How Can We Make It Fly?

You wouldnt expect any sane minded person, especially someone with an MBA, Ph.D or who is a veteran of entrepreneurial startup organizations to take this venture seriously…would you?

On the other hand, it’s an idea that could be just crazy enough, that with the right input, support and guidance, it could really “fly”.

I would advise against being too analytical on this issue, but rather keep in mind that The $500 Million Startup is a project that promises to expand your mind, sharpen business skills and provide the opportunity to participate in something very unique. There’s no doubt it will take leaders with great skill and dedication to help develop business ventures in various locations around the world.

Think of the possibilities, if an organization could select the best business leaders from around the globe then bestow upon them the challenge to create and develop a successful venture, then the goal to build an organization with combined revenues of $500M per year looks more realistic and achievable.  As a maverick entrepreneur you will see opportunity and be compelled to take on the challenge.  After all, this is the ultimate case study, a challenge to the principle of positive thinking and a five year event that will be recorded in history as a “first” for the internet. You’d be crazy to miss out!

Lets go for it, and expand our minds to create successful business worldwide!

Cultivate Your Online Reputation

If you haven’t been paying attention to your online reviews, it’s probably time to start. This morning, a firm that provides businesses with online reputation management tools, revealed the results of a survey illustrating the importance of customer feedback.

Nearly 25 percent of respondents said online reviews benefited their businesses, and only four percent indicated a negative impact. And not only are reviews six times more likely to help a business, but the numbers also imply a correlation between good testimonials and business growth: 71 percent of small-business owners who said they didn’t know the impact of an online review reported a decline in business; but 55 percent who stated reviews had a positive effect perceived either no change or positive growth.

So in plain-speak, what’s the significance of a business’s online reputation? I asked RatePoint CEO Neal Creighton to explain.

Why are customer reviews so important?
It’s the No. 1 customer retention and acquisition tool you can use on
the internet today. The statistic is that more than 70 percent of consumers look for reviews, and
the number should probably be higher than that. Read more..

Stimulus Comes to Entrepreneurs Who Wait

Intuit Payroll asked more than 1,000 small-business owners for their thoughts on the stimulus, and the results show a fair amount of cynicism: 94 percent believe success depends more on what they do for themselves than the government; 86 percent don’t think the stimulus will directly benefit their business; and 75 percent say the government doesn’t offer enough support.

Disappointment, along with a healthy dose of frustration, seems to be the popular sentiment, but in keeping with the (tentative) renewed optimism over the economy, I’d like to share a conversation I had with Steve King of research and consulting firm Emergent Research, in which he explained to me why it’s just a matter of time before small-business owners see benefits from the stimulus.

Are you surprised by how cynical small-business owners are about the stimulus?
No, not really, because very little of the money from the
stimulus–somewhere between two and five percent–has started to flow.
And if you actually get under the hood of what’s been spent, it’s
predominantly in the construction area. Unless a survey contains an
overweighting of construction respondents, most people are going to say
they don’t see an impact. Read more..

Employers’ Health Care Costs Have Nearly Doubled

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today released a report about the rising cost of health care. Among its conclusions: “Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000.”

That increase in health care costs grew three times as fast as wage growth and cost employers’ $12,680 for the average family plan — nearly the same as a minimum wage salary for one year, according to the HHS.

In a news conference today President Barack Obama addressed the issue, expressing support for reform that’s being considered in Congress. “We need to control the skyrocketing costs that are driving families, businesses and our government into greater and greater debt,” he said.

The HHS report stated that family deductibles increased 30 percent in two years for average preferred provider (PPO) plans; for families covered by “small firms” the increase was 64 percent, from $1,439 to $2,367.

“It doesn’t matter if you have insurance or not,” states HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “when Americans go to the hospital or the doctor’s office, they are paying more and getting less.”