Sunday, February 28, 2010

“More Business - San Francisco Chronicle” plus 3 more

“More Business - San Francisco Chronicle” plus 3 more

More Business - San Francisco Chronicle

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 08:49 AM PST

(02-28) 08:56 PST Portland, Maine (AP) --

More than 250,000 homes and business are still without power as restoration efforts continue days after a slow-moving storm battered the Northeast with heavy snow, rain and high winds.

More than a million utility customers throughout the region lost power at the peak of the storm. Nearly 100,000 utility customers still lacked electricity in New Hampshire, the hardest-hit state. New York had about 96,000 outages and Maine 36,000.

Smaller outage numbers were reported in other states as hundreds of utility crews continued removing trees that knocked down power lines and replacing utility poles that snapped during the storm that crossed the region Thursday and Friday.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Business leader: Ron Carothers - Corpus Christi Caller

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:52 AM PST

Ron Carothers increased revenue at Camper Clinic by adding inventory.

Janet Herlihy/Special to the Caller-Times

Ron Carothers increased revenue at Camper Clinic by adding inventory.

ROCKPORT — Ron Carothers: vice president/co-owner, Camper Clinic Inc.

Address: 302 W. Market, Rockport, TX 78382

Phone: 361-729-0031

Web site: www.camperclinic.com

Company description: Recreational vehicle super store offering sales, parts and service

Hometown: Harper, Kan.

Years in business: 25 years

Tenure in position: 15 years

Education: Graduated from Harper High School, Harper, Kan., 1956. Joined the Army, completed Officers Engineering School, Fort Belvoir, Va., 1963. Completed Army Helicopter Training, Fort Rucker, Ala., 1965.

First job: When I was 16, I did construction work at the Wheat Elevator Construction Company in Harper. I learned not to be afraid of hard work and that it has its rewards.

Biggest career break: I was working in Nebraska in the dead of winter as a pipe fitter, when I was offered an assignment in the Army Primary Helicopter Training. I jumped at it, which started my aviation career in the U.S. and overseas for the next 20 years. After many thousands of hours of flying and three engine failures, with no damage, I decided my odds might be running out, so I started a One Hour Photo Lab in Corpus Christi in 1985. This developed my business experience and eventually led to my work at Camper Clinic.

Business turning point: I had worked as general manager at CC Motor Homes for six years, when I purchased 50 percent of Camper Clinic in Rockport in 1995. We increased the revenues considerably by expanding the inventory of RV units and soon became the largest RV store in the area. We added at least 15 very good employees and I became the full-time manager. We continue to be the largest RV store in the Coastal Bend. We have expanded the business six or seven times and now are located on 11 acres. In 2008, we hired Brian Davis as general manager, who came from the auto industry and brought a lot of good ideas.

Business philosophy: We believe that our customers are the most important people at our dealership. They are not dependent on us. We are dependent on them. Our clients become team members and we all work together to make sure they get the best product and service possible. They are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to give them all the service they have the reasonable right to expect, and then some.

How would you improve the Coastal Bend's business climate? Stop the kind of political bickering that lost the city a great project over a proposed Ferris wheel and the a major investment on the Island over closing a short distance on the beach to vehicles. Now we are taking so long to demolish an eyesore on the prettiest part of our Shoreline Drive. This is old-time politics at its worst. I am a firm believer in "If you do what you've always done, you will get what you always gotten."

How has your business changed with today's economic climate? We didn't prepare for the downturn until it hit us. Better management of things like costs, inventory and personnel should have been ongoing. We had to rein in costs and make some layoffs, but every mistake we made is part of a learning curve that is making us stronger in the long run.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Burden of debt reduces the chance that your new business will succeed - Statesman Journal

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 07:09 AM PST

A common question here at the Small Business Development Center from our business owners is whether they should borrow money to start their business, and would doing so help or hurt their chances of success?

Here is the reality of starting a small business with borrowed money — this type of money is usually scarce, costs are relatively high and the competition is significant. Small-business loans are not simple to get because of the preparation that is required. There is always a list of qualifications to meet, such as equity requirements, collateral, business plan, profit and cash-flow projections, personal financial statements and what seems to be a ton of other loan application information.

Most people who would like a small business loan will not even apply once they know all the requirements. Of the people who do apply, few will succeed. Some may decide to apply for a new start-up loan, but many of them will become discouraged because they didn't realize it would take so much effort or find they do not qualify.

More important than the loan process is the debt you would put on your new business. Consider that the customers you seek are currently getting their needs met elsewhere. You want them to change their habit of buying from your competitor to start buying from you. To do this, you have to spend money to get your business up and running, spend more on advertising and promotion to let them know of your existence, and wait out the "start-up" time until they find you and the revenue starts flowing. So, you are spending more than your competitor and are taking in less revenue.

This is the picture without debt. If you add debt, you now have the interest expense plus principle to pay. It is difficult enough starting a business without this burden. The debt makes it more difficult not only because of the payments you have to make, but if you falter, you can lose everything. To get the debt in the first place, you typically have to pledge everything you have in your business and probably your personal assets as well.

Try to start your business with as little borrowing as possible, and none if you can do it. If you borrow most of the money the business needs your chance of success is much reduced. Your chance of losing a great deal is substantial. You are better advised to start as small as possible and let the business grow the cash flow that will allow your expansion, at least for the first couple of years. Once established, the chances of getting a loan are greatly enhanced and the business is in a much stronger position to service the debt of an expansion loan.

Marcia Bagnall is Director of the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center and instructor of Small Business Management Program. The Small-Business Adviser column is produced by the center and appears each Sunday. Questions can be submitted to SBDC@chemeketa.edu. Visit the SBDC at 626 High Street NE in downtown Salem or call (503) 399-5088.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Gala fetes local black business pioneers - Democrat and Chronicle

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 08:35 AM PST

Reynaldo Cox of Webster hunched over the railing at the Hyatt Regency Rochester on Saturday night as he watched guests arrive for the Black Heritage Gala.

"It looks like a fashion show," Cox, 48, said with a laugh.

Hundreds of people dressed in suits and elegant dresses ate and danced at the gala, which celebrated the achievements of the local black community.

The gala — which marked the culmination of the Black Heritage Committee's celebration of Black History Month — has been held for the past eight years. This year's theme was "Uplifting Through Economics."

Four prominent members of the black business community were honored as pioneers: Matthew Augustine, president and CEO of Eltrex Industries; Randy Henderson, president and CEO of the Henderson Automotive Family; the Rochester Black Business Association; and Latimer Funeral Home, the oldest African-American business in the city of Rochester.

"It's an honor to be honored," said Millard Latimer of Pittsford, whose father, Millard Sr., founded the funeral home in 1922.

Among other criteria, the four honorees were chosen for their support of the community, said Jackie Campbell, the committee chairwoman.

The committee was looking for businesspeople and organizations that are "deliberate in their actions to support the African-American community," Campbell said.

The gala included a dinner, dancing, a comedian and more.

Patricia Neal of Rochester said she came to the event to show her support.

"This is the only event we have of this type for African-Americans."

AVERGHESE@DemocratandChronicle.com

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