September 5, 2011
by Wayne Mates
This post is a re-post from a year ago honoring labor on labor day and challenging small business in this country to hire just one more person this year to help drop our unemployment rate. For me, instead of slinging trees, the day was spent building gates for a beautiful white picket fence I am working on.
Today is officially Labor Day in the USA and Canada, a day many of us relax, barbeque hot dogs and hamburgs and go boating and swimming. For some it marks the unofficial end of summer and time to put away the white shoes and close up summer houses. It is time for children to head back to school in the north. Kids in the south have mostly been back for a couple of weeks.
But before we get too far into it, how did Labor Day come to be? According to World Correspondents, it became a national holiday in 1894 as a way to mollify some of the labor unions and soften the harsh treatment and deaths of labor in the Pullman Strike, also in 1894. This followed the tradition of the labor celebration in New York City on the first Monday in September in 1882.
The U.S. Department of Labor has this to say about Labor Day:
“The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation’s strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker. ”
And so it is that we celebrate Labor Day, a day to recognize the contributions of a labor force to our economy. For many it is another work day, as virtually all retail stores are open for regular business. Restaurants, campgrounds and other businesses that cater to tourism have long been open.
I spent my Labor Day with some hard labor, some relaxation and reflecting on the meaning of Labor Day. This morning I worked hard at clearing fallen trees, tossing around 50 pound chunks of tree with wild abandon. (It works a lot more muscles than going to the gym.) This afternoon it was swimming in the lake with the dogs, followed by an open air country drive for an ice cream sundae. Tonight will be homemade pizza followed by some writing and maybe a movie.
The traffic was heavy this afternoon as Massachusetts cars, trucks and RVs streamed out of New Hampshire on the way home from a long weekend in the country. At the ice cream stand, I was informed that they were closing in 10 minutes for the end of the season. End of the season? It hit 80 degrees here today. It seemed rather soon to be closing for the season.
But the real purpose in writing today’s post is to honor labor and issue a challenge to all small business entrepreneurs throughout the country. We have an official 
unemployment rate of 9.6%, 17 million American workers unemployed according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another 10%, according to Gallup Daily, may be underemployed or working at jobs for which they may be over qualified. The average unemployed American has been that way for 33.6 weeks. Over 30 million Americans are not providing the services or skills they have to the U.S. economy.
This is a huge waste of talent. Many others have written and pointed to the causes of this malaise so I will not. What I will do is issue a challenge to all small business entrepreneurs in this country. According to the U.S. Census, there are approximately 12,900,000 small businesses in this country that are listed as employers. There are another 19,500,000 small businesses listed as non-employers, or more likely individual consulting type businesses. Of the employer firms I challenge each of you to hire 1 person before the end of the year and drop the rolls of the un and underemployed to around 11,000,000.
Is this simple? No. I know many of you are struggling to keep your businesses open. But, we need to get America back to work. We need to create the jobs that allow this country to be the great place to live that it always has been. What will you do with my challenge?
Happy hiring!!
Filed under Hiring and Managing People, News by on Sep 5th, 2011. Comment. 
September 12, 2011
By Wayne Mates
A little over a week ago, a friend sent me a link to an article on the best and worst states for entrepreneurship. The University of Nebraska completed a study and based on their criteria, all of which are relevant, selected the best and worst.
The article got me thinking about various types of start ups. I came to the conclusion that the state you select to start your business in is most likely the state where you live.
There are many articles published each year about the “best”. There are the best small towns in America, best places to live, best Smartphones, best restaurants, best of the best. Will we soon see the best types of earthworms to cultivate?
All sarcasm aside, each of these articles are based on the author, publisher or study criteria of what factors should be assessed in determining the best. The assumption soon becomes “one size fits all”. That may be true of snuggies, but does not apply here.
For example, anyone starting a business in the construction trades is probably well advised to stay away from Florida, Las Vegas or Phoenix, unless they are like my neighbor. My neighbor Joe is almost always on a construction site and generally does not venture outside of the immediate neighborhood for work. At one time he was a real estate developer with his own work crews building high end homes. Today, he works mostly alone. He is a skilled craftsman. Everyone in the neighborhood knows his work and he usually has a waiting list of projects to be completed. The only place Joe could be this successful is here. Yes, he would be successful elsewhere, but it might take him years to build up a reputation and a clientele.
There are a number of web based enterprises. Some are making it while others struggle to survive. Would any of them be better off moving elsewhere to start their businesses? Not likely. Web based businesses are relatively inexpensive and easy to start. Once a business has risen above the clutter of noise of sites marketing their products or services, a new business can succeed.
More important than what state to start your business in is to understand your market. What are you selling and who (demographics) are you selling to? Where do they live? Can they get to your business? Or can you easily get to them via the internet, overnight shipping, etc.?
This will be the determining factor of where you locate. It is the identification of YOUR critical factors that is important. Sure, it is nice to have low tax rates, a friendly business environment, a large labor pool and vendors and lenders nearby. But, it is more important to analyze YOUR market.
Don’t get me wrong, I like reading articles like this. Some are based on great criteria. I especially like reading where to travel, best ant farms to buy, the best brands of jeans to buy, and the ideal weight for your height. Articles are great for guidelines and a place to start research. Just don’t accept them as the ultimate authority.
Filed under News, Start Up by on Sep 12th, 2011. Comment.
September 19, 2011
By Wayne Mates
Editor’s Note: I normally do not comment on political events or trends as this is not a political blog. But, the events over the past couple of weeks are so ironic I made an exception. I have (I hope) kept my political beliefs out of this post.
Make no mistake about it; the U.S. economy is in jeopardy of slowing further. While politicians bicker over what to do about it, the country’s unemployment rate stays above 9%.
As President Obama pushes his American Jobs Bill, U.S. employers are jettisoning 400,000 jobs every week. Yes! EVERY week! 400,000 NEW unemployment claims are filed every week. That is over 20 million jobs disappearing every year.
In order for the unemployment rate to decline the U.S. needs to create about 22 million jobs a year. A net of 100,000 more jobs a month created than lost will bring down the unemployment rate and get Americans back to work.
The president announced his jobs plan on September 8. He calls for a reduction of the payroll tax on both employers and workers, employer incentives to hire, a helping hand to states to avoid teacher and emergency worker layoffs, and an expanded public works program.
Meanwhile, 4 days later on September 12, Bank of America announces it will cut 30,000 jobs over the next few years and 6,500 this year. The U.S. Postal Service has said it will reduce jobs by 228,000 over the next 2-3 years. This is on top of announced jobs cuts by some well known employers including Merck, Cisco Systems, HSBC, Lockheed Martin and several states.
It is ironic that that the president is focused on jobs while ongoing business entities blissfully ignore the situation and cut expenses (jobs) to ensure profits paid to shareholders. As they eliminate jobs, they also erode the gross personal incomes of the people they need to purchase their products or services. If the trend continues, it will put pressure on companies to further cut costs as their profits shrink even more.
On the flip side of this dichotomy, it is interesting to note that 90% of the people who want to work are employed. Right now this group is keeping the country’s economy from sinking by purchasing products and services from the same companies that are eliminating jobs.
However, it is not enough to just tread water. What is necessary is to get another 4-5% of American workers productive and earning wages to help the economy grow.
Filed under News by on Sep 19th, 2011. 1 Comment.
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