Three characteristics of a great self employment idea
2/21/2010 8:48:15 AM
Some ideas are better suited for a small business startup than others. Someone with a great idea has:
Experience. He or she has done this kind of work before. If a client is committed to an idea without having the experience, you could consider classes or on-the-job training. The learning curve for running a small business is steep enough without also having to learn to create the product or service.
A marketing plan. Many clients overlook this, but it is key. As soon as people stars daydreaming about running their own business, they should start brainstorming about how to promote it. Different types of businesses require different marketing efforts. Having a stand-out marketing campaign is essential to draw customers that might have gone elsewhere.
Low overhead. DVR funded businesses are not capital-intensive, as a rule. Working from a home office or garage can lower initial costs. Providing a service rather than a product is also more likely to keep costs down, as there is little inventory to purchase and store.
Washington the number one place to start a business
1/12/2010 12:07:21 PM
According to U.S. News and World Report, "The Evergreen State tops the list by coming in second on the New State Economy Index and fifth on the Small Business Survival Index. Washington is first among the states in steps toward energy efficiency and using more alternative-energy sources. It also has a highly productive manufacturing sector, signaling high wages and a tech-intensive economy. Washington leads the nation in value added per production hour as a percentage of the national average-the difference in value between inputs in the production process and the value of the units as finally sold. But in addition to these nonpolitical factors, Washington also has very low taxes, making the costs of growing a business quite low. It does not have its own income or capital-gains taxes, either personal or corporate."
Can you throw an economist farther than you can trust one?
1/5/2010 12:47:38 PM
Probably.
The state employment forecast is out, predicting the rate of job gowth and which occupations will be hot. Look for professional and business services along with health services and education to be big in 2012.
But economists are not very good at predicting the future. National Public Radio's "Planet Money" reports that "Economic forecasters failed to predict the 1982 recession or the 1984 recovery or the late 1990 stock bubble or the 2001 recession."
Economist Simon Johnson from MIT says "Economic forecasting is inherently an impossible task." Unpredictable things happen, he claims, letting forecasters off the hook.
Why do we listen to them? Because both business and government have to plan, and we have to work with some scenario to help customers succeed. One thing we know for sure--whatever it looks like, the future is coming.
Help is on the way for small business start ups! Washington State is funding a new online portal to answer common questions called InfoBiz. It is based in the Seattle area, but never fear, the rest of the state can get access, too. I spoke to Jeff Kempe, Adult Services Coordinator for the King County Library System, who is in charge of the project, and he says the site will be available over the internet to everyone. The first videos will be up in May, and the first phase will be complete in August.
And that is not all! Everything will also be available in Spanish.
"InfoBiz will offer streaming videos, tutorials, and podcasts on demand, detailing business strategies, resources, and concepts presented by local business experts. The project is a partnership between community agencies providing content, and the King County Library System which will organize the content and host InfoBiz." (Forbes)
Who first invented work, and bound the free
And holyday-rejoicing spirit down
To the ever-haunting importunity
Of business in the green fields, and the town--
To plough, loom, anvil, spade--and oh! most sad
To that dry drudgery at the desk's dead wood?
Organizations hire consultants to make recommendations, but if consultants don't have the facts, or have the facts wrong, their advice is useless, even damaging. A good report is based on facts you can trust, and a good consultant delivers them consistently.
Getting the facts right is a consultant's first job. Developing a foundation of facts requires attention to three issues, according to Michael McLaughlin, writing for RainToday.com.
Well? Is the recession over, or not? It depends on where you live.
The best thinking at the state Economic & Revenue Forecast Council is that overall, “the [state} economy is growing again, but job growth is lagging.” It expects unemployment to bottom out in first quarter of next year, in a U shaped recovery that will have us dragging along the bottom for some time.
Economic performance varies across the state. Read on to see how regions have fared with unemployment and retail sales.
The Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council thinks so. They say that once we have the final numbers, the recession will have ended in the third quarter of 2009. This is small comfort to the 8.9% of us who are unemployed. How do they calculate the bottom of a recession? It has to do with the growth of the Gross Domestic Product.
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm. . . in the real world all rests on perseverance. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Help is on the way for small business start ups! Washington State is funding a new online portal to answer common questions called InfoBiz. It is based in the Seattle area, but never fear, the rest of the state can get access, too. I spoke to Jeff Kempe, Adult Services Coordinator for the King County Library System, who is in charge of the project, and he says the site will be available over the internet to everyone. The first videos will be up in May, and the first phase will be complete in August.
Organizations hire consultants to make recommendations, but if consultants don't have the facts, or have the facts wrong, their advice is useless, even damaging. A good report is based on facts you can trust, and a good consultant delivers them consistently.