted the policy in the spring after realizing how expensive hiring and training can be. The result? His employees are happy and staying put. Would you ever consider giving such a bonus?
Nominate the next Small Business Person of the Year
You work hard day in and day out—here’s your chance to be rewarded by the government. As Maria Valdez Haubrich of Network Solutions Small Business Blog writes, the Small Business Administration is looking for nominees for its 2012 National Small Business Week (May 20-26). As part of the celebrations, the SBA will honor small business owners from every state. Just submit information on your hiring growth, recent innovations and current and past financial performance (among other metrics). Winning such an award will surely increase your customer base.
Why failing is the key to success
This sounds like an oxymoron, but as Don Dodge of VentureFizz writes, most successful products are the result of many failed attempts. Take WD40 as an example. The ‘40’ stands for success on the 40th try. The same goes for Formula 409. Even the makers of Angry Birds tried 51 times before getting it right. Moral of the story: keep trying—success is right around the corner.
5 must-dos before writing a business plan
Writing a business plan doesn’t have to be tedious. As David Worrell of allBusiness writes, SBOs are smart to do five things before starting the process—from describing your product/service to listing your income sources to adding up expenses. Do all five things and your business plan will basically write itself.
(Read more Small Business Snapshots.)
