How the Disaster in Japan Could Affect Your Business…

submitted by Bob Bennett, CommWorld of Kansas City

We’re not saying, “The sky is falling, run for your lives!” but we do encourage you to think ahead and be prepared.

All of us are part of the global economy. The earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear incident which hit Japan have rippling effects. Of course, the loss of life and the suffering of the people are of greatest importance. Our prayers and support go out to them as they begin the process of rebuilding their economy, the damaged and devastated structures and their lives.

This enormous disaster also has effects on electronics industries throughout the world. Japan is a major supplier of components used in all types of electronics from computers to cell phones, TVs, copiers, cameras, LCDs, automobiles, batteries, tablets, telephone equipment and more. Whether an electronic device is “made in America” or any other country, it probably includes components from Japan.

The process of making chips is especially sensitive to power interruptions, dust and vibration. Even manufacturing facilities which were not damaged may experience problems. Electricity interruptions, transportation and shipping problems and employee absences can contribute to a slowdown or shutdown. The research firm, IHS iSuppli, reports that the current inventory of components should be enough to keep production running at global electronics manufacturers if the interruptions only last a couple of weeks.

Reports of shortages, both real and imagined, may result in price increases. Already an article in Information Week reports prices for flash memory found in smartphones up as much as 10% and prices for system memory used in PCs up by 7%. It is actually too soon to know for sure if prices will increase or by how much.

After 30 years in business, COMMWORLD of Kansas City has lived through product shortages before and we know how challenging it can be. It was especially hard for customers who experienced an equipment failure when replacements were difficult to get.

We have not received official notification of product shortages or price increases, but we do encourage you to be prepared. If you’re planning to acquire electronics equipment this year, it may be wise to get it now. If you’re trying to keep old equipment alive, but you know its days are numbered, now would be a good time to replace it. If you haven’t protected electronic equipment with a battery backup or UPS, do it now and if the batteries in those units haven’t been changed in 3 years, be sure to get them changed, too.

COMMWORLD will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates the best that we can.

ABOUT COMMWORLD OF KANSAS CITY:

COMMWORLD of Kansas City, locally owned by Bob and Linda Bennett for 30 years, is a recognized leader in telecom. The company provides reliable, high quality telecommunications products from leading global technology manufacturers including Toshiba and Samsung. “One point of contact” means businesses count on COMMWORLD for Business Telephone Equipment, VoIP, Voice Mail, Unified Communications, Local/Long Distance/Internet Service and more. Their Experienced Experts provide technology solutions designed to increase your business productivity, customer service and profits. COMMWORLD offers the best warranty in telecom plus 1^st class service – guaranteed!  The company is located at

6200 Main Street, Grandview, MO.

For a free consultation, call (816) 763-1100 or visit www.commworld-kc.com.

Sources: Information Week, eweek.com, TechNewsDaily, Los Angeles Times ,guardian.co.uk, The Christian Science Monitor

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Does Your Business Have A Plan?

You have owned and operated a small business for 5 years. Quite possibly, you are thinking about starting a business. Do you have a plan for your business? You might think this is a silly question, but please consider the following facts. A study was commissioned at Harvard University some years ago involving the graduating class. A graduating class was selected and 20 years after their graduation, they were asked if they had written down their goals. Only 3% of the graduates had written down their goals; however, the net worth of that 3% was greater than the combined net worth of the remaining 97% who had not written down their goals.

I think there are many important lessons to be learned from this true story. The one lesson I want to focus on for business owners is the critical importance of developing a written plan for your business. For those business owners who have a business plan – congratulations! I will speak to your situation shortly.

For those business owners and want-to-be business owners, developing a business plan is one of the most critical steps you must complete if your business is going to survive and thrive over the long haul. If I could provide some insight into how you can develop a business plan, I offer the following:
1) Write the business plan yourself. Please don’t let someone else, who is not a partner in the business, write your business plan. You and your partners are the ones who have the idea, the vision, and the ability to translate that vision.
2) Don’t be afraid of the reading, writing and researching required to develop your plan. I have found that as I research, I actually learned more about my industry, my competitors and myself in the process.
3) The resources available to develop your business plan are innumerable. Resources can be found at your local public library, online through your local public library, magazines, on the internet, the Small Business Administration, your local chamber of commerce, your local SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), Small Business Development Centers, and University Extension offices, just to name a few.
4) If your plan is to secure external financing (funds outside of your own capital/equity), you should begin developing personal relationships with potential funding partners whether they are credit unions, community banks, larger banks, high-net worth individuals or others. Be honest with them, tell them exactly what you are doing and that you might look to them for financing.
5) Do you have an Advisory Board? Do you have a group of people you trust that can provide advice, counsel and feedback (honest) on your business plan such that you can revise your plan to make it higher quality.
6) In your discussions with commercial bankers, have you asked them if they might allow you to review the business plans of potential businesses that they rejected? These plans and discussions with your potential lender can be very valuable in understanding what a loan committee is looking for.

For those business owners that have a business plan, when is the last time you looked at it to assist you in making a decision in your business? If you spent the time to develop your plan, you must spend time using it on a regular basis to make decisions in your business. A business plan is a living document that will change over time but it is the foundation upon which your business was built. I urge you to spend time in your business plan and make the necessary changes using the steps I mentioned. I wish you all the continued business success you can handle.

Submitted by Chris Chiodini, Community Development Director, City of Grandview............................................We encourage your comments. Be sure to read the Bloggers' Guidelines posted in the footer of this blog. Especially see item 6 regarding anonymous accounts & postings. Thanks for joining the discussion!

So You Want to Start a Business in Grandview, Missouri?

Submitted by Chris Chiodini, Community Development Director, City of Grandview

You’ve always dreamed of owning your own business. You have always been the independent type of person and want to be in control of your own destiny.  Now, the opportunity to start your business has finally come around and you’ve chosen Grandview, Missouri as your location.

Before you put “hang your shingle” and open your doors to that new business venture, have you thought about, researched and done the following things to make sure you are following all the rules of operating your business in Grandview?

1.       Have you contacted the staff at the Grandview Chamber of Commerce (www.grandview.org or 816-761-6505) to learn all you can about the business environment in the City from the perspective of other business owners?  This might include research on the demographics within the City, your potential market and potential competitors.

2.       Is your business going to be operated from your home (a home-based business) or will you be leasing space or purchasing a building in the City from which you will operate your business?

3.       If your business is designed to be a home-based business, have you spoken or visited with City staff in the Development Services Division (Sara Copeland at scopeland@ci.grandview.mo.us or 816-316-4822) to determine if your business is one that can be operated as a home-based business?  The City’s Zoning Ordinance is very specific about which types of businesses can be operated from your home and the conditions under which they must be operated.

4.       If your business will be operated from a location in the City outside your home, will you be leasing space or purchasing the building?  This is very important because the City has different zoning districts throughout the City which control which type of businesses can operate in that specific zoning district.  For example, you would like to operate a business that manufactures plastic and paper products from recycled materials.  This type of business is only allowed in certain zoning districts.

5.       Once you have the type of business and the allowable zoning district of the City, you can begin to narrow your search on available land and/or facilities to locate your business operation.  Most business people are not experts at the finer points of real estate site selection, zoning or real estate transactions.  Have you engaged the services of a commercial real estate professional and/or a real estate attorney to help guide you through this process such that you can locate the right piece of real estate, lease negotiations, purchase agreements or other real-estate issues?

6.       Once you have located what you feel is the right piece of real estate in the proper zoning district, have you met with City staff to discuss your business idea and its physical layout requirements before purchasing the property?  Many times, a piece of real estate is purchased prior to any meetings with City staff, and unfortunately, there are fundamental issues with the site and/or building that will not allow the prospective business owner to use the purchased property as intended.  An example of this might be that your business, according to the building code, requires operational fire sprinklers installed in the building due to the nature of the business process or chemicals involved, and the building you bought has no fire sprinkler system and the water lines that provide service to the building do not have enough flow or pressure to support a fire sprinkler system.

7.       The fire sprinkler system is just one of many performance-related issues that your prospective site must address in order for the business to locate and operate in that space.  One very beneficial service provided at the City is weekly Pre-Application Meetings that any current or prospective business owner can have with City staff.  There is no fee for these meetings and it gives the business owner the opportunity to discuss any and all issues with City staff that might affect their business such as off-street parking requirements, utility connections, building permit fees, inspections, site plans, building setbacks, building heights, perimeter fencing, landscaping, signage and screening requirements among other items.  To set up a meeting, you would call Sara Copeland, City Planner, at 816-316-4822 or e-mail at scopeland@ci.grandview.mo.us.

As a current or future business owner, there are many issues you must deal with.  The successful business owner will take the information presented above and study it, research it and contact City staff at every opportunity to insure that they are not only following the City’s rules, but doing so in a manner that saves them time, money and heartache.  We wish you every success along the path of business ownership and stand ready to work with you here in Grandview, Missouri

Chris Chiodini

Community Development Director

City of Grandview, Missouri

(816) 316-4820

cchiodini@ci.grandview.mo.us

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Article in Thinking Bigger Business Magazine

Below is an example of articles that are posted in Thinking Bigger Business Magazine. This is a terrific resource for small businesses to learn from and to promote their unique business through content based articles.

March 2011 Vol 20, Issue 3 (Copied with permission)

See the Light for Cost Savings
Reducing lighting usage can help the environment and your bottom line.

By Monica Bury

We are bombarded daily with news reports about how energy usage is going up. Some reports indicate that demand for energy will double in the next 10 years. We are competing in a world-wide race for energy resources, and there are even plans to build more power plants in our area to meet these ever-increasing needs. Energy related expenses affect your company’s bottom line, and make it difficult to hold down costs to your customers. Is there anything you can do to help reduce energy demand and save money in the process?
The answer could be as simple as turning on a light—or at least one that saves you money.

Illuminating Costs
Your business runs on energy. The costs are mostly variable, with the prices of these commodities being driven by supply and demand. Most are regulated by government agencies, and they try to keep the costs down to the end user. Still, energy costs eventually will go up.
The three primary areas that use energy in a business are production (equipment), heating and cooling (HVAC) and lighting. Lighting represents anywhere between 30 percent and 70 percent of your total energy costs. How can you reduce your lighting usage and thus add money to your bottom line?

Power Down Your Energy Needs
Having an energy audit, specifically a lighting audit, can tell you whether you are using too much energy for lighting. Inefficient lights can use more than twice as much energy as energy-efficient lighting.
Most manufacturing environments use high intensity discharge lights (HID), which typically use around 465 watts of energy per light. They also put off radiant heat that adds to your summertime cooling costs. Energy efficient lights can use at as little as 221 watts of energy per light while producing the same amount or more light. These lights also run much cooler, thus reducing additional heat output that results in more less A/C usage in the summer months.
These newer, efficient lights also have several other important benefits. The light levels they produce generate nearly 50 percent more light output than HID’s, thus improving the ambient light in an area. This improves morale, productivity and safety. These factors, along with lower maintenance costs, give energy efficient lights a big edge on existing fixtures. Incorporating instant on/off motion sensors will further increase your savings. Plus, additional savings can be found by retrofitting fixtures in office environments as well.
These lights qualify under the Kansas City Power & Light (KCPL) rebate program and, in most cases, can be expensed off your taxes in the year they are installed (EPACT). These additional cost reductions usually make your ROI for the project to between one and two years.

Below is an actual project:

Fixture Quantity X Wattage X Hours of operation /1000 = Kilowatt hours X energy rate

Existing HID Fixtures in Printing Facility
237 Fixtures X 465 Watts X 8760 Hours /1,000 = 965,395 Kilowatt Hours X $.069 electricity cost per hour = $66,612.00 per year

New High Bay Fluorescent Fixture in Printing Facility
237 Fixtures X 221 Watts X 8760 Hours /1,000 = 458,823 Kilowatt Hours X $.069 electricity cost per hour = $31,659.00 per year

Savings
Total Investment $78,093
KCPL estimated Rebate $28,672
Epact 2010 Estimated $20,731
Net Investment after Rebate/EPACT Deduction $28,690
Verifiable annual electrical savings (lighting) $34,953
Project will pay you $6,262 in first year
Project Pre-tax ROI 121.8%

Money in your pocket all subsequent years: $34,953

Old Monthly energy cost $5,551
New Monthly energy cost $2,638
Money in your pocket each month $2,913

The rebate by KCPL will be confirmed before the project begins.

As you can see, it was well worth it for this customer to replace their lights. Under the current economic conditions, or even in the best of times, it is always good to be able to lower your overhead and variable energy costs. Doing so will allow you to put more money on your bottom line.

Monica Bury is CEO of Pro Circuit, Inc., an electrical contractor performing commercial and industrial electrical and low-voltage service and construction since 1993. Pro Circuit has performed hundreds of lighting audits and installations.


Posted by Boyd Nolen, Pro Circuit, Inc......................................................................We encourage your comments. Be sure to read the Bloggers' Guidelines posted in the footer of this blog. Especially see item 6 regarding anonymous accounts & postings. Thanks for joining the discussion!

Small Business Resource

Last year when I joined the Small Business Advisory Board within the Grandview Chamber of Commerce, we discussed what we could do to help businesses succeed, and what advise we might be able to give them to help. We all know there is not much substitute for experience in the business world, and connecting business owners and leaders together to discuss issues is a critical form of help. Joining chambers, business associations, rotary clubs, etc, can all help your businesses, not just from increased exposure and finding new customers, but also peer advise regarding business issues.

I also found local publications regarding businesses in your area are also good sources of information. One publication, thinking Bigger Business, is an exceptional forum for this type of business knowledge. Each month they have many articles from various authors, most of whom are business owners, or experts in their field, that detail out many of the issues businesses are going through, along with some ideas on how to solve problems and/or save money, which means bigger profits!

thinking Bigger Business's website is http://www.ithinkbigger.com/

They offer a monthly magazine and/or an email web version.

It is nice to read and see other business people with similar issues to our own problems. It is also nice to get some possible solutions for those issues.

Posted by Boyd Nolen, ProCircuit Inc...................................................................................................We encourage your comments. Be sure to read the Bloggers' Guidelines posted in the footer of this blog. Especially see item 6 regarding anonymous accounts & postings. Thanks for joining the discussion!

Upcoming Events for KC Area Small Businesses

KC SourceLink has announced their upcoming March 2011 calendar full of wonderful and enciteful programs for small businesses, professionals and enterpreneuars.

Visit their website to see if there are any valuable classes that you could be taking to further your business advantage.

http://www.kcsourcelink.com/

Submitted by Angela Brincefield
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Inspiring Story: 5 Guys Burgers & Fries

This is a link to a great small business success story - 5 Guys Burgers & Fries. At the print of this story they were 570 stores strong!!

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20100401/jerry-murrell-five-guys-burgers-and-fries.html#

Submitted by Angela Brincefield


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