Business Talk

[The Virginian]

Business Central is a Thread I'm starting to talk about all things Business related - Regulations, How the economy and markets are affecting business, sharing of ideas, marketing ideas, questions and answers related to small business including those who may be interested in starting their own business.

I had asked the Mods to put this in a separate forum with no response so I am just starting it as a thread. My idea is to help all those that are in business for themselves with resources and ideas and to help those wishing to start their own business with a resource of experienced help.

Happy New Year and a successful Business Year!

[The Virginian]

Thanks Frank,

I am going to share how our business is doing this year and how it did last year and I hope other will too.

[vl]

I'm happy to help anyone looking for small business assistance as well.

[The Virginian]

Thanks to you as well VL.

Don't you have a web site based business? I would like to hear your thoughts on it.

[The Virginian]

In 2004, there were approximately 24.7 million businesses in the United States, according to Office of Advocacy estimates. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates there were 29.3 million nonfarm business tax returns in 2004; however, this number may overestimate the number of firms, as one business can operate more than one taxable entity.

Census data show there were 5.7 million firms with employees and 17.6 million without employees in 2002 (and 18.6 million without employees in 2003). Applying the sole proprietorship growth rates to the nonemployer figures and similar Department of Labor growth rates to the employer figures produces the 24.7 million figure. Small firms with fewer than 500 employees represent 99.9 percent of the 24.7 million businesses, as the most recent data show there are 17,000 large businesses.

Source: Small Business.com

[The Virginian]

The NFIB estimates that over the lifetime of a business, 39% are profitable, 30% break even, and 30% lose money, with 1% falling in the "unable to determine" category. Even when a business closes its doors, there can be many reasons for what's statistically a "failure," including a sale or merger, which may actually be a sign of robust financial health or good prospects. "When a business ends, it may be because the investors have lost their investments or because they have sold out profitably

Source: Business Week

[The Virginian]

WASHINGTON — Optimism among small U.S. businesses perked up in October but owners saw little cheer as they planned to cut inventories and keep their work forces trim, a survey released Tuesday showed.

The National Federation of Independent Business said its small business index for last month rose 2.7 points to 91.7, the third straight monthly rise.

"The Index has been below 93 every month since January 2008 (34 months), and below 90 for 26 of those months, all readings typical of a weak or recession-mired economy," NFIB said.

Small business owners continued to liquidate inventories and weak sales trends gave little reason to order new stock, the NFIB said.

"Unless consumer spending picks up, the demand for new inventory will remain weak," the group said. "As a result, inventory stocks at large manufacturers and importers may start to build as small business orders fail to pick up steam."

..Average employment growth per firm was unchanged in October, one of the best performances in years, the group said. But private sector growth is still far short of that needed to bring down the unemployment rate.

Last week, the Labor Department put the U.S. jobless rate at 9.6 percent in October, unchanged from the previous month. Nonfarm payrolls rose by 151,000, the first gain since May. Private hiring rose by 159,000.

Over the next three months, 8 percent of the small business owners surveyed plan to increase employment, unchanged from the previous month. Thirteen percent plan to reduce their workforce, down 3 points from September, the group said.[/quote]

[Deleted]

I agree with the hiring trend.

Others may debate the raw data – but I find little value debating the actual value of government data. Whether the unemployment rate is 9%, 19% or 29% is a matter of relevance – as long as the standard is reasonably consistent – the raw # really isn’t important to me – the trend is what is worth reviewing.

I like to compare the published trends to my world – both personal and peer. I compare unemployment rates to the quantity & quality of candidates.

My group is hiring. Started filling positions 2 months ago, and plan on filling remaining targeted slots by Feb.

[kman]

This part of the country has been strong. There are winners and losers. This situation caught many off guard...and the recovery time is a little longer than some can take. The fun never ends....

[comokate]

bump and a snap

[The Virginian]

Como - You been into the laughing gas again?

[comokate]

Jan 9, 2011 15:29:25 GMT -5 The Virginian said:

Como - You been into the laughing gas again?

Just trying to keep a thread with pithy content at the top; let me know if I offended-

[The Virginian]

You don't offend me - I agree with you - It's become really difficult to start a serious thread on these boards! It's all about egos - I'm fine with some but why can't we have some serious discussions thrown in with our fun soup?

[neohguy]

In my little part of the world, ne Ohio, there has been a noticeable pick up in business. The company I work for provides service for the industrial, commercial, hospital, and public utilities/buildings sector.
The pick up is primarily in manufacturing and by pick up I'm comparing to 12-18 months ago. I've seen this type of pick up many times during the last 30-35 yrs and I expect it to be the same. Two steps backwards then one step forward. The result is we are behind where we were 5, 10, 20, 25 yrs ago.

[The Virginian]

OK,

It's official. Our stores Gross Sales declined 7% YOY ( Year over Year).

This is on top of a 10% decline in 2009.

Prior to 2008 we were growing at 20% per year in Gross Revenue.

It's too early to get any viable information from 2011 yet but if this trend continues........... We are in deep trouble!

For those of you that manage or own a small business how did you do?? We are a retail store so I would assume the type of business matters a lot.

[Deleted]

Not a small biz – but margin increased appx 9% from 2009 due to a small profit center doubling income.

Unfortunately last week client took work in-house – effectively destroying that small profit center – didn’t see it coming, but I’ll improvise, adapt & overcome. While painful to me – the environment says that my client is feeling stronger at taking back out-sourced work, so big-picture, a sign of corporate health.

[The Virginian]

Not a small biz – but margin increased appx 9% from 2009 due to a small profit center doubling income.

I think what we need to concentrate on is anyone actually increasing in Gross Revenues?

[Deleted]

1 yr., Short term gross targeted at “0” change. Business plan anticipates 10% loss to be conservative.

Net is targeted at 2% growth thru resource redirection. Only the 5 yr. outlook forecasts significant growth – not until yr. 3.

[Deleted]

Plan update – we’re going on the Offense, big time.

With goals of cash build and expense limits exceeded– we’re busting out of the gate NOW. Just got back from my Nat’l conference. We project broad growth by YE - quicker turn-around.

I don’t rank for Davos – but colleagues are reporting back an avalanche of optimism.

[domeasingold]

If I may relate a little story. Whether this has to do with the overall content of this thread or not it may add an optimistic tone.
As some of you who know me from this board I may be considered semi retired. In truth I have a small consulting business that I started in 2005. From 2005 through 2008 I was able to serve several clients which kept my income level rather consistent. The decline started early 2009 and continued until 4Q 2010. Recently I joined a business consulting consortium that caters to small and mid sized companies. The consensus was that now is the best time as most companies are ramping up and getting busy but do not want to add to their workforce just yet and seem to want to farm out capital projects to business groups like ours. Although I handle only engineering and raw material sourcing many of these companies cannot staff fast enough to meet their demand with qualified personnel. Hence we step in and provide turn key professional help. This is not an advertisement for this company but only one of many ideas that were spawned by the recent economic decline. BTW our staff of professionals are made up of recently retired or laid off specialists in finance, operations, engineering and IT people.

[The Virginian]

I don’t rank for Davos – but colleagues are reporting back an avalanche of optimism

I hope they are right!

[The Virginian]

Update:
So far things are staring to look better for our Retail Business this year. After a horrible January things are bouncing back! So far we are up 41% YOY for the Month of February and we are up 7% for the year now! Let's hope this trend continues!

[lifewasgood]

I actually have ownership in several businesses, 2008 almost killed one of them, 2009 it limped along, 2010 started the up-turn and 2011 looks strong. The others saw little to no impact. The new business we started in 2010 has completed it's first year and we have yet to have a profitable month, however we have narrowed the Income to expense ratio and I believe we will have our first profitable month by April. All my business ventures have been financed by my partners and I without the use of banks. Banks and new businesses are a sure fired way to fail quickly.

[usaone]

The economic expansion is picking up speed!!

[The Virginian]

Banks and new businesses are a sure fired way to fail quickly.

I agree 100% - Starting a new business is hard enough but if you have that debt load on top of all those unexpected expenses it is a killer! Another killer is Franchise Fees - Very few of them can produce the revenue needed to overcome the 4-5% fees that most Franchises charge - forever! Of course there are exceptions like some of the more popular fast food Establishments.

[The Virginian]

Lifewasgood,

Do you mind if I ask what kind of business you are in?

[The Virginian]

I took early retirement in January 2008 thinking I was ready to make it on my own. Reality check .... I wasn't.

Owning your own business is certainly not retirement - It's a lot of work. I have worked 7 days a week for the last six years and while my business has grown my profit hasn't, I've trimed everywhere I could but I knew I needed to keep adding selections to our inventory to be successful long term. I have seen too many people pull every penny of profit from their business without putting any back into it and end up in failure. Perhaps I went too far the other way but if the economy improves a little more then we will be well positioned for the future.

I guess if I had it to do over I would take the easy way out and just work for someone else but I have this huge desire to do it "my way" even if it kills me.

It takes a lot of courage to walk away from the safety of a current job to go it alone but there is something that lures some of us to do just that!

[kman]

Indeed, you do learn some things about yourself. I already knew what my shortcomings were..at least to me. I was surprised at some some things that I excel at. Marketing being one of them.

A bad day of working for myself...is better than a great day of working for someone else.

[usaone]

Feb 7, 2011 20:02:14 GMT -5 kman said:

Indeed, you do learn some things about yourself. I already knew what my shortcomings were..at least to me. I was surprised at some some things that I excel at. Marketing being one of them.

A bad day of working for myself...is better than a great day of working for someone else.

Ain't that the truth. ;D

Karma Kman!

[kman]

One day apart on our bdays...and 8 years...some k for your mojo