Small Business News Digest, Vol. 3, Issue 23

Google community edits are under review Finally, Google turned their eyes to unscrupulous competition-fighting tactics. As of Tuesday, all community edits have to be approved by members of Google team. Before, any one could go to Google maps and create an unclaimed local business listing, thus hijacking customers from competition. From the announcement: We recently made a change to Google Maps to require all community edits to be reviewed before they are shown. In the past, some “pending” edits were shown immediately on Maps and only moderated (and sometimes denied) later on. We’re taking this step to ensure that changes to Google Maps pass the high quality bar our users expect, while preventing SPAM and other problems from showing up before being reviewed first. Pick Of The Week… How do you stay ahead of the competition? Hear 22 opinions from a range of small business owners and entrepreneurs via blogger Sarah Shaw. Learn more about the tools you can use to figure out how you rank with others in your industry and market enabling you to think strategically and plan your moves to stay ahead of the pack. Don’t miss any of these tips when considering a strategy for your small business. You may be surprised with the results. Entreprenette Gazette The key to success is the questions you ask. Entrepreneur Penelope Trunk has some thoughts about why you can sometimes get further with questions than with answers. For one thing, questions lead you in the right direction eventually. And in small business, especially one you start yourself, there will always be more of the former than the latter. Brazen Careerist Keep your small business planning simple. You’ll hear lots about planning in just about every aspect of small business. But, of course, the simplest plans are the easiest to implement. Obviously a complicated plan no one ever looks at again is not worth the paper it’s printed on. In this post and video Becky McCray highlights this by suggesting a simplified marketing plan (just four steps) that should be easy enough for any small business to follow. Small Biz Survival Keep innovating in your marketing approach. For instance, Travis Campbell has this post about the ways in which online video can transform your e-mail marketing efforts immediately. When it comes to getting and keeping a potential client or customer’s attention, don’t make the mistake of trying the same old thing that hasn’t been working in the hopes things will turn around. (They probably won’t unless you take action.) Marketing Professor

Small Business News Digest, Vol.3 Issue 22

Now Is The Time To Grow A Business With all problems that current economy caused to small businesses, there is one positive side of it. There was no better time to gain competitive advantage and broaden your business’ footprint. With thousands of small businesses going under, it’s your time to take over their customers and their unclaimed business. Needy customers are out there. If you won’t do it, your competitors will. If you managed to keep your company above the water, invest all you have into marketing and lead generation. You may not see immediate increase in revenue, however 3-5 years from now your company’s income and value will go through the roof. Pick Of The Week… Business Sellers Increasingly Play Banker from BusinessWeek.com — Small Business Creative financing can help sellers command better prices or close deals. It can also create complications among banks, sellers, and buyers Why flipping is not investing in real estate from Report On Business – Your Business RSS feed by Susan Smith Think of each property as a small business in its own right and manage it until it is throwing off cash, author says The challenge: Who should ‘rule over the others?’ from Report On Business – Your Business RSS feed by David C. Bentall At 62, Jay Bornstein began to think about retirement, and he needed to choose a family successor 6 Ways To Use Video As A Small Business Owner from Small Business Trends by Lisa Barone 8 people liked this Here’s a stat for you: YouTube is the second largest search engine on the Web with more than 2 billion views a day. That’s right, two billion. And contrary to popular belief, it’s not all just silly cat videos and adolescents injuring themselves.

Small Business News Digest, Vol. 3, Issue 21

Interesting business sale statistics was released by BizBuySell.com – largest businesses for sale marketplace, based on research conducted in San Francisco Bay Area.

“Sellers are being realistic,” said Mike Handelsman, general manager for the online marketplace for businesses-for sale. “They just can’t get for a business today what they could have gotten two years ago.”

• The current median asking price of a business for sale is $220,000. At the end of first quarter 2009 the median asking price was $250,000.
• Businesses listed in the first quarter of 2010 had a median revenue of $467,500, down from $500,000 at the same time last year.
• The median cash flow, meaning the money that comes out of the business over the course of a year, is now $90,692, versus median cash flows of $103,000 during the same period last year.
• Business owners in the San Francisco area typically ask for an average revenue multiple of .70 (the same as during last year’s first quarter) and a cash flow multiple of 2.97 (down from 3.08 during the same period a year ago).

Let’s check out the most interesting news of the week…

Help! My company is a cash hog

from Report On Business – Your Business RSS feed by John Warrillow

How to create a positive cash-flow cycle when charging up-front is a non-starter

How Google will ruin everything

from Report On Business – Your Business RSS feed by Omar El Akkad

What Google can teach us about advertising—like whether or not it even works

Free seminar May 12 on legislation and your business.

Learn more about how such issues as healthcare, cap and trade and labor regulations affect your business and your profits. National Federation of Independent Business

10 Reasons Not To Ignore Your Blog For Facebook

from Small Business Trends by Lisa Barone

Brace yourself: Facebook is trying to take over the world. Or, if not the world, at least the entire Internet. With Facebook partnering up with popular sites like Yelp, many SMB owners may feel as if their load got lighter.

Expert Business Coaches with Global Business Group are helping small business owners to become successful in starting, growing and exiting businesses.  Our Business Brokers help small business owners to plan the exit/succession strategy and sell business at the highest price.

Small Business News Digest, Vol. 3 Issue 20

This week it is all about statistics. Not just any statistics, I am talking about interesting and useful for small business owners statistics. Millions of bits of information appear on the internet every single day. Most of them are useless. But this week we found real pearls.

Who knew that CPA is the most profitable profession? Who expected that  one out of every three Coldstone Creamery franchises fail? Hiring was always indication of a business growth. Have small businesses started hiring yet?

Lets check out the most interesting small business news of the week…

The Most Profitable Small Businesses

from Forbes.com: Entrepreneurs and Small Business News and Information by Brett Nelson and Maureen Farrell

Based on 300,000 companies, most with annual sales under $10 million. One takeaway: Specialization pays off.

Franchise failure rates

from Small business news – CNNMoney.com

Do you dream of being a franchise owner? Scope out this list of the most popular brands over the past decade — and how well their owners have done at repaying startup loans.

Are Small Businesses Hiring Yet?

from Small Business Trends by Scott Shane

America has lost more than 8 million jobs since the Great Recession began. And even though most economists believe the recession ended last summer, unemployment remains at 9.7 percent.

Not Enough Entrepreneurs are Saving for Retirement

from Small Business Trends by Rieva Lesonsky

1 person liked this

Two reports released recently by the SBA and spotlighted in The Entrepreneurial Mind blog confirm what many small-business owners may already know:  Entrepreneurs and their employees aren’t saving enough for retirement.

Expert Business Coaches with Global Business Group are helping small business owners to become successful in starting, growing and exiting businesses.  Our Business Brokers help small business owners to plan the exit/succession strategy and sell business at the highest price.

Small Business News Digest, Vol. 3 Issue 19

Confidence among U.S. small businesses fell in March to the lowest level since July 2009 as executives grew more concerned about earnings and sales, according to the Washington-based National Federation of Independent Business.

About 44 percent of family businesses in the U.S. considering a sale may act in the next two years, according to Rothstein Kass, a Roseland, New Jersey-based accounting and advisory firm that surveyed 382 executives of companies with more than $10 million in sales.

Family companies trying to sell in the next 24 months may be acquired by private-equity firms, as lenders continue to restrict capital to other potential small-business buyers, said Tom Angell, a principal in charge of the commercial services group and private equity practice at Rothstein Kass.

Lets check out the most interesting small business news of the week…

How not to grow your business

A lesson in forecasting, partnership and management gone wrong. You’re The Boss

Think government efforts will spur business growth?

Watch these two interviews from Larry Kudlow.  National  Review Online

Family Inc.: The New B-School Job Choice

from BusinessWeek.com — Small Business

With fewer jobs available, students are starting to give family businesses a second look. Schools are offering new classes and programs

What Happens to Outstanding Loans During Bankruptcy?

from BusinessWeek.com — Small Business

It depends on your company’s legal structure and the type of bankruptcy you file. But financing companies prefer payments over equipment repossessions

Expert Business Brokers with Global Business Group are helping small business owners to plan the exit/succession strategy and sell business at the highest price.

Our Business Coaches help small business owners to become successful in starting, growing and exiting a business.

Small Business News Digest, Vol. 3 Issue 18

SBA conducted a study and released new data about success rate of small business start-ups.

… two thirds of new employment establishments survive first two years, and 44 percent survive at least four years.

It sounds like a very encouraging statistics, comparing to what we’ve heard before. However, even these numbers suggest quite alarming rate of failure. Every one out of three business start-ups fail within first two years…, wow!

Why start-up failure ratio is so high? In a nutshell, unreasonable expectations, lack of planning, poor management and shortage of funds are the main causes of failure.

What can be done to improve the odds of business survival? Learn valuable Business Start-Up Tips.

Lets check out the most interesting small business news of the week…

Managing Multiple Businesses

from BusinessWeek.com — Small Business

Similar industries and nearby locations will make it a bit easier, of course. Four serial entrepreneurs offer hard-won advice

How To Spruce Up A Business For Sale

from Forbes.com: Entrepreneurs and Small Business News and Information by John Warrillow

Follow these eight steps

Health Care

13 big changes. Yep, some of the biggest changes in the healthcare overhaul could affect you and your business. Kiplinger

Secrets of the biggest selling launch ever

from Seth’s Blog by Seth Godin

80 people liked this

Apple reports that on the first day they sold more than $150,000,000 worth of iPads. I can’t think of a product or movie or any other launch that has ever come close to generating that much direct revenue.

Small Business News Digest Vol.3, Issue 17

Is it really time to get optimistic about future of small businesses in the US? I don’t know. We’re picking up all sorts of controversial signals from the media. Official reports sometimes are just as contradictory as yellow press. Every report is covering either particular industry segment or based on particular indicator of economic condition. Nobody can present top-level, overall picture of market condition. Our government’s solution, as usual, just throw more money at the problem. I own a small business and I don’t need money – I need customers. Theoretics from economy can provide you with nice economic recovery cookbook with thousands of recipes. They will explain how you can borrow money, invest it into marketing, get more customers and here you go… It’s all fine, however in today’s economy, translation of money into customers becomes very uncertain. Therefore, you may end up with no customers and obligation to pay on debt.

Auditors crack down on ‘independent contractors’ from Small business news – CNNMoney.com If your business uses independent contractors, get ready for new scrutiny. Hoping to boost tax revenue, the IRS and many state governments are cracking down on how companies classify their workers.

Times are tough. Fraud makes them tougher. Here are some warning signs to keep in mind when an offer seems too good to be true. America’s Best Practices

Where to get startup cash now from Small business news – CNNMoney.com Bank credit is scarce and investors are skittish, but that didn’t stop these 6 startups. They found creative ways to raise cash during the downturn.