eBay has thrown a speed bump on the road to riches that many entrepreneurs are trying to navigate according to StartupJournal.
“Entrepreneurs on auction giant eBay are still struggling to deal with their latest loop on the business rollercoaster after the Web site increased fees Feb. 18. An estimated 430,000 Americans make a full- or part-time living from running a business on eBay.
“‘I’m going to pull everything,’ says TJ Wilson, of Ketchikan, Alaska, who sold Celtic and Gothic jewelry at her eBay store. She closed her store, Reef Media, Feb. 18. ‘One item I listed last week at 60 cents (in fees) will now cost me a buck and a half — and I had dropped the price of the item!'”
Over reliance on a single customer, a single supplier, or in this case a single source of distribution puts any small business at risk.
Author: Jeff Cornwall
Dr. Jeff Cornwall is the inaugural Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Cornwall's current research and teaching interests include entrepreneurial finance and entrepreneurial ethics.
VC Firm Uses Blogs to Find Deals
One venture capital firm is finding blogs sites to be a good source of information on new opportunities for investment in technology and the Internet as reported in this story from Red Herring. Christian Leybold, a senior associate at BV Capital, found out about a conference called CodeCon that focused on software development.
“The conference caught our attention when we read about it in the blogosphere and we gave the organizers a call,” said Leybold. We actually find blogs to be a great source for up-to-date information on trends and developments on the Internet.”
I have also seen many entrepreneurs use blogs to keep track of current industry specific information and trends.
Carnival of the Capitalists
Coyote Blog offers us this week’s selection of posts for COTC.
Welcome Back!
New Dog Old Trick is back in the blogging business and he’s now in Nashville. Welcome to town!
Leaving Money on the Table
One of the most facinating parts of entrepreneurship to me is how differently each entrepreneur views what success means for their business. It is so more complex than most on the outside will ever understand. A Business Driven Life offers a wonderful reflection on this topic in his post from Saturday, February 19, 2005.
Real Life
If you haven’t visited these two sites, Bootstrapper Notes and A Thought Over Coffee, you should check them out. Both are chronicling start-up experiences from an honest and personal perspective. This is reality TV meets blogging. They are both great and are regular stops on my morning rounds.
Updates on Employee Benefits
Inc.com examines the challenges for small business in managing employee medical leave. One more program of good intentions colliding with governmental incompetence.
Entrepreneur.com examines the health insurance crisis. While some call it a crisis in health care, there is nothing wrong with health care in America. Our health care is the best in the world and getting better. The crisis is decades of a duplicitous relationship between big government and big corporations to try to artificially manage an industry.
NFIB looks at the latest on the social security debate. See my comments on the two issues above for my take on this mess.
Miss Manors for Business
NFIB offers a few tips on business etiquette. Many entrepreneurs do not have the same exposure to these cultural mores that are second nature to those from the corporate cubicals. Remember, start from the left with your forks!
More on Fr. Sirico’s View on Religion and Business
Anita at Small Business Trends offers her thoughts on the piece I wrote earlier this week on Fr. Sirico’s talk on our campus on “The Entrepreneurial Vocation.”
How to Hire a Tax Accountant
Since fundamental tax reform is not likely to occur, new entrepreneurs need to think about hiring an outside accountant to help with tax work (do not do your own taxes unless you give yourself haircuts and perform all minor surgery on yourself such as appendectomies and open heart surgery). Start-up.com has offers some good advice on this process.
Here are my tips:
1. Start with referrals from other professionals and entrepreneurs and choose two to three to interview.
2. See if this is someone you want to work with for the next several years, often during some of your most difficult times. Personal fit with you and your team is critical. You need to be able to be open and honest with your CPA. Pick someone you can trust.
3. If they know your industry that can be a plus, but is not as important as when you pick an attorney.
4. Get honest and clear about their billing policies. If you are a new business, many accountants will give you some initial discounts. To some degree fees can be somewhat negotiable. Judge how sensitive each one is to your cost constraints.
5. Note things like how quickly they return your phone calls. They should be in their sales mode so this is as responsive as they may
ever get.
And when you pay your bill each year to your accountants for their tax work, remember the opportunity we missed this year to really reform the tax system in America.