Energy costs second only to health care as top concern
From Washington Business Journal: Soaring fuel and energy costs rank second only to the cost of health care among problems facing small business owners, according to a recently released survey by the National Federation of Independent Business.
Dry Cleaners Hit by Rising Costs
From the BBC: Joe Hallak's dry cleaning business faces the most severe test in its history.
Founded by his father in Hackensack, New Jersey, 42 years ago, it is one of the latest victims of record oil prices.
Dry cleaning businesses are going out of business at the fastest rate since the 1960s.
There's been a dramatic jump in the cost of the chemical solvents used in the dry cleaning process.
Eco-Friendly Cleaning Franchise Opportunity
A purveyor of environmentally friendly cleaning products, Living Clean taps into popular concern about what we expose our bodies to and the environment in general.
Founder Julie Bishop tells BOB about how she started the business, which has just taken on its first franchisee, and how Living Clean stands apart from other cleaning franchises.
Adam Bannister
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Domain Name Shakeup May Bring New Net GoldRush
From The Guardian: For more than a decade the internet has been a world of dotcoms, dotnets and dotcodotuks.
That could all change, however, with a new scheme to liberalise the way websites are named, creating a whole new generation of addresses such as .bank, .sport and .news.
British Pubs Close at Fastest Rate Ever
From Sky News: Pubs are closing down at their fastest rate ever - with those in towns and cities being hit the hardest.
Some 2 % of all city pubs have closed in the last six months, whilst food-led country pubs with outdoor facilities for smokers are reaping the benefits.
How I Started... an Online Database of Stolen Goods
Many founders of fast-growing businesses set out with the most modest of intentions.
For example, Pierre Omidyar originally set up eBay as a vehicle for his wife to trade collectables called Pez candy dispensers. Omidyar had no inkling of what the site would become.
Adrian Portlock, whose Gloucestershire-based company Recipero has built an online database comprising the serial numbers of 100 million stolen goods, agrees that this is “often the way with businesses. If you see an opportunity based on providing a solution, that’s normally a good basis for a start-up.”
Viral Video: Getting the Hits to Make a Hit
What is viral video?
A viral video is a brief video clip, usually no longer than a few minutes, which gains greater exposure as viewers share it via internet or mobile technologies.
The mediums through which viral video is distributed include email, instant messaging, blogs and video sharing websites, the most popular of which, by some distance, is YouTube.
How to Grow Fast in Down Times
From CNN Money: We checked in with several of this year's FSB 100 companies for tips on what they've learned through their torrid growth and occasional stumbles.
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The Profits of Gloom
From the BBC: Despite the credit crunch, increasing inflation and falling house prices, some businesses are reporting record profits.
Pawnbrokers, bailiffs, company liquidators and discount retailers are recording bulging order books and soaring profits.
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How I Bought... a Hair Salon
Thirty-nine-year-old Tracey decided to buy a business to supplement her income, ultimately, perhaps, to replace her main income given the stressful nature of her job.
She thinks the hair salon she bought in December 2007 could ultimately serve as a retirement fund, if and when she resigns from her role as the head of a local-council department.
The Secret of Bill Gates' Success
From the BBC: As Bill Gates prepares to end his full-time work at Microsoft, he tells the BBC in an interview that it wasn't just what Microsoft did, but what his rivals didn't do that let Microsoft get ahead.
"Most of our competitors were very poorly run," he tells Fiona Bruce, for The Money Programme.
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50 Office-Speak Phrases You Love to Hate
From the BBC: Management speak: don't you just hate it?
Emphatically yes, judging by readers' responses to writer Lucy Kellaway's campaign against office jargon. Here, we list 50 of the best worst examples.
Treat Employees Right in Tough Times
From Businessweek: If employees really are your company's most important asset, mass layoffs and salary freezes are a poor way to show it.
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Get Yourself Some Inspiration
A business book like no other on the market has just been published.
The Book of Business Inspiration doesn’t just feature the usual step-by-step business guides, it also has interviews with people who have started or bought their own business or franchise. These everyday entrepreneurs talk about how they did it, the problems overcome and the lessons learnt, and offer advice on how you, too, can have your own business.
The book also features how-to guides, ranging from how to buy a business to how to make money via the web; profiles of various businesses, from newsagents to nightclubs; profiles of legendary entrepreneurs; information on relocating your life to another country; and much more.
The Book of Business Inspiration is available to buy on Lulu.com for £14.95, or £5 for a downloadable copy.
The Book of Business Inspiration is published by Dynamis, the online media brand behind BusinessesForSale.com, FranchiseSales.com, BusinessOpportunities.com and BusinessWings.co.uk
Adam Bannister
in 1.Buying a Business, 2.Buying a Franchise, 3.Starting a Business, 91.The Diary of an Entrepreneur, 4.Growing a Business, 8.Inspiration, 9.Biz News, 6.Location Profiles, 7.Interviews
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Make Your Website Work for You
From Businessweek: Your website should convey your brand.
Our columnist looks at three small companies' sites to see how well they do.
Building a Content-Rich Website
By Donald Nelson, founder of A1-Optimization, which provides search-engine optimisation and article-writing services: If you want to achieve lasting success with your website then the best route to take is to build a content-rich site.
A site with varied and informative articles and plenty of information generally, will be big hit with users and search engines alike.
Small Businesses Fight to Survive in Tough Economy
From Businessweek: Small business is risky business these days.
Costs are rising, profits are shrinking and the ability of the big guys to keep prices relatively lower is drawing away customers.
Things are so bad that many small enterprises, which account for about 99% of the country's businesses, say they are hanging by a thread that may soon snap.
Rural Potential Goes Untapped
From the BBC: Businesses in rural parts of England do less well than those in urban areas and are failing to reach their full potential, a report has said.
The chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities, which wrote the report, said rural areas had up to £347bn a year of untapped potential.
But Stuart Burgess said some villages could become commuter ghettos, empty of local wealth if action was not taken.
The Importance of Networking
For a ‘born socialiser’, making the most of meeting people, expanding their circle of business contacts and building on those relationships is effortless.
But not all of us are quite as confident at ‘working a room’. However, networking is a vital part of success when starting a business and, thankfully, a skill that can be developed.
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Grim Picture of UK Service Sector
From the BBC: Britain's service sector shrank in May for the first time in five years, as costs rose and confidence in business prospects fell, a survey has shown.
The Chartered Institute for Purchasing and Supply's index of service sector activity fell to 49.8, from 50.4 in April, the first fall since March 2003.