Consulting firm finds niche advising small business owners – Pittsburgh Post Gazette

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By Teresa F. Lindeman / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On the website for her Hudson, Ohio, integrated marketing agency, CEO Jan Gusich offers this description of what she does: “Ensure the long-term sustainability of the organization through non-stop innovation.”

But if the 62-employee agency AKHIA is still doling out public relations advice and dreaming up marketing schemes after the 56-year-old Ms. Gusich retires — whenever that day eventually comes — it may be in part because she also considered it her job to ensure the organization’s long-term sustainability through careful succession planning.

Ms. Gusich, who co-founded the business in 1996 with a colleague when the agency that had employed them closed, brought in the Tobin Group to help think through her company’s future. The Pittsburgh consulting firm was founded five years ago by two guys who’d each already sold their own businesses, and knew other people faced similar issues.

In the past three years alone, Karl Skutski and David Tobin say, they’ve worked with more than 40 companies on exit plan and succession strategies, focusing mainly on advertising, marketing and PR firms but also dealing with other professional service businesses.

Such firms can be challenging to sell to a third party because the assets are often so intangible. Instead of real estate holdings or patented manufacturing techniques, marketing firms tends to have relationships with clients who trust the skills of certain individuals.

And selling to trusted employees can be an option, but most of those don’t have a pile of cash on hand to buy the business outright.

“It’s harder to get out of a business than it is to start a business,” said Mr. Skutski, 66, who exited his own Downtown public relations agency in 2004, after at least one false start. After considering an offer in the mid-1990s to sell to a large national company but deciding it put most of the risk on him, he ended up working out a plan to sell to members of his team, a process that took several years and detailed financial planning.

For his part, Mr. Tobin, 54, lived through the issues that arose when his 52-year-old father died on a skiing trip and his mother had to cope with legal agreements that didn’t make it clear how to value the advertising business he co-owned.

Mr. Tobin exited the PT Marketing Group, since renamed PT Service Group, by selling to his partners in 2004. In that firm, he gained a lot of experience in business succession planning and advising small business owners.

The two men met several years ago when another acquaintance, public relations executive Dick Roberts, invited them to a dinner with some other people to discuss the future of his North Shore agency. Mr. Tobin and Mr. Skutski seemed to be a good fit. “I knew a little bit, and he knew a lot more,” said Mr. Skutski, who also teaches classes at Duquesne University and co-founded a nonprofit to send computers to Ukraine.

Both liked consulting but wanted the freedom to choose how much they work and where. In addition to taking on consulting assignments with Mr. Skutski, Mr. Tobin also works with Luttner Financial Group, Downtown.

Perhaps because the baby boom generation is nearing retirement age, or because the recession tied up financing and made it hard for businesses to change hands, the partners say they’ve found plenty of companies looking for help. An email survey sent to 400 to 500 firms triggered 90 responses. Maybe 10 percent to 20 percent had plans in place.

Business owners can get advice from attorneys, accountants, and merger and acquisition brokers, among others. The partners hope their system of assessing the sale value of a business and then helping owners figure out how to get that number where they need it to be sets them apart.

For example, small business owners often don’t pay themselves a fair salary because they’re putting everything back into the company. That can make profits seem greater and give them an inflated expectation for what someone will pay.

In the cases of two California firms they’ve worked with, one has $6 million in revenue but is losing $300,000 a year and can’t find a buyer. The second has $1.5 million in revenue but is showing a $400,000 profit after paying the owner a fair market salary, so it’s more valuable to potential acquirers.

Options for exit plans for small to midsize businesses range from employee stock ownership plans to mergers to various types of outright sales, or even to the owner retaining control but using incentives to reward the management team for running the business.

Among the keys is starting early. It can take years to get the numbers to the right place or to bring employees into strategic plans.

Ms. Gusich said when she hit her 50s, she started thinking about how important it was to give her employees a secure place to work. “I really wanted to make sure I was creating this organization that would live beyond me,” she said. “Because it’s a great organization.”

Dan Rothschild, founder and CEO of the Strip District architecture firm Rothschild Doyno Collaborative, responded to a cold call from the Tobin Group a few years ago. The architectural firm has since moved from two owners to five, a complicated process that involved brand assessment to insurance risk review and financial forecasting.

At 56, Mr. Rothschild said he’s not going anywhere soon but noted, “It’s never too early to start thinking about this stuff.”

Teresa F. Lindeman: tlindeman@post-gazette.com or at 412-263-2018.

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Big Business Is Spending Like Crazy on the Ballot Questions. Does It Matter? – Boston.com

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It’s a $1.79 million to $458,000 advantage.

Those are the total funds raised in the most-watched ballot question on Massachusetts ballots this fall. The side with the big lead is the one representing and comprising the gambling industry, which is urging voters to say ‘no’ on Question 3, keeping casino laws on the books and their plans intact. Almost all of the money raised against the Question 3 initiative comes from two donors—Penn National Gaming and MGM Resorts, who respectively plan to open a slots parlor in Plainville and a casino in Springfield.

While there are laws regulating fundraising for political candidates (eroding though they may be), companies can make such massive donations to influence ballot questions—the closest thing to direct democracy we’ve got at the statewide level. The precedent was set by a few Supreme Court cases in the past, including a local one in 1978 (First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti) that struck down a state law limiting which corporations could donate to these committees.

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This year’s ballot questions carry a number of business implications. As such, businesses have jumped into the fray, wallet first.

Up the ballot from the casino question, there’s an even more stark financial disadvantage for a group looking to make a change that would affect a big business. Question 2 would apply the 5-cent bottle deposit fee to water bottles and the like, which is already applied to beer and soda bottles and cans. The scoreboard for the supermarket and beverage industries, urging a ‘no,’ has outraised environmental activists and their supporters, $7.85 million to $525,000. Among the big donors: Stop & Shop at $300,000, Roche Bros. at close to $80,000, and the American Beverage Association at—yikes—more than $7.2 million.

Then there’s Question 1, where a ‘yes’ vote would keep the Massachusetts gas tax from raising every year with inflation, thus putting a dent in the state’s budget for infrastructure repair. Businesses that stand to win the contracts to do those repairs have supported a ‘no’ vote on that one, too, and hold a fundraising advantage over those who would sooner see the tax relaxed, $950,000 to $67,700.

For those three questions, the pattern is clear: Industries are rallying with big donations to gain a foothold over less monied activists. Question 4, which would allow employees to earn up to five days of paid sick time each year, would most directly impact the broadest array of businesses. Interestingly, the committee against the question’s passage had raised nothing as of the latest filings. Meanwhile, worker advocates in support of its passage have raised close to half a million dollars.

Based on recent polling, some of the sides with more cash are starting with an advantage among voters, too. The gambling question has consistently shown an electorate that would prefer to keep casinos around. A WBUR poll found voters aren’t enamored with limiting the gas tax, either. And they are in support of the sick time initiative, according to another WBUR tally.

But not every group with the cash advantage also has the polling edge. There’s not a lot of evidence on where voters stand about the bottle bill, but Boston Magazine’s David Bernstein cites a poll from last month showing a sizable advantage for the pro-Question 2 group.

All of this begs the question: Does fundraising matter for ballot initiatives?

This year’s initiatives don’t lend themselves to that query just yet, because the effects of the fundraising are still to be felt. While we’re starting to see signs of advertising urging ‘no’ on the bottle and casino questions, we still have more than a full month before the election…which, as we know, means we are yet to be truly inundated with messaging. It may not be until Election Day that the massive fundraising advantages on any of the questions would shine through.

In recent elections, the higher spending ballot committees have prevailed, winning all eight ballot initiatives in 2012, 2010, and 2008. (The ‘right to repair’ initiative of 2012 was not included in this analysis, because the legislature sorted that out before election day, making the vote itself moot.)

Going back a few more elections to 1998, though, there is some precedent for the lower spender coming out on top. In 2006, all three questions saw the side with less financial support win out. That included the ballot question that generated the most spending in state history, which would have allowed for wine sales at grocery stores. There, the grocery industry spent more than $7.4 million to stock its shelves with reds and whites. Its loss came to an opposition that included plenty of liquor store operators that wanted all the wine for themselves. Though that side lost the fundraising battle, it spent a solid $5.3 million in winning the ballot battle.

In the last eight statewide elections, the bigger spender has won 16 of 23 ballot questions. (There have been a couple of questions with no political finance activity that are not included in that figure. That’s also not including right to repair.)

However, it is worth pointing out that only once in that frame has the lower spender won while in support of an initiative to change the law. On the casino, gas tax, and bottle questions this time around, the group getting beat in fundraising is looking to make a change in law, rather than to keep the status quo.

Maurice Cunningham, a professor of politics at UMass Boston who has studied referendum spending, says there have been some studies that suggest opposition spending to be more potent than spending in support of an initiative.

Cunningham also said that it generally takes about a 2-to-1 spending advantage in a ballot campaign to create a statistically significant effect. For all the money in the wine-at-the-grocery-store fight in 2006, the grocery industry didn’t have that kind of a dollar lead—and it lost. There have been a few Massachusetts winners who overcame a 2-to-1 finance disadvantage, however.

But when that spending advantage does kick in, Cunningham said, it can play a role quickly.

He pointed to the 2012 initiative on physician-assisted suicide (known as the ‘death with diginity’ campaign). In mid-September, voters showed a 64 percent to 27 percent advantage to legalize the practice in one poll. But the heavily-funded opposition, which had more than a 5-to-1 advantage in spending, ultimately won out. Cunningham said the bottle bill, currently showing voters to support it despite a more than 14-to-1 fundraising disadvantage, as one that could be susceptible to the same fate. (Bernstein, at Boston Magazine, made the same parallel.)

Long story short, there is a recent history in Massachusetts of the money edge not being the be-all, end-all for ballot questions. Since the other committees with the financial advantage already have the lead in the polls, the bottle bill may make for the best way of gauging the extent to which money matters for the 2014 batch.

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George Osborne's Message To UK Business: Pay People More! – Forbes

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I’m uninspired by the pronouncements of UK politicians. Their grasp of elementary economics is generally woeful. But George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, has just displayed a fine command of economic doublespeak. Even I was impressed. Though I’m not sure that he fully understood the implications of what he said…..

The UK’s Conservative Party, like its Labour Party and most of the media, is obsessed with deficit and – ultimately – public debt reduction. Never mind dreadful productivity, falling real incomes, high private sector debt burdens, under-employment and inadequate investment: public sector borrowing is THE economic problem of our time. The deficit is TOO HIGH. Public spending MUST BE CUT. And George is the man to do it.

Osborne informed the Conservative Party Conference that, if re-elected, he would freeze working-age benefits for two years. Assuming inflation remains positive, this means a real-terms cut in benefits not only for the unemployed, but also for those in work who are receiving a range of benefits including earned-income tax credits, housing benefit and child benefit. It’s a further squeeze on real incomes for low- to middle-income earners. This went down very well with his predominantly grey-haired, well-heeled audience, the vast majority of whom would not be affected. Austerity is always popular when it affects somebody else.

George Osborne. Photo credit: The Telegraph

Speaking to BBC reporters afterwards, John Cridland of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) welcomed Osborne’s announcement:

What businesses want is higher consumer spending. And that shouldn’t come from benefits. It’s got to come from people getting into work and getting higher paid jobs so that they can spend money at the weekend.

Spot on, John. Businesses do indeed need higher consumption spending, and it would be FAR better if it didn’t come from the Government by way of benefits. If there were higher consumption spending (and if UK exports weren’t being clobbered by the Eurozone disaster), productivity could increase, people would earn more (since wages are usually linked to productivity), business profitability would improve and everyone would feel good.

But there’s a problem, isn’t there, John? Earned-income tax credits and the like are indirect wage subsidies, since they enable businesses to pay lower wages than people can live on. The effect of this is that work is spread out more: fewer people are unemployed, but individually they both earn and produce less. To my mind, the UK’s strong employment performance is directly linked to its poor productivity and low earnings growth, and that in turn is due to the failure of both public and private sector investment since the financial crisis. Put bluntly, when businesses are being subsidized to employ large numbers of low-paid workers, why would they invest in technology to enable them to employ a smaller number of highly-paid workers for whom there is no subsidy?

Working-age benefits don’t give anyone but fraudsters a comfortable life. For there to be higher consumption spending, we need more people to be earning too much to qualify for benefits – not because benefits have been cut, but because employers are paying them more. We need the MEDIAN wage, not the minimum wage, to rise.

Unfortunately no-one is talking about this. Both the Labour Party and the Conservative Party have committed to raising the minimum wage, though they differ over the amount: but neither so far has addressed the clustering of wages around the minimum wage and the erosion of wage differentials. This is terrible policy. When people are unable to refuse work because of benefit sanctions, the combination of minimum wages with in-work benefits depresses wages for everyone. This, coupled with the disappearance of skilled middle-income production jobs and their replacement with lower-skill, lower-wage service jobs, is the reason why rising employment in the UK has not resulted in rising wages as we would normally expect.

So Osborne has now committed to a real-terms cut in in-work benefits. By doing so he has passed some of the responsibility for maintaining consumer spending over to the businesses that depend on it. His real message is not to benefit recipients, but to businesses:

If you want more consumer spending, RAISE WAGES.

Of course no senior Conservative party politician could say this openly. It would be political suicide. The Conservative party is supposedly business-friendly, after all.

But it desperately needs to be said. It’s not just that it is morally wrong for businesses to pay wages that people cannot live on in the expectation that they will be topped up with benefits. It’s the long-term effect on the economy of subsidizing businesses to employ low-wage unskilled labor instead of investing in physical capital and skills development. A low-skill, low-wage economy is a poor one. If the UK is to remain a rich, prosperous country, it must invest in both physical capital and in the skills of its workforce. To the extent that in-work benefits discourage businesses from investing and workers from training, they are a bad idea.

And of course – returning for a moment to the current obsession – in-work benefits also prevent deficit reduction. The key to “driving down the deficit”, as Osborne put it, is progressively to replace public sector benefits with higher wages. Raising the median wage would both reduce the benefits bill and increase income tax and National Insurance revenues, while increasing consumer spending would raise VAT receipts.

John Cridland. Photo credit: CBI

Of course, Cridland didn’t mention the need for businesses to pay higher wages. How could he? He represents businesses. Maybe he didn’t realize that Osborne’s announcement amounts to derailing their gravy train. Or maybe he did, but he didn’t dare say so. After all, just as it would be political suicide for Osborne to say openly that businesses must pay higher wages, so it would be more than Cridland’s job is worth to admit that this is what Osborne meant.

Osborne’s working-age benefits freeze will hurt people. But it will also hurt businesses, unless they change their ways. And it is the effect on businesses that really matters. Indirect government subsidy of low-wage, low-investment businesses must end. The business community must accept its responsibility to invest in physical resources, develop the skills of its workforce, and pay wages high enough to sustain the consumer demand upon which business – and ultimately the whole economy – depends.

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Lenovo set to complete acquisition of IBM x86 server business – PCWorld

Incubator sees business grow, move on – Palladium-Item

Who are the Best Epic Consulting Firms? – Health Data Management

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A new report from vendor research firm KLAS Enterprises examines the growing number of consulting firms specializing in serving providers buying Epic information systems. KLAS says Epic has won 92 hospitals with more than 200 beds in the past two years, and the number of “fully rated” consultancies has risen from 13 to 21. The report covers these firms as well as 12 others that have preliminary data. According to KLAS, most firms are performing well.

Enterprise Implementation Leaders

Two fully rated firms with enough data to meet KLAS’ confidence standards–Impact Advisors and Deloitte–lead the list. But four other companies have preliminary data scores above 90 on a 100 scale: Aspen Advisors, McKinnis Consulting Services, Nordic and Cumberland. (Image: Fotolia)

Implementation Support & Staffing

The top three fully rated firms are Nordic, Sagacious Consultants and Vonlay. “All focus solely on Epic projects and prefer to hire consultants who have previously worked at Epic,” according to KLAS. Five other vendors with preliminary data have scores topping 90. This category of work is highly competitive with 29 firms competing for business. Fully rated and preliminary scores in this category range from 94.7 to 65.2. (Image: Fotolia)

Advisory

Aspen Advisors, which also is ranked as having the best staff, is the leader in advisory services with Impact Advisors and Deloitte rounding out the top three. PwC and Leidos Health are a distant 4th and 5th among fully rated firms. (Image: Fotolia)

Go-Live Support

This is where Leidos Health shines among six firms offering this service, with a deep bench and quick resolution of problems and staffing requests. Santa Rosa Consulting follows, standing out for the quality of consultants having hospital experience, sharing best practices and creativity with pricing, according to KLAS. (Image: Fotolia)

Best Value

Cost and performance do not necessarily align, says KLAS, which names Impact Advisors, Vonlay and Xerox as the three firms highest in giving clients their money’s worth. (Image: Fotolia)

Connecting Communities

Epic’s Community Connect program enables large provider organizations to share their EHR with independent physicians and community hospitals. Three consultancies currently offer services for Community Connect: Dell, Hayes Management and Nordic.

The report, “Epic Consulting 2014,” and costing $980 for providers and $13,980 for others is available here.

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Career Coach: How to make business more attractive to women – Washington Post

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By Joyce E.A. Russell,

In early October, the National Association of Women MBAs will hold its annual conference in Crystal City. As I was preparing my keynote address for this conference, I started thinking about why women have not gone into business in larger numbers.

After all, women have entered into law, dental and medical schools — with close to 47 percent in each of those programs being women. Yet they have not entered business schools to the same degree. Most U.S. programs hover around 33 percent enrollment for women, and few have reached 40 percent or beyond.

So why don’t more women try for careers in business? What can be done about it? And why does it matter? Well, as “Lean In” author Sheryl Sandberg noted in her book, “It means that when it comes to making the decisions that affect our world, women’s voices are not heard equally.”

Every person who works is employed by some type of business. If women were able to lead more of those businesses, think of the greater impact they could have on our society.

It’s hard to know exactly why women don’t seem as interested in business careers. One hypothesis is that women do not have sufficient role models in business because so few reach top positions. Catalyst, a nonprofit group focusing on women in business, reports that as of 2013, less than 15 percent of executives and less than 17 percent of Fortune 500 board members were women. The gap is even worse for women of color, who only hold 3 percent of board seats.

In addition, there are not many women faculty in business schools. Reports show less than 30 percent of business school professors are women, and few of them are full professors. This could be disheartening to women, who would rather pursue careers where they are better represented.

When talking with businesswomen, I have heard some additional ideas. One suggestion is that women might pursue fields such as health care that they believe are more “helping oriented” than business. After all, most women are socialized to be caretakers in our society. As a result, they might view business as too cutthroat.

We know that women sometimes do not see themselves as qualified as men and lack self-confidence. As Katty Kay and Claire Shipman noted in their book, “The Confidence Code,” “It isn’t that women don’t have the ability to succeed; it’s that they don’t seem to believe they can succeed, and that stops them from even trying. Women are so keen to get everything right that they are terrified of getting something wrong. So women do not take risks, yet without taking them, they will never get to the next level.”

So what can schools do to attract women into business? First, we need more women faculty to teach them and work with them. We need to bring more executive women into our classrooms to highlight the fact that women can serve in top leadership roles. We need to host more campus events and information sessions for women, as well as mentoring programs that engage alumnae and other role models.

Professors need to encourage women to participate more in classes. Just calling on women first helps encourage other women to raise their hands.

We also need to provide communications training to help women speak up more confidently. We need to help them network with their professors, peers and alumni.

They can meet with women undergraduates or even high school students to open conversations about women in business. Because few high schools offer business courses, it is not surprising that many girls graduate without even thinking about pursuing a business major in college.

MBA programs might also need to bring in women at younger ages before they plan to start their families. This means they will not have as much work experience and might need more training and coaching to prepare for the job market.

We should highlight the career success that women can have in business. This encourages women to see that business can be a field that recognizes women’s accomplishments. One of my colleagues said that if we had more TV shows that highlighted successful women executives — who were also likable — that might attract women to business as a career choice.

For women to have a stronger impact on the economy, we need them to enter and progress in the field of business. We need them to see that business can be a helping profession that values collaboration, and that they are indeed highly qualified to contribute.

Joyce E. A. Russell is the vice dean and the director of the Executive Coaching and Leadership Development Program at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. She is a licensed industrial and organizational psychologist and has more than 25 years of experience coaching executives and consulting on leadership and career management. She can be reached at jrussell@rhsmith.umd.edu.

More from Capital Business: For a daily rundown of Washington area business news, sign up for the “CapBiz A.M.” e-mail newsletter.

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Not one live/work business licensed (42) – Laramie Boomerang

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By THADDEUS MAST / thaddeusm@laramieboomerang.com • Saturday, September 27, 2014

Dwelling live/work has been on the Laramie City Council agenda for the past two months, but not one such business is currently registered in the city.

A motion that would have allowed live/work businesses in all residential zones — under conditional use permits — was struck down by the council because of the broadness of the amendment.

A motion to rezone the Church of Christ, 1730 Custer St., building for the purpose of obtaining a dwelling live/work permit caught the attention of the council, but this is the first formal application for a live/work permit the city has received.

“We’ve had some informal requests, but they never wanted to take it to the next step,” said Randy Hunt, community development director.

One reason for the lack of live/work businesses is people do not want to disrupt their neighborhoods, Hunt said.

“People are naturally respective of their neighborhood and they don’t want to inflict a lot of traffic and noise on their neighbors,” he said.

Another reason is the problem of visibility and pedestrian traffic. As a business grows, it can attract walk-in customers with signs and location. Businesses then move to more commercial areas, such as downtown, to get more business.

While there are no permitted live/work businesses, there could be some around the city that were grandfathered with the adoption of the Unified Development Code in 2010, Hunt said. A business that was previously allowed in a residential area and has been there legally in the past is allowed to operate. Spic and Span Laundromat and other businesses along Fourth Street are examples of businesses in residential areas.

A dwelling live/work business can occupy up to 50 percent of a residence, and can have a small number of employees and other business amenities, if it can obtain a conditional use permit, which analyzes parking, traffic and other possible disturbances to the neighborhood.

A home business is separate from dwelling live/work businesses. A home business cannot have any employees and cannot occupy more than 50 percent of the house, but restricting the business to around 25 percent would be best, Hunt said. It also does not need any permit or license. The city gets involved with home businesses when a complaint is received.

A home accountant or landscaping business that has few customers coming and going to the house would qualify as a home business. Home businesses do not need a license or permit to operate, so there is no way to tell how many there are in town.

“There could be several dozen or up to 100,” Hunt said. “It’s really all speculation.”

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Keeping business in family requires long-term planning – DesMoinesRegister.com

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DesMoinesRegister.com

Keeping business in family requires long-term planning DesMoinesRegister.com Vermeer CEO Mary Andringa, far left, stands with her daughter, Mindi Andringa Vanden Bosch, her brother, Chairman Bob Vermeer, and son, Jason Andringa. Jason has been named the company’s next CEO. (Photo: Vermeer Corp./Special to the Register).

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Business notebook: 9-28 – Toledo Blade

Capital access hard to find for Latino business owners – New York Post

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The credit crunch is still crimping a full recovery, choking New York’s minority small-business owners, the city’s cash-strapped Latino entrepreneurs and analysts say.

While big banks have started to open up the small-lending spigots again — as the worst of the Great Recession slowly recedes — the results show a glaring deficit.

Small businesses owned by Hispanics in New York City are falling behind, receiving less financing than their non-Hispanics counterparts, according to an analysis of lending data.

Diana Gonzalez of Queens knows the feeling. The 31-year-old native of Ecuador, who arrived in New York at age 19, was in knots as one big bank after another turned down her loan application so she and her sister, Ruth Segarra, 35, could expand their businesses — a carpeting and flooring company in Woodside and a retail shoe store in Jackson Heights.

“It was very frustrating,” Gonzalez told The Post of their recent experience. “We went to a lot of places, but the big banks just did not lend — period. It was tough.” The two sisters eventually organized funding of $75,000 from a non-traditional lender, with an additional $25,000 in the pipeline. Gonzalez says other small-business owners in the Latino community face the same challenge.

The reason? Although there’s evidence of lending bias, analysts also blame the tendency of small Hispanic businesses to concentrate in less-dynamic, less-formal and less-profitable sectors that degrade credit scores compared with other ethnic groups who’ve embraced high-tech, e-commerce and other innovative fields.

“Even when the age of a business — how long a company has been in operation — was the same, the average revenue and credit scores for Latino-owned companies were often lower than those of non-Latino businesses,” according to small-business expert Rohit Arora, CEO of Biz2Credit, which recently conducted an analysis of small-business loan applications.

“The result is that Latino entrepreneurs face greater scrutiny from banks and often have to turn to alternative lenders that charge much higher interest rates,” Arora added.

The findings reflect a national trend. An analysis of lending by the government-sponsored Small Business Administration shows approvals to minority-owned businesses operated by Asians and women climbing rapidly during the past five years.

However, lending to African Americans has sharply declined to the low single digits — and stalled in the low single digits for Latinos.

Meanwhile, small-business loan approval rates nationwide at big banks hit a post-recession high in August for the third consecutive month, according to the latest data from the Biz2Credit Small Business Lending Index.

The number of Latino businesses in NYC has nearly doubled since the late ’90s to more than 140,000 in recent years — and account for 15 percent or more of businesses in the city.

Between their Austro Carpets in Woodside and Emes NY shoe store in Jackson Heights, sisters Gonzalez and Segarra nowemploy about 12 people. Annual revenue at Austro is $1.5 million.

Access to capital is a critical part of success. A business needs it to fuel growth, according to Gonzalez.

“We thought obtaining a loan would have been easier, but it just didn’t turn out like that,” she said.

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New Iowa City businesses hold a business opening block party – Iowa City Press Citizen

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Iowa City Press Citizen

New Iowa City businesses hold a business opening block party Iowa City Press Citizen Catherine Champion, with Catherine’s X French Connection, said the opening of several businesses in Marc Moen’s Park@201 tower, coupled with new businesses moving in across the street, made for a big number of new storefronts on one small block.

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Business climate is in the eye of the beholder – Shreveport Times

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Shreveport Times

Business climate is in the eye of the beholder Shreveport Times New rankings including Louisiana and its cities appear in business publications almost monthly. Since 2008, Louisiana has steadily climbed a ladder of perception by improving business attitudes through big wins and reforms — but the state’s image …

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Nestlé Reorganizes Business Units – Wall Street Journal

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Nestlé Reorganizes Business Units Wall Street Journal The Vevey, Switzerland-based company, the world’s largest foodmaker by revenue, said it would transfer operations in North Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and Israel from its Asia, Oceania and Africa zone into an expanded Europe zone. It said it would …

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The legal business – The Economist

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Get me my lawyer!

RARE is the finance minister of a developing country who does not have Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton on speed-dial. Cleary, based in New York, has long been the go-to law firm for governments in debt crises. Since 1983 the firm has advised 28 sovereign debtors in 54 restructurings. Its recent clients include Greece and Iraq, as well as sturdier places like South Korea. Cleary’s lawyers have reaped both fame and fortune as a result: a survey of 17,000 lawyers by Vault, a jobs site, ranked it America’s seventh most prestigious firm. Its profit per partner of $2.9m last year ranks it 12th, according to American Lawyer magazine.

In 2014, however, the firm’s sovereign litigation clients have had a year to forget. In July arbitrators in The Hague ruled that Russia had illegally expropriated Yukos, a big oil company. They ordered the government to pay shareholders $50 billion, 20 times the previous record for arbitration. Argentina has suffered three setbacks at America’s Supreme Court. In March the justices reinstated a $185m award against the country. Three months later, they let a ruling stand that banned Argentina from servicing the bonds it issued in debt swaps in 2005 and 2010, unless it also paid the full claim of “holdout” investors who rejected those deals. The decision led Argentina to default. The court also approved the holdouts’ use of American subpoenas to hunt for Argentine assets abroad.

Other parts of Cleary’s practice are also having a rough year. This week an appeals court in New York ruled that a lower court was wrong to dismiss lawsuits that victims of terrorist attacks in Israel had brought against Cleary’s client, National Westminster Bank (see article). A charity linked to Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, had held an account at the bank. Cleary also represented Google in a failed effort to prevent a new “right to be forgotten” being established in Europe, forcing the company to block some search results. And press reports have identified Cleary as one of the firms said to have given advice to BNP Paribas, a French bank, on transactions with Iran, Sudan and Cuba, over which BNP later had to pay a $9 billion settlement. (Cleary has declined to comment on this.)

In any other industry, such a string of losses would send customers scurrying. Indeed, in Argentina opposition lawmakers have proposed a bill to make the government switch firms. However, the relationship between a law firm’s income and its success in court is murky. Clients know that in a high-stakes suit they and their opponents will both hire skilled and costly counsel, and one side will lose. Unlike in college debating contests, real-world results depend mainly on the merits rather than the ingenuity of the arguments. Furthermore, governments are sometimes more motivated by the political benefits of pursuing a case than by their chances of winning. Attempts by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (pictured) to make political hay out of Argentina’s restructuring case seem to have annoyed the judge, making Cleary’s job harder.

Since a firm’s record of suits won and lost is a poor measure of the quality of its work, clients rely instead on reputation, experience and capacity. And on these criteria, the barriers to entry in sovereign-debt litigation are formidable. Most diversified law firms are wary of advising governments, since that would prevent them from working for the hedge funds that often sue sovereign issuers for payment. Of the rest, few have the global presence to represent a government wherever its bonds are sold or creditors try to seize assets. About half of Cleary’s 1,200 lawyers work outside America, spread among 11 countries. Given Cleary’s prestige and generous pay, it would be hard for rivals to poach its lawyers.

Often, when Cleary loses it wins. If Argentina or Russia had been victorious in their recent cases, legal work for them would probably have fallen off. Instead, their defeats pave the way for years of enforcement battles, and thus lots of juicy fees for its lawyers.

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5 Things You Must Do to Successfully Launch a Business – Entrepreneur (blog)

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The effort required to launch a new venture can seem daunting. Of course, specifics vary based on the type of business you’re establishing; manufacturers face unique challenges, as do retailers and consulting firms. But once you have your concept and your finances in line, there are some basics that are universal.

We talked with business owners, consultants and professors to boil down the bare necessities of getting a startup off the ground into a handful of manageable steps. Apply these fundamentals to your own industry, and you’ll be ready to tackle the specifics of creating your successful business.

1. Validate your idea.

Einas Ibrahim, founder of Talem Advisory, a New York City startup consultancy, says the biggest mistake she sees new entrepreneurs make is starting to work on a business idea before confirming that there is market demand. If your startup aims to sell a widget the world has never seen, make sure the world, in fact, needs your widget. Perhaps it doesn’t exist yet because no one needs it. If it is needed, then make sure the world is willing to pay for it.

“Don’t work on the business until you’ve validated the idea,” Ibrahim says. “Make sure there’s a market. Make sure it’s what the customer wants. Sometimes the entrepreneur’s vision doesn’t align properly with what customers want.”

Market research proves especially critical for startups with big dreams. If you’re aiming to become a billion-dollar business, take steps to ensure that the market can satisfy your aspirations.

“Entrepreneurs find this out after they start talking to investors,” Ibrahim says. “The idea might be sound, but it might be too small to become fundable by a professional investor, or by angels or venture capitalists. If the whole market is less than $500 million, it’s not going to be worthwhile for a venture capitalist to fund you.”

2. Shore up your plan and budget.

Even the best business plans go awry. Successful startups will expect the unexpected–and have an answer ready for it.

“Have a plan for how the business will be run,” says Leonard Green, founder and chairman of The Green Group, a New Jersey-based accounting, consulting and tax firm, and entrepreneurship professor at Babson College. “It’s a form of making decisions before you have to make decisions.”

Those decisions should range from your startup’s mission to its business structure (LLC, sole proprietorship, S Corporation) and compensation policy.

When budgeting startup cash needs, assume your business will generate zero revenue for the first year, Green says. “Many times when you have sales, you don’t have collections for a few months,” he adds. “You still have to cover rent, utilities, inventory, salaries and promotion.”

Image credit: Jesse Dittmar

3. Build the right team.

Perhaps the most critical step in the evolution of your startup is assembling a team that works well together and can deliver the goods. “Many good entrepreneurs are by nature connectors of people, so they have strong networks, which puts them at an immediate advantage,” notes Mark Coopersmith, a longtime tech entrepreneur and senior fellow at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Your teammates need to share your ideas about how the business should be run. “The crucial element here is that entrepreneurship is a team sport,” Cooper-smith says. “Build the team early, and build it around shared values. Because if you bring on employees and partners and you agree upon common values, you can use those values to come to decisions.”

Coopersmith invokes the late Peter Drucker, the management guru who 60 years ago wrote that corporations have only two core functions: marketing and innovation. In other words, businesses exist to build and sell product. “I would ensure my team comprises those two skill sets,” he says.

Additionally, you need a team that’s pragmatic and able to work together when times get tough. Sit down with critical team members and plan for all contingencies. “What happens if your partner becomes disabled? Sick? Divorced?” Green asks. “Or suddenly the business does poorly, and now we have to go to a bank? You’ve got to decide those things beforehand, so that it’s not you or me, but it’s us.”

4. Establish a support system.

The entrepreneur’s journey can seem like a solitary quest. But before you embark on such a voyage, you need to make sure your loved ones have your back. In fact, it’s essential to your emotional health–and to the health of your company.

“I always say it takes a village to raise a startup,” says Margaux Guerard, co-founder and CMO of Memi, a firm touting wearable technology designed for women. “As an entrepreneur, you just can’t do this alone. You need the mental and emotional support of your friends and family to help you weather the storm.”

Guerard left her job as director of marketing at Diane von Furstenberg to start Memi with her business partner, Leslie Pierson, in 2012. Her first entrepreneurial venture has been an around-the-clock whirlwind–exciting, frustrating, rewarding and upsetting, sometimes all in the same day. She relies on her loved ones to help keep her on track.

“I see myself as being the cheerleader for the company,” Guerard says. “When everyone is saying ‘no,’ I’m putting my pompoms on and saying ‘yes, yes, yes’ at the top of my lungs. When I’m feeling frustrated and sad and beat up, some days I need help doing that. Who do I count on? My family, my friends, my husband.”

5. Respond to feedback and refine your model.

When Bayard Winthrop conceived his notion to manufacture an American-made hoodie, he outfitted hundreds of potential customers in prototypes and asked them what they thought. How did the fabric feel? Was it too rough? Too soft? Too clingy?

Without soliciting such detailed feedback from your most likely customers, says Winthrop, founder and president of San Francisco-based American Giant, you’ll never know if your idea is a good one. “We did everything from putting imagery up on the website to making 100 sweatshirts and getting them into people’s hands,” he says.

American Giant, which launched in 2012, has been credited with rethinking every inch of the ubiquitous hoodie. Before the company launched, Winthrop asked customers their thoughts about all aspects of the garment: the cuffs, the fit, the hood, even the zipper. The fabric alone took six months to fine-tune.

“In our particular, narrow world of sweatshirts, getting that right is like cooking a great meal,” Winthrop says. “That required getting it onto backs and asking people what they would pay for it.”

Feedback led physician Mitesh Patel, co-founder of Docphin, to tweak his technology. He designed his platform to help healthcare professionals get fast access to research articles published in medical journals. The emphasis was on fast.

But the site’s initial registration process proved cumbersome, leading many frustrated users to log off. Docphin scaled back, asked fewer questions of first-time users and reduced the average sign-up time to two minutes. Users returned in droves. Today Docphin serves 500 hospitals nationwide.

“For us,” Patel says, “it was all about finding out what is the value of the end user, and how can you get them to achieve that value as quickly as possible. What we found was the real value was speed.”

For startup entrepreneurs, the need to constantly tinker with the business never ends. “You have always got to be thinking about how you can tweak whatever you have to make it even better,” says David Rush, co-founder and CEO of Earshot, a Chicago-based company that helps businesses acquire new customers through social media. Rush’s initial venture was an app called Evzdrop that allowed strangers in the same location to communicate with one another. Customers told Rush they wanted to be able to access more widely used social networks. Seeing a better business opportunity, he pivoted, and in October 2013, Evzdrop became Earshot.

“You have to be acutely aware of what the data are telling you and what you are able to learn about either your competitive landscape or the market you’re trying to serve or the problems you’re trying to solve,” Rush says. “It’s a continuous product. You’re never satisfied.”

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Jerry Colangelo lends name to Grand Canyon business school – azcentral.com

Durable Goods Orders Tumble, Business Spending Plans Rebound – Fox Business

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Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in August posted their biggest drop on record as the prior boost from aircraft unwound, but a rebound in business spending plans pointed to underlying strength in the manufacturing sector.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday durable goods orders, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, dropped 18.2 percent, the largest decline since the series started in 1992. That partially reversed July’s aircraft-driven 22.5 percent surge.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast durable goods orders falling 18 percent last month after a previously reported 22.6 percent jump in July.

Orders for the volatile transportation category declined 42.0 percent last month as civilian aircraft orders tumbled 74.3 percent. Transportation orders had soared 315.6 percent in July.

Boeing reported on its website that it had received 107 orders last month, a third of July’s outsized gains. Orders for automobiles fell 6.4 percent after rising 10.0 percent the prior month.

The underlying trend in new orders, however, is up and further gains are likely in the months ahead.

A survey early this month showed a measure of new orders jumped to a near 10-1/2-year high in August and businesses showed an increased appetite for capital spending.

Manufacturing, one of the pillars of the economy, is being supported by firming domestic demand, which is helping to offset some of the weakness due to slowing growth in the euro zone and China.

Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.7 percent after falling 0.5 percent in July.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.6 percent. The so-called core capital goods orders fell by a revised 0.2 percent in July, which was previously reported as a 0.7 percent decline.

Core capital goods shipments edged up 0.1 percent last month after July’s upwardly revised 1.9 percent increase. Shipments of these goods are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement. They were previously reported to have increased 1.5 percent in July.

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US business spending plans, jobs data support growth outlook – Reuters

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(Reuters) – Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in August posted their biggest drop on record after an aircraft-related boost, but a rebound in business spending plans pointed to underlying strength in the economy.

The economic outlook also got a lift from other data on Thursday showing only a marginal increase in the number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits last week.

The Commerce Department said Thursday durable goods orders, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, dropped 18.2 percent, the largest decline since the series started in 1992.

That partially reversed July’s aircraft-driven record 22.5 percent surge. August’s decline was in line with expectations.

Orders for the volatile transportation category declined 42.0 percent last month as civilian aircraft orders tumbled 74.3 percent. Transportation orders had soared 315.6 percent in July.

Boeing (BA.N) reported on its website that it had received 107 orders last month, a third of July’s outsized gains. Orders for automobiles fell 6.4 percent after rising 10.0 percent the prior month.

The underlying trend in new orders, however, is up and further gains are likely in the months ahead.

A manufacturing survey early this month showed a measure of new orders jumped to a near 10-1/2-year high in August and businesses showed an increased appetite for capital spending.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 293,000 for the week ended Sept. 20.

Economists had forecast claims rising to 300,000 last week.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, fell 1,250 to 293,500.

Claims are hovering near their pre-recession levels, an indication that labor market conditions are tightening despite August’s sharp slowdown in job growth.

The dollar held modest gains versus the yen and the euro after the data. Prices for U.S. Treasury debt were marginally higher.

Manufacturing, one of the pillars of the economy, is being supported by firming domestic demand, which is helping to offset some of the weakness due to slowing growth in the euro zone and China.

Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.7 percent after falling 0.5 percent in July.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.6 percent. The so-called core capital goods orders fell by a revised 0.2 percent in July, which was previously reported as a 0.7 percent decline.

Core capital goods shipments edged up 0.1 percent last month after July’s upwardly revised 1.9 percent increase. Shipments of these goods are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement.

That could see economists tweak their third-quarter GDP growth estimates, which currently range as high as a 3.5 percent annual pace.

Core capital goods shipments were previously reported to have increased 1.5 percent in July.

Unfilled orders for core capital goods increased 1.2 percent last month after rising 1.0 percent in July, a building up of backlogs that will keep the nation’s factories busy for a while.

Durable goods inventories rose 0.4 percent last month.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

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Business Wise: Six cost-cutting, cost-saving steps – Cincinnati.com

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Business Wise: Six cost-cutting, cost-saving steps Cincinnati.com The most significant expenditure for many privately held businesses is personnel cost. As your business grows, it is critical to have the right team on board. Many businesses have a close-knit environment where long-term employees at times can feel …

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US durable goods tumble, but business spending plans rebound – Reuters

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A woman pulls shopping carts through the aisle of a Target store in Torrington, Connecticut November 25, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi

(Reuters) – Orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods in August posted their biggest drop on record as the prior boost from aircraft unwound, but a rebound in business spending plans pointed to underlying strength in the manufacturing sector.

The Commerce Department said on Thursday durable goods orders, items ranging from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last three years or more, dropped 18.2 percent, the largest decline since the series started in 1992. That partially reversed July’s aircraft-driven 22.5 percent surge.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast durable goods orders falling 18 percent last month after a previously reported 22.6 percent jump in July.

Orders for the volatile transportation category declined 42.0 percent last month as civilian aircraft orders tumbled 74.3 percent. Transportation orders had soared 315.6 percent in July.

Boeing (BA.N) reported on its website that it had received 107 orders last month, a third of July’s outsized gains. Orders for automobiles fell 6.4 percent after rising 10.0 percent the prior month.

The underlying trend in new orders, however, is up and further gains are likely in the months ahead.

A survey early this month showed a measure of new orders jumped to a near 10-1/2-year high in August and businesses showed an increased appetite for capital spending.

Manufacturing, one of the pillars of the economy, is being supported by firming domestic demand, which is helping to offset some of the weakness due to slowing growth in the euro zone and China.

Excluding transportation, durable goods orders rose 0.7 percent after falling 0.5 percent in July.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.6 percent. The so-called core capital goods orders fell by a revised 0.2 percent in July, which was previously reported as a 0.7 percent decline.

Core capital goods shipments edged up 0.1 percent last month after July’s upwardly revised 1.9 percent increase. Shipments of these goods are used to calculate equipment spending in the government’s gross domestic product measurement. They were previously reported to have increased 1.5 percent in July.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea RiccI)

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Travel problems cost businesses time, money – USA TODAY

Business owners near transient park demand action – The Coloradoan

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[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Business owners near transient park demand action The Coloradoan Ask any north Old Town business owner, and they’ll admit they’re fed up. They’re more frustrated than ever before in dealing with disrespectful transient populations — a group that many distinguish from the homeless in greater need. Declining foot …

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The Upshot|Americans Are OK With Big Business. It's Business Lobbying Power … – New York Times

BK, Tim Hortons: Inversion rules no deal killer – USA TODAY

Astorino earned $101800 as consultant while in office – The Journal News | LoHud.com

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Cara Matthews 7:15 p.m. EDT September 23, 2014

Story Highlights

• Rob Astorino, GOP candidate for governor, made $101,800 in consulting fees while county executive.


• Townsquare Media in Connecticut paid him $100,000. He made $1,800 filling in on WOR radio shows.


• Democrats say Astorino should release five years of returns. Gov. Andrew Cuomo releases his annually.


• A spokesman for Astorino said the campaign has been open about the county executive’s earnings.

1 CONNECT LINKEDIN EMAILMORE

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino earned $101,800 in outside consulting fees in addition to his government salary while serving his first term as Westchester County executive, campaign officials said Tuesday.

Bill O’Reilly, a top aide to GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino, speaks about tax returns and financial disclosure forms the campaign released Tuesday.

The campaign allowed members of the news media to review copies of Astorino’s 2013 state and federal tax returns and annual county financial disclosure reports from 2009-2013. Income ranges for outside earnings on the disclosure forms were blacked out, but the campaign provided specifics when asked by reporters.

Astorino, who is challenging Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, made $160,760 as county executive last year. He earned $30,000 in consulting fees from Townsquare Media of Greenwich, Connecticut, and $1,800 – $300 per show – to fill in on WOR radio in Manhattan, owned by Clear Channel Communications. Townsquare paid Astorino $10,000 in 2010, $30,000 in 2011 and $30,000 in 2012.

The state Democratic Party has called on Astorino, Westchester County executive, to release five years of returns. Cuomo has released his tax returns each year while in office.

“By only giving one year of tax returns instead of five years, Rob Astorino is being too cute by one fifth. There is only one reason that he won’t come clean with New Yorkers – he must be hiding something,” said Peter Kauffmann, state Democratic Committee spokesman.

Astorino has been open about his earnings, said Bill O’Reilly, a top campaign aide.

“He’s a very uncomplicated financial person, which you can see from the tax return,” he said, adding that annual financial disclosure forms have been available for anyone to review.

In 2013, Astorino paid $28,106 in federal income taxes and $10,413 to the state, roughly 24 percent of his income. His wife, Sheila, did not earn any income. She previously worked as a speech therapist. The couple has three kids. The family made $2,518 in cash donations and gave $825 worth of goods to charity.

O’Reilly said Astorino would like Cuomo to disclose details of work done on the New Castle home where he lives with his girlfriend, television personality Sandra Lee.

“We know that he’s cheated on his property taxes by at least $30,000 over the last four years. He won’t allow an inspector in and he won’t allow anyone to see what’s in the basement, where he did finish work,” O’Reilly said.

The Journal News reported in May that Cuomo and Lee never filed building permits. After learning of the work, the assessor increased the assessment by 29 percent. That raised the property taxes this year by $8,000.

“It’s been covered. Everything’s a matter of public record on that,” Kauffmann said on that issue.

1 CONNECT LINKEDIN EMAILMORE

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