Driving Your Business

One of the most common questions I get from readers is about company cars. To lease or buy? How do I take a tax deduction for my company car? What about insurance?

I answer one of these kinds of questions in this week's Smart Answers column.

Last week, I did some in-depth research to find stats on startups. They're often requested, but not easy to find without some digging. This time, I picked up the shovel so you didn't have to!

Let's not forget the podcast, which features an interview with a government contracting expert. Inside info: We actually did this interview twice, after a glitch in the first taping. Turned out that the second time around returned a much better result, so it wasn't all bad.

Next week the final podcast of 2009 will be posted. Remember to let me know, or comment on iTunes, if you hope the podcast returns next year.

Future Thoughts

The BusinessWeek to Bloomberg transition is underway. Unfortunately, more than 100 editorial staffers were downsized last month as part of the integration of the two companies. I was very distressed to hear that many of my colleagues were laid off.

The good news is that my editor and the staff of the SmallBiz website, where Smart Answers appears, have been spared. Its counterpart, the SmallBiz magazine, does not look so fortunate. The new BusinessWeek editor-in-chief is likely to make content decisions over the next several months.

One immediate repercussion for me is that the award-winning Smart Answers podcast will go on hiatus after the middle of this month.

I've enjoyed doing the weekly podcast for the past several years and I hope it has been useful for my listeners. If you're one of those listeners and you want to see the podcast return, don't hesitate to let me know or leave a comment on the podcast at iTunes. Search "BusinessWeek Smart Answers" podcast; there's a space for listener comments near the bottom of the page.

Shopping At Work

Are you doing some of your holiday shopping from work this year? If so, you're certainly not alone.

Studies show that online shopping will run rampant this season, costing employers in lost productivity and exposing office computer networks to nasty viruses and malware. (My husband inadvertently downloaded a particularly virulent one last weekend while shopping for me, in fact, and his computer has been in the shop all week.)

My Smart Answers column this week discusses what small business owners can do to set a reasonable Internet use policy.

On the podcast, I talk to Rachel Kruse, founder of an organic foods company called Organicville. Starting a food company is high on the list of entrepreneurial pursuits and yet it is far more difficult and costly than most people imagine. Rachel really did it right and she offers some great tips.

Popping Your Elevator Intro

My Smart Answers podcast this week features Sam Horn.

She's the marketing guru I blogged about earlier this month.

In the interview, Sam lays out some terrific advice on a marketing opportunity that all of us get daily - and most of us squander just as often.

I won't give it all away, but it has to do with your response to that common question, "So, what kind of work do you do?"

I'm just as guilty as anyone of mumbling a half-baked response, but Sam inspired me to do better. In fact, I came up with a pretty good question (Sam advises that you answer the question with a question of your own) and tried it out over the weekend.

Just as Sam predicted, I got one of those "ah-ha!" moments in reply. Very nice technique - check it out!

Exciting News

I'm incredibly proud and excited to announce that my BusinessWeek "Smart Answers" podcast won a gold medal today at the 2009 Digital Azbee Awards in San Francisco.

The awards are given out by the American Society of Business Publication Editors. My show won for best podcast in the "podcast how-to" category. The BusinessWeek SmallBiz page, where my column appears twice weekly, also took gold for best microsite/special section.

Very cool and a nice way to start the weekend!

Reinvent Yourself

In many respects, small businesses get the short end of the stick. When companies cut back, small suppliers are usually among the first to get jettisoned.

When consumers cut back, it's the local businesses they tend to stop frequenting. And meanwhile, they're always striving to deliver more quality at lower prices than their larger competitors!

Back in 2007, I started to hear about small companies really suffering. Looking back, I think they were the "canary in the coal mine" of the Great Recession, which didn't hit in full until last fall.

And with credit still tight and consumer spending way below what it was a few years ago, there's no doubt that many small business (the ones who've survived) are still hurting.

It's good to know, however, that many entrepreneurs have powered through the downturn doing exactly what they're best at: Being creative, innovative and flexible. In my Smart Answers column today, I interview several small business owners who've been successful this year because they've changed their business models.

Earlier this week, I wrote about the risks of cashing out retirement funds to start a small business.

And on my podcast, management guru Michael McGrath discusses smart startups and how they can make good decisions.

New Content Alert

We didn't post a new Smart Answers column this week because I decided to take a little break for the long weekend.

But there is some great content at the BusinessWeek site that I'll point out to make sure you don't miss it.

A long-time source of mine, consultant George Cloutier, has begun writing a new column called The Turnaround Ace. This week, he tackles a family business run amok.

Uncharacteristically, our resident curmudgeon, consultant Gene Marks, writes about the up-side of the recession for small businesses that are well-managed and quick to jump on opportunities. Go Gene!

I do have a new podcast up, this one an interview with an expert who advises that entrepreneurs should start planning now to beat their competition out of the post-recession, early-recovery gate.

Entrepreneur Profile

It's the small business owner who's been pegged to lead the country out of recession.

How?

Conventional wisdom says that our salvation lies at the hands of the small-time inventor, the garage tinkerer who finds a way to make a new product cheaper, more efficiently and with better quality than his competitors.

I interview one of those small-time (and small-town) inventors in this week's Smart Answers column. Find out what really motivates him and how he plans to help save energy - and humanity.

This week's podcast features an interview with Steve Strauss, who says small business owners can do wonders with their companies if they will just get organized.

How'd You Do That?

In this week's podcast interview, I chat with an author who studied fast growth companies.

Jason Jennings, a long-time entrepreneur who started writing business books and speaking to business owners several years ago, identified dozens of companies where CEOs came in and made big, positive impacts in a short timeframe.

Then he narrowed his list down to the top few and interviewed each of the CEO's to answer the question: "How'd you do that?"

What he found is fascinating. Each of these highly effective, highly efficient CEOs bucked the traditional mold and did things that might at first seem counterintuitive, but turned out to be brilliant.

Listen to the interview to get more info. By the way, you can listen to my podcast at the BusinessWeek website (look for "featured podcast" on the SmallBiz page) or you can do what I do: Subscribe (free!) at iTunes and listen on your iPod while you're doing something like walking, biking or lifting weights at the gym.

Failing to Deal

When his father's small business closed its doors after many years, Dean Shepherd was devastated.

But that was nothing compared to how his father felt, Shepherd says in this week's Smart Answers podcast.

With so many small businesses shutting down these days, it's important to find coping skills for failure, Shepherd says.

Many entrepreneurs must have learned that lesson. I remember several years ago coming across a study that showed that the most successful entrepreneurs have failed early on in their careers and come back to try again, getting it right the second - or third - time.

On the Hook?

It's a tough time for businesses, perhaps especially small businesses, and many of them are closing their doors.

When you've formed certain legal business entities, you're supposed to be shielded from personal liability for a failed business.

But as I write in my Smart Answers column today, that protection is not always there.

Read about the host of things that entrepreneurs may do - sometimes inadvertently - that void their corporate protections.

This week's podcast is an interview about social media marketing with a guy who was one of the early employees at LinkedIn.

Social networking is not something that will go away, or can safely be ignored as a marketing tool, he says. Think of it as simply a new way to communicate - like the telephone. Small business owners who refuse to adopt it may go the way of the telegraph operator.

The Week in SmallBiz

I never cease to be amazed when I interview high-powered, high-profile individuals who can't readily spit out a three- or four-word description of who they are or what they do without hemming, hawing or resorting to jargon.

Honestly, it happens more often than not. "How shall I identify you in the interview?" is not infrequently met by an embarrassed admission that the person "doesn't really have a title" or isn't quite sure what his/her title is.

"What does your company do, in a nutshell?" often elicits stammering or - worse - a regurgitated sound byte so twisted with marketing lingo that it makes no sense.

If you can't fluidly describe you or your company in simple, engaging language, you can't get customers, investors or potential partners interested. And you certainly can't impress the press.

Last week, I attended a competition in which start up firms give the "fast pitch" their best shot. Read about it in my Smart Answers column.

In my Smart Answers podcast, I interview a fascinating guy who has written a book about how brain research should change the way we manage people and relate to clients.

I really liked his observation that thinking new thoughts actually changes our brains physically, as new neural pathways are forged.

Guess what? New ideas really can change us - and change the world!

Conventional Wisdom Upended

Not-for-profit organizations used to be told that they needed to operate more like for-profits if they wanted to become truly successful.

Well, a lot of them took that advice and are thriving (or were, before donations tanked due to recession).

And now, the same advice is being turned back on the small business owner, according to this week's podcast guest, Roger Sametz.

My Smart Answers column chronicles my visit to a speed-coaching event last week in Anaheim.

Frankly, I was skeptical about how much help entrepreneurs could really get in 30 minutes with a SCORE counselor.

But honestly, an experienced counselor can touch on a lot of solid business information in half an hour! I was pleasantly surprised after sitting in on several sessions. And of course the real purpose of the event is to bring entrepreneurs together to network, encourage each other and hook up with the organization's long-term help and support.

A Bright Spot

You might think this would be an awful summer for the travel and accommodations industry, and you might be right.

But for a small sliver of the industry, one dominated by small business owners, things are looking pretty good this year. Read about it in my Smart Answers column this week.

My podcast is a fun one this week, too. It's the story of a successful business co-op, one of 300 cooperatively owned companies in the United States.

The bakery started out as an offshoot of the Red Clover Worker's Brigade in Petaluma, a '70s hippie commune, which totally cracked me up.

Investors (Still) Open For Business

Credit is tight, or non-existent. Friends and family are tapped out. What's an inventive, determined entrepreneur to do?

The good news is that although private investment has dropped sharply, it is still available from specialized sources.

I talk to a few folks who are still ponying up money for enterprising startups in my Smart Answers column this week.

In the podcast, I interview one of those determined enterpreneurs, Eileen Gould - a female general contractor working in a man's world. Eileen is a long-time source whom I interviewed for the L.A. Times back in the '90s, when her business was booming.

Things aren't so good right now, but Eileen hasn't given up. Her pluck and creativity inspire me and remind me why I love writing about small business owners!

Speaking of the Times, my In Box column this week answers questions about finding startup clients, improving cash flow and whether having a helper hubby on the job is a problem.

Beef Up Your Website

Websites are no longer optional marketing and sales tools, but too many entrepreneurs are missing out on the Internet's full power. So says the guest on my Smart Answers podcast this week as he explains how to engage customers and monetize content.

Speaking of monetizing content (I swear I didn't plan this), my Smart Answers column talks about affiliate plans and reselling online.

Most of us are familiar with affiliate programs, where you put a link on your site to a site like Amazon.com and share in some portion of the proceeds when sales result. But some firms are going beyond that rather benign practice and asking their customers to become distributors or resellers for them.

It's an interesting proposition, but it gets into trickier, and potentially more time-consuming, territory and should be evaluated more carefully.

Business Startups

Lots and lots of people are thinking about starting companies right now. Some have been laid off, others are retiring early, all have long had the entrepreneurial bug. My email is jammed with startup questions.

I address two of them in my LA Times In Box column this week.

Having had a couple of relatives crash and burn with startups - with dire consequences for their finances and even their marriages, sadly! - I try hard to instill some common sense into my answers. If I can steer clueless newbies to a prudent, research-based approach to starting their companies, I feel that I've done both my job and a public service.

My Smart Answers podcast this week is all about how to evaluate a bank and move your accounts if you can upgrade the relationships and services involved.

A Recipe For Change

Ever feel like you've "gotten into a rut" in your personal or professional life?

When that saying was coined, it likely referred to physical depressions in a road or field caused by plows or feet treading the same ground over and over again.

What's interesting is how well the metaphor holds up in the age of neuroscience, as we start to learn more about the reality of brain function. It turns out that neural connections that we make frequently (things like driving familiar routes or tying our shoelaces) become ingrained habits. The physical "zapping" of impulses down well-worn nerve pathways helps turn once-challenging tasks, like pronouncing unfamiliar names, into everyday items that we don't have to consciously think about.

While this evolutionary achievement makes life a whole lot easier, it can also mean that we're naturally resistant to change. Why learn to make new brain connections, which can be tough or uncomfortable, when those worn-down ruts are so much easier to navigate in our thinking?

The guest on my Smart Answers podcast this week works with clients whose companies need change. Dr. Andrea Simon, a corporate anthropologist, explains why it is so difficult to achieve that change and why we all need to find different perspectives on our lives.

She is a fascinating interview, so check it out!

Highlights of the Week

Remember the dot-com heydey, when garages were the preferred business venue and professionals slaved away for the promise of equity in vaunted startup ventures?

Those "roaring 90s" are long gone, but startup firms still offer equity in exchange for professional services. I answer a question about how to make such arrangements and whether they're always a good idea in my Smart Answers column today.

In this week's podcast, I talk to a family business expert. Unfortunately, he says, too many family-owned businesses are behind the times technologically and also lag in strategic planning. During good times, small companies can sometimes skate along with sloppy management, but in a recession they need to sharpen their strategy or risk failure.

Finally, BusinessWeek.com's Entrepreneur Journal is a fascinating first-hand account from a couple with a terrific idea (sole covers for athletic cleats) who struggled for years - and went through $100,000 - before they brought that idea to fruition.

The takeaway: Don't monkey around with amateurs. Hire pros who are experienced in the industry you're trying to break into if you want to succeed.

Don't Be So Naive

One of the most influential columns I've ever written is "The Myth of Free Government Money." Posted way back in 2000, it's still cited, linked to and quoted frequently in small biz circles.

My aim was to strongly refute the scammers and con artists who fleece would-be small business owners by the thousands every year, selling them the preposterous idea that the government hands out "free money" to start up entrepreneurs.

The problem, of course, (paraphrasing Bacon) is that it's much easier to believe outlandish claims when we want them to be true.

This mixture of naivete and greed delivers up willing victims to fraudsters. And the only remedy is education.

I aim to do a little more educating in this week's Smart Answers column on the latest fashion in scams, and in my podcast on how small retailers can jump on affinity marketing just like the big boys are doing.