November 7th, 2009, 6:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Street Surfing LLC, a Newport Beach manufacturer of skateboards and other action sports products, is doing a  worldwide search over the Internet for its next innovative new product.
Street Surfing makes the award-winning Wave caster board. It’s newest product is the Whiplash self-propelled scooter. It’s looking for:
- Action sports products such as skate and surf products
- Action sports accessories
- Action-oriented toys along the line of Frisbee or Hula Hoop
- Wheeled goods such as scooters and casterboards
Don’t limit your thinking only to wheeled goods, Street Surfing says.
If a product concept is chosen, Edison Nation is assigned the rights and the inventor receives a $2,500 advance on royalties and a share of sales up to 20 years. Rights to ideas not selected belong to the inventor.
Submission deadline is Dec. 14. Click here to submit your idea or find out more. Submitters must be at least 18.
 Street Surfter's Whiplash The online search is on the Edison Nation web site designed to bring together inventor-entrepreneurs with retailers and manufacturers. Edison Nation screens product idea submissions for companies seeking the next great idea. Past searches have been for Amazon, Yahoo!, Walmart, Bed Bath & Beyond and PetSmart.
You have to be a member of Edison Nation, but membership is free. However, it costs $25 to submit an idea for the Street Surfing nationwide search to cover costs of researching intellectual property and product review.
“Since we first discovered and launched the Wave, our team strives to keep our finger on the pulse of the skate and surf culture,” says James Nunziati, Street Surfing’s vice president of sales and marketing. “Through our partnership with Edison Nation, we hope to speak directly to our customers and continue to discover innovative products our consumers have come to know and expect from Street Surfing.”
Edison Nation produces the PBS TV show that depicts how ordinary people get their ideas to market.
Click here for more information.
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Posted in: Entrepreneurship • Local companies • Top posts • Edison Nation • invention • Street Surfing LLC | Post a Comment »
November 6th, 2009, 12:00 pm by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
California small businesses cut staffing and wages in October, according to SurePayroll Inc, an online payroll service for more than 25,000 businesses.
It is the 14th straight month of job cuts and 9th straight month of reduction in average paycheck for California firms, according to SurePayroll’s data. Year-to-date, the number of employees is down 2.1% and average wage down 2.5%.
In other regions, hiring is up, but average payroll is down.
SurePayroll also surveys small-business owners each month. In the last week of October, optimism levels of those surveyed dropped to 50%, a 10-point decline from the optimism level in September. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Economy • Jobs • Meltdown • Reports • Top posts • SurePayroll | 6 Comments »
November 6th, 2009, 6:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
California ranks 22nd - tied with Minnesota - as a good place to locate a business, according to the November issue of Site Selection magazine.
The annual business climate rankings are determined 50% on the availability of new and expanded commercial facilities and 50% on a survey of people who scout new sites for companies.
With the executives, California ranks 24th, meaning the state’s buildings are better than its other factors.
Executives were asked: “Based upon your experience, what are the top 10 state business climates, taking into consideration such factors as lack of red tape, financial assistance and government officials’ cooperation?”
The people who choose corporate sites also were asked to rank the factors most important to them when determining a location for a new facility. The top three factors are:
- Transportation infrastructure
- Existing work force skills
- State and local tax schemes
The top states in the 2009 survey are:
- North Carolina
- Texas
- Virginia
- Ohio
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Kentucky
California ranks 9th in new plants in 2009, but 45th in new plants per million population.
Site Selection magazine, published by Conway Data Inc., provides information about business expansion to 44,000 executives at fast-growth firms.
Click here for Site Selection business climate stories.
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Posted in: Economy • Reports • Top posts • business climate • Site Selection magazine | 19 Comments »
November 5th, 2009, 12:00 pm by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
More local businesses are getting federally guaranteed loans in the new fiscal year that started Oct. 1 after two years of  declining loan numbers, reports the Santa Ana District office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
For the two weeks ended Oct. 14, 32 businesses got 7(a) loan (the largest SBA-guaranteed program) approvals for $14.3 million. That a 60% jump in the number of loans and more than double the dollar amount for the same period a year earlier.
The Santa Ana District encompasses Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Here are the loan numbers from past years:
 Source: SBA To boost the lending program more, President Obama recently called on Congress to increase the maximum amounts for SBA loans:
- SBA 7(a) (the largest program) loan limit $5 million, up from $2 million
- SBA 504 (for real estate and capital spending) loan limit $5 million, up from $2 million
- SBA Microloan limit $50,000, up from $35,000
The rationale for the increase, the SBA says, is that the percentage of SBA 7(a) and 504 loans exceeding $1.5 million has grown significantly since 2005: 7(a) loans larger than that amount to 21%, compared with 13% in 2005; and 504 loans, 28% vs. 15%. The latter is especially true in Orange County, where real estate prices are higher than the national average.
Click here for more details.
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Posted in: Economy • Finance • Meltdown • Reports • Top posts • SBA loans | 4 Comments »
November 5th, 2009, 6:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Buena Park consultant Mike Beard has tried unsuccessfully since July to get one of those deferred payment, interest-free federal loans promoted as a lifeline for struggling businesses.
The U.S. Small Business Administration announced with much fanfare in May the so-called ARC loans (short for American Recovery Capital) of up to $35,000 specifically for previously profitable small businesses that are struggling financially because of the recession. Click here to read a previous story.
The program is one of the few targeting small businesses in the federal economic stimulus efforts. Small businesses account for more than half the nation’s jobs and more than half the gross domestic product.
Beard, who has owned Value Based Project Management LLC since 2003 and self-employed since 2009, says his business certainly qualifies, but has been told the “initial response” (after 4 months) “would not be favorable” based on his personal credit history.
“If my company is negatively impacted by the negative economy for the past two years, caused by the greed of financial companies and banks, and I run a small consulting business then it stands to reason that the downturn is going to hurt my personal credit,” Beard wrote in a Nov. 2 letter to President Obama, the SBA, JP Morgan Chase Bank, 60 Minutes, Business Week magazine and the Orange County Register. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Banks • Economy • Finance • Local companies • Meltdown • Top posts • ARC loans • JP Morgan Chase • Value Based Project Management LLC | 8 Comments »
November 4th, 2009, 9:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
U.S. private companies, not counting farms, eliminated 203,000 jobs in October, the seventh straight month in which job losses were less than the previous month, according to the ADP National Employment Report released today.
The company also revised its September job losses to 227,000 from the 254,000 that it initially reported, said Joel Prakken, chairman of Macroeconomic Advisers LLC which compiles the monthly report based on actual payrolls of ADP clients.
The report, which does not include government jobs, is in line with economists’ expectations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its October unemployment numbers Friday Nov. 6. The economists’ consensus is that report will show job losses of about 175,000, but Prakken said he expects the number to be closer to ADP’s because many government agencies and schools have been cutting jobs too.
Still, “I’m pretty confident that recovery is underway; GDP grew 3.5% in the third quarter,” Prakken said. “The recession probably ended late spring, early summer, but I still expect payroll declines through the end of the year.”
In a separate report, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said companies in October announced plans to cut 55,679 jobs in the coming months, 16% fewer than in September. This report is in line with economists’ assertion that job losses will continue to slow before companies start to hire again.
“While there are still some trouble spots, the continued decline in job cutting activity across most industries is a positive sign that the economy is slowly improving,” said Chief Executive John A. Challenger.
Prakken predicted that private employers will actually start adding jobs by February, 2010, but the unemployment rate may continue to climb — peaking at 10.1% — for a while after that because companies won’t add enough jobs to exceed growth in the labor force.
The unemployment rate might not return to 5% until 2014, he said.
Job losses in October were across all industries and all sizes of business:
- Firms with fewer than 50 employees: - 75,000
- Businesses with 50 to 499 employees: -75,000
- Companies with 500+ employees: -53,000
- Goods producers: -117,000
- Services: -86,000
- Manufacturers: -65,000
“Small-business jobs tend to be less cyclical because they just don’t have as much labor to shed as large companies, and they often have a family structure that causes small businesses to hang on to their employees,” Prakken said. “That pattern was playing out early on in this recession but last fall there was an abrupt change in behavior by small businesses that had to do with the tightening of credit and also the realization that the holiday season was not going to provide a respite for the economy.”
He expects the small-business job market to recover sooner and stronger than at large companies.
Other economy stories…
Posted in: Economy • Jobs • Meltdown • Reports • Top posts • ADP • Challenger Gray & Christmas • job losses • Macroeconomic Advisers LLC | 14 Comments »
November 4th, 2009, 6:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
More than 6 out of 10 small-business owners say they are likely to have to use their personal assets to help their companies  survive until the economy recovers, according to the Discover Small Business Watch monthly survey.
That one statistic alone goes a long way to explain owners’ lukewarm attitude about spending for advertising and growth and unwillingness to hire more workers.
Are they reflecting economic reality or creating it? Small businesses account for most of the jobs and gross domestic product.
Most — 69% — have been hurt by the recession. Here’s what they say about their business’ ability to rebound in the coming months (click on the image for a larger view):
 Source: Discover Small Business Watch Their expectations for the economy as a whole is even lower:
 Source: Discover Small Business Watch “Small-business owners aren’t showing any new optimism in the economy,” said Ryan Scully, director of Discover’s business credit card. “Half of them think it will take more than 12 months before most people feel the economy has stabilized, and two our of three are expecting to dig into their own pockets to stay afloat.”
Other findings: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Economy • Finance • Meltdown • Top posts • Discover Business Card • economic outlook | 5 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 12:00 pm by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Orange County business bankruptcy filings were 5th highest in the nation at the end of the third quarter, reports  Equifax Inc., an Atlanta-based financial data provider.
The local Metropolitan Statistical Area moved up from 11th place at the end of the second quarter.
Nationwide, commercial bankruptcies by companies with fewer than 100 employees jumped 44% in the third quarter from the same period a year earlier.
Eight of the top 14 metropolitan areas for bankruptcy filings are in California:
- Los Angeles
- Riverside/San Bernardino
- Sacramento
- Denver-Aurora, Colo.
- Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine
- San Diego-Carlsbad
- Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas
- Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash.
- California areas outside the major MSAs
- Oakland-Fremont-Hayward
- Oregon areas outside the major MSAs
- Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill.
- Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas
- San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara
“Economic pain is continuing for small businesses across the country. We’re still seeing hefty increases in the number of bankruptcies in a lot of major metro areas.” said Dr. Reza Barazesh head of North American research for Equifax’s Commercial Information Solutions division.
However, Equifax’s data indicate “that the East Coast may be experiencing an earlier recovery from the recession than the West Coast,” Barazesh added.
For example, the number of filings dropped 69% in Charlotte and 49% in New York-White Plains. And 9 of the 15 MSAs with the fewest bankruptcy filings are along the East Coast. None is west of Texas.
Equifax reviewed and analyzed its database for the month of September, the latest month for which complete statistics are availale. It analyzed Chapter 7 (liquidation), 11 and 13 (both are reorganizations) filings.
We have been tracking the bankruptcy filings for Orange County and the neighboring counties. Click here to read the latest numbers.
Here are the numbers for September, the most recent published by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (click on image for a larger view):
 Source: U.S. Bankruptcy Court Local bankruptcy experts say this region has been one of the hardest hit by the sub-prime mortgage meltdown and king-sized housing slump that started in 2007. Some project the numbers to continue climbing until 2010.
Other economy stories…
Posted in: Bankruptcy • Economy • Meltdown • Reports • Top posts • business bankruptcies • Equifax Inc. | 6 Comments »
November 3rd, 2009, 6:00 am by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Filings for new fictitious business names for Orange County firms dropped 15.3% to 2,859 in October compared to the same period in 2008, according to the Orange County Clerk Recorder’s Office.
 Source: O.C. Clerk Recorder Filings commonly called DBAs (doing business as) were down just three from September in what has essentially been a see-saw year, up slightly one month and down the next, according to county statistics.
Business owners file for a fictitious name if they are doing business under any name other than their own. Some filings represent a change of location or ownership, but the new filings are an indication of economic direction. Notice in the chart above that filings have steadily dropped from their 2007 peak.
To minimize the impact of seasonal ups and downs, look at the number of filings over the past 12 months compared with the 12 months before that: November 2008 through October 2009: 33,355, off 15.6% from November 2007-October 2008. That’s about the downturn in October alone, so the decline isn’t deepening but it’s not shrinking either.
Other economy stories…
Posted in: Economy • Meltdown • Reports • Top posts • DBAs • fictitious name filings | 1 Comment »
November 2nd, 2009, 12:00 pm by Jan Norman, small-business columnist
Employees, on average, plan to spend almost two working days — 14.4 hours — shopping online in November and December, according to a survey for ISACA, a trade group for information technology professionals.
That compares with less than 5 hours in the 2008 survey, called “Shopping on the Job: Online Holiday Shopping and Workplace Internet Safety.”
Tell us if you shop from work and then read on:
Do you shop online from work?
In a separate survey of 1,500 ISACA members, 25% estimate the productivity loss from online holiday shopping at work at $15,000 or more per employee.
This group cares about the potential security issues of online shopping including viruses, spam and phishing attacks that can cost thousands of dollars per employee in lost productivity and potentially millions of dollars in destruction or compromise of corporate data.
Employers should take steps to protect their computers because they’re not going to be able to block online shopping completely, ISACA says.
“With the Internet now available to almost any employee in the workplace, it’s unrealistic to think that companies can completely stop the use of work computers for online shopping,” said ISACA Vice President Robert Stroud. “What companies can and should do is educate employees about the risks of online shopping and remind them of their company’s security policy. This is especially important this year, when the convenience of shopping online may be very appealing to employees whose workloads have doubled or tripled because of downsizing.”
Half of all workers surveyed plan to do their holiday shopping online with 10% expecting to spend at least 30 hours shopping online at work.
The biggest reasons for shopping at work: convenience, cited by 34% of respondents, and boredom, mentioned by 23%.
Employees who shop online at work are also likely to do other online activities that expose the company computers to potential problems:
- 51% bank online from work
- 40% click on e-mail links redirecting them to shopping sites
- 15% click on links from social network sites
Here are some ISACA tips for employees to reduce the risk of spam, viruses and accidental downloading of backdoor agents that can highjack corporate data:
- Use your desktop PC, not your mobile device, to shop, because your desktop browser is likely to be more secure.
- Protect sensitive information, like credit card numbers, by password-protecting both your mobile device and its memory card.
- Make sure you update your anti-virus and anti-malware programs continually.
- Treat social networking sites with the same caution as other web sites—social sites are a growing target for fraudsters and virus writers.
- Be cautious of special offers. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Fake online offers and coupons may lead to harmful sites, so be suspicious.
Other business stories…
Posted in: Employees • Events • Poll • Reports • Top posts • Workplace • computer security • online shopping | 1 Comment »
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