People are cheering President-elect Barack Obama for his stimulus plan estimated to be $800 billion dollars. For one, 4 million new jobs will be assured to save the U.S. from a year long recession. My question is will recession be only for a year? If next year the recession continues, does that mean he has to shell out another stimulus plan?
New jobs is fine but management is another. One thing that Obama may want to tighten up should be the common business practices. For example, lending should be done with extreme caution. Require a business plan no matter how many they are. Ask for sales projections, expected income and so on. From here you can see if people who want to get into business know how to use money to its max.
For sure the stimulus plan is a welcome package to most people in the U.S. and the world. But just like the previous financial bailouts to banks and the auto bailout to the big three, make sure that it will produce the necessary economic assistance to save a faltering nation due to bad times in the economy.
“The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries,” Obama said. “And they’ll be the kind of jobs that don’t just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term.”
(Source) Reuters
For people that are interested in business news, there is something on the horizon that could make you too depressed to work on your home business. It’s called Hurricane Gustav and if things go in a way that is extremely poor luck for the American business community, we could see devastation to the Gulf economy once again.
The first place that this devastation could fall is in the tourism sector and there are many reasons for this. The first is that there are many residents already vacating the gulf coast even though an evacuation hasn’t officially been called yet, the details of which can be
found at this website. With so many people leaving the gulf coast, it’s very unlikely that the coast will be able to capitalize fully on the peak period of its tourism year.
If we’re lucky in the business world, the hurricane will be dealt with in a competent way and tourism will be back to normal within a week of the hurricane hitting. If we’re not lucky however, there could be devastation on a large scale and at that point no business plan will be able to salvage this quarter for the gulf tourism industry. That could cause a downturn in a sector of the market and as we of course know from the last two years, downturns tend to be infectious in the modern economy.
There are a lot of successful businessmen today who toil and work hard to build stable empires thanks to hard work. The lucky patrons for such efforts would be the children and offspring who would usually be groomed to carry on the business. Sad to say, a change in business approach can be devastating even for millionaire businessmen. The difference lies on origin.
Businessmen who make a name for themselves start out with practically nothing. They chip in their saved earnings, hoping to make it big someday. Never will you see any down-line offspring of these successful men have a hard time. They have all the money to burn and will not live the hard times that their elders experienced. In short, rarely would you see a descendant become as successful as their father or mother mainly because they are too busy dreaming of lifestyles fit for a king.
You can call them lucky to have parents who are wise and witty. But put them on equal footing with aspiring tycoons today. You will note that they don’t even know how to come up with a simple business plan, market a product or plainly do a cost-benefit analysis. All they care about is profit.
Such a funny scenario. It really makes you think if these people did graduate because of wisdom or just because they had the money to pay for their grades. What a shameful act and you can just imagine the embarrassment they could get if it would be opened like a can of worms to the public.
You’ve done all the hard work already. Your business plan has been edited and re-edited several times. All your t’s are crossed and i’s dotted. You’ve projected your revenues, bought your equipment and inventory, hired a few remployees, and officially opened your doors for business. The local newspaper did a nice write-up on your company and you just had a ribbon-cutting ceremony sponsored by your county’s chamber of commerce.
It’s now the end of January, though, and you’re wondering where all your customers are. Despite your exciting products and services, nobody is beating down your doors to do business with you. You’ve cultivated an excellent reputation for yourself in your community, but for some reason, that hasn’t translated into any revenue for your new business.
So what gives?
You need to market yourself better, that’s all. Don’t worry. It’s a mistake that many new business owners make when they first start out. Here are a few helpful, low-cost marketing techniques to spread the word about your new product or service.
Free is always good. — Consider giving away a sample of your product for free. If people like your product, they will come back for more
Do a podcast or a conference call — Invite your target market to join you on a 30-minute conference call. This forum provides an excellent opportunity to tell others all about your product or service in a laid-back low pressure environment.
Write a column for a local newspaper — Position yourself as the expert on what you do in your local community. Newspaper editors are always on the lookout for relevant material to fill space in their layouts.
Create a coupon for your product or service — People love to feel like they’re getting a great deal on something. Even when they really aren’t. Create a cadre of loyal customers with these easy incentive programs.
Ask for referrals from your existing networks — You know these people already. They know you’ve started a business. They want to see you do well. Bite the bullet and ask them to introduce you to others who might need your services. The worst they can say is “no.”
