Sequester and Fiscal Cliff: What’s the Impact on Small Business? |  |
- Sequester and Fiscal Cliff: What’s the Impact on Small Business?
- TrendSpottr Joins With Salesforce to Offer Predictive Analytics
- Dig Into The Strategy Book
| Sequester and Fiscal Cliff: What’s the Impact on Small Business? Posted: 28 Oct 2012 05:20 PM PDT Those of us here in the U.S. have been hearing a lot about “sequester” (variation “sequestration”) — and its cousin, “fiscal cliff.” I’d be willing to bet that quite a few of my fellow small business owners have no idea what those terms mean. Politicians bandy them about as if they think we all know what they are talking about. In fact, we are focused on our families, our businesses, our communities, our faith — not what happens in Washington. So I set out to find out what the words sequester and fiscal cliff really mean. What is sequester? Sequester refers to mandatory government spending cuts that are looming. On January 1, 2013, $109 billion in spending cuts will automatically kick in across the board, according to the Christian Science Monitor. But that’s just the first step. Over time $600 billion in cuts are required in defense programs, and another $600 billion in domestic programs. What is the fiscal cliff? The term “fiscal cliff” is a shorthand term for the impact of those cuts. A big deadline is looming on January 1, 2013 when the cuts start going into effect. In addition, certain tax increases will also go into effect. The resulting impact is so dramatic that it could throw the country back into a recession. In other words, we’re headed toward a financial precipice. What will be the impact? The proposed changes are so sudden and deep that the Congressional Budget Office estimates they would shave gross domestic product (GDP) by 4% in 2013, triggering another recession (i.e., negative growth). That could lead to higher unemployment, with a loss of 2 million jobs. Even if you believe that government spending should be cut, as I do, the problem is that mandated cuts will be made across the board. They may not be the right cuts. The analogy I use is that one day in your business you decide to finally address your red ink. You decide you need to cut expenses. But you do it by laying off your best sales people and not paying your insurance premiums. Then the sales orders slow to a trickle. Then you have a fire and lose all your inventory and equipment, with no insurance to replace it. Hmmm, maybe you should have found have other expenses to cut. How does sequester and the fiscal cliff affect small businesses? Sooner or later with high spending, there has to be a reckoning. However, when you cut spending across the board, you can cut the legs out from important programs that should not be cut. Defense cuts, for example, could hamper the ability of our country to defend itself and stay as secure as Americans expect. And when you raise taxes, are you raising the right taxes? Or do the higher taxes strangle growth among the very groups you expect to create economic growth, such as jobs? For small businesses specifically, the tax increases would impact those who make over $250,000 a year. As Professor Scott Shane points out, with help from George Haynes of Montana State University, raising taxes on those making more than $250,000 would affect the business owners that employ a whopping 93 percent of employees in small businesses. And since many business owners sacrifice for years to reinvest in the business — in anticipation of it paying off later on — the taxes will hit them just as those years of sacrifice start to pay off in higher earnings for the business owner. The American Enterprise Institute suggests the sequester defense cuts would hurt small businesses in the defense industry, in particular:
As for the healthcare law (“Obamacare”) that is phasing in, it’s hard to tell what impact that is going to have on small businesses. The law is so complex and the discussion so politicized– it’s hard to know what to believe. What we do know is that when the U.S. Supreme Court declared it constitutional, they also declared it a tax. What can you do about the fiscal cliff? Demand that our lawmakers address spending and our national debt, and pass a budget. Shamefully, this country has not passed a real budget in years. If we ran our businesses that way, we’d end up in bankruptcy. Deciding what to spend on — and not — and deciding how to pay for that spending, require hard choices. That’s true in your family budget or your business budget or the government’s budget. No one says it is easy. But the reason we pay elected officials is to sort through and make those judgments – not just default to across-the-board cuts that could hurt more than they help. The post Sequester and Fiscal Cliff: What’s the Impact on Small Business? appeared first on Small Business Trends.      |
| TrendSpottr Joins With Salesforce to Offer Predictive Analytics Posted: 28 Oct 2012 11:00 AM PDT TrendSpottr, a predictive analytics service that curates and identifies relevant trends, announced a partnership with Salesforce this week, meaning that any businesses using Salesforce will now have access to the analytics tools of TrendSpottr. Trendspottr's product can help businesses find content relevant to their company or business interests within the massive amounts of data available online. It uses this data to identify and even predict trends within different industries and topics. Users can enter a search term, hashtag, or general topic of interest, and then Trendspottr's algorithm looks for the most relevant information by taking into account factors like how recent the topic has been discussed, the frequency of those discussions, velocity, and amplification. Data can also be broken down into conversations from a particular city or geographical area, so local businesses or companies looking to break into a particular market can get information more tailored to their business interests. Users can also learn about the top influencers within a particular topic and the context behind each trend. The partnership with Salesforce not only means that a large amount of businesses will now have access to the tool, but also that TrendSpottr may be looking to transition into a more specialized analytics provider, rather than one that deals mainly with data from public social media sources. TrendSpottr will continue to offer its product separately from its Salesforce offering, and the two products will be sold individually. Prices are based on how much data is processed through the service. The Toronto-based startup was launched at the spring 2011 DEMO conference. The company started off working with the open social APIs from sites like Facebook and Twitter, and then expanded to more real-time streams of online data. Aside from the partnership with TrendSpottr, Salesforce has also added a number of other social analytics vendors to its Marketing Cloud. The post TrendSpottr Joins With Salesforce to Offer Predictive Analytics appeared first on Small Business Trends.     |
| Posted: 28 Oct 2012 06:00 AM PDT
You will make doctors appointments, get root canals, go shopping for holiday presents and perhaps even decide to get a head start on your taxes – just so you don't have to think about next year's strategy. Read The Strategy Book Regardless of which group of business owner or marketer you fall into, you'll want to read Max McKeown's, The Strategy Book. I received a review copy from Max after he read one of my reviews. And I'm so glad I took him up on his offer to send it to me. The first thing I noticed when I opened the book was the slew of smartly written accolades from a variety of folks that span a wide variety of industries and disciplines – one even came from a military strategist! I'm not one to be swayed by the testimonials I see in a book because so many of them are rather general and just say that the book is the greatest thing since sliced bread. But the testimonials and recommendations from The Strategy Book are very specific. So much so, that they almost read like the menu at a gourmet restaurant. I couldn't wait to see what these folks were talking about. You'll Start Thinking Strategically From Page One McKeown hits on the biggest issue that surrounds strategy – no one really knows what it is or how it works. If we did – he probably wouldn't need to write such a comprehensive book that simplifies that topic in a way that is accessible and practical for readers at any level or business education and experience. It's clear that the focus of The Strategy Book is on the reader and your ability to apply the principles. McKeown accomplishes this in three practical and important ways;
So Who Is This Guy? Max McKeown isn't new to strategies or writing books. He may not be a business celebrity, but he's thought of as being a brilliant strategic thinker and works as a strategy and innovation coach for many of the most admired companies in the world. He's also the author of The Truth About Innovation, Unshrink and Adaptability: The Art of Winning. McKeown is also a frequent speaker and appears on several national and international radio and television shows. The Five W's of The Strategy Book
Max McKeown really hit the nail on the head with The Strategy Book. You'll find it easy to read and fun to implement in your own business. If you're part of a mastermind group or management team, you'll want to go through the process together and see what new strategies you take on for next year. The Strategy Book is printed by Pearson Books and is part of a series that also includes The Management Book and The Leadership Book. For more information about Max McKeown, check out his web site and follow him on Twitter @MaxMcKeown. The post Dig Into The Strategy Book appeared first on Small Business Trends.     |
Attention all business owners and marketers! It's planning season! For some of you this is a glorious time of thinking about the future, creating new opportunities and looking for new possibilities to grow your business. And for others, it's a time where you will do ANYTHING to avoid the process of thinking strategically about your business.| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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