The Entrepreneurial Mind

One of my favorite entrepreneurship authors, Barry Moltz, is again helping to sponsor the Pursue Your Passion Tour. Half of all Americans are not satisfied with their jobs. This project is an attempt to help students avoid this same lot in life.

This summer, recent college graduates James Whiting, Noah Pollock and Brett Farmiloe will be traveling 14,000 miles in 90 days on their tour to interview 200 professionals who have a passion for their work.

Here is a schedule of their tour this summer.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

That is the question that is posed in the cover story at Fortune this week. The answer seems to be "yes" if you define business in terms of Big Business.

James Pethokoukis at US News also explores this question. His answer is also "yes", since Big Business loves to pick who they see as the likely winner, loves the status quo, and is absolutely head-over-heels in love with big government.

And what does the entrepreneurial part of our economy think of Hillary? Pethokoukis asked me that question. Here is what he printed from my answer to this question:

There has emerged a sharp contrast between the interests of Big Business and Small Business. In the past century, Big Business, Government, and Labor created a cozy relationship in which they found common ground to support each other. This system worked great until the 1970s-1980s, when the Big Businesses that dominated our economy for so many decades lost their economic steam. Entrepreneurs began to fill the void, creating 78 percent of all new jobs over the past 20 years. Big Business has continued to be supportive of both parties, and as a result both parties have mostly ignored the emergence of the entrepreneurial economy we now find ourselves in. They govern as if it is still 1965. However, over 50 percent of the GDP (according to the Small Business Administration) is now generated by small business in the U.S.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:03 AM | Permalink

I must admit that my thinking on franchises is a bit dated. I still envision someone being stuck making sandwiches behind a counter at their sub shop 52 weeks a year. While this is still true for many franchise opportunities there is a growing number of franchise businesses that offer more flexibility and opportunity for multiple operations.

StartupJournal has an article on how much easier some of the new franchises have become to operate.

The franchising world is letting loose. Gone are the days of one owner being chained behind the counter of a single store day in, day out. Today, there are absentee owners who oversee their operations from laptops and Treos, and owners who maintain dual careers or run multiple franchises. At Hollywood Tanning Systems Inc., more than half of the 330 franchise owners have another job. The chief executive of Sport Clips Inc. hair salons estimates that 10 hours a week is a "generous allowance" for owners to physically be in stores. And franchisees for the Decor&You Inc. interior-design business can receive decorating and product training at home whenever they like via online video seminars.

(Thanks to Matt Nicholson for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The folks who hosted the discussion that led to the report that I linked to earlier today have a great new blog called smallbizlabs.com. Here is what they say about its purpose:

Small Biz Labs is the research blog for Emergent Research's ongoing project to identify, analyze and forecast the key social, business and technology trends that will impact small business formation and operations.

Central to this work is our partnership with Intuit and the Institute for the Future to produce the Intuit/IFTF Future of Small Business forecast report series.

The primary purpose of this blog is to point to and comment on studies, research, surveys and data sources related to small business.

These are great folks and it looks to be a very good blog.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 02:09 PM | Permalink

I had the pleasure of participating in an all day discussion last year that examined the future of small business hosted by the Institute for the Future and sponsored by Intuit. In the first report that came out of this project, the changing face of small business ownership was examined.

In the second report, which was just released this morning, the emerging impact that technology will have on small business is explored. Although entrepreneurs have lagged in their use of new technologies in the companies, this report sees small businesses finally embracing the use and application of new technologies in their businesses. Here are a few of the findings:

- Small businesses will become integrated into the "networked" world. Small businesses will embrace technologies that will help them better manage customer relationships, inventory, distribution and employee productivity. Mobile devices will become integral in small business. Small business will have new productivity tools at their fingertips, including new generations of digital assistants.

- On-line tools and applications will become more a part of starting and managing small businesses. Such tools will become simpler to use, enabling small businesses to increase their connections through on-line social networks. This will open up the "virtual world" to any and all entrepreneurs.

- Small business marketing shifts from push to pull. Customers will be able to search for information about what they want with increasing power, no longer just accepting information they receive from the marketplace. The new media for such information will come through devices in cars and through cell phones.

If you want to sharpen your vision of what your business might become in the next ten years, and begin to prepare for what new and existing technologies can offer to keep you competitive, this report is an important first step.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:33 AM | Permalink

As a business grows, attracting key team members becomes critical to success. However, since you often can't compete with the salaries that key people may be able to get from larger companies, you have to find ways to create value for potential team members beyond their monthly paychecks.

In a new collection at eVenturing, the challenge of compensation for key employees is examined. Once again, the folks at Kauffman have put together a great set of articles, stories, and tools to help owners of growing companies.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:53 AM | Permalink

The Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project (affiliated with centrist Democrats) has released a new series of reports focused on reforming America's tax system. Here is a link to their report.

What do they have in store for us if a Democrat assume power? Higher marginal tax rates for one thing. James Pethokoukis conducted an interview with Larry Summers (part of the last Clinton cabinet). Here is what Mr. Summers had to say about raising taxes:

The purpose of the tax system is to raise revenue in the best possible way, but you have to be aware of the changing economic context. At a moment like the present when inequality has increased very dramatically, it means that being smart about the tax code means making adjustments in the direction of increased progressivity. So I don't think we are asking too much of the tax code, given that we need to raise more revenue.

Sorry Mr. Summers, but you are living in a world that no longer exists -- this is the wrong time to increase top marginal tax rates. This is no longer the 1900s with our corporate economy where one worker in five worked for a Fortune 500 company. We are now in an entrepreneurial age where 50% of the workforce is employed by small business owners. And we know from studies from around the world that higher tax rates do one thing in an entrepreneurial economy -- they slow down expansion and growth.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My column this week at the Tennessean examines taking business loans and investments from family:

Family members provide funding for many different reasons. Some are motivated by altruism -- they just want to help the entrepreneur get started and be successful. Others can be driven by greed -- they see the investment as a way to ride on the entrepreneur's coattails to fortune and fame.

But no matter what the reason they provide financial assistance, defined boundaries and clear expectations should be clearly established.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As if the current tax system in the US is not a big enough scam, there are now a couple of Internet tax related scams going around that aim to take even more of your money.

The first looks like it is coming from the IRS Criminal Investigation unit. From the IRS alert:

The e-mail purporting to be from IRS Criminal Investigation falsely states that the person is under a criminal probe for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Tax Board. The e-mail seeks to entice people to click on a link or open an attachment to learn more information about the complaint against them. The IRS warned people that the e-mail link and attachment is a Trojan Horse that can take over the person’s computer hard drive and allow someone to have remote access to the computer.

The second scam goes like this:

In another recent scam, consumers have received a "Tax Avoidance Investigation" e-mail claiming to come from the IRS' "Fraud Department" in which the recipient is asked to complete an "investigation form," for which there is a link contained in the e-mail, because of possible fraud that the recipient committed. It is believed that clicking on the link may activate a Trojan Horse.

The IRS offers this sage advice: “not to click the link in the e-mail or open the attachment.”

It is only official if it comes as an official notice in the mail -- or if you are greeted at your front door by IRS agents with automatic weapons drawn wearing full body armor. The IRS does not send out e-mails to tax payers.

(Thanks to KraftCPA for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:37 PM | Permalink

Eric Flamholtz has it right in his book Growing Pains (now in a 4th edition, by the way). In an early stage business almost all of your focus must be on two things:

1) You must get your product or service properly aligned with the market. Our business plans offer our best guess about this, but the reality of the reaction from real customers tells us the truth of what will really work.

2) Selling! We must actively engage the market to gain a customer base. They almost never just "show up" at our doorstep.

Entrepreneur magazine has a great feature story on selling in this month's issue. Included are several specific tips on such topics as selling to department stores, selling on eBay, selling expensive products, creating a buzz and so forth. It is well worth a careful read whether you are starting a new venture or simply trying to expand the sales of your existing business.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Please forgive me if I miss a day or two with my blogging this week. Our daughter is getting married on Saturday. Lots to get done before everyone arrives!

Our daughter Maggie and her soon-to-be-husband Matt Kuyper.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

A couple of useful pieces of information on entrepreneurial financing:

- A new study released last week by the SBA Office of Advocacy finds that bank size in local markets affects the likelihood of a small firm receiving credit more than it affects the amount of debt provided. The research provides evidence of the impact of the two lending methods, relationship and standardized, on credit availability to small businesses and finds that one method is not apparently better than the other. The study concludes that entry of giant national and regional banks and bank holding companies into local markets may have increased market competition for small business loans, with the primary banks exploiting the niche in relationship lending, while large, more complex banking organizations use standardized methods to supplement supply.

- BusinessFund.com published a great financing summary titled "Top 25 Alternatives to Venture Capital."

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 10:32 AM | Permalink

The blog site Marginal Revolution has a post on the entrepreneurial generation and a link to an article he wrote for the New York Times.

American youths are so successful at entrepreneurship in part because so many older and wealthier people are willing to help them. The broader American success at philanthropy, then, lays the groundwork for American entrepreneurship. By global standards, Americans may have looser networks of friends and family, but Americans are more willing to help relative strangers, and this often helps business.

(Thanks to Ben Cunningham for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:56 AM | Permalink

From the 20 million self-employed, to many small business owners, to the growing legion of telecomuters -- more and more of us have home offices. For me it is where I can blog in the morning (when not blogging from our back porch) and write and grade papers on days when I don't need or want to make the 25 mile trek to campus.

Microsoft and former "Trading Spaces" designer Vern Yip will give one deserving winner a $25,000 home office redesign as part of the Microsoft Home Office Makeover contest. The winner will receive some cool gadgets and software, as well as new home decor to enhance to spruce up their "office away from office."

Here is how it works:

Entrant is required to submit an essay of 250 words or less describing how a Microsoft Home Office Makeover will create an overall positive change in entrant's personal and/or business life and one (1) photograph showing entrant in the office space that needs the home office makeover. A video displaying the entrant in the home office space that needs the Microsoft Home Office Makeover may also be submitted to earn five (5) bonus points to be added to the entrant's overall score during Semi-Finalist judging. Submission of a video is optional and not required for entry. Entries will be accepted between June 14, 2007 and July 4, 2007.

Then there is a round of public voting to narrow it down to the finalists.

To get more information and to enter the contest you can go to this site.

Ten semifinalists will be announced on July 17, when public voting begins. Semifinalists will receive Microsoft Office Professional 2007. The entrants selected as finalists will also receive an HP notebook PC with Windows Vista Ultimate. The winner will be announced Sept. 4.

If one of my loyal visitors makes it into the semifinals I will be happy to plug you for votes and post the "before" picture of your office here at the Entrepreneurial Mind.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Here is a link to a 15 minute interview with almost Presidential candidate Fred Thompson. The first part of the interview addresses his pro-growth approach to tax policy.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There are now about 20 million self employed in the US. Jimmy Atkinson has a summary of common retirement options based on the 2007 tax code for those of you who are among that growing group of entrepreneurs at his blog Ask the Advisor. Remember that self employment also means "self retirement" for the most part.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I wrote a post a couple of months ago about the problems that current immigration policy is creating for high tech businesses in their hiring. However, our immigration policy impacts more that just the hiring of high tech workers. It is also having an impact on the creation of businesses in our entrepreneurial economy.

From TechJournal South:

More than a quarter of technology and engineering firms started in the United States over the 1995-2005 decade had a least one key foreign born founder. But those who grow frustrated faced with delays in obtaining visas move back home to start companies, says Vivek Wadhwa, executive in residence, Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University....

Nationwide, these immigrant-founded companies produced $52 billion in sales and employed 450,000 workers in 2005. The majority of these immigrant entrepreneurs came from India, United Kingdom, China, Taiwan, Japan and Germany.

Immigration reform should not be code for keeping people out. Rather, we need reform so we can assure the people we need come in. This should include both unskilled workers and skilled workers.

But more importantly, we should be actively recruiting immigrants who want to come to our system of free enterprise to start their businesses. This is no less important for today's world than it was to bring in the scientists we needed in the 1950s and 1960s to help fight the cold war. It we want to remain a world power, we need to continue to have a strong economy that leads the world.

Economic growth today is almost solely the domain of entrepreneurs. Let's attract the best, the brightest, the most passionate entrepreneurs the world has to offer. However, what ever we do, we must not create a bureaucratic system that controls what industry or type of business we think that we want them to start.

Let's qualify them by making sure that they have the basic experience and skills necessary to be successful business owners, and then turn them lose. Look at their education, their experience in business and as business owners, and their legal record.

Give preference to those educated in the US. Again from the TechJournal South article:

These immigrants come to the U.S. primarily to study and many received advanced degrees in engineering, math and science fields. But the once three-year process for getting a green card that permits them to work in the United States now stretches to six or even 10 years sometimes, says Wadhwa. Rather than deal with lengthy delays, they take their advanced U.S. educations and go home to start new companies.

Let them in -- or in many cases let them stay here -- and let them compete and innovate in a free market. If not, we are feeding competing economies with the entrepreneurs who will help those countries supplant our global economic strength.

(Thanks to Jim Stefansic for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 01:03 PM | Permalink

The entrepreneurial economy in the US is still moving ahead at a positive pace, albeit somewhat modest, according to the latest survey of small business owners by the NFIB

Job openings fell and are expected to nudge unemployment up, but unfilled positions remain high. Job-creation plans, although strong, were flat. Reports of price hikes eased, but continue higher than desired. Capital-spending plans, like actual outlays, were unchanged from the previous month.

24 percent, reported unfilled job openings, down by two points from April, but historically strong. Twelve percent said the availability of qualified labor was their top business problem, unchanged since February.

Over the next three months, one-fourth plan to create new jobs, up one point, and 6 percent plan workforce reductions, up two points, yielding a seasonally adjusted net 13 percent of owners planning to create new jobs, historically strong and unchanged from April. Fifty-four percent reported hiring or trying to hire new workers, though 78 percent of those reported "few or no qualified applicants" for their positions. Job-creation plans were positive in all industry groups.

Capital spending in May was flat. Plans to make outlays in the coming months remained weak, unchanged from April's 29 percent of owners. Profit gains have not triggered a boom in spending. Reported capital outlays over the past six months held firm at 60 percent. Nearly half, 45 percent, reported spending on new equipment, 24 percent acquired vehicles, 17 percent bought fixtures and furniture, 13 percent improved or expanded their facilities. Five percent acquired new buildings or land for expansion.

An unchanged and rather weak 12 percent said now is a good time to expand facilities. A net-negative 3 percent expect conditions to improve over the next six months, up five points from April and typical of readings at later stages of an expansion. A net 16 percent expect higher real sales, up two points, and a positive sign for growth. Overall, expectations for economic growth are soft, but better.

Twenty-eight percent of those surveyed reported higher sales, and 31 percent had lower sales, producing a seasonally-adjusted net 1 percent of all firms with higher sales in the most-recent three-month period, compared to the prior three months, down three points from April.

Unadjusted, 29 percent reported raising average selling prices, up one point, and 12 percent reported lowering them, down one point. The number of firms with earnings improvements gained in May, but the number of those reporting higher worker compensation rose three points to 29 percent. Only 16 percent managed to raise average selling prices. "Labor compensation will be pressuring profit margins all year," NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg said.

Of the 21 percent reporting higher earnings, nearly two-thirds, 65 percent, cited stronger sales, and 5 percent each cited lower materials costs and higher selling prices. For the 40 percent reporting lower earnings, two-fifths cited weaker sales, 8 percent blamed higher labor costs, 10 percent cited higher materials costs, and 5 percent each pointed to higher insurance costs, lower selling prices and regulatory costs.

Regular borrowing activity remained flat, reported by 38 percent of all owners. Only 3 percent said their main business problem was the cost and availability of credit. Thirty-nine percent reported all their credit needs met, compared to six percent who reported problems obtaining the financing they wanted. The remaining 55 percent did not want or need financing.

All in all, these finding show that it is a good time to cut taxes to help kick entrepreneurial activity into a higher gear.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:31 AM | Permalink

There is a new resource for those interested in the brave new world of music entrepreneurship -- and it is free. It is an e-book by Andrew Dubber called The 20 Things You Must Know About Music Online.

In the spirit of the new digital age Mr. Dubber, a lecturer at the University of Central England Birmingham, offers his e-book free of charge. All you have to do is provide your name and e-mail. To ease any concerns for digital security he offers the following:

Supplying name and email address to receive the e-book is an experiment in permission marketing, about which there will be a future New Music Strategies post. Personal details will be kept absolutely confidential unless express permission is supplied in writing to the contrary, and readers can expect a personal follow-up message around two weeks after downloading the e-book, in order to solicit feedback about the ideas contained within. This is to help develop the site and enhance the author's research into Online Music Enterprise at UCE Birmingham.

He also offers the chapters as they were originally posted at his blog site if you prefer to read it that way. Either way, he has great information about the business of music.

Really, this e-book is for any business using a model that builds off of today's digital world.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I recently suggested a few books that had come across my desk for your summer reading. This week the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship offers their list. It is a very interesting collection this year, so be sure to check it out.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The entrepreneurial nature of those under 25 is not just part of the American culture. From Business Week:

Economic growth in Europe is faster than in the U.S. Reform-minded governments are chopping away the red tape that stifles small business. The Internet is knocking down barriers faster than a thousand ponderous directives from Brussels. And mobile young people, nursed on wireless phones and the Web, are fanning out across the continent in search of new business opportunities.

Add it all up, and entrepreneurialism is alive in the Old World.

Just as we have seen in the US ove the past ten to twenty years, entrepreneurship is no longer being viewed as a personality type, but rather has a legitimate career path to many young Europeans.

One startling bit of evidence: A recent study completed for the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, a program of Babson College and the London Business School, found that 64% of 18- to 24-year-olds in Britain were actively considering entrepreneurship as a career choice--the highest percentage ever measured.

"Entrepreneurship is becoming a credible career path," says Jonathan Kestenbaum, CEO of Britain's National Endowment for Science, Technology & the Arts, the country's largest provider of early-stage startup funding. "It's no longer seen solely as the realm of people with a particular flair."

There is a stronger focus on entrepreneurship in many European universities. Whether this is spurring young people on or just meeting market demand is not clear. But it will help improve their success rates and will certainly reinforce the trend toward more young people pursing entrepreneurial career paths.

Let's hope Europeans keep on knocking down the barriers to business start-up, as they still have a long way to go. It is a shame that the US seems to be moving more in the opposite direction, adding more governmental controls over the entrepreneurial economy.

(Thanks to Ben Cunningham for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:32 AM | Permalink

Having been a healthcare business owner with hundreds of employees wanting healthcare coverage, I understand the frustration with our healthcare system from at least two perspectives -- as a provider and as an employer. From both perspectives I can tell you that the system we now have for healthcare payment cannot be sustained. However, most of the proposals we are hearing from the Presidential candidates will only make it worse. Just like so many questions we now face in this country, this is another case where government is not the answer.

Rudy Giuliani seems to be the only major candidate who has a solution to really address the healthcare system crisis. In the most recent debate he said:

"Health insurance should become like homeowners insurance or like car insurance: You don't cover everything in your homeowners policy. If you have a slight accident in your house, if you need to refill your oil in your car, you don't cover that with insurance. But that is covered in many of the insurance policies because they're government dominated and they're employer dominated."

I could not agree more. The mess we are in now is primarily the result of the mess that big corporations and the federal government created -- independently and through duplicitous acts throughout the latter half of the last century. Why we keep looking to either or both of them to fix the problem is beyond me. I only hope that if Giuliani is elected that this is truly a fundamental priority for him and that he can muster the will and support to fix the mess.

What is interesting is that many small businesses, out of necessity, are developing a system as Giuliani advocates ad hoc. They are sending their employees out to get individual insurance and helping to financial support that coverage through higher pay that they can offer through the savings of not providing group coverage. In many cases this takes it entirely out of the tax system, which is key to making this change in approach to healthcare payment work. There should be no tax deduction for health insurance -- period. Not corporate and not individual.

We have the best healthcare in the world. Let's not ruin it by making our method of paying for it a socialized approach. I am sure that most of my readers in other countries would testify that government systems are not effective.

For more excellent thinking on this topic see James Pethokoukis's essay writing for US News and Arnold Kling's essay at Cato's website.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The government wants to get its fingers into the new economy in a bad way -- it is what I call socialized entrepreneurship. And, if some of the Presidential candidates get their way we could see this trend taken to a whole new level. James Pethokoukis at US News has a good summary of Sen. Clinton's ideas on how the government can "help" innovation. All of her ideas involve more government programs and agencies that try to pick the winners and losers.

I guarantee you that any approach like the one outlined by Clinton will become a political circus, with special interests stepping up to get their pork. Entrepreneurship works best in a free market. Let's keep Washington's backroom deal making and politicking out of our entrepreneurial economy.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I wrote a post last month about how Web 2.0 is a new ballgame that allows for low cost, high potential start-ups. Guy Kawasaki has a great post at his blog on how he started his new Web 2.0 business Truemors for a total investment of $12,107.09.

And here are the four lessons he learned from this start-up:

1. There's really no such thing as bad PR.

2. $12,000 goes a very long way these days.

3. You can work with a team that is thousands of miles away.

4. Life is good for entrepreneurs these days.

Indeed. And it is good to be an entrepreneurship professor these days, as well.

(Thanks to Bruce Schierstedt for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:38 AM | Permalink

Well, the tax code just got longer, but this time the added pages (now about 65,000 and counting) should help out some small businesses, at least in the short-run.

The Small Business and Work Opportunity Tax Act of 2007 was recently passed in conjunction with legislation to continue funding the war in Iraq and to raise the minimum wage. The tax-related provisions are designed in part to provide benefits to small businesses likely to be hit hard by the minimum wage increase.

Here is a summary of the provisions that have an impact on small business as published by the accounting firm KraftCPAs (used with permission):

The Section 179 election to expense property in its initial year (rather than depreciate it) is extended through 2010 and increased from $100,000 to $125,000, effective for years beginning after 2006. The expense deduction begins to phase out if more than $500,000 of eligible property is placed in service during the year (up from $400,000). These amounts will be adjusted for inflation annually.

The Work Opportunity tax credit, which had been set to expire Dec. 31, 2007, is extended until September 30, 2011. This credit is available to businesses that hire employees from targeted groups of individuals, such as veterans, ex-felons, high-risk youth, and food stamp and supplemental security income recipients. The new law expands this list to include disabled veterans and individuals in counties that have suffered significant population losses. If you hire a target employee, your business can receive a 40% tax credit for the first $6,000 paid to that worker.

The individual and corporate alternative minimum tax (AMT) limits on the use of certain credits are waived, effective for years after 2006 as well as for carryback of these credits. This applies to the Work Opportunity credit and the credit for taxes paid on employee tips. Employers are also now eligible for the full tip credit despite the increase in the minimum wage.

[The act] includes certain S corporation and pension provisions, but they are generally too obscure and technical to cover in this [summary]. Contact your tax advisor to ascertain whether any of these changes affect your tax planning strategies.

Check with your own tax advisor to determine what, if any, impact these new provisions have on your business.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 01:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My column this week at the Tennessean is on rest and vacation:

Rest. Entrepreneurs can never seem to get enough of it. Vacations. Not a word that is in many entrepreneurs' vocabularies.

According to a study just released by American Express Small Business Monitor, about two-thirds of small business owners find it stressful balancing their personal and business lives. Yet true rest and real vacations are essential not only for the entrepreneur's personal health but for the health of the business.

So how do you build a business that allows you to create balance in your life?

You can find the entire column here at the Tennessean.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The entrepreneurial economy just keeps on chugging along. We just had our 45th straight month of real job growth.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Rising property taxes can often squeeze homeowners out of neighborhoods that they have lived in for years. And they can also force small business owners to sell their businesses. Such is the case of a 117 year old family owned amusement park outside of Washington, DC. From the Washington Post via Cato-at-Liberty:

For 117 summers, generations of children have frolicked through Trimper's Rides on this beach resort town's signature boardwalk. But this Memorial Day weekend might begin the last summer they circle the antique wooden carousel, fling around the Tilt-a-Whirl and loop through the Tidal Wave roller coaster.

The Trimpers say they are considering closing the amusement park and arcade this year.

As Ocean City has exploded into a megaresort, property taxes have soared for Trimper's, which operates on the last chunk of undeveloped land on the town's three-mile boardwalk. In the past three years, family members said, their assessed property value has tripled, from $21 million to $65 million.

So the family is now torn over the possibility of having to sell the business because they just can't generate enough revenue to pay for the property taxes. I know, I know. Don't cry for them -- after all they now own land that is worth $65 million. But, if you read the rest of the story, you will hear a message that I hear over and over -- it just isn't all about the money. This is a century old family business. They take joy and pride in providing good family entertainment and good jobs.

Yet another example of public policy that is blind to our entrepreneurial economy.

(Thanks to Bill Hobbs for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)