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Should You Go Down Market In This Economy?

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A new study finds that 16 percent of the population lives in poverty. What does this mean for your business? Should You Go Down Market In This Economy? The U.S. Census Bureau recently published a shocking study about the financial condition of consumers, which could have a significant impact on the future of small business. The study calculated the number of Americans that are living in poverty, which the Census classifies as a family of four living in the continental U.S., having a total … [Read more...]

Profiting From Your Competitor makes a mistake

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If your company tends to make good decisions, then you should be prepared to act when a key competitor makes a mistake. Capitalizing on a competitor’s mistakes can seem a bit awkward for many small business owners. Some feel badly profiting from someone else’s misery but in reality there is no reason to feel this way. Our economy grows stronger as companies that make the right decisions expand while those that tend to make poor decisions grow weaker and shrink until they close. Resources … [Read more...]

The Online-Only freelance Workforce Is Ready For Your Business

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An online-only freelance workforce is quickly becoming a permanent part of the economy. Should you consider taking part? Our economy is going through transformative changes and many of the principles that held true for decades about work are no longer valid. One of the most recent changes taking place is the rise of the online-only freelancer. These are people that work independently as contractors and who obtain their clients mainly or exclusively through online channels. More importantly, … [Read more...]

Economic Update: Positive Signals Finally Emerging

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Positive Signals Finally Emerging: A closer look at three important economic indicators that are turning positive. Updating readers on the state of the economy has been a painful task over the past several years. It has been many decades since we've had such a convergence of negative results across virtually all major indicators used to measure our economic performance. While it will still be some time until we return to consistent and sustainable growth that can support the creation of … [Read more...]

Why Local Businesses Should Beef Up Their E-commerce Strategy

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E-commerce Strategy: Don't get left behind. You can harness new technologies even if you're not selling to customers across the world. When experts discuss the power of technology for business growth, they usually talk about feats like selling to customers on the other side of the planet. This use of technology is very effective if your goal is to grow beyond your naturally-defined borders, but there are millions of successful businesses that operate locally and have no interest in selling … [Read more...]

How Economic Deleveraging Will Affect Business

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Deleveraging is an inevitability that your long-term business plan must take into account. Here's what it means for you. The era of financial deleveraging is upon us. Prepare yourselves for higher unemployment, lower economic growth and an emphasis on paying down debt that may last for decades. This isn’t the first time in history that major economies have gone through a deleveraging cycle. But as business owners, it’s important to understand what specific implications we can expect. It’s an … [Read more...]

Building Out A Distribution Network

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Direct sales can be expensive, time-consuming and risky. What are the alternative options? Direct sales are an expensive, time-consuming and risky way to introduce new products or services to the marketplace. Yet companies seldom consider alternative strategies, like working with a distribution network, to handling their own direct sales. This mistake, however, is understandable. After all, how could anyone other than you actually sell your product? In reality, there are many, many … [Read more...]

Federal Reserve’s latest move

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Mike Periu explains the Federal Reserve's latest move. Operation Twist Leaves Economy In Knots One of my favorite shows on television is Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs which airs on the Discovery Channel. Mike travels the country putting himself in the shoes of people that perform dirty but necessary jobs—I’ve seen everything from dead crustacean removal to hog rustling. Given the way things are going with the economy lately, I would like to propose they cover the following dirty job: Chairman of the … [Read more...]

Fight Back When Your Profits are Under Attack

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As the economy continues its precarious path forward, consumers and business customers maintain a price-conscious attitude.  Many large companies have made the decision to use price reductions, sales and rebates to increase (or maintain) unit sales.  This tends to cause a great deal of grief to small business owners who are forced to decide how to respond.    In most cases, it would be a mistake to go head to head on pricing with larger competitors with seemingly unlimited financial … [Read more...]

The Debt Crisis No One Is Talking About

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There's one more debt crisis we should be paying attention to but aren't: China. If I mention the phrase “debt crisis” most people will assume I’m talking about the U.S. federal budget deficit or the situation in the Eurozone. As if we didn’t have enough crises on our radars, there is one more that business owners need to monitor. This additional debt crisis could have a material impact on our profitability as it affects the largest supplier of goods for resale to the U.S.: China. There is a … [Read more...]