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In between discount events, a discount event for Main Street folks
NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (UPI) — Independent U.S. booksellers are using an independent retail store discount holiday to kick off a retail discount week this year, an industry newsletter said.
“We love the message of thanking our customers for supporting independent businesses during the Thanksgiving holiday,” Libby Cowles, community relations manager for Maria’s Bookshop in Durango, Colo., told the cleverly named newsletter ShelfAwareness.
The Christian Science Monitor reported Saturday that sandwiched in between Black Friday, a big box store discount extravaganza, and Cyber Monday, the Internet retail attempt to not be left behind, is Small Business Saturday, a sort of “me-too,” for independent store owners.
With those shopper-friendly puzzle pieces in place, the American Booksellers Association decided to go with “Thanks for Shopping Indie,” a week-long discount prices event that celebrates stores that cater to browsing customers.
via In between discount events, a discount event for Main Street folks – UPI.com.
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BBC News – Cafe creatives: The hubs tempting Dubai entrepreneurs
Slinging a small backpack onto the desk, Will Hutson says good morning to colleagues and pulls out his laptop.
But before chat about the day’s work progresses, somebody suggests ordering coffee – something that has become a bit of a ritual.
And that is because for about six months, instead of using a conventional office, their social media agency, Carrot Creative, has been mainly working out of a cafe.
With floor-to-ceiling windows, fresh white walls dotted with supposedly inspiring quotes (“Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great”) and a soundtrack of relatively obscure Swedish indie bands – Make is far from the cafe chains found in shopping centres across the emirate.
Instead it is one of a handful of trendy urban hang-outs, labelled “co-working hubs”, that have sprung up – something you would expect to find in east London or San Francisco rather than the Middle East.
‘Community’
By mid-morning almost all the table spaces are taken. And while some customers are bankers or lawyers looking for a change of scene and a decent espresso, its main business comes from freelancers, entrepreneurs running start-ups or people already in staff jobs considering going it alone, drawn by the free desks and free wi-fi.
And in a place where 85% of the population is not local – and where the concept of starting your own business is still in its infancy – it is also a chance to meet like-minded people.
via BBC News – Cafe creatives: The hubs tempting Dubai entrepreneurs.
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What Is Cash Flow And Four Powerful Apps To Help You Manage It – Forbes
Many new business owners believe they understand cash flow as it is a fairly easy concept to grasp. The challenge is getting a daily real-time look into your cash position without spending a fortune with your accountant or bookkeeper. These four web-based solutions can help.
Cash flow is how money moves in and out of your business usually over a set period of time. Cash flow statements can help you figure out if a specific project makes sense or if you have a liquidity problem. You can be profitable and still not have cash on hand. The key is measuring and evaluating your financial health on a regular basis.
There is no shortage of tools in the market place today. Intuit’s QuickBooks is one of the best known small business financial software packages and it has various cash flow tools within it. You can also get great cash flow templates for Microsoft Excel or other spreadsheet programs.
60 MO is a financial dashboard and forecasting tool that I reviewed last year at Small Business Trends. You can read that review here. The company recently joined or was acquired by FreeAgent, an online accounting solution. But you can think of 60 MO as Mint for Business that allowed you to blend reports and data from a range of sources. They did not have the capability to do cash flow statements when I reviewed them, but this new alliance with FreeAgent makes that possible. It is a robust set of tools and has a flat price of $24/month.
via What Is Cash Flow And Four Powerful Apps To Help You Manage It – Forbes.
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Late payments not better for battling firms
Company collapses are likely to proliferate in coming months as the number of businesses delaying payment on their bills continues to increase, heaping more pressure on the struggling small business sector.
The latest figures from Dun & Bradstreet show an alarming deterioration in payment terms to 53.2 days for small businesses, from a previous reading 51 days, three months earlier.
Given the standard repayment term is 30 days, this lengthening of the due payment repayment is likely to push more companies to the wall.
By contrast, in 2003 the average term was 45 days and before GST was introduced in 2000 it was 41 days.
Payment trends are known to be an accurate leading indicator of an economic correction. Indeed, the last economic decline was preceded by a blowout in trade payments. The concern is that as the global credit market again tightens, and funding is harder to obtain, the impact of later payments will have painful consequences for many firms.
According to the latest Dun & Bradstreet Trade Payments Analysis – examining the ability of firms to pay their bills, and pay them on time – the number of payments falling within the standard 30-day term dropped 16.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter.
via Late payments not better for battling firms.
Strange Random Payment Quote:
The payment of debts is necessary for social order. The non-payment is quite equally necessary for social order. For centuries humanity has oscillated, serenely unaware, between these two contradictory necessities.” – Simone Weil (French social Philosopher, Mystic and Activist in the French Resistance during World War II. 1909-1943)
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- All firms ‘should work for prompt payments’ (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
- Payment processing for small businesses (creativeagencysecrets.com)
- Late payments ‘top small business insurance holder worry’ (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
- Small business wants new credit, debit, payment rules (cbc.ca)
- Business insurance news: Late payments ‘destroying’ small firms (premierlinedirect.co.uk)
- Value Investing: Dun & Bradstreet’s Wide Moat, Low Price (seekingalpha.com)
9 Elevator Pitches Being Used Now | BusinessNewsDaily.com
Need some great ideas for your elevator pitch? Check out the ones BusinessNewsDaily heard from small businesses across the country.
- We provide pre-divorce planning services. You might think of me as a wedding planner except the focus of planning is on divorce. — Nancy Fagan, a divorce planner for Divorce Help Clinic
- I help leaders recognize and eliminate the drama that hampers productivity. When you have drama in your business you feel like you are shoveling coal in the boiler room instead of navigating the ship. I help leaders get out of the boiler room and back on the top deck. — Marlene Chism, founder of Stop Workplace Drama
- thredUP is a new online kids clothing swap community. Think ‘hand-me-downs gone viral.’ We help parents exchange boxes of outgrown kids clothes for boxes of gear that fits – all online, without leaving the house. It’s the perfect solution for busy parents looking to save time and money while also doing good by the environment. — Karen Fein, public relations and marketing director of thredUP
- I work with companies who want to stop losing money and be more productive by taking better care of themselves and their employees. — Marc Tinsley, health, fitness and wellness expert with Fitness for the Rest of Us
- BeLinker is a suite of tools that help event planners run a better, faster, cheaper and greener event. By combining four or five tools that they typically use into one easy to access software platform, BeLinker maximizes the connection between people, products and information and does so on any internet connected device. — Brian Slawin, president of BusyEvent
via 9 Elevator Pitches Being Used Now | BusinessNewsDaily.com.
Strange Random Elevator Pitch Quote:
“The purpose of an elevator pitch isn’t to close the sale. [….]
“No, the purpose of an elevator pitch is to describe a situation or solution so compelling that the person you’re with wants to hear more even after the elevator ride is over.” – Seth Godin
Related articles
- So What Exactly Is an Elevator Pitch Anyway? (coursesinpublicspeaking.wordpress.com)
- Building your Elevator Pitch (theupwalk.wordpress.com)
- Why you need an elevator pitch (business.financialpost.com)
- Pitching in the Big Leagues: Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch (youngentrepreneur.com)
- How to Write a Better Elevator Pitch (beckersbest.wordpress.com)
- How to format an entrepreneur’s Elevator Pitch (startupeducation.wordpress.com)
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