Today, technological leverage for small businesses is comparable to big businesses. And when you take their inherent flexibility into consideration, it’s easy to see how smaller and smaller enterprises are, within their scale of operation, increasingly able to compete with the big guys.

One of the groups that falls into that “smaller and smaller enterprise” category is women-owned businesses. Historically, women have not started businesses at the same rate as men for many reasons, not the least of which was access to capital. But for the period of time that not coincidentally tracks perfectly with the incrementalization of technology, women-owned businesses have become the fastest growing segment of the marketplace. With more powerful tools at prices that fit their smaller caches of capital, women business owners have become an entrepreneurial force to reckon with, and there is no reason to believe that this trend won’t continue.

Over the years I’ve made a commitment to regularly cover this growing phenomenon of women business ownership on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show. Recently, I’ve interviewed several experts on this topic, including Kim Lavine, author of Mommy Millionaire, Mary Cantando, author of The Woman’s Advantage, and Janet Christy, author of Capitalizing on Being Woman-Owned. In these interviews we’ve discussed the issues that are unique to women in business, including both the challenges and the opportunities.

Here are links to these three interviews, plus a link to the body of work I’ve amassed on our website where you can find dozens of interviews with women-in-business experts.

Kim Lavine Listen Live! Download, Too!
Mary Cantando Listen Live! Download, Too!
Janet Christie Listen Live! Download, Too!
Full list of women-in business archives

Take a few minutes to listen to these experts and, of course, be sure to leave your thoughts.

In its simplest form, barter is the exchange of goods and/or services between two parties without the involvement of money. Think of the prairie doctor who took a chicken home after delivering the baby. A modern-day example would be a business consultant who barters part of his fee for something a client sells.

Clearly, in the past hundred years the proliferation of money and financial tools and resources has relegated barter to the minor leagues of the marketplace. Nevertheless, it has been going on, primarily between parties who know each other and have a mutual need for what the other sells.

There are three things that have prevented barter from being more prevalent than it is: 1) that “know each other” thing, 2) the timing of the parties’ requirements, and 3) the relational value of what each party has to offer in barter. Enter a few entrepreneurs who created barter networks which become the transactional nexus between parties in order to minimize or eliminate these three barter constraints.

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I interviewed such an entrepreneur, Steve Bolles, founder and president of Merchants Barter Exchange. In this interview, Steve talked about some of the reasons that barter could be just the right tool for small businesses experiencing cash flow challenges or other issues in this recovering economy. Plus, we talked about some of the details that are required to pull off a successful barter, including through a barter network and, of course, the tax details. Take a few minutes to listen to this conversation and, as always, be sure to leave your own thoughts. Listen Live! Download, Too!

- When nothing seems to be working, “How could I let this happen?”

- When sales aren’t coming in fast enough, “Why can’t I fix this?”

- When there isn’t enough cash to fund the operation, “This is my fault.”

- Waking up at 2am, “Who am I fooling? What made me think I could actually be a real business owner?”

For small business owners there is a paradox inside of the emotion of doubt: If we never had doubts about our entrepreneurial intentions, excellence would not be possible. Doubt is part of the crucible effect that helps us create a stronger entrepreneurial alloy as we forge self-analysis with vision, planning and execution. Paradoxically, doubt, like fear, can be an immobilizer if we allow it to become personal. Consequently, small business owners must leverage doubt as a motivator.

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked with Brain Trust member, John Dini. John is a world-class business coach and mentor to hundreds of small business CEOs in his work with The Alternative Board organization. In our discussion, John talked about how doubt has gained some traction among business owners as a result of the tough economy. Take a few minutes to listen to this interview. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Also, a while back I wrote a poem titled “Victory over Doubt.” You might benefit from reading it today.

And, as always, be sure to leave your own thoughts.

This quote from Lida Orzek, co-founder of Hanky Panky, an American small business, is the answer she gave me when I asked why she and co-founder, Gail Epstein, decided to start their lingerie business. And for over 33 years, Lida and Gail have been making and selling a “better thong,” among other intimate apparel.

Only in America.

Where else on planet Earth could this happen? An entrepreneur sees a need, has an idea for how to serve that need and believes that if she actually does create this solution, she will have the freedom to make and sell her products and the liberty to prosper from the effort and risks taken.

Take a few minutes to listen to this recent interview with Lida on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, as she talks about her company and plans for the future. As you do, remember that the alloying of liberty and free-market capitalism produced the environment where the Hanky Panky dream of making and selling a better thong could come true. Oh, and by the way, Hanky Panky products are all proudly made in America.

As always, be sure to leave your comments. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Some of the things Paul said during our visit include where we are in the recovery, his conviction that small businesses will lead the economy out of recession, and his concerns for government policies hurting our recovery progress, plus other words of wisdom. Be sure to take a few minutes to listen to this interview, and of course, leave your own thoughts. Listen Live! Download, Too!

In the intervening years, the Fed has had mixed reviews: Some have proposed that since the Fed didn’t stop the Great Depression, nor prevent recessions like the serious one we’ve recently experienced, it hasn’t lived up to its charter and should be eliminated. Others say that without the Fed, the economic cycles we’ve had would have been worse.

Today, some think we should abolish the Fed and return to the gold standard and use this underlying collateral for the U.S. currency as a better way to maintain price stability. But it’s important to point out that we’ve had economic cycles with: a) the gold standard and no Fed; b) the Fed and the gold standard; and c) the Fed and no gold standard. Small business owners just want a system that provides the best chance of adequate access to credit, low interest rates and low inflation.

It seems to me that the global economy is much too complex to just rely on the price of one or more commodities to manage price levels and monetary policy of the largest economy in the world. Perhaps the best system would be to keep the Fed for monetary policy and give it some support on price stability by reinstating the gold standard.

But I’m not the expert on this issue, and that’s why I turn to those who are, including two of my Brain Trust members, Dr. Robert McTeer and Wayne Allyn Root. Bob McTeer was the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and, therefore, a member of the Fed’s Open Market Committee. Currently, he’s a Distinguished Fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis. Wayne Root was the 2008 Vice Presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party and is the author of The Conscience of a Libertarian.

Recently, I interviewed both of these men together on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, where they discussed the relative merits and demerits of the Fed and the gold standard. Take a few minutes to listen to what they had to say. And, as always, be sure to leave your thoughts. Listen Live! Download, Too!

One of these stories involves my friend, Robert Levin. Rob wanted to produce a regional print publication dedicated to small businesses in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In the face of a lot of competition and against all of the odds of starting any new venture from scratch, he did it.

Since 2005, I’ve interviewed Rob on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, to talk about his journey and the work he is doing on behalf of small business. This week, while attending the fourth annual New York Enterprise Report Small Business Gala in New York City, I got to see that Rob has not only created a successful publishing venture, but also a vibrant community of followers. There were over 400 excited gala attendees who were there to network and recognize a number of tri-state small businesses for their marketplace excellence. Goodonya, Rob. I’m proud of you.

As a side note, yours truly received one of the “Advocate” awards, along with Brain Trust member, Karen Kerrigan, President of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, and one of my heroes.

Only in a free-market economy can someone first imagine and then build a business venture from scratch without having to ask permission. Only liberty provides the ability to take risks and then succeed or fail in business on your own. Only unfettered access to ownership and the possibility of financial success produces this kind of work and commitment.

In my work, I get to see this kind of behavior all the time. I love my job.

Recently, on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate® Show, I interviewed Jonathan Treiber, CEO of RevTrax, a Manhattan-based online marketing company, who explained that his business “helps brick-and-mortar companies leverage the Internet to encourage customers to physically come into a retail store or restaurant and buy something.” Treiber said, “RevTrax accomplishes its mission for retailers and restaurants by providing a secure, measurable and flexible online promotions technology” so they can “deliver and track online offers ultimately redeemed by customers in person within the physical stores.”

Treiber believes the RevTrax business model works because his clients realize their customers “want to do business with people they know and trust.” And even though Treiber sells high-tech connections, he recognizes that “periodic face-to-face contact strengthens the trust level.” When asked how his own company decides when to transition from virtual to face-to-face connection with customers, Treiber uses a football analogy: “We think of it as taking a prospect from goalpost to goalpost. After we’ve qualified them at least to the 50-yard line, we go to see them.”

Good Main Street advice from a guy who makes his living on Cyber Street. Take a few minutes to listen to other lessons Jonathan offered during my interview with him. And as always, be sure to leave your thoughts.

But instead of health care reform for its own sake, meaning that the issues that need fixing are addressed and logical adjustments are put in place, what we now have is health care reform for the sake of politics. If you think this is an overstatement, consider this: Currently over 550 amendments have been proposed to the Baucus bill. This ridiculous number of amendments, plus the fact that there is an arbitrary push to get a bill signed into law this year, is proof that this effort is all about politics and has very little to do with quality reform.

America has a filet mignon health care system that is not perfect and could use some fixing. But please explain why we would let this sausage factory we call Congress get control of a $2.5 trillion industry that, unlike any other industry, touches the most intimate aspects of the lives of every American. Why would we allow the same people who have managed Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and the U.S. Postal Service into de facto bankruptcy to take over our health care system? And shouldn’t the horror we’ve seen with the mismanagement of VA hospitals give us great pause before we hand over our health care system to the government?

You would be correct to point out that the current proposals aren’t about an immediate takeover of the U.S. health care system. But anyone who thinks this isn’t the ultimate plan is living in a fantasy world. Once this bill is passed, the socialized medicine, single-payer system camel will have its nose under the free-market economy tent and it will just be a matter of time before this stinking dromedary will be wreaking havoc in America’s living rooms.

There are many ways the marketplace and government can work together to accomplish true reform, not the least of which would be tort reform, but here is just one:

Take away the employer deduction for employee health insurance expense and replace it with tax credits given to every American to shop around and buy their own health care insurance, the same way we shop for, and buy, everything else. If you, or your employer, want you to have a better plan, you can pay for that with after-tax dollars. With this plan, a federal law would also be needed to allow individuals to buy insurance across state lines, thus avoiding the various state insurance mandates

This simple reform would solve many problems, including but not limited to:
- create a more efficient insurance system
- create more competition – real market-based competition
- create more innovation, both in insurance and health care products and services
- create more marketplace jobs and fewer government jobs
- eliminate an employee being held hostage to a job because of insurance benefits
- eliminate the “pre-existing medical condition” problem
- Americans would become health care consumers, instead of just co-paying patients.

All of these elements would be good for small businesses, but especially because they would help level the benefits playing field in competing for workers.

Perhaps the greatest flaw of this health care reform idea is that it’s simple and would actually work in real life – a concept seemingly foreign to members of the political class.

As always, looking forward to your comments.

1.    Entrepreneurs are pathological optimists and, as such, refuse to have their dreams suppressed for very long by the upwind quadrant of an economic cycle.

2.    Small businesses can recover from a downturn more quickly to redirect and redeploy their business models in a way that is customized to fit what the new marketplace demands.

3.    Technological innovations continue to incrementalize powerful tools and applications which give small businesses the ability to compete at higher levels, for higher stakes and with less overhead per dollar of opportunity.

4.    In a world where credit and capital acquisition are part of the recovery challenges, small businesses can still get the money needed to capitalize growth plans because the financial instruments they require are not very big or complicated, and often fulfilled by an independent community bank.

5.    In the future, customers will want more connection and less marketing.  Small businesses don’t have big marketing budgets but have always been the world’s gurus at connecting with customers. But now, with the growth and maturing of low-cost online customer communities (a.k.a social media), its advantage: small business.

I could go on, but you get the picture. And remember, what’s good for small business is good for the world.

Someone who agrees with me about the impact entrepreneurs will make on our future economic success is Carl Lavin, Managing Editor at Forbes, who set out to find the small businesses that will be among those to lead the U.S. into the coming expansion.  Out of thousands considered, Carl and his crew picked what they call America’s Most Promising Companies for 2009.

Here is a link to this group of America’s finest, which hail from all over the country and represent a wide variety of industries.  Brett Nelson, Entrepreneurs Editor at Forbes.com, has done a great job of turning information about these 20 companies into valuable resources for you. Check it out.

Carl is also a member of my Brain Trust and, recently, he joined me on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, to talk about what you and I can learn from these companies. Take a few minutes to listen and, of course, be sure to leave your thoughts. Listen Live! Download, Too!

Good for you. Your mother would be so proud because you still say “please” and “thank you.” Life is so much better when we just do what our mothers taught us.

But somewhere along the way all of this kindergarten stuff got hijacked from the marketplace. It’s difficult to pinpoint where things ran off of the rails, but the bad news is after you say “thank you” for having your water refilled or your order completed, the employee says, incredibly, “No problem.”

So, from this response, are you now to think that asking for or simply allowing service to be delivered is some sort of a “problem” you’ve created, from which you should pray forgiveness will be granted? Should you feel relief that you’ve been redeemed by this person with “no problem” absolution? Clearly, the English language, at least the way Americans speak it, has devolved to a level that makes many feel nostalgic for casual. But when did the sublime “it’s my pleasure” turn into the sub par “no problem?”

Well, my friends, let’s get one thing straight: No problem is a problem. And for small businesses, when “no problem” is used in the conversation with a customer where “you’re welcome” should be, it’s a serious problem that, over time, could be the equivalent of a business death wish.

Think I’m overreacting How much money do you spend getting a customer to do business with you? How much energy and resources do you invest into making sure your products, pricing, display, etc., etc., are just right? How many sleepless nights do you spend worrying about how to compete with the Big Boxes? Now that we’ve established the enormity of these answers, have you checked to make sure that no employee of yours ever causes one of your customers to think - even subliminally - that the mere fact that they are doing business with you could be a problem?

The only thing that is unique about the contact your business has with a customer is the experience they have with you - how they FEEL about doing business with you. Everything else is a commodity. Everything! So in what universe does “no problem” help your business maximize the positive emotions of a wonderful customer experience? It doesn’t, so stop saying it, and train your employees to stop saying it.

There must be 39 different ways in the English language to express your delight in serving a customer without saying “no problem.” Use them.

Remember: Please, thank you and you’re welcome. Otherwise, you’ve got a problem.

Recently, I talked about “no problem” being a problem on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show. Take a few minutes to listen, and as always, be sure to leave a comment.

The reason for this inequity is because it is the nature of evil to be fanatical and aggressive, while the nature of good is to be gentle, often complacent, and sometimes even naive. The good news is there are more good people in this world than evil ones. But that math only works, to paraphrase Edmund Burke, if the good work together against the evil.

We cannot afford to be naive. We don’t have the luxury of being complacent. Even now, eight years later, this is no time for gentleness. We owe it to those who gave their lives to never forget the images we saw on September 11, 2001. To never forget what this evil hath wrought.

Let’s work together — all nations of good people — until we rid ourselves of this evil called terrorism. However long it takes. Whatever it takes.

We can claim no other comparable blessing to offset the imbalance between the power of good and the forces of evil.

Today, on my radio show, The Small Business Advocate Show, I reflected on this the 8th anniversary of the attacks of 9-11. I also talked with Rich Galen on his reflections. Take a few minutes to listen and be sure to leave your thoughts.

A 9/11 poem:Listen Live! Download, Too! Listen Live! Download, Too! Ten truths about the war on terrorism:Listen Live! Download, Too! Listen Live! Download, Too!
Rich Galen on 9-11:Listen Live! Download, Too! Listen Live! Download, Too!

The results of Chuck’s poll might shock you: Approximately two-thirds of the respondents were not confident about their company’s social media strategy, and only around 10% were in the confident category.

When you think about it, the response to Chuck’s question isn’t that surprising since we’re still basically on the threshold of the development of corporate social media strategies. And clearly, developing a social media plan for a business is a lot more complicated than creating a personal Facebook page or Twitter account. Plus, the larger the business the more complicated the process. So for a majority of executives to be less than confident about their foray into social media should actually not be a big shock.

But the primary reason for executive exasperation with social media is not just because it’s an emerging market discipline that most of us are just learning. Indeed, I predict that larger companies will still be unsettled about their social media strategies five years from now. I think the real reason is all about control – actually, the loss of control.

It’s in an executive’s DNA to control corporate messaging, whether PR about the company or their marketing messaging. But when a business launches into the social media universe it literally is an exercise in watching control evaporate. As I’ve said many times before, in the social media world, companies – large or small – cannot control conversations in online communities, they can only influence them. And influencing takes time and patience, the latter of which is not a natural by-product of the quarterly report mentality so prevalent among managers of big companies.

Small businesses don’t operate with a short-term attitude; our business decisions aren’t based on what analysts will think or how the stock price will be affected. We’re already comfortable with merely influencing community activity, and operate so close to customers that a two-way conversation has always been the norm for us.

Social media is nothing if not about connecting on a more personal level, which is good news for small businesses. Consequently, once social media has evolved to becoming just another tool – like websites, email and instant messaging, which will happen soon - small businesses will not only become confident in their social media activity, but will thrive with these tools to a much greater degree than the Big Boxes.

The advent and ultimate universal adoptions of social media practices (for businesses: creating online customer communities) is just more evidence of something I began predicting in 1999: The 21^st century is the century of the entrepreneur.

Recently, Chuck Martin joined me on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, to talk about his research and our thoughts on it. Take a few minutes to listen to this conversation. And, of course, be sure to leave your thoughts. 

Regardless of paternity, such a day was first celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, when members of the CLU took an unpaid day off to demonstrate solidarity and, of course, have picnics. In 1884, President Grover Cleveland designated the first Monday in September as Labor Day and an official federal holiday.

In 1898, Samuel Gompers, then head of the American Federation of Labor, called Labor Day, “the day when toilers’ rights and wrongs would be discussed … that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it.”

Alas, entrepreneurs aren’t organized like our union brethren, probably because we’re too busy making payroll. There is no single Small Business Day officially decreed by the U.S. Government. No Entrepreneur’s Day set aside to honor the few who do so much for so many; a day to picnic and party down in honor of the real heroes of the marketplace, small business owners.

There actually is a small business week when the U.S. Small Business Administration recognizes the “creme de la creme” of entrepreneurs in America. But it’s not a federal holiday, and it’s not always the same week each year.

Small businesses represent over 98% of all U.S. businesses and produce over half of the U.S. $13 trillion GDP. Plus, we sign the FRONT of the paychecks of over half (70 million) of all U.S. workers.

Let’s see: big deal on Labor Day; no Small Business Day. What’s wrong with this picture?

So, what’s the answer? Let’s celebrate Small Business Day in a way no other national holiday has been established: on a Sunday, because that would create the least payroll expense.

August is the month-of-choice because that’s when politicians are home on recess. This way they can practice casting their pearls before us small business owners in preparation for eating barbeque with the workers on Labor Day.

To paraphrase Samuel Gompers, small business owners deserve a day for which these signers-of-the-front-of-paychecks can have their rights and wrongs discussed; that the small employers of our day may not only lay down their challenges for a holiday, but during which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel the stronger for it.

It’s time America had a day to honor small business owners.

But in the meantime, Happy Labor Day.

Peer-to-peer means stand-alone PCs are at every workstation and are only connected to each other, if at all, over a local network, typically to deliver Internet connection. This is de-centralized management of computer activity, where each PC has its own programs and files, plus performs its own data back-up and security. File sharing is possible, but not very elegant.

Peer-to-peer is the default environment for small businesses because of the way most of us begin and grow: one desktop at a time.

A server-based environment is the next level up from peer-to-peer. Growing small businesses find that a server set-up provides more control for file management and sharing, data back-up and security, plus efficiency and cost-control when growth calls for added workstations.

A server is a computer that is stripped of everything but the central processing unit (CPU) and a hard drive, and is designed to “serve” workstations that have the monitors, keyboards, etc. A server-based system means there is at least one server that delivers processing power to multiple workstations. All programs, applications, files, storage, back-up and security resides on these central units, instead of at the desktop. And file sharing? Servers were born to share files the way Tiger Woods was born to play golf.

Here’s the next question: How does a small business know when to make the leap from peer-to-peer to server?

Having a server configuration has long been seen as something for big businesses. And historically, a peer-to-peer environment had to be so unproductive that getting rid of its operational pain had to be worse than the conversion challenges that came with making the jump to a server system.

Until now. Enter the server appliance.

This device is a multi-purpose box with a server in it designed to virtually eliminate conversion headaches. Just plug the appliance into an electric outlet and then plug your own local area network into it and bada-bing, bada-bam you’re server-based, baby, with all of the advantages of central data back-up, security, file sharing – even a phone system. Plus, when you add a new person, you don’t have to buy new software programs for the added workstation..

Several IT companies offer server appliances, including IBM’s Lotus Foundations, Iomega, HP, just to name a few. Most work with a local small business computer company, so contact one in your area and let them help you decide if it’s time to make the jump to a server platform and which system is best for you.

Small business owners, in the 21st century you don’t have to be big to be server-based.

Recently, I talked about peer-to-peer and server-based on my radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show. Take a few minutes to listen, and as always, be sure to leave a comment.

San Fran may be the weirdest city in the U.S., but it’s also the most charming and one of the most interesting. I’ve been going there for decades and always look forward to going back. Here are the top 10 reasons why I love San Francisco so much:

10. The Golden Gate bridge - one of a kind.
9. The fresh seafood is legendary.
8. The climate is great. Mark Twain said the coldest winter he ever spent was a summer in San Francisco, but I’ve never had bad weather there. Good karma?
7. Lombard Street - the one with all the curves. I drove down it once – slooowwwly.
6. It’s a small, walkable city, Russian Hill notwithstanding (which I’ve done – uphill, but only once).
5. The Tadish Grill, the oldest in SF, circa 1849, where you can still get fresh sand dabs. You know, the fish that the guy was cooking when Charles Lindberg went to California to pick up his new plane (think Jimmy Stewart in “The Spirit of St. Louis”).
4. Chinatown. It’s the original.
3. The sourdough bread. All other sourdough bread is from a lesser god.
2. The Cable Car Barn and Museum. This is where you can see the continuous cables being powered in and pushed out.
1. And the Number One reason I love San Francisco - drum roll, please: The cable cars. All three lines: The Powell-Hyde Streets line, the Powell-Mason Streets line and the California Street line. You can ride them all day for $11 and they operate until midnight, every day.

The only moving national monument in the world, the cable cars are WAY cool. DO NOT go to San Francisco without riding at least once on a cable car. Where else can you have that much fun for $11?

When you go to San Francisco, be sure to stay close to Knob Hill, Chinatown or anywhere near the cable car lines (did I mention that I like the cable cars?). It’s a very romantic city, but also a great place to take the kids, too.

Finally, with regard to the title of this post, I wouldn’t want to live in San Francisco; the cost of living is very high, the tax and regulatory structure is oppressive for small businesses and I couldn’t truck with the politics. But I do love visiting.

Thank you, San Francisco, for being so charming. I’ll be back as soon as I can - to visit.

The senior Senator from Massachusetts, Edward Moore Kennedy, has lost his battle with brain cancer, which, like the rain, falls on the just and the unjust, the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak.

The only thing the name Kennedy is more synonymous with than wealth, public service, power and privilege is unspeakable tragedy. It has been said that to whom much is given much is required. In the case of clan Kennedy, much has indeed been given, but surely too much has been taken away. Now the youngest child of Joe and Rose has been taken by a tragic disease.

In the hours since his death, many have reflected on his life and work, including those who agreed with his politics and those who didn’t. I am in the latter camp.

I didn’t know the Senator, but we have mutual friends and they loved him. Apparently, you were fortunate if he called you friend. And it’s admirable that, for someone to the manor born, he could have lived a life of leisure but chose rather to dedicate his energy to public service. That service, however, too often was at cross-purposes with two things that I love and have dedicated my own life’s work and energy to: the marketplace and small businesses.

For years I have been an ardent and public critic of Senator Kennedy for championing issues that I believe are harmful to small businesses. For example: minimum wage increases, laws that promote unionism, carbon emission laws that threaten the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, innumerable tax increases and the one about which he was the most passionate, his Big Kahuna, universal health care.

He was known as the “liberal lion of the Senate.” For the same reasons that he earned that moniker, I gave him another one: the arch-enemy of small business. I think I know enough about the Senator to believe that he wouldn’t want me to be a hypocrite today, so I still stand by that appraisal of his record.

There is at least on thing that Kennedy and I had in common: a sometimes ill-advised courage of our convictions. I much prefer those who feel strong enough about their ideas to declare them. Unfortunately, in my opinion, most of the public policy convictions Kennedy declared I consider the work of someone out of touch with what has made America great, our free market system.

But Ted Kennedy was an icon for something else that is great about America, individualism. God help us if America ever stops producing individuals like Ted Kennedy and if it ever prevents such an individual from declaring his convictions – even when I disagree with them.

Rest in peace, Senator Kennedy; I won’t miss your work but I will miss your spirit.

Recently, on my small business radio program I talked about Senator Kennedy with two members of my Brain Trust. Rich Galen, publisher of Mullings.com, a Republican who worked on the other side of Kennedy’s policies, and Bill Brandt, President of DSI, Inc., a Democrat, who was a friend of Ted Kennedy for over 30 years. Take a few minutes to listen to these conversations, and be sure to leave your thoughts.

For Rich Galen:
For Bill Brandt:

Alas, there has been a pronoun shift in the health care reform debate that should be pointed out.

“He (Americans) wants …”
In the beginning, most people on both sides of the debate agreed that something should be done to improve the way we deliver and pay for health care. Initially, the debate was over how to accomplish that Herculean task, and it sounded like, “He wants …”

“We want …”
Even though Democrats control the Legislative and Executive Branches, there is a heated debate within the party about health care reform. So when you blend this internal debate with the political prudence of passing legislation that includes Republican votes, then stir in the arbitrary time pressure President Obama and the Democrat leadership have placed on this process, the result is a political contest with so many different players and rules that the average person watching can’t possibly score this game at home. This is where the debate sounds like the attorney is saying, “We want …”

“I want …”
In all of this convolution, there is one thing that is becoming clear to regular folks: Those in the “damn the political torpedoes, full speed ahead” camp are looking like their objective has evolved from health care reform for its own sake to health care reform purely for the sake of politics, as in, “I want …”

No one is naive enough to believe that any health care reform won’t be political, but when we’re talking about a topic that involves 17% of the U.S. economy and has few peers in terms of the personal impact on every American, shouldn’t we expect the final reform product to actually be focused more on lasting solutions than on accomplishing a political victory?

Watching this embarrassing mayhem has led me to want no health care reform legislation at all right now. Any bill produced in the current process will be flawed policy that will surely create more harm than good. The reform process should be scrapped completely until the debate addresses societal and market realities of the 21st century, rather than be the victim of political dysfunction.

It’s time for Americans to tell Congressional delegates to walk away from this negotiation until the correct pronouns are being used.

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about the problems with the current state of health care reform. Also on my show this week, I discussed health care reform with Grace-Marie Turner, President of the Galen Institute. Take a few minutes to listen to these thoughts on this important topic and, as always, be sure to leave your thoughts.

Do you know this name: Abdel Baset Ali Mohamed al-Megrahi? He is a 57 year-old Libyan who is the only person to be convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which resulted in the murder of 270 people, including 11 Scots on the ground. En route from London to New York, most of the flight’s passengers were American.

In 2001, al-Megrahi was convicted in Scotland and sentenced to life in prison, where in 2008 this terrorist was diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. Consequently, and defying international outrage, Scotland’s Justice Secretary, Kenny Macaskill, released al-Megrahi on “humanitarian grounds” to allow him to go home to die.

This is where a potential branding nightmare occurred.

Upon boarding the flight for Libya at the Glasgow airport, video and still cameras captured al-Megrahi’s countenance as he attempted to cover his face. Unfortunately for Nike, he did not cover the black logo on the snow-white baseball cap he was wearing, which very prominently bore this international sports-marketer’s iconic “swoosh.”

Okay, clearly Nike had nothing to do with anything this man did or with the circumstances of the day. But in a universe where the impression factor of a logo seen live by millions and then by gazillions in all the re-distributions is marketing nirvana (re: Tiger Woods’ chip-in, 16th hole, 2005 Masters), the al-Megrahi episode for the Nike swoosh is the other edge of the brand sword, a marketing nightmare.

Could Nike have avoided this? Not likely. Could it have been some kind of competitive sabotage? Nah! What should Nike do? Probably nothing – just let it go. Is there a lesson in this for small business? Absolutely!

Think this couldn’t happen to you? Think again. What if a person is arrested of some unspeakable crime in your local market and takes his “perp walk” in a tee shirt with your company’s name emblazoned on it? Never underestimate the power of your brand to do good or to do harm.

So what’s the answer? Respect the power of your brand. Value it. Defend it. Leverage the good edge of the brand sword so much that if an al-Megrahi moment should befall your brand, the goodwill it has already fostered in the marketplace will overcome any sucker-punch photo-op, competitive sabotage or disgruntled customer’s blog post.

The question you should ask yourself is not whether your small business has a brand - it does! The question is how is your brand being defined in the marketplace and who is doing it: your competition, the media, an unhappy customer no one can please - or you?

Be aware of both edges of the branding sword.

Here is some 21st century tough love: EVERYTHING your small business sells is a commodity, not just soybeans. Any questions?

That includes every product your customers can hold, carry, break, drive, wear, eat – you get the picture. It also includes things you can’t see, like service. That’s correct: From this day forward, even service is a commodity. The ONLY thing about the relationship between your business and its customers is the way they feel and think about the experience they have with you. That’s it! EVERYTHING else is a commodity.

Instead of spending the next week detailing why the last sentence is true, I’ll show mercy and merely ask you to look around at your own experiences in the marketplace. How many sources do you have for whatever you may need or want to buy? The answer is anywhere from many, in terms of your physical marketplace on Main Street, to practically infinite, in terms of the virtual marketplace on the Internet. And I’m sure you’ll agree that if the search is refined down to a handful, at least two will be in a virtual tie on price vs value, product array and quality service.

So, when your small business makes it to a customer’s final two, what makes them choose the winner? Here are some classic reasons. The winner’s employees remember the customer’s name, or remember what the customer likes, or smile more, or act like they appreciate the customer’s business and actually say so.

Now let’s look at some 21st century reasons: The small business winner has a website where prospects and customers can shop, or has a blog and/or email newsletter from which useful information is delivered, or allows customers to follow them on Twitter, or notifies customers electronically when new products and supplies are available, or allows customers to comment on a website or online community about their experiences, or anything that recognizes that customers are busy and helps them stay connected, even when – perhaps especially when – the customer isn’t buying.

It’s not easy for small business owners to think of their wonderful offerings as just another soybean. But get over yourself and start thinking about the only thing that will differentiate you from all the other competitors: the classic things customers have always wanted and those 21st century elements that are brand new, but no less compelling.

Recently, on my small business radio program, The Small Business Advocate Show, I talked about the commodity thing. Take a few minutes to listen, and be sure to leave your comments.