This Week in Small Business: The Van Indicator - NYTimes.com

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A weekly roundup of small-business developments.

What?s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners this week.

The Big Story: Mobile Payments Go Mainstream

Starbucks makes a big investment in the mobile payment provider Square, which demonstrates how mobile payment options are growing for small companies. Kevin Casey offers five things small businesses should know about Google Wallet, including: ?Your larger competitors are already using it.? Adrian Swinscoe says that mobile payment is one of four ways technology can improve customer service: ?Whether you are a food truck or one of the many businesses that frequent festivals, farmers markets, trade fairs and many other events, mobile technology is allowing businesses to move from cash-only operations to ones that can take card payments, better aligning themselves with many of their customers? cashless lives.?

Economy: The Stock to Own

A survey from Wells Fargo and Gallup shows a decline in small-business optimism, while one from Constant Contact finds that 2012 hasn?t been so bad for most small businesses. And the Van Indicator signals a recovery on Main Street. Robert Laura says that if you are bullish on small-business growth, this is the stock you should own. Michael Sivy offers nine reasons the economy feels so bad. Christopher Mahoney explains why the stock market keeps shrugging off bad news. But housing prices register a slight increase, and Bill McBride explains why that is a good thing: ?Flat to rising prices give home builders a better idea of the pricing needed to compete in the market ? while more consumer confidence in house prices is leading to more demand for new homes.? The weekly hotel occupancy rate is above 75 percent for the first time since 2007, and nonfarm productivity (pdf) increased.

Your People: Free Background Checks

The number of job openings in July remained unchanged from the previous month but employers have advertised the most jobs in the past four years, a sign that hiring could pick up in the coming months. The auto industry plans more hiring, and a man becomes very excited about a train. Extended benefits are coming to an end. Victor Fiorillo explains how you can run a background check on anyone free. Flossing, diaper changing and the ?pantsing? of a co-worker are all things you can see in an office elevator. A survey finds many small-business owners do not intend to retire. A New York man holds a funeral for a Honda. When Google employees die, their spouses gets half of their salaries for 10 years.

Management: The Netflix of Neckties

Nicole LaPorte says that if your company?s name gets in the way, you should change it. Here are five things entrepreneurs can learn from Olympic athletes. This 17-year-old wins the gold for fastest texting. Karl Young suggests five ways to stay motivated in your home office, including: ?Consider getting out of the house for a while ? go for a jog, swim or run on your lunch break.? Joe Evans asks whether your culture matches your business model. Brian Lane wonders if on-demand manufacturing sites are changing the market. This little company is the Netflix of neckties. Gay people may be better entrepreneurs. Happy 100th birthday, Julia Child!

Marketing: More Mobile

A Dunkin? Donuts text-messaging promotion increases store traffic 21 percent. Here?s how Whole Foods gets social media right. James Furbush loves this Sears commercial. Jay Heyman says you should be touchier. A social media dashboard maker that helps small businesses manage their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn postings raises a million bucks. Here are three hyperlocal networks for small businesses. David Bratvold says there are five ways crowdsourcing improves your content marketing. Twenty-six percent of consumers get access to their social networks on mobile devices, and Michael Tasner explains how you can empower your customers using mobile: ?Consumers these days want emotional connections with the brands and businesses they support; they want to feel empowered, and brag to their friends, usually through social channels, how they received 10 percent off because they are now the ?mayor.??

Finance: Facebook Banking

Jim Brendel explains the basics of crowdfunding. U.S. Bank is inviting small-business owners in 12 cities across the country to explain why their businesses are unique for a chance to win $5,000 in radio advertising and $5,000 for a charity. ?Facebook banking? shows signs of life.

Start-Up: Put Women on the Board

Here are five start-ups to watch from DreamIt?s latest conference. These are the top five American cities for start-ups. A Latin American start-up accelerator is taken over by 500 Startups. To create a company that won?t fail, put women on the board. Leticia Leite shares the pros and cons of start-up life, including: ?Doing work that I love, and being able to do it from anywhere in the world (time zone permitting), has given me a level of flexibility that is invaluable.? Here?s how a few ?e-tailor? start-ups are challenging Amazon in a $200 billion market.

Around the Country: Mohawk Guy

The goal of this event is to help 1,000 women get a Web site up and running on the same day. Dell and Manta team up to put on events to help small businesses grow. Score announces the winners of its 2012 small-business awards. The top 100 small-business influencers are named. This is how manufacturers helped NASA?s recent Mars landing and how the Mohawk Guy became a Web sensation. Here?s this week?s edition of ?your tuition dollars at work,? and two high school grads show a better way to get an education than going to college. American airports are on pace to post their best year for on-time arrivals.

Around the World: H.M.S. Romney

This was the silent star of the London Olympics. Italy?s economy sinks deeper into recession. German industrial orders fall. Output in India shrinks. China disappoints in July. Spain and Italy are downgraded. Japan?s economy is looking weak. The Queen?s Jubilee hits British manufacturing output. The Netherlands has new e-mail addresses. A Ugandan billionaire introduces Africa?s first multilingual portal for youth mentorship and entrepreneurship. Historians remind us that the British sent H.M.S. Romney to Boston to enforce tax laws in 1768.

Red Tape Update: The Price of Pizza

The election outcome may determine if some businesses drop their health care coverage. Papa John?s vows to raise prices because of health care reform. Certain government economic recovery programs for small businesses will expire in September.

Technology: Even More Mobile

A new, flexible battery could lead to gadgets that fold up. A company provides mobile modular power for remote areas. Disney figures out how to make any plant into a multitouch sensor. A 5-year-old Skypes with Jeremy Lin. Google Chrome grabs a third of the browser market and Google adds e-mail to its search results. Verizon Wireless enhances its portfolio of mobile tools for small businesses with Microsoft Office 365. This is how most mobile app makers make money. Paper clips are banned.

Tweets of the Week

@levie ? The Mars Rover has to fly 350,000,000 miles to do its job. It turns out your commute isn?t so bad after all.

@ValaAfshar ? Ideas are the easy part. Learn to execute with a passion. Celebrate discipline.

@JonahLupton ? Am I the only person that likes going into business conversations, calls and meetings with a structured game-plan?

The Week?s Bests

Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, and Nicholas Toman believe that if the customer is always right, you?re in trouble. ?If we go back five years, customers used to have few options but to speak with suppliers relatively early in a purchase as most information about possible solutions wasn?t available anywhere else. In many ways, it was the golden age of the solution sale. Today, with the explosion of information on the Internet and the rise of third-party purchasing consultants, that?s no longer the case.?

Boyd Cohen says smart cities should be more like lean start-ups: ?Lean start-up principles suggest that innovators should develop a hypothesis about likely reactions to a minimum viable product and be prepared to rigorously measure the results. Smart city solutions frequently involve the use of sensors and real-time data to enable city staff to monitor key metrics and modify systems to improve performance. For example, I recently wrote about a new city development in Portugal that will make use of over 100 million sensors for a planned population of only 225,000.?

Christine Erickson explains how to master social media like a comedian: ?Humor sells. The fastest way to establish a relationship, build trust and get a customer to value your presence is to make them laugh. Comedians are active thinkers. A skilled comedian is confident and aware of what his audience needs. He knows what the next joke in his routine will be ? he doesn?t ask the audience. A brand should know what its customers need by studying how they think and how they react to different marketing approaches.?

This Week?s Question: Will your business accept mobile payments this year?

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/13/this-week-in-small-business-the-van-indicator/

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