David’s economic summary emphasizes the uncertainty businesses and consumers feel about the economic recovery. He describes this outlook with up-to-date analysis and data.

Finally, lighten things up a bit with “Four Common Errors on Social Media Strategy,” to help your business be smart about social media.

Read now: Business/News & Views® – July 2010

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David Weatherholt brings great economic news, as he says that Prosperity Returns. For businesses looking to find new markets, we have news of a free international and trade seminar sponsored by the SBA.

And lastly, don’t miss out on some helpful technology tips.

Read Now: May 2010 Business/News & Views®

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Later in the show, David brings in two special guests. Russell Ball, founder of ACB Solutions, talks about transitioning his business from Alaska Computer Brokers, a computer retail store, to ACB Solutions, a technology services provider. He and David talk about the evolving marketplace that necessitated this change and share valuable stories and advice for small business owners facing similar situations.

Amanda Cullen, president of Zoo in a Jungle Marketing for small business, elaborates on the importance of keeping your business strategy current with what your customers want. She advocates conducting qualitative research with your customers and gives helpful tips on how to do that.

Listen or download below:

A Matter of Survival

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Later in the show Dave is joined by Amanda Cullen founder of Zoo in a Jungle Marketing, who specializes in small business marketing. Amanda gives her 5 rules for small business marketing and delivers a pop quiz to listeners, challenging them to put their business to the test. Here are the rules:

1. Be easy to do business with.
2. Communicate with your customers in ways that are meaningful to them.
3. Know where you want to go.
4. Involve your team.
5. Keep at it.

Listen or download below to take the test and see how your business stacks up!

Marketing and Taxes

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Take the test and read the full article here: 5 Small Business Marketing Rules

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All small business people manage issues that are beyond their areas of expertise. Interior designers need to manage finances. A CPA firm needs marketing. But how can you know you’re making the right decisions? You need a mentor who can help you “Learn How to Fish.”

Learn the benefits of business mentoring for you and read the full article here: Learn How to Fish

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Amanda Cullen, small business marketing consultant, joins the group to give startup businesses advice on marketing their fledgling businesses. Marketing for small businesses doesn’t have to involve a large budget, and most of the time, the most effective marketing is quite economical.

Listen or download below:

The Gift of Bread

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David Weatherholt knows the way of the entrepreneur is challenging, and sometimes lonely. His “Paradox of Leadership” article has ten concepts that can keep you going, even when times seem tough.

David tells us in his economic summary that this is a, “Slow Motion Recovery.” Read the article for more details.

Amanda Cullen presents her “5 Small Business Marketing Rules” in a new series on small business marketing. In this initial article, she challenges you to take the test and see how your marketing efforts stack up.

Our final article is sponsored by the CEO Club and encourages small business leaders to find mentors. A mentor will hold your business accountable, and help you “Learn How to Fish.”

Read Now: Business/News & Views® - February 2010

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Dave also talks about how your vendors can help with your financing. For many small businesses, borrowing has become increasingly difficult. Some have developed creative means of raising capital, and Dave has the details.

Listen or download below:

Buying a Used Business

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Todd also discusses some of the business issues he faces: why he develops client relationships, what DenaliTEK does to keep clients and how they handle losing a client. All small business owners can learn from his candid assessment.

Dave and Geoff Burch, author and international guru, launched a new segment of “Getting Down to Business” called Going it Alone. In his trademark cheeky manner, Geoff encourages entrepreneurs to go out and make it alone. He says of employment, “Who was the first caveman who got another caveman to go out and kill a buffalo for him, then just give him a tiny piece of the buffalo as a wage? When did that start?”

Listen or download below:

Cloud Computing and Your Future

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It’s said that the brain cannot process a negative. We can prove this with a simple example: Under no circumstance should you think of a pink polar bear. Do not think of a pink polar bear.

Of course, you just thought of a pink polar bear.

At the peril of using negatives, I want to give small businesses advice on how not to treat their customers.

Read the full article: How Not to Treat Your Customers

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Todd credits a great mission and vision statement with the successful growth of his company. Amanda Cullen, of Zoo in a Jungle Marketing for Small Business, joins the show and discusses how to create mission and visions statements that are effective for the organization along with how to use them as marketing tools.

Dave also gives a news update for small businesses, including tips for how to make your website great.

Listen or download below:

Focus on DenaliTEK

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Accountant Paul Foutz joins the conversation and makes projections for the Alaskan economy. He predicts what businesses can expect in the coming year. This episode of “Getting Down to Business” will be valuable to any small business owner.

Listen or download below:

The Winery

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Read Now: Business/News & Views® - December 2009

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In this week’s “Getting Down to Business,” Dave talks with IT expert Mark Mathis of Arctic Information Technology about Cloud Computing. Mark helps us understand what Cloud Computing is, how long it has been around and how small businesses can use it to reduce their IT costs. This useful technology is familiar to many businesses through companies such as Carbonite and Go To Meeting.

Dave also talks with Amanda Cullen about 2009’s Black Friday. They talk about the history of Black Friday, how performance was this year and the changing attitudes of consumers. Amanda, of Zoo in a Jungle Marketing, explains how these factors affect small business retailers.

Listen or download below:

Cloud Computing

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David also talks economic news, using his experience dealing with recessions to encourage businesses. Paul Foutz joins David later in the show to discuss the Alaskan economy and what’s ahead in the coming year.

Listen or download below:

Discovering Latent Revenue

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Dan Sullivan shares his business background and the similarities between running a business and a municipal government.

Later in the show, Amanda Cullen, of Zoo in a Jungle Marketing, explains relationship marketing and how small businesses can develop strategies to build relationships with their customers. Strong customer relationships lead to stronger loyalty, more numerous customer referrals and higher profits.

Listen or download below:

Alaska Municipal Government, Small Business and Customer Relationships

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Most successful entrepreneurs are highly motivated, focused and full of intention. Having a thoughtful and professionally written business plan will tip the odds in your favor. There are fifteen “must haves” for a good business plan. Each one takes time and thoughtful reflection to be done well. The first is a qualified business-planning consultant. When you hire a fully qualified business-planning consultant much of the stress of wondering whether you are fully informed about your market, product and future earnings will be alleviated as you turn over that task to a professional.

The second “must have” for a business plan is an executive summary and business concept. The executive summary is a statement of purpose and general overview of your plan: concept, product/service, market, operations, management, your company and the industry. Your business concept includes your mission statement, your background, current status, and future plans.

When describing the industry your business calls home, it is important for you to look for the characteristics, the participants and the trends that make your business unique.

The product or service you provide is often the focal point of any business. What is needed is a simple
explanation of the product features, the customer benefits, the stages of development, and future products and/or services.

Next describe the facilities in where your business will be located. You will describe the business location, any special transportation routes or vehicles needed, what the labor pool or employees consists of, and the availabilities of utilities to meet your needs.

Marketing is a key component to business success. Analysis of target markets will bring many important insights. When you profile target customers to understand the total person and their motivation for wanting a product or service like yours, you begin to understand how you can best serve that customer’s needs. Looking at market share, trends, and growth potential is an important part of the process.

A large portion of a thorough marketing summary includes the competition analysis for your business. What is your competitor’s profile? How does your product or service compare with that of your competition? Do you occupy a particular market niche? Is it possible that you share a segment of the market with another company or business? Finally, what are your strengths and weaknesses in relation to those of your competition? When working on the marketing piece of your business plan, a good one will have market penetration goals. It will cover pricing and packaging of your product or service. In addition it will include advertising, public relations, and promotions.

When planning the business structure and organization of your business, the management and ownership of the business are crucial. What type of business structure will you work from? Will you be an LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, partnership, or sole proprietorship? The list goes on and is worthy of some investigation. Who will manage your company? Is there a board of directors? Who owns the business? Are you or your business a member of any supporting professional assistance programs? Answering these questions will give you a clear picture of how your business will run.

Financial data and projections of your company are critical for assessing the outcome of your business. What is the source of funding for a start-up? Does it come from an owner, partners, stockholders, loans, or venture capital?

What do you plan to do with the money that is allocated? What are your business’s needs for start-up costs? Does the money you plan to have from the beginning cover your plans for expansion of the business? Will there be new construction? It’s also important to think about what equipment you need to successfully begin running your business. Do you have a budget set aside for your needed marketing campaign? Do you have enough working capital to draw from for any of these scenarios? For projected or pro forma financial performance, do you have detailed assumptions, a pro forma balance sheet, a pro forma income statement, or measures of performance?

In the final section of your business plan you will include supporting documentation which will add support to your plan. There are four areas to this: company and product/service support material, legal support materials, market support materials, and business structure and organization. When providing the company and product/service support material, the product and equipment specifications sheets may be helpful. In addition, photos of product, equipment, or facilities can be included.

This article has provided a template for creating a great business plan. Now start evaluating your mission, purpose, values, and motivation for launching or expanding a business. Then begin writing. Once it is complete, your business will have a schedule and plan, strategy and road map to the future. This will enable the plan to grow and change with your business as it becomes more successful.

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Also, David speaks with the deputy director of the SBA about the changes enacted last week by the SBA program. Finally, David introduces the show with a history of recessions, how government intervention has helped or hurt the economy and why we no longer call them “economic panics.”

All considered, this episode of “Getting Down to Business” is full of essential knowledge for small businesses.

Alaska State Government and Small Business

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Guest Robert McDowell, Vice President of Information Worker Business Value for Microsoft, provides valuable advice for businesses looking to generate a better return on their technology investments. These IT investments include hardware, software and personnel. He discusses how Microsoft works with other vendors to create efficient business solutions.

Getting Value from Technology

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We write Business/News & Views® for your small business, so we are certain you will find the articles informative and useful.

Click here to read October 2009’s Business/News&Views®

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Dave’s guest is Dwain DeVille, author of The Biker’s Guide to Business. Dwain is an entrepreneur coach and asks, “What do entrepreneurs and business leaders have in common with bikers?” The answer? More thank you think!

In the news, Dave alerts small businesses to the opportunity of applying for grants and stimulus money. Someone has to get it. Why not you?

Listen or download here:

The Tragedy of Strategy

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Dave welcomes Julie Saupe to the show. She’s the President and CEO of the Anchorage Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and provides a forecast on the upcoming 2010 tourist season.

How can small businesses that depend on tourism weather the economic storm? Dave’s next guest, Amanda Cullen, gives small businesses advice for reaching their customers– and it might surprise you just who she thinks is your customer. Her company, Zoo in a Jungle Marketing, specializes in small business marketing.

In the news, Dave talks about the credit crisis still plaguing small businesses, even while larger businesses see credit loosening. Dave’s moved “Getting Down to Business” over to station 1080 KUDO, and he’s excited for the new opportunities this station provides.

Listen or download below:

Alaska Tourism Report

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One story has Peter J. McGuire, the general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners as the originator.  McGuire suggested a day to honor those “who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold.”  However, many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, proposed the holiday in 1882.  Regardless, by 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed.

Unions historically represented skilled workers and craftsmen evolving from the guilds of the past. These guilds were associations based on trades, carpenters, carvers, glassworkers, machinists, masons, printers, typesetters, and textile workers.  Each guild closely guarded and controlled the skills, technology, and training needed to become a master craftsmen.  The founders and leaders of these guilds were free and independent master craftsmen carefully imparting the skills of their crafts and maintaining rigid quality standards.

Recently, I read an article entitled “Unions: No laughing Matter.” This article did not make me laugh. It was a vain attempt to paint a smile on unions and belies the fact that most unions no longer represent and promote skilled workers. Having strayed from their core purpose, this union, like many others, still relies on tired old counterintuitive rhetoric that “it is the interest of big business to increase the bottom line and corporate America does this at the expense of workers who are producing the country’s wealth.”  They miss the point almost entirely. It is not simply “the interest of big business” to increase the bottom line; it is the only reason to run a business either large or small. Wealth is created when the entrepreneurial spirit, risk-taking, is combined with capital and labor which then successfully produce a profit.  A profitable business produces jobs and wealth with no losers.

The idea that profits result from the abuse of the worker fails to explain why workers in the technology industry and most of the private sector today remain happily union free and well compensated.  This same notion fails to adequately explain why union organizing focuses on public employees.  Do local, state, and federal governments exploit their workers?  Do these workers need to be protected from greedy owners?  Wait a minute!  The public sector is owned by taxpayers and supported by their tax payments. Unions simply exploit these public workers by extracting large monthly payments (dues) at the expense of the middle class taxpayers.

My father was a skilled craftsman represented by a union.  His union provided all of his medical and retirement benefits as a simple deduction from his paycheck regardless of which company employed him; portability back in the 50’s and 60’s.  Companies that hired workers from this union knew they were getting a skilled craftsman who would work hard and provide a high quality finished product while the laborer was assured of getting a good wage and benefits.  This is the kind of partnership that most often exists between business and labor which produces benefits for all.  This win/win is also responsible for producing our great economic system.

We have a culture that celebrates risk-taking; believing also that those entrepreneurs who work hard, take-risks, and combine capital and labor should reap the rewards (i.e., profits). These entrepreneurs create small business and 60% to 80% of all jobs.  Profitability allows them to grow and become big businesses creating even more jobs.  It is appropriate that we as a nation pay tribute to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, leadership and wealth: the American employer and their employees.

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Amanda Cullen has some tips for small businesses on how to make websites more visitor-friendly, and the final article provides information on avoiding email scams.

Read now: Business/News & Views – September 2009

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In the news, Dave talks about the recession’s effects on Alaska’s tourism industry and some competition for the Alaska Pipeline. And Dave’s guest is Ralph Swan, sales manager for Swan Employer Services.

Listen or download below:

Preparing for an Economic Downturn

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Dave’s guest, Paul Foutz, a walking encyclopedia of business information, shared important labor statistics with Dave and his listeners (appropriate for Labor Day Weekend, don’t you think?)

Listen or download below:

Small Business and Labor- A Great Partnership

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Long term planning becomes especially important during a recession. So, pull up a chair and let Dave give you Advice You Can Use.

Listen or download below:

Long Term Business Planning

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Dave also tells us the story of the founder of the Geek Squad, an entrepreneur who started the company with $600. As we all know, now Best Buy owns the Geek Squad.

Listen or download below:

Creative Marketing Ideas for Small Business

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David Weatherholt introduces readers to XBRL, the revolution in accounting. Amanda Cullen provides tips for increasing traffic to your website.

Read now: Business/News & Views® – August 2009

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The three talk about simple and innovative steps small businesses can take to advertise and promote their businesses. They also debate the benefits and drawbacks of low-cost positioning and why it’s not always a good idea to discount your products in a down economy.

Listen or download below:

Small Business Advertising and Promotions

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Winston Churchill, who understood turbulent times, said, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” We are now presented with a unique opportunity to take the time to examine meaningful changes in our business models.

Start by reviewing all expenses. Nothing is sacred- trim, trim, trim. Every penny trimmed is important, but keep in mind that trimming expenses alone will not lead to a better business model. Trimming 100 percent of expenses is certainly possible but would also result in closing your doors. This may be the best option but should not be taken without looking at all available options and preparing to weather this economic storm. Let’s look for some opportunities.

Look hard at bank fees. If your business has an “analysis account” you may be surprised by the rate increases. Banks are businesses and need to make a profit, however, sit down with your banker and go over your statement line-by-line, ask questions and evaluate the options. You may be surprised at services that can be trimmed because they are redundant or not used.

Review telephone and cellular telephone accounts going over it line-by-line like your bank statement. You may find redundancies or items that are not used. For example unlimited texting is a great option but if a minimum number of text messages are actually sent then it would be cheaper to pay a per text message charge. Again, trim, trim, trim.

Talk to venders, and ask for prompt payment discounts. Discounting terms were frequently used to enhance cash flow but usage of this practice has declined. Don’t be afraid to ask.

If you lease space and are locked into a contract that was negotiated at higher rates in better times, then it may be a good time to sit down with your landlord and review the lease terms. They may be receptive to reasonable accommodations.

Compensation is an area that should be reviewed. Look for creative bonus opportunities that can create a win-win for you and your employees.

Review marketing and advertising expenses. Marketing expenses may look like a prime area for reducing overhead expenses, but remember the reason for this expense category. Marketing and advertising expenses should be viewed as buying customers. Measure every expenditure against the results produced (i.e., does it produce customers?) If it doesn’t, then pare down. If it does, you may need to do more of a good thing and even increase effective marketing.

Advertising spent on branding is hard to directly trace to new business. Branding is an effective part of your overall marketing campaign and may be a good reduction area, but don’t eliminate it completely.

Using an economic downturn to review expenses and trim, trim, trim is a great first step but is only half of the solution. Look hard at sales and revenue sources and add, add, add.

Cash today is better then cash tomorrow. This basic finance concept works and can be your incentive to provide discounts to your customers for early payments. Look for creative ways to reduce your accounts receivable.

Review all product/service categories, applying a simple cost benefit analysis and modify or eliminate product/services that don’t produce adequate benefits.

Be creative and look for new sales channels, getting your products/services to customers, such as using kiosks, the internet, dealers, or outside sales efforts.

Look for new products/services and business opportunities. Changing your business model is not bad. Every business that successfully makes it past their first five years usually has changed significantly from the business that started. In the beginning of a business, product/service knowledge was your advantage but now that you have demonstrated successes operating a business, look for ways to replicate that success by using your business experience to promote other product/service options.

Paying attention to changes in this economic climate is a good thing as long as it leads to healthy introspection, not fear.  Hopefully, this article motives you to redirect that fear of the unknown or change using past successes to see the “opportunities in the difficulty.” What opportunities do you see?

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Listen and download and below:

The Do’s and Don’ts of Business Planning

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And to help small businesses get their loans, Dave delves even deeper into the business plan for Sunburst Coffee. This podcast, he details the needs for the management team section and why it matters.

Listen or download below:

Business Plan: Management Team

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Read now: Business/News & Views® – June 2009

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Preparing financial projections is often a difficult of scary process for new businesses. However, if you’re serious about your business venture, it is time well spent. While 95% of startup businesses fail in the first 5 years, Dave will walk you through the steps needed to plan ahead and be successful.

Listen or download below:

Business Plan: Projected Financial Statements

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The bulk of the show is devoted to the financial projections of fictional Sunburst Coffee, Limited. The scenario: Dave is Anchorage’s best barista and wants to bring his blends to the city. But there are so many questions. How many customers do we need? When will we break even? Where will the money come from? Where should we locate the business?

Listen or download below:

Business Plan: Financial Projections

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Dave also talks about the entrepreneurial spirit, the need for a business plan and the importance of balancing the free spirit of the former with the orderliness and planning of the latter.

Listen to the podcast now, or download it:

Nuts and Bolts of Business Planning

Dave also tells us about the seven critical areas a business plan needs to address:

1. Executive Summary
2. Define the business concept
3. Market Analysis
4. Employment and Management Planning
5. Financial Analysis
6. Benchmarks
7. Appedices

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After the regular news update, Dave dives right in to the breakeven analysis portion of the business plan in this “Getting Down to Business” show.

Dave’s guest, Paul Foutz, is the CMA of the Institute of Management Accountants.

Listen or download below:

Business Plan: Breakeven Analysis

As a bonus, in this podcast you’ll learn what motivates Dave to keep doing this show, week after week. (Hint: it’s all about you, the listener.)

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Read Now: Business/News & Views® – January 2009

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Read Now: Business/News & Views® – November 2008

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