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Small Businesses’ Financial Outlook Falls

April 4th, 2013 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

How are small businesses across the country feeling about their financial futures? According to the latest Capital One Small Business Barometer, not too positive. The study asked small business owners about their opinion of the current economy and their financial and business projections for the next six months.

 

In the most recent survey, conducted at the end of 2012, small businesses’ concerns about the future had risen, with more than one-fourth (26 percent) of small businesses polled saying they believe economic conditions will decline over the next six months. That’s a 12-point increase from Q3 2012. In addition, more than one-fourth (27 percent) of small business owners said their company’s financial position was worse than a year ago, up 11 points from the same time in 2011 and up 4 points from Q3 2012.

Given these concerns, it’s not surprising that just one-fourth of small businesses say they plan to hire in the next six months. “Among the small businesses we’ve surveyed, we are still seeing significant caution about prospects for growth, as well as hesitancy about making investments,” said Jon Witter, President of Direct, Consumer and Small Business Banking at Capital One, in announcing the survey. “Looking ahead, confidence in the economic environment will be key.”

As to the overall economy, the outlook isn’t great. While 44 percent of the small businesses surveyed believe economic conditions are holding steady, that’s a drop of 7 points from the same time in 2011. Fewer than one- third (28 percent) expect economic conditions to improve in the next six months, and the same percentage expect conditions to get worse.

The national Small Business Outlook index, which ranks business prospects for the next six months on a scale of significantly worse (1) to significantly better (10), continued its downward trend throughout 2012, hitting 5.6 in the most recent survey. What factors matter most to small business owners’ outlooks? Price margins and profitability topped the list, followed by cash flow and fuel prices.

Small business owners are keeping a firm grip on their budgets, with just 13 percent planning to increase spending in the next six months—down from 20 percent who planned to increase spending at the end of 2011. In addition, the number planning to cut spending hit 25 percent—the highest it’s been in two years, and up 8 points from the Q3 2012 survey.

With limited plans to increase spending, it’s not surprising that more than two-thirds (68 percent) of entrepreneurs polled don’t plan to hire in the next six months, either.

How do these opinions relate to your own outlook, both for your business and for the economy as a whole?  

Image by Flickr user Michael David Pedersen (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Business Development, Small Business, small business, Workforce | 1 Comment »

Big Companies Are Hiring. What Does It Mean to Your Business?

April 3rd, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Big corporations are beginning to hire again, data from a variety of sources show. What does this trend mean to your small business? Bloomberg Businessweek recently reported that hiring seems to be on a steady upswing. After adding 236,000 workers in February, payrolls may add 216,000 new jobs in March, one expert cited predicts.

While job growth averaged 167,000 jobs per month in the second half of 2012, so far this year it’s reached about 200,000 per month. Another economist Bloomberg cites projects the U.S. will add 2.5 million jobs in 2013, up from 2.2 million last year.

Some other encouraging signs:

  • While the overall U.S. unemployment rate is currently 7.7, it’s steadily decreasing.
  • The number of unemployment claims is dropping, reaching 339,700 a week in the month ended March 16, for the lowest it’s been since February 2008.
  • Temporary-help-services payrolls hit 2.58 million in February, the highest they’ve been since August 2007 and an increase from 1.75 million when the recession officially ended in June 2009.
  • The housing market is finally strengthening, even in areas that were struggling long after the recession officially ended.

There are a range of reasons why companies are hiring, including:

  • Stronger demand for products and services
  • Need to replace employees who were laid off during the recession
  • Easier access to credit and business loans stimulating growth

Meanwhile, a couple factors could hinder the newfound growth:

The government budget cuts brought on by the sequester could lead to federal government layoffs and a drop in payrolls caused by loss of government jobs. Ultimately, cuts could trickle down to reduced demand for services and products from private businesses, hurting those jobs, too.

Businesses could be reluctant to hire if the Affordable Care Act turns out to raise health insurance costs prohibitively.

What does job growth mean for your business?

  • With large and midsized companies starting to ramp up, if you want to compete for qualified employees, now is the time to start thinking about hiring needs.
  • Consider hiring temporary employees if you’re leery of taking on full-time, permanent workers until the ACA’s effect on your business shakes out.
  • While companies of all sizes are having difficulty finding skilled, experienced workers, bigger companies are becoming more open to taking on less-skilled workers and providing on-the-job training. You may need to do the same.

Image by Flickr user bgottsab (Creative Commons)

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Posted in Capital Access, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: ZOHO Projects (Project Management)

March 15th, 2013 ::

ZOHO Projects

Even for the smallest businesses, project management tools make keeping organized and on schedule a cinch. If you need to share progress or files with partners, employees or clients, an online project management program can help your team work together more efficiently. ZOHO Projects works with Google products like Gmail and Google Drive and also has a mobile app available. ZOHO Projects is free for one project and if you need less than 10MB of storage. The next level of subscription is $199 for a year with 5GB of storage and unlimited projects.

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Resources, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Employee Pairin (Pre-Employment Selection)

March 12th, 2013 ::

Employee Pairin

So you’re hiring for an important position and you’re overwhelmed by the number of well-qualified applicants? That’s a great problem to have, but a scary one if you have no gut feeling as to who would make the best new hire. If you’d like an unbiased third-party opinion, for just $49 per open position, Employee Pairin can provide a 10-minute online test that creates a one-to-one comparison according to 137 peak performance drivers. The solution is perfect for small businesses with fewer than six employees in the same position, but with at least one “model” employee to compare against the top applicants.

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Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Uncategorized, Workforce | No Comments »

Are You a Victim of Nice Girl Syndrome?

February 15th, 2013 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you a nice girl? If you’re like many women business owners, you grew up getting rewarded for being nice. Teachers gave you good grades, you made your parents happy and you got more friends by being nice.

Fast forward to today when you’re a small business owner. While you may think that being nice brings some of the same rewards (and you’d be right), there are also times when being too nice can harm you and your business. Here are some warning signs you might be suffering from “nice girl syndrome”—and how to take control.

Too nice to employees: Are your employees walking roughshod over you? Do you stay late every night at the office while your team leaves at 5 on the dot? Do you regularly pick up the slack for staffers who aren’t pulling their own weight?

What to do: Being too nice is doing your employees no favors. If you always take on their work, they’ll never learn or grow. Many entrepreneurs (not just women) struggle to delegate, but it’s important to learn. Start setting new rules and holding employees accountable for their work.

Too nice to clients: Do clients and customers request tons of last-minute changes, or ask for more and more work—without paying you any extra? No, the customer is not always right. It’s important to know where to draw the line so your business and your employees aren’t getting shortchanged.

What to do: Avoid “scope creep” by being clear about costs and deliverables upfront. Use written contracts to clarify what’s included in the purchase and what costs extra. You may decide it’s OK to do extra work for key clients, but even so, keep track of what you do so that when you renegotiate your contract, you can point out the added value you’ve brought to the table and justify a higher cost next time.

Too nice to your family: Are you taking on all the housework at home in addition to working 18-hour days at the office? Don’t give in and become a martyr just because you’re afraid of making waves.

What to do: Ask for what you want and figure out a win-win way to get it. If both you and your spouse are exhausted after long days, outsourcing chores like cooking and cleaning may be worth the cost. Or consider just lowering your standards a bit and being easier on yourself. If you’re like most women business owners, the one person you’re not nice enough to is you.

Image by Flickr user amber de bruin (Creative Commons)

 

 

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Small Business, small business, Workforce | 1 Comment »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: TripIt for Teams (Travel and Expense Management)

February 12th, 2013 ::

TripIt for Teams

If you and multiple employees of your company all travel for business, you need an organized management system to keep track of all travel plans and expenses for the company. TripIt for Teams was developed to allow small and midsized businesses to centrally manage employee travel, keep everyone connected on the road, and provide insight into the company’s travel spending. Travel planners know who’s travelling when, where they’re staying, and how much the trip will cost. The TripIt for Teams travel calendar makes it easy for the whole team to see when and where their colleagues are traveling and have access to confirmation numbers, maps, directions and other trip details anywhere at any time.

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Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Compliance, Resources, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Causora (Online Marketplace for Professionals)

February 11th, 2013 ::

Causora

Got a small project you need done but you don’t want to spend a lot of money? Causora is an online marketplace for designers, marketing and advertising services, IT and more. The twist? The money you pay goes to charities. Causora is a place professionals can advertise their services and have the proceeds go to the charities of their choices. Business logos that usually cost thousands of dollars can be purchased for a few hundred. Services are offered for a fixed price or buyers can enter into an auction and bid for services.

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Posted in Marketing, Resources, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Get Up, Stand Up: Why Your Employees Should Stop Sitting Around

February 7th, 2013 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

The rising cost of health insurance, the need for greater productivity at work and the costs in both time and money of illness in the workplace are driving a growing trend: Small business owners are trying to get their employees to live healthier lifestyles. While being overweight, smoking and being inactive are all obvious causes of poor health, one factor that’s attracting more and more attention is the sheer number of hours most people spend sitting each day.

If your small business is office-based, chances are most of your staff spends 8 hours a day or more sitting hunched at their desks. New research is showing that prolonged sitting—even in otherwise active people—can be harmful to health. So how can you get your staff up off their chairs?

  • Offer standing desks for employees who want them. You could invest in ready-made furniture such as Focal’s standing furniture. Or, depending on how handy you and your employees are, you could also raise existing desks to an appropriate height by bracing them to the wall.
  • For the really committed, try treadmill workstations. These can be pricey (and most people won’t be able to walk all day, anyway), so you might want to invest in just one and let employees use it at different times of the day with their laptops.
  • For a less expensive solution, stability balls can provide many benefits by requiring employees to work their core muscles just to stay stable. Workers can alternate the balls with regular desk chairs as they build up stamina.
  • Make exercise part of the day. OfficeGym sells a chair-based exercise system that makes it easy to fit in a workout at your desk. You could also encourage employees to take quick stretching breaks instead of coffee breaks.
  • Hold standing or moving meetings. Holding your meetings standing up is a great way to not only get people off their chairs, but also keep the meetings shorter. Double the effect by starting the meeting with a group stretch. You can take it up a notch by holding walking meetings outdoors. (Just make sure someone is recording what’s discussed on a voice recorder or other device so nothing gets forgotten).
  • Walk around. Instead of shooting an email to the person next door, try actually getting up and talking to him or her. (If this gets too time-consuming, you could set a “no-email day” once a week to force people to actually walk around and talk to each other). This tactic can have benefits beyond just walking around as employees interact in new ways.

Image by Flickr user jseliger1 (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Health and Wellness, Small Business, small business, Workforce | 1 Comment »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: Ascendify (Social Talent Acquisition Platform)

February 1st, 2013 ::

Ascendify

You may decide to use a recruiter when looking for that perfect job candidate, but why limit yourself to one recruiter when you may be missing out on a huge talent source? Ascendify takes the recruiter/hiring manager relationship to a new level with their social platform. Instead of a limited amount of static listings, Ascendify can offer your company a higher number of quality candidates, increased participation in employee referrals, greater efficiency in screening and more understanding of your brand for potential new hires. The platform makes it easier for candidates to understand your corporate culture, your benefits and special programs that make them want to work for your company.

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Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Web.com Small Business Toolkit: DeskTime (Time/Project Tracking)

January 29th, 2013 ::

DeskTime

With so many readily available distractions threatening to zap your employees’ productivity, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on exactly what your staff is doing on their computers. Are more hours spent on Facebook during the workday than on getting those invoices out? What about punctuality? DeskTime is designed to find and eliminate wasteful habits. Plus, the reports system shows both the entire company’s work results as well as those of individuals. Don’t worry about invading your employees’ privacy: The system only records application names, website URLs, start times and end times, never anything sensitive such as keystrokes or form input. DeskTime is especially helpful for virtual companies.

 

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Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Compliance, Resources, Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

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