Inflation, and the Small Business Owner

Small business owners have many things to worry about. From competition with the big boys to individual health insurance. Some have big issues with inflation.

We all have issue with the rise of gas prices in recent years, but what of the small businesses that use durable goods to produce their products. John Gaines, president and co-owner of Subminiature Instruments, a million-dollar manufacturing company in Ogden, Utah, Gaines says he pays almost twice as much for steel, electrical wire and copper as he did a year and a half ago. "We saw a spike in many of our products," says Gaines, 31, who believes inflation may become a bigger economic threat and drag on his family's investment portfolio--63 percent stocks and 37 percent bonds. "[Prices] have been pretty flat over the past seven years, so I expect [inflation will] hit sometime." He says his risk tolerance has dropped considerably over the past few years since getting married and having a baby.

We Are All Born Rich

n an excerpt from their new book, Why We Want You to Be Rich, Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki tell you how to get rich by being more than a passive investor.

You want a plasma tv and a plasma lift console? You want to build an indoor basketball court in your back yard? I suppose if you believe in taking advice from richers you may want to check out Why We Want You to Be Rich: Two Men--One Message by Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump.

How Much Should Your New Website Cost?

More and more people are moving toward the internet to earn money. HAving your own website isn't anything unique anymore. It is almost something of a necessity and everyone is getting them. People want to sell baby gifts, old junk, sports memorabilia, or even just set up another in a million dating sites. The problem is figuring out how to do it right, bu most importantlu doing it at a reasonable cost. You want to make sure that everything is going to function properly, but at the same time you don't want to spend way more than you need to. So...how much should your website cost?.

Workplace Relationships

Workplace relationships have always been something either not to talk about, or highly frowned upon by superiors. Realistically it happens all the time, but it does cause many complications. When they break up the work environment becomes uncomfortable. When superiors find out it looks real bad when you are looking for a promotion. If you watch the show The Office you see first hand what work relationships mean. Seems like everyone on there hooks up with everyone else they work with. Falling in love over something as simple as a benefit for cerebral palsy therapy.

Inc.com has written an article suggesting that since people spend so much time at work bosses are starting to just look the other way when they notice an office romance.

Are You a Bad Boss?

Do your employees actually HATE you? Being in a power of authority usually comes with the realization that your employees will kiss up to you in front of you, but realistically you are still an enemy. There still comes the ability to have their respect regardless of the boss/employee divide as long as you aren't making ridiculous comments about employees, or harrassing overwieght employees when you actually sell plus size lingerie, or something you can probably win them over at least a little bit.

Inc.com has a list of 7 signs that your employees detest you. Pretty decent read and informative.

Use Google to Promote Your Business

Imagine my surprise when i went to Entrepreneur.com and saw a swection about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Simply put, SEO is how you write, design, and market a website so that it will show up higher in the search engines. A very valuable tool for a webmaster, or even a small business. Someone who wanted to advertise travel insurance, video games, a store, or even an antique shop could benefit highly from using Google as a traffic source. Interesting that it showed up there since they don't typically talk about such things. On top of that it isn't really common knowledge to most business owners so it is probably a good thing.

For anyone that is already familia with SEO it isn't going to help you a whole lot as it is just general information, but for the people who haven;t it is a decent breakdown as to what Google can do for your business and is something you should consider. MArketing on the internet is very easy once you understand the basic concepts of it.

Test Your Customer IQ

How can you run a business if you don't know your customer? You can't. Are you going to try and sell swing sets to parents, or are you just going to try and throw darts at a board and figure out who to market to?

Kick off 2008 with the latest info on American consumers. You'll find helpful tips and insights into the minds of your customers with this fun quiz.

Finding a Company Travel Service

Many companies need a service to get their employees to where they need to go. Be it Emu Australia, or Detroit Michigan, for some, getting from here to there is a perk; for others, it's torture.Inc.com breaks down the best ways to help you find travel arrangements for your company based upon your needs in their article Travel in Style, or Not.

Donate Your Car to Help Make Educational Videos

As tax season rolls around people are always looking for ways to find more thigs to write off. That old junker sitting around in your driveway that isn't doing you any good can sometimes be worth more to you as a tax write off than it can as a saleable good. A car donation just may be something you can benefit from, as well as help a charity at the same time.

Car Angel is a non-profit company that uses car and other donations to make videos for kids and teens, and have given away over 2.4 million videos.

Here's an example:

Baby Cribs and Baby Furniture

I have been looking at baby cribs and baby furniture, not for the purpose of actually buying them for myself, but as a way to make some more money by getting them cheap and selling them to all my friends that are having kids. Only problem I had was finding good distributors out there for such a purpose. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work for me, but while doing some reasearch I found those two sites above that have the best quality of products I have seen out here. So if you happen to be looking for baby stuff you would likely find something unique and of high quality at either of those two sites. They have an baby furniture affiliate program there as well so if you are looking to get in on the baby market you have a nice selection of baby cribs, baby furniture, and other baby stuff to promote on your site if that is what you are looking for.