You’re the Boss Blog: This Week in Small Business: Firing the Founder

Dashboard

A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What’s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

Must-Reads

Google Fiber spawns a start-up renaissance in Kansas City. Floyd Norris explains how a brilliant tax-avoidance strategy for S corporations went terribly wrong. And Scott Horsley believes rock ‘n’ roll explains the economy.

Economy: Still Grumpy

Builder confidence reaches its highest level since 2006, and the Architecture Billings Index rebounds strongly. Housing starts were up 6.8 percent in May, but Steven Hansen’s analysis paints a slightly different picture. Manufacturing conditions in the New York (pdf) and Philadelphia regions improved, household financial health is looking up, and people are spending more on weddings. Dun Bradstreet advises that: “While the outlook is brighter, it’s important to understand this recovery remains uneven depending on geography, vertical and individual company health.” Key measures also show low and falling inflation, and a prominent economist is now predicting growth to be 3 to 3.5 percent. But the number of Standard Poor’s 500 companies that have issued earnings guidance below consensus analyst estimates is running higher than normal. And Harvard’s Niall Ferguson is still grumpy.

The Fed: Stepping Off the Gas

Ben S. Bernanke prepares to step off the gas, and Wall Street throws a tantrum. Justin Wolfers helps explain what the Federal Reserve is saying. Eduardo Porter makes the case for a rise in inflation, and Matthew Yglesias believes that with inflation low, the Fed should stay far away from tighter money. This chart shows how bad the Fed is at predicting the future, and these three charts show that the recent stock market rally is not all about the Fed.

Management: Firing the Founder

Mike Martel explains why you should not “eat the elephant” one bite at a time: “The real problem with taking it step by step is that most people lose interest and end up quitting.” This is how an old barn and a cider press became a thriving small business and a local institution. Rafi Mohammed explains how Microsoft “blew it” on the price of Xbox One. Here are 10 books every entrepreneur should read. Michael Dillon thinks franchisees should take it upon themselves to make changes. The founder of Men’s Wearhouse is fired (it’s tricky when the founder is also the face of the brand). Here are seven reasons you need a business plan. Maria Konnikova demonstrates how caffeine can cramp your creativity, and another report finds that dim lighting sparks it. Were these small businesses misled by a credit service’s sales pitch?

Small Business Week: It’s Getting Harder

President Obama proclaimed last week National Small Business Week. The Latino Coalition, Citizens Bank, the National Association of Small Business Professionals, Chrysler, and Google all sent their regards. The Small Business Administration celebrated its champions in Illinois, and Ernst Young used the occasion to name its American and worldwide Entrepreneurs of the Year. Brock Blake thinks a Micro Business Week might be more appropriate. A survey from Capital One Bank says small-business conditions are improving, and another from Citibank reveals a three-year high in how owners view business conditions. However, almost half of small-business owners say access to credit is still a problem. A Constant Contact survey finds that the majority of small businesses say it’s harder to run a business today than five years ago, and this infographic explains how running a start-up has changed. But have faith: a UPS Store survey finds that 48 percent of Americans dream of starting a business, while 71 percent of small-business owners say they would start their businesses all over again.

People: Reinventing H.R.

Here’s how Google is reinventing human resources — but the company acknowledges its infamous brainteasers were completely useless for hiring, and a former Google and Microsoft engineer explains why he would have hired Edward Snowden: “elitist, arrogant rebels often make the best employees.” A 30-year-old explains why he took an internship. There’s much to be learned from the best employers for baby boomers. Bob Phibbs has suggestions for empowering employees. This is how eight retail workers make the most of their free time. Data show that people joining the work force today are less educated than those leaving it. Two Dunkin’ Donuts employees get rave reviews for handling a racist rant. ADP says the number of franchise jobs grew by 19,160 in May, and surprise: an analysis says that the more applications you fill out, the better chance you have of getting a job. Shawn Stefani hits a hole-in-one at Merion.

Entrepreneurs: Learn to Code

Steve Mariotti interviews Maria Jimenez, a top youth entrepreneurship educator. Kylie Toh believes all entrepreneurs should learn to code because it enables you to be self-sufficient. The House Committee on Small Business highlights a few “made in the U.S.A.” stories of small manufacturers. Entrepreneurs are impressive, but not as impressive as these new astronauts. A social media app from Deluxe uncovers the secret identities of America’s small-business owners.

Social Media: Harder Than You Think

Here are a few creative ways to use Pinterest for your business. Barbara Findlay Schenck has nine tips to power up your social media. Chris Marentis warns that effective social media marketing is more difficult than most people think. Facebook passes one million advertisers and brings video to Instagram. Tom Andel shares stories of manufacturers succeeding by using social media. A satirical Taylor Swift Twitter feed gains 80,000 followers in six days. This is how a two-star Amazon review makes thousands of sales. This infographic shows why going viral online is big business. A webinar will help you measure and improve your internal e-mail.

Sales and Marketing: Dueling E-Mail Services

Giancarlo Massaro shares advice for how to get leads and sales. Here are 34 research reports on content marketing. SendGrid picks an e-mail marketing fight with MailChimp. These were the top 10 ideas from marketing and advertising over the last 12 months. This is how to offer smarter customer support on the go. Scott Anthony explains what 10-foot noodles have to do with competitive advantage.

Around the Country: Free Power

In New York, a restaurant abolishes tips, residents get free power-charging stations, and apartment dwellers may have to start collecting food scraps for composting. Delta and JetBlue lead airline service rankings (and this hedgehog leads an adventurous life). The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Senate’s immigration bill would reduce the deficit by $197 billion over 10 years. An Entrepreneur Center opens near Nashville.

Around the World: Giant Balloons

Joe Weisenthal thinks it’s hard to look at these photos from Indonesia and Brazil “and not worry about a much bigger emerging market blow-up.” British students get fooled by a “Star Wars” prank. Diana Ransom explains what it takes to start up in Turkey after the recent protests. China’s factory activity hits a nine-month low, job prospects for China’s grads are getting bleaker and a credit bureau says China’s credit bubble is unprecedented in modern world history (but that’s not deterring General Motors from investing $11 billion there). Google’s plans to beam the Internet from giant balloons sent to the stratosphere could help small businesses in rural parts of Asia.

Ideas: Better Air

A Zipcar-style service for airplanes is introduced. A teenage scientist designs a sustainable and cost-effective biofilter to remove chemical pollutants from indoor air streams. Here’s how to add the integers from 1 to N quickly.

Technology: Bug Bounties

General Electric is hiring thousands of engineers to build an “industrial Web.” Here are three cloud-based surveillance options that will help keep an eye on your business. A survey finds many small businesses are in the dark about the potential impact of a data breach. With “bug bounties,” Microsoft extends an olive branch to the hacker community. Two of the biggest names in 3-D printing merge. Erica Ogg reports that everybody loves the new MacBook Air’s battery. A search engine alternative to Google hits 3.1 million queries. Google, Office 365 and Dropbox lead in cloud growth.

Tweet of the Week

@danmartell – Free advice is often overpriced.

The Week’s Best Quotes

Margie Warrell says you should take the risk because the odds are better than you think: “We are neurologically wired to exaggerate how bad things could be if our plans didn’t work out, and we fail to appreciate our ability to intervene to ward off further impact.”

Andrew Dowling explains why parents make better entrepreneurs: “Anyone launching themselves into a new business quickly finds they’re dealing with lots of things which are unfamiliar to them. From the moment you discover you’re going to become a parent, your trajectory is remarkably similar. Your life suddenly changes in a big way forever. You find yourself dealing with concepts and terminology you’ve never had an interest in before. And once your kids are born, you’d better get used to dealing with change, because that’s what your life is going to consist of for the next couple of decades.”

This Week’s Question: Do you think it’s harder to run a business today than it was five years ago?

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/2013/06/24/this-week-in-small-business-firing-the-founder/?partner=rss&emc=rss