Dashboard
A weekly roundup of small-business developments.
Another year of The Dashboard is behind us, and it’s time to look back at our favorite comments, blogs, opinions and videos of 2012, the ones that had the biggest impact on small-business owners. Enjoy.
Lesson From Sandy Mark Thoma, an economist, offers a lesson learned from the enormous natural disaster: “If inequality and the economic and political power that come with it continue to grow, the belief that capitalism is unfair could become widespread. This, in turn, could bring about the kinds of changes to the market system that free-market advocates fear so much.”
Post-Election Advice Politics aside, J. Jennings Moss creates a list of opportunities for small businesses as a result of the November elections, including Big Data: “This sector would have boomed regardless of who won the White House. But it might get an extra boost with the return of Obama, who created the job for a chief technology officer on his first day in office in 2009.”
Start-Up Angle The best take on the 2012 start-up scene is Adam Fletcher’s nine signs you’ve become a start-up hipster, including: “You use the word social at least 15 times a day. A true ‘stipster’ understands that for any business to succeed it must be ‘social.’ Exactly what social means, stipsters aren’t sure, but it probably involves a crude Frankensteining of Twitter, Quora, Facebook and cats that look like Hitler.”
Best Videos The best videos of the year include Pat Stansik’s description of what it’s like to turn 24 years old, the executive chef of McDonald’s showing us how to make a Big Mac, and a touching display of kids supporting a classmate with cerebral palsy.
Way to Manage This employee-management advice comes from Mark Lengnick-Hall, a professor with the University of Texas at San Antonio College of Business, who says that we should manage our teams to be like the San Antonio Spurs: “Create a sense of shared purpose and interdependence. The Spurs constantly stress passing the ball and making plays as a team. They are all committed to one goal: coming together as a team. Businesses, too, need to create an overarching goal that brings employees together in a common pursuit.”
Advice for Naming a Product Tom Grasty, an entrepreneur, offers three tips, including: “Make sure the domain name is available. Because you never know which domain extension is going to be the next one to take off, my advice is to purchase as many domain extensions as possible. I know .cc (the domain for the Cocos Islands) may seem completely unnecessary today, but the last thing you want to do is be held hostage by some domain squatter who had the foresight to buy your domain before you did.”
Social Media Lessons David F. Carr offers seven lessons he learned from social business leaders, including one take-away from Ford Motor: “Let business drive technology, not the other way around.” And Gaz Copeland’s helpful suggestions on how to look stupid in 140 characters should not be missed.
Look Into the Future Are you familiar with self-healing concrete, counterintuitive metamaterials or deflexion? If you’re preparing your business for the future, you should be. And these are just a few of the cool technologies on the way, according to this report from Ilya Leybovich.
Thoughts on Retail No matter what kind of business you run, you should read Shashi Bellamkonda’s “thoughts while having a pedicure,” including: “Reach out to potential customers through your existing customers. Maybe a sign that says, ‘Your partner or spouse will love us too. Bring them in!’”
Tweet of the Year I have no interest in making the most money in the world. I have an interest in having the most people at my funeral. — @garyvee
Going Mobile Chris Gaylord’s reports on how cookie sales are soaring for the Girl Scouts is a great example of the impact that mobile technology can have on any small business, even a nonprofit organization.
Getting Ready for Crowdfunding An accountant, Jim Brendel, explains the promise of crowdfunding: “It’s a hot topic for businesses because they are always looking to raise capital. Now several funding portal Web sites have risen to fill the crowdfunding void. Anyone, even if not incorporated, will be able to use crowdfunding. It is only limited by the attractiveness of your idea and your ability to present it.”
Reality Check Erica Douglass offers insights on the harsh realities of being an entrepreneur: “To really succeed, you have to have the guts to not listen to basically anything that’s popular in our society. If you have weak goals, you won’t be motivated to work on them. And if you’re scared of criticism, you won’t make it.”
Boss of the Year My favorite small-business story of the year is Caine’s Arcade, which is about a 9-year-old who spent his summer building an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s used auto-parts store — and a community that came together to make his day. The video “has inspired millions and launched a movement to foster creativity and entrepreneurship in kids.”
Living Well Leo Babauta explains how: “Want little, and you are not poor. You can have a lot of money and possessions, but if you always want more, you are poorer than the guy who has little and wants nothing.”
In Conclusion This author, however, thinks President Obama and McKayla Maroney best summed up the year for me and my small business. Here’s to a more impressive 2013!
Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.
Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/26/this-year-in-small-business-not-impressed/?partner=rss&emc=rss