CNN Blows Its Cover

As a small business owner you could never get away with what CNN did last night. While all the promotion for last night's debate touted that Republican presidential candidates would be asked questions submitted by regular people, that is not what CNN delivered.

John Podhoretz wrote for Commentary today, "The scandalous aspect last night is that three Democratic operatives were allowed to pose as 'unaffiliated voters' asking questions specifically designed to embarrass the entire Republican party, not just the candidates on stage."

Here's why you can't act like CNN: your business is only as good as your word. The minute you don't keep your promise, your business will take a dive. Here's just one of the owners I love who's word is as good as gold.

Make Peace with Old Enemies

Yesterday President Bush said at the Annapolis Conference, “We meet to lay the foundation for the establishment of a new nation: a democratic Palestinian state that will live side by side with Israel in peace and security." This made me think about advice we got from the owners of Cafe Pilon. This company roasts coffee and sells it to retailers and restaurants.

The business started in Cuba and was called Rowland Roasters there. Castro stole the company away from the founder, Enrique Souto, so like most Cuban entrepreneurs, Mr. Souto tearfully left his fatherland to make a new life in the US.

Enrique's biggest "enemy" or competitor was a company called Cafe Pilon. Because he always treated his competitor like a friend, when the owner felt he needed to sell, Rowland Roasters was the first in line to buy the coveted brand. Learn more from the Souto family about what happens when you are at peace with your enemies.

Peace, friendship and warm relations will always lead to prosperity.

Be Happy That We are Great at Job Creation

I happen to be a news junkie because politics for me is like a sport which makes news my sports channel. Sadly so many journalists are sad so they seem to consistently write about the demise of America as we have known it in my lifetime.

David Brooks, the token conservative at the New York Times, writes encouraging words today. He points out that, "The U.S. standard of living first surpassed the rest of the world’s in about 1740, and despite dozens of cycles of declinist foreboding, the country has resolutely refused to decay." David does not provide his source when he said that we lose about 7 million jobs a quarter and create slightly more than 7 million in the same time frame. I will assume that he is correct and we all know that this job creation is what keeps us ahead. It keeps us growing and makes prosperity possible for anyone who has some basic education and who is willing to work hard.

At Small Business School our business is to study and champion the job creators and one of my favorites is Steve Hoffman at Modern Postcard.

Be Thankful for Lots of Family

This Thanksgiving we were with close friends and some of their extended biological family. It was fun and comfortable because we have been through so many life events together. While no one person around the table thinks every other person is perfect, we accept that fact and enjoy counting our blessings for our fabulous country and all of the prosperity we see spread out before us.

Those of us who own a business think of our customers and employees as family. This is the secret to our success. While there are always family squabbles, when you are family you work it out and your bonds strengthen.

Take five minutes to meet the founders of Maine Gold and learn how to build a family of customers.

Greed has Hurt Subprime Borrowers

Bloomberg reports today that as many as 450,000 subprime borrowers may lose their homes over the next three months.

I say that the people who sold these people their mortgages were probably greedy and being greedy is never the right way to approach building a sustainable business. If your goal is to make as much money as fast as you can then you are probably not thinking of relationships you are probably only thinking of yourself.

Pamela Rodgers, owner of Rodgers Chevrolet, works hard to only sell people what they can afford. The head of her finance department told me that she is more a counselor than a sales person because she helps the customers evaluate, even in a worst case scenario, what they can manage to pay monthly to meet the loan obligation.

Selling is never about you -- it is always about your customer. You can learn plenty about ethics, respect, fairness and putting the other person first from our favorite car dealer.

Owners Take the Lead in Going Global

In today's Denver Post you can read, "Japan America Society of Colorado recently recognized Bob and Joanna Sakata, owners of Sakata Farms in Brighton, with its inaugural Pioneer Award for their significant contributions to the development of good relations between Colorado and Japan." We are not surprised that Bob and Joanna Sakata are doing good things to build relations with Japan because the strong business owners in this country take the lead on everything.

As small business owners, we are the best at product development, the best employers, the best at giving our time and money to local causes and now with the world getting smaller and smaller, we have become the best at doing business and promoting business on a global scale.

To learn more about Bob, visit Small Business School.

A Salute to our Veterans

I grew up in San Diego surrounded by the Navy and the Marines. My parents taught me that this is a good and noble nation and the public schools back when I was a kid reinforced this. Bruce is from Boston and he grew up on the streets that were home to many of our founding fathers. Even with our high-on-America belief system we weren't prepared to cry when we met Don Dzekciorius at the Statue of Liberty.

Don is a first generation American who told us about how his mother kept him and his brothers safe by following in the path of American soldiers as they liberated Europe from Hitler's grim grip. Don's family traveled at night and for nearly three years they lived in constant fear. Their goal was to get to America and they finally did.

Americans died so that Don could live and he tries to say thank you everyday. As an immigrant to this country, he believes in and epitomizes the American dream in this great land of opportunity. This one free and happy man has created hundreds of jobs and generated millions in sales over the 25 years he's been in business in Albany, New York.

We offer up a salute to our veterans today and to the troops who are saving and protecting the good people of the world.

You Can Grow With a Tasty Idea

Yesterday we were traveling from Orlando to Palm Springs and had to change planes in Dallas. I love that airport because I know Anne Beiler and I can buy her tasty pretzels at one of two Auntie Anne's locations. I like the original but I can't resist the cinnamon and sugar.

Is your product so tasty that customers crave it? Is your service so satisfying that customers would never consider buying from your competitor?

Customers who can't live without your product will grow your business. You can learn how Anne made her pretzels tasty and irresistible at Small Business School.

Join Your Local Chamber

We are in Melbourne, Florida today because I spoke at its business summit yesterday and we attended a wonderful gala last night. The chamber of commerce here is very powerful in the community because hundreds of businesses make it so. The party last night was packed with hard-working people who were laughing and having a great time. They obviously enjoy each other and some of them were being recognized for their contributions to this great place to live and work. As I write this, I can hear the Atlantic ocean crashing on the beach and see the bright blue sky and water.

Cape Canaveral, now called Kennedy Space Center, is just up the road from our hotel. As we leave to go back to California, we will visit this site that has been famous to me since it was the scene of a satellite launch in 1962. Now you can guess how old I must be!

If you are not a member of your chamber of commerce, you should be. It is the perfect place to find mentors, customers and friends who all want to make your community better. It is also the perfect place to volunteer. You might think you don't have time to be involved but I bet if you give it a try, you'll find that the time you spend will come back in both intangible and tangible rewards to you personally and to your business.

Albert Black joined the Dallas Chamber of Commerce at the same time he opened for business in 1982. Today his business is generating $75 million in annual sales and he gives much credit to his participation in his chamber. At Small Business School you can learn more about how Albert's volunteer efforts caused doors to fly open for him.

Most every link from this blog goes to the related, streaming-video clip from the television show.

The Chinese Brand is Suffering

Products made in China, from pool ladders to air pumps to toys, are being recalled. These blunders will set it back on the road from poverty to prosperity.

The world really doesn't understand that the US economy is built on transparency and honesty. Even some Americans don't realize that wealth is created when a customer is served, not poisoned, killed or maimed after their money is extracted from them.

It is possible that some of the Chinese mistakes were truly mistakes but some of the problems are caused by cutting corners to bulk up the bottom line. This never works over the long haul and the time-tested small businesses that we study prove this point over and over again.

The Chinese would be smart to study the writings of theologian and writer, Michael Novak, as he explains how this country has become the super economic power that it is.

You can learn from Mr. Novak at Small Business School (link goes to his key idea - streaming video).

Legal is Better than Illegal

Today's Washington Times reports that a brand new poll it conducted with Fox 5 and Rasmussen revealed that, "77 percent of the adults surveyed opposed making driver's licenses available to illegal aliens."

Small business owners are being beat up by the mainstream media because it assumes that we are guilty, guilty, guilty of hiring illegals to earn obscene profits. I am sure that this happens but it is not standard operating procedure for those of us who are striving to deliver quality over the long haul.

The owners who play by the rules always win in the end. Laurie Snyder partners with specific sewing shops in Los Angeles because she can trust that everyone is working in the US legally. Learn more about Laurie at Small Business School.

Union Turns Writers Into Wimps

What a bunch of crybabies. I heard one Hollywood writer on the radio this morning and he made me laugh. He was whining like a four-year old who thinks she has a right to dessert every night. Any person who turns their life over to the Writers Guild of America, or any union, ought to know that their life is no more their own. They exchange their freedom for a paycheck. These are the wimps of the country and sadly the wimps are gaining on those of us who create the real prosperity.

These pitiful wimps don't understand how money works. This particular set of wimps ought to look at how our governor got rich. Early on in his acting career Schwarzenegger stopped thinking of himself as an actor and started thinking of himself as a partner in movie deals. His job on the deal was partly to act but the partnership meant he got no paycheck for the work; he only shared in the profits when and if they materialized.

Pay-for-performance, not pay-for-hanging around, is the way most small business owners run their business and certainly it is the only way we pay ourselves. If our idea works we get rich. If our idea fails, we go back and work on the idea and try again. If you're tired of being a wimp, you can change. Take inspiration from the owners of Renegade Animation. They used to get a paycheck but now they write them.

Being Green Goes Deeper than Cause Marketing

I grew up in San Diego, which we all know is a desert, and my parents had moved there from Louisiana which is a very watery place. My father was the original environmentalist as he was always knocking on the bathroom door telling us to save water for our children. I think he was panicked that there wouldn't be enough water in San Diego to last his own lifetime.

We small business owners should tap into the trend to use green efforts as a marketing ploy but those of us who have succeeded over the years at business are like my dad. We know that being conservative with every resource is at the core of earning profits.

I don't like being told by out-of-work old and young hippies and people who get a paycheck from my tax dollars (that includes every public school teacher from first grade through graduate school who are busy trying to convert our children to the empty religion of environmentalism) that there should be some law to tell me how to conserve resources in the process of running my business. Our customers and our common sense will guide us as we work to make our world a better place when we leave it than when we arrived.

One of my favorite green business owners is Lupe Fraga. He has an office supply company in Houston and years ago he stopped delivering in cardboard boxes and switched to sturdy bins he can use over and over again. You can learn more about him at Small Business School.

The Hillary Brand is Not Selling

My first sales teacher was Emory Rose. I was 29 years old and he was at least 70. He taught me that people will buy from you only when they like you, trust you, believe you and understand you.

Maureen Dowd wrote today that the while Hillary's staff called her tough after this week's debate, "she can break, just like a little girl, when male chauvinists are rude enough to catch her red-handed being slippery and opportunistic." What is she then, tough like a man or soft like a woman? I wouldn't buy a hot dog from someone called slippery and opportunistic. Hillary breaks all of the Emory Rose rules of selling. On top of that, her brand is tired, worn, tattered and torn.

Look back at the advice of Emory Rose in reverse order. He said that people will buy from you only if they like, trust, believe and understand you. If you are a small business or a new business or if you are selling a brand new product, start by making sure people understand you by crafting your message clearly. If people can understand you then they might try your product so they now believe you and they get real results so now they trust you and over time they come to like you.

One of the best brands in America is Cindy McIntee's little chain of restaurants called Mo's Chowder. You can see for yourself why people like her, trust her, believe her and understand her. Here she is at Small Business School.

Choose the Right Name

We just spent a couple of days with one of our favorite business owners, Cindy White. In 2002 she bought a company called, Estelle. It makes handcrafted woven ribbon jackets. The founder's name was Estelle and Cindy didn't think the name was a problem until she started talking to her customers who quickly told her that the name was old-fashioned and certainly out of sync with the direction Cindy has taken the jacket design.

With brainstorming she came up with her new name that is being applauded by everyone around her including a group of business owners who serve as her board of advisers. To attach herself to fashion and some of her suppliers who are French and Italian, she chose the name, Cici Bianca. Cici is term of endearment for her first name and Bianca is one of the ways the Italians spell the word white. Cici Bianca, now that's hot and sassy.

Choosing a name for your business is important.

You can read how others do it at Small Business School.

Charlie Rangel's Tax Plan Is Bad For Us

This week House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., made it clear that he wants to raise our taxes and not in a small way. We small business owners in general have ideas that are bigger than our pocketbook. We are trying to improve our quality, hire another person or invest in new product development which means we struggle with cash flow. It's not that we are poor money managers, its just that we don't like to stand still and rake in cash, we tend to learn forward to raise the bar which consumes cash.

Every penny that we have to give to the government moves us away from our dreams not toward them.

As a way to stay close to public policy, Bruce and I are members of the US Chamber of Commerce Small Business Advisory Council. You can meet some of our fellow council members at Small Business School.

Fires and Floods Were Too Close for Comfort

San Diego is my hometown and we were living downtown when the 2003 wildfires rushed through thousands of acres destroying everything in their paths. This year we are over the mountain in Palm Desert for the Winter and we received calls and emails from friends who were either preparing to evacuate or had already done so.

My sister has been living in New Orleans since she married a native New Orleanian in 1968. Their family business sustained damage while dozens of their friends and customers lost everything in the floods that followed Katrina's attack.

While economists calculate the losses that piled up, I suspect they did not have a clue how to measure the price small business owners had to pay due to lost data. I believe that data is more important than cash to a business owner. So, think hard about protecting your priceless data in the event fires and floods come your way.

You can learn how some owners do this at Small Business School.