Details of the small business “jobs” bill …

Here’s an interesting look at more “stimulus” moving through the U.S. Congress …

“What’s in the Senate Small-Business Jobs Bill for You …”

This is a pretty critical time for small business on a lot of levels … so it’s more important than ever to be aware of how the “rules of the game” can and will be changing for you moving forward.

While you can’t control what the policy makers do, you can control what you do in your own business.

That means:

• Having a marketing system that actually generates cost-effective leads and brings customers to your door
• Knowing your numbers inside and out, from your breakeven points to profit margins on all of your products and services … and even seemingly “small” transaction fees, that over time can whittle away at your cashflow and profits (see my previous post on this here … “Swipe Fees”)
• Finding ways to cut costs and expenses, but more importantly learning new and effective ways to growing your top line revenues and bottom-line profits (because the only way to survive is to grow … and you can’t “cut” your way to success)
• Hiring a Business Coach to help guide you through these processes … and to keep you and hold you accountable to getting your goals and objectives

So … take a look at what the policy makers may or may not have in store for you …

More importantly, make sure you get the skills, learning and knowledge you need to successfully run your business … then it won’t matter so much what other people do.

That way, you’ll have more control over your own future … because you’ll be relying less on others, and more on the things YOU can do.

Jodie Shaw

More anti-business “help”?

I won’t say the following is troubling, or a case of “too little, too late,” just a case of “interesting” …

“The House has approved a $30 billion government fund available to community banks to increase lending to small businesses — a move expected to help create jobs and spark economic growth. While House Democrats project that banks would use the fund to leverage up to $300 billion in loans, Republicans criticized the bill as another bailout for banks that would do little for small businesses.”

Regardless of the new and stimulating proposals moving through the Congress, I’m not sure the current overall anti-business atmosphere will do anything but prolong the our chances for real recovery.

A big part of this is the fact that entrepreneurial access to credit is still a problem, three years into our current slow-down:

Small business credit woes …

Entrepreneurs thrive (as do companies) when the “Rules of the Game” are clear and leadership from the top encourages risk taking and innovation.

Yes, policy should hold companies accountable, but it shouldn’t hold them hostage, or force them into deals and schemes that make no economic sense from a profitability point-of-view.

Interesting that in a capitalistic-oriented system, and in dealing with money generally, we use the following words:

• Trust
• Appreciation (as in capital appreciation)
• Gain
• Profit
• Maturity (as in bonds or other financial instruments coming to maturity) …
• Credit

However, it seems as if the policy makers are more interested in finding ways to “fix” all the opposites of these words, instead of finding ways to boost incentives to get more of these positives.

The politicians don’t seem to remember (or know) that small business leads all recoveries, most innovations and is the driving force behind every economic boom in the modern business era.

Washington’s continuing denial of this fact means the U.S. slowdown will continue … and will continue longer than necessary.

Jodie Shaw

Action Coaching: A different kind of stimulus … (Part 2)

We’ve  talked about a different kind of “job stimulus” … one based on small business leading any type of jobs-led recovery.

What I find interesting is so little value is placed on the innovative nature of small business to lead any recovery and to create jobs.

So while Washington and its policy makers struggle to figure out the true costs of all of its new found forays into the marketplace … the existing and would-be entrepreneur is struggling to figure out the costs to their own bottom-line, knowing the costs of any new policy will take some time to be absorbed.

Capital and capital formation loves certainty.

The uncertainty alone of a new pricing scheme from health care to the value of the dollar as a benchmark currency is enough to keep those would-be entrepreneurs who on the margin off the field of play …

For real recovery to take place, those are the players we need in the game.

While it’s too soon to tell if new capital is truly on strike, I hear sobering stories from those owners who by all rights have “made it.”

They are successful, they run companies with $50 million to $200 million in revenues, and they are all looking for their way out.

The exit strategy for many of them is planned before 2012 and the end of this decade’s marginal tax cuts.

One owner in Las Vegas says his decision to retire early and sail the world is strengthened every day by the bad policy decisions issuing forth out of Washington.

His shop, which does tens of millions in revenues a year, employs 18 people – 18 jobs that will be shuttered when his business voluntarily closes its doors next year.

While more coverage is generated in the media weeklies by the “ripple effect” of jobs lost than the “ripple effect” of jobs created or gained, the prevailing political class unfortunately sees “business” as an endless resource of revenues that exist only to fund endless claims and entitlements.

That’s too bad.

For the past three decades, American small business has given this country the proverbial “golden egg” of technology, innovation, job creation and best practices, leading the world in ideas, new products and results.

It’s a shame that the biggest beneficiary of small business growth in the past fifty years (and an entity that collected record-breaking tax revenues during the past decade) is actively (however mistakenly) looking to cut-off and seemingly kill-off this vital national resource.

Jodie Shaw

Another CEO Blog?

Right!

So … you may not know me right now, but I’m hoping over the next weeks, months (and years!) we’ll start to develop a rapport about business, women in leadership, franchising and business coaching – the latter being the business I’ve promoted, strategically planned and led for the past five years.

I’m a huge fan and proponent of online media, web marketing, business and personal blogs and the like, so this seems to me the ideal medium to communicate and share with others my thoughts and perspectives … in a forum outside ActionCOACH’s more conventional forms of media.

So why another CEO blog?

A few things here I suppose …

First, I’m a relatively young Australian woman heading an organization that was previously led by the person who founded the company … so I think I have a somewhat unique and interesting perspective on business, leadership and how to aspire to a leadership position – and actually get there.

Second, I lead a very unique organization that is built around a very different idea about how business does – and should – work.

These ideas have not only helped me coach our network to greater success, they also help more than 15,000 businesses every week all over the world get more profits, more time for those company owners and better team members to help build better companies.

Third, I rose to the rank of CEO from the marketing department, a path that is a bit different from someone who spent their formative years in finance or operations.

Because of this, I think I have a different perspective on how a marketing “world view” in business is actually better and more oriented toward growth for an organization than one based on finance or operations.

I also think I have some different ideas on how marketing can drive both finance and operations better than those areas can drive marketing … (but, we can have some good back and forth on that one …)!

Fourth, I believe that profit is not only the most important thing in business, but it’s the only reason to be in business … and I can say right off the bat you will not hear many CEO’s make such a blatant statement about the need and value of profit, but after “being in the trenches” of small business for a number of years, nothing is more important (yet misunderstood) than the role of profit in business.

One of the things we pride ourselves on at ActionCOACH (and the main difference between our company and a conventional consulting company) is that we focus on business growth and profit as the ONLY way to grow a company, versus cutting expenses to the bone.

You can only ever cut so many expenses before you affect performance … but once you know “how” to grow your sales and profit margins, the sky really is the limit – for any business on the planet.

Finally, I don’t only believe … but I know as an absolute fact … that small-and-medium sized business is the driving engine and force of economic growth in any economy.

This is even true in heavily regulated and highly top-down oriented economies (Mexico being one example), where small business and the profit incentive is the only factor standing between a recession and complete economic collapse.

I think this is because there are certain people in any culture or marketplace (read:  small business owners and entrepreneurs) who have an innate (or yes, even learned) need to succeed … fueled by a desire and drive to produce a profit and the aspiration to build a better lifestyle for themselves and others.

This need that is found in a few benefits many … even those who are more comfortable with stability and “security” … and who are content just to have a job or live pay check-to-pay check (either in the public or private sector).

The dividends small business pays are incalculable … not only to owners of small business but to communities and countries in terms of employment, innovation … and yes, even taxes and other benefits (even health care!).

But that’s a rant (or a topic!) for another day … or week … and just one of the many I hope to explore through this blog and interaction with you.

It’s been an incredible journey to this point … and I hope you’ll join me as I share my thoughts on a very exciting world of global small business and a future that will prove very interesting for all of us …

Jodie Shaw
ActionCOACH CEO, USA and Canada