The Lighthouse

It’s Tee Time

2012-01-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Yes the frigid days of January are upon us. The long cold winter has descended on these hapless souls in the northern hemisphere. But not all places above the equator have been transformed into a quasi tundra where conditions are as inhospitable as an alien planet. We here in Florida are still enjoying days in the 70s and 80s, the southwest and southern California also boast mild days and cool nights. And for those of you who do not have the good fortune to live in these warmer locations, first let me apologize. For those of you who seek refuge from the icy, blustery north, welcome. And it is to these individuals that I write this review of GolfShot, a nifty little app available on your handheld device/ smartphone from the good people at Shotzoom.

First of all there is a free “Lite” version and a full $29.99 version. I would recommend trying out the “GolfShot Lite” version before buying the full version (which I know carries a steep price tag, but worth it, once you find all the cool stuff it can do).

Let’s start with all the neat stuff that the “Lite” version does.

So when you hit the links, you take this little app with you on your phone you can use it as your scorecard for you and your golf buddies and email it to them when you are finished. It automatically loads the closest golf courses, asks you which distances you’ll be teeing off from and you also have the option of inputting your personal handicap. Then asks at which hole you will be starting and at this point you will also be entering the other members in your party.

After you finish each hole, the app lets you enter the number of strokes for each player. When you, as the owner of the app, enter your score, you also will enter the club you used to tee off (Par 3 holes), whether you sliced left, right, came up short of the fairway or hit the fairway (Par 4 and 5 holes). There are also inputs for sand shots and penalty strokes. The app complies this data at the end of each round and produces useful information such as driving accuracy, greens in regulation, recovery, putting averages and other information that is plotted on a graph and can show your progress over 5, 10, 20 and 50 rounds. You can recall your stats for each round (where it was played and what your stats were for the date and particular course) that you play and see which way your game is trending.

So in summary, that is what the “Lite” version will do. The main drawback I noticed in playing with this app is that since I am left handed golfing and right handed writing, I have to use a gloved finger to input my scores and other information so it makes my finger about twice the size. I use an iPhone so the on screen buttons can be hard to press with any degree of accuracy, but I get around this by carrying a stylus which I would recommend for this app especially if you plan to use it on the golf course where one little (innocent mind you) incorrect entry can throw your stats off.

As fun as the free, “Lite” version is, the full $29.99 version is even more enticing. This version gives you all the features as the “Lite” version, but includes a GPS feature which will measure your ball’s distance from the front, middle or the back of the green. It also includes aerial images of the course to present you with the perfect distance to the hole, making your club and shot selection that much easier.

The whole app is uncannily accurate and really does double as the ultimate range finder/ scorecard no matter where you choose to golf and regardless of your ability. The largest drawback to this particular app is that with your “location service” turned on at all times (it has to be if you want to know exactly how far from the hole your next shot is) it is a major battery drainer. Forget about answering an email or taking a call out on the course, this app will take you from 100% to 0% most likely before your round is over. The only true way to get around this is to carry a spare, portable power source, but let’s face it, who wants to do that?

But have no fear, the good people at Shotzoom have obviously listened to their reviews, taken heed and come up with a nifty alternative. Enter the Shotzoon Golf GPS Rangefinder. This app eliminates the continued use of the GPS running in the background. It is a very accurate rangefinder and can make your club selection very simple. While it does save your smart phone a good deal of battery time, it too can be a bit cumbersome and difficult to gage each time you take a shot. Holding the unit steady and seeing the screen on certain types of sun-filtered days can be a bit daunting.

I addition, Shotzoom provides Golfplan with Paul Azinger. This app provides personalized tips and tricks based on your current game. I have yet to play around with this app, but would welcome any comments from those of you who have and I will try to write a review when I get the chance.

So to conclude, I would recommend that for the average golfer, if you are looking for a nifty electronic scorecard, the Golfshot Lite version is an easy to use, free app that provides you with a ton of information and can help see which way your game is trending.

If you are into having all the ins and outs of a rangefinder and GPS system incorporated into your game, I would recommend Golfshot GPS ($29.99 in the iTunes app store), but again beware that the battery drain will be severe.

Why We Micro-Lend

2011-12-21T18:52:00.001-08:00

If you’re not familiar with our company you probably have no idea what we do nor any idea why we do it. If this is the case, consider this your introductory post at least in terms of Beacon Worldwide- Beacon Marketing’s non-profit micolending division. For those of you already familiar with Beacon Consultants, Beacon Imports and Beacon Worldwide, consider this a refresher and a little more information to get you inspired.

In short 8% of every sale no matter how small or large from our Beacon Imports division (www.beacon-imports.com) goes to our microlending account. These funds are then dispersed to aspiring groups and individuals all over the world. We do this because we feel that capitalism in all its forms cannot thrive unless there are organizations, individuals and companies that are willing to give access to capital to each and every entrepreneur throughout the world. Risks are part of our American heritage and Beacon Marketing tries to look for those business that closely mirror our own values and takes on this risk by working through that individual’s or group’s financial institution to provide funds for the startup and/ or continuation of that particular business.

We do this both domestically and abroad. Our domestic partners allow people in poorer urban areas of the United States to better their lives by using their innovation and skills to develop products and services that will benefit their communities. Our foreign partners disperse funds to areas of the world where access to capital and resources are scarce. In essence we are trying to infuse a little bit of capital in the areas where it will make the biggest difference.

Recently Forbes Magazine’s cover story “Can Venture Capitalism Save the World?” highlighted (on a much larger scale) how one organization’s quest to break into third world countries is offering skills, resources and hope to those who have only known difficulty and misery. I invite you to read this article here (http://www.forbes.com/sites/helencoster/2011/11/30/novogratz/

and see for yourself why we and other organizations lend our resources to individuals who, like us, still have a dream.

Giving Thanks and "Franksgiving"

2011-11-20T17:58:00.000-08:00

Have you noticed that the Christmas season came early this year? It was sort of a voluntary thing amongst the giant cabal that is U.S. retailers that consumers should undergo ceaseless caroling over in-store sound systems a full five weeks early this year. But chintzy music and holiday crooning aside, as Richard Dryus said in Close Encounters of the Third Kind: this means something. This is important.

Was this the result of intelligent marketing or hopeless desperation? To clue ourselves in on this answer let’s go back to last time that we faced an economy like the one we are in now. As many media and political types like to point out (and I happen to agree with several of them), that would be the great depression. For nearly a century Thanksgiving was held on the final Thursday in November. This could mean that either the fourth OR the fifth Thursday might be any given year’s annual day of thanks. Turns out in 1939, still in the throes of the great depression, Thanksgiving fell on such a fifth Thursday.

Now it seems laughable in 2011, but back then, it was poor taste to adorn a retail outlet with Christmas décor or have so-called “Christmas Sales” before Thanksgiving. So in 1939 Lew Hahn, the general manager of the Retail Dry Goods Association mentioned to the secretary of commerce that this date would be less than favorable for holiday sales at a time when retail outlets needed the revenue most. By October, FDR had come up with a solution: mandate Thanksgiving be held on the fourth Thursday in November.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that all states finally fell into line with what came to be knows as “Franksgiving.” And without getting into too many details about the national difficulties and the debate of this move, it finally stuck and is the date upon which we celebrate Thanksgiving today.

This little history lesson does have a point. In 1939, retailers needed to move Thanksgiving earlier to make way for Christmas, to give more time to spend more money. Today, with the nation and the world busier than ever, if we were to wait for congress to act we’d probably have to wait until 2045 and by then we’d get some crazy piece of legislation that moved Thanksgiving to mid- July so that the Christmas buying season could begin in earnest while we are still buying our sunscreen.

It’s not the simple fact that we do not need, nor would most likely tolerate an act of congress to move Thanksgiving, but rather we as consumers have already made up our minds when and how our buying will take place for the holiday season regardless of when Thanksgiving falls. Online retailers have shifted the entire focus of holiday buying from a specific set of dates and locations to one in which the consumer can more fully control the environment. However, in both 1939 and 2011, the economics are similar. The faster and longer people can get part time holiday work and the faster consumers can spend their hard- earned dollars, the better off the retailers and their wholesalers will be. Thus the business cycle can once again begin spinning a little faster.

Today, with the business cycle is fighting for its very life, there are stark differences between today’s retailer and the retailer of 1939. Businesses no longer have to wait for an act of congress. Thanksgiving, the federal holiday falls where it may within the specified law, but the sentiment for buying falls whenever the consumer decides. So the answer here is that it is both desperation and savvy marketing that we hear Bing Crosby in the linen aisle so early in the season.

Is this a bad thing or a good thing? Opinions vary widely and perhaps another post would be in order to properly assess the overall mood, but suffice it to say that while giving thanks for this holiday shopping season is not something that might be on the tip of every shoppers tongue, at least we can say we don’t have to wait for congress to begin the spending.

Forget the Recession

2011-10-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

In an age where jobs are rare commodities, consumer discretionary spending has taken a plunge. That’s bad news if you are in the retail, wholesale or distributor business. Over the past few months, we’ve written blog posts about staying the course, biding your time, preparing for the worst, preparing for recovery. We’ve opined on such things as the gloomy economic forecasts, trying to stay upbeat while facing reality. We’ve advised clients and potential clients alike on matters such as cutting back your workforce, cutting costs, strengthening your inventory positions and keeping ideas and products fresh and new. So in this latest post (yes it is very late), I’m proposing a new direction not aimed at the economy or government or even business for that matter. As we begin the final quarter of 2011, it’s tough to see any bright spots on the horizon as far as business goes, so this month, Beacon Marketing (via me of course) is going to post something a little different. I’m going to list off how to forget about the current (potential) double-dip recession and start to feel good about the present environment by showing how some of those we’re worked with over the past year have made the best of an awful business situation.

1. Spend time with family

I know for some of us this is like…duh. For others this is like….no way, never. But I like to think that a grey area exists between “duh” and “no way.” For those of us who love our families and home life is bliss, this makes all the sense in the world and chances are you don’t have to read this or find any time for that matter to actually want to be with those individuals. But if you are in the “no way” category, you can have all the free time in the world and you’d rather be anyplace else. I think however for most of us, it is a matter of finding what used to be called “quality time.” If you set aside 30 minutes at home with your family and expect a spontaneous act of “quality time” to happen, you are only going to be disappointed. Instead, how about just showing up and seeing where it goes. Sometimes just being around is the first step.

2. Get outside

It’s amazing to think about how much time we spend each day in front of the computer or our phone screens. While the internet was supposed to make everything from shopping to photo-taking easier, it has now become the official medium for life as we know it. It has become a demanding master rather than an easy conduit. Everything is done online now. Even out phones are tied to online services that demand our time and attention. My advice is to go someplace where the weather is nice even your own backyard (if you live someplace nice). And get away from phones, screens, televisions, keyboards and even people if necessary. Take in a few hours of sun, autumn air or just do an activity someplace open. You’ll find that it gets your mind off work a lot better than that last adult beverage.

3. Get a massage

OK, so for the guys this may seem a little “metro” but regardless of your manliness, even the most intense (or laid back for that matter) guy’s muscles get knotted up and need some relief. Chances are you have a local massage clinic someplace close by. If not, you can scour your local ads or simply Google “massages” and your zip code and there is an even better chance an individual with the proper qualifications can come to your own house. Aromatherapy, soothing music, some controlled breathing all may seem like something that’s a bit “out there” for some people, but if you take the hour or so to actually do, the rewards can last for days.

4. Try a new place

This is fore everyone. If you are the thrill-seeker, get to an amusement park or bungee jumping center. If you are more laid back, try a new restaurant or diner. Regardless of what your idea of fun is, it is important to break the same old routines that you rely on for convenience and expedience. Take some time to try new foods or new activities. Many of our clients we queried for this report have found that there are restaurants and parks literally within 10 minutes of their office or homes that they had never tried but had been meaning to when they had time. Our advice is to make that time now.

There are literally countless other hobbies, locations and activities that can help you take your mind off whatever current situation you are facing, be it economic or otherwise. But the most important thing is to incorporate these new things into some kind of routine. Many business owners find themselves so tied to their business that they defer new activities until a retirement that either never comes or keeps getting further from their reach. The time to do things that relieve stress, expand your horizons and keep you happy and health is not in retirement, it’s today.

What To Do Now

2011-08-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

As national and global news continue to weave their way into and out of our daily lives, a somber reality still remains. Our country’s economic growth is not keeping up the pace it should to sustain small business growth let alone prosperity. The reasons are varied, but one word tends to sum up the entire scenario: uncertainty. This wait and see approach has failed to get many small businesses out of the starting block and those that are running laps have slowed to a meager limp in many cases. It’s a lot like a surfer waiting for the right wave at the right time. Many businesses are standing on the sand with their surf boards, but just can’t seem to take the plunge. The wind isn’t right, the wave is braking too soon or too late, it just doesn’t make sense to go out there right now unless a series of events occurs repeatedly that tells us everything is going down the right path. And right now, none of that is happening.

During this difficult time, we have given lots of advice to small businesses on pricing, timing, logistics, business cycles and product value. Some of our clients who have been around for decades are still too frightened to try anything new let along hire any new employees, launch any products or bring in any new vendors. This is why the economy has slowed to the pace that it has. Too many business owners are resting on their old tried and true products and methods to get through rather than pushing into new frontiers.

So what can small businesses do to try to push ahead during a time when the situation seems to require staying put?

Test marketing. Ok, so you realize investing in large quantities of inventory on products that are not tried and true sellers is probably not the best idea at this point. We concur completely. However, one of the more prudent things to look at would be to try smaller quantities of product (even if the initial cost is higher) and test their results on your top customers.
Make variations on existing best-selling products. One of our biggest clients has a product that has been around for decades and gets reorders from big box stores on a weekly basis. A sure-winner, we advised them to keep the product, but change the quantity and packaging. The costs were slightly higher, but the profit margins added additional revenue to their second quarter sales.
Network. If your business does not have a website, you are back in the early 1990s, if your business does not have a FaceBook page, you are about a decade behind the eight ball. This is a great time to catch up with the rest of the world by creating your own community and advertising to your closest circle of business contacts. We like to think of social media not wholly as a way of attracting new customers, but as a way of solidifying your relationships with those whom you do business.
Cut operational costs. No one is a fan of unemployment, diminished pay or selling valuable assets. But we also need to be real as long as the economic situation stays at it is. We need to think smaller operationally. This can mean anything from selling property to cutting back workers’ hours to pulling the plug on the second phone line. While the options are painfully plentiful at creative, they still are necessary for the leaner, dynamic and more versatile business of the future.

There are things that businesses can be trying at this point in time to prepare for expansion. This is not to say that some small businesses are not expanding currently. There will always be those organizations that can still turn out new and innovative ideas even in a recession. On average however, most of our clients have expressed reservations about taking new directions and their actions tend to follow this line of reasoning.

No one can say for sure when the skies will clear and the time to take more risks, hire more workers and turn out new products will begin. In the meantime, there is no reason why your business cannot take the small steps necessary to prepare for that time.

Micro Work

2011-06-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

It seems even more often than our products and services, I am asked about Beacon Worldwide- our global microlending initiative, partnering with financial institutions to lend small amounts of capital to aspiring entrepreneurs in impoverished nations. I find that it stirs a range of emotions among our clients and customers.

When we first decided to launch Beacon Worldwide, we knew that the risks of lending to other countries in fiduciary terms were many, but we also knew that our customers would want to know why we would sacrifice a portion of their sale towards an unknown and possibly foolish cause. We were also aware of the many views and opinions towards microlen

ding to poorer nations. Ultimately however, the decision to move forward with this initiative was a faith in the people who want to make their lives and their families’ lives better through business. Just as we put faith in our customers to grow their businesses with Beacon’s products and services, we wanted to lend a monetary hand to those businesses that would never have the possibility to benefit from what we are able to do domestically. As more and more individuals and businesses recognize the needs of workers, business owners and aspiring business owners in third world countries, some unique and creative ideas have blossomed beyond simple lending. We’ve included the copy of an article that highlights this trend from Forbes Magazine below.

Making the globe a better place for the exchange of capital, goods and services is one of the pillars of Beacon Worldwide. If you have not had the opportunity to check us out online, we invite you to do so when you have a moment. In the meantime, we’re happy to announce that our first Beacon Worldwide newsletter will go out to our customers in August. We have decided to go with a quarterly format and we will touch upon new directions in microlending, a summary of our lending portfolio, personal profiles and how your orders affect the individuals to whom we lend.

The following article was seen in the “Philanthropy” section of Forbes Magazine, 2011 Special Edition Investment Guide. The title is “Wealth Creation” and was written by Kerry A. Dolan.

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Leila Chirayath Janah is only 28, but it didn't take her long to come to the conclusion that massive foreign aid isn't the solution to poverty. She wrestled with the issue while working at the World Bank and, before that, at Harvard majoring in African development. What many of the poor people she m

et really wanted was a job that pays decently.

So three years ago she started a San Francisco-based nonprofit called Samasource, which serves a work link between tech companies in the U.S. and poor people overseas. So far she has found work for 1,200 people, often women, doing simple computer-based tasks for such companies as LinkedIn, Google and Intuit. Most workers earn $15 a day or less, but that can go a long

way in her target countries- India, Haiti, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa and Uganda. "All of a sudden you create a whole new channel for wealth creation:' she says.

Janah grew up in various suburbs of Los Angeles in a family she describes as not well-off and attended public high school. Her parents were immigrants from India; her father is a structural engineer. At Harvard she ~ worked three jobs to make ends meet.

The inspiration for Samasource came in 2006 while working at a consulting firm now part of Booz & Co. Helping a large Indian outsourcer go public, Janah hit on the notion that poor, educated people even in rural areas of developing countries could do

data-entry work, just as people living in large Indian cities do. In early 2008 she won $35,000 in a business-plan competition with her idea (she calls it microwork) and moved to Silicon valley to start the nonprofit.

Samasource takes work orders from a U.S. tech company, breaks them down into simple tasks and sends the work off to one or more of its 16 partner organizations in, say, Nairobi or Lahore. To date Samasource has paid out $1 million in wages. It keeps an undisclosed slice to pay its 16 employees in San Francisco. It has also raised $2.5 million from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Cisco Foundation and individuals.

In the bare-bones offices of Adept Techno, a Samasource partner in downtown Nairobi, Eric Makokha, 26, earns between $140 and $230 a month performing tasks like transcribing oral tests for a U.S. teaching institute (Adept isn't allowed to name the school). Makokha has a degree in aeronautical engineering but can't find a job in aviation. "Before I came here I was living with my relatives .... I moved out and [am] now fully independent:' he says in an e-mail.

Does Janah feel she's taking jobs away from Americans by using low cost foreigners? "Most of the work we do would otherwise go to large, for-profit outsourcing firms in big cities in India and China:' she says. "These companies do not recruit marginalized

. women and youth, and do not guarantee living wages to their workers:'

Janah has seen how finding work for poor people gives them a sense of dignity and self. "It's a new path we are forging:' she says.

Would the Real Venture Capitalists Please Stand Up?

2011-05-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

I was perusing the pages of one of this month’s editions of Forbes Magazine and came across an interesting article that speaks to the core of our mission at Beacon Worldwide. I have always found it fascinating that even though the world’s communications mediums have allowed us to link ideas and cultures closer together we have not maximized the usefulness of this idea-exchange to further the spirit of entrepreneurship towards third world countries. We have all seen the images devastating earthquakes in Haiti, mudslides in South America, tsunamis wiping away thousands of homes in Sri Lanka in the past decade. Lots of money from wealthier nations like the U.S. are poured into these countries to aid in the suffering. But in the end, this money is a palliative measure, not a cure. The systems of government in many of these countries exist only to survive, not to prosper their people. It takes money funneled to specific entrepreneurs in these nations to even begin to make a difference. That’s why Beacon Worldwide accepts donations and portions of Beacon Imports sales to channel the money towards microlending to nations with little financial infrastructure. With overseas financial partners, these loans help aspiring entrepreneurs start and build businesses and ultimately better lives.

I would encourage you to check out Mfonobong Nsehe’s blog “The Africa Chronicles” at blogs.forbes.com/mfonobongnsehe. I’d also invite you to take a look at our Kiva page to see first hand the difference that Beacon Worldwide is making through our generous donations and through our sales at Beacon Imports.

Why Google May Never Produce a Facebook, Groupon or Google

- by Mfonobong Nsehe (April 7, 2011)

Africa has its own Mark Zuckerbergs, Andrew Masons, Mark Pincuses, Larry Pages and Sergey Brins. But it lacks its own Yuri Milners, John Doerrs, Vinod Khoslas and Y Combinators.

There are many entrepreneurs out there waiting to break through, but their ideas might never see the light of day because of a lack of seed finance. Africa is undergoing a technology renaissance. More than ever before, the population is becoming more technologically inclined, more Web-dependent. With the right financing our entrepreneurs can put Africa on the global map of technological innovation.

But until its financiers and the self-proclaimed "venture capitalists" are easily accessible and listen to these entrepreneurs, Africa may never have its own answers to such internationally famed corporations like Google, Facebook. Zynga and the rest of them. Africa needs several Y Combinator-type firms who will believe in and support the dreams of entrepreneurs and get those big ideas out of the boxes and into the pages of history. Africa's techies are equally as smart, gifted and visionary and if supported can transform big ideas into moneymaking, world-class companies that'll change the world.

So, will the venture capitalists please stand up?

Here are some of the responses that the article elicited:

MBWANA:

There are several VCs in Africa. From East Africa Capital Partners to Fanisi Capital.

I think there are just not enough angel investors willing to take that first-stage risk to get these entrepreneurs to the next stage. Entrepreneurs need to prove traction and a clear business model for lO-lOOX returns for the African VCs

to invest. What Africa lacks is an established tech ecosystem that Silicon Valley has that means success stories fund the next generation.

HIGHHEELEDTRADERS:

My guess is that it will be the Chinese capitalists who will come to African "diamonds in the rough," just like what they are doing with the oil and mining assets.

KOLIOBI:

I totally disagree with the premise of this article. It doesn't take "African" investors to fund "African" start~s. African startups should and will source funds globally. With the ascent of online funding sites like Angellist, access to funds will be further democratized, irrespective of a startup's physical location.

MFONOBONG NSEHE RESPONDS:

Koliobi, there are quite a few African-based VC firms. I'm familiar with avca-africa.org, but the companies listed there are private equity firms. There are no firms there that provide seed capital to tech firms.

Also, I never insisted that only African VCs should be the ones to fund African startups. I'm actually for the idea of VCs from any country funding African firms. It'll even

be better because these other guys tend to be more experienced in tech business than African VCs.

Japan, Libya and the State of Our Businesses

2011-03-30T20:35:00.000-07:00

We do business in a fairly sheltered industry. While turmoil rages in Libya and Japan digs out from under what is possibly the largest tsunami in that country’s history, we continue to operate for the most part, unabated.

Certainly there has been some fluctuation in all of our portfolios based on the market’s response to these events. Some companies have experienced some delays in shipping and certainly gas prices are going higher based on the uneasy relationship between the west and the oil-producing countries in Africa and the Middle East. But beyond this, customers are still buying, producers are still producing and sellers are still selling. The problem is not particular world events, but the uncertainty that these world events bring with them.

Uncertainty is a key component in the downturn and eventual demise of any business or industry. Indecisiveness on the part of any large corporation all the way down to a small one-man operation can cost a company a huge amount of revenue. But what happens when uncertainty is thrust upon an organization? What happens when external uncertainty is greater than internal uncertainty?

In finance, there are two types of risk- firm-specific risk and market risk. Proceed with caution is the watchword for most companies at this time not because of the lack of ingenuity or creativity or a lack of desire to increase production, (firm-specific risks) but because of uncertainty (market risks). The United States has had its share of uncertainty over the course of the last few years. A financial system meltdown caused by unsustainable subprime mortgages, a waffling government, crazy legislative agendas and activist courts locking horns in a power-grab pandering to their respective, lucrative political bases. Add to the fire a number of seemingly inexplicable missiles fired into Libya for a cause no one is quite sure about, a healthcare bill that looks to overhaul the 1/6 of the economy. Two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq still have citizens scratching their heads over what plans for the two countries lie ahead and who will be paying their bills. In the meantime trillions of dollars have been pumped into the economic balloon that still seems too big to inflate in any meaningful way.

As a somewhat practical reminder of how all these events came upon us like a tidal wave, a real one, a tsunami, hit Japan a few weeks ago. And while no one in the U.S. suffered anything close to what the Japanese people endured, it reminds our businesses that disasters take many forms and none of them are at all predictable.

We get questions quite often from several companies about when we think business will begin to thrive again, when we think unemployment will drop below 5%, when do we think certain industry segments will begin to grow, etc. None of these answers are easy as long as there is this incredible amount of uncertainty within our current business sphere. And while we cannot prevent popular uprisings in the Middle East, or violent civil wars in North Africa or tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean, we can take a few steps towards easing the uncertainty in our own environments. While putting these things in place for your own business will not take the country into an economic boom, it will help you cope with the uncertainty in this economic timeframe.

[….our next post will include a Business Uncertainty Toolkit that will allow you to focus on new ways if thinking about cash flow, savings and investing during uncertain times.]

The Evolution of the Digital Marketplace- From Spam to the Ecosystem

2011-03-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

How many of us remember when we typed and sent our first email? I can recall being amazed at the notion that a letter that used to take days to get to its recipient would now take seconds. The fact that one could do this several times a day- literally send hundreds of letters (emails) to hundreds of people in such a short amount of time was an astounding notion. Companies soon jumped on the email bandwagon. Everyone had to have an email address for their customers or risk falling behind. Offering customers an informational email address soon was not enough, a place on the World Wide Web, the information superhighway as it was known was needed to establish a web-based presence. Soon thousands of companies had their own addresses; the dot-com boom of the mid to late nineties saw an explosion of web-based commerce with customer information, transaction information and all types of digital data. This informational mudslide threatened to bury up and coming companies to the point where no web-surfing individual would be able to find them. (Yes it was called surfing back then)

The solution for many was mass email marketing. For decades companies had relied on the time-tested procedure of mass mailing fliers, coupons, brochures and other collateral materials to a broad range of customers. The idea quickly disintegrated into what we know today as spam. Millions of emails piled up as organizations from drug-makers to coffee wholesalers jumped on the mass email bandwagon. What was once touted as the one-to-one future, the way to connect personally with your customers on a level that was unprecedented quickly overwhelmed potential customers with offers, specials and sometimes even outright fraud. It would take years, but the government would finally put a halt (albeit an unenforceable one) to the madness.

As the millennium turned so did the outlook for digital marketing. As spamming became more rampant, customers gradually weeded out those emails that truly did not represent what they were looking for until the weeding became just another chore. New spam filters provided some relief, but the system remains far from perfect. Web advertising by this time was no newcomer, but the ads became more intrusive, larger and slowed the pace it which a user could view the internet. Web ads were far from personal and it would take a revolution in hardware and software before a new frontier in digital advertising could be established. They called in Web 2.0, a faster, more versatile and efficient way to use the internet. But what Web 2.0 turned out to be was something much more radical. What was supposed to be a better way to "surf" became a tidal wave. You wouldn't surf the web anymore, the waves of information would now be controlled by the user. In essence the web content providers would become, well, the users themselves.

It began in many forms, but the first revolution was in social networking. Sites like MySpace began to make email a thing of web antiquity. While online chatting and instant messaging had made some inroads by making messages shorter, faster and more omnipresent. It would take a hardware revolution in mobile technology to realize their true potential.

The proliferation of social networks coupled with advances in mobile computing once again forced companies to rethink their digital advertising agenda. It forced companies to become more personal, not so open-minded anymore, but more single-minded. The idea that each customer had their own personal tastes and that taking those preferences and pulling them into a circle of friends and like-minded people was now a real possibility. The information superhighway was no longer a road (speed by now was taken for granted), but an ecosystem of like-minded creatures, chatting, messaging, tweeting, blogging and sharing.

At this stage and to the present, companies focused many of their advertising on personal community pages like Face Book and Twitter. Instead of flashy graphics or other wow-factors, simple updates that personally told the user what the company was launching, what they were doing and where they were headed sufficed to bring about an customer ecosystem and less of a mass marketing campaign.

Web advertising is still very much a present factor, yet its impact diminishes the less it is linked to some type of ecosystem. Likewise, any email user will still find spam to be alive and well presently. However its effect has also diminished not only from better software filters and government regulation, but from the overall decreased use of email as a communications medium and of course any spam or email advertisement that is not part of a web ecosystem will surely be ineffective.

In short, selling ones products and services on the web has gone from simply showing up towards facilitating a biosphere, an ecosystem of like-minded or semi-like-minded individuals. Businesses on the web don’t just push their goods and services anymore; they embrace interested individuals as friends.

Now it’s on to the future. No one can say for sure exactly where social media is headed nor can anyone predict with pinpoint accuracy what new hardware will revolutionize the web experience. But at Beacon, we feel there are at least a few key trends that will unlikely disappear:

PCs will eventually die. Just as desktop computers have fallen to notebooks and net books, the software, operating systems and hardware of the PC will eventually fall by the wayside. Evidence of this is seen in many forms. Tablets have taken a firm hold over casual personal computing user and smart phones offer an easy way to do just about everything. Where design, graphical creativity, server functions and other large-bandwidth programs are concerned, PCs will most likely still have a place. But much like an old appliance whose purpose is still useful, yet outdated, new ways of designing and retrieving information are becoming too great for the PC to stay in its current form.
The clouds will gather. Cloud computing takes the hard drive out of the computer and replaces it with streaming information from some far off server or cloud. No longer will you “own” a song or software program on your device, rather the cloud will stream this information to your device such that the hardware itself is only a means of receiving all information you could ever want whenever you want it in the palm of your hand.
The internet will be omnipresent. Eventually, there will be no place on earth where you can escape an internet signal. The Cat5 cables and Ethernet connections of the past will no longer be needed for internet use. Simply tap on your device in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and you will have access to more information than any civilization in the world’s history.

Of course these trends are general at best; we are consultants and importers, not techie prophets. What we can say is that taking the above trends, businesses now have to take the ecosystem approach to selling goods and services. The web, once an ocean, became a highway which became a landscape which became an ecosystem. What it becomes from here will certainly present very exciting opportunities.

A Global Beacon

2011-02-14T18:52:00.001-08:00

When we first began, we started by assisting small entrepreneurers get their products to the marketplace. We did this for items ranging from jewelry to stationary to home décor. Many benefitted from our efforts and many went on to have successful businesses and products.

Taking a cue from these successes, Beacon Imports was born, our model of import marketing through the use of a sold sales force, a growing web presence and a keen eye on customer needs. We used this model as a baseline for tracking what our clients and our customers needed not only in terms of product, but as a way to identify barriers to entry and pass along valuable business lessons of the 21^st century.

Towards the end of 2010 however we began to reach out across the oceans in a way that we felt would be the most helpful to our fellow business men and women in third world countries. We began to establish a fund based on our net sales that could be used towards microlending in impoverished nations. It is in these locations where the need for free enterprise is most needed. Knowing our limitations as a small business, we began sponsoring grants to help African businesses procure needed materials to begin and continue their enterprises. After this, as revenues permitted and new steps put into place, we began Beacon Worldwide, our microlending branch of Beacon Marketing and Beacon Imports.

Beacon worldwide currently has a portfolio that includes business partners from Algeria, Mexico, Cameroon, Kenya and Nicaragua. We’ve helped food wholesalers, clothing manufacturers, educational suppliers among many others. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished and continue to receive funds both online, through our web store and through Beacon Marketing. We set aside a portion of this income strictly for Beacon Worldwide. The thanks that we have received for this endeavor have been numerous and the results have been magnificent to observe. We invite all of you to check out what we are doing with Beacon Worldwide by signing up for our newsletter. You too can be a global beacon.

Have We Changed?

2011-01-23T07:20:00.000-08:00

Has the floral business changed over the past decade? When it comes to the basic wants and needs of your customer, the answer is, well, not really. The floral industry has changed just like every other industry. But the people driving these changes have not changed very much at all. Look at it this way- ten years ago, people liked receiving flowers. Today, people like receiving flowers. Ten years ago people had flowers at funerals and weddings. Today people have flowers at funerals and weddings. Ten years ago, people had babies, today people have babies. Ten years ago, you spent a lot of time and effort on an arrangement that sold on a razor-thin margin. Today, the same deal applies and probably the margins are even thinner. Or worse, many of your arrangements are selling at a loss.

What has changed are your costs, your uncertainties, your method of fulfilling orders, your styles and your product mix. The days of the local hardware store have fallen to the likes of Home Depot and Lowes. So too the days of the local florist have given way to the big fulfillment centers based on the Internet and wire services. Now a customer in Utah can order flowers for her sick aunt in Delaware all with a few swipes on her iPhone. With the notable exception of the perennial male "last-minute syndrome" on Valentine's Day, foot traffic in your business is down and many florists just simply cannot afford the overhead of a storefront at all. Many now work from home to fulfill orders online and center wholly on event planning, shifting costs to transportation and manpower for help.

So taken together these changes have not represented so much a shift in the demand for flowers, though certainly the economy has provided a shift in that regard, rather these changes have a significant impact on how people get their flowers and the prices they will pay for them. This has created an environment in which florists have to work faster, harder and with less resources than ever before.

We've worked with, listened to, and collaborated among many industry leaders to help meet your product needs. By knowing and understanding the challenges that you face, we are able to provide you with products that meet your daily needs. Our hope is that these products will allow you to turn out artistic, profitable arrangements that promote the sentiments that they convey.

Thoughts on the Midterm Elections

2010-11-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

I wish politics and business did not mix. They should be layered on top of one another with a very distinct stratification. But alas, we know that this is not the case, not in the real world anyway. The unfortunate part is that they go hand in hand in just about every facet of life. From the big lobbyists with millions of dollars down to the corner store’s campaign donation, politics, money and business are omnipresent.

Nowhere was this fact more prevalent than in the 2010 midterm elections. Various pundits continue to view the results through varying degrees of importance and through different prisms. Regardless of their analysis or opinions and regardless of where you personally stand on the issues or the powers that be, the elections were about simple economics more than anything else.

People need money. People need jobs. People need security. They have not found any of those over the course of the last two years. One can quickly blame the government, another can quickly blame private business. Let’s look at both sides.

Over the past two years the government has done some good things to stimulate economic growth and allow for more people to get jobs. They have pumped trillions of dollars of stimulus money into the market, lowered the discount rate, kept taxes low (for now) and made it very easy for new and existing businesses to get loans. They have also done some very foolish things like speculating on raising taxes, passing sweeping and convoluted medical insurance overhaul and obscure banking regulations.

Businesses too have made some progress in getting back on their feet. They have begun cautiously hiring workers again, marginally increasing sales and inventories and more wisely cutting costs. But these things also come at a price to the rest of the economy. Businesses are sitting on millions of reserve capital, shaken by what might happen if the economy gets worse. Cost cutting typically means payroll decreases, pay cuts for experienced workers and a general lack of hiring, production and research and development.

So the showdown between the government and businesses continues all the while asking the question- who is going to blink first? I would submit that this is no showdown at all, but rather two friends who are having one heck of a quarrel. That quarrel got so bad that the people of this country had to step in and do something to calm them down and so they did- they voted. What exactly they voted for will remain a point of debate, but inarguably they voted for government to stop the foolish things and continue the more wise and time-tested approaches to getting the economy back on its feet. Likewise they voted for businesses to stop the government cat-and-mouse game and push forward optimistically and openly without the shady back-room deals and dirty money.

If this seems like an oversimplification of the midterm elections, that because it is. I feel that for all the hype and hoopla of ideology and power-grabbing at the end of the day we all want to be successful. Many workers haven’t had much to celebrate in the way of success lately and that needs to change.

Our Business Model

2010-07-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

We don't usually try to toot our own horn on our blog posts. In fact, we typically try blog about ideas that are more pertinent to other businesses and economic and social conditions. But I thought this might be a good time to let all of our customers and clients know where Beacon Marketing Consultants stands in these turbulent times.

I'm proud to say that like a lighthouse, Beacon stands strong in the storm and is still shining brighter than ever. Our product division has grown very well over the past year and we have been able to help dozens of small business owners start, sell and maintain their product lines in areas all across the country. We have done pro bono work for organizations in Africa, in Haiti and provided assistance and relief for local and international charities. One of our main initiatives in 2011 will be to provide much needed help for women in Kenya to start their own businesses. In short, we are growing in ways we never dreamed possible.

Many obstacles remain however. Like all businesses we have had to cut overhead costs which has meant taking on fewer clients and advocating against many new ideas and products at least until the economy improves, we have had to keep smaller inventories, ship fewer orders and have had less feet on the ground to grow sales in many areas. While we don’t' expect these obstacles to remain permanent, they do allow us, like many other businesses, to give pause regarding the future and what it means for growth. As the unemployment numbers show, growth will be slow.

The same holds true for Beacon. Still the indomitable spirit of our employees and clients- their hard work, effort, determination and sacrifice is what make all business great. We do not believe in "trimming the fat" because we do not believe that even in the best of economic times that companies, including our own, should be "fat." Our business model has always been growth. Our growth is spurred not by increasing costs, but by increasing our talent and selectively taking on customers and clients who have the desire to succeed and who benefit from our products.

It is always difficult to grow a business in an environment such as this, but that never means that we stop growing. We may not be able to rent or buy new property, increase or customers and beef up our inventory as robustly or quickly as we'd like, but our less tangible qualities can shine through. Qualities like creativity and efficiency never stop even when growth is slow.

For these reasons and many others, I strongly recommend that if you are ready to make the jump into the market place with a new idea let Beacon Marketing Consultants help get you started. If your business is looking for quality, low-priced products look no further than Beacon Imports. And even if the time is not right for you, we're still Beacon and we'll be here when the storm is over.

The End of Business As We Know It

2010-03-13T19:25:00.000-08:00

"Many of my customers have survived," said an old colleague of mine over coffee the other day.

"But, they’ll never be the same."

Arguably, the economy is on the rebound, but as many experts predicted, it is not the rebound that we hoped for. Such a fall from lofty economic heights surely deserved a much better bounce that what is before us now. The road to beating unemployment is long and fraught with difficulties, it will likely take years. Returns on investments are still lagging, and getting back to an even strength portfolio may take even longer. Consumers are saving, not buying…at least, not like before. Businesses are still trying to find ways to cut costs, work on smaller margins, increase value and position themselves to be more profitable when better times arrive.

Through all this however, there remains an optimistic and hopeful attitude towards commerce and the consumer products industry in general. Bottom line: people need "stuff." That will never change, but the "stuff" they need and what they will give up in exchange for it will.

Ten years ago, the giftware, home décor, floral and personal care industries were a veritable boon to all businesses trying to jump into the market. Today it represents more of a wandering wasteland with a few gems, but relatively risky and bumpy terrain. Make no mistake, we will all get out of these doldrums, but when we do, we may in fact be surprised to find that the business world as we know it has changed. In fact, the signs are not hard to see all if we look at the real, societal world.

Business is about relationships. Relationships are founded on and grounded in trust. Trust is built through ongoing, structured, positive actions and communication. And let’s face it, communications mediums both digital and otherwise have become log jammed with superfluous messages and empty promises. It’s no wonder consumers and businesses have a wary eye on each other. Doing business, whether in the consumer products industry or the aerospace industry requires trusting, lasting communication.

Today, there is less face to face communication and more shortened, quick electronic communication. This lack of interpersonal connection has led to a mass breakdown of the sales- customer connection. Couple this fact with a reeling economy and you have a complete flattening of a huge segment of the consumer market: those that can’t afford "stuff", those who don’t trust business enough to do so and those who fall into both difficult categories.

But through such a meltdown lies a unique opportunity for small businesses, an opportunity to build trust in a way that uses available communication and fosters an ongoing, symbiotic and most importantly, personal relationship. I like to call it "FaceBook Commerce." It’s not e-commerce and it’s not internet marketing. In fact, don’t let the term fool you, it’s not about cyber-anything. What FaceBook Commerce is about is taking the concept of an online social network like FaceBook and brining its core values into the marketplace of business ideas.

The concept of "casting a broad net" (mass digital marketing) has become too easy too quickly and cost too much in time, resources and customer trust. What was once the promise of a digital one-to-one future has resulted in a sea of mass confusion, a shell game resembling electronic gimmicks complete with smoke, mirrors and distractions packaged to showcase 21^{st century speed and efficiency.}

Take this as an example- if I want to reach 100 customers, I would send 100 emails, send 100 faxes, make 100 phone calls or a combination of these efforts to the accounts I am trying to reach. If I want to connect with 100 customers, I need to give them a much better reason to respond than a phone call, fax or email. Such exercises are akin to searching for John Smith on Face Book. There are far too many of them out there and the chances that you are going to connect with the one you are looking for upon your first search is very unlikely.

Small businesses have become too obsessed with reaching customers and not nearly as concerned with connecting with customers. Herein lies the new world or business communication. Face Book business (sites like Linked In have begun to pioneer such opportunities) takes the reasons why one would want to find a John Smith in the first place and applies those reasons to the business world. Maybe John Smith was an old buddy, maybe John Smith was recently in the news, maybe John Smith recently won the lottery. Whatever the rationale for your search, the reasons prompt you to look for him specifically.

As a small business, you are "John Smith." Your customers are the searchers. You need to give them the same reasons as John Smith has for his search to look for you whether it is online over the phone or in person. You need to give your customers a reason to come find you. You can’t just say, "hey, here I am, I have email and a website, come see me." You have to generate a reason to have a customer see you. Many times, it is a personal connection, a group of friends who are your closest and best customers simply by the sheer nature of knowing you. Maybe you have a group of referrals from this core group. Maybe a sales representative has personal connections. Maybe you are attending trade shows, publicizing in trade magazines, advertising or charitable giving. All these things create a buzz which creates communication which creates trust which creates relationships.

These relationships are circles, they are not huge masses. Face Book business is about circles of trust in the business world. And as we emerge from this era of difficulty it will be these small trusting circles that will be the core of our businesses activities. The days of expensive mass digital marketing are coming to an end. Generating customers will be even more difficult than before, but keeping them will be easier as long as any business realizes that it is not about reaching anymore, it’s about connecting.

In healthcare debate, small business becomes pivotal

2009-12-28T18:16:00.000-08:00

--Taken From the Los Angeles Times

As they work to overhaul the nation's healthcare system, President Obama and his congressional allies have pledged to help small-business owners such as Rhonda Ealy and Kelli Glasser.
Ealy, who owns a coffee roasting company in Bend, Ore., has put off buying new equipment so she can offer health benefits to her 13 full-time employees. Glasser, whose firm outside Dayton, Ohio, makes museum and trade-show exhibits, has had to lay off 20 people in part to continue providing insurance to her 87 employees.

Both businesswomen desperately want help. But they have strongly divergent views about what Washington should do, reflecting a broader debate about how to relieve the burden on the nation's roughly 6 million small businesses.
That difference of opinion is fast becoming one of the most intense points of debate in the president's drive to expand health coverage and control the nation's growing healthcare tab.
Ealy loves a Democratic proposal to create a government-run insurance plan, which she hopes will allow her to get her employees better coverage for less. "We're looking for options," she said.
Glasser hates a separate provision in the legislation that would place a new requirement on many businesses to cover their employees. "It's going to make for some very tough choices," she said.
The two women are watching anxiously as Democrats work to pull together healthcare bills they hope to vote on this fall.
There is little dispute that the relief is urgently needed.
On average, businesses pay nearly $4,000 a year to provide insurance for a single worker and more than $9,000 a year for workers with family coverage. That's more than double what they paid a decade ago, according to an annual survey by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.
"It's heartbreaking out there," said Kevin Galvin, who owns a commercial maintenance business outside Hartford, Conn., and can't afford to provide health benefits.
Galvin heads a group called Small Businesses for Health Care Reform, which pushed for a new government insurance plan in Connecticut. He said the demand for help is so strong that in less than six months the coalition has attracted 19,000 members.
Congressional Democrats have developed a complex series of proposals they say will control the insurance premiums that bedevil Galvin and millions of other small-business owners.

The foundation of their plan is a new and regulated insurance marketplace, or exchange, where individuals and small businesses -- perhaps those with fewer than 50 employees -- would be able to shop for a range of plans that meet basic standards. The standards would be established by the federal government.
The exchange would feature private plans as well as a new government insurance program, which advocates say would put pressure on commercial insurers to lower their costs and improve quality. Critics contend it could drive private insurers from the market, leaving consumers dependent on the government alone for their coverage.

Some businesses with small payrolls and low salaries also would qualify for government aid to help cover their share of employees' premiums.
While offering new aid, Democratic leaders also would place new requirements on businesses. Under bills developed in the House and Senate, businesses above a certain size would be subject to a penalty if they did not provide employees with health benefits.
"If you're providing health insurance, that's great, and we're going to help you," President Obama explained last week at a town hall meeting on healthcare that he hosted in Virginia. "But if you're not providing health insurance, then you need to pony up a little bit of money to help pay for the fact that somebody, somewhere, is going to be taking care of your employees' healthcare."
That arrangement suits Ealy in Oregon.
Depending on where lawmakers put the cutoff, she might be subject to a mandate to provide coverage to all her workers. But the 41-year-old business owner, who founded Strictly Organic Coffee Co. 10 years ago with her husband, said she would like to be able to do that.
Now, with margins so thin that she and her husband skip vacations and barely pay their mortgage every month, she said she could afford coverage only for her full-time employees, leaving 12 part-timers to fend for themselves.
Three years ago, the premiums cost her about $2,112 a year per employee. This year, the premiums jumped to $3,420 for a less generous policy.
"I don't know how long we'll be able to keep it up," she said.
Ealy is looking forward to shopping for insurance in a new exchange, which she believes would help bring down costs and give her a chance to get into a lower-cost government option.
"If there is a mandate that comes with help, I'll take it," she said.

In Ohio, Glasser, whose business might be too large to qualify to buy insurance through the exchange, is more skeptical. She has 87 employees and a $5-million payroll.
The 39-year-old president of Exhibit Concepts Inc. has had to scale back the benefits she offers her employees and ask them to pay more.

Today, the company picks up about two-thirds of the cost of insuring its employees: $1,786 a year for each employee with an individual policy and $4,450 for each employee with a family plan.
Workers pay the remainder of the premium and have a $5,000 deductible for an individual plan and a $10,000 deductible for a family plan.
Glasser now fears that the government will force her to provide more generous coverage that she can't afford.
Provisions in the House and Senate healthcare bills would give federal regulators the authority to determine what kind of insurance satisfies the employer mandate.
"We work very hard to offer the very best health benefits that we can and stay within our means," Glasser said. "To have it dictated to us by the government is really disconcerting."
Obama and his congressional allies are counting on business owners like Ealy to rally behind their proposals, as many already have.
But with several small-business organizations fiercely opposed to the new mandate, the debate is far from settled.
A proposal in the House bill that would impose a surtax on families making more than $380,000 a year is also fueling criticism that a few small-business owners might be hit. (About 4% of small-business owners would be subject to the tax, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.)
Even some of the president's supporters are calling for more aggressive steps to restrain healthcare spending and bring costs down.
"There are definitely a significant number of small businesses who are willing to pay into the system in order to get some form of reform," said John Arensmeyer, head of Small Business Majority, a left-leaning research and advocacy group.
"But there needs to be more work on containing costs."

Small Businesses Might Not Be the Key to Economic Recovery

2009-10-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

Taken from BNet Intercom, by Stefan Deeran

“Small businesses vital to economic recovery go bankrupt” blares a new headlines from USA Today. Ok, so small businesses are going bankrupt. But why insert the “vital to economic recovery” assumption? It’s been constantly repeated as fact from pundits and politicians over the last few months that small businesses hold the key to the future. Even the Vatican has joined the choir, pushing for more credit for small businesses. Small businesses create 80 percent of all new jobs and drive “innovation in virtually every field,” according to a recent release from the US House Committee on Small Business.

But is all this actually true?

First of all, when many of us think of a “small business,” we think of our local bakery or bookstore. But according to the Small Business Administration, a “small business” in America has less than 500 employees. Now, where I come from, a 500 person company may not be the biggest business, but it sure isn’t a small one either. So many of the small business figures we keep hearing about may be based on a population set that isn’t quite valid.

Secondly, it makes sense to assume that we might see evidence of an economic rebound from smaller businesses first. If consumer spending inches up, restaurants may add a few more shifts before corporations start adding salaried positions to their payrolls. There may be plenty of indications of recovery from the small business sector. But the jury is still out as to whether small businesses actually cause economic growth.

Whether implicitly or explicitly stated, the “vital to economic recovery” argument really rests on the idea that entrepreneurs will save the day. We have all fallen for the romantic idea that today’s laid-off worker is really tomorrow’s Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, tinkering with the next billion dollar idea in their basements. Unfortunately, entrepreneurship may not be the economic silver bullet after all.

Here are a few of the reasons why, according to Scott Shane, a professor on entrepreneurship at
Case Western Reserve University:

To get more economic growth by having more start-ups, new companies would need to be more productive than existing companies. But they’re not.

Far from being job creators, as a whole, new firms have net job destruction after their first year.

On average, jobs in new firms pay less, offer fewer fringe benefits, and provide less job security than jobs in existing firms.

Shane concludes that the only small start-ups that actually create lasting, well-paying jobs and economic growth are the few hundred each year that receive substantial venture capital. In Shane’s view, government programs that encourage almost anyone to start a business are flawed because “they stimulate more people to start new companies disproportionately in competitive industries with lower barriers to entry and high rates of failure.”

The Death of Small Business?

2009-08-24T13:57:00.000-07:00

This year has been nothing short of a vomit-inducing frenetic subcompact car ride for the consumer products industry. Twists, turns, potholes, collapsed bridges and government speed bumps have all posed an enormous challenge while trying to navigate the roads of small business in 2009. And as we head into summer's end of the year buyers forgot, it's hard to not ask if the tiny car has finally breached the guard rail and tumbled to its firey demise.

Or perhaps the wayward vehicle was overmatched by a larger, more unstoppable force than its pitiful meandering attempt at reaching recovery. That force inevitably being unemployment, looming inflation, and a host of other economic indicators that point more towards a wasteland than a destination.

Whatever the methods historians deem culpable for its demise, small business seems to have written it's own epithet in the shadows of the titans who have fallen before them. It is more of a summary of what could have been than a grand farewell, more of a footnote in the obituary section of the of the community newsletter. Small businesses have closed their doors, shut off their lights and left countless vacancies in malls, office parks and warehouses across the fruited plain with little or no recognition of the dashed aspirations, broken dreams and time lost on the individuals and families who had one glimmering yet fleeting opportunity.

While the causes of this tragedy are many, as with any mourning process, curious and angered parties will beg the question “where did this magnificent death spiral begin?” Was it the slumbering pilot named deregulation who nodded off at the wheel? Was it the Washington politicians with their interminable dangerous construction zones of waste and ignorance? Was it the greedy corporate executives and loan predators slamming their fat, money-filled armored vehicles into the unsuspecting small business Prius? What made small business die and why did it have to?

Our company has been slow to embrace any one particular event, group of individuals or course of action that bares the sole brunt or responsibility for the current economic condition and the toll it has taken on many small businesses and not just among our own clients. This is not some feeble cliché or attempt to placate all interested readers. We look at the current economic situation and what it means for our industry, but Beacon Consultants does not mourn, at least not yet.

Why? The short and perhaps surprising answer is that because small business is not dead. The markets and big box competition may have forced the tiny, battered vehicle over the steep ravine and into a ball of flame and smoke, but miraculously the driver, passengers and family dog, dazed and bruised have stumbled from the twisted, mangled, burning wreckage to a safe distance.

While this fantastic scene may be made for Hollywood, it is a vivid image of what we believe has and will continue to happen with our industry. Because small business is not about what kind of vehicle you drive, but who is driving it. The entrepreneurial spirit can never be broken. The vehicle make and model and the roads it travels on along with the weather may change. Yes, even the biggest and strongest of motorized transportation can be destroyed. But the one who charts the course, the people who steer the vessel and are responsible for making its destination, they too have a destiny.

Beacon Consultants does not believe in business, we do not believe in markets or government or money. We believe in people charting their course, making their own dreams and watching them come true. While markets, governments, businesses and money will wax and wane with the passage of time, we cannot accept the death of small business as inevitable.

We only accept the changes that death and life bring.

Consumer Rebound?

2009-08-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

Stocks are up over 4% for the year.

And that's all. Big deal, right? In this age of lightning fast digital communications we are often very quick to embrace the figure du jour and assign a tremendous amount of value to it. Unemployment is at recent record highs, consumer confidence is way down, there is still work left to do before a consumer products market rebound takes shape.

So what indicator do you feel is the best for sensing when this rebound will take place? And when will this happen? How do you see it playing out? Beacon Consultants, while having several ideas, takes no real official stance as to how and when this will all play out, but is very willing and ready to hear all of your comments. So have at it. We all need to stick together.

Recovery comes to those who wait

2009-07-17T20:10:00.000-07:00

Note: This entry was written in December, 2008 with my hope that I would never have to post it. Now eight months later, as things have progressively become worse economically, I find that it rings truer than ever.

The great American patriot wrote: These are times that try men's souls. I'm not sure that a more parallel time exists in the retail environment than right now to utter that phrase once again. The question becomes one of practicality and philosophy. When investment banks fail, when mortgage giants go belly up it makes the average retailer wonder if they will be the next casualty in this unprecedented economic environment.

In fact with many individuals afraid of losing their savings, their homes and their insurance it leaves one to wonder whether the retail game is even worth the trouble. Big box stores like Target and Wal Mart draw customers to greater selection and lower prices in an era when every dollar that does not go towards fueling up a vehicle needs to be carefully watched and counted.
All this does not leave much room for what used to be called disposable income. So what does that mean for you and your business? The news, no matter where you turn, is not good.
Unlike our big money brothers in the financial sector you can't ask the government for this month's rent or dip into your taxes to buy new product or remodel your existing floorspace. No, in the current environment, you as a retailer are on your own.

I don't bring this to your attention to get you down in the dumps or to try to bring some sort of doomsday scenario to your business. Chances are you have probably realized most of these dire ideas already. The question now that we have all seen in the newspapers, magazines, on television simply is: now what?

First of all, as the old saying goes, this is no time to panic. It is however the perfect time to take stock in your own financial future and that means figuring how your business, your career and your lifestyle are affecting how you live each day. When it comes to your business the last thing that anyone now wants to admit is that it is time to throw in the towel. But weighing the cost of keeping your current career and business can be a tricky task. You must be ready to weather a storm that is going to last longer and be much more intense than many would have imagined. While business owners and salespeople collectively want to feel that change for the better is just around the corner all the usual signs point to a roller coaster ride that looks for the most part to be headed downward for the foreseeable future. Here are just a few of the things that you can be doing as a retailer or a salesperson to stem the tide of financial meltdown:

For salespeople:

1. Use the sure money-making product lines. No question about it, at this stage of the game you need to be concentrating your efforts on the product categories in your lineup that sell well and sell quickly. While sales managers may be breathing down your neck about their specific products and why more is not being done to sell specific lines, the added pressure should serve as a reminder that product that sells well will typically warrant little additional top-down pressure. Drop product lines that are selling poorly.

2. Remind yourself why you are a part of this game in the first place. Most independent sales representatives are doing what they do for a variety of reasons, but try to focus on one or two of the big reasons. For some it's the prospect of limitless income (although lately I'm sure this doesn't seem to be the case). But the potential for limitless income is at least always a possibility. For others the notion of being able to set your own hours and travel on specific dates is a major factor on your decision to continue this career.

3. Decide if you can live at your current sales pace or less for at least the next nine months. If the answer to this seems dire it may be time to consider another career path or at least take on a second, steadier-paying job. Too many salespeople assume that the good times will be around for a long period of time. A big rule in sales that often gets overlooked: it takes at least a year to develop a customer base and another year to develop a security net for when sales begin to inevitably drop off. Anyone who got into their first sales position because of the lure of easy, steady money from day one typically finds himself in deep trouble early on.

Next Entry: For Retailers

What's so bad about lower prices?

2009-04-23T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ordinary deflation cycles typically work like this: Productivity increases resulting in surplus in inventory. As competition for that inventory climbs, prices fall. As prices fall, lower profit margins rev up the engine of ingenuity allowing for better products and better market response.

This is not an ordinary deflation cycle. In fact, most signs currently point to a sense of INflation as economic recovery gradually takes over. But whatever the future holds, for the moment, prices on everyday items like milk and gas all the way up the ladder to luxury items like boats and mansions are not quite sure what to do. You can practically name your price for today's SUVs while oil prices show no sign of coming back down nor spiking again any time soon.

We do all remember $4/ gallon gasoline. And while the price of crude oil has stabilized for now, no one is sure what to do about cars. Same thing applies with the consumer products industry, while the prices in stores may seem like they have stabilized at a rather uncomfortable profit margin for the retailer, few takers are out there yet for the products, thus the inventory level does not fall and profit margins stay low thereby not producing income and keeping more and more people away from the engine of ingenuity.

For us in the consumer discretionary market, it is a rough time to say the least. No one really needs what you have in your shop or warehouse, and in this economy they can't want it badly enough to buy it when things like jobs are hard to come by. So for the buyer this should be a great time, but alas, we are all sharing in the pain.

What Lower Prices Mean For Everyone

2009-03-12T16:29:00.000-07:00

Sounds good doesn't it? Where else and at what time have we ever seen a situation like this? Lower prices, the holy Grail for every American consumer. People look for them, long for them, shop for them and surf the web for them. And here we are in the midst of an economic crisis and prices on some products has never been lower. Everything from computers to cars to houses to LCD televisions are going out the door at rock bottom prices.

Economics has a strange sense of humor doesn't she?

Prices are often at their lowest when too much inventory exists. Too much inventory exists often when people do not have enough money to spend. This leaves your vendors with little money, your customers with little money and ultimately your business and yourself with less money.

So as the economy has forced prices downward, is this a good thing for consumers or a bad thing for your business?

The question itself has some inherent flaws. The retail/consumer, wholesale/retail and the salesman/vendor relationship are all supposed to be symbiotic. What benefits one should benefit the other and so on and so forth down and up the chain. But in these crazy times nothing seems to be benefiting anyone on any level.

Lower prices mean lower margins, lower margins mean lower overhead costs, lower overhead costs mean less jobs, less jobs means less dollars and as stated previously, less dollars means more inventory and more inventory means lower prices.It's a vicious cycle with no clear end in sight. And we just seem to keep going in a spiral that leads down. While no one can see the bottom, the bottom line is, lower prices, for reason of too few dollars is bad.

Next Post: What's so bad about lower prices?

A Brave New World for a Challenging Time

2009-02-23T20:18:00.000-08:00

We've taken the opportunity to introduce Beacon Imports on our blog. Right here and right now- No major web marketing push, no mass emails, no PR blitz. We leave these types of things to our staff who help our clients day in and day out. As for us, we've decided to step onto the international scene not by competing with our clients, but by complementing their selection and facilitating the important steps in going overseas to do business without ever leaving your office.

The Internet has made the costs and options of doing business overseas incredibly easy and incredibly challenging. While the barriers of accounting, product selection, logistics and marketing have all been removed by an omnipresent digital medium, the barriers of trust and goodwill have been fortified by a global economy that thrives on balance sheets and incoming transactions, an economy of dollar figures, credit card numbers and bank accounts. He who has the most incoming cash by any means necessary.....wins. And lost in this sea of light speed cyber business is the notion that somebody, a physical, real, emotional, flesh and blood human being cares about your business, your bottom line and your future.

That is where the digital divide leaves off and where Beacon Imports begins. The global marketplace can be a confusing, difficult and often times hectic place to do business. But with a few key elements in place, a few tips about how to spot good and bad suppliers, a great business plan both domestically and foreign, you can cash in on goods and services that can make your business much more profitable.

Beacon Imports (much like our core business model in Beacon Consultants) does not seek to take a commission on your sales of imported goods. We do not seek to find tricky ways to make a quick dollar off a transaction- in fact, it is these very types of businesses that we try to shield you from. Beacon Imports seeks to give you truly global advice on how to find, buy, move and sell goods that stand out from your competitors. And as always, when you have your routine down, when your profit is being made, we gracefully step aside and let you continue to make money only seeking our help when you need it.

In essence, Beacon Imports takes the leap across the oceans to help you understand the brave new world that awaits your business. We invite you to call or email us to find out how we can help you.

Down, But Not Out

2009-02-11T20:08:00.000-08:00

During the darkest days of the American revolution, Thomas Paine wrote, "These are times that try men's souls." Economically speaking, I don't think those words could ring any truer for the retail and wholesale community. And while these trying times may seem destined for your demise and the demise of many, many players on the consumer products stage, I submit to you that the final curtain has yet to fall.

It's time to take stock in what your customers need, not what your customers want. I know, I know, this seems to be a paradox that has no real solution. How can an industry that thrives on consumers' wants possibly cater to their needs as well? After all, a company that sells gifts, accents and home decor cannot become a bread, milk and butter distributor overnight, right?

The simple answer to this is no. But the more complex answer to this is.....maybe. It depends on your long term outlook and just how willing you are to take risks and change in this environment.

NEXT: What do lower prices mean for everyone?

New Year, New You, New Structure

2009-01-27T08:09:00.001-08:00

The economic turmoil has placed great stress on our industry. Who will survive and how will our businesses look when this is all over? In our latest series of posts, we will be showing you how many companies have restructured for better or for worse to adapt to the changing and challenging times. Please continue to check back daily and remember to leave your comments, we are all in this together and we will get through it together.

The Future of Consumer Discretionary Income

2008-07-15T12:40:00.000-07:00

I don't buy into the hoopla about high gas prices being "here to stay." Sure, they may be around for the foreseeable future, but our children will be scratching their heads over why we in aught eight, used this primitive form of fuel to power our entire economy, our entire world. Alas, we are here, they are the future and how they spend their futuristic dollars is what we should be thinking about presently.

The future of your business rests on how you look at the way your customer will need your product in the years to come. This includes not only how they will use your product, but how they will get your product. Recent Beacon Consultant studies found some very interesting trends that have led us to a few new tweaks in our iSales platform. Among them:

1. While fossil fuels may run out, silicone never will. In other words, the materials used to make and build computers and Internet hardware cheaper, faster and more convenient are abundant and there is nothing stopping us from using those materials.

2. While silicone will always be abundant, time will never be. The rise in smaller, cheaper and faster computing devices are based on demand for these convenient items (the iPhone is a great example). This demand is rooted in the fact that people (including your customers), have less and less time to do the things will allow them to notice your product.

3. More and more orders in the giftware, home decor and floral industries will be placed online based on increased demand for time and abundance of computer networking devices. If you are not already online, you have missed the boat. If you are actively marketing online, you are sailing along. If you are selling online through your own website, you are at the helm. If you are engaging in cross-platform selling to a variety of web vendors, you are captaining a fleet towards the future.

Want to take advantage of these trends, check out our iSales platform on our website.

A Guide to Understanding Tough Times in the Gift, Home Decor, Personal Care and Floral Industry (Second Installment)

2008-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

Your customers' shelves are full, no one needs what you have to offer and your best account just folded a week ago. It may not be the time to make any aggressive moves in this business, but it certainly is not the time to close up shop either. Here are a few things that you should know before you decide to or not to throw in the towel:

1. Retail customers have little disposable income at the moment
This does not mean that they have NO disposable income at the moment. And this certainly does not mean that they will not have more in the future. Mom is not going to get nothing for this mother's day, she just might not get as big a gift as last year.

2. Inventory levels are very high, few customers need new product
This does not mean that ALL customers need NO product. Something is still going out their doors or it's all over for them and they walk away and call it a day. Those customers who have been through tough economic times before can still come out on top and when they do, you need to be there for them with what you have to offer.

3. Many customers still owe invoices from earlier this year or 2007
No sense in placing your product in a customer's store who can ill-afford to take on another invoice especially from your company. Even if you are offering generous terms, you can eventually kill your customer with kindness. Keep your finger on the pulse of your steady and best customers, but be sure they can still afford to pay you after the sale is complete. For everyone else with a shady payment past- no dice.

4. Your problem may be your product
All product in this industry is subject to economic tides. The time has never been better to evaluate what you are selling and to whom. It may sound obvious, but if your sales are extremely low now, there is little reason to believe that they will become a windfall when times get better. This is a great time to take stock in what you are selling and how in expand or improve upon your product once customers start looking for new ideas. If your sales are slow but still painfully coming through, join the club, hold on and be mindful more than ever of your expenses.

Not that these are novel or somehow divinely inspired revelations as to why you are or are not in this industry or why you are or are not doing well. Far from it. These are simply some insights as to why revenue may be so difficult to obtain in the foreseeable future. These are just reminders to keep in the fore to plan your next move. In the meantime, Beacon Consultants offers low-cost options to keep potential customers informed of your product lineup. So regardless of the economic cycle and regardless of where you see your business in the next six to twelve months, we are ready to help you get through these times.

A Guide to Understanding Tough Times in the Gift, Home Decor, Personal Care and Floral Industry

2008-04-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

Gas prices through the roof, credit market through the basement, banks closing, houses auctioned, debt piling up, dollar value falling, inflation rising, food prices unstable.....not the type of environment that makes the average American want to buy what you have to offer.

Let's face it, no matter where you go, money is tight these days and everyone is feeling the crunch. Small business owners have been especially hit hard by the lack of discretionary income available to most people so enjoyed in years past.

This is no time for looking into daring new territory, nor is it a time for major new forays into new products, advertising, promotions or warehouse and office expansion. Most manufacturers see it as a time to hold on and hold tight. 2008 will be the year of caution, conservative inventory levels, low sales volume and tight cash flow. Pay the bank, shut up and take it like a professional, right? After all, we are all helpless to the ebb and flow of economic cycles and no matter who we blame, business, lawyers, government, homeowners, rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic, we are where we are and nothing can change that, at least not at this moment.

But in the same fashion, this is no time to lose focus on what lies ahead and prepare for it. A time is coming, inevitably, when money will be plentiful to the consumer, your product will be the a sizzling hot commodity for a time and you will have a very short time frame to capitalize on the opportunity that a good economic cycle provides.

So what do you do today, when the storms of recession are overhead and no break is in sight?

Just like the weather, you look at the indicators and make your plans based on the best judgement that you have today. You don't plan for a picnic when thunderstorms are forecast for the next three days and you try not to plan to spend the day indoors when the sun in shining and temperatures are optimal. So this is a great time to plan for the next sunny day. What will you do and how? What will the consumer need and when will they need it?

It's easy to get caught up in the horror of big banks, big business and big money vanishing into thin air. The once mighty giants of the industry have fallen and one can't help to wonder if your business might be next, but does it really have to be that way?

At Beacon Consultants, our answer is simply, no.

Next: A Guide to Understanding Tough Times in the Gift, Home Decor, Personal Care and Floral Industry, Part 2