The compromise spending bill for $1.1 trillion keeps the government open through September, according to CNN. It increases funding to Head Start by $1 billion for early childhood education, which makes sense after its recent low point with the forced budget cuts last year. It increases the paychecks of federal workers and military personnel by … Continue reading Congress Could Use a Lesson from America’s Innovators
Tag: marc joseph
Did Not Make It Home for the Holidays
The weather [this month] not only played havoc on retail sales but ruined many holiday celebrations by causing electrical outages, undelivered packages and [poor travel conditions]. December brought the coldest weather some areas have seen in decades, [including] a reading of 135.8 degrees below zero [...] in Antarctica, [...] the lowest temperature ever recorded on … Continue reading Did Not Make It Home for the Holidays
Can Small Businesses Survive This Christmas?
[Supported by] Black Friday, Cyber Monday and, [now], Small Business Saturday, [sales made in] November and December [...] represent as much as 40% of yearly retail stores sales, according to the National Retail Federation. [With] Thanksgiving [falling] so late on the calendar [in 2013], [though] there are six fewer shopping days between [then] and Christmas. [...] … Continue reading Can Small Businesses Survive This Christmas?
It Really Does Take a Village
The partial government shutdown for 16 days caused some Americans to lose hope in our democratic way of life. If our elected officials can’t get along, what does that say about how the normal citizen can get along with their neighbors? If we can’t take care of ourselves and the basic functions of daily living, … Continue reading It Really Does Take a Village
How to Finance Your Business
You Can Do It Opening your own store may be a dream come true. Paying for this dream may be an entirely different story. How you structure the finances for your business will have long-term effects on your entire life. If it were as easy to get started as digging through your couch to find … Continue reading How to Finance Your Business
Marketing Your Business
Baby [b]oomers have changed every market we entered, from disposable diaper market to the stock market to the job market. We like to be marketed to.Lynn Lancaster, Author, When Generations Collide What if you opened a store and nobody came? It’s a nightmare all retailers have in the days, weeks and even months before they open their … Continue reading Marketing Your Business
Basics of Retail Math
Retailing is all about change, because consumers change and so do their tastes. If you don’t change, you don’t grow.Marvin Traub, Former President & CEO of Bloomingdale's [N]o matter what your collateral reasons for opening a retail store—[setting your own schedule, being your own boss]—the numbers are obviously what drive your decision about whether or … Continue reading Basics of Retail Math
Dealing with Vendors
In our free enterprise system, companies and industries develop and improve through competition, and a key requirement for competition is knowledge about the operations of all major competitors in the market. Such knowledge inspires one competitor to gain or protect an edge over another and motivates lesser competitors in a market to emulate the operations … Continue reading Dealing with Vendors
Nonprofits Buying in the Profit World Online
Since the beginning of time, buyers have always intended to acquire goods at a low cost, and this is what drives competition. On the Internet, competition is even more intense, because comparing products and prices from one company to the next is only a click away, whereas in the traditional shopping experience, customers need to … Continue reading Nonprofits Buying in the Profit World Online
Business Plan & Business Structure: The Twin Foundations of Any Successful Business
Walmart last year accounted for nearly 8% of overall U.S. retail sales. That leaves 92% for others—for now.Advertising Age, October 6, 2003 I begin this crucial chapter with one of my favorite stories. Two retailers are located directly across the street from each other in exactly the same business. One is doing quite well; the … Continue reading Business Plan & Business Structure: The Twin Foundations of Any Successful Business