Tuesday - June 01, 2010
How do you build customer loyalty you can count on? Micah Solomon talks to Jim Blasingame about how to build customer loyalty in an age when customers are in control.
The complicated, but important, debate over "Net Neutrality" is still going on. Jonathan Zuck and Jim Blasingame discuss the current and evolving debate over "Net Neutrality," which is essentially about who controls the Internet: government, big corporations or the end user, including small businesses.
What is the most important issue facing a start-up small business? Andrew Oman joins Jim Blasingame to talk about why delivering value to customers is more important than what you sell or your price.
If trust is so important, why don't we talk more about it? Arky Ciancutti joins Jim Blasingame to talk about why we don't spend more time discussing the importance of trust, when it is arguably the most important intangible in our lives and professions.
Are CDs and DVDs a thing of the past? Micah Solomon joins Jim Blasingame to report on physical digital media, such as CDs and DVDs, and why they continue to be content delivery alternatives.
Wednesday - June 02, 2010
How does the U.S. rank in global philanthropy and aid? Heidi Metcalf Little joins Jim Blasingame to report on how the U.S. ranks with other countries in total giving, including government aid as well as individual and foundation giving.
What's the difference between a manager and a leader?Michael Stallard and Jim Blasingame discuss the benefits that follow when you decide to become a leader rather than just being a manager.
What is the EPA's Green Power Partnership? Be sure to listen to the EPA's Blaine Collison explain to Jim Blasingame how small businesses can play a part in supporting the Green Power Partnership.
Quality process = loyal customers and more profit. Quality expert, Leslie Kossoff, joins Jim Blasingame to reveal how having a quality process, rather than quality service, leads to more loyal customers and more profits.
Thursday - June 03, 2010
Kiplinger reports on the economic recovery. Kiplinger's Jim Ostroff joins Jim Blasingame to discuss some of the key economic indicators, including GDP growth, inflation, housing and energy.
Kiplinger's Jim Ostroff joins Jim Blasingame to report on how the BP offshore oil disaster will impact the future of oil exploration. They also talk about how the government is helping small businesses with contracts and exporting.
As a manager, are you a spiller or a filler? Bill Treasurer joins Jim Blasingame to reveal the difference between managers who are spillers and those who are fillers, and what role courage plays in these two.
Is Europe's financial crisis a cautionary tale for America? Kirk Cheyfitz joins Jim Blasingame from London to report that what we see in Europe's sovereign debt problems could be the U.S. in a few years.
Don't miss this start up wisdom from a courageous entrepreneur with a bittersweet story. Ron Koss joins Jim Blasingame with his and his brother's start up story that changed the marketplace but cost them their company.
Kiplinger reports on the paradox of a stronger dollar. Kiplinger's Jim Ostroff joins Jim Blasingame to discuss how paradoxical a stronger dollar is in how such a shift impacts various sectors of the economy differently.
Taking advantage of "crowdsourcing?" Kirk Cheyfitz joins Jim Blasingame to define and recommend the concept of crowdsourcing as a way to grow your business organically and efficiently.
Friday - June 04, 2010
Why doesn't the U.S. have a comprehensive energy policy? Jim Blasingame makes the connection between the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the U.S. failing to have a comprehensive energy policy.
Jim Blasingame discusses two events he will be participating in where aggregating customers and cloud computing will be discussed, and he talks about how important these two topics are to small business.
What is the future of artificial life and high-tech concrete? Futurist, Joel Barker, joins Jim Blasingame to discuss innovations in these two divergent areas and how the success of each one will be good for society and the marketplace.
Here is a story about a champion small business. Eddie Mannis shares his success story with Jim Blasingame, including how he serves customers but also how he allows customers to join him in his corporate philanthropy.
Are we asking too much of our presidents? Jim Blasingame poses the question that we may be asking too much of our presidents when disaster strikes and that we have to stop expecting the government to solve all of our problems.
This small business helps you AND contributes to charities. Barry Shore joins Jim Blasingame to talk about his courageous recovery from a rare disease to create a company that contributes to charities with every customer transaction.
Doing business and doing good simultaneously. Joel Barker joins Jim Blasingame to discuss a growing desire by Earthlings to demand that as we do business together, we not only help ourselves but others in the process.
Monday - June 07, 2010
Here is a great one-person small business success story. Nina Rappaport Rowan joins Jim Blasingame to tell her entrepreneurial story, including knowing the difference between being a contractor and small business owner. They also talk about her creation, the Kimochi characters.
What is the future of online technology for your small business? Anita Rosen joins Jim Blasingame to talk about how to be successful in the three universes of small business: traditional, online and mobile.
How do you survive the "ping pong syndrome" of small business ownership? Kimberly Corp joins Jim Blasingame to discuss how small business owners can avoid crisis management when you're being pulled in so many directions at once.
Should you grow your small business through acquisition? Steven Little joins Jim Blasingame to reveal the critical elements that are required to successfully grow your small business by acquiring another one.
What's it like running a business with your identical twin sister? Kimberly Corp joins Jim Blasingame to discuss some of the issues that arise when your in business with a family member, especially an identical twin sister.
Tuesday - June 08, 2010
What is required to find marketing success in the current economic environment? Lois Geller joins Jim Blasingame to offer marketing tips and best practices that are working for her marketing company and her clients, including social media .
The American business model, warts and all, is still better than any other. Michael Medved joins Jim Blasingame to disagree with President Obama that wealth creation is not a zero-sum game.
Actors have gotten better as movies have gotten worse. That's the message Michael Medved delivered in this interview with Jim Blasingame when asked about the current state of cinema.
Wednesday - June 09, 2010
How do you convert small business resourcefulness into creativity? Lee Silber and Jim Blasingame talk about how to turn defensive resourcefulness into creative offense for the unfolding economic recovery.
How do women-owned businesses manage customer care? Stuart Feil joins Jim Blasingame to report on a survey of women-owned businesses and how they established strategies for managing customer care, including the use of social media. The findings may surprise you.
How do you make the transition from a job to your own business? Jim Donovan and Jim Blasingame talk about transitioning from being an employee to being your own boss and owning a small business.
Thursday - June 10, 2010
Want more business? Become a chameleon! Jeff Zbar and Jim Blasingame talk about why one of the best ways to create customer loyalty is to learn how to become a chameleon, which is asking what your customer wants and helping them get it, even if it isn't what you sell.
What is the truth about rights and liberty in modern China? Guy Sorman joins Jim Blasingame to report on his recent trip to China where he found repression of free speech and other impingements on liberty, including the ability to start a small business.
What are the benefits and discounts available with affinity programs? Nick Tovar joins Jim Blasingame to discuss how affinity groups work and how small businesses can benefit financially from becoming part of these communities.
Will your health care costs rise next year? Kiplinger's Jim Ostroff joins Jim Blasingame to report why, due to certain provisions of the recently enacted health care reform law, employers will pay more to provide coverage for their employees in the coming years.
Why would the French propose to make GDP obsolete as an economic metric? Guy Sorman joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the ridiculous plan by the French to make "well being" part of the measure of prosperity, rather than the production metric of gross domestic product.
Should you be doing business in 'the cloud"? Jim Blasingame explains what cloud computing is, gives examples of how it works and why cloud computing is good for your small business.
Kiplinger reports on jobs, real estate and energy. Kiplinger's Jim Ostroff joins Jim Blasingame to report on the stubborn unemployment rate, commercial real estate woes, Obama's climate change plans and why cars are going to weigh less.
Friday - June 11, 2010
Can a small business claim its own economic recovery? Bob Prosen joins Jim Blasingame to talk about what small businesses are thinking about the economy and what they need to do to claim their own recovery.
Tatum reports on survey of current business conditions. Mark Rosenman and Jim Blasingame discuss the results of this month's Tatum Survey and the news is lukewarm, as whatever momentum the economy had last month seems to have fizzled.
Now every small business can have an e-commerce website. Mitchell Harper joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the importance of having an e-commerce component on your website and why it's easier to do now than ever before.
How do you connect customer acquisition to your e-commerce strategy? Ed Abel joins Jim Blasingame to explain how the acquisition and retention of customers must be part of your strategy to sell online with an e-commerce component on your website.
Monday - June 14, 2010
What does it look like when woman-owned businesses save the family? Mary Cantando joins Jim Blasingame to reveal what happens to the family when the husband loses his job and the wife, who is a business owner, has to hold the family together financially and otherwise.
Why is Congress proposing a law to tax Sub S Corp income as payroll income? Barbara Weltman joins Jim Blasingame to reveal a provision in a Senate bill that would tax Sub Chapter S Corporation distributions as ordinary income tax, subject to payroll tax.
Can you promote peace by promoting woman business ownership internationally? Terry Neese is doing just that as she joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the International Women's Economic Summit and the women her organization is helping in Afghanistan and Rwanda.
What are small business managers saying about the economy? Bill Soward joins Jim Blasingame to report on his latest survey of small business financial managers and what they see in the economic recovery.
What is the up-to-date income tax planning, filing and remitting advice? Barbara Weltman joins Jim Blasingame to report on several key tax filing dates, as well as one retirement program that you can still install to adjust last year's tax bill.
Tuesday - June 15, 2010
What marketing strategies do you need to put in place in order to grow your business? Carolyn Rhinebarger joins Jim Blasingame with five low-cost marketing strategies you can use to find and keep customers.
Would you like to turn your customers into a referral engine for your small business? John Jantsch joins Jim Blasingame to discuss the power and profit in establishing and maintaining a customer referral strategy for your small business.
During the first half of the 19th century, America was still an experiment, and Ken Davis joins Jim Blasingame to talk about some of the events and people that made the early 1800s such an important part of America's history.
Can entrepreneurship be taught? Debbie Meyer joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the idea of getting educated in the discipline of entrepreneurship, including the technical lessons as well as finding out if you have the "guts" to be an entrepreneur.
Is it necessary to teach customers how to refer your small business? John Jantsch joins Jim Blasingame to explain why even your most loyal customers still need to be train in how to refer you to their friends, and they explain how to do it.
Wednesday - June 16, 2010
What is the real solution to economic growth. Brien Biondi joins Jim Blasingame do reveal why entrepreneurship is the solution to economic problems and identify several steps that should be taken to promote Main Street businesses.
The NFIB May 2010 report on small business conditions is discussed by Bill Dunkelberg and Jim Blasingame, including overall optimism, hiring, capital expenditures, sales and credit availability.
What impact does leadership have on employee engagement? Chester Elton joins Jim Blasingame to discuss how the way you deliver and execute as a leader has a direct impact on how successful you will be at having engaged employees.
Thursday - June 17, 2010
Leading the younger generations into the 21st century is the message Howard Behar conveys to Jim Blasingame as he talks about traveling around the world encouraging entrepreneurship and giving back to the marketplace..
How do you keep a recovery mindset while looking for new opportunity? John Dini talks to Jim Blasingame about keep a focus on surviving the economic recovery with a measured approach to taking advantage of growth opportunities.
Friday - June 18, 2010
How do you deal with the stress of an uncertain economic future? Joe Baily joins Jim Blasingame to talk about ways to deal with the challenges and opportunities that don't always come in the proper proportions.
Reflecting on being a father, Jim Blasingame talks about how being a father changed him and why he thinks being a father is a big deal.
Kiplinger's Jim Ostroff joins Jim Blasingame to report on key elements of the economy, such as GDP growth, housing recovery, interest rates, inventory recovery, and IT spending.
Small businesses report in with optimism and marketing plans? Randy Scarborough joins Jim Blasingame to report on the 2010 FedEx Office survey with the results pointing to general optimism, including a re-commitment to marketing.
On the occasion of Father's Day, Joe Bailey and Jim Blasingame talk about their thoughts on having a father and being a father.
What happens when you're paid more than your worth? Jim Blasingame talks about why a big part of our economic problems comes from unions, especially those associated with governments.
Monday - June 21, 2010
If eye contact is so powerful, why don't more people use it? Michael Ellsberg joins Jim Blasingame to discuss why eye contact can be a very effective part of human interaction and an important professional skill to perfect.
Woman-owned small businesses are growing globally, according to Karen Kerrigan who joins Jim Blasingame to report on her recent work with women entrepreneurs in Portugal and Morocco.
With the May Trending Report for retail activity, Bob Gordman joins Jim Blasingame discuss the how retail is recovering from the recession. They also talk about why discounting without a strategy for sustained sales is dumb.
Why is local search such a big deal for Main Street businesses? Jill Whalen joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the power of local search and why every Main Street business must have an online presence.
The government is creating uncertainty for small business. Karen Kerrigan joins Jim Blasingame to reveal how the health care bill will hurt small business, plus changes in 1099 reporting and the plan to tax Sub S distributions as earned income.
What is SEO and why should small business owners care? SEO expert, Jill Whalan joins Jim Blasingame to explain what search engine optimization (SEO) is and why even the smallest business should make sure its website is optimized to find customers through natural search activity.
Tuesday - June 22, 2010
What is the power of an apology and how do you do it? Ruth Sherman joins Jim Blasingame to talk about how to use an apology in a professional scenario, from the big corporate mia culpa to a small business mistake.
Are you paying attention to the key operating fundamentals? Maureen Farrell joins Jim Blasingame to talk about several operating fundamentals to pay attention to, including cash flow, accounts "deceivable", property security, and of course, keeping business in the pipeline.
Is it possible to find joy in marketing? Sarah Petty joins Jim Blasingame to talk about how to become more professional and successful in marketing by revealing the key steps and reminding us about some old fashioned practices that still work.
Gerald Celente joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the recent trends in global economics, the lack of political leadership, upcoming elections and the recovery Gerald thinks is not real.
Wednesday - June 23, 2010
What are the key things to know when trying to get a small business bank loan? Jim Blasingame talks about six critical elements you should pay attention to when trying to get a loan from a bank for your business.
Are you harvesting and leveraging the intellectual property you own? Andrew Sherman joins Jim Blasingame to talk about why you should be maximizing the intangible assets you own and have created.
How does a small business that sells brownies recover from the recession? Eileen Spitalny joins Jim Blasingame to explain how her brownie business recovered from the recession, and how it is using social media to grow the business.
Will the Fed raise interest rates at this meeting? Bob McTeer joins Jim Blasingame to report whether the Federal Reserve Board will raise interest rates and discuss economic factors they will consider.
Should the Fed be in charge of new consumer banking regs? Bob McTeer joins Jim Blasingame to report on how the new banking regulations for consumers should be folded into the Fed organization.
Will allowing the Chinese currency to float improve the U.S. imbalance of trade with China? Bob McTeer joins Jim Blasingame to report on the advantages of China allowing its currency to float with the market, rather than be pegged to the U.S. dollar.
Thursday - June 24, 2010
Are you benefiting from lessons taught in the school of failure? Norm Brodsky joins Jim Blasingame to talk about what he learned from his mistakes and how we can benefit from our own. Norm says smart people learn from their mistakes, but wise people learn from the mistakes of others.
What can school administrators - and business owners - learn from killer whales? Jim Ballard joins Jim Blasingame to talk about how one school turned around a failing school by applying the principles used by trainers of killer whales.
How will we use technology in the next decade? Ed Yourdon joins Jim Blasingame to report on how technology will change the way we do business in the coming decade, including more collaboration, more communities and less control by businesses.
What are the most important questions to ask yourself about your ability to succeed in small business? Penelope Tzougros joins Jim Blasingame to reveal five questions that when answered honestly, will tell you about your ability to succeed as a small business owner.
Friday - June 25, 2010
When do innovations add value and when do they change business models? Jeff Zbar joins Jim Blasingame to talk about specific innovations that simultaneously give some small business a great advantage while causing a paradigm shift for others.
What is the government's track record of regulating the marketplace? Robert Fischer joins Jim Blasingame as Congress passes the Financial Regulatory bill, to discuss the terrible track record the government has when regulating the marketplace.
What is the impact of electronic publishing on the traditional publishing? Mark Coker joins Jim Blasingame to talk about how e-publishing and e-reader innovations have in some ways hurt traditional publishing, but ironically, may save some in the industry.
How are the 2010 mid-term elections shaping up and will financial regulations impact them? Kiplinger's Jim Ostroff joins Jim Blasingame to talk about whether Dems will lose control of Congress in November, plus how new financial regulations will play out.
Have we become a nation of traders instead of investors? Robert Fischer joins Jim Blasingame to discuss the conflict between emotional Wall Street trading and the more prudent statistical (naked) investing strategy.
Monday - June 28, 2010
What are the operating lessons small businesses are learning? Ruth King joins Jim Blasingame to talk about some of the key lessons small business owners are learning about cash management, organizational checks etc.
What survival lessons can your small business learn from another? Jay Myers joins Jim Blasingame to talk about about what he has learned from surviving the Great Recession that he wouldn't have learned if it had not happened.
What does the face of America's small businesses look like? Steve King joins Jim Blasingame to report on how small business ownership stacks up with regard to gender, age, ethnicity, education, etc.
Reporting on the Sage 2010 Business Minds Survey, Connie Certusi joins Jim Blasingame to talk about what small business owners are saying about economic recovery, revenue growth, and cash management, plus how effective government stimulus efforts have been for them.
How is technology impacting growth decisions of small businesses? Connie Certusi joins Jim Blasingame to report what the Sage Business Mind Survey showed small business owners were thinking in terms of acquiring technology to grow capacity rather than hiring more people.
Tuesday - June 29, 2010
How is networking changing in the second decade of the 21st century? Andrea Nierenberg joins Jim Blasingame to remind us that face-to-face is the original social media and that the online platforms should be used as new tools and not new rules.
Are you more likely to react to another's position or to take some time and respond to them? Nance Guilmartin joins Jim Blasingame to explain the power of the pause, which will promote less stress and better communication. They also agree that a pause could be overnight.
What is the franchise reality in the wake of the Great Recession? Joel Libava joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the entrepreneurial behavior of franchise owners, plus the landscape for prospective franchisees, especially regarding capital acquisition.
Should most small businesses should conduct more meetings? Rob Jolles joins Jim Blasingame to encourage small businesses to conduct more internal meetings, and they offer several tips and best practices to help you conduct those meetings effectively.
Wednesday - June 30, 2010
Why is there a small business irony in the current jobless recovery? Jim Blasingame explains some of the reasons why we're in a jobless recovery and the ironic role small businesses play in that.
What does the future of social media look like for small business? Jack Uldrich joins Jim Blasingame to reveal how social media should be part of a small business marketing strategy, both now and in the future.
Could Arizona's immigration law impact your small business? Tamar Jacoby joins Jim Blasingame to talk about why Arizona's immigration law has become so controversial and what circumstances would cause this model to hurt your small business.
What does Howard Ruff think about the economic recovery? Howard Ruff joins Jim Blasingame to explain why he thinks the current economic recovery is not real.
Is there a gold bubble or is it forecasting coming inflation? Howard Ruff joins Jim Blasingame to discuss whether the run up in gold prices is a result of a speculative bubble or if it really is a sign that hyper-inflation is coming.
