Is the Recession Really Over?

[Recently], Gallup reported that the total number of new business startups and business closures per year, known as “the birth and death rates,” […] just crossed to the bad for the first time since [its] measurement began—[a]nnually, 400,000 new businesses are being born nationwide, while 470,000 are dying. […] [Until] the recession, startups outpaced business failures by 100,000 per year. If small businesses continue to die at this pace, disastrous consequences for our economy and way of life are right around the corner.

Our “Main Street” American businesses still find it difficult to borrow the funds they need to expand. […] If you read the news, it says bank loans are easier to come by, but I haven’t talked to even one of our customers who tells me banks are happy to help them.

Not only have small businesses not bounced back from the recession, but, as reported in USA Today, many households have not yet rebounded from the downturn. According to the federal government’s report on the economic well-being of U.S. households:

  • 34% of families are worse off or much more worse off financially than they [were] five years [ago].
  • Educational debt [is] held by 24% of the population, averaging $25,750 per person.
  • 43% of households [cannot] cover a major out-of-pocket cost for a medical expense.
  • 25% [of households have] not visited a dentist in the last 12 months because they [can’t] afford one.
  • 31% of Americans have no retirement savings.

On top of this, The Washington Post just reported 77 million Americans have debt in collections. […] These […] debts are non-mortgage-related, like credit card bills, child-support payments and medical bills. […]

Ask your favorite charity if the recession is over for them. […] Last year, total giving to charity organizations […] was $335 billion, down from the pre-recession level of $350 billion. [I]n America, 610,042 people [were homeless nightly in 2013], [and] 20 states saw an increase in homelessness. According to Newsweek, 42.5 million American adults […] suffer from some mental illness, enduring conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. That hit home for me when my favorite actor, Robin Williams, […] died. Close to one in five of us are feeling like Robin, and is America built to have the support system to help?

Feeding America reports that 15.9 million children under the age of 18 (one in five) live in a household without enough food to eat and are unable to consistently access nutritious and adequate amounts of food. […] We are struggling to help our homeless, to help those suffering from mental disorders, and to help our children. This recession is not over for them. […]

Where is the good news to get us out of this funk of no-growth and the pain of the recession still lingering for businesses and individuals? It is not coming from the Middle East or from Europe or from our own government, [which] has confused our economy with sequestration, shutting itself down, and continual battles over healthcare, [the] debt ceiling and budgets.

[A]ll of us [need] to buy local, help those in need and donate more than we normally would to support this economy. Our economy is the basis for our society. When our economy is stable, our society will take care of our businesses and the individuals in need. At that point is when we can declare that the recession is over.

Original article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/is-the-recession-really-o_b_5678614.html

Dropouts Are Putting a Major Strain on Our Economy

Despite all the efforts of every president from Kennedy to Obama, [high-school dropouts] are a blight on our society. According to DoSomething.org, [more than] 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States every year, [or roughly] 7,000 kids a day. [In 1970], the United States […] had the world’s highest graduation rates of any developed country; [our nation] now ranks [at] No. 22 out of [the world’s] 27 [developed] countries.

[Statistically], high-school dropouts commit 75% of our [nation’s] crimes. The unemployment rate for [these former students] is 9.1%; for those with high-school diplomas, it’s 5.8%, and [for those] with college degrees, [it’s] 3.3%. The average high-school dropout earns $20,240 annually versus $30,600 for a high-school graduate.

According to The New York Times, if we could reduce the number of dropouts by a little over half, this would yield close to 700,000 […] graduates each year. These […] graduates […] would obtain a higher rate of employment and earnings, […] would be less likely to draw on public money for healthcare and welfare, and less likely to be involved in the criminal justice system—[a]nd, because of the increase in income, [they] would contribute more in tax revenues. Each of these graduates over their lifetime produces a net benefit to taxpayers of $127,000 in government savings, [which] would benefit the public close to $90 billion each year. […] That is serious money and an easy issue that both Democrats and Republicans can rally behind to reduce our deficit while supporting funding for education.

Throughout the years, […] our leaders have made attempts to reduce the dropout rate through improving our educational system. Kennedy […] [desegregated] public schools to give all kids the hope of a better education. Johnson established Head Start so all kids would have a chance to start on equal footing. Carter upgraded the Department of Education to cabinet-level status. Clinton passed the “Goals 2000 Educate America Act,” which gave resources to states and communities to enact outcomes-based education with the theory that students will reach higher levels of achievement when more is expected of them. George W. Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind Act,” which worked to close the gap between rich and poor students by targeting more federal funding to low-income schools. Obama passed the $4.35 billion “Race to the Top” legislation, which has competitive grants supporting education reform and innovations in classrooms. Yet, we still have 1.2 million students dropping out of high school each year.

[A]ccording to The Arizona Republic, the 18,000 high-school [students who dropped out] this year will cost Arizona $7.6 billion over their lifetime. Phoenix, the country’s sixth-largest city, had the highest rate of youth disconnection among the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas [in 2012], with 24% of its students dropping out of high school. [T]his year’s dropouts will cost Arizona $4.9 billion in lost income, $869 million in health costs, $1.7 billion in crime-related expenses and $26 million in welfare over their lifetime. On top of all [of] this, statewide, 22% of [those ages] 16 [to] 24 […] are [neither] working [nor] in school, [totaling] 182,000 young people.

The societal impact of our kids dropping out of school is devastating. Our schools know early on when many of these kids are in trouble. Key indicators include poor grades in core subjects, low attendance rates, failure to be promoted to the next grade, and disengagement in the classrooms, which would also include behavioral problems. [T]o save these kids, [o]ur government needs to invest in early childhood education. When students enter school without the needed knowledge and skills, they begin behind and just never catch up. Early childhood programs need to support the emotional, cognitive and social development of kids.

So what should our schools do to curb this enormous economic problem? Because many dropouts feel alienated from others and disconnected from the school experience, schools must ensure that all students have meaningful relationships with adults while at school. This obviously includes teachers and administrators but should include counselors, volunteers, and more paid and unpaid mentors. Schools must have individualized learning sessions and nontraditional options, [which] may include online learning and intensive tutoring programs. Also, students with disabilities, who are twice as likely to drop out as students with[out] disabilities, must be offered [more personalized] programs from Kindergarten [through 12th grade].

This is truly a grassroots effort in each community to lower our dropout rates. There are national programs to help on the local level. Communities in Schools, an organization that has been around for 30 years, […] helps bring community resources inside public schools […] for at-risk kids to succeed in the classroom and in life. The Boys & Girls Clubs of America provide programs, services, and a safe place to learn and grow and connect with adults. […]

Dropouts cause our society emotional pain because we all feel sorry for those less fortunate and struggling to survive, [b]ut the cold, hard fact [is that dropouts also] cause us economic pain that could be avoided. […] We have to get our schools the resources to go at this problem head on. Maybe if we approach our current congressional leaders that this is an economics problem, not a school funding issue, we can finally get their attention.

Original article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/dropouts-are-putting-a-ma_b_5586176.html

DollarDays Reinvents Wholesale Business with Dynamic New Website

Those familiar with DollarDays, the country’s premier online wholesaler, will tell you its recent site redesign was long overdue. DollarDays had simply outgrown its website, limiting its ability to take the customers to the next level. In December 2013, DollarDays engaged Arizona agency Resound Creative to create a redesign strategy focused on user experience and customer satisfaction.

Six months later, on July 1, 2014, the DollarDays team proudly unveiled a new and improved website. “New and improved” is an understatement, as it has undergone a metamorphosis that not only includes a customer-centric makeover, but, upon visual inspection, the wow factor from the site’s graphics stunned regular users while providing a memorable user experience. With these upgrades, the average time spent on the website has increased, and DollarDays has been enjoying what it hoped for: an 81% decrease in bounce rate, 24% more registrations, a load time four times faster than the old site and a 12% increase in average order value.

While rolling out the new website, DollarDays introduces a marketing initiative focusing on driving new traffic to the site. During the site design, the DollarDays team thoroughly evaluated each marketing vendor and tool currently being used and added new marketing partners who are invested in DollarDays’ growth due to mutually beneficial performance incentives. A visually stunning site [combined] with a new user experience and the flow of new customers from performing marketing initiatives are the right ingredients for a successful site rollout.

Marc Joseph, DollarDays’ CEO, said, “We couldn’t be happier about the new site. The improvements we made were exactly what our customers wanted. The strong feedback we’re getting tells us we’re doing something right! […] One of our most significant changes was in our mobile presence. Resound Creative designed the site in a manner that allows for responsive viewing, which means our site will resize itself to adapt to any type of device you are using, whether it’s a smartphone or a tablet.”

One thing that will not change at DollarDays is its $5,000 monthly merchandise giveaway on Facebook to causes such as education, homelessness, animal welfare, eldercare, teachers and students.

“We have connected with a community of over 210,000 on Facebook that is likeminded. They respond to helping others and nominate teachers, shelters, schools, etc., to win in the monthly giveaways—they wait for the announcement of the winners each month like it was the winner of ‘American Idol’! We love being able to give back to the community,” said Mr. Joseph, who also authors a monthly Huffington Post article that offers reflection on a cause that is in alignment with the DollarDays’ ideals. Joseph’s July Huffington Post article is a passionate look at our kids’ education.

In 2001, DollarDays was created to provide quality wholesale products in small case packs at great prices for small retail businesses as a way to compete with the chains in their communities. This vision remains the focus, including a customer base that has evolved to include thousands of nonprofit organizations, as well as consumers. […]

On a final note, Joseph declared, “We have truly reinvented online wholesaling. What was once a strictly B2B space is now wide open for not only businesses, but nonprofits and consumers. Each of these users is finding DollarDays as their go-to niche for wholesale savings. Our new website is something that any user can use and enjoy with ease.”

About DollarDays
Founded in 2001, DollarDays is the leading supplier of wholesale goods for nonprofits, businesses and betterment organizations. By sourcing affordable products, backed by exceptional service and meaningful community engagement, we strive to inspire and empower our customers to accomplish their missions to improve the lives of people around the world. Recognized as the City of Phoenix Mayor’s Office “2018 Product Exporter of the Year” and Internet Retailer Magazine’s “B2B E-commerce Marketer of the Year” for 2016 and 2017, DollarDays is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. For more information, visit www.dollardays.com.

Who Pays for Our Kids’ Education?

CBS News reported there are 200 one-room public schools located in rural areas left in America. At one time, just about every child was taught in a one-room school. Our second president, John Adams, taught in a one-room school near Boston. Abraham Lincoln was educated at a one-room school. Henry Ford loved his one-room schoolhouse so much that he had it moved to a museum in Michigan. As late as 1913, half of the country’s schoolchildren were enrolled in the country’s 200,000 one-room schools, [b]ut after World War I, people moved into cities, and one-room schools began to disappear. […]

There are 54,876,000 kids enrolled in schools [today], of which 49,484,000 are in public schools, according to the Center for Education Reform. The student-to-teacher ratio is 16:1 in public schools and 11:1 in private schools. Total public school expenditures were $607 billion [last year], with 12.7% coming from the federal government, 43.5% from the state and 43.8% [from] local expenses. The average public school expenditure per pupil was $13,000, and the average teacher makes $49,630 a year.

If you step back and study all of these numbers, they are just so huge. The number of kids […] in our school systems, the billions of dollars we spend to keep up the learning, and the amount of buildings we construct—[it all] makes our educational system alone rank as the 21st largest economy in the world. […] [Nevertheless], New York City […] teachers […] spend $500 of their own [incomes each year] on pens, paper and other instructional materials [for their classrooms]. Taking the 3.3 million teachers nationwide spending [an average of] $500 [annually] to help their kids, and we have over $1.6 billion coming out of teachers’ pockets to keep our schools going. […]

[The] teachers I know tell me they want to do their part in changing the world one student at a time by working on their hearts and minds and guiding them to become literate, empowered, engaged and creative. These teachers are passionate about their jobs, which most feel is their calling in life, [s]o pulling $500 out of their own pocket to help others is just what they do in their selflessness to make a difference.

[A]sking our teachers to do this is not right, [though]. Whether we have kids in school or not, all of us must be concerned with the quality of education we are providing for the next generation, and, as concerned citizens, we must make a difference and help our teachers help our kids. The National Teachers Assistance Organization is taking donations to help teachers. Donors Choose, an online nonprofit charity group that matches donors and teachers for supplies and projects, reports […] a 30% increase in requests for help from teachers this year. [The] Start Donating [website] is [another] easy way to help teachers get what they need. […]

We are a well-educated society, so how did we get ourselves into this cycle of putting this financial burden and stress on the teachers who we entrust with our kids every day? Teachers’ classrooms should be a sanctuary of learning, maturing and growing our children into the next greatest generation. Instead, we have our teachers worrying about the funding for the basic functions needed to educate our leaders of tomorrow. From John Adams and his one-room schoolhouse to our modern-day consolidated schools, we are still making it difficult for these dedicated teachers to perform at their best. It is the teachers of today, like the teachers of our forefathers, with their dedication and determination, who set the example for their students by their actions of caring and giving. The rest of us need to support these public servants and ease their personal burden of doing the right thing for our kids.

Original article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/who-pays-for-our-kids-edu_b_5512072.html

Kids Lose Their Future to Poverty

Now that one school year is over and we are preparing for the next, June is a month of reflection for educators and parents on how to do better [for the] next school year. It is hard enough for students to learn at school in today’s world. You throw in overcrowding, teacher-to-student ratios, poverty affecting too many students, and lack of funding for supplies, and it becomes almost impossible for the average student to get ahead.

The New York Daily News reported that in New York City, 6,313 classes were [considered] overcrowded based on the teacher’s union contract, which sets 34 kids [per classroom] as the limit in high schools and 25 [kids per classroom] in Kindergarten. In these classrooms, kids were sitting on the floors or standing the whole period. It is tough to imagine how children can function in these overcrowded situations, let alone how can teachers concentrate and keep the kids interested. How can these kids learn when they are sitting on top of each other?

[Adding to this], 16 million children in the United States, [or] 22% of all [U.S.] children, live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level of $23,550 a year […] for a family of four, according to the National Center of Children in Poverty. These children are far more likely to have limited access to sufficient food, [a]nd with Congress cutting […] $8.6 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program […] earlier this year, these kids just got a little bit hungrier. The states where the most kids go hungry include New Mexico at 29.2%, Mississippi at 28.7%, Arizona at 28.2%, and Georgia and Nevada, both at 28.1%. How can these kids learn when they go to school hungry?

Now look at the 1.2 million children in the United States who are homeless. […] According to the American Institutes for Research, homeless children have four times as many respiratory infections, twice as many ear infections, five times more gastrointestinal problems, and [are] four times more likely to have asthma. [W]hen at school, they have three times the rate of emotional and behavioral problems compared to non-homeless children. How can these kids learn when they have so many personal problems?

Poverty and poor performance go hand in hand in school. DoSomething.org reports that children living in poverty have a higher [rate] of absenteeism, or [they] leave school altogether because they are more likely to have to work or care for family members. Dropout [rates among] 16- [to] 24-year-old students from low-income families are seven times [higher] than those from families with higher income[s]. By the end of the fourth grade, low-income students are already two years behind, and, by the 12th grade, they are four years behind. How can these kids perform [well as] adults when they fall so far behind in school?

The U.S. educational system is ranked as the 14th best in the world. South Korea is No. 1, followed by Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland, [the] United Kingdom, Canada, [t]he Netherlands, Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Germany and Russia. Why is the most powerful nation in the world ranked in the middle of the pack in educating its children? Last year, $1.15 trillion was spent on education in the United States, of which 10.8% came from federal funds and the rest from state and local contributions. You would think that is enough to educate every student, rich or poor, but, obviously, it [is not].

The United States sure has a lot of things to fix to break into the top 10. […] Since the vast majority of funding for education falls back to the states and […] communities, local help is where it has got to begin. It has to fix the children who go hungry and the children of the poor. There are great organizations to contribute to for this, like Save the Children and the Children’s Defense League. […] We have to fix the homeless children situation, [a]nd, somehow, we have to get the right equipment into the hands of these poor kids—the right books, pencils, paper and calculators—so they can keep up with everyone else in their classrooms. […]

I wish we could just flip a switch and poverty and hunger and homelessness would disappear for our kids, but we all know that won’t happen. Who chooses [which] kids are born into wealth and those who are born to live on the streets? Who chooses the kids who suffer in overcrowded schools or those who go to schools with sophisticated arts, music and computer programs? Back in 1918, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Creed, which states, “The United States of America is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, established on the principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for all.” It is up to all of us to bring these poor, hungry and homeless children up to the standards our forefathers envisioned for all of us, and we need to start today.

Original article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/kids-lose-their-future-to_b_5337752.html

Do You Really Save Money by Buying Online?

Trying to save money shopping online can be exhausting. Entire industries have grown up online to help you save money, but you can spend so much time trying to figure out what to do that in the long run, it’s not even worth it to save a couple of dollars.

So Many Options!

For instance, there are several coupon sites you can go to that aggregate coupon codes from online merchants so you have one place to look. Sites like RetailMeNot.com, CouponCabin.com and BradsDeals.com pull together this information so you can take the codes to sites to help save money.

There are rebate sites like Ebates.com and FatWallet.com that give you cash back on all the purchases you make on their deal sites. There are daily deal sites like Groupon.com, LivingSocial.com, NoMoreRack.com and 1SaleDay.com that will inundate your email box with great deals every single day.

You start to add all this up with coupons, rebates, deal-of-the-day sites, etc., and a serious shopper could be spending their entire morning bouncing back and forth trying to figure out where to save that extra dollar.

Now comparison shopping sites like PriceGrabber.com, Google Shopping, Shopping.com and Shopzilla.com have begun to streamline the exercise of shopping by letting you compare the same item on one page with prices from several different selling sites. This is progress for the hurried shopper.

Money-saving Secret

But the hidden secret of the Internet is the emergence of warehouse club sites that take away all the fluff, and, if you are willing to buy in a little bit larger quantities, they truly save you money.

Go to Costco.com; they have thousands of items on their site that cannot only be found in the warehouse club stores and bought online, but many new additional items can be bought just online from them. Look at their brand Kirkland baby wipes and baby diapers. What new family does not need a case of those to survive the week? Their pricing on this high-demand commodity item beats all the coupon sites, rebate sites and even the deal sites.

Go to [the] BJ’s Wholesale Club [website] and find supplies for your home office from recognized brand names like Hammermill Paper, which verifies the better pricing of this newer group of sites that actually do save you money.

DollarDays supplies over 300,000 general merchandise products at wholesale and closeout pricing that falls right in line with these wholesale club sites. Here, the consumer can find all the back-to-school products, health and beauty products, and all the snacks they need to fill their pantries or the clothing needed to fill their closets.

Internet entrepreneurs try to figure out the most efficient way to get you the best deal. That is why lots of ideas are thrown against the wall, and, over time, with a few developing into winners. [T]his will be how Internet shopping sorts itself out to become the most efficient way save money on the products that you really need and want. Will the coupon sites be the winners? [W]ill the rebate sites prevail, or is it the deal sites that rise above the rest? Maybe all three will win—it just depends on what you are looking to buy.

Marc Joseph is the founder of DollarDays, the premier online wholesaler that helps small businesses compete against larger enterprises and nonprofit organizations find the products they need to support their causes.

Original article here: https://www.mint.com/vip-content/do-you-really-save-money-buying-online

Why Fight for Our Country?

Earlier this year, Stars and Stripes, the independent newspaper to the military community, reported [that among] male veterans under [the age of] 30, [the suicide rate has increased by] 44%—[in other words, an average of] 22 veterans […] take [his or her] own lives [every day]. Reasons for the increase could be the pressures of leaving military careers, readjusting to civilian life while trying to find a job, lack of civilian work experience, and combat injuries like post-traumatic stress. In addition, the unemployment rate of veterans is 2% higher than the national average, [a]nd […] 90% of military spouses are underemployed and earn 38% less than their civilian counterparts. […]

On top of all of this, 57,849 veterans are homeless on any given night, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans. Breaking that down further, 12% of the adult homeless population are veterans, [and] 40% of [those] are African-American or Hispanic, despite only accounting for 10.4% and 3.4%, respectively, of the U.S. veteran population. Our homeless veterans have served in World War ll, the Korean War, [the] Cold War, [the] Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, [the] Persian Gulf Wars, Afghanistan and Iraq. Another 1.4 million veterans are considered at risk of homelessness due to poverty, lack of support networks, and dismal living conditions in overcrowded or substandard housing.

How did we let all this happen to the heroes who keep us the freest country on Earth? Most of our citizens join the military because of their pride for this country, and they want to give back while doing an honorable job. No matter the generation or the war, from Concord to Kabul, America’s military has always been determined, tough and proud to do their duty. These fighters are sustained by not only the bonds shared within their units, but [by] the love and strength they draw from those at home—their families, their spouses, their children, their parents and their community. It is time for their community to embrace them.

The month of May is full of celebrations honoring our military. May 1st is “Loyalty Day,” which started in the 1920s [to counter a rise in the fear of] Communism. […] May 8th is V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day), which commemorates the end of fighting in Europe during World War II. Military Spouses Day […] is always held on the Friday before Mother’s Day. Armed Forces Day, which was created to honor all branches of the service, […] is celebrated the third Saturday in May (the 17th this year). [T]he month ends with Memorial Day, […] which is dedicated to servicemen and servicewomen who gave their lives for freedom and for our country. The roots of Memorial Day go back to 1865 and the end of the Civil War.

So how can we as communities do more than just celebrate and really help and embrace our veterans so the transition from military life to civilian life is not as painful? Obviously, if you own a business, you can make a real effort to hire veterans, [o]r, if you are not an employer, you can still help by donating to the nonprofit organization Hire Heroes, who are military veterans dedicated to “creating job opportunities for U.S. military veterans and their spouses.” Another great organization to donate to is Welcome Back Veterans, which was created to help returning veterans and their families. One of my favorites is Soldier’s Angels, and you can donate directly on their site or through their DollarDays wish list.

These veterans are our friends, our family and the bravest in our communities. These are men and women who sacrificed everything for us. Shouldn’t we do the same for them?

Original article here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/why-fight-for-our-country_b_5155398.html

Helping Small Businesses—Lots of Talk, No Action

The Small Business Act of 1953 established the Small Business Administration (SBA), which came into existence on the grounds that small businesses are essential to a free enterprise system. It was the intent of establishing the SBA to “deter the formation of monopolies and the market failures monopolies cause by eliminating competition in the marketplace,” according to the Congressional Research Service. Today, there are over 5.6 million employer firms who employ 113 million people with a total payroll of $5.16 trillion. Sixty-two percent of these employers have four or fewer employees, 89.8% have fewer than 20, and 98.3% have fewer than 100.

The SBA has 1,047 different classifications of businesses. The current definition of [a] “small business” is [a company] with not more than $15 million in tangible net worth and not more than $5 million in average net income after federal taxes. Overall, the SBA classifies 97% of all employers as “small business.” These same small firms represent 30% of our receipts in our economy, which means “big business” is still 70% of our economy. Back in 1953, when the SBA was established, the split was 34% […] “small business” and 66% […] “big business.” Not much has really changed over the last 60 years, despite all the rules, regulations and the formation of the SBA.

Our country has always been a country of small businesses. In colonial America, 20% of the crops raised and handicraft products made were exported by these small businesses. At the time of our revolution, because of domestic economic growth and exports, Americans had a standard of living higher than most Europeans. Increasing an individual’s standard of living has been the driving factor to open a small business throughout American history, [b]ut Gallup just reported that the total number of new business startups and business closures per year, known as “the birth and death rates of American companies,” just crossed for the first time since this measurement began. Annually, 400,000 new businesses are now being born nationwide, while 470,000 are dying each year across the country.

This is a trend we must reverse, and we need our government’s help to do this. Sure, we can blame it on the recession we have been battling for the last several years, but it is much deeper than that. In addition to new regulations for small businesses in healthcare reform, an increase in regulatory activity in several industries, and the uncertainty about taxes, several other causes come into play, making it hard to open a business today:

  • One reason is [because] there continues to be a shortage of financing alternatives to open a new business. Before the recession, entrepreneurs could use the equity in their homes, but in today’s world, how many of us have significant equity in our homes?
  • Another reason is technology, which we think is helping to streamline work and create Internet-related businesses but is also responsible for displacing independent businesses across several verticals. Look at the travel agents who have lost their businesses or the video store, the record store and the bookstore.
  • A third reason is the well-financed big businesses are killing the little guy. [The] Home Depot is pounding the hardware stores, [which is] the same thing Best Buy is doing to the electronic stores. Walmart controls close to 50% of some lines of the grocery and general merchandise business, where a generation ago, thousands of families made their living selling these goods.

On April 5, 2012, President Obama signed into law the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act. He said, “[F]or startups and small businesses, this is a potential game changer. For the first time, ordinary Americans can invest in entrepreneurs they believe in.” This law relaxed regulation[s] for businesses that are emerging growth companies, created a “crowdfunding” exemption to allow private companies to raise up to $1 million and [increased] the limit of small offerings from $5 million to $50 million.

It is two years later, and nothing in this law is implemented. [Those] close to this new law—legislators, practitioners and potential small-business owners—have voiced their frustrations with continuing delays in adopting final rules, but to no avail. [W]e ask ourselves how our government has led us to the tipping point where more businesses close than open.

If the U.S. government, who has good intentions but poor follow-through, cannot help small businesses, then who can? […]

Every big company started small. Look at Walmart, where, even today, over 50% of the company is still owned by the Walton family, [o]r Bill Gates, who is still the largest shareholder in Microsoft. We as a country can’t afford more businesses dying than are being born. The government has let us down with sequestration, shutting itself down when we need it the most, battles over healthcare, and battles over the debt ceiling and budgets. When they finally pass a law that makes sense like the JOBS Act, they still can’t implement it after two years. All of us need to reach out to our representatives and tell them to get their “act” together, [a]nd if they do not react, we need to vote them all out and start again.

Original article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/helping-small-businesses-_b_5045268.html

How to Publish a Book

Who hasn’t dreamed of seeing their name on a book jacket at the local Barnes & Noble? Signing cover pages for lines of adoring fans? Watching your very own title climb the New York Times best-seller list?

As any recent author will tell you, the arduous process of writing a book hardly resembles this glamorous picture. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t write a book. Experts say penning a published work is a great way to build your personal brand, engage potential customers and boost sales.

“If your business can benefit from your reputation as an expert, a book is an amazing way to demonstrate that in a way speaking or article writing cannot,” says Rohit Bhargava, author of Likeonomics: The Unexpected Truth Behind Earning Trust, Influencing Behavior, and Inspiring Action and the founder of Influential Marketing Group. Even as more and more people are writing because of the rise of self-publishing and e-books, showing potential customers a published work lends a measure of gravitas, says D’vorah Lansky, author of Book Marketing Made Easy: Simple Strategies for Selling Your Nonfiction Book Online and a book marketing coach for entrepreneurs.

“Technology makes it so much easier to publish a book—today it can take weeks instead of years to get your ideas out there,” Lansky says. “Every business owner should write one.”

To make the most of your time and wrist cramps, consider first whether self-published or traditionally published is the route for you.

In traditional publishing, you will write a proposal—typically a 30-page document outlining the project with a table of contents and sample chapters. This is then shopped around to agents. Should an agent accept, you will likely be asked to revise the proposal, which will then be pitched to publishers. If it sells to a publisher, the entire process could take several years or more. The publisher absorbs the cost of editing and production, though authors are usually responsible for most if not all of the marketing. Lansky says that on average a traditionally published book nets the author $1 per copy once the advance is earned. It’s worth mentioning that advances have been notably low in recent years.

The other option is to self-publish. A number of digital options are available, including Lulu and Amazon’s CreateSpace, both of which offer easy-to-use, affordable software with options for e-books and print-on-demand. Writers like this option because it can be very fast; gives the writer control over the creative processes, prices and marketing; and generates a much higher margin on sales.

Even though there is now a low barrier to authorship, it’s worth investing time and money to create a polished, professional look, Lansky says. It pays to hire a professional book editor and designer. “An editor is absolutely essential,” she says. “Once a reader finds three typos, they think you’re lazy or unintelligent. A good book should go through five to seven rounds of editing—it’s like polishing silver.” Other professionals who might help include an indexer, illustrator and photo editor.

A few more keys to successful book publishing:

  • Pick the right topic. Ask yourself what is the one thing you do better than anyone else in your field? What is the No. 1 question customers ask you? What has no one else written a book about?
  • Consider a ghostwriter. “Not everyone is a natural writer,” Bhargava says. “If you can’t imagine sitting in a chair writing for eight hours per day for several months, then you know you should hire a ghostwriter.”
  • Don’t expect the book to make you money directly. “Don’t write a book to get rich,” Lansky says. “Those cases are very, very rare, even when the author hits the New York Times best-seller list. Instead, look at a book as a big business card.”
  • Be creative in ways to profit from the book. In addition to using the title to attract and close deals, consider it a networking tool. Bhargava suggests interviewing leaders in your industry for the book’s content as a way to open doors.

Dianna Booher

  • Business: Booher Consultants, a business communications firm
  • Strategy: Write the book first, then get consulting jobs
  • Results: Multimillion-dollar business has been driven primarily by book notoriety

“It was the early 1980s, and I had just earned my master’s degree in literature and needed a way to support my young family. But I hated sales and did not want to cold-call.

“About the same time, I had lunch with a friend who was a vice president of engineering at Shell Oil. He mentioned his department has flown in a consultant from Atlanta to teach the engineers business writing. I realized I could do that. So I penned a book on business writing, original titled, Would You Put That in Writing? But I needed money, so I went to an executive at Exxon and told her my book was coming out in nine months as a way to promote myself. She hired me, and the engineers said it was the best course they’d had in 30 years.

“When the book eventually did come out, the Houston Chronicle wrote a huge story about it, and my phone rang off the hook with 32 inquiries from companies wanting to hire me to do business communication training. Sales immediately jumped into the multimillion-dollar range. I haven’t done any sales calls since—I just market the book and call people back.

“From that book, I branched out into presentation skills, customer service communication and more. My philosophy is that you have to know enough to write a book before you can even think about being a consultant. To decide what my next area of expertise will be, I research by talking to clients about their problems, look for emerging trends, and go out to lunch with friends to listen to them. I find a solution to the problems I hear about.

“All 46 of my books were published with major houses, including Simon & Schuster, Random House and McGraw-Hill. My advice is to go with a major publisher for your first book. That makes you stand out among all the clutter and helps build credibility easier. Today, 78% of my client inquiries can be traced to the books.”


Eric Erickson

  • Business: Desert Green Pest Management
  • Strategy: Self-publish a how-to book promoting the business’s expertise
  • Results: Sales came from new global markets, increasing a total of 20%

“Seven years ago, I started a natural pest control business, and we needed to stand out as the experts. We started by creating educational videos on YouTube, teaching people chemical-free ways of keeping insects out of their homes. Some became really popular, which gave us a lot of credibility and drove a lot of business.

“I’ve been an entrepreneur my whole life and have been involved in a number of publishing projects. I understand how much credibility a book can give a business. So I spent many, many hours researching and writing a book on natural and organic pest control. I had some friends with English degrees make sure it read at an eighth-grade level. I also hired a cover designer through the site Fivrr, which brokers affordable tech and design services.

“The book launched in February 2012 on Amazon—most of the 100 or so sales have been print-on-demand books for $12.48, though a few Kindle versions were also sold at $2.99. We promoted via Facebook, Twitter and on our company website. Since then, The Do-It-Yourself Guide: Keep the Pests Out has netted us new customers for our green products around the world. I attribute a sales jump of $100,000—or 20%—from the $100 investment I made to create the book.

“Now that I see how much success a book can drive, I’m writing a title for my business consulting firm: How to Start a Business from Scratch Backwards and Start Making Money in 30 Days or Less. The goal with this book is to attract high-profile media attention.”


Marc Joseph

  • Business: DollarDays, wholesaler of consumer products for independent retailers
  • Strategy: Teach customers how to be more successful through a book
  • Results: From the major publicity generated, company was positioned as industry expert

“I launched this business in 2001. From the start, I would get a dozen calls each day from our customers asking questions about running their businesses—everything from pricing to advertising and merchandising. I was happy to do that. It felt good to give advice.

“But pretty soon, 12 calls turned into 20. It was clear the smartest thing to do was to write a book to give these entrepreneurs a game plan for running their businesses. We knew that if we got them hooked into how we do business, it would help them be successful, which is obviously a win for us, too.

“Writing the book was a lot of work. Don’t kid yourself. I spent every weekend for nine months in my office writing it. You need a lot of personal and professional support to write a book.

“In 2005, The Secrets of Retailing…or How to Beat Walmart came out on Silverback Books. It immediately generated lots of publicity and positioned us as experts. I went on a tour visiting mostly independent bookstores, because the book’s message is how to survive and thrive against mega-chain competition.

“The book has made us go-to experts for retail sales, since, as wholesalers, we see trends emerging a full 30 days before retailers do. For example, the business media calls about holiday shopping trends in November, because we are the ones stocking the retailers. Those media relationships come from the book.

“As a result of all that publicity, we landed on the Inc. 500 ‘fastest-growing companies’ list in 2013. That is important from a PR standpoint since we are also a ‘little guy’ successfully competing against the big guys (Amazon and Walmart), just like our customers.”

Original article here: 
https://dm61q01mhxuli.cloudfront.net/media/magazine_v2.pdf

The War on Poverty is Back; This Time, It’s the People’s Burden

Feeding America reports that 15.9 million kids [in the United States] under the age of 18, [or one in five], are unable to consistently access nutritious and adequate amounts of food necessary for a healthy life. Last month, Congress passed a sweeping “Farm Bill” that cut an additional $8.6 billion from SNAP, [or the] Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, over the next 10 years. This is on top of the $5 billion the program lost last November because the 2009 Recovery Act stimulus bill expired. Forty-seven million Americans currently participate in SNAP, up 47% since the [r]ecession started in 2008, [which] means that 15% of us rely on this program to eat. […]

We don’t have to be math whizzes to know that a 47% increase in participation, coupled with a reduction in the funding of $13.6 billion, spells misery for millions of Americans. This program has been the federal social safety net for low-income Americans, and now this safety net is beginning to tear.

The New York Times reports that more and more people are beginning to show up at soup kitchens and food pantries. The first reduction in November cut out 23 meals per month for a family of four. In New York City, the number of people seeking food aid grew by 85% after the November cuts, while 23% of the city’s food pantries and soup kitchens reduced the number of meals they provided. Food stamps were the signature program of President Johnson’s “War on Poverty” during the 1960s, which led to fewer poor children going hungry or having nutrition-related developmental delays. Birth weights also grew for children of poor mothers on food stamps.

As a nation, we can’t afford to go back to the nutritional standards before the “War on Poverty.” Luckily for us, our nonprofit organizations are stepping in and have created food banks to help fill the void continually shaped by Congress. The world’s first food bank started in 1967, right after the “War on Poverty” began. St. Mary’s Food Bank was started by John Van Hengel, who was volunteering at St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix, serving dinners to those in need. A mother told him the soup kitchens and grocery store Dumpsters were the only way she could feed her children. John went to the local parish, St. Mary’s Basilica, and shared his vision of collecting food and money for food and depositing it where those in need could withdraw it. They gave John $3,000 and an abandoned building to get the food bank up and running. Today, food banks touch just about every corner of the United States.

Ozarks Food Harvest, one of the Feeding America food banks in Springfield, Mo., distributes food to 320 hunger-relief organizations across 29 Missouri counties, reaching 41,000 people a month. To help hungry children, they have a weekend backpack program, where they fill 1,500 backpacks with food so these underprivileged kids can have something to eat when they can’t eat at school. How can you not love an organization that takes care of others every day of the week?

Kentucky is setting an example for the rest of government in how to encourage its citizens to help others. Its legislature has made it easier for Kentuckians to donate to the Farms to Food Banks Program by just checking a box on their state tax returns to have part of their tax refunds […] automatically go to this program. This is how the government should behave in inspiring [its citizens] to help each other. […]

[Just last month], General Motors Foundation […] donated $500,000 to the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, [which serves] the people of metro[politan] Detroit. Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Florida recently donated $250,000 to the Florida Association of Food Banks. The Alaska Federal Credit Union donated money to 17 food banks. Businesses with a conscience are beginning to step up to fill this massive void, but, so far, there is too big a gap to fill. We have got to make up the billions of dollars lost to support those in the most need in this new order of priorities created by Congress. We, as citizens of this fine country, need to create a new grassroots effort for this latest “War on Poverty.” Having 47 million Americans in need of food is not the country our forefathers envisioned. It is also not the country we want to leave to our children.

Original article here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-joseph/the-war-on-poverty-is-back_b_4866216.html