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.

I’ve reached a new level of frustration today with some websites that do their best to make it hard for users to navigate, make purchases or gather information. I’ve been keeping a list of pet peeves. It’s time to share.

Why can’t I use my email to register on your site? I can’t keep track of all of the user names and passwords I have to generate. I can remember my email.

If you’re going to make me decipher some silly little distorted word, don’t make it so distorted that I can’t figure it out. Believe, a couple of rejections, and I’m gone. I’ll buy my stuff someplace else.

If you really want to make me mad, make it difficult to UN-subscribe from your newsletter or feed. Make it easy, and make it work the first time.

Don’t make me register for everything. I can guarantee you, that I will leave, and go buy the product from someone who doesn’t make it so hard.

I sometimes think some companies and organizations don’t want anyone to find them, talk to them or send them anything, because there is no contact information listed, or if it is, you have to dig like an archaeologist to find it.

If your website is guilt of any of these sins, rethink your strategy. Competition makes it soooo easy to go elsewhere. Get me there, and keep me there by making your site as friendly as possible.

Then, I’ll be back!!!!

If you are a business owner, and your accountant tells you that for every dollar you’ve put into your company, you’ve made $7, you would probably think that was a fair return on your investment.

I thought it appropriate on this Independence Day weekend to pause and consider the rate of return on one of the best investments in U.S. history — the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, or as we have come to know it, the GI Bill. Economists have determined that for every 1944 dollar invested in the education, home ownership and business creation of returning World War II veterans, our country received approximately $7 in return through enhanced economic productivity, consumer spending and tax revenues. Not bad.

The idea for the GI Bill came from the American Legion, the World War II era’s most powerful veterans’ organization. Its goal: compensate the servicemen of World War II for their lost time and lost opportunities. The legislation offered the nearly 16 million returning servicemen an array of government-subsidized loans, unemployment benefits, educational support and technical training. It put in motion the most far-reaching transformation of a culture and a country in recorded history. And it altered the expectations of not only the members of the Greatest Generation, but those of their children and grandchildren. Senator Bob Dole, himself a recipient of the GI Bill, calls it, “The biggest piece of legislation the country ever passed.” (more…)

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.