Ohio Small Business News

September 16, 2015 by

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The small business sector has long been considered a big job creator for the United States economy. Small businesses have a long history of creating jobs and employing over half the workforce in the United States. It is no wonder then that the federal government has disburse millions of dollars to support the small business sector in Ohio. For more about this and other topics, follow the links below.

U.S. small businesses feel mixed impact from China’s economy

NEW YORK: China’s economic problems have been a windfall for some U.S. small businesses — and pose a threat to others.

A nearly 40 percent plunge in the Shanghai stock market since mid-June, a response to the country’s weakening economy, has sent Chinese investors looking for safer investments. Some are focusing on U.S. real estate, including the condos Peggy Fucci’s real estate brokerage sells in Miami. She’s sold six condos to Chinese buyers in the past month, twice what she’s typically sold in that amount of time.

“It’s the insecurity of continuing to lose your [stock market] investment,” said Fucci, CEO of OneWorld Properties.

Chinese buyers, who pay an average $1.2 million for the condos in a downtown Miami development where she’s sold some homes, want them as an investment rather than a place to live, she said. Fucci is heading to China this weekend on a sales trip, optimistic that she’ll find more buyers.

Feds give Ohio over $18 million for small businesses

Ohio has received more than $18.7 million in State Small Business Credit Initiative funds to help small businesses access capital to grow and create jobs, the U.S. Treasury Department announced recently.

To date, more than $55 million in initiative funds have been disbursed to the Ohio Development Services Agency to support small businesses and the local economy.

“Small businesses are the nation’s leading job creators, and the State Small Business Credit Initiative connects sources of capital to the small businesses that need it,” said Jeffrey Stout, director of the initiative, in a statement.

“The funds announced … will continue to support loans and investments in Ohio’s small businesses,” Stout said.

TAX TIPS: Ohio budget bill provides considerable tax savings for local business activity

Ohio’s operating budget for 2016 and 2017 calls for reductions in tax rates that could prove important to small business owners in the Buckeye State.

This summer, Gov. John Kasich signed into law the two-year Ohio budget bill that expands deductions for small businesses and reduces tax rates on business income and individuals. Kasich originally called it his “Blueprint for Ohio.”

Perhaps most significant is an exemption on a certain portion of business income for Ohio small business owners that do business as an S corporation, limited liability company or sole proprietorship.

The provision does not apply to C corporations, but any business that is structured as a pass-through entity so that its income flows directly from the business to individual shareholders for tax purposes.

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Stay Competitive by Revising Your On-the-job Training

September 16, 2015 by

64735957On-the-job training — we’ve all experienced it and have the horror stories to prove it, particularly those of us who’ve worked in small businesses.  Small businesses are notorious for believing they provide training, but we know differently.  The in-depth, educational program most provide is somewhere along the lines of “go over there and watch what Steve is doing”.

In the past companies had the luxury of time — employees, competitors, processes, customers and especially technology moved slower.  People had time on the job to increase their skill level by learning from Steve and others like him.  But, more is expected out of systems, businesses and people now. 

Employees and managers are required to know more, do better and keep up at a faster rate.  They have skills and knowledge that’s likely to become outdated in years rather than decades.  Small businesses are struggling to keep up — let alone stay competitive — and many are falling dangerously behind. 

This is partly because of outdated or non-existent training programs.  The old way of doing, or not even doing, on-the-job training doesn’t work anymore.  The needed skills and knowledge increasingly has to come from outside the company.  The “old-timers” need to be “schooled” by new hires or consultants, who have the expertise no-one in the company has.

There’s a shortage of skilled workers in many industries and it’s not going to get better any time soon.  One of the ways a small business owner can combat this scarcity is to take control of the problem by developing, and following through with, a compressive training program.  A program focused on building an up-to-date, efficient workforce.

Ideas like selling globally, social media marketing, lean manufacturing and supply change management, create opportunities to increase market share and profit.  However, with these opportunities come challenges.  The small business owner who’s willing to take responsibility and create the employees he needs will meet these challenges and grow.

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Starting A Small Business and Succeeding

September 10, 2015 by

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Many small business owners enjoy the fact that they are in control of their business and their future.  At the beginning of their endeavors, willing to take the many responsibilities that a small business entails, it is not only smart but cost effective.  As the business grows, the ability to delegate and give responsibilities and control over various aspects of the business become more of a difficulty for many small business owners, and some of them do not welcome the change. Follow the links below to read more about this topic.

9 Steps That Will Help Your Chances of Starting a Successful Business

If you are unemployed, underemployed or unhappily employed, the idea of taking control and becoming your own boss might be sounding pretty sexy right about now. Plus, the past decade has shown us that jobs aren’t quite as dependable as perhaps we previously thought.

However, the success rates for new business are quite scary too, with the majority of all new businesses failing in just a few years’ time. While there is never going to be a “sure thing,” if you are thinking of leaving your job to hang out your own shingle, there are significant benefits to preparing before you take the leap.

Here are nine ways to make sure that you are prepared before you start your own business, so that you can give yourself the best chances to succeed. These are adapted from my bestselling book, The Entrepreneur Equation.

Maybe It’s Time to Let Go of Control in Your Business

How much control do you really have in your business? Do you know what to do with it? Does having it help you or hold you back in your business? What about when you want to change something? Does control help you then? 

Growing a business is one of the most life changing experiences on which you will embark. It’s challenging, exhilarating, exhausting, scary, fun and my goodness, some days it can be downright hard.

Why is it hard?

Because it involves change, trust and letting go of control.

Surrendering to change means letting go of being in control. Yet, as much as we want our lives to be different the truth is, we don’t like it much when our illusion of being in control is challenged. The feeling that we are in charge of our lives gives us leverage in our attempts to avoid the experience of loss. Yet, these efforts to circumvent loss are the very foundation of our excessive anxiety and worry. – Katherine Woodward Thomas (Calling In The One).

Instead of Flexing Authority, Leaders Should Influence Employees

When it comes to managing employees, most employers tend to take one of two key leadership approaches. There’s the “power/authority” approach, where it’s their way or the highway, or the “influence” approach, where the goal is to get employees on the same page and empower them to make decisions that will have a positive impact on the organization.

In today’s work world, employees want to feel like they are a part of the decision-making process. Millennials, especially, want managers who give them the freedom to do their jobs and trust they will deliver.

In fact, in a 2014 survey of 16,637 millennials worldwide titled Millennials: Understanding a Misunderstood Generation, nearly half of people in this age group from North America want a manager who “empowers their employees” above all else.

Clearly, for those who manage the fastest growing part of today’s workforce, it’s time to take the focus off of the power/authority approach and on to the influence approach. Here are three areas where the influence approach is especially useful in the office:

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The Dream vs. the Reality of Entrepreneurial Control

September 8, 2015 by

59350241For many people in our country the American Dream of owning their own business is still alive and well.  Moreover, they’re not just dreaming, they’re doing something about it.  Last year startups increased in 32 of the 50 states, the biggest increase in 2 decades (Kauffman Index: Startup Activity, 2015).  This is a reversal of the last 5 year’s downward trend.

There are many reasons why more people are becoming entrepreneurs.  Their motivations are as varied as the individuals who have the drive and desire to take the risk.  Coupled with these unique motivations is the universal reason people start a company — control.  Control over: time, money, quality, procedures, ethics, product/service development, etc.

The dream of having ultimate control is a primary one for most entrepreneurs.  A bedrock belief for the majority of them is, “Things will be better once I’m in charge, because I’ll make the decisions and have the final authority”.  And it’s true, having authority is one of the main benefits of ownership.  It gives people the opportunity to finally make their ideas a reality. 

Unfortunately, what’s also a reality is that in addition to control they also have responsibility, which is usually where the trouble starts.  Too often the dream of business ownership is really magical thinking and not based in the real world.  Many small businesses owners want to be in charge without the actual responsibility that goes with it.

Often owners want the control (viewed as positive) without the responsibilities (seen as negative) of: learning and doing tasks (i.e. marketing, sales, understanding financials, customer complaints, quality issues) outside their interests and comfort zone; showing up motivated every day to deal with challenging, as well as, boring day to day operations; actively managing people who don’t want to be managed or do their jobs.

Running a business is a difficult, never ending and time consuming process.  People who start a company quickly learn that ownership is not what they imagined it would be.  Most small businesses’ problems can be traced to the owner’s dream of control without him accepting the reality of responsibility.  This is the primary reason that most small businesses fail.

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Millennials And The Workforce

September 3, 2015 by

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According to some reports, by the year 2025 Millenials will make up the majority of the workforce in the United States. This year alone Millenials comprise 36% of the workforce in this country and continue to grow for the foreseeable future. And although they are a passionate group of workers and can take less money if they are passionate about their positions, they are quick to move on if they are dissatisfied with their job or employer.

  To read more about this and other related topics, follow the links below.

Survey shows work ethic of new hires has deteriorated for small business owners

A survey released Tuesday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says about three-quarters of small business owners say the work ethic of new hires has deteriorated in recent years.

It also found that more than two-thirds of them say the quality of applicants has also declined.

“A lack of qualified applicants is the biggest issue for entrepreneurs and concerns about the quality and work ethic of new hires suggests a worrisome trend ahead for Canada’s workforce,” said the report.

 The CFIB said 65 per cent of entrepreneurs said  employees are the most important element to the success of their firm – more important than even their product or service.

 “Canada’s small businesses will be the first to tell you that their employees are their greatest strength,” said Dan Kelly, president of CFIB, in a statement. “But they are finding it increasingly difficult to find qualified applicants, especially workers prepared to consider entry-level jobs.”

Millennials will move, take less money for IT jobs

A new survey suggests millennials seeking IT jobs are willing to accept less money and relocate in exchange for positions they’re passionate about, but they also aren’t afraid to quickly move on if they are dissatisfied with current employers.

Millennials who want to work in IT say they would consider accepting less money and relocating if they find jobs they are passionate about, according to a new Progressive Insurance survey of 1,000 U.S. millennials interested in IT positions. The report, conducted by Wakefield Research, found that 30 percent of the millennial respondents are “very likely,” and 51 percent are “somewhat likely,” to accept smaller salaries in exchange for work they feel strongly about.

“It’s clear from the survey that millennials in IT are more interested in a job that allows them the flexibility to be creative and experimental rather than one that simply offers good compensation,” says Lynley Williams, recruiting director at Progressive Insurance.

Are Millennials Wreaking Havoc on Employers? Or Vice Versa?

Enter the Project Grow Challenge presented by Entrepreneur and Canon USA for a chance to win up to $25,000 in funding for your business. Deadline is Sept. 15 2015. Click here to enter.

“Help! The inmates are running the asylum!” may be the cry these days running through the heads of many business owners who have multi-generational employees.

This is to say that owners are struggling with the rapid rise of this younger segment of the workforce, and the way these employees refuse to behave the way their predecessors did — a scenario creating a wave of chaos in human resources departments. Let me explain further.

Much research has been done and many articles written on the millennials segment (young people born between 1982 and 2004, meaning employees aged 21 to 33) and their impact in the workforce. I personally never paid much attention to the issue until one of my clients experienced the impact of the millennials firsthand and passed on lessons he learned, which I’m passing on to you.

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How To Reward Your Employees

August 29, 2015 by

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When a slow economy and other external factors start disrupting a business’s cash flow and making it more difficult to get the help it needs, hiring new employees, even when a business needs them, is relegated to the end of the to do  list.  The cost of hiring new employees goes far beyond the salary the business can offer.  The cost of recruiting and training are the beginning costs of hiring a new employee. The incentives the business can provide to recruit top talent and to retain them are far more than the base salary the employee will get.  For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Why Saying ‘Thank You’ Is More Important Than Giving Employees a Raise

Entrepreneur and CultureIQ are searching for the top high-performing cultures to be featured on our annual list. Think your company has what it takes? Click here to get started.

You know the success of your business rests on the shoulders of your employees. That’s why you offer them a raise, put a ping-pong table in the staff room and provide other “cool” perks, like an office beer fridge and weekly yoga, right?

But a recent report by TINYpulse shows all those perks may be for naught if employees aren’t also receiving the occasional “thank you.”

The report (https://www.tinypulse.com/2014-employee-engagement-organizational-culture-report), which comprises data from more than 30,000 employees across more than 500 organizations, showed employees who received recognition were much more likely to rate their workplace as more fun. What’s perhaps most shocking is that 70 percent credited their peers for creating an engaging environment, as opposed to perks and amenities.

Small Business Dilemma: Paying For Health Care

Under the new health care law, sometimes called Obamacare, the “employer mandate” kicks in for businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTE). For purposes of the mandate, FTE includes full-time employees plus each 30 hour period worked by non-full-time workers.

With Obamacare, employers must provide health insurance to at least 95% of their full-time employees and dependents up to age 26. If employers who are required to provide health insurance and do not, they may be forced to pay a penalty of $2,000 per full-time employee, with an exclusion for the first 30 employees. Additional fees may also apply, depending on the circumstances.

The employer mandate does not apply to employers with fewer than 50 employees. According to the Treasury, approximately 96% of employers are small businesses with fewer than 50 FTE workers which means they are exempt from the employer responsibility provisions. This is good news for small businesses but that doesn’t make the health care question go away. The reality is that many small businesses still do provide health care for their employees, either out of a sense of responsibility or out of a desire to attract quality candidates (or both).

The Secret to Hiring the Best Employees at a Small Business

JOHN SULLIVAN: Smaller firms have one advantage over their larger rivals, and that’s the knowledgeable and personalized service provided by their passionate employees. In fact, employee friendliness, knowledge and empathy may be the primary reason why your customers return. Yes, employees are “the face of your business”; because they are often the only point of contact with your customers. Unfortunately, you won’t be able continually to provide that exceptional service or expand your business unless you can constantly recruit new team members that understand the needs of your customers. And the best way to ensure that is to actually recruit your existing best customers, who obviously already know about customer’s needs and they like your unique approach to business.

Data from the corporate world reveals that recruiting has the largest measurable impact on revenue of all human resources actions. In fact, formerly small firms like Uber and Google quickly became dominant firms by realizing that “hiring is the most important thing you do.” Fortunately there’s one recruiting area where small firms can easily “mirror” the approaches of powerhouse firms like Nike, Pier 1, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft and Wells Fargo. And that approach can be described as, “recruit your customers because they share your passion.”

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Employee Benefits And The Small Business Owner

August 13, 2015 by

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For a company to acquire top talent and compete with another company for those employees, they have to provide benefits that are more than those required by law.  Social security and workers compensation are required by the federal government to be provided for employees, health insurance and retirement benefits are not required, and therefore only a small percentage of small business or medium size businesses offer those benefits to their employees.  The question becomes then how are businesses acquiring top talent if they cannot compete with other companies that provide those extra benefits?  Follow the links below to read more about this and other topics.

5 ways to start the small business benefits conversation

For business owners, attracting and retaining quality employees is always a challenge — especially as unemployment rates decline across the country. As fewer people look for jobs, employers need to find ways to entice candidates to accept their offers and, perhaps even more crucial, to keep good talent from potentially leaving for better offers.

Providing a competitive benefit package is one proven way for employers to attract and retain the best of the best.

But does this resonate with small-business owners? Not so much. In fact, most aren’t offering benefits at all, according to the 2015 Principal Financial Group® Business Owner Survey, conducted by Harris Interactive. Somewhat shocking details from the survey — which measured the responses of business owners with two to 500 employees — found that only slightly more than one-third, just 37 percent, offer group coverage or employee benefits.

JOSH MABUS — Hand in hand, small business and industry

There seems to be a debate in many cities, in our own state and across the country. Do we invest in small businesses, which employ lots of people as a group but are individually volatile and have lower economic impacts? Or do we invest in attracting corporations, which can be demanding and hard to come by?

We often talk about small business and large-scale employers as if they are mutually exclusive. It’s a debate as old as time. Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

Our nation is home to somewhere around 26 million small businesses, which make up 60 to 80 percent of all U.S. job creation, according to Entrepreneur Magazine.

Small business accounts for the most job creation because of the shear number of small businesses. Their sizes allow them to be more agile and make incremental hires. Those hires, when multiplied 26 million times, have a huge national impact.

Democrats, GOP Reps Demand IRS Return Money to Small Businesses

​A bipartisan group of Congressmen on the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew demanding the government return money to small businesses that the IRS had wrongfully seized under federal asset forfeiture laws.

“As the Treasury Secretary, you have the opportunity to right the wrong done to these small business owners,” the Congressional letter writers said, adding, “You have the discretion to return the seized funds to their rightful owners.”

It’s a rare move made by the Congressmen to circumvent the IRS, which they say has been devastating small businesses with its “abusive” seizures of bank accounts the agency thinks are being used for, say, drug transactions or money laundering.

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As a Small Business Owner, Are You Ready to Retire?

August 5, 2015 by

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As the economy was recovering, there was talk about small business owners gaining confidence in the economy and possibly hiring for their business. Nationally the confidence small business owners felt is declining or slipping away completely.  It is not surprising then the hiring has taken a back seat for the moment, and businesses are more concerned with meeting their current payroll instead of adding to it. And what about retirement? According to recent surveys,  more than half of the small business owners in the United States do not have enough to retire comfortably or at all.

To read more about this and other news, follow the links below.

Survey: Small Business Owners Unprepared for Retirement

Almost half of small business owners surveyed are unsure what will happen to their business when they retire.

A survey conducted recently by TD Bank demonstrated 26% of small business owners are not confident they will save enough money to retire comfortably. The survey of more than 660 small business owners nationwide questioned respondents about their management experience, confidence in business tasks and areas in which they need help.

Nearly half of survey respondents (47%) said they do not have plans in place for retirement, whereas about a quarter of respondents (24%) indicated their business would close, and 15% of business owners said they would transfer ownership of their business to a family member or coworker.

External factors affect retirement planning

“Building a small business is hard work, and it can be easy to get caught up in daily tasks such as paying invoices or increasing sales, but smart business operations need to consider the future, including the retirement of the owner,”Jay DesMarteu, head of Small Business Banking for TD Bank, said in a press release. “Just as those in the workforce should invest in themselves through retirement savings, small business owners need to have conversations about retirement and prepare for the future to ease the transition, whether that be closing or selling the business or passing it on to a family member.”

Small business optimism slips two percent in July

THOMASVILLE — Small businesses in Cairo and Thomasville reflect the findings of a recent survey that showssmall businesses in Georgia were increasingly worried about economic conditions in July.

Thumbtack.com’s Small Business Sentiment Survey is a monthly survey of independent local service businesses in the U.S. As part of its survey, the company included 523 responses from Georgia.

The key findings for the state showed that Georgia small business owners’ feelings about their current finances declined by 2 percent while expectations for the economy as a whole dropped by 4 percent.

Concerns over tightening access to credit were particularly pronounced as expectations for the availability of credit declined by 5 percent. Nevertheless, Georgia’s independent local service professionals remain more optimistic about future economic conditions than the rest of the South and the nation as a whole.

Small businesses in Georgia reported that their biggest concern was acquiring new customers. In regards to hiring, Georgia’s small business owners reported a 3 percent decline in plans to add employees to their ranks.

Jay Evans, owner of Babcock & More Home Furniture in Thomasville, Cairo and Camilla, said in an interview with the Times-Enterprise (TTE) that he hasn’t had to cut employees, but he hasn’t hired any, either.

Why Is It So Hard To Serve Small Business? Blame The 90% Challenge

There’s a convenient narrative about small business that we’ve all heard a million times.  Small business represents a huge, underserved, and highly lucrative market for finance-oriented entrepreneurs and large organizations alike. The prevailing wisdom is that these businesses run on Intuit’s QuickBooks, which enables them to have organized, accurate, and timely financial information at their fingertips. By all accounts, the small business market should be an easy one to serve. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Organizations big and small have struggled to serve the small business market in an efficient and effective matter, and it’s all due to what we call the 90% challenge.

The 90% challenge

My company BodeTree started out as one of those optimistic startups that thought serving the small business segment would be easy. We quickly realized, however that the commonly held wisdom was wrong. Of the 30 million small businesses in the U.S., the vast majority operate in a state of utter chaos, even if they use an accounting system of some kind.  The reality is that for most small businesses, the traditional process of organizing and managing their finances is too complex, too difficult, and too time consuming.

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You’re the Face of Your Business – Don’t Sabotage It

August 4, 2015 by

business (10)It’s completely baffling why many small business owners are such poor representatives of their own companies, often to its detriment.  Conventional wisdom says the owner is the best spokesman for the business; no one cares about it and its success as much as he does.  After all, he’s put the money, sweat equity and time into making it a success.  Right?

Wrong, he commonly hasn’t learned the lesson — you’re the face of the business, be a good one.  “Learned the lesson” is the important take away, because the ability to effectively promote your business is an acquired skill.  We aren’t born with the skills needed to successfully market ourselves and our businesses.  Stop being your own worst advertisement; you can learn to do better and here are 3 good places to start.

Learn to listen

Very few people have the natural talent to be a good listener, and your probably not one of them.  Good listeners are rare and people who have this skill are perceived as capable, well-informed, smart and trustworthy.  If you’re seen this way then, via the halo effect, your business’s culture will be too.

Learn to ask good questions

This is the companion to learning to listen.  One of the fastest ways to develop rapport with someone is to ask them questions, not talk to or at them.  The ability to ask good, open ended questions conveys interest in the other person’s opinions, needs and wants — everything you want people to associate with your business. 

Learn to give a great elevator speech

Delivering a great elevator speech is a difficult talent to master.  You want to communicate who you (and your business) are, what you do and why it’s important in a very short time.  Commonly, people who are uncomfortable with elevator speeches appear too overbearing and “salesmanish” or apologetic and meek.  They also can be confusing and uninteresting.  None of these impressions are ones you want associated with your company.

Becoming the positive, accomplished face of your business takes the willingness to learn and practice.  Yes, you have to get out of your comfort zone, but the alternative — sabotaging your own hard work — is ridiculous.  A final bonus (incentive) is that these skills are applicable anytime, anywhere.  Once you’ve become good at them, they’ll also improve your personal relationships.

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Small Business Tax Cuts and Other News

July 31, 2015 by
64002400When the Ohio government talks about tax cuts, it is a good indication for the small business owner that things might improve a bit.  Although some of the tax cuts in the past have been negligent, and hardly make a difference, one hopes that there will be one that will truly benefit the small business owner across Ohio.  By giving small business owners tax breaks, the economy can improve and benefit the whole economy as a whole.  For more about this and other topics follow the links below.

New small-business tax break in Ohio will make a difference: Rion Safier and Steve Millard (Opinion)
The Ohio General Assembly and Gov. John Kasich recently approved a biennium budget bill that allows small business owners a 75 percent tax deduction for the first $250,000 in small business income for 2015 and a 100 percent deduction beginning in 2016.If you are a small business owner, work for one, or frequent their services, this is good news. Because most small businesses are pass-through entities, the owners pay taxes on their business income on their individual income return, at their individual income tax rate. And, a small business owner’s tax burden impacts the prices consumers pay and the benefits their employees enjoy.In April, the editorial board of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and The Plain Dealer wrote in opposition to giving “owners of small businesses a huge and unmerited tax break.”

Small business improving in Ohio

Ohio’s small businesses reported a slight improvement in July, bucking a national downward trend, according to the Thumbtack.com Small Business Sentiment Survey, a monthly survey of independent local service businesses in the U.S., including 360 responses in Ohio.

Designed with Bloomberg, the survey is housed and integrated into the economic functions of the Bloomberg Professional service.

In that report, Portsmouth is listed as having multiple small business services available. Among those are business plan consulting, catering, commercial cleaning, DJs, event photographers, karaoke rental, magicians, makeup artists, photo restoration, photographers, tree trimming, videographers, wedding officiants, wedding photographers and wedding videography.

Opening doors for small business in Ohio

​From the barbershop around the corner to the entrepreneur working solo to launch a business venture, small businesses form the cornerstone of Ohio’s economy. Small business owners comprise 98 percent of all employers in Ohio and employ half of the state’s private sector labor force. Large corporations may attract a sea of job applicants every year, but small businesses create every three out of four jobs in the state.

Clearly, there is nothing small about small business in Ohio.

The stakes are high for entrepreneurs and small business owners who face formidable start-up fees, a sizable tax burden and burdensome regulations in many states around the country. In traditional industries like manufacturing, Ohio has historically struggled to find the right balance of incentives to attract and retain employers.

Fortunately, times are changing.

This General Assembly, the Ohio Senate has taken several major steps toward creating a more favorable business climate for small businesses and attracting new investment to the state. We recognize the tremendous value of the innovation and hard work that small business owners bring to Ohio, and we can’t afford to give them anything less than our measure of support.

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