Public relations

Some time ago I attended a luncheon seminar sponsored by the Beachwood Chamber of Commerce on the world wide web marketing. The breadth of the topic precluded anything but a general overview in the al0tted 45 minutes. None-the-less, there were plenty of take-aways from the talk. I never cease to be awed by the power of the Internet in reaching out to the public – no matter who your public is, and I’m always learning of new techniques for effective use of the Internet.

One of the take-aways from this meeting was an understanding that there are public relations sites hungry for free posting of press releases. A site specifically mentioned is www.prweb.com.

My company, Wolcraft, has just recently introduced a line of LED-based lamps. So, upon returning from the seminar I wrote up a press release and posted it to www.prweb.com. Incredibly, within three weeks I had received two orders that I could directly trace back to that press release. Needless to say, I will be further exploring this and other sites as I develop future marketing strategies.

From my own experience and experiences of many other business owners I know, I’m convinced that collectively we have just begun to understand and use the power of the Internet in effectively reaching our public. Perhaps we all need to take a page from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in which he so very effectively used the Internet.

Will Limkemann

Frustrated entrepreneur

On February 25 I posted an open letter to president Obama explaining the importance of micro-businesses to the economy and how the government and banks virtually neglect this important business sector.

Yesterday I received a passionate e-mail from a reader and small business owner in Alaska thanking me for standing up for small businesses. This frustrated and industrius woman has kindly given me permission to quote from her letter.

“Presently I own and have managed my computer technology shop for nine years, am a single mother who home schools, have built my home with hand tools, been told No upon my request for adding utilities to my home by banks who would let me build a new home as the solution.  I’ve started and run successfully two small businesses and yet now barely hang on due to high interest credit cards, a double mortgage, and high interest lending.

Had I started with, or been granted capital for, low interest loans for my business I would be very successful right now.  I’ve already paid off my first property though $24,000 still remains in debt and the banks had me take on a second mortgage.  I know with adequate funding, I can help many more than I do.  I also have had a 22% return on my service business although others went to products earlier than I.  Now I want to provide products fast.  I can find and have vendor relationships that are better than the nearest competition more than an hour of road travel away!

I’m not writing to sing the blues because I’ve been the one to carry my community, local businesses, and volunteered at the local schools and for my church.  I am writing to let you know within a few weeks I am considering surrendering to the banks the belongings and businesses I’ve built in order to find a shelter and collect welfare and drop the bills.

My preference is to acquire a grant quickly for computers and new parts and peripheral equipment that people in the area buy from me before I can keep it on a shelf.  If I could acquire $10,000 it would equip the entire store and all of it would be sold within 1-3 months to provide a return of more than $1,800 based on conservative estimates.

I am writing to thank you for your representation, what you wrote in February on my and my small son’s behalf.  He’ll have to pay back our national debt.  His lifetime will suffer for it, and I appreciate your attempt to help what I believe America should be built on- the multitudes of small businesses who’ve crossed unnavigable roads, repaired their own vehicle, built their homes from the land up using hand tools, lived in homes without utilities, designed off-grid systems that add to the quality of life, and who’ve started businesses to contribute to their neighbor’s quality of life.

I am also writing to ask you if you know of any immediate grants that are real, for a single Mom with two professional technology and planning businesses.  It really is keep working or collect from my system contributions over the years, and it’s a decision I have to make within a short time.  Will you offer your insight for immediate and real funding assistance?

It appears that I have been doing everything with my life that the President requests of us regarding women in business, technology innovation, single mothers from the only land she could buy to two businesses, and I have no return for it.  All I have- the banks own.  I don’t mind working for them, but when I cannot acquire a few thousand to begin to supply equipment  when the value of repair exceeds new- what are the President’s words for?  Has he actually made any of the billions they’re throwing around available for small businesses who are in touch with the land, real value from resources, and have the knowledge, foresight, and innovation to achieve growth?

Will you tell me if we are still America or if someone else owns us now?” 

There you have it – the real-world frustrations of a single-mom-entrepreneur who is about at the end of her rope.

Do you have a story like this? I’d love to hear about it.

Small Business Open Letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama:

The Small Business Administration (SBA) was established to assist small businesses and to provide guidelines to other government agencies which from time to time may or must deal with small businesses. Accordingly it has established numerical size definitions, either in dollar sales or number of employees, for various industrial classifications. Aside from agriculture virtually any business with under 500 employees or $7 million in sales is classified by the SBA as a small business.

Census bureau statistics reveal that there are over 20 million businesses with just a single employee,  5,377,631 business with between 2 and 19 employees employing almost 30 million people, and only 627,000 businesses between 20 and 500 employees.

I submit that the very small businesses consisting of owner/employee businesses and enterprises with less than 20 employees have issues not even imaginable by the folks who run the small minority of businesses designated as “small” which would have 100 or more employees. Yet it is the larger of the small businesses which have  leverage with the SBA, the administration at large, and the congress.

It is no secret that our economy, today more than ever, is being driven by millions of small businesses. The number will only grow larger as thousands of unemployed people get the entrepreneurship bug and open their own companies. Now the sad news is that many existing small business and many new ones are destined to fail through bad timing, bad management, and lack of capitalization.

The time is now for the federal government to give recognition and assistance to the very small businesses to empower more of them to survive and provide increased employment.

Let’s start with a national roundtable discusson of top government officials meeting with a cross section of owners of companies with fewer than 20 employees to discuss the particular concerns, issues, and problems facing these organizations. Use the findings from the discussions to craft an agenda that will help improve the survival and success rate of these businesses.

Short of a national roundtable, a few measures that could and should be quickly considered are:

1. Provide tax credits to anyone investing in a startup or very small business.

2. Provide grants or tax credits to any business for each new net employee hired.

3. Release TARP money for low-interest lending to very small businesses with minimal paper work. Thousands of businesses are struggling because banks have either called their loans or will not issue lines of credit.

4. Release TARP money for business startup loans which could be forgiven upon achieving preset hiring milestones and profitability.

5. Encourage entrepreneurship at the high school level by funding courses that teach young people how to be innovative successful business owners.

President Obama, I can’t even begin to imagine how big your job is in dealing with mid-east conflicts and a financial crisis at home and world-wide. I am convinced that paying attention to, and helping out, small business is one of the tools you need to use to help restore economic health to our great nation.

Sincerely,

Will Limkemann
Small Business Counselor
will@limkemann.net
www.neobizadvisor.com

Change is here

Whether or not you agree with, or voted for, Obama, it is comforting to know that there is one fewer uncertainty in our uncertain times – we now know who the next president will be. Change is now inevitable, as the new administration will shed new light on everything from the economy to foreign policy to health care. The long and weary season of campaigning is finally over!

As a colleague and I talked over lunch yesterday we were lamenting the depth to which the stock market has recently sunk and the wide day-to-day swings. We came to the conclusion that after the election the markets should at least stabilize as the uncertainty of the election outcome will no longer be a factor. I hope we are right and that energy can now be focused on doing the right things to bolster the economy. That can only be good for small businesses.

A Time for Obama

September was the best month in my client’s three year history. They went into October with a large backlog and October has been promising to be a good month. The client sells designer products into specialty retail stores. In my meeting yesterday I learned that, due to the economy, orders are being cancelled, in spite of the fact that stores are beginning to stock up for holiday sales.

The client is a home based business which needs to move into commercial space. We reviewed a three year lease contract for a selected property, and I suggested some changes that should be made to the lease. The realtor is pressuring the client into signing the lease, but I recommended that we delay any action for at least a month to determine what direction the economy might turn.

While still optimistic about the direction of her business, the client said that the direction of the economy will be much more positive if Obama wins the election, and if that happens she would move forward with the lease. I have to agree with her. I think America is in a deep funk, and that electing Obama is going to inject a new sense of energy and optimism in all of us.

Will Limkemann
Limkemann Business Advisors
440-871-0976
www.neobizadvisor.com