I like Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. She is honest and a breath of fresh air, I think. Also, she has run something and been involved with business for years. In our current administration the reason they are so stupid about how to get the economy going is that they have never been more than a neighborhood organizer or an attorney. Some of them are so inexperienced that they have been business wanna be's all their life and now Barak Obama has given their first shot at anything and it is affecting us all.
I heard Mrs. Palin on Sean Hannity's show (he is OK sometimes, real good at throwing a football) and when he asked her about business she knew exactly what she would do and how to get it done. Unfortuanately, the jokers we have in this administration, can only think about providing everything to everybody. This is America. Not Sweden, Finland, Russia or even Saudi Arabia. It is free enterprise. As I have said before in this blog, my vote goes to American ingenuity every time. Not Chicagoland politics. Thank you Richard Daly.
What do you think?
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
What is going on anyway?
Amazing how many small and family owned businesses are so afraid to do anything. Now is the time folks. Now is the time. Once this recovery gets going full bore, watch out on prices. You can get people, raw materials, real estate, supplies, etc. at really low prices. Now is not the time to back down. Now is the time to get after it! Except, if you have to borrow 100% to do it. That might not be a good idea UNLESS it is real estate.
Did you put back anything. Did you cut people and expenses and are now running "leaner and meaner"? I hope so. It was very interesting to me when the Nightly Business Report (PBS) said that small businesses are making money, lots of money, with less sales because they have made the cuts necessary to do so AND they are finding out that they were blotted......overstaffed and not lean on expenses and now that they are they do not want to go back HIP HIP HOORAY!
If you have done that, then now is the time to expand or do some of those things you always wanted to do. Get that equipment or building or start a new product or division. Do it carefully and leaner. But, do it! Prices today are great in real estate and equipment. Many equipment suppliers have bigger inventories than they should. They will sell and finance cheaply. Try it!
Unless our illustrious President screws it up further, things could be good. Not because consumers are buying more right now, but because small business and even big business has learned to operate leaner. You don't think so. Look at Ford. $900 million dollar profit in North America not because sales have reached levels of 2years ago, but because they are leaner and meaner everywhere.
Start thinking right now. What should I be doing. Where should I be going. Where am I in my Strategic Plan? Don't have a plan, do one. Right now!
What do you think?
Did you put back anything. Did you cut people and expenses and are now running "leaner and meaner"? I hope so. It was very interesting to me when the Nightly Business Report (PBS) said that small businesses are making money, lots of money, with less sales because they have made the cuts necessary to do so AND they are finding out that they were blotted......overstaffed and not lean on expenses and now that they are they do not want to go back HIP HIP HOORAY!
If you have done that, then now is the time to expand or do some of those things you always wanted to do. Get that equipment or building or start a new product or division. Do it carefully and leaner. But, do it! Prices today are great in real estate and equipment. Many equipment suppliers have bigger inventories than they should. They will sell and finance cheaply. Try it!
Unless our illustrious President screws it up further, things could be good. Not because consumers are buying more right now, but because small business and even big business has learned to operate leaner. You don't think so. Look at Ford. $900 million dollar profit in North America not because sales have reached levels of 2years ago, but because they are leaner and meaner everywhere.
Start thinking right now. What should I be doing. Where should I be going. Where am I in my Strategic Plan? Don't have a plan, do one. Right now!
What do you think?
Monday, November 16, 2009
Hey Dude, what do you know about business?
That is a question I would like to ask President Obama and anyone on his staff. They do not have a clue. NOT A CLUE! Cap & Trade, Stimulus, Healthcare Reform,treatment of our troops, how to wage and then end this war, etc., etc., etc. Not a clue.
from a business standpoint, Mr. Obama would make a good neighborhood organizer. This guy doesn't not have the know-how or the forward thinking to understand what is going on beyond the end of his nose. I recently watched a discussion between Warren Buffet and Bill Gates at Columbia University Business School. Now these are two business icons. I mean giants in the business realm. However, they do not have a clue how the small business guy works. They used to because at one time they were small business people. Buffet is funny and appears to be practical. After all he still lives in the house he lived in 30 years ago and eats cheese burgers for lunch. Gates is sincere and forward thinking and, through his foundation, wants to help the world. However he, like Buffet, wants to do so by giving extremely poor people throughout the world what they need. If they were talking about medical treatment only, that would be good, But they are talking about GIVING them whatever they need. Remember the fist story. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.
Their problem (besides being Obama supporters) is that they both have forgotten how small business operates and now live in ivory towers. I respect both of them for their business prowess, but they have forgotten that the Berkshire Hathaway's and Microsoft's, as big as they are, are not mainstream business. SMALL BUSINESS IS!!! Not big business. Sure they do lots of business with small businesses, maybe, but they do not have a clue what "Joe the Plumber" is going through and what these government debacles are doing to those guys. The surprising thing? Both Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway are run more like small businesses than the "too big to fail" guys. That is why they are successful. Both these guys have forgotten that in small business requiring things like health insurance, minimum wage rates, etc. really hurt. In their businesses they say that they just pass on the increased cost to the consumer. In a small business, those additional cost may be what precludes them from getting the work at all or sends them down the street to the big guys because they can absorb those additional cost in profits. The little guy cannot.
That's what I think. What do you think?
from a business standpoint, Mr. Obama would make a good neighborhood organizer. This guy doesn't not have the know-how or the forward thinking to understand what is going on beyond the end of his nose. I recently watched a discussion between Warren Buffet and Bill Gates at Columbia University Business School. Now these are two business icons. I mean giants in the business realm. However, they do not have a clue how the small business guy works. They used to because at one time they were small business people. Buffet is funny and appears to be practical. After all he still lives in the house he lived in 30 years ago and eats cheese burgers for lunch. Gates is sincere and forward thinking and, through his foundation, wants to help the world. However he, like Buffet, wants to do so by giving extremely poor people throughout the world what they need. If they were talking about medical treatment only, that would be good, But they are talking about GIVING them whatever they need. Remember the fist story. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he eats for a lifetime.
Their problem (besides being Obama supporters) is that they both have forgotten how small business operates and now live in ivory towers. I respect both of them for their business prowess, but they have forgotten that the Berkshire Hathaway's and Microsoft's, as big as they are, are not mainstream business. SMALL BUSINESS IS!!! Not big business. Sure they do lots of business with small businesses, maybe, but they do not have a clue what "Joe the Plumber" is going through and what these government debacles are doing to those guys. The surprising thing? Both Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway are run more like small businesses than the "too big to fail" guys. That is why they are successful. Both these guys have forgotten that in small business requiring things like health insurance, minimum wage rates, etc. really hurt. In their businesses they say that they just pass on the increased cost to the consumer. In a small business, those additional cost may be what precludes them from getting the work at all or sends them down the street to the big guys because they can absorb those additional cost in profits. The little guy cannot.
That's what I think. What do you think?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
I will keep you posted!
Well some interesting things have happened recently from a business standpoint. Huge amount of stimulus money from our benevolent dictator has taken credit for a "recovery" from the recession in the USA. To quote one of my sophisticated speaking graduate school professors "Hog Wash!". In my mind, the only real significant indicator of the recession ending is...............? Can you guess it? Drum roll please! UNEMPLOYMENT! That's right. Unemployment. You know why? Because if you are employed everything is cool and if you are unemployed, it is not. Period. So, the latest numbers indicate 10.2% unemployment nationwide and about 7.9% where I live.
To me it does not matter if the unemployment rate is 10% or 3% because if you are one of the unemployed guess what. You are in trouble probably unless you are independently wealthy or have a relative who just loves giving you money. I know. Most people say that if the unemployment rate is under 5%, most of that is unemployables. Maybe. But guess who it also contains. The largest segment unemployed next to teenagers is old guys. People from 60-65. Nobody that I can find wants to hire in a career position (top management, middle management, etc.) at that age. Obviously, you can send your resume and are even encouraged by employers to do so. But when you send in a resume that shows 40 years of experience, they know you are old. Not just lots of experience, old. You have no future with the company. They want someone who can "grow" with the company, someone who is creative and "up-to-speed" on all the latest and someone who can relate to all employees.
Now if you do not want to work much, you can be a greeter at Wal-Mart I suppose or try to sell insurance (or as it is now known-financial advisor), but if you have to have the income to live, that may not work. Well I digress. My point is that the extended unemployment benefits that are part of the stimulus gift from the American taxpayers has, or should I say, had, limitations. The first extension tied to stimulus was only available to states with an unemployment rate of 6.5% or greater for 3 consecutive months. That left out millions of unemployed. This time, however, the extension applies to everyone for 14 weeks, and if you are in state with unemployment greater than 8.5%, you can get an additional 6 weeks. Thanks Uncle Sam, that is a little better in my view.
So that is my rant for this week. What do you think?
By the way, I am going to continue this blog after all. I am going to start a new one too. This one will be on child raising/family, serving God and others and church. Why do I have the right to comment on such things? Because this is still American and not Obamaland.
To me it does not matter if the unemployment rate is 10% or 3% because if you are one of the unemployed guess what. You are in trouble probably unless you are independently wealthy or have a relative who just loves giving you money. I know. Most people say that if the unemployment rate is under 5%, most of that is unemployables. Maybe. But guess who it also contains. The largest segment unemployed next to teenagers is old guys. People from 60-65. Nobody that I can find wants to hire in a career position (top management, middle management, etc.) at that age. Obviously, you can send your resume and are even encouraged by employers to do so. But when you send in a resume that shows 40 years of experience, they know you are old. Not just lots of experience, old. You have no future with the company. They want someone who can "grow" with the company, someone who is creative and "up-to-speed" on all the latest and someone who can relate to all employees.
Now if you do not want to work much, you can be a greeter at Wal-Mart I suppose or try to sell insurance (or as it is now known-financial advisor), but if you have to have the income to live, that may not work. Well I digress. My point is that the extended unemployment benefits that are part of the stimulus gift from the American taxpayers has, or should I say, had, limitations. The first extension tied to stimulus was only available to states with an unemployment rate of 6.5% or greater for 3 consecutive months. That left out millions of unemployed. This time, however, the extension applies to everyone for 14 weeks, and if you are in state with unemployment greater than 8.5%, you can get an additional 6 weeks. Thanks Uncle Sam, that is a little better in my view.
So that is my rant for this week. What do you think?
By the way, I am going to continue this blog after all. I am going to start a new one too. This one will be on child raising/family, serving God and others and church. Why do I have the right to comment on such things? Because this is still American and not Obamaland.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
So long, farewell, etc.
I have not written for a long time. I have been trying to decide what to do. Initially, it was intention to write a blog to small and family owned business people to whom I could give advice based on 43 years of experience; almost all of it in smaller businesses. Then I made political comments, a few family comments, a few child raising comments and even a little biography of one the most interesting people I have worked for and known in business.
I never really picked up many followers (thanks Scott and Bill for being the only followers) and a few regular readers (my wife and my sons and occasionally a friend in Indiana) but mostly nothing. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I have decided to delete this blog and perhaps start another one that is more general in nature and one that deals mostly with families, child rearing and church membership. I do not want to rant all the time, although I do enjoy that, but I hope to be helpful. For years I have wanted to write books on these subjects and never had or would take the time. Now is my decrepitness, maybe I can do it.
So in a week or two, unless something dramatic changes my mind, I will delete this blog and start over. What do you think.
I never really picked up many followers (thanks Scott and Bill for being the only followers) and a few regular readers (my wife and my sons and occasionally a friend in Indiana) but mostly nothing. Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, I have decided to delete this blog and perhaps start another one that is more general in nature and one that deals mostly with families, child rearing and church membership. I do not want to rant all the time, although I do enjoy that, but I hope to be helpful. For years I have wanted to write books on these subjects and never had or would take the time. Now is my decrepitness, maybe I can do it.
So in a week or two, unless something dramatic changes my mind, I will delete this blog and start over. What do you think.
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