The numbers:

Dow 10,501.43 +29.93 (0.29%)
S&P 500 1,114.10 +7.69 (0.70%)
Nasdaq 2,212.10 +21.79 (0.99%)

Continue reading Closing bell: a lot of news and nothing to show for it (XOM, XTO, C)

Closing bell: a lot of news and nothing to show for it (XOM, XTO, C) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

With small businesses and consumers feeling the heat, the expectations for Intuit's (NASDAQ: INTU) second quarter results were certainly tempered. But the company was able to pull off a nice performance, with earnings of $85 million, or $0.26 per share. Revenues fell by 5.3% to $791 million.

Intuit is preparing for a protracted slowdown. On the earnings conference call, CEO Brad Smith said the current environment is the "new normal."

The fact is that Intuit has a diversified revenue base, so some of its units showed nice gains. There was a spike in revenues from the online TurboTax franchise. There was also strength in the payroll segment. Still, there was noticeable weakness in products like QuickBooks, Real Estate Solutions, and Quicken.

Continue reading Intuit (INTU) has a panacea for hard times?

Intuit (INTU) has a panacea for hard times? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A recent piece in The Wall Street Journal had a grim headline: "Extinction Threatens Yellow Pages Publishers." As should be no surprise, consumers are moving away from traditional yellow-pages and instead using the internet, going to places like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). In fact, it looks like spending on yellow pages advertising will plunge by 39% over the next four years, according to research from Borrell Associates.

This makes it all the more important that you have a strong web presence.

These days, there are good hosting services, such as Web.com, that help you take care of the basics. But it can be expensive to add dynamic elements to your website. Often, it means hiring a web consultant.

But there are alternatives. Take Caspio, which provides a web-based system that makes it easy to create your own web applications. Its latest offering is called the "Website Marketing Suite." With it, you can add such capabilities as:

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Taking your website to the next level

Entrepreneur's Journal: Taking your website to the next level originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 23 Nov 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

There are no headlines when a restaurant cuts ten people or the local print shop cuts five. If fees fall at a doctor's office, the receptionist may have to leave.

By most estimates, small businesses, those with under 100 workers, employ 50% of the American workforce. While the announcements of banks and car companies cutting tens of thousand of employees make the front page, the economy may be hurting more by the declining revenue and credit crisis at firms no one has ever heard of.

According to Reuters, "Wall Street's pain is rippling through U.S. small businesses, as bankers who once pulled in million-dollar bonuses lose their jobs and cut back spending on everything from parties to home improvements."

This may point to the fact that the bailout is being aimed in the wrong direction. While $700 billion may help large financial firms and may even be used to save tens of thousands of people from home foreclosures, there is nothing concrete being done by the federal government to help the small business owner.

What could be done? For starters, The Small Business Administration, a federal agency, should be assigned some of the $700 billion Paulson package. Credit-worthy companies should have access to that in the form of loans. Doing this would require far more people than the SBA has, so it would need to be done through the banking system. Banks should be given financial incentives to lend money provided by the fund.

The government is overlooking one of the most critical parts of the economy. In doing so, it is almost certainly helping unemployment push above 7%.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

Hidden layoffs: Small businesses start to cut originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's been "shock and awe" for the financial system over the past few months. Even seemingly invincible companies like GE (NYSE: GE) and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) have not been immune. As a result, there has been a tremendous deflation of equity values across the globe.

Unfortunately, the game has also changed for your business. It's much more difficult to get debt or equity financing, and it may even be impossible, at least for now. Customers are having difficulties paying invoices. And, as for finding new customers, this is particularly tough.

So, in light of everything, what is the value of your business? Well, keep in mind that, for the most part, the value of a business is dependent on its cash flow. So long as this remains strong and long-lasting, you are likely to weather the storm. If anything, you could be in a nice position to capitalize on the situation, such as by buying companies, hiring employees and in making new investments.

But this is the rare exception. In fact, even some of the growth darlings are having issues. For example, the data service, VCExperts.com, has recently launched a new offering - called the Valuation Ticker - that provides valuations of venture-backed companies. Essentially, the system compares private companies to public indexes, such as the NASDAQ and S&P 500. Here's a look at a sample, with valuations over the last ten months:

• Facebook: $12.4B (12/31/2007), $6.9B (10/31/08) -- 44%
• Slide: $545.2M (12/31/07), $376.6M (10/31/08) -- 31%
• Yardbarker: $18.1M (03/03/2008), $14.2M (10/31/08) -- 22%
• Going: $21.9M (5/07/08), $15.2M (10/31/08) -- 31%

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: What is your business worth after the financial panic?

Entrepreneur's Journal: What is your business worth after the financial panic? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Over the past couple years, major players like Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) have invested in the so-called "cloud." Basically, they are leveraging their huge infrastructures to provision services - like web hosting, storage and so on - to other companies. Actually, I know many startups that have such deals (helping to cut costs and get to market faster).

But what if you don't want to outsource this? Well, there is an alternative: Parascale. The company sells cloud software that you can install on your own servers.

As an indication of its power, Parascale has raised $11.37 million in a Series A round. The investors include Charles River Ventures and Menlo Ventures (both firms have extensive backgrounds in the storage area).

Parascale got its start four years ago. Interestingly enough, it hasn't been an easy journey. The original team had to get second mortgages and lines of credit to support operations.

But now, it looks like the timing is right. "With the explosion of digital content," said Sajai Krishnan, who is the CEO of Parascale CEO, "there is a need for more efficient storage systems."

The Parascale Cloud Storage (PCS) is built on widely followed standards as well as Linux servers. This makes it easier for customers to adapt the technology to their needs (which is not an easy thing to do with Google and Amazon.com).

No doubt, the storage marketplace has gone through several major shifts over the past twenty years. So, with cloud storage, it looks like we may be seeing another shift - and Parascale will now have the resources to become a leader in the space.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

Parascale makes rain from the 'cloud' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) certainly has a major footprint in the small business space with such things as PCs, servers and, of course, printers.

But HP is expanding its offerings. For example, last year the company purchased Logoworks and is now putting out some useful eBooks.

One is called the 9 Steps to Outstanding Market Success.

No doubt, it is colorful with many useful checklists, tips, examples and worksheets. Some of the topics include: social media, branding, search engine marketing, online marketing and so on. Ultimately, it's a good way to spark ideas to enhance your business.

Every month HP will release a new chapter (so far, it's on chapter five). The last chapter will be on October 15.

All in all, its helpful information - and not too overwhelming. And you can check it out at the small biz section of HP.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.

HP imparts some marketing wisdom - for free originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Is Google destructive to small businesses? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Lately, the headlines have been scary. Unemployment is increasing. There are concerns from the presidential candidates. Real estate values are sagging and foreclosures are skyrocketing. And, premier companies - like Citigroup (NYSE: C) and Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) - have raised billions of dollars to deal with heavy losses.

So, if the economy is slowing down, how can your business deal with things?

Let's take a look:

Deal with hidden costs: When looking at expense items, some might seem small. But it's often the case that these items - in aggregate - can turn into a big deal.

According to Tom Sharples, president of Qorvus Systems: "Typical small- or medium-sized businesses that have been around for a few years can find duplicative costs: unused cell-phone contracts that continue to rack up charges, subscriptions to services associated with long-departed employees and often all sorts of legacy junk that no one even remembers ordering, but that you're still paying for every month."

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Fortify your business from the recession

Entrepreneur's Journal: Fortify your business from the recession originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 19 Jan 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So why not provide some of your wisdom to your customers - through an email newsletter?

Actually, with web services like Vertical Response and Constant Contact, it's fairly easy to set one up. But before getting started, let's take a look at some things that will help your efforts:

Content Is King: Yes, it's a cliché. Then again, it seems that newsletter writers spend lots of time on the design of the email, not the content. Don't fall into this trap. Instead, try to come up with content that your readers can't wait to read. Some ideas:

• Tips
• Recent experiences
• Innovative uses of your product
• Profiles of customer successes
• Industry statistics
• How-to pieces

Oh, and make sure you spell-check your email and have someone provide some editing.

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Creating a killer newsletter

Entrepreneur's Journal: Creating a killer newsletter originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

As you gear up your business for 2008, I'm sure you have lots of good ideas. But there is something that is often ignored - getting organized. And with the explosion of email and digital media, being organized is getting even tougher.

To help things out, I had a chance to interview Monica Ricci, the author of Organize Your Office In No Time and the founder of Catalyst Organizing Solutions. She is also Office Depot (NYSE: ODP)'s organizing advisor.

Ricci's core filing system is called F.A.I.T.H, which involves:

File It: If something requires filing, then file it now.

Act: Have an action file for your recurring tasks.

In Progress: This is a file for things that don't fit in a category. Examples: invitation to an event, plane tickets, directions to a client location, or even a birthday card.

Toss: Don't be a pack rack.

Hand Off: Maybe something will be useful for a colleague?

"Everyone should set aside time once a month to sort and slim the files," said Ricci. "Put the date in your planner for one hour on the last Friday of every month."

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting organized for 2008

Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting organized for 2008 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 29 Dec 2007 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Duck the crowds, get your gifts at local stores

Duck the crowds, get your gifts at local stores originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 23 Nov 2007 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you take a look at the stories of great entrepreneurs - such as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT)'s Sam Walton, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Bill Gates, and Howard Schultz of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) - you will see that they had the help of mentors and advisors.

After all, being an entrepreneur can be lonely, stressful and challenging. And it's often difficult to get solid advice.

"I can't overstate the importance of mentors in my life," said Ben Casnocha. Ben started his first business at 14 years old, and even wrote a book on his experiences, My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley.

So where do you find mentors? Ben recommends lots of networking. In fact, he considers the Small Business Administration's SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) a great resource (and it's free).

But be wary. Make sure you do lots of background research on the people you like. You might realize that they really aren't a good fit.

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting real advice for your business

Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting real advice for your business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 10 Nov 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Being from L.A., I've had to deal with earthquakes and fire (no, it's not always sunshine here). And, of course, I saw the devastation of the recent fires.

But what about some of the businesses that need to rebuild? Could they have prepared for the fires?

Well, I recently interviewed Jon Toigo, a disaster recovery expert at Toigo Partners International. Over the past 20 years, he has put together nearly 100 disaster recovery plans. His clients include Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ). Also, Toigo has a partnership with Office Depot to help businesses deal with disaster preparedness.

"The bottom line in disaster preparedness is to protect your most irreplaceable assets - your people and your data," said Toigo.

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Saving your business from disaster

Entrepreneur's Journal: Saving your business from disaster originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Amazon.com launches service for small business owners originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 25 Oct 2007 11:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

So if big companies have trouble, what about small ones? Unfortunately, hiring a CEO is extremely difficult for any company.

"For an early stage company, the wrong CEO can be costly," said Gordon Gould, the founder and CEO of ThisNext. "Divorcing the executive can mean wasted time, money, momentum and possibly the company itself."

So, if you have doubts about a candidate, it's probably better to wait. "To get the right CEO, it takes time," said Dipanshu Sharma, the founder and CTO of V-ENABLE. "So allocate at least three to four months for the process." Actually, his company recently hired a new CEO.

Sharma believes it is critical to hire a recruiter. "A top-tier venture capital firm recommended a recruiter for us," he said.

And the process was strenuous: "We set up a weekly call with the recruiter and the board/management. Every week we would prioritize the candidate list. After a few weeks, we got candidates that we had initial conversations with. Of those we found that matched our selection criteria, we held several rounds of interviews. In the final process, we flew them to our offices and introduced them to a broader team before finalizing the candidate."

It was also important to spend time on creating a candidate profile. As for V-ENABLE, the company focused on a CEO with:

• Demonstrated success in previous CEO roles
• Team player
• Growth oriented
• Raised capital and has experience in M&A
• Worked in wireless and has relationships with wireless service providers

"Our board and management went through several iterations to make sure we were covering the short term as well as long term needs for the company," said Sharma.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Entrepreneur's Journal: Choosing the right CEO originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

A recent study has found that employer efforts to cheer up employees -- getting them treatment, phone counseling, etc. -- makes sense for more than just altruistic reasons.

The research, conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, found that, on average, depressed employees who receive aggressive attention from their bosses worked about two weeks more during the year-long study. Workers are also more likely to keep their jobs when they receive aggressive help, which can reduce the costs of recruiting and training new employees.

According to the Associated Press, "The researchers haven't finished a formal cost-benefits analysis but early results suggest savings from more hours worked averaged to about $1,800 per employee. That far exceeds the program's initial $100 to $400 per worker cost. The benefits also likely exceed other costs, including drugs and therapy too, the researchers said."

Hopefully this will change the way that so many employers perceive depression and its treatment. The productivity costs of depression can be just as real as a broken leg, and employers should provide aggressive treatment options, both for their own benefit and the benefit of the worker.

For employers, treating depression is just good business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you're tired of poisoning your kids with lead-painted toys from China or killing your pets with melamine-laced Chinese pet food, you may be wondering what you can buy that's made in America.

To its credit, China is trying to fix its reputation. Last week, according to CBS News, China's product safety chief Li Changjiang offered assurances that toys made in China would be "safer, better and more appealing. Before Christmas, we will certainly provide children safer, better and more appealing toys. They will certainly like them." To bolster that claim, on September 11th, China signed an agreement to prohibit the use of lead paint on toys exported to the United States.

As I posted in July, I expect that there could be a business opportunity to sell products to U.S. consumers that are made anywhere but China. Then I cited examples of an upscale New York grocery with no Chinese seafood and a New Jersey-based natural producer of premium dog food blended from meat and vegetables. However, I have not seen much in the way of new developments in the last few months.

So what are the choices for those who want to buy products made in the USA?

Continue reading Made in the U.S.A.: What products are still American-made?

Made in the U.S.A.: What products are still American-made? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 19 Sep 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Early this week, I met with Michael Gregoire, who is the CEO of Taleo Corp. (NASDAQ: TLEO). His company is a leader in HR software.

Instead of talking about the fine points of his industry or tech gobbledygook, he spent most of his time talking about the look-and-feel of his software and website. "If you go to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) or Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), do you need a user manual?" he asked. "Of course not. It's natural. The technology doesn't get in the way."

In fact, over the past year, Gregoire has had a laser focus on improving his software's usability, and based on what I've seen so far, it's been well worth it. Interestingly enough, the system has the feel of Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPod, not a boring HR application. "We think design and usability will be a key differentiator going forward and very important for growth," said Gregoire.

So how can a small business make sure its products showcase good design and ease of use? Some entrepreneur's I've interviewed recently told me how they have been able to follow what I would call 'the iPod way.'

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: The iPod Way -- how killer designs can boost your business

Entrepreneur's Journal: The iPod Way -- how killer designs can boost your business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading No soup for you? 'Seinfeld's' soup inspiration in trouble

No soup for you? 'Seinfeld's' soup inspiration in trouble originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.