Stop This Bill Before You Get Bitten

According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an organization that opposes this bill and of which I am a member, the heart of the issue is that this Act will convert the U.S. from a "first to invent" country into a "first to file" country. This is extremely bad for small businesses, which make up the backbone of our country.

If this legislation passes, patents will be granted to the first person to file for a new invention as opposed to the first person who actually invents something.  This means that if an entrepreneur or small business creates a new innovation and does not have the finances or legal help to file a patent, anyone else can come along - such as big business - and steal the idea and file a patent.

This could have devastating ramifications to small businesses because most innovation in our country comes from entrepreneurs.  Also, the bill does little to improve the quality of patents or of patent examiners.

Please contact your member of Congress and ask him/her to vote AGAINST the Patent Reform Act of 2011 in its current form because it is bad for small business.  Click to find your representative.

The Washington Times also has a more detailed article on this: read more.

What do you think? Post your comment below - and be sure to contact Congress today before it's too late.

Many of you can probably relate to this.  When I started my businesses, I spent long hours over a long period of time doing research, building a customer base and managing all of the details in getting established.

MoreBusiness.com hourly traffic (U.S. Eastern time), March 2011

My brother and I planted the seeds for morebusiness.com back in 1994 and in 1996 launched it as a full blown site after seeing site traffic grow steadily.  We have built several other businesses since then, among them MailerMailer, our email marketing service.

As the publisher, I peruse our web traffic statistics regularly.  Every week, traffic to morebusiness.com is always high Monday through Wednesday, takes a little dip on Thursday and Friday and then goes a bit lower over the weekend.  The numbers seem logical.  Small business owners are usually energized at the beginning of the week to try and accomplish as much as they can.  Our web site is full of resources to help them with their business so it makes sense that traffic is higher earlier in the week.

A New Trend?

I've always seen business traffic dip on Saturdays and Sundays, with Sundays being only slightly higher than Saturdays.  I could relate to that.  Saturdays represent a nice breakpoint to recharge, buy groceries, do the laundry, take the kids to their soccer games, you know the drill.

Then, a while ago I noticed spikes occuring on Sundays.  I started to monitor our weekend numbers more closely.  For a solid year and a half, our Sunday traffic has been within 4% of our Friday traffic.

MoreBusiness.com traffic by day of week, March 2011

The numbers were telling me that more people were doing research online on Sundays. Saturdays still continue to be the lightest work day, but Sundays are extremely close to Friday levels of web activity.  A disclaimer: this is not an in-depth study examining the work patterns of business owners.  Rather, it is trend information backed by data: our morebusiness.com's web log files revealing traffic patterns to our popular site designed specifically for entrepreneurs and small businesses.

What Does This Mean?

What can you do this information?  If you are small business owner, you know that it can be lonely.  Your friends and family who haven't gone through the same rigor may not appreciate why you drive yourself to work so hard.  So my fellow entrepreneurs, look at the data - when you're burning the midnight oil or working on Sunday afternoon, take solace in the fact that you are not alone.

Here's how to get Morebusiness.com on your Android phone:

1. Login to the Android Market
2. Search "MoreBusiness"
3. Download the app

Yes, we know the iPhone is more popular. The thing is Android's app submission process is much quicker. We're working on getting an iPhone app for MoreBusiness.com as well - half of our staff uses iPhones.  Sorry, no ETA yet.

Customer Profiles and Demographics

Particularly, the census data provides a wealth of valuable information for marketing purposes. You can get current estimated demographic results even now at the US Census Bureau. When the most recent results are in, check the website for your local area. This will give you tremendous insight to who your customers are.

Questions you might ask yourself before browsing the census results are, "what is the fastest-growing ethnic group?" or "what is the average income in my business area?" These and other questions can help you formulate targeted marketing messages that appeal to your local customer base. Perhaps you may find a great way to promote ethnic products or food. Or you may find that offering more luxury items will increase your profits based on the average incomes of your local customers.

Find Where to Open Your New Business

Are you planning to open a new business soon? Or perhaps expecting to add an additional location for your business? The US Census data will be a key tool to determine where your new business location should be. Although you may have a good idea where a smart location is, checking the census data will give you information on population densities, income, and even economic business growth in that area.

You may find that a specific neighborhood is actually in decline and may be an area to avoid. Or you could find alternate locations that you had not considered that are ideal for your business based on the residential data provided for that area.

Business decisions should always be made with the most pertinent and updated information available. The US Census is a valuable source of information that you should use for marketing, expansion, location, and even determining your industry.

Here are resources to get more information:

US Census Bureau
FedStats

Small businesses saw substantial growth in the frequency and use of social media as a way to reach customers. From December 2008 to the end of 2009, the number of small business owners using social media doubled from 12% to 24%. That's a lot of business owners actively participating in social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and company blogs.

How Small Businesses Socialize

Of the small businesses who actively participate in social media, 75% said they have a company page on a social network site. 69% said they actively update their company status and post articles or other links of interest on social media sites. And 57% said they are continually building a network through sites like LinkedIn.

Though Twitter usage is relatively small, with only 26%, it is still a growing trend, and businesses are continually exploring the uses of the site. Most of those who use Twitter say they post Tweets about areas of expertise, and 16% say they use Twitter as a service channel for customers.

Uses of Social Media

61% of business owners say that social media is used to attract new customers, while 46% use it to stay connected with current customers. 52% say they use social media to develop awareness of their business.

The Bottom Line and Social Media

Does using social media ultimately affect the bottom line? Most business owners think so. 70% of business owners who use social media say it meets or exceeds expectations, while only 26% say it falls short of expectations. 53% said social media has paid for itself, while 22% believe they have shown a profit from social media use.

And though most small businesses are not profitable through social media, 45% said they expect social media to be profitable in 2010. Are you going to be one of the profitable ones?

The study was sponsored by the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University. What they found was that creating a fan page on Facebook can increase sales, improve branding and customer loyalty, as well as improve word-of-mouth marketing.

The study centered on Dessert Gallery, a bakery and café chain based in Houston, Texas. Prior to the study, the business did not have a Facebook presence. The Rice University researchers asked regular customers of Dessert Gallery to become Facebook fans of the restaurant, and out of about 13,000 regular customers, 1,700 did become fans.

During the three-month period Dessert Gallery jumped into the Facebook frenzy, updating its fan page several times each week. The owners included photos of baked goods and offered promotions to the fans.

The results of the Facebook study were interesting and may surprise you. Those who did become Facebook fans made 36 percent more visits to the restaurant each month and spent 45 percent more of their eating-out budget at Dessert Gallery. Facebook fans also had 41 percent higher loyalty toward the Dessert Gallery brand, as well as a 14 percent higher emotional attachment.

What this means is that your small business can gain greater customer loyalty and increase business through Facebook. However, you as a small business owner must realize that your Facebook fans are a particular niche, and they will most likely represent a small percentage of your overall customer base. The Rice University study emphasizes that only 5 percent of about 13,000 total customer base joined as Facebook fans.

The bottom line is that joining Facebook can lead to an effective and low-cost marketing method. Social media can help improve customer loyalty, increase business, and help spread word of mouth - all for virtually zero dollars. If you were previously unconvinced about the effectiveness of Facebook, now you have graduate study proof that a free Facebook page can work for you.

Perhaps, but according to a recent study published in February 2010 by Forbes, most small business owners are cautiously optimistic and still expect to have hard times in 2010. The study, "U.S. Small Business Outlook 2010," shows the current temperature of business owners as 2009 came to a close.

One question about cash flow was not surprising. When asked if it was harder to manage cash flow now than 12 months ago, 64 percent said it is harder, while 26 percent said it was the same. Lower revenues were the biggest contributor to harder cash flow, while slow or non-paying customers were in the #2 spot.

And when asked about company revenues in 2009, 73 percent said their revenues either stayed the same or declined in 2009, with 26 percent having significant declines in revenue. 63 percent of small business owners reduced their budgets to help with lower revenues, while 55 percent cut back on entertainment. 45 percent actually cut their workforce to get by with lower revenues.

The hardships seem to be a blessing in disguise, however. While 66 percent of small business owners say they are working harder and longer than ever, 80 percent agree that they are smarter about operating their business as a result of the economic crisis, and 70 percent agree that they have become stronger leaders.

Looking ahead, small business owners do see 2010 as the year the financial crisis bottoms out and financial markets turn around. But the optimism stops there for 2010. Most small business owners see business stability happening in 2011, while 2012 will be the year for the return to growth.

Happy days are not quite here again. If the projections of current small business owners are accurate, it will be another two years before prosperity returns. But the good news is that small business owners are smarter than they were before the financial crisis started. Entrepreneurs are smarter about the way they run their businesses. They see the importance of planning and want to spend the time doing it. And they recognize that they will need to do business in new ways in order to succeed.

Signs of Revival

L.A. area loans for real estate purchases were up to $71.6 million, compared to $50.9 million in December. This is good news, especially from an area that was hit hard by the recession and has suffered some of the highest property foreclosures in the country during the last two years.

How the SBA 504 Loans Work

The loans are a part of the SBA 504 loans, aimed at helping small businesses acquire real property, large equipment, and other fixed capital needs. With the help of this program, small business owners have an easier time qualifying for and getting access to much needed capital to expand their business.

The SBA 504 loan is structured so that the borrowing business must pay only 10% down for the property, and the rest is financed as a split between a traditional lender and a non-profit corporation set up under the 504 code to help support economic growth in their local area. 50% of the loan is disbursed by the bank lender, with a guarantee from the SBA should the borrower default. The remaining 40% is disbursed by the non-profit corporation, known as a Certified Development Company (CDC).

What are the eligibility issues for obtaining a 504 real estate loan? Borrowers must have less than $2.5 million in net income over the last two years. Also, the net worth of the company must not exceed $7.5 million. Loans must be used to purchase improved real property, vacant land with the intention of constructing new buildings, renovating existing buildings, or for purchasing long-term equipment or machinery.

So many small businesses can benefit from this helpful guaranteed loan. If your small business meets the eligibility mentioned above, and you are ready to start expanding your business, look up your local CDC and find out how you can get access to money that will help your business grow.

The Toll of Severe Weather

Severe weather conditions can spell disaster for a small business that depends on the day-to-day routine of production and sales. Days without production causes inventory to deplete, go stale, or even become damaged or destroyed. Missed sales are another cause of economic loss when employees are not able to be at the business to take or fill orders.

And what if worse should happen? What if a storm causes physical damage to equipment, machinery, or your owned property where you do business? All these instances are being felt after the recent storms in February 2010 across America. The good news is that there is help available to small businesses who suffer from the effects of storm damage.

Help for Your Impacted Business

The Small Business Administration (SBA) has programs that provide disaster loans to small businesses with this type of damage. One category is Business Physical Disaster Loans, which are available to any size of business, including non-profit businesses, churches, and private universities. These loans can be used to repair property that was damaged from a disaster, including real estate, equipment and machinery, supplies, and inventory.

Another category of SBA disaster loans is the Economic Injury Disaster Loans. These loans were created to help small businesses through disaster recovery by providing working capital. Businesses that have lost cash flow due to lost sales and other disaster expenses can stay afloat with the help of this low-interest loan.

These loans are available in regions that have been declared disaster areas. Many times, a severe storm, such as the recent widespread winter snow storm, is cause for a disaster. If your business has suffered economic loss due to physical damage, or even lost sales and cash flow, you can seek help from these low-interest loans up to $2 million.

Safe Backup with IoSafe Solo SSD

Backing up your electronic files and data is of major importance. But what would happen to your data if your external backup storage suffered damage from a major disaster?

The new IoSafe Solo SSD is a solid-state hard drive that you can use to safely backup your important data. According to IoSafe, it can withstand up to 5,000 lbs of pressure, temperatures up to 1550 degrees, and last 30 minutes submerged in 30 inches of water. Prices range from $499 to $1,250 for a 64 GB up to a 256GB size.

Take Your Wireless on the Road with the Sprint Sierra Wireless Overdrive

For just $100 and a 2-year service contract, you can take your internet anywhere. The new Sierra wireless router provides both WiMax and 3G signals for up to five devices simultaneously.

Easy Presentations from Your Blackberry with the Blackberry Presenter

Your sales staff no longer needs to lug a laptop to every presentation. Simply use the new Blackberry Presenter device attached to any Blackberry PDA and give your presentations anywhere. The device allows easy connection from a Blackberry to any projector or monitor so your presentations can be delivered easily from the palm of your hand without the setup of a laptop. This new device costs about $199.

Fast Presentations Anywhere with a New LG eXpo Projector.

Now you can literally give an elevator pitch and presentation from your phone. The new LG eXpo is an AT&T exclusive Windows Mobile smartphone that sells for $250 (with a 2-yr AT&T service contract), and it comes with an optional $179 projector.

Now you no longer need a laptop, monitor, or heavy projector. Just set up the mobile device and attachable projector on any flat surface to get an equivalent 66 inch diagonal display. Give a sales presentation, show financial spreadsheets, and even view pictures of the kids from the palm of your hand.

CES certainly debuted its fair share of 3D TVs and gaming advancements, but there are gems that can enhance the productivity of your small business as well.