Small Business, the Economic Engine
We are all ready for good economic and jobs news, but it unfortunately is not even on the horizon. The US Chamber of Commerce released its annual survey of small businesses today. Just for perspective, small businesses in the US have created two-thirds of all new jobs in the past two decades. They are this country’s growth engine. Uncertainty continues to be the biggest challenge for small businesses in the latest findings:
85% say the country is headed on the wrong track, with only 12% indicating they will add new workers. This is the same percentage as last summer.
78% say taxes, regulations, and other government policies make it harder to do business and grow.
74% say the new Healthcare Law makes it harder for them to hire new employees.
86% say they would rather have more certainty from Washington than more assistance (6%) to deal with the economy.
34% believe the business climate will improve in the next 2 years, but have yet to resume hiring.
The total number of jobs available in the US has declined by 2 million since President Obama took office. We saw a glimmer of hope with the unemployment rate drop to 8.5% last month, with 200,000 new jobs added. But 373,000 discouraged workers dropped out of the labor force that month muting any improvement. One bright spot was the Healthcare sector, which added 315,000 new jobs during the past year. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue reading
Investment Recovery Benefits
Recovering the highest value of assets not needed by a company is called investment recovery. The idle assets are identified and then re-used or disposed of as surplus – retrieving considerable value in the process. In every organization, assets are always present. Machines or facilities are purchased but through time, they wear and tear to the point that they can no longer be used. This is where investment recovery comes in. In doing this process, there are important principles to consider. These things are important for companies to know because they can be very useful to the environment in terms of asset disposition.
The first essential thing is the principle of re-using equipment. Idle equipment can be reused internally. Through an effective investment recovery program, surplus equipment can be kept out of the landfill instead of purchasing a new one. Reusing any idle equipment reduces depreciation, insurance costs and capital. Instead of disposing old equipment, a company can recycle it by converting oils and save valuable chemicals; which can generate income and preserve resources. Hazardous waste and disposal costs can be reduced.
The second is reconditioning. One example of this is the reconditioning of toner printing cartridges. They can be refilled and rebuilt and a business could save more money rather than purchasing a new one. In the investment recovery program, pumps, motors and valves can also be saved and put back into service by doing some minor repairs. Reselling is also a good option for a business’s excess inventory. This reduces loss and increases the company’s income. In some idle assets, lube oils, metals and spent solvents can be reclaimed and this has a good effect on the environment because it reduces waste, improves operating costs and preserves natural resources. In some instances, spare parts and unwanted materials can be sent back to the manufacturer for cash. In order to increase return of capital and lower the tax base, it is better to remove excess assets. Continue reading
The Importance of Niche
In the highly competitive world of today, having a strong personal brand is what makes you stand out among the rest and be successful in your chosen field. It’s not enough to have the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the job anymore, when there are others out there who say the same thing about themselves. To classify yourself as the true expert, you need to offer something unique and different, something that only you can provide, and this is basically what personal branding is all about.
One of the first things you need to do in order to establish your personal brand is to identify your niche. Whether you’re a direct seller, an executive, or a small business owner, defining your niche market is the essential first step before going ahead with the rest of your personal branding campaign. This will essentially be the foundation of your personal brand, and without it, your brand is simply going to fail.
Why exactly is this so? Why is finding your niche so important? Here are the reasons:
1. It gives you a clear vision of what you need to do
People are bombarded with so much noise and information nowadays that if you don’t clearly define what you want to do, then they’re just going to move on from the products or services that you’re offering. Knowing your niche will give you a clear vision of what goals you want to achieve and what steps you need to take to achieve these goals. You also have a clearer vision of how to tailor your products or services to suit your target audience.
2. It gives you a specific topic to focus on
The market is so highly saturated that you really need to have a specific topic you want to tackle in order to stand out from the crowd. Maybe you want to focus on blogging, but can you just imagine how many people out there are already talking about blogging? How do you differentiate yourself? This is why you have to choose your niche carefully. Narrow down your focus. Blogging for stay at home moms, for example, would be a better market because it is a lot more specific and targeted. You can now go into detail about this topic because you clearly have an idea about the niche market you’re targeting. Continue reading
Monoculture Farming Disadvantages And Negative Effects
The term monoculture in agriculture refers to the growing of a single crop over a large area. Monoculture is the norm in most large-scale commercial agriculture in the U.S. and in many parts of the world. Monoculture has certain short-term benefits, primarily in terms of economy of scale, and automation of the production process (and thus reduction of labor costs). However, in the long-term, the disadvantages of monoculture are overwhelming – this farming method has numerous negative effects on the environment, and furthermore, these negative effects tend to become amplified over the long-run. This article weighs the pros and cons of this sort of uniform approach to agriculture, and points to some alternative practices that are more sustainable, both environmentally and economically, and thus superior on all counts in the long-run.
Pros and cons of monoculture farming: what are its advantages?
It is immediately evident that I am not a fan of or advocate for monoculture. But there are some direct and strongly compelling reasons that people engage in this destructive practice. Before we talk about why this practice is so harmful, I find it fruitful to first examine its benefits or advantages.
The main advantage is economy of scale, primarily through automation. Especially in the U.S., labor costs are very high, so anything that can reduce the use of labor in agriculture is highly likely to result in cost savings. This is often true even when the automation reduces yield per acre. For example, if a crop has been grown, it can often be harvested in different ways, with different levels of automation. Greater automation in harvesting might result in greater waste, such as grain left in the fields, but if it requires less labor (such as one person driving a large machine which covers the ground very quickly, as opposed to several people driving smaller, slower machines, or many people harvesting the crop by hand) it may be superior in a cost-benefit analysis, even if it results in greater waste. Continue reading
Guest Blog Your Personal Brand
Having a business is about creating products and services, generating sales, striving to get customers at all times, and making your customers happy with what you are offering. Having a business means the need for a good marketing strategy to spread awareness and generate sales. The online market is a great place where you can build your brand and reach out to millions of consumers worldwide.
Businesses are creating websites with blogs as a place to talk about their products and services. As a marketing strategy, they expose brands on social media sites to get connected with customers and get feedback from them. With a well planned blog, you can generate search engine traffic, products and services exposure, and a way to connect with others that are interested in your business.
A good blog has to have great content in order to attract an audience. Keep them entertained while giving practical advice and something that will help them. Create content with great value, content that talks about your business and passions. Write about the things that you learned and share them with your audience.
As part of maintaining a blog for your audience, you want to give them variety. You can do this by guest blogging your personal brand or asking others to guest blog for you. You can ask other blogs, those who share your interests and can help your business, with a large following, to write for you or feature your article on their site. Build a network with other blogs to help you generate traffic to your site. Post quality content as a way to reach out to consumers and build brand awareness. Guest blogging is about building relationships with possible benefits of generating traffic, getting quality backlinks, and gaining brand exposure.
Guest blogging is a marketing strategy and here are some reasons why you should guest blog your personal brand:
Great search marketing – guest blogging will give you lots of high quality links and high quality content. This will increase your brand value and will generate quality traffic to your blog. If you can hold your visitors’ interest, there is the possibility of converting them to subscribers. Guest blogging is also the easiest way to build quality backlinks to your blog. Continue reading
Nutrient Pollution and Consequences In Water
Nutrient pollution refers to a form of pollution in which nutrients, usually nitrogen and phosphorus, are present in a high concentration that is damaging to ecosystems. Nutrient pollution is primarily a problem in aquatic ecosystems, such as streams, rivers, bays, and lakes. It is particularly an issue of concern in lakes and relatively closed or contained bays, like the Chesapeake bay. Nutrient pollution is caused primarily by the over-use of fertilizers in agriculture, or by waste from animal farming operations. The negative effects of this pollution are to disrupt, damage, or destroy aquatic ecosystems, which often can have negative environmental impacts, by destroying fishing industries.
This article gives a brief overview of nutrient pollution, including its causes in agriculture and its effects on waterways and fishing industries. The article concludes with some concrete recommendations of what can be done to prevent this type of pollution, both for farmers, and for concerned citizens.
How does nutrient pollution work?
Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are essential for all living ecosystems. Phosphorus is present in soils, and typically originates from the underlying rock or geologic substrates. Nitrogen is present in the atmosphere, but only enters the ecosystem through a complex process of nitrogen fixation, which is carried out primarily by certain plants and bacteria. The growth of plants are limited by the availability of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients, so in agriculture, the yield of crops can often be improved by applying fertilizers containing these nutrients.
Plants, however, will only utilize a certain amount of nutrients; once they have as much as they need, they are then limited by other factors, like the availability of sun or water, and the remainder of the nutrients will remain in the soil, where it leeches out when it rains, and runs off into the water table or nearby streams. Continue reading
Improving Your Business Signage Is a Must
Having an attention-getting sign is critical for your local businesses – no matter the industry. Your business signage identifies your business and location and it establishes your business image. Your business signage is the core of your brand identity strategy, whether it is proudly mounted on the building, on your booth or display at a trade show, or on your company vehicles.
It’s also the most cost-effective advertising you can do. The Small Business Administration says, “…signs are the most effective, yet least expensive form of advertising for the small business.” Building signage is often taken for granted, but signs are always on the job, advertising 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
How Improved Business Signage Will Help You Brand Your Company, Communicate with a Highly-Mobile Society & Leverage Your Advertising Efforts
1. Your business signage is the only indicator that you exist and would like your prospect’s patronage.
2. A frequently-noticed business sign sends your message to more people per dollar invested than any other form of advertising. For example, if you display a $200 sign for one year at a location where 10,000 cars pass every day, you’ve reached over 3.5 million people (not counting passengers), at a cost per person of less than $.000057. (Less than six hundred-thousandths of a dollar.) Even a high-end, lighted or monument sign that costs $5000, still reaches those people at a cost of $.0014, or a little over a tenth of a cent each.
3. 95% of retail business is location-based. As consumers pass by your place of business, an attractive and effective on-premise sign will leave a positive impression. When the time comes to make a decision or purchase, consumers will be attracted to you. Continue reading
Is Organic Really Better For The Environment?
This article explores the question of whether or not organic-certified foods are really better, in the slightly more objective senses of being better for the environment, and better for human health, than non-organic foods. In order to explore and answer this question, we delve a bit into the history of organic farming, and the history of human agriculture in general.
Organic vs. traditionally produced:
The field of organic chemistry, with its synthetic chemicals, is a modern invention. For thousands of years, humans practiced agriculture, relying solely on naturally occurring chemicals in the environment around them. People used manure and compost for fertilizers, and found natural methods of pest control, such as plant-based herbicides, the use of cover crops and buffer areas, to stop the spread of pests and provide habitat for predators that would control insect populations. People used open-pollinated crops, and saved the seeds each year, thus allowing their crops to adapt to changing conditions, including a changing backdrop of pests. None of these operations were “organic certified”, yet all of them would have fit the modern definition of organic farming.
Along comes synthetic chemicals:
Synthetic chemicals allowed people to move away from traditional farming methods, which were based on ecological principles. When using synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, produced in factors, many using petroleum inputs and energy-intensive processes, farmers were able to produce greater crop yields while temporarily ignoring the ecology of the farm.
But these chemicals come with a cost. Earlier generations of chemicals, such as DDT, posed serious risks to the environment, driving some species, such as the Bald Eagle, the symbol of the United States of America, nearly to extinction, leading many of these chemicals to be banned. A number of chemicals also pose problems to human health, contributing to cancer risk as well as other diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Leukemia, and many other sinister, chronic diseases. Continue reading