Two Random Facts

1. A recent New York Times article said the Federal Government spends seven dollars on the elderly for every one dollar spent on children.
2. A recent “O’Reilly Factor” piece said the Federal Government paid $100 million in December 2009 on interest on the national debt. What Bill O’Reilly did not say was weather that was a one time amount or if the US pays that every month. Staggering.

Small Business in 2010

Owning a small business the last couple years feels like a scene from Gladiator. You are in the arena, they open the gates and hungry lions come running out. Ah. Just another day in the life.

Sorry to say it but the Federal Government is no friend of the small business owner. President Obama has not done much so far to help the situation. The turmoil surrounding health care has only added to the confusion we have felt.

Now, Mr. Obama has rolled out a small business plan. There are a couple small provisions and two big ones. One part involves a tax credit for hiring new employees or increasing wages.

The problem with this is twofold. First, you need taxable profits from which to credit. So, this won’t help many small businesses. Second, staffing decisions usually only make sense when there is increasing demand. Otherwise, a bad decision is merely a drag on the business.

The second big plank is an incentive plan aimed a community banks to lend to small businesses. If this is under TARP, these banks will shy away from it. Accepting TARP funds painted your bank as weak. Nobody wants that tag.

The other big flaw is the belief that small businesses will use this money to expand. It won’t happen. Why? We are scared. We don’t know what will happen next. And we are already full of debt. Owners who get these loans will pay themselves bak the personal loans they made to their businesses or pay off their credit cards.

This will make their balance sheets looks better but it won’t increase capital investing. I clean balance sheet is swell, but it doesn’t help the economy.

Here’s my plan. Eliminate business income taxes. Not all the way—people would go crazy thinking about Exxon Mobil making a bazillion dollars more profit. But just part of the way. No income tax on the first $2 million dollars of profit.

This would eliminate income tax for the vast majority of small businesses. It would cut the unfairness of double taxation of small and family owned businesses. The Fortune 1000 would still pay taxes on the majority of their profits.

There would be several benefits. Owners would have profits to do the most economic thing with. They would reinvest in their companies, hire more people or increase wages as sales grew, or they would pay down debt. They would also pay themselves more.

Several things in the above paragraph would be taxable events. Income tax revenues would go up. Also, prices of goods and services would go down. Investment in businesses and opening businesses would increase. Innovation would also increase.

There would have to be a mindset shift for this to happen. Business people are too easy a target. Politicians would have to join arms with business owners instead of painting us as greedy exploiters. The public would have to come to appreciate the sacrifices we make. The era of mistrust would have to end in pop culture. Bernard Madoff and J.R. Ewing need to be lampooned as the freakish anomalies they are, not as symbols for all business people.

Who is Mark?

Update: The Daily Herald corrected my name in the online versions. So, it's just the print edition that uses my alias.

So the Daily Herald article on closing the Palatine Postal Facility ran today. I was quoted at the end of the article. So far, so good. However, due to an error, I was cited as "Mark" Tarpinian. At least Kim spelled the name of my business correctly.

Shutdown the Palatine Processing Facility?

The USPS announced plans to shut down the Palatine Processing Facility recently. Why should you care? Well, I will tell you. All mail in this area—from Evanston to Elgin will then go through the Carol Stream facility. This will delay local mail by a minimum of one day. That’s bad. There is a possibility of a logjam at the Carol Stream Processing Facility.

For those of us who mail information, there is a bigger problem. There is a possibility of delays and added costs. Many businesses are built around supporting mail in this area. We will be left high and dry.

I feel this will have long lasting detrimental effects on mailing. At this time when the USPS is seeing declining mail volume and revenues, they need to innovate and be creative. Cutting services, hours of service, raising prices, adding layers of difficulty to creating bulk mail will only hasten the decline of the Post Office.

By the way, Kim Pohl of the Daily Herald interviewed my for a marketer/mailers perspective. Look for it in an upcoming paper.

Yes You Can Send Prospect Email Without Being A Spammer

A prospect came to me recently looking to do an email blast. Unlike the email blasts I do for my business and for some clients—this one was different. They want to send to people who are not their customers.

As she described what she wanted to do, the only thing that popped into my mind was—SPAM! That’s one of those touching the hot stove issues I always want to steer clear of. But I told her I would look into it. And I did.

What I got was an education. Are you ready for an outline of what I learned? Here goes. Contrary to popular belief, there are legitimate, legal ways to email to prospects. For definition a prospect is someone who you don’t know and who probably doesn’t know you.

There are two ways to send out prospecting email. One was is through mostly offshore vendors. Their lists are typically gathered through questionable means. While I hate to throw stones—these are the spammers of the world. Their lists have a high degree of incomplete or out of date addresses. You risk being blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and your legitimate email will not be delivered. You could also face penalties or fines.

The other way is through a credible list broker. Their lists are culled from opt-in lists where people acknowledge they will accept marketing info. Neither you nor I see the lists. The vendor holds on to them. They also will design the email template and they take care of sending your eNewsletter out. You will get access to tracking info and leads. We have worked with a couple mailing list vendors who provide this service. We trust them very much.

While this route is more expensive than the first, it would be less expensive than direct mail. Even though the response rate is much lower than postal mail, there could be a benefit in lower cost per contact and immediacy.

There is an indirect way. This might give you credibility of being associated with someone known to your audience. That is to get an article or profile about your organization into someone else’s email blast. You might have to pay for the space or trade for space in your eNewsletter. But you have control over the content. You also can look like an expert to this audience. The hard part is finding a partner who has a non-competitive offering but has a list of people you need to reach.

Allegra Marketing, Print & Mail of Rolling Meadows would be glad to answer any questions or provide you with a quote. Call Michael Tarpinian at 847/398-2500.

By the way we also design and support traditional eNewsletter campaigns directed to your current customers, clients, students, fans, or patients.

Letterpress

My guys recently had a successful test of letterpress printing. Before this test, we had used our letterpress for embossing, die cutting, and perforating paper. Lots of different stuff, but not for printing. Not bad for a fifty+ year old printing press, huh?

But there is an increasing interest in this old fashioned printing. Why? Nostalgia is part of it. The other part is the craft of letterpress printing. It looks different than our traditional printing or photocopying. There is a texture to the printing. It has a feel. It does not look flawless. It has character.

Some studios are commanding top dollar for stationery and wedding invitations of their letterpresses. We are looking at a slightly different model. We want to make note cards, business cards and invitations that are elegant and affordable. New techniques have helped to breathe new life into these old presses.

The movies American Psycho and the recent Seven Pounds have featured characters in an elegant business card throw-down and a letterpress printer respectively.

Best Seats in Town

The Palatine Chamber of Commerce has just put out the decorated benches in the Best Seat in Town fundraiser. It’s a fun civic event that promotes the Chamber, local businesses, local charities, and local artists.

My sentimental favorite is the Harris Bank bench in support of the Immanuel Lutheran School Girls Basketball program. It was created by a local student whom I know (hi Joz). You can see it in front of the church and school on Plum Grove Road. I like the perspective of looking from the near net.

Keep your eyes open around town, these benches are all over. Also, pick up a park bench walking map and be sure to vote for your favorite. (You know I will).