Planning, American Style

My story on immigrant financial planners and the clients they serve hit the Interwebs today.

Check it out. I love the headline they gave it.

What's Luck Got To Do?

Readers frequently ask me about the role of luck in starting a business. And I've always been curious about it, too.

Certainly persistence, planning, education and a positive attitude are crucial to small business success. But there are also a host of factors that can't be controlled: timing, big picture economics, competitors, trends and plain old luck.

So how big a role does good (or bad) fortune really play in success? The New York Times business section had an author who has written a book on this very topic opine on it in Sunday's paper.

He analyzed extremely successful businesses to try and isolate the role luck played and came up with a ROL (return on luck) factor that takes some of the uncertainty out of it. Fascinating stuff - give it a read.

Bugs!

Due to a particularly unforgettable - and harrowing - episode of This American Life, I have a developed what is likely an irrational fear of bed bugs. Or perhaps it's a healthy fear, I'm not quite sure.

Either way, I never travel now without inspecting hotel room mattresses and dumping the contents of my suitcases into the washer (and more importantly a hot dryer) upon my return.

Seems I'm not the only one obsessed. Entrepreneurs are catching onto this phenomenon, not to mention cashing in on it, according to a report I received recently from the North American Bed Bug Summit.

This Chicago event attracted more than 700, double last year's attendance, and the number of vendors exhibiting also more than doubled, to 75. Because there is no "silver bullet" to rid the afflicted of bed bugs, inventors and marketers see a wide-open field in which to sell their solutions, at least until Big Pesticide weighs in.

As the summit organizers put it, "Because bedbugs are lucrative, entrepreneurs are hopeful their product will be a hit among customers." Because hey, when you've got bed bugs, you'll buy anything that claims it can help - or so I imagine.

I'm glad that entrepreneurs have a new market, but I hope someone invents that silver bullet (or silver cross, or garlic necklace) soon. My mother used to tuck me in every night with, "Sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite." I'm sure she never realized that one day her catchphrase might be taken literally.

Small Business Saturday

The Saturday after Thanksgiving (yes, it's coming up sooner than you realize!) has been declared Small Business Saturday.


More than 100 advocacy, public and private organizations, including American Express OPEN and Clear Channel Radio, will be encouraging Americans to get their holiday shopping started at a small business on Nov. 26, 2011.


I know I'll participate. Will you?

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

What's the small retailers' secret weapon this holiday season? Greeting customers by name and making personal recommendations for them.


This according to American Express OPEN's latest consumer survey on small business. The survey showed that nearly three-quarters of consumers shop at small businesses in their community because they do not want them to go away. 


So, here's the thing: They like you - they really, really like you! That's if you like them first. So, love your customers. Treat them like friends. Hire smiling sales clerks (hint: dimples really, really help) who are as genuine as they are smart.


Check out the other key findings from the survey, including who spends more money at small businesses, men or women; and how your customers find you depending on where you're located.

Guest Post

Note: Patricia Sigmon is founder and president of LPS Consulting, a 30-year-old technology firm that specializes in creating technology solutions for small to midsize businesses, with profit generation and return on investment as the focus. A successful entrepreneur, Patricia is author of "Six Steps to Creating Profit: A Guide for Small and Mid-sized Service-Based Businesses" (Wiley)

Five Reasons Your Business Should Join the "Cloud Crowd"

By Patricia Sigmon

The phrase cloud technology may be part of business lexicon, but how many small and medium-sized businesses are really taking full advantage of the cloud's time- and money-saving advantages?

If you engage in social networking such as LinkedIn, or use an email system such as Gmail, you're already in the cloud. But there's so much more to cloud technology. Here's a taste of how you can use the cloud to benefit your business, and why your business should join the "cloud crowd."

AdWords Grader

How well are your Google Ad campaigns really working? Check out the AdWords Grader from Wordstream and find out.

Larry Kim, founder and CTO of WordStream, which puts out the AdWords Grader, says it is important to check metrics on your AdWords buys because: