The Entrepreneurial Mind

Ever wonder what happens to the business cards you hand out? Often they end up in someone's coat pocket, in a stack on someone's desk, or -- heaven forbid -- in the trash.

For years, people have been trying to find ways to make their cards stand out. For example, they have put things such as jokes, inspirational sayings, and even recipes on the back of the card.

Now a new company offers you a way to truly customize your cards and hopefully make them stand out so people will hang on to them and use them.

Moo.com allows you to have pictures and images printed on the back of your cards. What is unique is that you can choose "lots of different images" in a single pack of cards. You can include pictures of your various products, you office buildings, your staff, or even shots from your vacation. A cool use of digital technology!

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Our book on entrepreneurship and virtue, Bringing Your Business to Life (co-authored with Mike Naughton), is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Here is what a few folks have had to say about our new book:

If you want to be one of the truly great entrepreneurs you need to read this book. Jeffrey Cornwall and Michael Naughton have done a masterful job of illuminating a side of business we all should be thinking about.

Bo Burlingham, Editor-at-Large, Inc. magazine

Bringing Your Business to Life gives us essential tools we can use to build entrepreneurial ventures - and entrepreneurial lives - that matter and make a difference.

John Wark, Consultant and Former Software CEO

Professors Cornwall and Naughton utilize real life experiences to demonstrate that entrepreneurship is a virtuous profession. Using basic Christian principles, the authors explore the issues facing entrepreneurs during all stages of their venture and challenge the myth that entrepreneurs have to act in unethical ways to survive. This is a must read for anyone starting a new business and a great primer for a class in entrepreneurial ethics.

Jeffrey S. Hornsby, Ph.D., SPHR
Kansas State University

While reading Bringing Your Business to Life I found multiple opportunities to apply the Four Virtues to my life and to the ventures that I'm presently involved with. It is practical, insightful, and relevant for entrepreneurs who desire to better understand the social, spiritual, and economic impact we can have through our for-profit and non-profit endeavors.

Corey Cleek, General Editor, Devotional Ventures

Jeff Cornwall and Michael Naughton have created a compelling argument for the integration of ethical and moral behavior and entrepreneurship. They dispel the myth that the “Ethical Entrepreneur” is an oxymoron rather they offer strong evidence that success and entrepreneurship are not mutually exclusive. Bringing Your Business to Life offers a vehicle for more cross campus collaboration by introducing liberal arts concepts into the phenomena known as the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship.

George T. Solomon, D.B.A.
Director, Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence
The George Washington University

Bringing Your Business to Life is a prescription for success in life as well as in business. It is a great synopsis of how financial and spiritual well-being can intersect in doing well by doing good. It reveals that it is not only what we do as a chosen profession but moreover who we are as a person that will dictate where we go in life. Bringing Your Business to Life is good medicine for good business. In fact, it reminds us that doing the right thing and putting faith into action is the best medicine for a great life.

Ron Loeppke, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACOEM

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Megan Dorn has become the new editor at The Start-up Blog. She is already busy beefing up the site. A good blog for anyone who likes the practical content that I write about at this blog.

I should also note that Megan is a fellow Cheese Head -- Go Packers!

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Having grown up in Wisconsin, one of the things I miss is Friday night fish fries (although my waistline does not miss the fried part).

One of my former students from the University of St. Thomas, Jesse Ness, has an Internet business that sells freshwater fish such as walleye (my personal favorite), perch, blue gill, etc.

Now we former northerners can satisfy our hunger for these freshwater delicacies without having to brave the long cold winters and summer mosquitoes the size of small sparrows.

Walleye Direct is the name of his website. You can get freshwater fish "shipped overnight to your doorstep" and cook it up with one of the many recipes available at the website.

This is a great example of a business that leverages the Internet to create a "virtual" niche in the market.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:35 AM | Permalink

In the wake of the Kelo decision of the US Supreme Court, which greatly diminished property rights in the US, many states moved to restrict the use of eminent domain. Now lawyers and politicians are finding loop holes in these laws.

A case in point can be found in the story of a Nashville business owner. From the Tennessean:

The city has begun legal proceedings to seize the property of a Music Row landowner who has refused to sell to a Houston developer, setting up a fight that has already prompted the involvement of a national advocacy group.

The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency filed papers in a Nashville court Friday to start a process that would take the offices of Country International Records at 23 Music Circle East.

The action, the city's first test of eminent domain since the state legislature tightened condemnation laws two years ago, was taken after the agency determined that negotiations with building owner Joy Ford would not work, said Joe Cain, the agency's development director....

MDHA has argued that Ford's property can be considered blighted because it lies within the Arts Center Redevelopment District.

Dictionary.com defines blight as it relates to property as "the state or result of being blighted or deteriorated; dilapidation; decay: urban blight." It makes no mention that the property does not fit into politicians grand plan for their city. And yet, that is how the city of Nashville has redefined the word blight.

Joy Ford owns a thriving business. She does not want to sell it. As you can see from the photo below it is not what anyone could define as blighted property. Anyone except city officials eager to pander to developers.

Am I against development? No! But, I am against is the erosion of property rights in the US in this post-Kelo era.

One of my fears when the Kelo decision came down is that the same folks who were abusing eminent domain were the same ones supposedly fixing it. However, even with the passage of state and local laws to place restrictions on eminent domain, small business and home owners are at the whim of politicians and their army of attorneys who seek to increase their tax base through forced re-development.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My column in the Tennessean this week looks at the challenges of having partners in a venture:

Partnerships in business can be one of the most difficult issues an entrepreneur faces.

Whom the entrepreneur chooses as a partner should be given as much consideration as which products the business makes or what markets the business enters.

Dysfunctional partnerships are a major source of business failures. They suck energy and time away from building the business. They can often lead to the breakup of perfectly good businesses.

Examine potential business partnerships (this includes an "S" corporation or limited liability corporation) carefully, thoughtfully and objectively. Talk with your potential partners about everything related and even unrelated to the business.

Know their hopes and dreams, endearing personal characteristics and annoying habits, ethics and values, etc., etc.

You will most likely spend more time with your business partners than with anyone else — even your family. And it will be a relationship that can be even more complicated to get out of than a marriage.

Ask the right questions

Work with an attorney to create a shareholder agreement before you officially incorporate.

Just as marriages can fall apart on the honeymoon, business partnerships can fall apart before the first sale is ever made. Here is just a sample of some of the issues you should discuss with potential business partners:

• Do you share the same vision for the business? Do you share the same aspirations for the business in terms of its size?

• Are you all going to make the same level of commitment of time to the business? What are your work habits and work ethic? How much time off do you plan to take each day, each week, each year?

• How much money will you put into the business? And how much do you expect to get out of it?

• Who will be the president of the company? What roles will the other partners play?

• How strong is everyone's credit rating? Can all partners help to guarantee a loan, if necessary?

• What if one of you gets married and the new spouse gets a job offer in another city? Would you move away? How will employees, customers, suppliers, etc., all be treated?

If you are already in a partnership and it has problems, try to work it out openly and honestly. Do so with as little venom as possible.

This requires that you remember these two words: communication and compromise. This is not a battle of the wills -- it is your business and your livelihood on the line.

If the partnership is beyond hope of repair, get out of it as quickly as possible. The longer it takes, the more expensive it gets. And it will be expensive.

Shareholder agreements can create a potential path out of the morass, but it will still be a painful and expensive process. Count on that.

Business partnerships can be a successful experience for everyone involved. But it takes open and honest communication and careful planning throughout the life of the business to pull that off.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 09:38 AM | Permalink

I have been posting this week about creating and sustaining a bootstrap culture. In my previous posts I wrote about the importance of using recruiting and rewards to build a bootstrap culture. My final post on this to stress the importance of both talking the talk and walking the walk.

Entrepreneurs should communicate a consistent message about bootstrapping. Highlight the importance of bootstrapping, in every form of communication ranging from informal conversations with employees to formal communications such as newsletters, annual reports and policy manuals. A consistent message reinforces the importance of bootstrapping behaviors. For example, include a feature in every company newsletter about an employee who was the “bootstrapper of the month,” offering a story of how they accomplished a task with minimal resources. Story telling is a fundamental part of building a culture in a business.

But also remember that your actions speak loudly. The actions taken by leaders speak more loudly than what they say. The company Fastenal has become legendary for its bootstrapping culture. Fastenal sells industrial and construction supplies wholesale and retail from its 2,160 store locations located in 50 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, China and the Netherlands. Even with over $2 billion in revenues, the company’s leadership takes bootstrapping actions that reinforce their culture.

This story comes from a 1997 feature about Fastenal in Inc magazine:

[Robert] Kierlin [now Chairman of the Board] and chief financial officer Dan Florness could easily have taken a flight to a conference in Chicago, a little more than an hour away by plane. Instead, they drove five and a half hours in a van, saving Fastenal hundreds of dollars. They lunched at A&W, feasting on burgers and root beers. (Cost: $5 a person.) They spent the night at a motel in Rockford, a Chicago suburb, to avoid the high city prices. The pair even shared a room. "This sends a message that cost control is important to everybody in the organization," Kierlin says. "By being attentive to all expenditures, you can really set the example at the top."

Talking the talk, walking the walk, using rewards to reinforce bootstrapping, and recruiting those who fit in the culture will all help create an enduring bootstrap culture in an entrepreneurial venture.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:09 AM | Permalink

According to a recent survey, 42% of NFIB members ranked the cost of natural gas, propane, gasoline, diesel and fuel oil as a "critical" problem. The issue has climbed from being the #10 ranked issue concern to the #2 concern in this year's survey.

Inflation is real and will become an even bigger concern over the coming months.

Here are two stories that the NFIB is sharing as examples of this growing problem.

Jim Buchy
Buchy Food Service
Greenville, Ohio
Buchy Food Service is a fifth-generation, family-owned business that began as a manufacturer of meat and sausage products in 1878 and is now a full-line food distributor with a 100-mile service territory. The company prides itself on service and has long claimed, "We have no minimum shipment requirements or drop-ship charges." Yet, as energy prices continue to rise, the cost of delivering goods -- a staple of the service that Buchy’s provides to its customers – has risen dramatically. The rising delivery costs are having a big impact on the 139-year-old business, causing Buchy’s to examine ways in which it can consolidate services -- something they are reluctant to do.

Douglass Henry
Henry Molded Products Inc.
Lebanon, Penn.
For over 40 years Henry Molded Products, Inc. has been providing customers with high quality molded fiber/pulp products. They produce recyclable products that are environmentally friendly using 100% pre- and post-consumer newsprint, kraft paper and other waste papers, and are a nationally recognized manufacturer of green products. Henry Molded Products relies on natural gas to create its products and now pays more than $100K per month on its natural gas bill for his factory. Over the last few years, his energy costs have more than doubled.

The NFIB is taking the right stand on this issue, pushing for more freedom within the energy industry. From a letter that Dan Danner of the NFIB sent to Congress:

Small business owners need immediate relief from high energy costs, and drilling offshore is a critical step towards increasing the domestic supply of oil and natural gas and reducing prices at the pump. Unlike some of their larger competitors, escalating fuel prices hit small businesses particularly hard because they often must absorb these cost increases instead of passing them on to their customers.

In order for our economy to regain its footing, we must be able to meet the energy needs of small businesses, and I urge your strong support of this important energy policy.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In addition to recruiting to create and sustain a bootstrap culture, entrepreneurs can use reward systems to reinforce bootstrap actions by employees.

Rewards can shape behavior and attitudes of employees. Setting performance expectations centered on bootstrapping actions and decisions signal that bootstrapping is considered important. These expectations need to be built into the performance review process. Rate the employees on their ability to bootstrap and then reward those who do it well. In one company where bootstrapping resulted in better overall profitability in the business, the owner offered profit sharing to all employees making clear that it was due to their efforts to help control costs through bootstrapping.

Celebrate actions by employees that exemplify bootstrap culture. Praise can be a powerful motivator of behavior.

Don't just reward people who are cheap. Reward those who are cheap with a clear purpose and definable and important outcomes.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Parents calling professors about their college students' homework. Parents showing up in place of their college children for orientation. Parents going with their college graduated students on interviews -- and then calling the HR department to complain when their kids don't get the jobs.

These are but a few of the true stories about today's helicopter parents.

I am in wet Wisconsin this week for my in-laws surprise 80th birthday bash put on by my wife and her two brothers. While here I read a great editorial on helicopter parents in USA Today written by a "reformed helicopter parent."

And then when the kids made it to a decent college, many of us remained fixed in hover position. I still remember a few rounds of a paper on Othello from one kid, and another on the divine command theory from another.

The result: Little Susie has made it through four years at her respected university. Phew.

She's ready to launch, right? Not so fast. Many of these helicopter young'uns have absolutely no blooming idea what they should do next. They've been so busy with their internships and tests and labs that they've missed the essential purpose of all that frantic activity -- figuring out their passion, following a stream as it flows into a larger river and then jumping on a boat and seeing where it takes them.

Well said! We now have to introduce failure into our curriculum so our aspiring entrepreneurs have a clue as to what might await them -- they have no experience with failure as children of helicopter parents. Worrisome, no?

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My last post looked at a bootstrap culture as I have been writing about it for my new textbook on bootstrapping. There are four steps that can be taken to help build and maintain a bootstrap culture as the business grows. The first of these steps is recruiting for a Bootstrap Culture:

When bringing new employees into a business, it is critical to look beyond their technical skills and experience to fill the position. A fit with the bootstrap culture should also be examined.

One approach is to develop open-ended questions that can be used during the interview process. For example, “Tell me about a time when you had to accomplish a task when limited resources were available.” If the interviewee answers the question by saying that she always had more than enough budgetary support in her old job, it might be difficult for her to adapt to a bootstrapping environment not having worked that way in the past. Or, if she answers by complains about the availability of resources in her old job, or about how her old boss was always cheap, that is a good signal that the employee is not have bootstrapping as a part of her work ethic. On the other hand, if she speaks with enthusiasm and pride about how she got the job done within the limited resource available, she would more likely fit into the bootstrap culture.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:21 AM | Permalink

I am finishing up my last chapter in my new Bootstrapping text today. I am writing about how entrepreneurs build and then sustain a bootstrapping culture as their businesses grow. It is easy to see why most entrepreneurs bootstrap when they start -- they simply don't have much start-up capital. The average start-up in the US has only $10,000 to get their business off the ground.

But why do they keep bootstrapping even when the cash starts flowing and they are no longer doing it out of necessity?

First, bootstrapping over the long-term can help a business avoid the need to secure external financing and keep 100% of the ownership in the entrepreneur’s own hands. By being more efficient throughout the life of the business, cash flow is optimized and the entrepreneur can build cash reserves that can be used to fund future growth.

Second, bootstrapping increases the income that the business can generate for its owners over the long-term. It also helps them to build more wealth from the venture. Cash flow is what allows the entrepreneur to take income out of the business, and successful use of bootstrapping helps to generate more net cash flow. This is just as true in a mature business as it is in a start-up. The value of a business is based primarily on its ability to generate cash flow into the future. The stronger the cash flow the higher the value of a private business. Bootstrapping, therefore, helps build wealth for the entrepreneur by increasing the value of the venture by increasing its new cash flow over time.

Third, there is an ethical reason to continue bootstrapping over time. They bootstrap to be good stewards of the resources that have been put into the business.

So what does a bootstrap culture in a business look like? The values and beliefs common to a bootstrap culture include:

- Frugality -- it is desirable to achieve the same ends with the fewest resources possible.
- “Cash is King” -- the cash in a business is its most precious resource.
- Stewardship -- a sense of obligation to make the best possible use of the resources made available to the business from its stakeholders.

My next few posts will address what actions can be taken by entrepreneurs to sustain a bootstrap culture.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

There are certain lectures that stick out in my mind from my college days in the 1970s. Some of them seem kind of random, which is always a reminder to me as a professor that you never know what will stick with your students.

Any way, one lecture that has stayed with me was a lecture that an accounting professor gave us on sunk costs. He told us that money already spent on something is like water over the dam -- it is gone and should not be considered when making a decision on whether to stay with a project or not. We should only look forward in our analysis. Sunk costs are -- well, sunk.

While this was not a revolutionary concept, for some reason it was very eye-opening to me as a 19 year old in an accounting class and in my memory I can still hear his lecture on this concept even today. I always tried to remember this lesson in my business decisions.

For the entrepreneur there is the added element of emotion. We get attached to our ideas and hang on too long. We get our ego tied to a project and refuse to give up even though it is not logical to continue.

Sam Davidson wrote an essay at his blog on knowing when to quit that got me thinking about all of this. It is a great essay that all entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs should read.

And to Professor Dunnigan, my old accounting professor at UWSP, thanks for the lesson on sunk costs. It saved me a lot of wasted money and time over the years.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

After giving a speech to a business group yesterday, I was reminded by one of the participants of an unexpected benefit of finding a safe little market niche. Many established businesses that you might normally think of as your competitors can become your sales force.

Find a niche that is a part of the market that established businesses don't really want to serve. The customers may be too small for their operation, or serving them may be just too inefficient for their size. I have seen this recently in new law practices, landscapers, healthcare, web design, food distributors, etc., etc. Look for needs to serve not just in customers, but also in the businesses already establsihed in the market.

What seems like crumbs to them can become your feast. Actively market to them. You will make them look good, as they will have an easy referral outlet for business that does not fit their model. That keeps them looking like a good guy to their referral sources.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Commission on Growth & Development recently issued their report on global economic development: "The Growth Report: Strategies for Sustained Growth and Inclusive Development". The report concluded that there is no fast and easy answer. It takes long-term commitment and patience to create sustainable growth in an economy.

Key conclusions of the report include:

-- Growth is a crucial part of poverty reduction and the improvement of people’s lives. It is impossible for poor countries to lift large populations out of poverty without growth. Equality of opportunity and a focus on individuals and families, gender inequalities, and economic security, however, is critical to maintaining the support for growth oriented policies. Open access to free markets is key.

-- That growth is a long-term challenge that requires leadership, persistence, stamina, pragmatism, transparency and the support of the population. In an age of quick fixes and sound bites this will be a challenge.

-- That growth requires engagement with the global economy to import knowledge and technology, to access markets, and to generate a strong export sector – critical in the early stages of growth. The global nature of our economy is unavoidable.

-- That resources, especially labor, must be mobile. The Report also recommends a bridging of the divide between the formal and informal labor sectors by allowing export-oriented industries to recruit workers on easier terms than prevail in the formal sector but with the same essential worker protection in the areas of health and safety, working hours and child labor. It highlights the need to better manage the migration challenge and the results of changing demographics.

-- Access to capital is fundamentally important.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From my column this week in the Tennessean:

One of the expenses that entrepreneurs are tempted to cut back on is marketing. However, a weak economy is not the time to cut back on communicating with your existing and potential customers.

Now that the economy has slowed, consumers are thinking twice about spending money. Employment is less secure and inflation is eating up more of the family budget on necessities such as food and gasoline. This creates a much more competitive environment as consumers are more careful about spending and much less willing to take on additional debt.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:22 AM | Permalink

Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge recently published an article (it can be found here) on the opportunity he sees for federal tax reform during the next administration -- regardless of who wins. He puts it this way, "For the first time since 1986, the stars may be aligning for a grand bipartisan compromise on fundamental federal tax reform."

Tax reform and lower tax rates are critical steps to help keep our entrepreneurial economy expanding over the coming decades.

The article outlines what Hodge believes are the five basic steps for politically realistic tax reform:

Step 1: Eliminate tax exemptions and deductions.
Step 2: Make any tax reform a tax cut and tax simplification.
Step 3: Continue to shield low-income earners with a super-deduction.
Step 4: Make everyone a stakeholder.
Step 5: Fend off the special interests.

My take -- unfortunately any progress on simplification will inevitably get undone because politicians do not want to fend off special interests. Politicians live off of special interests -- the money from K Street is what makes Washington tick.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We teach our students about the art of the pitch. Most entrepreneurs will have only moments to grab the attention of an investor or a customer, so they need to learn how to explain what they do and how it creates value in a very short few moments.

TechCrunch has an on-line site for elevator pitches. Visitors can vote "up" or "down" on the product ideas and offer their comments.

If a pitch is in your future go to this site and watch some of the pitches. It helps to see which pitches work and why. It really helps you to see what makes a pitch effective. I found my mind wandering during several of the pitches at the site within the first thirty seconds. Others grabbed my attention and explained the concept and the revenue model in a clear and engaging way.

Develop a clear and concise pitch. Then practice it over and over. Video your pitch to see how well you actually come across. Pitch to your friends. Pitch to strangers. Pitch to anyone who will listen. Watch their reactions. Listen to their concerns. Pay attention to subtle clues they offer into what is working in your pitch through their expressions and body language.

You need to develop a thick skin as an entrepreneur. You will face a lot of rejection. Get used to it. Rejection and criticism are powerful teachers if we pay attention to their lessons.

Even if you don't pitch for money, you will pitch to gain customers, attract employees, talk your spouse into your crazy idea, etc., etc. Learn how to pitch!

(Thanks to Andy Tabar for passing this along).

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:13 AM | Permalink

MyBusiness magazine (from NFIB) has a feature written by Emily McMackin on a for profit social venture called Giving Tree.

Clayton "Nick" Nicholas knows what it's like to worry about profit margins, but in his business, Nashville, Tenn.-based Giving Tree, money isn't the only bottom line and his stakeholders extend beyond his board of investors....Shortly after launching the online business, which sells the GiveCard---a prepaid Visa or MasterCard that allows recipients to donate 10 percent of their gift to the charity of their choice---Nicholas and cofounder Jeff Jacobs discovered that consumers were eager to give back.

McMackin interview me for the story and was curious about the growing trend of more for profit social ventures.

Young entrepreneurs today are taking this tradition a step further by forming businesses to tackle specific problems in society, says Jeff Cornwall, director of the Belmont University Center for Entrepreneurship in Nashville, Tenn.

Without the IRS constraints that nonprofits have or the need to beg donors for money, these social entrepreneurs are finding more freedom to bring about change.

Rather than trusting in these large institutions they don't think are effective, they're going out and solving problems at a grassroots level, Cornwall says.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 06:11 AM | Permalink

I am pleased to announce that this blog now has a relationship with the International Council of Small Business (ICSB) as part of their new website (you can find the direct link here). Founded in 1955, ICSB was the first international membership organization to promote the growth and development of small businesses worldwide. The organization brings together educators, researchers, policy makers and practitioners from around the world to share knowledge and expertise in their respective fields.

I am honored to be the first featured blog at the new ICSB website. I have been a member of ICSB since the 1980s, including the time I left academics to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. I was Program Chair of the 2005 ICSB World Conference held in Washington, DC.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:53 AM | Permalink

The National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship reports on the findings of a long-term study to spur entrepreneurial growth in Appalachia.

A new study sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) assesses the impact of the ARC's Entrepreneurship Initiative. This effort, which operated between 1997 and 2004, was the first Federal program that explicitly sought to invest in and support local entrepreneurship development efforts. Overall, the program invested $47 million into various projects, and these investments had a positive impact in terms of creating new jobs, attracting other new investments, and stimulating new business creation.

Here are the overall findings from the study:

Jobs created and/or retained 12,178
New businesses created 1,787
Students and teachers trained 11,634
Clients served by incubators 475
Actual private $ leveraged $72,802,868
Public cost / job created or retained $579 - $3,994
Public cost / business created or expanded $2,988 - $7,818:

What a wonderful story of how entrepreneurship is helping to turn around one of the poorest regions in America. What should be the next step to help these entrepreneurs? As we know from around the world, the best policy is to cut taxes and get government out of their way. But this is not the message we are hearing from the campaign trail, is it?

Sadly, Americans have not been educated in what sustains an entrepreneurial economy. Instead, we have created almost a knee jerk reaction in this country that assumes that once someone creates success and wealth through free enterprise, it should be taxed and shared with everyone else..

The positive impact of programs like this one will soon be overwhelmed by our steady drift toward socialism in the US.

Rather than celebrate the successful entrepreneur, we envy the fruits of their efforts.

As Winston Churchill warned, "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 05:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Benchmarking is something that is a challenge for many small business owners. It is hard to get general information about specific issues faced by entrepreneurs as their businesses grow.

Denny Dennis with the NFIB Research Foundation has introduced a great tool called 411 Small Business Facts to allow for specific searches of all of the small business polls that they have conducted over the years. It is a great tool that allows us to tap into a wealth of information. I have been using this tool as I do research for my new textbook on Bootstrapping.

Next time you have a question about what other entrepreneurs are doing about health insurance, marketing, banking, etc., etc., you now have a tool to make finding out much easier.

Posted by Jeff Cornwall at 07:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)