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Wella, Wella, Wella, Huh!

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 15:17:58 +0000

I was struck by a story in the New York Times today about entrepreneur Christy Prunier, who introduced a line of soap, cosmetics and bath products for preteen girls under the brandname "Willa." She started the product line three years ago after her 8-year-old daughter, Willa, put her foot down and said she no longer wanted to use soaps meant for babies.

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Why Google+ is Important for Entrepreneurs

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 19:18:44 +0000

Just when you thought you had social media covered with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, now there's Google+. And it turns out that for small businesses who don't have as much time as they'd like for social media anyway, Google+ may be the most important one to start focusing on.

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Method Looks to be Cleaning Up

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 09:50:56 +0000

I love me some Morning Joe on MSNBC .I'm watching the founders of Method, the nearly-ubiquitous "green" cleaning brand. The two young founders (under 40) look like they came straight from central casting. Their products displayed in front of Mika, Willie, Barnicle. "Our house is full of this stuff," Willie says. Mika said she's going to take a bunch of it home. The founders have a new book out (I am always a little suspicious when small business execs have time to write a book, but nevermind), called The Method Method. I checked out their website and, wow, it is really very good. While I have never purchased their products (I'm more of a Costco guy when it comes to soap), I could only admire their presentation, branding and messaging. If you're starting a company in an impossibly crowded market like soap, you can learn something from these guys. Here's what I found noteworthy about Method:

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Slurp. That's the Sound of BlackBerry Going Down the Drain

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:02:23 +0000

The folks who made my buggy-slow two-year-old BlackBerry released their second quarter earnings yesterday -- down 58.7 percent. Whoops! The New York Times reported that analysts are circling overhead in buzzard formation: "Mike Abramsky, of RBC Captial Markets, challenged the company's forecast, saying to Mr. Balsillie [the co-CEO], 'I'm just wondering why you feel that confident.'"

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What it Takes to be an Entrepreneur -- and a Franchisee

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:04:33 +0000

I loved reading today's New York Times story about the renegade Applebee's franchisee in New York, who now owns 34 of the chain's restaurants. His locations average $4.25 million in annual revenue -- twice the average Applebee's, the Times reports. The owner, Zane Tankel, perfectly articulates the way someone can be a franchisee and an entrepreneur. Most franchisees are sheep, not business people. They're hoping someone else's vision will save them, as long as they can follow the manual. Tankel said fuggedaboutit to the manual. He changed menus, uniforms, hiring practices and many other operating assumptions that Applebee's considers sacrosanct.

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What Would it Take for the U.S. to be World Class Again?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:57:29 +0000

There has been significant criticism from the business community of President Obama's new jobs proposal. Some say giving a tax credit for hiring workers laid off for six months or more is a nice gesture, but it won't create many new jobs. If demand existed, new jobs would be created with or without a tax break. Without demand, unless the government pays the business owner more than the net cost of the hired worker, no jobs will be created. Of course, if it had the will to, Congress could create demand -- in infrastructure, education, first responders, healthcare and many other areas. But private sector job creation is all about demand first and tax incentives second. Without it, U.S. corporations will continue to sit on their $2 trillion cash stockpile. What do you think it would take to get every road, bridge, tunnel, airport, rail system and public school in this country to be world-class, and would it be worth it? Everyone talks about the legacy we're leaving to future generations. Would the ROI on the best infrastructure in the world be greater than the cost of the borrowing? What's your view

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What Did You Think of the President's Jobs Speech?

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:07:27 +0000

Wow, that was a good speech, no?

What did you think?

Anyone Want to Hire Carol Bartz Now?

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:59:17 +0000

Anyone want to hire Carol Bartz? Not likely. Here's how Yahoo's CEO handled her termination yesterday: she sent an email to everyone in the company that read, "To all,

I am very sad to tell you that I've just been fired over the phone by Yahoo's Chairman of the Board. It has been my pleasure to work with all of you and I wish you only the best going forward. Carol.

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Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 07:41:09 +0000

The buzz is starting about President Obama's jobs speech on Thursday night. He reportedly will propose a $300 billion jobs program involving tax cuts, infrastructure spending and aid to states and localities. The tab would be picked up by raising tax revenues down the road when the economy is better. There are said to be over a million idle construction workers in the U.S. who could be put back to work quickly, and many others tied to infrastructure industries who would benefit. We already know what the Republican response will be and that the president's plans will never be implemented, at least not before the 2012 elections. My question to entrepreneurs reading this is: let's say a fairly large jobs program, focused on infrastructure, magically did happen tomorrow. Would your business potentially benefit, and how? Leave a comment.

Small Businesses Argue on Ways to Get Out of the Economic Mess

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:59:25 +0000

A few weeks ago, I posted about July's lackluster jobs report and the state of the entrepreneur economy. Now, of course, the July numbers (117,000 jobs added) looks positively jubilant compared with ZERO net jobs added in August. In that post, I asked you to put on your policy wonk/politician-for-a-day hats and help get us out of this financial mess we're in. Your comments were intriguing. One commenter thinks the answer is to go back to metal money -- gold, silver and copper. Another advocates abolishing income taxes and moving to consumption taxes. Another says we need more government stimulus, but not WPA-style jobs programs which the commenter said did not creating lasting value because they were not manufacturing jobs. Check out the other comments and jump into the argument. It'll only get hotter as we near November 2012.