“In San Salvador, Mr. Obama said that the coalition would “fairly shortly” be able to claim it had imposed a no-fly zone over Libya. “We will also be able to say we have averted immediate tragedy,” he said at a news conference with the president of El Salvador”

Bush was criticized for his carrier landing and Mission Accomplished sign after our troops attacked Iraq and demonstrated military superiority. After 8 years we are still in Iraq. Obama in Libya makes the Bush attack on Iraq look like a well thought out, carefully researched activity. Obama is predicting victory while his coalition to fight his war, seems to be on the verge of war with each other

I am convinced that the actions by the President sending our military into battle in Libya with no Congressional conversations, concurrence or even superficial involvement in the decision can only be described as outrageous.

The squabbling by the participation nations in his cobbled together coalition looks like a scene from a Keystone Cops comedy. There is no room for comedic bumbling when our pilots are sent into harms way without clear direction as to what they are risking life and fortune to accomplish.

The only outrage over the Obama action is being expressed by far left political elements. I never thought I would be applauding the left for their activity but I do now. The Vice President Joe Biden some years ago, when serving in the Senate, assured the public that he would lead an impeachment action against Bush if he did not properly involve Congress in decisions of war.

Obama has us in a war that has less reason for our involvement than the missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. We need to get out of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya tomorrow. Any one with half a brain knows that. Afghanistan has historically been known as the Graveyard of Empires. No nation, going back to the Mongols, has been able to create order or control the politics of Afghanistan. The Russians packed up and left after 10 years. I don’t think we should bother packing. We should leave with what we can carry out and the same goes for Iraq.

The world is changing and we are in no position to sort out the new politics emerging in the mid-east. Our involvement in Libya is suspiciously being billed as a humanitarian effort. It may strengthen Gaddafi and his supporters and cause more deaths than if we had allowed the rising quest for freedom take it’s own course.

To say we are there to help protect civilians from the terror of Gaddafi and announce that we, however, are not targeting him is so stupid that it defies comprehension.
This is contrary to the basic strategy needed to win a war. Obama does not understand that if you are going to go to war you need to determine what is needed to win and what exactly it is you want to win. Surpise ,surprise Mr. President war inevitably involves killing people. Is your plan to kill those following Gaddafi’s orders but to give immunity to the leader that is giving the orders to kill the protesters?

Where are the questioners of this fiasco in the ranks of our elected officials?. Why are there no speeches and pounding of lecterns in protest of our President’s irrational, illegal declaration of the Obama War.

Is there a brain working anywhere in our government?

It is easy to get detoured from a structured business plan by world events. It is extremely difficult to stay totally focused on growing a small business when every news report concerns a new tragedy, a declining dollar, rising cost of food and our current leadership taking America into a third war in the mid- east.

Faithful readers know that I have restrained from political comment and in recent months have shared my business experience as the direction of this Buck Says blog. For the last week I have been unable to direct my efforts towards advice for business. Our Executive Branch of Government has instituted a Spring Break as a demonstration of their primary leadership concerns.

The President gave an announcement of his decision to attack Libya with UN approval shortly before he got on the family plane with wife and daughters heading for Brazil. Chili and El Salvador. Sending us into another war seems to no longer require Congress involvement in the decision making. For the President UN approval is enough.

Japan is facing enormous challenges with thousands dead and nuclear concerns threatening thousands more of their population. The Friday 9.1 earthquake and subsequent tsunami did not interrupt the Presidents Saturday Golf date. He played his 18 holes without being interrupted by world events including the revolt in Libya.

Reviewing national and world events finds tragedy in Japan, civil war in Libya, housing starts at the lowest level in decades, the dollar continuing to fall in value, floods covering increasing segments of our nation, California , Ohio, Wisconsin and several other states facing bankruptcy, our national debt skyrocketing and the President’s major pronouncements concerned his bracket picks for the NCAA tournament

To be fair he did make several other suggestions and announcements last week. One of his suggestions indicated that a husband and wife jointly watching ESPN’s Sport Center as he and his wife do, would help to make a marriage meaningful. He announced his intention to attend the Olympics in 2016. He did say that Japan was in his thoughts and before filling out your NCAA Tournament picks that thinking about the tragedy in Japan would be appropriate.

If you are an entrepreneur starting a business I advise that you ignore the operations of the current administration. The actions of recent weeks are simply a demonstration of how not to be a leader of any organization of any size.

My last word on the subject is not exactly a word– Aaaaaaarrrrrgh.-Can anyone help?

In suburban Philadelphia competition among pizzerias reached a new level of imaginative action. A pizza shop in Upper Darby was having trouble meeting the competition of two nearby shops so the owner took direct action. He released dozens of white mice in the shops of his competitors. He was caught in the act by two Upper Darby policemen when he was placing a bag of mice in a trash can in the second target pizza shop.

He has been charged with several offenses by the police including food terrorism and cruelty to animals.
I have said that when you are in your own business that trouble often is nipping at your heels. I never thought that is would be a pack of mice.

I have always believed that attacking the competition was the least effective way to match a competitors success.. The first thing that the troubled pizza maker needed to do was to buy a pizza from the competition to compare quality. Close observation of the front of the store operations should have been observed. Employee /customer interaction should also be noted and as much information, legally obtained, about ingredients used in preparing pizzas in the successful operation needed to be gathered and studied.

When this information gathering process is completed an honest comparison of the operations needs to be made. Self improvement is the first key to success in any small business whether you are making pizzas or kitchen cabinets.

The marketing phase of business expansion effort should, in no case involve dozens of white mice bought in a local pet store. It was however considerate of the “mice liberator” that he made the mice purchase from a local merchant in Upper Darby.

When I was starting out in my own business I was working hard and had a few lucky breaks early on. One of those breaks happened when I was introduced to a retired developer ,Mayer Blum. His son introduced us and Mayer was interested in the historic home restorations I was doing in Philadelphia. My customers were wealthy people with strong feelings about the quality and design of the interiors of the homes I was rehabilitating.. The exteriors of the 200 year old homes needed to be authentically restored but the interiors were being built to modern standards.

About once a month Mayer would call me and ask me to join him for lunch. I never refused since he picked me up in his limo and took me to his private club. This club was so exclusive that I couldn’t have got past the doorman for any reason, by myself. Mayer was nearing 80 at the time and I soon realized that he missed the action of business and simply was remembering his early days through conversations with me.
He gave advice and introduced me to members of his club who were prominent bankers, lawyers,politicians and other major players in the business life of the city.

One day he was complimenting me on a particular house that I was working on, but was making very little money on the project. I expressed my concern and he gave me an answer that shaped my business approach for many years.

Her said “Buck your work is good and you are doing an important job for the section of the city where you are rebuilding those old houses. When it comes to the money your father should have explained: When you build for the classes you’ll eat with the masses. If you build for the masses you might be eating with the classes”.

This is advice that can be applied broadly in many ventures. I was reminded of Mayer and recalled the day at his club, when yesterday my wife came home from Costco with 3 boxes of Lipton Tea bags. The 312 tea bags cost $7. Already sitting on the counter was a small box of Oolong tea bags that cost almost as much as the 312 bags of Lipton.

Sir Thomas Lipton understood Mayer’s philosophy more than 100 years before it was shared with me. Lipton grew his company into an international concern by selling to the masses. Unilever who now owns Lipton has been smart enough to maintain the Lipton and Mayer Blum strategy on the road to riches.

Much in the way business is done has changed in 150 years but the basic philosophy of what market should be addressed to make serious money remains pretty much the same.

Note: The apartments shown are known in Philadelphia as 2601 which is their address on Pennsylvania Ave.
This was one of Mayer Blum’s many projects and perhaps his crowning glory. He maintained the penthouse as his residence till his death.

Groupon has emerged into our business world with a speed that is amazing. The volume of business being done by Groupon is truly phenomenal. The contribution to the businesses that they are promoting with discount coupons is another story to study.

Many of the Groupon deals advertise a product or services for 50% or more off the regular retail price. The pitch from Goupon is that they are making a new group of potential regular customers aware of the businesses they are promoting. That may be true but joining your business with the Groupon program or one of the hundreds of the Groupon copy cats springing up needs to be considered very carefully.

Discount coupons may not be attracting the type of customer upon which to build a new business. Offering a coupon customer 50% off your regular price raises an immediate question. How can you make money by offering your product at half the regular price. You cannot unless your initial pricing came to you in a dream sequence where all your fantasies were coming true

What is likely to happen is that you will attract customers that do not value your product as having quality. The customer that comes through your door because of a give away price is likely to expect a give away when they return. It is well understood that coupon chasers are generally coupon chasers ready to move to the next deal they can find and quality is a later consideration.

The national pizza chains are an example of the coupon strategy. Every major pizza chain has the deal of the day and is ready to meet or beat the deal being offered by their competitors. These pizza chains are in a different business than the small start up which has a quality product or service. They operate on the old Barnum premise that a sucker is born every minute. They advertise the deal and only tangentially describe the product and that is that it is big with a bunch of toppings. What they produce is, however, edible. (barely)

Most of the Groupon hopefuls are smaller businesses with limits on their advertising resources paired with dreams of Groupon bringing a magic solution to their sales effort.
Strapping your business with a deep discount reputation is not the smartest move in the early days of operations unless you are a Walton ready to “pile it high and sell it cheap”.
If your name is Sam you may succeed with that strategy, otherwise be very careful.

As if you didn’t have enough to worry about now Libya and Moammar Gadhafi have a line in your business plan if transport is any major part of your business. The unrest in Libya has bounced the price of oil $4 in one day. The price of gasoline is heading for $4 per gallon very quickly.

This will affect almost every business in one way or another. You must take a deep breath and analyze how this event will move your financial expectations. To wrap your arms around $4 gas, think about delivery costs both of your product and the materials to you. Even pizza will not come to you delivered free with gas at $4. Expect an increased delivery charge added to the cost of everything being delivered. That oil truck delivering fuel oil needs fuel to run the now more expensive product. Expect delivery charges as well as increased heating costs.

If your product involves plastic expect prices to rise in the near future since petroleum is involved in making plastic products. This is the case in a wide range of products that we use every day . Libya has moved into every neighborhood in America. How did that happen?

Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen have provided dramatic news but oil is not a big deal in those countries. The oil traders were jittery but not panicked so oil did not immediately have a big jump. Libya is another story. They are big producers and their involvement in the Middle East turmoil caused the rise in price. Iran is now making noises and seems afraid to miss the action. If their involvement becomes more than just bluster expect another big jump in the cost per barrel of oil.

Prepare for what seems to be the inevitable by searching for savings in every part of your business that involves a petroleum product. Move prices in gradual steps to accommodate the reality of the situation. If your plan and product are needed by the public do not despair, just dig a little deeper and figure out how to move quicker than your competition in adjusting strategy.

Isn’t a global economy simply wonderful?

The entrepreneurial spirit in each generation often faces challenges that previous new business start ups did not have to worry about. Currently there are a few new considerations to work through in almost every new bright idea being explored by today’s entrepreneurial class. The path to success has always been akin to the Yellow Brick Road that Dorothy followed in her classic adventure The Wizard of OZ. Every step presents a challenge. The true entrepreneur faces each challenge with determination.

The challenges actually are a positive aspect for a start up. The faint of heart fall by the wayside on the start up road. They are like the cowardly lion in the tale of OZ and ready to give up when the road gets rocky. The road to riches is not crowded but the competitors are hardened by the trip.

Financing –The First Obstacle

Today’s small start up idea will need to use friends and family for start up loans since banks will probably not give the time of day, no less a loan with risk involved. A small start up business has always had a difficult time getting a bank loan but it is now practically a non existent function in banks

If friends and family can’t help, investors can be found if the idea is a good one and a well thought out business strategy has been developed. Debt is generally thought to be the least expensive way to finance a business but without financing there is no business. Investors are the second choice and can work well if you prepare an offering carefully. A C Corp can generally raise money from investors without too much filing difficulty if the investors are from the same state and few in number.

If financing can be obtained with a loan from friends and family this is probably the preferable way to get your start up started and a LLC might be the formation that suits the situation. The LLC can be formed in 15 minutes and a few hundred dollars fee from one of the online companies that offer this service.

Planning in Today’s Political Environment

There are a number of new hurdles on the entrepreneurs trip down the Yellow Brick Road in a search for riches. When I first decided to start my own business I didn’t think about politics for one minute. I focused on my idea and how I would obtain customers for my product. Today there are a raft of considerations that need to be carefully considered. The structure of the business and the employees you will need should remain within the limits that will allow you to operated without fear of being encumbered by the provisions of the Heath Care bill that is passed and embroiled in litigation in several states. A small start up has enough to worry about dealing with business basics without worrying about how a complex health bill of 2000 pages will impact your early days in business. Figure out if you can use contractors effectively and do so wherever possible. read more…

Your Bank For A Start Up or Small business

My observations about banks is that limited financial help will be received by the entrepreneur with a start up idea from the neighborhood branch of a major bank. The new business needs a bank that will handle the daily movement of funds with efficiency. Many Start up efforts can have their needs served most effectively by an online bank.

About 90% of my current banking activity is done without going to the bank. In reviewing the various online banking operations a comparison of the service offerings and the interest offered in the various programs is the first step. Discover Bank meets the basic criteria of stability with it’s 95 year history and it’s association with Discover Financial Services.

Discover Bank consistently has the highest current rates on the various savings programs and among the various online banks ranks as the most attractive for a new business seeking convenience and efficiency in the movement of funds. Discover combined with a local bank, (Chase or Wells Fargo) free checking account is the perfect combination for a new business

Your Credit Card

The Discover Card is the most recognized part of the Discover Financial Services Organization. The Discover More Card has been rated as the best credit card for several important reasons. The card offers up to a 5 % rebate on purchases of certain goods. Discover Card has a reputation of establishing a more generous limit on their card than many others. A new Discover More card has 0% interest on purchases for the first 6 months and 0% interest on balance transfers for 24 months

American Express is a card with prestige involved and also has some very attractive rewards for various levels of card use. There are three American Express Business cards, The Plum, The Platinum and The Gold
The Plum card has payment flexibility that might appeal to a new business
The American Express cards have a high requirement of credit worthy rating and also have a hefty yearly fee attached. In most instances the yearly fee is not required for the first year of membership.

Capital One is a card that can fill the credit card needs of an entrepreneur getting started.
Capital One often has an attractive package for new card applications with no fees and no interest on purchases for a period of time. There is a need to be very careful with this card. The early terms change radically if your balance goes past the opening offering period. After the opening period the interest rate moves to 24% on the unpaid balance. If this card is used ,be sure that it is only used for items and amounts that can be repaid monthly.

Credit Card Use

In the early stages of a Start Up business, judicious use of credit cards is especially critical. Prompt payment of the balance involved is important for the obvious reason of avoiding high interest payments. The longer range goal is to use the credit card to establish a credit worthy record for business requirements as your business expands. The banks that had little interest in providing financial during your start up period will be more interested later if you have demonstrated a prudent financial record.

When an individual decides to strike out in business and leave the world of being an employee behind there are usually a number of motivating factors. The individual might be determined to be more than “another brick in the wall” as described by Pink Floyd. Often the entrepreneurial fire is lit by a determination to no longer have a business life structure that is designed by others with little opportunity for personal choice.

This type of motivation coupled with a good idea for a start up business can begin the creation of a business plan that theoretically will be the first step to an entrepreneurial success story.

There are a few needed elements in a start up that are not emphasized in most business plan guide books. The first thing to realize is that a step into your own business is one that will display your competence to the world. Competence is an element needed in your start up whatever is the idea that has led you to start a business. There is no blaming the boss for problems with your product or service when you are the boss. You and your team, in the start up, need to be no less than experts in your endeavor when you open the door to the public. Once the grand opening party is over and the best wishes of friends and relatives have gone out the door the next people you face will be customers looking for value that will encourage them to “buy”.

If you have made a commitment to excellence in your product or service the buyers will quickly recognize that rare quality. A commitment to excellence will be your edge over corporate employees going through the motions selling competitively. The commitment to excellence will find a customer base that will be solid and not likely to scatter like leaves in the wind chasing every heavily promoted deeply discounted competitive product.

It is not a complicated element of a business plan. In starting your business, prepare to provide a product of genuine value with the commitment to excellence at the center of values included in the business plan mission statement. Do more than give a nod to the concept of excellence, commit to it.

Writing in a post about my early business cleaning fish has sparked some questions about the accounting of my earnings. Several readers questioned how, when I was 12 years old, I made about ten dollars a day in 1 ½ hours of work when I only got 3 cents a fish. To get the whole story you need to also read the previous post about Getting Rich Needs More Than Just Talent.

Continuing my experience on the fish docks—–

By the middle of July with my sales approach and the captains recommending my services to the fishermen I had more fish to clean than I could handle in a reasonable time. The fishermen went into the dockside restaurant for a cup of chowder or lobster bisque and were ready to head for home in about 45 minutes. They expected their fish to be cleaned and iced by the time they were ready to leave.

Sub Contracting Discovered:

One day I had several hundred fish to clean and my clean rate was about 100 per hour on a good day. What to do? I suddenly realized that one of the kids on the dock who was lightening fast with a knife was standing there with no fish to clean. Butchie was fast with the knife but not with his speech. He had a bit of an impediment and in addition was scrawny. I said, “Butchie get down here and start cleaning I’ll give you 1.5 cents a fish for that bunch in the can and split the tip with you.” He was on those fish in a flash and had more than 100 cleaned in less than an hour. The tip was $3. When we settled up I gave him $2 of the tip and $1.75 for the cleaning. I made $2.75 on the fish that I hadn’t touched. More importantly I made a faithful friend and sub –contractor for the rest of the summer and learned how to meet the market need efficiently. Before the end of July I added another fast knife to the team and we dominated the business on the dock.The captains started announcing the availability of Bucky’s fish cleaning service and the fishermen looked for us.

-I made sure that my contractors made significant money in that 1.5 hour period after the boats came in from the ocean. There was a bit of grumbling from time to time but I was a bit bigger than my guys and that was important on the docks and grumbling was negotiated away.

In the winter I thought about the summer lessons and realized that self employment could be a really great experience. In 1950 those lifeguards at the shore sat on the stand for 50 hours a week and made about $45. I made more than them in about 10 hours of work .

There however were no girls hanging around the fish dock like they did at the lifeguard stands. That was no concern since I was only twelve and that was not yet an important detail.