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By Knight Kiplinger

The Kiplinger Washington Editors

July 2, 2009

By year-end or so, Congress will give the nod to a major rewriting of the nation's financial regulatory system. This week’s Kiplinger Letter explores whether the package will do more harm than good and what lawmakers are likely to include.

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I just attended a franchise seminar. The speaker represents a few hundred franchises that (he says) are hand picked. He has the prospect (aka victim?) answer some questions about themselves then he makes recomendations - based on your personality, capital situation, etc.. If you pick a franchise, then he does some due dilligence for you. If you both decide it's a good idea, he helps you get started. He says he offers this service free of charge, which means he gets a commission if he's able to sell you a franchise. Has anyone done this? Successfully? Unsuccessfully?

-- fender

Planning, Flexibility Are Key to Survival in Downturn

Counterintuitive as it may seem, economic slowdowns can be a boon to small businesses -- a chance to cut costs, reassess and catch up to the bigger, slower guys.

Worth Reading: The Quick Take from Kiplinger

August 2008

Michael McDermott

fuelNet Monthly

fuelNet Monthly is a marketing newsletter published by The Pohly Co. consulting firm and is a monthly contributor to Kiplinger Recommends. Featured author Michael McDermott is a New York-based business writer who has written for Adweek, Brandweek, Chief Executive, and the Journal of Business Strategy.

Economic slowdowns can be extremely scary, especially to small firms that so often skate close to the edge even in good times. But many smaller businesses are actually in a position to thrive during downturns because of advantages they hold over their larger, but slower and less agile, competitors.

“In tough economic times, savvy small business owners who balance careful planning with the flexibility to respond quickly to market changes will use that resourcefulness to their advantage,” John Warrillow, CEO of the strategy and research firm Warrillow & Co., tells the marketing newsletter fuelNet Monthly. fuelNet argues that there are a variety of factors that favor growing businesses in bad economic times, including the ability to respond to customer needs and to market trends more quickly and the availability and affordability of talented and experienced workers.

Harnessing these strengths, however, takes planning, discipline and thoughtfulness. One of the first resources small businesses should exploit but often ignore are their own workers. Who is better positioned, for example, to know where costs can be cut without hurting customer service or morale? “I challenge each employee to eliminate waste, save time and labor, and decrease parts on every project,” one company owner tells fuelNet.

The newsletter also suggest looking at a slow economic period as "a good opportunity for a growing business to determine if its products or services still meet the needs of its best customers." Can you streamline some offerings and expand others? Are you focusing on those prospects most likely to strike a deal, or are you spending too much time rushing around to large numbers of people even though they may not have much interest?

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