South Dakota, Texas Top List of Best State Tax Systems |  |
- South Dakota, Texas Top List of Best State Tax Systems
- Why You May Not Want To Do Content Marketing
- Best Buy CEO Resigns: a Lesson in Workplace Relationships
- Rarity of High Growth Young Companies
- Learning Lessons in Small Business Leadership
| South Dakota, Texas Top List of Best State Tax Systems Posted: 16 Apr 2012 03:09 PM PDT The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBE Council) just published its Business Tax Index 2012. The list covers what the SBE Council’s formula determines is the ” Best to Worst Tax Systems for Entrepreneurship and Small Business.” Topping the list of the most favorable states for small businesses and startup entrepreneurs and investors are: 1) South Dakota There is an interactive map showing the best states for businesses taxes, in green. Middle of the road states are blue. And the worst states are in red: And what are the worst states for business taxes by name? It probably won’t be a surprise that many of them are in the Northeast, long having reputations for being expensive jurisdictions to do business in: 42) Connecticut Basis for Tax Rankings The Business Tax Index 2012 ranks the states from best to worst based on the cost of their tax systems on entrepreneurs and small businesses. The Index takes into account 18 different tax measures, and combines them into a single score so the different states and the District of Columbia can be compared. The 18 measures include income tax, individual capital gains rate, corporate income tax, added income tax on S-Corporations, property taxes, sales tax, death tax, Internet access tax, the so-called “Amazon” nexus tax, gas tax and wireless tax — among others. According to Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the SBE Council and author of the report, said, ”All taxes matter, whether imposed at the federal, state or local level of government. They matter to consumers, entrepreneurs, investors and businesses. State and local levies matter in terms of a state’s competitiveness. And they matter when it comes to economic growth and job creation.” Comparisons With Other Years And so how does the listing compare with past years? I checked the 2010 state tax rankings and found very little difference in either the top or bottom rankings. One notable exception: Massachusetts managed to pull itself out of the bottom 10 and in 2012 now ranks number 35. Hawaii and Connecticut, on the other hand, slipped a few spots since 2010. Other states may have shifted a bit here and there, but the top and bottom are still largely the same two years later (or the states were near misses with making it into the top or bottom 10). This year, the SBE Council’s 2012 report notes these positive and negative developments:
From Small Business Trends |
| Why You May Not Want To Do Content Marketing Posted: 16 Apr 2012 10:30 AM PDT There is a lot of constant talk about content marketing. I am doing it right now. But please ask yourself the following questions before you kick start a blog or outsource your words to a content army. I have asked myself these questions because I have made the mistake of giving birth to a mediocre blog:
Do I have something to say? Most blogs or publications provide tips, advice and/or opinions. If you are providing any of the above, ensure that you are presenting your experience. Your true experience is valuable but a collation of generic facts found online is not. Folks are being flooded with more and more articles online and if they start to read the same, it is a disservice to the reader. Will my words help the reader in any way? Usually, the blogs that I learn from have a combination of an experienced author with a lot of deep research. By experience, I mean the author is an industry expert or leader that has several years of execution under their belt. The research is analysis that they have gathered over a period of time. Such information is bound to be helpful to a certain set of readers. Are you providing the same value? Why am I doing this? Do you want to maintain and share a regular blog to increase traffic to your site? This is a totally valid reason. But there might be other ways of increasing traffic which are more in sync with your strengths. You do not have to start giving out tips just because there are many other examples out there. Listing your sites in the right places and doing the occasional guest blog might be more rewarding than pushing yourself to produce content every day. I want to talk to my target audience Good content increases engagement with your relevant audience. This is proven. So if you are bent on taking on the challenge of maintaining a blog – find the right people. Another author on this site, Lisa Barone, writes a lot of stuff through observations and research. Her former company helps folks build content that is right for them. You can get professional help from such companies to get the right content around your product and business. It does not have to be everyday – you could do a deeply researched piece once a week. Through this approach readers will look forward to your content every week.
From Small Business Trends |
| Best Buy CEO Resigns: a Lesson in Workplace Relationships Posted: 16 Apr 2012 07:30 AM PDT Best Buy was in the news recently as it announced a $1.7 billion quarterly loss, along with layoffs and the closure of 50 of its 1100 stores. And then came the news that Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn had resigned upon mutual agreement. If you weren’t listening carefully, you might have assumed the usual story: poor financial results led to his forced resignation.
In fact, that isn’t the reason (at least not the main reason) he is gone. The Board revealed that it was investigating an alleged inappropriate relationship Dunn had with a 29-year-old female subordinate. The Board’s action involves claims that company assets were misused in that relationship — whatever that means. It’s not clear how much money or assets are involved — whether it was a case of buying her gifts and padding the expense account, or paying her an exhorbitant salary she wouldn’t otherwise have merited, or something else. Oh, did I forget to say Dunn is married? Well he is, although he certainly wouldn’t be the first CEO who has had an affair — and with a subordinate. But affairs with subordinates are tricky situations. You might be tempted to think that in the 21st century, a relationship is a personal matter. However, every relationship between a manager and a subordinate is the company’s business, to a degree. First, it can open up a company to a claim of sexual harassment. A relationship may well start out consensual (at least consensual in the CEO’s or manager’s eyes), but if the subordinate has second thoughts later or the relationship ends, it may lead to a claim of harassment. Second, how other employees see things is often very different from the way the parties involved in the relationship see it. A relationship at the CEO level with a subordinate often sets off a ripple effect of suspicions of favoritism, poor morale and churn — especially when a company is under fiscal stress like Best Buy. The CEO is a very visible person. All eyes are on him or her. Employees and the Board lose confidence, secretly thinking “no wonder the company is going down the tubes and layoffs are imminent — your brain is somewhere else, Mr. CEO, and not on the company.” Jealous co-workers or those on the outs with the CEO will be eager to rat out the CEO to the CEO’s boss, the Board. That’s why publicly-traded companies take such allegations so seriously. The whole situation is fraught with issues. They may have no choice but to launch a major investigation, sometimes using outside law firms – even if neither party in the relationship is complaining. In Best Buy’s case, that relationship has had an impact well beyond two people. Now it means more stress on a company already reeling. Instead of focusing on fixing its business model, the company will be spending the next six months to a year recruiting a new CEO. For Dunn, it will impact his and his family’s financial situation. Leaving a publicly traded company at age 51 as opposed to making it to retirement age, could be a loss of “hundreds of millions of dollars” according to commentator TJ Walker on Forbes. And it’s not clear the impact on the subordinate, but I can tell you from past experience as Vice President of HR in the corporate world, at the very least it may put a cloud on her career, even if the company does not take adverse action against her. So what does all this have to do with small businesses? There are a few lessons. A small business owner may not have to worry about a Board of Directors swooping in and forcing a resignation. But consider the churn that may be going on under the surface. It’s incredibly hard to keep a relationship a secret for long in the workplace. And it’s not just the owner’s relationships I am talking about. Any manager who has a relationship with a subordinate can put the company at risk, opening it up to a harassment claim that would be expensive to defend, or might cause the business to go under. Most small businesses do not have insurance to cover such claims, or are underinsured, according to Bolt Insurance Agency. Small business workplaces tend to be filled with people who have relationships. It may be a family business. And in small businesses it tends to be natural to hire people with whom you have relationships. What can you do? Make sure managers know what sexual harassment is so they can avoid leaving themselves and the company open to a claim. Keep your eyes open to budding relationships. Take steps to take important decisions about the subordinate (such as pay raises) out of the hands of the manager, or when possible transfer the employee to another supervisor — yet stay fair to both parties. In a small workplace it may be tough to take such steps, but you need to protect the business. The Best Buy situation is a reminder that workplace relationships are full of issues that go well beyond the two people in a relationship. From Small Business Trends |
| Rarity of High Growth Young Companies Posted: 16 Apr 2012 05:00 AM PDT Policy makers love young high growth companies for their job creating capabilities. However, they are often quite naïve about how rare these companies actually are.
According to the Organization of Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) publication, Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2011, less than one percent of companies with ten or more employees are gazelles – employers that have been in operation for no more than five years with ten or more employees that increase employment by 20 percent per year or more for three years. The United States has an even smaller share of gazelle companies than other developed nations. In 2007, the last year that the OECD measured employment growth in U.S. businesses, less than one quarter of one percent of companies were gazelles. While I have no hard data on the share of gazelles during the recession and weak recovery that followed, I doubt that the share of gazelles increased substantially, if at all. The share of gazelles means that of the roughly half a million new businesses with employees created in the United States every year, a little over 1,000 will be gazelles. Moreover, most gazelles, while growing faster than other companies, are not adding jobs at a rocket-like pace. After three years, a company with ten employees needs only have a little over 17 workers to have generated the 20 percent per year compound employment growth necessary to be a gazelle. Companies that grow much faster than gazelle pace (super gazelles) are much rarer still – so rare that they are hard to measure statistically. Our elected officials need to recognize that the gazelles and super gazelles they love for their job creation capabilities are extremely rare. They should take that information into consideration when formulating policies toward high growth young companies. Gazelle Photo via Shutterstock From Small Business Trends |
| Learning Lessons in Small Business Leadership Posted: 16 Apr 2012 02:30 AM PDT Small business leadership is a crucial skill for all entrepreneurs. In fact, better leadership will make you a better entrepreneur on many levels. Leadership isn’t just a word. It affects your business profitability on many levels. Have a look! Better ProductivityCultivating your mobile workforce. The mobile workforce trend is probably here to stay. There are benefits in this trend not only for your employees but also for you if you embrace the concept and what it has to offer. How can a mobile workforce work for your company? More Leadership, Less Management Avoiding toxic work attitudes. Something as simple as a word can change your life, the word “should” for example. Here are some thoughts about how words and judgements can effect us negatively in our business decisions. How are judgements leveled by others affecting you? The Savvy Copywriter Better ExecutionCaptivating your audience. Whether speaking to a group about your business or brand or giving a talk about business in general, your presentation will be critical. How do you improve your presentation skills to make them the best they can be? TweakYourBiz Understanding ROI. While this post is about social media return on investment, of course, ROI is something to be considered in every part of your business. Want to be a success in your business? Focus only on what works and avoid other considerations. Analytical-Solution.com Better OpportunitiesLeading the new vanguard. Crowdsourced companies are a whole new animal. What will leading one really mean? You don’t have to wait to find out. Go behind the scenes in this slideshow of a crowdsourced company in action. WSJ Finding the real opportunity. Def Jam Records founder Russell Simmons covers a variety of topics from leadership to better attitudes toward work in this wide ranging session with other business leaders. One of the key takeaways for entrepreneurs, however, is the importance of finding what’s missing. Inc.com Better MarketingAvoiding big marketing mistakes. Have you made these? You wouldn’t be alone. Understand the importance of changing your mindset and going for the best decisions when coping with a tough economy. Going to extremes will only hurt your business and is not a good way to handle decisions. Talk Business With Howard The Three Stooges’ guide to PR. Or how not to handle PR campaigns from a leadership position. In this post we look at leadership missteps when it comes to managing your marketing and promotion message. EMSI Better SustainabilityMaintaining great vendor relationships. If you want to know the key to maintaining sustainable business services over time, it may be in maintaining and nurturing great relationships with the vendors that support your business. Don’t simply chase the next big thing. Small Biz Diamonds Building a future with small business. The following post is definitely NOT an unbiased look at the pros and cons of working for yourself vs. working for others. In fact, the post expresses the point of view that starting a business of your own or at least investing are the only scalable ways of creating sustainable wealth. Free From Broke From Small Business Trends |
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