This Week in Small Business: Trash Talk - NYTimes.com

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A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

The Big Story: Still Waiting for the Fed

The Federal Reserve discusses taking action. Dylan Matthews thinks it will, but Tim Duy believes the chances of another round of quantitative easing are diminishing. The Congressional Budget Office forecasts a contraction in 2013, and Neal Lipschutz writes that ?even if the ?fiscal cliff? gets resolved, our outlook is still anemic.? However, small-business bankruptcies continue to drop, and Jeff Miller says we are in the early stages of a long-cycle recovery.

The Economy: Trash Talk

A National Federation of Independent Business study lists the top five concerns of small-business owners. Corporate earnings point to further gloom, but the Chicago region shows increased economic (PDF) activity. Import traffic in July was the best in two years, but sea container counts show the economy still struggling. Low demand is keeping unemployment up, and weekly jobless claims rise unexpectedly. Sales of new residential homes (PDF) also rise, and the housing recovery appears to inch forward. Growth in the chemical industry is expected to remain slow through the end of the year. Carbon emissions drop, and Brad Plumer explains what trash tells us about the economy.

Cash Flow: Lending Problems

Capital One says small-business finances improved in the last quarter, but an Irish-American pub owner is one of many entrepreneurs who have faced challenges securing a loan. Minorities have also struggled to get small-business recovery loans. Sian Phillips offers some tips for saving money at your office and your business.

Your People: Open-Plan Offices Create Stress

The end of a strike at Caterpillar is a blow to the labor movement. Two researchers consider how lighting improvements have affected productivity. Employees feel more stressed and less productive when they work in open-plan offices. Principal Financial Group says the best companies increase their focus on keeping employees well. Independent young workers prefer to work at small businesses. Emily Suess explains how to fire an employee. Southwest Airlines asks its employees for help. Verizon blacks out vacations near the expected iPhone introduction. This tiny basketball player will make your jaw drop.

Management: Declining With Age

Henry Rollins offers three rules for success as an artist and an entrepreneur. Kevin Purdy explains what successful entrepreneurs do with the first hour of their days. Why pay attention to baby boomers? Because half of adults age 65 or older are online. Carol Roth explains what a 76-year-old can teach you about social networking, and these old people share their lifetime advice. Entrepreneurial confidence may decline with age, but Jerry Seinfeld and Alec Baldwin haven?t lost their touch. The Tootsie Roll empire?s secrets are revealed. Scott Anthony explains how to turn customer intelligence into innovation. Cleve W. Stevens says profit should not be the sole goal of your business. Here are a few easy ways to monitor your competition. TED names its 20 most popular talks.

Sales and Marketing: Sugarpova

Jan Van der Linden and Naveen Jain urge you to bring more science to the art of sales: ?Selling based on facts and insights is a critical skill and will become dramatically more important.? Jill Konrath believes that the ?the Dreaded D-Zone? is the root cause of most sales failures. Seth Godin offers some tattoo thinking. Simon Jackobson explains how your small business can use customer-relation management to increase sales. Maria Sharapova, the tennis player, names her new candy line ?Sugarpova.? Here are five ways that getting back to school can get you back to business. These are the five top Google analytics reports for social media marketers. Allison wants you to keep your ?snark? positive. Tamara Weintraub shares six tips to make your display advertising work, including: ?Optimize your landing page. Your landing page should not only contain a similar design aesthetic, but it should also contain the same value proposition and feature any offers mentioned on your display ad.?

Red Tape Update: Costs and Benefits

The Postal Service versus Amtrak: which is more wasteful? A survey finds most small-business (PDF) respondents want the Affordable Care Act repealed. Edward Aldean says government regulations have both costs and benefits: ?The burden of federal regulation has grown substantially over the past three decades, with real costs to U.S.-based manufacturing, and continues to grow. But the most costly regulations are those designed to improve air quality, reduce energy consumption and ensure safe working conditions?? goals the public generally favors.? This great graph shows marginal tax rates through history.

Around the Country: A Shortage of Farm Labor

Deloitte is introducing an initiative to demonstrate how inner-city small businesses can position themselves to compete. The Export-Import Bank plans to open an office in Seattle for small-business exporters. California?s farm labor shortage is the ?worst it?s been, ever.? A San Francisco grilled cheese purveyor becomes one of a dozen small businesses from across the country to win the Mission: Small Business competition. Small-business owners are still scrimping on travel, and Steve Strauss offers great advice on getting around. A few small-business owners teach Senator Scott P. Brown about beauty.

Around the World: India Gets Down

In Africa, small businesses are learning lessons from big companies. The Panama Canal?s growth prompts American ports to expand. India?s consumer price index is down to only 9.86 percent! Maelle Gavet says Russia is an amazing place to be an entrepreneur. China?s manufacturing falls to a nine-month low but assumes a growing role in American infrastructure. Further aid for Greece is debated.

Technology: Microsoft Responds to Apple

While Apple?s market cap reaches an all-time record, Microsoft updates its logo. Apple also wins a $1 billion jury award from Samsung. The growth of the Internet over the past 10 years is staggering. And Janko Roettgers shares five things he?s learned from 20 years of e-mail, including: ?Sure, I also use all of those other ways of communication. But I grew up with e-mail, and it will always be what I?m gonna check first thing in the morning.? A new hover vehicle is unveiled. A Google contractor talks about the dark side of the Internet. Hewlett-Packard posts a record quarterly loss and loses 4,000 employees. Brother International introduces a new series of color inkjet printers for small businesses. Amazon introduces a low-cost data storage service. This innovator?s camera is at the leading edge of computational photography. PayPal joins with Discover to boost the momentum of mobile payments.

Tweets of the Week

@garyvee: I have no interest in making the most money in the world. I have an interest in having the most people at my funeral.

@PFripp: Shameless self-promotion is not only desirable, it?s essential. Advertise yourself!

@ValaAfshar: Managers who are first interested, second interesting, will be successful with social media.

The Week?s Bests

Steve Cooper says that one of the eight ways fantasy football can boost your business acumen is by teaching you not to draft Raiders: ?Why? Because I really, really don?t like the franchise. What this means in the business world is, don?t go into business with a company or person that you don?t like.?

Anthony K. Tjan says that lack of guts may be the most common barrier to entrepreneurial success: ?Guts are about having the courage to initiate, endure and evolve around an idea. This trait can be absolutely influenced, amplified or acquired over time ? and building up guts may thus be the most important way in which entrepreneurs can be developed.?

This Week?s Question: How many people are you expecting at your funeral?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/27/this-week-in-small-business-trash-talk/

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