Stuart Diamond
Not about greed, its about the negotiating that we do everyday in many aspects of our life and how to increase success for everyone on either side of the table.
The link above is to the New Orleans office, which I am familiar with. You can click on the team members and read about the type of people whose knowledge and experience you can leverage. The SBDC offices have established relationships with strategic partners like local and national banks that are willing to provide capital and other resources for start ups and entrepreneurs. I know this because my wife’s company is a locally owned moving company that has leveraged these kinds services and this kind of network. It has brought them partnerships with banks and has also connected them to new clients.
bigeasygator's Link
bigeasygator's Link
Matt
There are a lot of good ideas out there, not all of them are a good business. To start a business you need to have some savings tucked away to live on for a few months and be willing to take that leap of faith we often call risk.
The first place to start is to write a good and comprehensive business plan. That is the keystone to govern the success of starting, running, and growing a business. An investor will tell you that.
An SBDC is just a tool and food for thought, like the many listed books to read.
Edit: and an SBDC is just that, a forum...
When the OPs son is ready (and based on the follow up, he’s not ready) they can be a great resource. Books are great. I’ve read lots of them. They can provide great steer, provide great frameworks, and layout a successful blueprint to get a company going. That said, books don’t have connections at banks, or to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program. Books can tell you what needs to go into a business plan, but they won’t necessarily point you to sources for the data that needs to go into that plan. You get the idea.
They’re all just tools in the toolkit.
Or go into one with a friend, but just make sure you have other friends because you won't have that one for long.
The SBDC consultants are typically individuals who ARE retired or consult on a part time basis while continuing to run their own companies. This is not their full time job. Believe it or not, there are people in the world who are successful and do like giving back and are happy to contribute to these government funded efforts to grow small businesses.
Again, my wife’s company has grown from 9 to 40 people and has increased their revenues by 500% by leveraging the expertise and network these programs provide. Are they responsible for all of it? No. But I know for a fact they wouldn’t be near the company they are without the support of these programs.
These are all good things - that is unless you are against jobs and economic growth.
On the flip side many of us tax payers just take comfort in knowing we made a positive impact on someone’s life, but I guess there’s those of us in the world that need a little more recognition. PM me your address and I’ll make sure you get a personalized thank you card for the fraction of the .01% of your taxes that went to the SBA and found their way to New Orleans to help my wife’s company out!
stow it
But look, you seem really butthurt so I’ll make you the same deal. I’ll be more than happy to pay back the money my parents “stole” from you (even though they actually received it from the government legally, but I’ll ignore that technicality cause you seem real sensitive to this particular situation). Just let me know where to send the penny (see, I even added interest and rounded up for you) and we can call it even. Cool? If anyone else wants their penny back as well, let me know. Just PM me your address!
No, Hack, you didn’t reference them on this thread, but you did yesterday, and in the past, with a similar mischaracterization of my political viewpoints. With respect to welfare I’ve never said their use of it was laudable. I said it got them through a difficult point. I know talking to them they wanted nothing more in life than to get off it, which they worked hard and fast to do. What was laudable was that they pulled themselves up.
At the end of the day, I don’t get to personally say how big or small the government footprint is, and, as a taxpayer (and someone who pays a lot of them) I damn sure am not going to feel guilty leveraging it for all that I can. Is the government going to utilize and allocate resources more efficiently than the free market would? Hell no. But that ideological reality won’t stop me from collecting Social Security one day because it was a less efficient use of my money. From an economic standpoint, not using something you paid for is pretty dumb. There’s no intellectual dishonesty there. There’s a vision of how I’d like things to be and a realization of how things are. I’m not going to let the fictitious, fairytale world of a smaller government footprint that I’d like to see shape how I act in the world that actually exists. I’m also not so ignorant to think that these government programs don’t provide any value just because they’re government programs. They are often very valuable to the people that use them. Again, I’m not going to fault anyone for using something the government is making available to them.
Lastly, the world I’d prefer is one with a market free from the many mangled rules and regulations that pollute the American economy to the detriment of innovators and start-ups and to the corporations that serve as the lifeblood of the economy. This is not to say that all regulations are bad, only that most of them are and we could (and should) have a less invasive state when it comes to economic freedom.
To this free economy I have no problem coupling a welfare state and a smart redistributive apparatus so that nobody falls through the cracks. As I’ve experienced and as I’ve seen, these safety nets can bolster innovation and risk-taking in entrepreneurs and other workers and creative people by freeing them from dependence on their employer and the risk of economic catastrophe should tragedy or unexpected hardship befall them.
Why? Because it was taught by a guy who had started several successful businesses with case studies of those who had also started successful multi-million dollar businesses. Half the final grade was writing a full and comprehensive business plan (mine was an expansion of an already successful business I am part of).
Bottom line - if you want to start and run a successful business, seek the knowledge of those who have already trudged that path, as mentioned, find a mentor.
MF, here are some other books that are business/entrepreneurship related that I recommend:
“Analysis for Financial Management” by Robert C Higgins
“Brokerage and Closure - An Introduction to Social Capital” by Ron Burt
“Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey
“How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
But really, I love the logic from some many on here. Taking advantage of every tax break you can and lowering your own personal tax bill is smart, whereas getting every bit of utility out of the tax dollars you pay is dumb. This is basic rational choice theory and it shouldn't surprise anyone -- that individuals tend to pursue what is in their own best interests. It's a cornerstone of capitalism and free markets (they both need people to act rationally to work efficiently). But good for you on your ideological integrity (which I say with a big eye roll as, unlike many of you, I don't dodge the fact that the government has provided benefits to me whether I wish they were there or not).
But whatever you did to realize that level of success did not come on your own. Someone invested in you. You have benefited from programs that have preferentially favored you over others. You have leveraged tools, goods, services, and infrastructure that was paid for by others (including the government). Stop pretending like you haven't.
Careful Pig Doc...don't be giving them any ideas. I believe the crap that you crap is the only crap that is yet to be taxed.
Soon they'll be coming out with a Federally required add-on for your toilet. It'll weigh and measure your crap, and then maintain a running tab of your crap to be paid at tax time. If you don't pay it, they'll come and take away your other crap.
Being in the right place at the right time is a big help and being able to identify those times and capitalize on it is the key to success. Be pretty dumb to start a business right now selling "HRC - Madam President 2016" bumper stickers...
In the end the only question that matters is, are you willing to take the risk? That alone keeps a great many entrepreneur on the sidelines and being a company-man stooge.
"Looking for recommendations a book for my 25 year old son. He is doing quite well in sales and has lots of ideas. Thanks and Merry Christmas"
Give him 'Cowboy Ethics,' because operating at the highest level ethically is ALWAYS rewarded. People who are not ethical may benefit in the short run, but they ALWAYS get caught in the long run.
It's an easy read, but the message and the way it's all framed is phenomenal.
#9 is my favorite and the example the author gives is perfect.
Remember these two beliefs of mine:
1. If you have to ask yourself if something is ethical, you probably already know the answer and are simply trying to figure out how rationalize doing it anyway.
2. Rationlizing an unethical action does not make that action ethical.
I worked my way through College, no loans, no grants, no money from parents. Worked full time graveyards, and took full-time classes in the daytime. 4 years of this.
So, there's that...
I have done a very long list of things I'm proud of DESPITE the government, not BECAUSE of government.
Now...go on boy...go fetch your candy.
The Government subsidies do not just "fall from the sky"...they come out of the pockets of hardworking Americans.
And, a large chunk of that money goes to fund students that never lift a finger to fund their own education.
A poor student and a dedicated student have equal access but are destined to have unequal outcomes; one will have wasted an opportunity (and possibly taxpayer funds) while the other will likely be on a path towards success. Both had the same built-in advantages so the outcomes are predicated upon their respective abilities not equal access to the same advantages.
A poor business acumen, business model and/or inferior products, goods and services may have access to preferred infrastructure and perhaps a favorable tax situation but all the "advantages" will be moot given the realities outlined.
Someone with a solid business acumen, sound business model and high quality products, goods and services on the other hand is likely to succeed and in the process create jobs, wealth and add to the tax base.
Again, equality of access to the built-in advantages resulting in unequal outcomes is reflective of the reality that it is the acumen/skill of the individual and not the built-in advantages that determine success (or failure).
To me it's a classic "what came first, the chicken or the egg?" conundrum; ultimately it is the individual or the collection of individuals that determine success or failure; the "system" may facilitate to a degree a success but absent the "heart" (the entrepreneur(s) acumen and skill in product development) the systems contribution won't amount to anything.
Could there ever be a better example of liberals blaming anyone and everything besides themselves for their failures?
When I make a typo, I blame myself. When liberals do the same, they blame inanimate objects!
It’s really not that bad though. Look, I went to a state school on a state scholarship and paid for living expenses with a subsidized federal loan. So don’t worry, you’ll never be as bad as me!
"if you went to a state school your education was subsidized."
BZZTT!
WRONG!
If it was subsidized, it subsidized by parents, who did so by paying property taxes, sales taxes, and state income taxes, much of which went to education.
So try again, only this time, with FACTS!
they, then, provide consultants (haha) and "navigators" to help the plebes wade through the swamp and grab some free $#!T......perfecto!
lizzie, if you have paid $1M in taxes in 15 yrs as an employee, i'm guessin your position was mandated by the giv't, thus the praise for all things anti-anti-communist
So, LHCA, which pill are you on at the moment?
You have no clue.
None!
Where I will argue is that there are people in here who seem to suggest they haven’t benefited from government programs. I’m sorry, when your education is subsidized by the taxpayers, you’ve benefited. A state university is a state university because it is subsidized by the taxpayers - it’s the very definition of a state school. So BZZZZTTT, wrong. Try again.
I've done very well in my life, thank you. But I've done light years more for my fellow man than you cold ever dream of, unless, of course, you believe being a dope pusher qualifies as doing good for others.
Mandated by the government? I’m an engineer and an MBA working for a publicly traded oil company (Shell, if you’ve ever heard of them). I pay a lot in taxes because I’ve done quite well personally and my company treats us very well. Nothing gov’t mandated about it. Sorry to rain on your parade.
You’re reading comprehension is about as sound as your logic, Pig Dic. I know where government dollars come from and where at all did I say I wasn’t appreciative of taxpayers (unlike some people...aka you). Like I said, if you feel you need a personalized thank you just PM me your home address and I’ll send you one. Seriously.
Also, seeing as I know I’ve personally paid millions of dollars in taxes and it’s probably a safe bet my parents have too, I don’t know how that makes us freeloaders. But apparently you’ve got some sensitivities to this too, so if it helps you sleep at night you can call me whatever you want.
Lastly, if you personally paid $3 mln in taxes like you claimed to have done last year, then it’s probably a safe bet you’ve taken advantage of government policy or two that has given you back far more than the $300 in welfare my parents collected 38 years ago. I can tell you I have the luxury of itemizing on my taxes and am able to write off far more than most people ever would think of collecting in welfare each year.
But maybe you don’t do that though. Maybe in every single scenario you are given the government shortstick with no preferential treatment and are given no benefit. If so, you’d be the only man in the world that ever did anything without a taxpayer dollar providing you a benefit. You should write a book and tell your story. I’ll look for it in the fiction section.
