As a tax and business attorney since 1977, Barbara Weltman is a logical person to ask about the state of small business. She is author of "J.K. Lasser's Small Business Taxes 2010" and "The Rational Guide to  Building Small Business Credit," as well as more than a dozen other books. A respected corporate speaker, contributing editor, and sought-after expert media source, she recently wrote the ebook “What are the Tax Implications of Your Health Care Options?” available here at MyVenturePad. While the neglect of small business by the current administration has drawn criticism, Barbara believes most government proposals never really help anyway. “Government should get out of the way,” she says, “and let small business do what it does.” As for the healthcare bill, she believes the growing amount of paperwork small businesses are burdened with is more of a problem than employee healthcare premiums. Nonetheless, today’s entrepreneurs have an “unbelievable spirit,” she says, and will always find “creative ways” to defeat the obstacles they face. Listen now:
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Pam Slim has not only run her own business for over a decade, she has also been instrumental in guiding many who seek to bridge the chasm between the corporate sphere and the challenging world of entrepreneurship. A well-known coach and writer, Pam is a former corporate manager who also  spent years consulting with such corporate leviathans as Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard. So she's witnessed first-hand the angst many corporate employees have experienced as they’ve sought to take the entrepreneurial plunge. Pam blogs about her passion for entrepreneurship at “ Escape from Cubicle Nation,” and she recently pulled together her many thoughts and insights on starting your own business in her new book, “ Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur.” Beware: To any would-be entrepreneurs eager to push the button below - this could cost you $17.13 (Amazon’s price before shipping and taxes). Because once you listen to Pam, you’ll probably want to run out and buy her book to learn much, much more about taking those crucial first steps. Listen now:
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With our just-published ebook on the stimulus package “hitting the newstands,” we thought it timely to chat with one of its three authors: Steve King. “The Stimulus Package: What It Means for Growing Business” was written by Steve, along with Barbara Weltman and Erik Pages. The project is co-sponsored by SCORE, as well as, of course, by our enabling sponsor SAP.  “We’re optimistic the economy is at or near a bottom and the general signs are things are starting to turn around,” says Steve. The Council of Economic Advisors projects the stimulus package will create 3.65 million jobs, and Steve’s own firm Emerging Research estimates that 1.6 of those will be in small to mid-sized business. “You just can’t spend this much money and provide this much tax incentives without it having an impact on the economy,” he says. “So we’re pretty confident about our jobs numbers.” Listen to Steve in this interview and then download “The Stimulus Package: What it Means for Growing Businesses” to learn more from Steve on government spending, Barbara on tax changes, and Erik on the "significant upgrade" at the Small Business Administration. Listen now:
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Dr. Ralf Strauss recently found time in his busy schedule to talk to MyVenturePad about marketing planning. Ralf has been chief marketing officer for SAP in Germany and Central Europe since 2003. Last year he took on responsibility for global product management for all SAP CRM marketing solutions—that is, for solution strategy, product vision, and the company’s roadmap for CRM marketing.  His detailed thoughts can be found in “ Marketing Planning by Design: Systematic Planning for Successful Marketing Strategy,” which was influenced by an SAP study he conducted in 2006 that included a survey of 43 chief marketing officers in Germany’s leading companies. One of Ralf’s many findings is the danger of pursuing tactical initiatives prematurely. “Before you have any discussion of any tactical activity (like sending out an email), first of all be crystal-clear – and have this aligned across the company – what content you’re trying to communicate to which target group,” he cautions. “It sounds pretty simple, but in the majority of the cases… we found that very often the schedule for marketing planning ends up in a tactical discussion.” Listen now: read more >>
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“Business planning” has been on Tim Berry’s mind most of his working life, from his consulting days in Silicon Valley twenty five years ago, when he began gathering ideas that—a decade later—would result in the first version of what today is “Business Plan Pro.”  That’s the flagship product of Palo Alto Software, which Tim founded. Though still its president, Tim happily lets his daughter run the company these days, leaving him free to teach, write books (the latest being “3 Weeks to Startup”), accept speaking engagements, and blog. A prolific blogger, Tim’s thoughts are to be found at Planning Startups Stories, Up and Running and Business Planning Demystified, as well at the likes of The Huffington Post.
In this interview, Tim admits, “in truth, a great product, great marketing and a genius entrepreneur can achieve success without planning.” But for the mere mortals among us, he advises, “If you don’t enjoy planning – and I mean the real planning, not the fake planning – then maybe you should keep your day job.” Listen now:
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The current recession isn’t a new experience for Ken Yancey. A banker by training, he recalls the 1980s when he worked in the Dallas - Ft. Worth area and “every bank I ever worked for failed.”
That perspective serves him well in today’s difficult economy. As CEO of SCORE, he marshals a volunteer army of over 11,000 business executives that  provide advice to thousands of small businesses and would-be startups across the country. Formed in 1964, SCORE today has 370 chapters and 800 branches across America. About half the businesses seeking advice from SCORE have fewer than 10 employees and have been in business less than 5 years. The balance of the organization’s clients are mostly new to business.
Ken’s position at SCORE keeps him in close touch with the cash flow and other problems thousands of small businesses are experiencing in our tough economic climate. In this interview, he talks about the activities and goals of SCORE -- and expresses disappointment that the recovery package won’t do more for small business. Listen now:
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N  in a Simosko recently found time in her busy schedule at SAP to talk to us about a topic dea r to her heart: leadership. Nina has been with SAP for about five years. (Her current title -- careful, it’s a bit of a mouthful -- is “Head of Global Ecosystem Partnership Group - System Integrators and Go To Market Programs.") And during that time she has formed some strong views on leadership.
Nina created her blog Nina Nets It Out about a year ago expressly to tackle this subject. You may have read some of her recent posts here on MyVenturePad, including “ Smart Growth for Leaders” and “ Leadership Is About Skills, Not Gender.” In this interview, Nina explores the elusive art of leadership, noting, for example, that true leaders typically don’t talk about leading—“they just get on with it.” She also offers her thoughts on mentoring and women in business.
Listen now:
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The pull of Wall Street and the publishing world is what brought Nicki Gilmour to the U.S from Northern Ireland in 2004. But she quickly became sensitized to the frustrations many women in business experience in their careers, including the difficulties some women encounter when trying to get back into their profession after a hiatus.
That led Nicki to form Evolved People Media and launch its flagship website theglasshammer.com 18 months ago. The web site is an online community of professional women—primarily in  finance, law and big business—that offers news, advice, jobs and networking opportunities. Its goal is to “inform, inspire, and empower women,” says Nicki. Her site has 30,000 visitors a month, with about 20% of those being international, including many from London and Asia.
Listen to Nicki talk about her online community theglassshammer.com in a recent interview with MyVenturePad. Listen now:
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Dr. Jana Matthews, founder of the Jana Matthews Group, has a broad and global experience of entrepreneurship and business, and helps us put the current economic climate into a much-needed context. Listen now:
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Tim Crane, CEO of The Fruit Company, and I talk about his business, which counts many large companies among its customers, and how it is weathering the economic storm. Listen now:
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