Vince Cable outlines plans to ‘diversify business finance’
Posted on December 11th, 2011
Small business owners around the UK could be encouraged by the recent comments of Dr Vince Cable.
The Business Secretary has set out the process the coalition will follow in its attempts to “diversify business finance”.
As part of the government’s plans, a new industry-led Taskforce has been launched.
The team will be led by Legal and General Chief Executive Tim Breedon and will examine the challenges business face with regard to finance.
Dr Cable explained that the move is necessary as a large number of enterprises are dissatisfied with the treatment they receive from UK banks.
“We have secured a rise in new lending from the biggest banks this year and credit easing is designed to provide another immediate boost.
Tags: Business, Vince Cable
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Stop the ’spam’
Posted on December 8th, 2011
Dont send unsolicited email
Email marketing and electronic newsletters are excellent promotional tools, but they can sometimes be rendered useless by an over-enthusiastic spam filter.
Many small businesses want to improve communications with their customer base. A common method that a lot of them choose is email marketing.
Spam filters come mainly in two types. The one that is most problematic for a small business trying to conduct an email marketing campaign is one that operates on feedback from its users. Sending your marketing message to people who dont want to receive it can quickly result in your e-mails being blacklisted.
There are a few ways to avoid this. Never send unsolicited messages to anyone, not even current or former customers because email marketing is all about permission. When seeking permission, make sure you provide what you have promised.
Business Opportunities 2012
Posted on December 7th, 2011
Here are five more of what I consider to be the best business opportunities of 2012:
6) Senior Care
The burgeoning numbers of senior baby boomers also provide burgeoning business opportunities for senior care. In-home care and senior residences are the obvious ones, but don’t forget all the related opportunities such as driving, delivery, catering and cleaning services for seniors who want to stay in their homes. You can certainly develop your own business providing care for seniors, but there are also quite a few senior care franchise opportunities available.
Medical and Assistive Technologies
This was on the list last year and the business opportunities are even bigger this year as increasing numbers of hospital and medical clinic administrators appreciate the value of healthcare IT, smart devices and diagnostic and medical devices that can provide better health care and decrease costs.
Indies On The Martha Stewart Show!
Posted on December 6th, 2011
Earlier this week, La Shonda Tyree, IBNs Local Director in the Newark/Northern New Jersey area, led a group of my members to be a part of the live studio audience at the Martha Stewart Show. It was handmade week, so it was the perfect time for Indies to show up in force. Here they are, all smiles before the show!
Pictured, left to right front: La Shonda Tyree of Handmade Soap Coach, Dawn Fitch of Pooka Pure and Simple, Delores Harris of Daisy May Soap, Roslyne Johnson of MayaIndia and Hassan Sayyed of Haus Urban Apothecary. Left to right back: Angela Carillo of Alegna Soap and Merilyn Konnerth of Utopia Bath. Not pictured: Yolanda Cathcart of Londas Body Care, behind the camera.)
During the show, Hassan asked the Domestica Diva herself a question about entertaining etiquette!
Tags: Martha Stewart, Martha Stewart Show, Show, Stewart Show
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Travel Cafe Purchases Davidson Travel
Posted on December 4th, 2011
Davidson Companies, a financial services holding company based in Montana, has announced this it is selling its retail travel agency to Travel Café Inc., Billings.
The sale allows Travel Café to expand into Missoula and Great Falls. In addition, Travel Café has hired Davidson Travel’s three consultants. The three Davidson Travel consultants will continue to operate under the Davidson Travel name in Great Falls and Missoula for several months
Billie Ruff, President of Travel Café, founded that agency 12 years ago. Davidson Travel clients have been sent a letter explaining the transition and introducing them to the Travel Café name.
Davidson Travel was purchased by Davidson Companies in 1992. Employee-owned Davidson Companies is the financial services holding company that operates D.A. Davidson “>
Tags: Travel
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Can innovation survive budget cuts?
Posted on December 2nd, 2011
Moderator – Tom Temin – Host of the Federal Drive Panelists: Jim Zarzycki – Noblis Fellow Timothy Person – Chief Scientist, GAO Daniel Madrzykowski – Program leader at the Engineering Laboratory, NIST Daniel Gerstein – Deputy Undersecretary of the DHS Science and Technology Directorate Tags: technology, NIST, GAO, Noblis, Noblis Insights, DHS, budget cuts, science and technology, Timothy Persons, Jim Zarzycki, Daniel Madrzykowski, Daniel Gerstein
American Airlines Parent Company Files for Bankruptcy
Posted on November 27th, 2011
American Airlines’ parent company, AMR Corp., announced Tuesday that it has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The decision comes as the airline tries to “achieve a cost and debt structure that is industry competitive and thereby assure its long-term viability and ability to continue delivering a world-class travel experience for its customers,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.
AMR said American Airlines, American Eagle and all other subsidiaries will honor all tickets and reservations and operate normal flight schedules during the bankruptcy filing process, using its $4.1 billion in cash.
American has been widely seen as the weakest of the major airlines for some time now. It has reported a profit in only one quarter since 2007, and it lost $4.8 billion over those 3-1/2 years.
Tags: American Airlines, Bankruptcy, Parent Company
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