U.S. Postal Service Will Keep Saturday Delivery After All |  |
- U.S. Postal Service Will Keep Saturday Delivery After All
- Crowdfunding Expected to Double in 2013
- Melinda Emerson on Transitioning From Employee to Entrepreneur
- At a Crossroads in Uncharted Territory
- Spring Clean Your Small Business, Twitter Chat Recap
| U.S. Postal Service Will Keep Saturday Delivery After All Posted: 12 Apr 2013 01:30 PM PDT
Small business owners still reliant on delivery by the United States Postal Service can breath a sigh of relief. The USPS recently announced that it will not cut Saturday deliveries later this year as it had previously planned and we’d previously reported. In a statement this week, the USPS Board of Governors said that it is disappointed with a recent Congressional decision that blocked the postal service from receiving funding so it could implement a plan to cut mail delivery on Saturdays. “Although disappointed with this Congressional action, the Board will follow the law and has directed the Postal Service to delay implementation of its new delivery schedule until legislation is passed that provides the Postal Service with the authority to implement a financially appropriate and responsible delivery schedule,” the letter states. The Postal Service still had planned to continue to offer package delivery on Saturdays. But the USPS had announced its intention to stop regular mail service on the weekend because it believed it would save USPS about $2 billion a year. However, Congress balked and the USPS backed off. Congressional resistance to the plan to discontinue Saturday delivery was expected, as was a similar dissent from the Letter Carriers union. The impact, either way, was not expected to affect small business owners too much, possibly forcing them to alter delivery schedules in some cases. The USPS is a self-supporting government enterprise funded through sales of postage stamps and other products and services and receives no direct funding from the federal government for its operations. The organization has been struggling financially for years. The causes of that financial struggle are subject to debate. The postal service points to the decline in paper mail, due to increased public reliance on e-mail and other forms of digital communication. Other Issues Contribute to USPS Financial Woes, Say SomeBut some observers, including the National Association of Letter Carriers, the union, point to other contributing factors. For instance, there’s the requirement that the USPS completely fund its pension fund. Some consider that an unfair financial burden to place on the U.S. post office. Market Watch notes: “Its pension funds are more than 100% funded, compared with 42% for all federal pension funds and 80% for the average Fortune 1000 pension plan.” Special rates given to large corporations that mail out “junk mail” are another contributing factor to the financial mess, according to some. Many of those corporations lobby hard against increasing rates that would help offset expenses. And the postal service loses money on some of its offerings. Add to that the increased competition from package delivery services such as FedEx and UPS. Yet another problem is outsourcing. In 35% of cases last year, the postal service lost money on outsourcing (workshare) contracts, according to the Postal Regulatory Commission's annual compliance report. However, the postal service remains important to some small businesses as the only delivery method that reaches every address in the nation. And the postal service has other supporters, such as Steve Hutkins, a New York University professor who has set up a website SavethePostOffice.com. The post U.S. Postal Service Will Keep Saturday Delivery After All appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Crowdfunding Expected to Double in 2013 Posted: 12 Apr 2013 11:00 AM PDT
Crowdfunding has proven to be an effective way for small businesses to generate revenue, and the trend is expected to double that success in the next year. According to the Crowdfunding Industry Report from MassSolution, campaigns raised at least $2.7 billion last year, and that amount should double in the next year. Much of that activity has occurred in Europe and the United States, where bank lending to small businesses has been in decline for a number of years. The MassSolution report notes that 2012′s figure is an 81 percent increase over the previous year. The report collected data from 308 active crowdfunding platforms around the world. More than a million fundraising campaigns were successfully launched through crowdfunding. The expected continued success of crowdfunding platforms will be buoyed by regulations in the U.S. currently under consideration. The passage of the Jumpstart our Business Startups (JOBS) Act last year legalized the funding source, according to a Reuters report. However, until the SEC issues regulations implementing the JOBS Act, the promise of crowdfunding legalization has yet to be realized. Reuters notes that crowdfunding still doesn’t see as much lending volume as banks to small businesses. But as traditional lending declines, that could change. MassSolution believes that crowdfunding trends will shift away from so-called social projects and more toward small and startup businesses. Crowdfunding works when a prospective startup or small business offers either a slight interest return or stake in a company in exchange for a small loan. Rather than just accepting a loan from one bank, members of the public can invest in any particular project. U.S. regulators are considering new rules for this relatively new form of raising business funding, including what to do in the case of failure, when a funded business can not deliver its promised return. In the U.K., where crowdfunding is also very popular, tax breaks are offered for investing in crowdfunding and other “seed stage firms.” The post Crowdfunding Expected to Double in 2013 appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Melinda Emerson on Transitioning From Employee to Entrepreneur Posted: 12 Apr 2013 08:00 AM PDT Have you dreamed of starting your own business but find yourself unsure of how to make the transition from employee to entrepreneur? Melinda Emerson, the Small Biz Lady, joins Brent Leary to share her “Emerson Planning System;” six steps to transition from employee to entrepreneur. * * * * *
Melinda Emerson: I am an entrepreneur just like you. I was somebody who was getting headaches on the way to work in the morning. I knew that I was meant to do more. In 1999 I started my first company, Quintessence Multimedia which was a video production and a multimedia production company. I ran that company and still have it. I am a voracious reader. I have read almost every startup business book out there. I literally wrote the book I've never read. I wrote the book that would be the advice I wish somebody had given me back in 1999 when I quit my good job and started a business. That is how 'Become Your Own Boss In 12 Months' came about. My life has never been the same since. You have to evolve, you have to continue to sharpen your own knife and gain new skills. So what I was able to do for myself, and my business, was I started learning social media. It just so happens that when I went out to social media my name, Melinda Emerson, was taken on Twitter. I had to come up with a new name for myself and so that is how I became SmallBizLady. Fast forward five years, that was the best branding accident that has ever happened to me. But that is what happened. Small Business Trends: One of the other things you are very well known for are weekly Small Biz Chats? Melinda Emerson: Absolutely. Every Wednesday from 8 to 9PM EST on Twitter, I host a weekly #SmallBizChat where we get on Twitter with another small business expert and answer small business questions. It really has become incredibly helpful for people. If you have a question and you can't afford a coach, it is a way for you to ask your questions for free and get helpful information and help everybody else, too. Every Thursday I post the complete Q&A from the night before on the Small Biz Chat on my blog, SucceedAsYourOwnBoss. Small Business Trends: Let's talk a little bit about the book, ‘Become Your Own Boss In 12 Months.’ Can anybody start a small business in 12 months? Melinda Emerson: Yes; I have developed a planning system called the 'Emerson Planning System.’ It helps people transition from having a job to having a business. The first step is developing a life plan. First, you need to figure out what you want out of life first and then you need to build a business around that. Second, you have to figure out whether or not you can even afford to become an entrepreneur. You have got to get your money together, because the reality is the money to start your business is going to come from your right or left pocket. You have to be able to afford to leave your job and start a business. You have to have money to support your family, your household and you have to have the money to launch the business. Once you get that together, the third step is really evaluating what skills you have, and what skills you need to run your particular kind of business. How do you do that? You need to get a part time job working for a business like the one you want to start. Do not start a business in an industry you don't know anything about. It is a wrongful deed for disaster. Step four is figuring out who is going to buy from you and why. The most important thing you need to know about your new business is who is your customer and how are you going to stand out and be unique in the marketplace against your competition? The fifth step is writing a business plan. You really do need a business plan. You do not spend more time planning your vacation then you do figuring out how you are going to support your family in this new business. Think things through. The sixth step, and this is the secret, is to start your own business while you are still working in your part time job if you can. It takes 18 to 36 months for a small business to break even, let alone replace your previous corporate salary. You are going to need the time to get your money together and to figure out what you are doing and who your real paying customer is. Small Business Trends: Are some of the reasons small businesses fail led by these principles you just put out there? Melinda Emerson: There are five reasons why small businesses fail. The number one reason is because people think about what their lives are going to be like running their business. They think some magic person is going to come and lock and unlock the door every day in their business. The second reason is because people have no network to sell to. People do business with people they like, know and trust. If you are somebody with no friends and that doesn't keep in touch with people, you will need to keep your job because you are not going to be in business long. Ninety percent of all small businesses get business from referrals. It is extremely important for you to spend time building your network. The third reason is because people simply do not save enough money before they start their business. What happens is some emergency in their personal life will torpedo their entrepreneurial dreams. The fourth reason is because people try to sell to anyone they think has money, as opposed to having in a specific niche target customer. Step five, and this is the deadliest reason, Brent; people don't manage their household budget. So guess what? They don't manage their business with one either and that doesn't make much sense. Small Business Trends: Where can people learn more? Melinda Emerson: If you are interested in purchasing my book, an autograph copy of my book, go to my website SucceedAsYourOwnBoss. There you can order an autograph copy of my book. It is also available anywhere books are sold. This interview is part of our One on One series of conversations with some of the most thought-provoking entrepreneurs, authors and experts in business today. This interview has been edited for publication. To hear audio of the full interview, click the right arrow on the gray player below. You can also see more interviews in our interview series. The post Melinda Emerson on Transitioning From Employee to Entrepreneur appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| At a Crossroads in Uncharted Territory Posted: 12 Apr 2013 05:00 AM PDT
Sometimes the ideas just sort of present themselves in a tidy little package for you. I was perusing some articles online and ran across “at a crossroads” so I wrote it down. The next article contained “uncharted territory” and I wrote that down right underneath “at a crossroads.” Then I looked at what I’d written and thought to myself, “It can’t be that easy.” Then decided that it was, in fact, going to be that easy and this cartoon came out the other side. That’s a good day. The post At a Crossroads in Uncharted Territory appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Spring Clean Your Small Business, Twitter Chat Recap Posted: 11 Apr 2013 08:30 PM PDT It’s that time of year again. It’s time to spring clean your small business. This means cleaning your workspace and business, of course. But it also means getting more organized in genera and freshening things upl. A recent Twitter chat looked at how to clean up, get organized and start running your business smarter. And it drew enough attention to make #SMBspringclean the #1 trending topic on Twitter for the evening.
Spring Clean Your Small BusinessBelow are just a few of the tweets from small business leaders about how to straighten up and organize your business from paper to digital files. But you will also read ideas for shaking things up and bringing in new ideas to make your business better. Read excerpts from our spring cleaning Twitter chat below presented by FedEx Office (@FedExOffice on Twitter).
Disclosure: FedEx Office compensated me to participate as a small business expert during the FedEx Office Tweet Chat program and write this post. The ideas in this blog post are mine and not ideas or advice from FedEx Office. The post Spring Clean Your Small Business, Twitter Chat Recap appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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