My Business BlogThe leading business search engine and business directory
Electrolux lists contractors awarded Memphis work
Winning the contract to erect 2.8 miles of fencing at the Electrolux plant was “huge” to South Memphis Fence Co. Inc.
“Some of the guys I had laid off that were drawing unemployment, they get a chance to come back and work and provide for their families,” owner Warren Price said.
Landing the contract to supply 4,500 light fixtures for the seven Electrolux buildings means the biggest job ever for the eight-year-old Brighter Days Nites LLC.
“This puts us in position to hopefully get more business,” Brighter Days Nites owner Dorothy Sinclair said.
Electrolux this week identified South Memphis Fence, Brighter Days Nites and 12 other minority- and female-owned businesses that have won contracts to help build its cooking-appliance plant in Frank C.
Bootstrap Funding: Examples & How to Get It
Many of my newsletters and blog posts are on the topic of raising capital. I talk about how to raise angel funding. And venture capital, etc.
And don’t get me wrong, I think, actually I know, that raising funding is critical. Because the #1 reason (by far) why entrepreneurs fail, is that they don’t have or run out of cash.
But one thing I’d like to clarify is that you CAN start and grow a business without funding. Or with little funding.
In fact, many great businesses have been started this way. A survey of Inc 500 companies found that 48% started with $20K in financing or less, and 73% started with less than $100K in financing.
And, if you are looking for BIG funding sources, like venture capital, they will often want to see that you have bootstrapped or already raised other, smaller funding sources before they fund you.
So, if I misspoke or implied that you absolutely must raise lots of funding from the get-go forgive me.
GOP debate foreign policy: prolific proliferators of confusion | Ed Husain
Remember that promise by Michele Bachmann to shut down the US embassy in Iran? Only to be informed that there was no embassy in Tehran to shut down. As the field for the Republican presidential nomination has been winnowed out, I assumed we would see more attention to facts, particularly when addressing the sensitive and volatile developments in the Middle East. I was wrong.
The Republican presidential debates are not just watched by Americans, but people all over the world. Iranians and Arabs will not recognize descriptions of their countries. In their opening statements, both Gingrich and Santorum felt an impulsive need to frame Arabs in a negative light, in need of Republican benevolence. Within seconds of stating his name, Santorum declared that “the Middle East is in flames.” Is it really?
TruSignal targets potential Fortune 500 consumers online
Gordy Meyers two oldest children are college-aged daughters, and hes become acutely aware of how their methods of communication are different from former generations.
The only way you can reach them is through the computer or on their phone, said Meyer, 51, who lives in Sartell. They dont subscribe to anything. They dont get any mail. I dont think youll ever even see them holding a piece of paper.
In contemplating the future they represent, Meyer got an idea. As chief executive officer of eBureau, a St. Cloud-based firm that provides businesses with risk management and fraud protection information, hed always hoped to channel what his company was doing into other avenues. One of them just opened with the unveiling last month of TruSignal, a sister company to eBureau that connects digital advertisers and interactive agencies with their ideal, high-value audiences.
Years ago, you used to get catalogs sent to your home, said Meyer, who previously managed a $2 billion direct-mail operation for Fingerhut.
As quickly as it began, the whiskey war is over
The Irish whiskey war is over.
Attorneys for former restaurateur Kieran Folliard and the maker of Jameson Irish whiskey said a one-week-old, high-profile dispute between the two parties over the name of a whiskey-and-ginger-ale drink has been resolved through “an amicable settlement.”
Folliard confirmed the settlement Tuesday and said his company, 2 Gingers Whiskey, continues to own the “Big Ginger” trademark for the cocktail his former pubs have been pouring since 2005.
“We will continue to sell the Big Ginger,” Folliard said. No other terms of the settlement could be revealed, he said.
Timing of the settlement was critical to both parties given the fast-approaching St. Patrick’s Day celebration, the most popular time of the year for the consumption of Irish whiskey.
Kenneth Port, a trademark and intellectual property professor at the William Mitchell School of Law in St.
Hanging onto your talent
Although retaining the right staff is a problem for every business, if you’re a small business owner losing some of your best talent because they want or need to spend more time at home can be critical. When you only have ten employees, losing one of your most valuable members of staff is the kind of thing that can lead to sleepless nights.
While some employees are guaranteed the right to request flexible working hours because of children or dependents, wise businesses can use flexible working as a method of ensuring that their staff stay happy in their roles, which, in turn, helps make them more productive. Research by Business in the Community found that three-quarters of managers think flexible working has made their teams more productive, while helping to retain key staff and improving responsiveness.
The question is; how far are you prepared to go to hang onto your talent?
Baker of Junior’s cheesecakes exploring move to New Jersey
The New York cheesecake that has made the restaurant Juniors famous could actually come from New Jersey in the future, if plans to move its bakery to Carteret from Queens go through.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authoritys board yesterday awarded GAD Bakeries, a wholesaler that distributes to the restaurant, a $312,000 Business Employment Incentive Program grant if it brings 65 jobs to the state and opens a 47,000-square-foot, $5 million facility in Carteret. The bakery, which sells approximately 6,000 cheesecakes every week, is also considering relocating to Long Island, according to its application.
The company declined to comment further on its plans.
The iconic Juniors has been in business since 1950, when Harry Rosen founded the restaurant on at the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb avenues in Brooklyn. It has has since grown into a New York cultural touchstone.
CHANCE PROPOSES GRADING SYSTEM CHANGE
– Don Chance, the James C. Flores Endowed Chair of MBA Studies and a professor in the LSU Department of Finance, has proposed a new LSU grading system that is currently under review by the LSU Faculty Senate.
The new grading scale, which would award students “plus and minus” letter grades in classes, was tabled last Thursday. Concerns about the lack of time to discuss the change prior to the vote and other criticisms regarding its cost to the university during state budget cuts swayed the Faculty Senate’s decision to further review the new system.
On a 4.0 grade-point average scale, an “A–” would mean a 3.7 and a “B+” would result in a 3.3 in the proposed change.
A standard “A” or “B” grade would still correlate with a 4.0 or 3.0, respectively. Currently at LSU, a “B+” and a “B–” both result in a 3.0 score.
The grading scale suggested