Just recently a small business moved in next door to my shop. This business is typically a type of business that does well only during a good economy (which we are far from), and takes spending A LOT of money to get it running. The other Major thing in this type of business is Location, Location, Location.
The building they are moving into does not have enough space for what they are putting in it. It is a retail style store and there is not enough walking room for customers. They are so far removed from the major traffic of customers and clientele that would be purchasing this particular product. These businesses usually thrive better in downtown areas where there is a lot of walking traffic. Here there is none. So I began to think that maybe he has a website where he is getting a lot of traffic.
Well before I go there, let me tell you that we have spent thousands of dollars on our web page to make it work and reach people looking for us and our products. This company is using a blog. Not only are they using a blog, but it is very poorly done (not that mine is done well, but I am not advertising here).
I say all of this to say that you really need to research what your business is and what business models have worked before spending your money. Needless to say, I believe that the building will be available again in a matter of two to three months.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
Where you donate your money
One of the things that has been driving me crazy as a business owner is to see where people donate their money. Not because they do not have the right to donate their money where ever they wish, but more because there are so many times it doesn't make sense at all. I think that there many organizations that do great things and have great causes, as well as many that are horrible ententes and should never be funded. If you don't agree with me you can tell me how NAMBLA (North American Man Boy Love Association) is a good organization.
There are so many awesome organizations in our country that do some amazing things. American Heart Association, Habitat for Humanity, . These are just a few of the countless organizations that are here in our country who help people.
Now to get to my beef. This will make many people really Mad, but my point is simple and to the point.
Planned Parenthood. That is right. The so called women's care facility (truly just an abortion clinic). Now, I know there are a lot of people who are going to say "Your a guy, you don't get a say in the matter." Here is where I beg to differ.
Now, remember this is a Business blog (along with some Politics). So, I do have an area in the argument that I can contribute. You decide what you feel about abortion. Personally, myself, I am against it. But that is not what this is post is about. This is about your money.
As a business, why on Earth would you ever give your money to an organization that puts to death your future potential clientele? You spend your money on advertising, on improving product and services to increase your customer base. Why would you spend money to counter act what you spent on improving your customer base? Maybe it is because some smooth talking spokesperson came in and told you that if you don't donate it people will think you don't care about women. Well nobody ever talks about those who don't donate, but they constantly blog about those who do.
Beyond the smooth talkers or any other reason, even if you agree with what they are doing, it just doesn't make any sense as a business to give away some of your profit to a not for profit that is designed for the sole purpose of removing future clients from the face of this Earth. The cell phone providers who have been donating for the last 15 years can think about the number of 15yo kids out there who currently could be running around raking up cell phone bills on the iPhones that momma or daddy would have bought them. I know that many of the patients that go into Planned Parenthood may not be able to afford that lifestyle, so I will use an example that sits more at home with most everyone. Those gas companies whom donated have lost countless gallons of fuel that could have been sold to countless number of individuals over the years.
So in closing I simply ask, why not donate to organizations that work to save lives and want babies to live. This will not only be a great tax deduction, but all so be like investing money to increase revenue down the road.
There are so many awesome organizations in our country that do some amazing things. American Heart Association, Habitat for Humanity, . These are just a few of the countless organizations that are here in our country who help people.
Now to get to my beef. This will make many people really Mad, but my point is simple and to the point.
Planned Parenthood. That is right. The so called women's care facility (truly just an abortion clinic). Now, I know there are a lot of people who are going to say "Your a guy, you don't get a say in the matter." Here is where I beg to differ.
Now, remember this is a Business blog (along with some Politics). So, I do have an area in the argument that I can contribute. You decide what you feel about abortion. Personally, myself, I am against it. But that is not what this is post is about. This is about your money.
As a business, why on Earth would you ever give your money to an organization that puts to death your future potential clientele? You spend your money on advertising, on improving product and services to increase your customer base. Why would you spend money to counter act what you spent on improving your customer base? Maybe it is because some smooth talking spokesperson came in and told you that if you don't donate it people will think you don't care about women. Well nobody ever talks about those who don't donate, but they constantly blog about those who do.
Beyond the smooth talkers or any other reason, even if you agree with what they are doing, it just doesn't make any sense as a business to give away some of your profit to a not for profit that is designed for the sole purpose of removing future clients from the face of this Earth. The cell phone providers who have been donating for the last 15 years can think about the number of 15yo kids out there who currently could be running around raking up cell phone bills on the iPhones that momma or daddy would have bought them. I know that many of the patients that go into Planned Parenthood may not be able to afford that lifestyle, so I will use an example that sits more at home with most everyone. Those gas companies whom donated have lost countless gallons of fuel that could have been sold to countless number of individuals over the years.
So in closing I simply ask, why not donate to organizations that work to save lives and want babies to live. This will not only be a great tax deduction, but all so be like investing money to increase revenue down the road.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Rising Gas Prices.
It would have to have some negative effect for sure...meaning positive for people hard working citizens!
my return response: If it had a negative effect, do you think that it will be the company that is hurt or do you think it will be those who work in the refineries that will hurt? Beyond that, my point is that Gas prices don't go up so that Exxon/Mobil will in...crease profits. They go up based on Taxes and Crude oil prices. They are highly regulated on how much profit that they can make by Government Regulatory Committees. Even if it did make much of a difference, you have to think; There are 249 Million cars on the road in just the US (oil companies are worldwide, not just in the US) so even if you get 10k people to protest, you are talking about less than 1/100 of a Percent of a effect just in the US, and you are probably still going to fill up on another day. So they will still get paid and not see any of it missing. Not to mention, if you have a office job or work at a set location, you aren’t driving much anyways. And who says your tank will be empty on that day. So really, the only people that lose out, is that of the people who runs out of gas on April 15th due to this protest. The oil companies produce a good that we all need. Until someone comes up with an alternative that is as efficient as gas (to date there is none yet) we will still be using gas. And since there are about 806 Million cars on the road worldwide that need gas to get to work to feed their families and put a roof over their heads, I would say that the oil companies do us a great service. My business could not operate without gas, I would bet if you looked at your job, yours couldn’t either.
Response again from another reader to my response: I copied and pasted the text from someone and I did what they asked me to do, "pass it on and let's protest" I was being optimistic and I'm probably ignorant of the facts and the small details that are involved in the whole "who gets rich f...rom high gas prices?" idea..yes gas is a truely God given resource that we all need but not at $4+ a gallon... lets just all walk or ride a bike to work then I suppose. too far? Get up earlier..? I don't know. Or DRILL AT HOME is the best option. F greenpeace, we won't 'destroy our invironment'
Again, My response: I understand the heart behind what you are saying, but you would have to understand that people have to work to insure that the resource gets to the consumer. Water is the most abundant renewable resource on the planet and we still pay wate...r bills. It takes man power to get it to the consumer safely. The same is true with gas. It takes large trucks to get my products to the consumer, that means lots of gas. Most Americans do not spend as much on fuel as I do in a given month. I have plenty of room to complain, however I know that to keep this country moving forward we all have to do our part. When I look at prices in the UK (about 12/ liter (which is smaller than a gallon)) I think it's not that bad. It costs me about 80 bucks to fill the tank on my truck, but I budget accordingly to make sure it is filled. It irritates me when people think that these companies are making huge profits and don't look at the profit margins. A 3% profit margin on a gallon of gas is very little. The high profits are bc they they move a lot of product ( not just gas, but all other product concerning). To that I say they earned every penny. I would never make it if I worked on those small margins. I am not afraid to say that my margins make those margins look minuscule, but so the margins of 90% of the other businesses in the country. It doesn't sit well when people do things to say that my wife works for companies that rip people off when she designs products so that you can drive to the movies for a good time or fly across country to see family or go on vacation.
feel free to respond as you see fit.
Cut the Budget.
There are so many talks about cutting the Budget lately. I have been seeing many re-posts on my Facebook page about cutting the salaries of the lawmakers. Does this fix the problem? No, not really.
Though I am of the opinion that they are paid way too much, the math really shows that it does not solve the issue. On the 3.83 Trillion Dollars that the budget covers, the payroll for all of Congress and the President comes to abt $88 Million dollars. This breaks down to less than 2/1000th of a percent of the budget for the year. I agree that they should be at least cut in half, but there are so many other areas to cut. Here is my list (so many people are going to hate this)
Though I am of the opinion that they are paid way too much, the math really shows that it does not solve the issue. On the 3.83 Trillion Dollars that the budget covers, the payroll for all of Congress and the President comes to abt $88 Million dollars. This breaks down to less than 2/1000th of a percent of the budget for the year. I agree that they should be at least cut in half, but there are so many other areas to cut. Here is my list (so many people are going to hate this)
- Foreign aid - Cut out
- Not for profit funding (i.e. Planned Parenthood, Acorn, and any other organization that gets money from the government no matter the affiliation) - Cut out
- Welfare - create screening and require those who issue to screen cutting out those who are unemployed, on drugs, or has a criminal background.
- EPA (along with many other agencies) - Cut out
- Any governmental advertising - Cut out
- No new Governmental vehicles outside of the Military.
- No new Governmental projects (civic or otherwise) til the debt is GONE.
- No new Pork spending for the congress
- No new research funding for useless research (i.e. mating habits of three toed newts) logical funding projects must be approved on a single bill every year.
- Along with many other item removals.
- Oh yeah, and cut the pay for any Governmental Lawmaker in half.
Raising Taxes on the "Rich"
President Obama has come out today with his new budget and plan for fixing the deficit. His plan is to raise the taxes on the so called "Rich". What does this mean? This means raising taxes on those whom make $250k plus. Who are these people? Yes, these people are people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.
The problem with these numbers are that while they do include CEO's like Rex Tellerson of Exxon/Mobil who is compensated about 5mil for his work to Robert Kanode of Valence Technology INC who is compensated $250k/year for his work, they do not take into considerations small businesses.
If you look into your community you will see many small businesses that net more than $250k/year. The local small automotive shop that you get your car worked on, the dry cleaners you use, even the small lawn service you might have come by to take care of your lawn so you do not have to mow.
What most people do not realize is that many small businesses operate under the owners social security number. What does this mean, or what does it matter? This is significant b/c when the company makes $250,000 for a year, the business owner is not taking that home. Odds are more likely that one $250k, a business owner may bring home about $30k.
Okay, now you are asking "How many people does this effect?" Well I have an answer for that too. The U.S. Small Business Administration (a Government administration) reports that small business makes up 99.7% of all employer firms (http://web.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24) and have created 65% of the Net NEW jobs over the past 17 years.
Those are not little numbers. This means that when you increase the taxes on people who make + $250k, you limit the ability for the private sector to create new jobs and for them to also create more products.
Here is how this works for the consumer. The Government increases taxes on the so called "Rich". Small Business has three options; 1) shut the doors b/c you can not afford the taxes and lay off the employees so that you can get a job that pays more and keeps you under the "Rich" threshold, 2) Try to tough it out, maintain the status quo, lower salaries to employees and try to maintain, and 3) Raise prices to the consumer and let the consumer take the hit. Which method is going to be chosen by most small business? It will be the later. As a small business it makes better sense for a business to turn the hit over to the consumer and cover the problem. This means the price of EVERYTHING goes up. Milk, Gas, Food, Car Repairs, Funeral Arrangements, Entertainment, ETC...
So, who does this hurt in the end? The lower class. Those who as a family make under 100k. Those who live on a tight income. They are the ones who will be with less money at the end of the day. Their dollar is the one that will not go as far.
The problem with these numbers are that while they do include CEO's like Rex Tellerson of Exxon/Mobil who is compensated about 5mil for his work to Robert Kanode of Valence Technology INC who is compensated $250k/year for his work, they do not take into considerations small businesses.
If you look into your community you will see many small businesses that net more than $250k/year. The local small automotive shop that you get your car worked on, the dry cleaners you use, even the small lawn service you might have come by to take care of your lawn so you do not have to mow.
What most people do not realize is that many small businesses operate under the owners social security number. What does this mean, or what does it matter? This is significant b/c when the company makes $250,000 for a year, the business owner is not taking that home. Odds are more likely that one $250k, a business owner may bring home about $30k.
Okay, now you are asking "How many people does this effect?" Well I have an answer for that too. The U.S. Small Business Administration (a Government administration) reports that small business makes up 99.7% of all employer firms (http://web.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24) and have created 65% of the Net NEW jobs over the past 17 years.
Those are not little numbers. This means that when you increase the taxes on people who make + $250k, you limit the ability for the private sector to create new jobs and for them to also create more products.
Here is how this works for the consumer. The Government increases taxes on the so called "Rich". Small Business has three options; 1) shut the doors b/c you can not afford the taxes and lay off the employees so that you can get a job that pays more and keeps you under the "Rich" threshold, 2) Try to tough it out, maintain the status quo, lower salaries to employees and try to maintain, and 3) Raise prices to the consumer and let the consumer take the hit. Which method is going to be chosen by most small business? It will be the later. As a small business it makes better sense for a business to turn the hit over to the consumer and cover the problem. This means the price of EVERYTHING goes up. Milk, Gas, Food, Car Repairs, Funeral Arrangements, Entertainment, ETC...
So, who does this hurt in the end? The lower class. Those who as a family make under 100k. Those who live on a tight income. They are the ones who will be with less money at the end of the day. Their dollar is the one that will not go as far.
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