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The SBDC National Blog has moved to the new SBDC National Network.
A Professional Network that allows SBDC Conselors to connect with their clients and entrepreneurs around their state and the country. Anyone can add blogs, forums, groups, events, pictures, and videos.
To view the blog, visit http://sbdcnet.ning.com/profiles/blog/list.
To Join the SBDC National Network, Please go to http://sbdcnet.ning.com/
The Silver Anniversary of the New England Products Trade Show opens today in Portland, Maine.
The show was originally put on as the Maine Products Trade Show in 1985 and was conceived and launched by the Maine SBDCs. As the years passed the trade show grew adding vendors from Vermont and New Hampshire and became the New England Products Trade Show. In 2002, They handed ownership of the event over to Giraffe events but still remain a calloborative partner.
The Maine SBDCs need to be recognized for having a vision that has not only lasted twenty five years but grown immensely during those twenty five years. It should be an inspiration to all of us SBDCs to try to find ways to impact our regional economies for years to come.
We have heard that Small Business get a tax break as part of the stimulus bill but what are they? Here we list the changes.
Qualified property expense ceiling raised
The Section 179 tax break that allows companies to expense qualified assets in the first year of service has been increased from $133,000 to $250,000 in the first year that qualifying assets are placed in service.
Bonus depreciation extended
Originally instituted in 2008, businesses will again be able to take an additional bonus depreciation expense of up to 50 percent of the cost of newly acquired fixed assets.
Loss carry back expanded
Only available to companies with sales less than $15 million, a business which incurs operating losses in tax years ending after Dec. 31, 2007, can offset such losses against income earned in previous years and obtain a refund on previously paid taxes. Losses can now be carried back for five years instead of two.
Vehicle depreciation expense increased
The depreciation expense for passenger vehicles in their first year of service — limited only to those placed into service in 2009 — was increased from $2,960 to $10,960. The depreciation expense for light trucks and vans increased from $3,160 to $11,160.
Tim Berry
Quietly, outside the headlines about bonuses and bailouts, the smarter entrepreneurs among us head to their local SBDC. There, they find classes on starting a business, classes on running a business, classes on business planning, tips, introductions…and sometimes just a touch of real-world experience, when it’s badly needed.
SBDC stands for Small Business Development Center. There are about 1,000 of them across the United States. To find an SBDC near you, you can use the map at bplans.com or the umbrella organization website at asbdc-us.org.
Here are some of the things SBDCs do for small business:
Lots of classes, like starting your business, running your business, planning your business, setting up the accounting, doing the marketing. These are almost always smaller group classes, and most of them are at night so that real business people working real businesses can afford to attend. They are generally very—amazingly—cheap, like $50, $100, $200 or so for a 10-week class.
Counseling, one-on-one, on small-business issues with somebody who has experience in the field.
Good advice on books, software, tools.
Introductions to other local businesses.
Help with developing a business plan and finding local investors for a new business.
There’s been a lot of publicity about the Small Business Administration lately, and I’m glad. The SBA performs vital functions related to making business loans available to small businesses and start-ups. But there’s not enough said about the SBDC programs, which are helping real businesses survive the recession, grow, and create new jobs.
Tim Berry is president and founder of Palo Alto Software, founder of bplans.com, and a co f ounder of Borland International. He teaches starting a business at the University of Oregon. He is author of books and software including Business Plan Pro, published by Palo Alto Software, and The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan, published by Entrepreneur Press. He has a Stanford M.B.A. degree and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. He blogs at Planning Startup Stories and Up and Running.
From the Maine SBDC website
By John Entwistle
From a business owner’s perspective, whether the economy is in a recession or not is somewhat immaterial. Managing a small business can be difficult even during the best of times. In the midst of an economic downturn, however, the activity becomes essential and doing it well is often the determining factor between staying afloat and going under. Whether good times or bad, businesses often find themselves in the middle of a cash crunch and need to know how to steer the business back to ‘safe harbor’.
The principles of good cash management are elementary, yet are often overlooked during smooth sailing. Regularly increasing revenues have a way of masking poor cash management practices and growing underlying problems.
How can I improve my cash flow position?
To Improve your cash flow position, there are several steps you can systematically use in the sequence presented below.
Where do I begin?
An essential first step is to ensure you have accurate and timely information. Now is the time to make sure that all entries have been made properly into your bookkeeping system and that reports (profit and loss statement, balance sheet, etc.) accurately reflect the businesses’ current fiscal condition. Gather all information that you might need to make appropriate decisions that may include: historical financials, sales by month by product line/service activity, list of employees and wages, accounts receivable, accounts payable, schedule of all loans, asset list with market value, etc.
How do I set cash flow goals that I am likely to achieve?
Develop minimum profitability and cash flow goals for the next twelve months. During regular times, that means including an appropriate level of compensation for the owner and an appropriate return on their investment (25% +/- 5%). During difficult times, that may mean just breaking even and keeping the doors open. Develop a sales goal, by month, for all product lines and/or service activities. Ensure that they are adjusted for seasonality and business cycle. A helpful exercise would be to first establish an estimate with a 50% likelihood of attainment. Then create, and use, a second estimate that you are 80% confident you will achieve. This exercise is useful in making sure you’re using a conservative estimate.
How do I use these numbers to project cash flow?
Use the more conservative estimates (See the second estimate you created in the step above.) to populate a cash flow statement. Incorporate direct cost factors and estimates for fixed expenses based on your best knowledge of future costs. Begin to make judicious decisions about expenses that can be trimmed (look at insurance costs, utilities, professional fees, maintenance fees, travel and entertainment, fringe benefits, etc.) but be realistic about what expenses can be reduced and which are necessary.
What do I do if I don’t like the revised cash flow numbers that I develop?
Calculate your cash flow and compare to the cash flow goals established in the step above. If your head is above water, fine. If, however, there is a shortfall, it’s time to sharpen your pencil. Take another look again at the cash flow projection with an eye toward possibly increasing prices, reducing expenses further, or making cuts. It may be time to look at what product lines can be eliminated or whether it is time for lay-offs.
Can I squeeze additional cash out of my business?
Once you have completed the steps described above, is time to look at balance sheet items to see where additional cash might be generated. Are there inventory items that might be sold off? Make appropriate calls on customers to collect accounts receivable. Talk with vendors to extend accounts payable balances. Now is the time to also talk with the banker and landlord to make sure they are aware of your predicament and determine what allowances they can make. Additionally, determine whether there are assets that can be sold off, or sold off and leased back. Finally, it may be time to look into any avenues available for raising equity (family, friends, or friends of family).
How can I be sure I can keep my cash flow plans on track?
Once a path to a healthy cash flow situation has been established, it’s time to implement the plan. As plans are implemented, it is essential that you establish a method to monitor your cash flow health to keep you solvent in the future. Track activity and compare it to your budgeted estimates, compare it to last year’s numbers. Look for variances and make sure you understand their cause. Develop your own set of metrics (cost of goods sold, inventory turnover, labor cost) that can be easily monitored to provide you with a gauge of fiscal health. Communicate these measures to others in the company to ensure their buy-in to the maintenance effort.
John Entwistle is a Certified Senior Business Counselor and Center Director for the Maine SBDC Service Center in Portland which administrates the SBDC program in Cumberland and York counties. Mr. Entwistle also serves as Assistant State Director for the state-wide Maine SBDC program working on information technology issues, the New England Products Trade Show, the Rural Micro-enterprise Assistance Program, and other special projects. Entwistle’s career has included business ownership, business counseling, as well as, significant experience in writing and speaking on small business issues. John has owned and operated businesses in both the foodservice and small boat-building sectors.
Entwistle’s articles on small business job creation and the benefits of the Maine SBDC program have been published in a variety of journals and magazines including Downeast Magazine and Maine Business Indicators. He served as a reviewer for the highly acclaimed guide to entrepreneurship, The Real World Entrepreneur Field Guide, published in 1999
Before you decide anything about your advertising, you need to know your target market. Without a clear picture of these customers, you’ll waste valuable time and money.
Once you know who your customer is, you’ll be able to decide what medium delivers a qualified customer to you at a competitive cost per contact.
Your advertising focus needs to be on:
1. The type of medium to effectively reach your target audience
2. The type of advertising campaign you will run (to promote a new product, to place a familiar product or company name in front of the audience, or to promote a special service or activity)
3. The advertising style that best suits your products and/or services
4. How you can reach the most people (within your defined market) for your advertising dollar
Regardless of your choice of medium, experts suggest four main elements of an effective ad.
1. Headline: The most essential element of an ad. You have only one or two seconds to get their attention. The message in, and treatment of, your headline accounts for as much as 70 percent of the readership of your ad. Avoid the temptation to start with your name or logo. The best headline emphasizes the service, not the source.
2. Reader’s self-interest: Headlines and body copy should appeal to the reader. Don’t talk about “We’re the best at …” or “We can do …” This is ego advertising and doesn’t serve you well. Instead, tell them how your product/service can help them.
3. Call to action: Always tell the reader what you want them to do. “Call today.” “come to the store by Aug. 15 to take advantage of this 30 percent discount.” “Return this postcard for a chance at our fabulous giveaway.” Never assume the reader knows what call to action you want.
4. Visuals: Use visuals that have a high degree of stopping power. Photos are better than illustrations. Images that help tell your story are great bridges.
Apply the following criteria to test the effectiveness of your advertising message:
1. The ad intelligibly and simply states a single message.
2. The ad evokes a specific and acute emotion.
3. The ad is presented in a space where it will be noticed.
4. The overriding message is clearly evident.
When you advertise, you are investing in your business. Become an expert observer. Watch other ads. Are they effective? Can you identify their target market? What was it that made you want to read, open, listen, etc? Use your observations to make your own ads memorable.
Jimmie Wilkins is the director of the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center. The Small-Business Adviser column is produced by the center and appears each Sunday. Questions can be faxed to (503) 581-6017, e-mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or phoned in to (503) 399-5088.
Here is a very short compilation of online blogs and other Internet venues for small business that we put together for a client a few weeks ago. Here is how the counselor put the request to us, "Please search and compile a list of message boards, forums, communities, blogs, and similar internet venues that are ‘business/entrepreneurship’ oriented."
We felt it would be a good thing to share with the SBDC network as a whole. Thus, here is a list of what we found after a quick search. The format will be familiar to counselors who use our research services.
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Excerpt:
Entrepreneur Blogs: 10 You NEED To Be Following
Source: http://www.standoutblogger.com/blog-reviews/entrepreneur-blogs-10-you-need-to-be-following-in-2009/
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Entrepreneurship Blogs – The Top Blogs for Entrepreneurs
Source: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/blogs/Entrepreneurship_Blogs_The_Top_Blogs_for_Entrepreneurs.htm#b
This is a list of blogs useful to entrepreneurs, with a touch of social entrepreneurship and high tech bias. Future updates will be published on this page on Entrepreneur Commons website.
Source: http://entrepreneurcommons.googlepages.com/top150blogsforentrepreneurs
With more and more people jumping on the business blogging bandwagon, it’s getting to the point that there is far more out there than you could ever hope to read on a regular basis. To help you filter that infoglut down to a more manageable level, here is my list of the ten most practical blogs for entrepreneurs.
Source: http://entrepreneurs.about.com/b/2005/10/24/top-10-most-practical-blogs-for-entrepreneurs.htm
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There are new and exciting business tools being developed every day. These can help you improve your productivity and open up entirely new channels for your business to thrive online.
Source: http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/index.php?s=message+boards
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SEO encompasses the strategies for earning top rankings in free search engines. These are called "organic" or "natural" listings. You can actually direct the way your site’s listed–and improve your ranking–by giving the search engines what they’re looking for.
Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/ebusinesscolumnist/article176398.html
HubSpot offers an Internet marketing system that integrates SEO, social media and marketing analytics to help customers increase website traffic and convert a greater percentage of visitors into customers.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29427719/
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For the last week, I’ve been counting down the top trends I expect to shape the field of social entrepreneurship in 2009. Overall, I expect that the language of "social entrepreneurship" will become an increasingly large part of the social change lexicon. The combination of a new administration, an economic crisis highlighting systemic failures in our approaches to business, and a growing frustration with promises to change the world and come up short, the idea of new, pragmatic approaches to tackling our toughest problems will continue to captivate.
Source: http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/recap_top_trends_shaping_social_entrepreneurship_in_2009
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With the Obama grants scam alert we sent yesterday we feel we should revisit one of our most frustrating topics, grants.
Kelly marsh and Leann Benton of the Mohave SBDC in Arizona wrote a very good straight talk explanation of the topic of grants.
The SBDCs receive numerous inquiries from the public about how to obtain a government grant. There is quite a bit of “hype” through the television, internet and even solicitation phone calls implying there is a ton of “free goverment money” available to you for just about anything you want; from starting a business to improving your home. We want you to be warned: these solicitations are very misleading, with many bordering on or being actual scams.
Just remember the old saying “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”. Consider this: If there is truly so much “free” money available and it is so easy to get, why wouldn’t we all be getting it?
Getting grant funding to start or operate a small, for-profit, business is not as easy as many late night infommercials, emails or phone solicitors may lead you to believe. In reality, it is nearly impossible. The truth: there is grant money available from the government and private foundations. However it is not generally intended for the purpose of starting or expanding for-profit businesses.
Although there is some grant money designated for small businesses, it is usually meant for specific groups, types of organizations or certain types of activities. Most grants are targeted towards non-profits, government agencies,
educational institutions, medical research and technological advancement.
The companies that are promoting “free money” are usually making their money by selling you books or CD’s on how to find grants or lists of grants. You do not need to pay for this information. It is free to you; you just need to know where to look. In many cases, they will continue to ask for more money and some will even “guarantee” you a grant. It is impossible for them to guarantee a grant because there are no guaranteed grants. A real grant does not cost you any money to get and never needs to be paid back. What we have seen is that these companies are really selling loans. So we ask, why would you want to get a loan from an agency that has to mislead you to get your “free money” in the first place? In reality, it is very difficult to be awarded a grant and the funds must be used for specific purposes. There is also a lot of paperwork and follow up involved. You are not just handed a check and told “enjoy your free money and use it however you want”.
The SBDC will be happy to give you information on SBA loans and other financing options if you are seeking money to start or grow your business. However the only grants that we are able to provide information on are the SBIR and STTR grants that are for technology based businesses.
If you would like to search for government grants, you can visit www.grants.gov. All available government grants are listed on this website. It is the same website that you are referred to if you purchase information from an outside source. There is also a website to find information on foundation grants (privately funded) by visiting www.foundations.org. For information on the SBIR and STTR grants, please visit www.sba.gov/SBIR/.
To view articles and access information on how to recognize and avoid grant scams, both the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau have published some information which can be accessed by using the following links: www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/alerts/alt134.shtm or www.arizonabbb.org/for_media/newsletter.asp?id=174.
March 2, 2009.
Over the past few weeks, the internet and e-mail boxes have been assaulted by advertisements and e-mails claiming grant money or stimulus checks are waiting for you, THEY ARE NOT.
The new stimulus bill does not include any tax refund like we saw last spring/summer. There are no stimulus checks coming and please disregard any website or e-mail that tells you otherwise. What the new stimulus bill does is put more money into existing programs to build infrastructure and this is where the next claim comes in, grants.
The new Obama grants these sites claim do not exist. Yes, there will be new grant money but most of it is going to existing programs and state and local organizations that already have grants or grant programs.
Almost every website that uses an ad server, which most do, that does not pre-filter the ads, which most do not, has been bombarded with “Obama grant” ads for the past week. These Obama ads seem to be omnipresent and are on many major and reputable sites, including the world’s most popular website, Yahoo. Facebook, also was showing the ads but is now trying to remove the ads after protests from its users. Even this Alert will find its way to many websites that will have these ads on the same page as this article.
If you follow the ads, you find pages with questionable advertising practices like fake blogs with fake comments and a fake “ads by Google” block that is really just one image file that takes you to another sister site. They use JavaScript to take over your browser or trick you into staying on their page when you try and close it.
Another tactic is to show you pictures of people and checks with real names, but the pictures are of the same people and checks but they have many different names on many different sites. Some sites have a person that start talking to you telling you that you can get money back in as little as a week and all you need to do is fill out a contact information form and pay $1.99 shipping and handling for free grant software.
These scams have always been around but they are using the hype Obama’s presidency has created along with political rhetoric that has equated the Economic Stimulus package with terms like government rebate checks and grants. Plus, with the decline of online advertising in the past few months, these scam sites can get on more web pages cheaper than ever before.
A quick review of the privacy policy of one of the sites sets off a few alarms. The first is that the privacy policy is three years old, a little dated. Another is that they do tell you that they share information with third parties; however, they do not say which information they share. Seeing how they collect credit card information and your phone number that is a huge red flag. Also, the company that most of these sites are coming from has been accused of credit card fraud by many consumers. The contact info seems almost impossible to find and most do not find a way to get a hold of the company until after they receive credit card bills including subscriptions they did not know they signed up for. The sites do warn you of the subscriptions on the submit credit card information page.
Here is the disclaimer off of one of the sites, I removed company names to avoid any legal issues.
By clicking “Submit” I am authorizing “website” to charge my credit or debit card a $2.78 processing fee for my 7 days trial membership. After the 7 day trial, if I do not call customer service to cancel, the account I provided here will be charged $39.95 each month thereafter. I may cancel by calling the customer service number of “website” listed in the Terms and Conditions.
I also agree to the 10 day bonus trial to “another company.” To start my trial, there is a one time activation fee of $1.95. After the trial, unless I cancel, “another company” will charge my account $19.95 each month thereafter. I may cancel by calling the toll-free number located at “this website”.
As an additional bonus, I agree to receive a 14-day trial to “another company”. After the trial period, unless I cancel, “another company” will charge my account $12.95 a month.
As you can see from this disclaimer, the $1.99 shipping for the free grant software ends up costing you $95.63 the first month and $72.85 dollars every month thereafter until you cancel the subscriptions whose contact information you may or may not be able to find. The contact information we were able to find coincided with adresses of post offices or Fed Ex stores that have mailboxes for rent in them.
So, please do not respond to the e-mails or sign up on one of these fake Obama Grant sites. Read all disclaimers and privacy policies before sharing any personal or financial information on the web.
A quick review of these two items could have saved anyone who has fallen for these scams a lot of money.
Here at SBDCNet, we always try to filter out grant ads from our website, http://sbdcnet.org because most grant ads we have seen are predatory, but the past few days our workload has became immense having to pull ads from quite a few pages that we could not get these new “Obama ads” to stop appearing on.
Why is it so hard to block them? First of all, these ads are coming from hundreds of websites not just one, even though it seems they are coming from only a couple of companies. Second, most web ad servers force you to be reactive instead of proactive, they either do not offer pre-filtering or if they do the pre-filters often do not work well. Thus, usually the first time a webmaster sees an ad is after it is already up on the site and hundreds or thousands of visitors may have already viewed it. Also, webmasters are not allowed to click their own ads as they are paid per click. Thus, often they have to find the ad elsewhere to be able to click it, then hunt down the site and block it from showing up on their site. When the same scam is using hundreds of different sites, it becomes hundreds of times harder to block all of them and get them completely off of a site. So, many sites that are trying to get rid of the ads may not be able to completely remove them.
We will continue to block all grant ads and if you find any questionable ads please report them to us by using our contact page, http://sbdcnet.org/contact-3.php.
This is released with the hope of republication feel free to republish it to reach your intended audience.
Jarrett Byrom is the Website & Marketing Coordinator for the Small Business Development Center National Information Clearinghouse(SBDCNet). He can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it The SBDCNet is part of the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network, a free, open to the public, resource to help entrepreneurs start or expand their own business. For more information, please visit http://sbdcnet.org.
I have heard it many times before, any publicity is good publicity. Is this a true statement? Can publicity that is given your way hurt your business? Ask Dell Computers what they think about publicity and a certain website that was created just for them. Ask Iams pet food the feelings they have about negative publicity (Amazingly, I am a customer of both companies). Negative public relations and publicity can damage your company that you have worked so long and hard to create. It can be extremely costly in the long run. Word of mouth is still one of the most influential ways for people to buy products and services.
Many companies monitor what is being said about them on the streets as well as on the internet. Because of blogging, micro blogging such as Twitter, and other forms of online avenues, it is extremely easy to receive publicity good and bad. Comcast actually has employees who do nothing but monitor what people say about them.
The point I want to make is not that you should monitor yourself, but you should. I think it is more important that you follow up on the publicity that you receive. This needs to be the case when you receive good and bad publicity or word of mouth. If someone is talking nice about your company, thank them! Tell them that you appreciate that they are trying to spread the word about your company. Sometimes it can be difficult to track down the people spreading positive word of mouth about you. If you find out that someone is spreading negative things about you and your company, find out who they are, and try to remedy the situation. They already like to talk, give them something to talk about in how they originally had a problem, but your company went out of its way to help them.
Word of mouth can help and hurt your business at the same time. It should also not be your sole means of marketing your company. Make sure to monitor it, and follow up on all forms of it. Make sure that in everything you are doing with your company; provide the highest levels of customer service and products and services at all times. In today’s times, it is easy to be found if you don’t, and that could cost you!
Kyle Hensel is the Area Director of the Clayton State University SBDC in the Georgia SBDC Network. For more information, please go to www.georgiasbdc.org. The Georgia SBDC blog can also be found here. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
