Sometimes

Smaller Is Better!

Stop trying to jam  big-budget marketing into today’s low-budget economy! You’ll lose time, money, energy, and respect! (Maybe even your business!)

Having helped to start  hundreds of successful businesses, I’m rarely wrong when it comes to predicting business failure. And I’ll tell you right now that I can name a doctor, a manufacturer, a furniture retailer, a trucking business, a bank, a college, and two car dealerships that are positively headed South. The worst part is they don’t even know it. (Or perhaps they do and just don’t want to admit it!)

They’re all caught up  in trying to beat the economy by overwhelming it, like the poor schlemiel with a gambling addiction, throwing good money after bad. Each of these incipient failures have undertaken paths of reckless endangerment, thinking they are some kinds of hot-shot entrepreneurs. Sadly, they are not likely to survive long enough to see the economy turn.

     SOMETIMES  

(contrary to all the “enlargement” spam emails),

 SMALLER

(as the little Beetle automaker has proven time and again)

  IS BETTER!

     Marketing  doesn’t have to be exorbitantly expensive and splashy to be effective. There are some enormously successful direct mail campaigns out there that use postcards. Some of the world’s greatest print space advertisers have discovered they can be equally effective with great (tiny and infinitely less expensive) front page classified ads.

     Baseball managers  who lack big-time sluggers resort to winning games by playing “small ball” …focusing on the basics like not swinging at first pitches, drawing walks, bunting, base-stealing, catching with two hands (!) and playing “heads up” on each pitch. It works.

     Professionally-written  email campaigns can be hugely successful for no cost beyond a writer and a technician (and maybe a list rental). I am presently preparing a frugal campaign for one client that calls for strategically-placed highly-specialized business cards instead of the elaborate and expensive brochures he originally planned.

For another client,  I am preparing an inexpensive customer attitude survey that will get the business significant sales simply by virtue of asking for opinions (and might even collect some valuable ideas and feedback as well!) Bumper stickers are making a comeback.

Bartering  website banners and, of course, the much-talked-about use of social media also represent free and often very effective marketing tools. And, done right, not enough can be said about the value of professionally-done (and again, free) public relations news release and BUZZ (word-of-mouth) programs.

Before you dig  into your pocket to bet on yet another roll of the dice, stop and think about other effective, less-expensive ways to get your message across. The ways are there waiting for you. When smaller is better, open minds open doors!

# # #

FREE blog subscription: Posts RSS Feed

Hal@Businessworks.US    302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Next time someone calls you

“Four i’s,” say thank you!

Radio station WIIFM  (What’s In It For Me?) has been on the air now for over 30 years that I can remember, as the acronym for reminding marketers and advertisers and salespeople that benefits, not features, are what people buy! You want to make a sale? Tell prospects how they’ll benefit, not how great you are!

Okay,  you got that, right? So what’re the “Four-i’s” in SMALL BUSiiNESS STiiMULUS?

Here it is,  all you acronym fanatics (and don’t say I never gave you anything!):

• Intelligence –

Cause literally EVERYone outside Federal and state government circles knows that ONLY small business job creation will reverse this sick economy, and that small business owners must rise above the meaningless token incentives being waved around… and go for the gold under their own steam!

• Innovation –

Cause everybody has ideas, but very few see them through to completion!

• Impression –

Cause you never get a second first one!

• Integrity –

Cause without it, you have no business and no chance of survival in ANY kind of economy! Doing the right thing all of the time means having no exceptions.

     The bottom line is  that if you are lacking in even one 0f these four I’s, you are in big-time trouble, and need to get on the stick before 9am tomorrow morning! And, incidentally, none of these qualities, values, characteristics, whatever you want to call them, costs anything.

In fact,  all four involve conscious daily choices to pursue them. When you have Intelligence, and know your market, know your industry, know your competition, know your product and service benefits (and features) and know what you’re up against with narrow-minded government perspectives that will only provide lip-service instead of solid support, you will be in the best possible position to move your business forward.

     When you choose  innovation and innovative thinking, you are choosing to see every step of the birthing process for launching a new idea. That focus alone will carry the best ideas forward and lose the unproductive ones quickly along the way.

     When you realize  that no one will take the trouble to judge your business twice and that your first impression must be the one that flies, you will be well on the way to achieving the acceptance levels you seek. This means not settling for inferior marketing, advertising, sales, promotion, merchandising, and public relations programs and materials.

     Integrity is the backbone of business.  The recent failures of giant corporate entities have underscored the truth of this point. The day-to-day failures and successes of small businesses are 100% attributable to having and consistently demonstrating high levels of trust and integrity or not. Failures blamed on under-capitalization are failures of poor management. Failures of poor management can inevitably be traced back to failures of integrity.

Heed the Four i’s  as if they were your own two i’s because in the end, the i’s have it!

# # #

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”    [Thomas Jefferson]

Hal@Businessworks.US         931.854.0474

Guidance to 500+ Successful Business Startups

Creating Record-Sales for Clients Since 1981!

“Stick to your knitting!”

(and risk going down the tubes!)

All of history’s great management gurus  have traditionally advised business owners and managers to stick to their knitting, as in “do what you do best, put your head down, and charge forward!”

But these are radical times  that call for radical solutions. “Sticking to your knitting” can earn you bankruptcy. Look around you for the proof. Would you like a list of all the (big AND small) single-minded-pursuit businesses that closed in the last two years?

Except for those few businesses  that thrive on hard times… do-it-yourself stuff and debt consolidation and pawn shops and vulture lawyers… those who do best are adapting and expanding and re-inventing themselves!

You run a service business  but have more to offer than just your accounting skills. I’m not talking about your tuba-playing. Surely you have taught others something about your specialization at some point. Why not add that ability to the range of services you offer?  

VOILA!  Now you are also a consultant and trainer. Package these add-on services, price them, and include them on your business cards and letterheads. Hey, nothing ventured… 

You’re a painter or designer?  Add less-expensive, one-of-a-kind postcards and greeting cards to your lineup.

You sell furniture  and discover the new senior housing complex down the road provides a small alcove area next to every front door; nothing you carry fits there, but you (or someone you’re connected with) have (has) some carpentry skills. Measure twice; cut once. Skinny/tall/customized corner cabinets! Sell affordably and POOF! A new revenue stream and new prospective customer base.

Every problem is an opportunity.  

A lousy economy is an opportunity

to innovate and spin new business

directions out of your old knitting.

“A stitch in time…”     

And now’s the time to prune the

brittle dead and the overgrown.

     In this second straight year  of continuing economic setbacks for you and your business, you have no doubt suffered losses —money and people— you would certainly have preferred to avoid. And now you’re sitting out on the farthest-most limb of your company tree, saw in hand.

     Well, scramble back down  and spare that big old branch. It may not look altogether healthy, but there’s some green stuff coming out of those barren bark areas, and it’ll survive and thrive if you just —instead— get out the pruning shears for one last ruthless sweep of the brittle dead and the overgrown.   

     But, wait, you say,  you’ve done this already, just months ago! Well, if you’ll promise to shoot the message and not the messenger, I’ll take the risk of telling you that you need to consider it again. When overgrown shrubs and dead branches are lopped off, more nutrients go into growing that which remains and the discarded pieces will return to life in some other form.

     When you let go  of marginal employees, you are strengthening the organization and you are giving everybody a chance to reinvent themselves. They may not like it; they may suffer for it; they may not see it as an opportunity, but in the end they’ll be happier for finding work situations that are better suited to them.

     UNLIKE trees and shrubs,  you are dealing with human emotions and frailties, so a realistic tone of understanding, empathy, active listening, and genuine helpfulness is what you must offer as your end of the trade-off. Losing a job is equal to losing a life for many because it’s such a devastating blow to the ego and self-esteem.

     You must be tuned into  that dynamic and do everything possible to help ease the life transition your business survival needs are prompting. Yes, you must be firm in making and communicating your decisions, but you must also be willing to listen, eager to refer, agreeable to compensate, and share in the responsibility. Why? Because it comes with being a leader.

     And why now?  Because as we let go, we grow. Because the longer we hold onto weak, unproductive, marginal employees, the closer we come to the point of no return, where it’s simply too late to let go and too late to survive.

     Just keep in mind  that there is also a time for every purpose under heaven, and that one purpose of a leader is to show heart in helping the downtrodden to see the light, while showing courage in inspiring the strongest of remaining forces to move forward, onward and upward for the collective good.

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # #

This blog free via list-protected email: click RSS Feed above…$1.99/mo on  AMAZON Kindle. Creative? Add your own 7 words to the 318-day 7-Word Story (under RSS) We’re making it up as we go!  GET Hal Alpiar short story in Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING Amazon, B&N, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication $22.45 total check only (includes s&h), payable & mail to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include continental US ship-to address. 9/13 is Grandparent’s Day!

Are You Juggling Seagulls?

     With the economy  nipping at your hindquarters, if it’s beginning to feel like there simply are not enough hours in the day, you’re probably not on the verge of the nervous breakdown you’re thinking you’re on. You’re probably just juggling seagulls!

     Oh, right,  well that makes everything okay now, doesn’t it? I mean anyone can do that little trick if she just puts her mind to it. Seagulls are, after all, very cooperative creatures and will surely do whatever you might ask of them. “Roll over, Jonathan!”

     Serious,  we already know that time and tide wait for no man. One of our parents said that once. So (the other parent probably said) time marches on. What this means is that since you can’t change time, you CAN change two things that use it up: Tasks and Takers.

     Tasks.  The simple answer here is to delegate. You’re worried that no one else will do the tasks the way you do them? Guess what? You’ve no doubt heard that SOME things never change?

     Well, others not doing stuff the way you do stuff  is one of those things that never changes. Extract your ego! Accept the fact that if others do things differently than you, the world will not end, and that getting the tasks done is what’s important. 

     On the more complicated front,  when you just can’t bite the proverbial bullet (which certainly has to hurt one’s teeth), then accept the fact that EVERYthing you do doesn’t have to be letter perfect (unless you’re an editor!), and make your mind up that getting the task done is what’s important. (Hmmm, did I say that before?)

     Okay, you’ve got the time deal  and the tasking functions covered, so there’s just one more nasty little seagull to catch up with and confront: Takers! These are people who have no regard for your time or sense of urgency and will–consciously or unconsciously– take every conceivable minute of your time up, if you let them.

     Aha,  therein lies the complete juggling trick! Yeah. Don’t let them. Period. But that’s hard, you say, especially when one of them’s your mother-in-law. Yeah, well, spit happens you know. The bottom line is that people will not take advantage of your time if you make an active choice to not allow it.

     “Excuse me,  but I need to be on my phone (in my office, at a meeting, working on a speech, visiting the bathroom) right this minute. Perhaps you can catch me a week from Thursday when I’m on the road; just call my cell phone (which will certainly be on it’s last charge bar by then).”

     If you are getting stressed  from juggling seagulls, either give up juggling, or move farther inland.   

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # #

This blog free via list-protected email: click RSS Feed above…$1.99/mo on  AMAZON Kindle. Creative? Add your own 7 words to the 315-day 7-Word Story (under RSS) We’re making it up as we go!  GET Hal Alpiar short story in Sept. release book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING Amazon, B&N, OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication $22.45 total check only (includes s&h), payable & mail to: TheWriterWorks.com, LLC @PO Box 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include continental US ship-to address. 9/13 is Grandparent’s Day!

Not just tech triumphs, the

PO is a self-fulfilling sinking

You think it’s not coming?  You must be a fantasizer, or you work for the post office! Direct mail, thanks to the US Post Office (AKA US Postal Service) as we know it, is dying a slow, painful suffocating death.

How can that be?  Because direct mail–like commercials being the mainstay of broadcast media–is the mainstay of the US Post Office (AKA US Postal Service), and the US Post Office is on the way to gasping its last few breaths.

I noted here  a few days ago that the US Postal Service is reported to have processed 203 billion pieces of mail during 2008. (That’s 7.700 pieces per second!) Now does that sound like an entity that’s going out of business?

Well, consider that during the same time period,  CTIA reported over one TRILLION text messages were sent. And are you ready for this one? Radicali Group reports –for 2008– that 210 BILLION EMAILS were sent PER DAY. Do the math!

Now take a hard look  at US Postal Service management. It’s a sea of incompetency, which should actually not be any surprise considering the totality of federal government incompetency when it comes to anything involving business.

And no need  to look any further than the banks, automakers, lack of job creation due to 100% lack of small business savvy and support [except for  tokenism from the equally incompetent SBA (Small Business Administration) run, of course, by big business]… or the ridiculous “forced healthcare” proposals on the table. Maybe we should be forced to buy stamps!

Here.  Try a quick review of these two gem blog posts from this past March: the first was mine, criticizing the US Postal Service and the second was from a postmaster who politely tried to defend and then subscribed to the bulk of criticism. (I reproduced his reply in full.)

They speak for themselves  http://halalpiar.com/2009/03/23-lifelines-tossed-to-the-post-office/ and http://halalpiar.com/2009/03/hawaii-postmaster-responds-to-postal-service-critique/

It’s beginning to look  like it’s going to take more suffering before government gets a wake-up call that the only answer to our economic woes is going to come from small business job creation and the privatization of government agencies.

Unless agencies  like US Postal Services can be run like real businesses by being market competitive and operated for profit, they will cease to exist. The Post Office is on its way out. And like a sinking ship’s treasures, it’s taking the direct mail industry along with it.

# # #  

Input aways welcome:

Hal@BUSINESSWORKS.US or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! 

2nd only to the government,

big business gets an F

All of us who own and operate or manage a small or medium sized business know that the world’s most incompetent excuses for “businesspeople” reside in dark, damp little squirrel holes of government and academia buildings. They are the poster boys and girls for business stupidity.

But right after these poor ignorant, unrealistic souls, maybe not even a full rung lower on the ladder, are the braindead, money-wasting corporate executives who spend half their lives in limos, cabs, commuter train barcars, business class airline seats, and fancy restaurants.

These are the hot-shot 9 to 5 executives who travel better, eat and drink better and live better, higher-income lifestyles than either the government doo-dahs or the academic muckity-mucks.

But that doesn’t make them smart, or productive, or successful.

Most of them are none of those.

It simply makes them people who don’t have what it takes to start and build and grow their own business ventures, but who are not quite as stupid as those who work for those who get elected.

They are also a hair more savvy than those who merely pretend to know what it’s all about, and who instead of doing, end up teaching young people how to do and not do the things they themselves don’t know how to do and not do.

It’s interesting to me, by the way, that so many of these corporate suits seem to think they are Henry Ford’s and Bill Gates’s and Mary Kay’s when they get anywhere near a calculator or Excel spreadsheet.

Reality is that this country is in dire economic straits today because of corporate mentalities that STILL don’t get it, that STILL are unproductive, that STILL squander taxpayer (and stockholder) money left and right. (Actually, I have fresh evidence from today, if anyone’s interested in details.)

What’s wrong with all this is not just the consequences of incompetence but the systems that breed it: educational institutions, government agencies, and Fortune 500 corporations.

How do I know this? Before spending most of my career as a small business owner/operator, I was a college professor, a government employee and a Fortune 500 executive. That’s like the been there, done that thing.

Thankfully, I saw early on that none of these (academia, government, corporate) paths held out any promise of a successful life journey for anyone with energy and ambition and common sense and basic business instincts.

And here’s what I conclude: 

. . . when we can ween ourselves from societal dependence on misguided government, fantasyworld academia, and thieving corporate America . . . and put wind behind the sails of small business . . . only then, will we turn this ship around! 

# # #  

 Hal@TheWriterWorks.com or comment below.

Thanks for visiting. 

Go for your goals, good night and God bless you!  

Are you professional, or

are you A professional?

     Many people are professional in mind, body, spirit and/or the ways they conduct themselves at work as employees of businesses that sell products and multi-provider services.

     For those who fit this description, congratulations, but you should probably hit the road here because –tonight– I am only interested in the other kinds of professionals… those who have nothing to sell except their personal knowledge and/or skill services.

     You know who you are because you’re still reading.

     You are a self-employed one-man-band or one woman-band.

You are a sole-practitionerdoctor, dentist, chiropractor, nurse practitioner, writer, painter, craftsperson, psychologist, designer, photographer, illustrator, teacher, consultant, lawyer, accountant, architect, “middleman” agent (individual insurance and real estate folks, for example), athlete, coach, massage therapist, physical therapist, speech pathologist, occupational therapist, musician, entertainer, computer guru. More? I’m sure I missed a few.  

     Here’s the economy deal we (I am a writer/consultant) are all struggling with:

• None of us have a warehouse full of products or, in fact, any inventory; None of us have a string of partners or bank of phone or computer operators.
• We can’t wake up, go to bed, or eat lunch with the rest of the world. Most of us work evenings and weekends. Sick days? Vacations? Huh?
• There is just so much of each of us to go around, and to make the most of on any given day, so the issue is not so much the economy as it is productivity. Is this ringing any bells?
• Productivity reduces itself to how we make the most of our time. Time management is an essential skill. Prioritizing is an essential skill. Money management is an essential skill. Creating new revenue streams is part of that.
• And, of course, stress management may be the most important of all skills because it allows us to do or prohibits us from doing all the rest.

     If you’re trapped in this vicious circle of having no time for time management, and too much stress for stress management, and you’re wound up trying to get water from a stone, STOP already! Take inventory of your SELF!

     It’s really okay to step back for 5 minutes of your life and think about where you are and where you’re going. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Start by taking some deep breaths:   http://halalpiar.com/2009/05/4-steps-in-one-minute-zero-stress/  [This 4-step, ONE-MINUTE technique works!]

     Good! Now, go look in the mirror, ANY mirror. If you are satisfied with what you see, get back to work, thank you for your time, and goodnight.

     If you don’t like the face staring back at you:  1) Start MAKING time for time management by tuning into priorities and asking for help (with anything you can ask someone for) to take away some of the time-eaters. 2)  WORK at your breathing until it’s not work!  3) Eliminate excuses.  4) Do it now! 5) Remember that your behavior is your choice.

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # # 

Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 299-day “7-Word Story” (center column). A new Hal Alpiar short story is coming in September in a new book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…soon at Barnes & Noble @ $19.95 ($24.95 CAD), OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication price @ $18.95 plus $3.50 s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com. LLC. and mail to POBox 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to (U.S. only) address.  REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY! 

SELF-EMPLOYED?

Defragment and

give your SELF a

stimulus package!

     There’s plenty of unused storage space in your mind, believe me. Even if it’s just a little teeny bit true that Einstein supposedly only used about 10% of his total brain capacity, where does that leave the rest of us? I mean, give that about 27 or 28 seconds of think time right now.

     Think about all that extra (empty?) space in your brain that’s available to put to work. Leave it plugged in tonight and just click on accessories> defragment. By the morning, VOILA! You’ll be ready for anything.

     Maybe we should sort out who’s working where first. That way, when you’re all freshly defragmented, you’ll be in a position to make more of what you’ve got, or jump into something different.

     If you work for a big company, raise your hand and leave the room. If you work for someone else in a small company or you work for an organization of some type, or you’re in school learning how to work for somebody else…or you don’t work (Wow! What’s thatlike?), you’re probably not reading any of this anyway because you’re too busy surfing FaceBook.

This now leaves us with the heart of the businessworld: YOU!

    You run and/or own and/or manage a business,

OR you are self-employed.

     Oh, there’s that nasty hyphenated word again: self-employed. This simply means that you run AND own AND manage a business. I love you for that…but don’t get yourself worked up over my affection because what do I know?

     Federal and state government leaders don’t think you count.

     Obviously they haven’t a clue about how Apple and Microsoft got started in garages by self-employed geniuses. Anyway, don’t hold your breath waiting for some kind of  stimulus package since “self-employed” doesn’t count as a small business in government circles.

     I saw a handful of governor-conference-attending governors on CSPAN last night, including I am sorry to say, Delaware Governor Jack Markell who clearly doesn’t get it…who thinks his small business job creation plan to help established small businesses get bigger is going to have big economic impact.

     Sorry Jack. You need to get real, and talk with (LISTEN TO) some of Delaware’s thousands of self-employed small businesses –the ones that are NOT established, that are struggling to get established to see what they need to get up to 3 or 4 or 11 or 25 employees…and TIP: it’s not more loans!

     Making stimulus package room for startups and struggling self-employed is like making disk space by defragmenting. Clear out the junk, the spam, the space-wasters.

     You see what I’m saying here about brain capacity?  Defragmenting cleans up your harddrive. The same concept will clean up your brain, and help you focus on how to be more productive with your time and energy.

     You can be sure of not getting government support, so what can you be sure of? Your SELF! And how do you make that start to work for you? The same ways that Messrs. Jobs and Gates made their one-man-band garage ventures start to work for them.

     They made the choice. They worked hard at their ideas. They didn’t give up when things looked bleak. They didn’t worry about stimulus packages. They put their heads down and charged. You can do that too! Start tomorrow morning…after you defragment tonight!     

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # # 

Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 297-day “7-Word Story” (center column). A new Hal Alpiar short story is coming in September in a new book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…soon at Barnes & Noble @ $19.95 ($24.95 CAD), OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication @ $18.95 plus $3.50 s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com. LLC. and mail to POBox 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to (U.S. only) address.  REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY! 

The Emperor’s New Clothes!

     On the heels of begging Mr. Biden to stop hallucinating with his feebly http://halalpiar.com/2009/07/its-about-small-business-mr-biden/ unfounded economic turnaround braggioso, I turn to yesterday’s summary from U.S. News & World Report, another self-proclaimed mainstream media source of business acumen and salvation, and can only shout HOORAY!

     Now we can finally all stop being nervous and worried (frantic?) about the sick economy that our nation’s financial giants have birthed and nurtured because according to USN&WR, things are in fact getting better, just as Pal Joey would have us believe in his comments earlier this week, telling us to “just look around!” to see all the business rebounds and job creation that’s going on.

     Well, don’t you know, USN&WR has happily substantiated Mr. Biden’s claims with some hard-nosed assessments that all small business owners everywhere must by now be jumping up and down about.

     “We’re seeing some signs of the economy turning the corner” says USN&WR. WOW! I respond, and hungrily devour the article, searching out some hook to hang my hat on. Ah, and what to my wondrous eyes does appear, but six organizations that give me such hope, I had to run to throw up!

     Here, says USN&WR, take this: Positive financial news is surfacing from none other than these six entities that USN&WR no doubt considers representative for all of us:

• Goldman Sachs
• JP Morgan Chase
• CitiGroup
• Bank of American
• CIT
• The Federal Reserve

     Oh, my heavens! Such great news from these six. Can we in small business be far behind?

     Duh. Yes.

     When did the struggling farmer, retailer, transporter, wholesaler, distributor, construction firm, manufacturer, tourism-based business, and all the rest of us who actually work for a living have anything in common with the big business muckity-mucks who own and operate these monster wheeler-dealer corporations?

     When did their revenues and projections ever have anything to do with the reality of making a living based on the price of or market for corn, or shipping, or a decent hotel room?

     Where exactly is small business in this flurry of mixed economic messages? Why is the government sitting on it’s hands? Why is small business, the last remaining hope for economic turnaround through job creation, being disregarded?

     Why is small business seeing nothing more than tokenism fro government?

     Could it possibly be that union purchases of the presidency now need to be repaid in political favors to the exclusion of survival that only small business job creation has the capability of spearheading?

     Have we become so sick a nation that political IOUs have become more important than our hands, our hearts, our minds… our families? Let’s get real, mass media. The government surely isn’t!     

# # #  

Input aways welcome: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in    subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  

# # # 

Get this blog FREE by list-protected email: click “Posts RSS Feed” (center column)…or pay $1.99/month on AMAZON Kindle. FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the 296-day “7-Word Story” (center column). A new Hal Alpiar short story is coming in September in a new book from Nightengale Press: THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…soon at Barnes & Noble @ $19.95 ($24.95 CAD), OR order special (signed by Hal) pre-publication @ $18.95 plus $3.50 s&h [$22.45 total check only), payable to: TheWriterWorks.com. LLC. and mail to POBox 1236, Millsboro, DE 19966. Include ship-to (U.S. only) address.    

REMEMBER SEPTEMBER 13th IS GRANDPARENT’S DAY!