small business - Owners View

Being Able to Visualize is a Mixed Blessing

January 29, 2011 By Jan Triplett 2 Comments

Posts can be very personal. This one is.

Visualizing the needs & concerns Egyptian small business owners, their families and their employees like this man. Photo by Julie Gomoll.

I have a friend, Rasha, who is from Egypt and who has family there. My thoughts are with her and the wonderful people I met through the eyes, words, and pictures of another friend, Julie Gomoll.

Sometimes we say, “I can’t imagine” what it’s like. But I think business owners and other creatives can imagine in huge detail. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Management, Planning & Vision, Small Business/Entrepreneur History Tagged With: 911, Austin, business owner, Creative Staff, Egypt, Empathy, Employees, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Julie Gomoll, Middle East Crisis, Mixed Blessing, Off Balance, Overwhelmed, small business, Upper Crust, Upper Crust Bakery, Visualization

State of Texas Small Business Survey

September 11, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

No ivory tower wanted here. Instead let’s tell them like it is!

I have been asked to testify before the Texas Senate’s Economic Development Committee about our small business climate. I have my own observations from my clients but I would like input from other business owners and hope you will make sure I have the best information to give them about what we want and need.

I have put together a 10 question survey. Click here to take survey. This is your chance to be heard.

Thank you and please respond before Sept. 15. I will post what happens at the hearing so check back.

Special thanks to Jules Says and Julie Gomoll for helping me with the technology to do this. And I want to thank Will Newton, Executive Director of National Federation of Independent Business in Texas for asking me to do this and Senator Mike Jackson (District 11) for requesting this information for his committee.

Here’s to our success!

Filed Under: Business Management, Community Activism, Government Legislation, Research Tagged With: Business Owners, Hearing, Jules Says, National Federation of Independent Business, Senator Jackson, small business, Survey, Testify, Testimony, Texas, Texas Senate Economic Development Committee, Texas Senator Mike Jackson, Will Newton

Mayor White’s Views on Bringing Neighbors & Businesses Together — the Role of the State

July 31, 2010 By Jan Triplett 2 Comments

There must be a better way. And, I went tonight to see if I could find someone to lead the way.

I was invited by Bijoy Goswami of Bootstrap Austin to attend an event sponsored by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) in Austin that was billed as an “Intimate Conversation with Bill White”. Bill White, former mayor of Houston, is running against Rick Perry for Texas Governor this fall. It turns out that White is an honorary EO member.

Former Houston Mayor Bill White is running for TX Governor

It was intimate as promised. I was about two feet away from the man who started by saying that he was pleased to be here for this “job interview” which brought some chuckles. In his prepared remarks, he said if he were “hired”, he would run the state like a customer-centered business. He would focus on what people want, not what the state wanted to “sell”. Sounds pretty good. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Activism, Government Legislation, Small Business Advocacy Tagged With: 40K foot view, ADA, Allandale Neighborhood Association, Americans with Disabilities Act, Austin, Austin-bashing, Bijoy Goswami, Bootstrap Austin, business recruitment, Business Retention, Economic Development, Entrepreneurs' Organization, Faciiitator, George W. Bush, Governor Ann Richards, Governor Rick Perry, Governor's Business Leaders Network, Governor's Office on People with Disabilties, governor's race, Governor's race in Texas, Mayor Bill White, Mediator, ombudsman, Property Rights, Responsible Growth for Northcross, role of government, small business, small business activist, Texas, Virginia Roberts, Voting

Does Your Business Need Glasses? A RISE Austin 2010 Presentation

March 2, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Proud to be green. Here’s my paperless slide presentation, “Does Your Business Need Glasses”, from RISE Austin 2010 on a better way to get better sales by using niche marketing aimed at a platinum customer. It makes positioning, pricing, and sales procedures more approachable for independent businesses.

It also includes details on the Business Success Center’s sales process that customers go through: from their decision to look for something to meet their needs and desires to the point they buy and then rejoice or experience buyer’s remorse.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs will want to follow the prioritized action items in order will help avoid mistakes and expand sales opportunities. This is primarily of value to those already in business although it has ideas that startups can incorporate.

Using these ideas result in better sales and lower costs. Collateral is more effective and the sales cycle is shorter. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Financials, Marketing Strategy, Pricing, Sales Tagged With: Business Success Center, buyer's remorse, close, customer profile, customer purchasing process, entrepreneur, Focus, independent business, initial contact, Low Hanging Fruit Customers, LTV Lifetime Value, merchandising, Most Lucrative Clients, most responsive, niche markets, pre-qualifiying, Pricing, retention, sales process, small business, vision

22+ Reasons Your Small Business Is Keeping You Up at Night

February 16, 2010 By Jan Triplett 1 Comment

Owner's unrest

News 8 reporter Harlan Schmidt interviewed me about why Austin is a good place to start a business. I told him it was Austin’s “can do & it’s ok to fail” culture. And it is also about the fact that we have a highly educated population which means we can learn from our mistakes.

Then he asked me what needs to be done to improve our ability to sustain businesses. After all, it is not about starting — anyone can start one. It is about keeping it going — although not necessarily growing as large as, say Dell. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Management Tagged With: administration, Austin, bookkeeping, business bloopers, business challenges, Dunkin Donuts baker commercial, environmental issues, financial management, fiscal management, government, healthcare, marketing, News 8, operations, owner responsibilities, planning, records management, regulatory compliance, Sales, small business, small business mistakes, startup business, sustainable business, vision

7 Small Business Recommendations to the President & Congress

January 29, 2010 By Jan Triplett 5 Comments

A small business owner's response to the President's State of the Union Address 2010.

Mr. President, as a small business owner for over 25 years it was very encouraging to hear you acknowledge some of our contributions to the economy.

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy, small businesses have been responsible for all the net new jobs since the 1970’s. We are the ones that hire and train most first time job seekers or retrain returning workers.

We are also credited with inventing: the airplane, audio tape recorder, fiber optic examining equipment, heart valve, optical scanner, Pacemaker®, personal computer, soft contact lenses and the one thing none of us can live without, the lowly zipper. SBA research indicates that small businesses produce 13 to 14 times more patents per employee than large firms. My own father was one of those inventors. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Management, Government Legislation, Research Tagged With: community, Congressional Summit on Small Business, disability, diversity, healthcare, healthcare coalitions, impact statement, Joint Training Partnership Act, Office of Advocacy, part-time entrepreneur, patents, President Obama, regulatory compliance costs, retrainng, SBA, small business, small business contributions, small business inventions, State of the Union Address 2010, subsidize jobs, Texas, value systems, Vernon's Civil Statutes, White House Conference on Small Business

Podcast: State of Texas Business Today

January 26, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

How are we doing? Since there is no legislature in session, the Governor will not give a state of the state address this January. So Ben Philpott of KUT radio (90.5FM) asked some of us who are living through it to give our perceptions.

The interview, entitled “Their State of the State”, is worth a listen. You’ll hear what I, the Comptroller’s representative R J Desilva, and others have to say about how well Texas business is doing. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Management, Financials, Research, Sales Tagged With: Austin, Business Management, Central Texas, downturn, economy, small business, taxes, Texas

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