Missouri Small Business and Technology Development Centers Blog

Government contracting is a great way for some companies to grow both jobs and revenues. One of the necessary components of federal government contracting is bonding.

SBA announced today that it can now provide surety bonds on federal contracts valued at up to $10 million if the contracting officer feels the bonding is in the best interest of the government. Currently the bond guarantee limit is $5 million.

Today’s ruling also includes a new small business size standard for this program, and now states that a business is considered “small” if the business, combined with its affiliates, does not exceed the size standard designated for the primary industry of the business combined with its affiliates.

SBA assistance in locating a participating surety company or agent, and completing application forms, is available online. For more information on SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee Program, including Surety Office contacts, go online to www.sba.gov/osg, or call 1-800-U ASK SBA.

In their new book Womenomics, Claire Shipman and Kathy Kay make a good point about the growing prominence of women not only in the workplace, but in management circles. They contend that the so-called “softer” management style of women is not soft at all; instead, it’s turning out to be more lucrative. A study of 353 Fortune 500 companies indicates that those firms with the most women in senior management had a higher return on equities.

Other research by Cambridge University and the University of Pittsburgh indicates that women tend to be more cautious in their management styles. They tend to focus more on the long-term rather than short, quick results. They take fewer risks and keep the horizon in mind. Women tend to be less competitive, more conciliatory, more collaborative and more motivational and engaged than their male counterparts. That is a good style for what is becoming a less hierarchical workplace. Women have a higher emotional intelligence level than most men, researchers say, and in a world that is more virtual and less “organizational chart,” those higher levels of emotional intelligence will truly pay off.

Employers need to take a cue from this and realize that hiring more women and letting them work the way they want to achieve the work/life balance they require is just good business.

I stopped by one of my favorite local shops the other day in search of a birthday gift. I was stunned when I walked through the store at the lack of inventory. Just months ago, the store was so full that it was difficult to move through some of the displays. Now, it looks barren by comparison.

That experience is reflective of one of the findings in the recent survey by the National Association of the Self-Employed: 17 percent of small business owners say they are scaling back on inventory as one strategy to weather the difficult economic times. In addition, 50 percent of the respondents indicated that the slow economy is having a significant impact on their business, and 43 percent say these conditions are the worst downturn they have ever experienced.

Other strategies for weathering tough times? 10 percent report they will lower prices; 11 percent say they will downsize staff; and 14 percent say they will use their personal savings to keep the doors open. The good news is that only 4 percent are considering closing their businesses.

More than half believe their personal and family finances have, to date, been harder hit than their businesses.

My brother had shoulder surgery the other day. As we prepared to sit in the waiting area until the end of the procedure, the medical staff handed us a small, plastic unit and told me it would buzz and glow when they wanted us to return to the desk.

I had seen these things before — a several local restaurants. These were the same type of units that the hostess hands you when you put your name on a waiting list for dinner.

I found myself amused at how one industry had informed another on a good way to do business and provide customer service. And I realized one way to stay ahead of the competition is to not only look for best practices in our own industry, but also in those that may at first seem unrelated.

Competition is a double-edged sword. While we all may wish we had none, the fact that we do indicates there is a market for what we want to sell. The competition can also be one of your most valuable sources of information about what you could do to grow your company or improve your operation. And, if you learn from their mistakes, you have the advantage of letting someone else pay for the learning process!

Identify your top three competitors. Then list three things they do well, and three things they need to improve. Use what you learn to make your business even better!

And don’t forget to look outside your industry for good ideas.

In the current economic situation, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed, unprepared and even a little hopeless, but there are some things you can do to help you survive the uncertain times.

Don’t wait to ask for help. The staff of our Small Business and Technology Development Centers can assist you in addressing issues around credit — both yours and your customers — and other issues related to cutting expenses and trying to hold onto cash.

One mistake many entrepreneurs make is feeling that they have to go it alone. They keep everything to themselves, afraid to share their fears or concerns with anyone, including business advisors or employees. But in reality, everyone close to the business knows it’s facing tough times, so don’t try to keep things a secret. People who work for you want to know the real situation, so keep them informed and ask for their ideas for ways to cut costs and find efficiencies. If you work as a team, you’ll feel more supported, and there are more hands and heads to carry the load. (more…)

One of the best things about the holidays is having some down time to catch up on reading. In addition to a couple of good novels, I read Guy Kawasaki’s latest book, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition.

Kawasaki is a former Apple Fellow who helped develop the Macintosh computer, and he’s one of my favorite authors on the topic of telling it like it is for entrepreneurs. There is no glossy American Dream rhetoric in his books. He’s been there, and he tells you what it’s like – the sometimes unglamorous side of being your own boss and doing your own thing. And for me, it’s his irreverence, coupled with all of his real-life examples, that makes his books such a good read. (more…)

Our center was contacted the other day by a potential client asking about hiring a small business attorney. In reality, he didn’t need an attorney, but the inquiry raised a good question. When do you need to engage the services of an attorney for your small business?

In the same way you might not call a doctor to help you get over a routine head cold, you will likely not need an attorney for day to day questions. However, if you have a serious legal problem – such as being investigated for fraud or tax evasion, being threatened by a disgruntled employee or protecting intellectual property – it’s probably best to call in some reinforcements.

If you are starting a business, chances are you can handle most legal requirements yourself. You need not pay a lawyer’s hefty hourly fee for things such as: (more…)

Here are the numbers.

In 2006, there were nearly 210,000 women-owned businesses in Missouri – 42 percent of all Missouri firms. Nearly 142,000 of those were majority woman-owned – 29 percent of all Missouri firms.

The 210,000 woman-owned firms generated $42 billion in sales and employed nearly 298,000 people.

Missouri ranks 18th among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., in the number of women-owned firms.

What’s behind the impressive statistics? (more…)

Someone asked me the other day what makes entrepreneurs different from the rest of us.

I think it’s in how entrepreneurs see the world. Where most of us might see a challenge or a problem, entrepreneurs see an opportunity. And when most of us may just assume the current way of doing things is acceptable, an entrepreneur will see a better way.

We try to teach students of entrepreneurship to develop skills in opportunity recognition — to develop a mindset of “What if we did this?” That ability is what seems to set successful entrepreneurs apart. (more…)

Lisa Scribner was doing some work in the attic above her garage when the drywall gave way, and she tumbled through, landing hard on the concrete floor below and suffering a bad blow to her head. Oddly, she also lost her sense of smell.

Lisa takes a great deal of pleasure in preparing meals for her family – husband, Jay, and sons, Pierce and Bo. But without a sense of smell, she felt more than off-balance. She felt lost in the kitchen. “Smell is vitally important to cooking,” Lisa says, “And I still had to feed my family.”

Looking for options, she started reading about the blossoming meal assembly business, in which customers can go to a commercial kitchen and work in social groups or individually to prepare meals, which can then be boxed up, taken home, frozen or served, without having to do all the marketing and after cooking clean-up. Lisa wondered how long it would be before someone in Columbia latched on to that idea. (more…)