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The points made in this post serve as powerful reminders for small business owners to have a solid idea about the value of their companies. Many owners are reluctant to invest the money in obtaining a full-blown valuation unless there is a specific need on hand (e.g., an owner is about to sell or gift an interest). However, there are some very inexpensive online tools (such as one from BizBuySell.com) to get a general idea of valuation; at the least, such tools serve as a starting point to learn what a business is worth.
On So You’ve got thousands of twitter followers! Who Cares?
I agree that numbers alone don't count with Twitter and that the quid pro quo doesn't work in the long run. I won't follow people simply because they're following me. I set parameters (which you may or may not agree with)--they have to post a bio so I know what area they're interested in; they have to post in English (I can't read foreign languages); I won't follow anyone who has no posts, or whose posts are about purely personal activities (I'm only interested in business-related posts). I find that it's not the number of followers, but lists, that matter--these are the folks who are really interested in what you have to say and over whom you can have some influence.
On The Best Business Email Might Be a Phone Call
For me, it's not one or the other. Phones and email each have a role and the one to use depends on what you're trying to do. For a back-and-forth conversation, as you say, phone is the way to go to short-cut the email trail. But like a rhetorical statement, email is better for passing on info that needs no reply. It's also better to use when a phone call would be inappropriate, such as 6 a.m.
On The "Trickle Down" Economic Recovery
“Trickle down recovery” may well be in the cards. However, in previous recoveries, it was small businesses that led the way in job creation; not so this time around. Small businesses have been leery of adding to their payroll because of a number of factors, the two key of which are (1) uncertainty about sustained increases in sales and (2) continued tax and regulatory burdens. Increased reporting requirements under the health care package are just the start of additional costs that small business bear at a greater per employee rate than large corporations. The looming “play or pay” requirement to provide health coverage for staff or pay a penalty, which begins in 2014, exempts only very small businesses (fewer than 50 employees). For small businesses, the recovery is more like swimming upstream; the trickle down doesn’t seem very meaningful.
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I applaud your comments about frienemies because you make two good points: businesses that appear to be competitors may not turn out to be competitors. For example, all attorneys aren't competitors because they concentrate in different areas of the law. Thus, attorneys (who appear to be competitors) can serve as good referrals to each other for clients seeking different areas of expertise. Second, as Ovid said: "A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace." Even if you identify another business as a competitor, this only serves to make you better if you want to succeed. And you may be able to complement each other by working together to provide better service for customers. For example, a printer in one local town formed a loose partnership (really more of a referral service since no revenue was shared) with a printer in a neighboring town where customers wanting one type of printing service were steered to one printer while those seeking another type of service were directed to the other printer; each printer benefited from the arrangement. These competitors helped each other do more business.