Business Generation

The latest U.S. Post Office TV commercial is trying to get the public to take a great leap backwards by not engaging in online transactions. The Post Office commercial tries to strike a wedge between online and postal commerce by using the security card. Here is what the post office TV commercial says as it shows families putting important letters on the kitchen refrigerator and corkboard:

“A refrigerator has never been hacked. An online virus has never attacked a corkboard. Give your customers an added feeling of security of printed statement that a receipt provides. With mail.”

On one hand, the Post Office is doing the right thing by finding reasons for customers to change their behavior and switch. Security is a good reason. But the question arises on whether consumers will view it as a complete reason. Is

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It’s a critical decision for the entrepreneur that you make before you’re sure and determines you business future: Do you do it entirely  by yourself, or do you build a team first, then build the business?

I had an interesting conversation about this last weekend. They were talking about a credible product line that could disrupt a niche industry, maybe. I saw this choice looming up. I thought about it during a two-hour drive home. This is an especially difficult choice to make because you make it right at the beginning and it determines so many other choices, but all in the future.

Here are some thoughts I had about the trade-offs:

1. There’s an identity question at the core: Do you like working on your own? Do you like partners to talk to? Can you share decisions? Would you rather control it all?
2. Putting together a team can daunting. You ne

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Facebook has received mixed reactions to its latest update from people using the social network, but the changes could prove crucial for many online media companies, according to The Boston Globe.

As the scale of Facebooks user base has increased, the company has attempted to streamline the fast-paced flow of new comments, updates and activities. Now a new feed along the side of the page offers the fastest stream of information to date, with the added feature of incorporating the growing number of media apps and services.

The feed lists when a users friends are listening to a song or watching a video, with a link to the service. Some of these services are free and clicking the link automatically signs users up, while others are for-pay and the link offers users the opportunity to sample what their friends are listening to.

“The more you help people discover music, the more social it is, the more they will be engaged,” Jon Irwin, president of Rhapsody, told the Globe. Read more…

The US Department of Treasury has approved an application for the grant of $18 million in federal loan support for the Virginia based Small Business Financing Authority. The money has been authorized a year ago. This is part of the larger federal program so as to encourage banks to start lending to businesses once again.

Sen. Mark Warner worked to make the funding available last year. Warner feels that the fund is meant to mitigate the risks that banks are confronted with. Warner’s intentions were to make use of existing small business loan programs instead of creating a completely new one.

But small business lending is still in a depreciated state. Small business owners are still yelling that they cannot find credit from banks. Credit is vital for their sustenance. Small businesses are found to generate two out of every three jobs.

Most of the ‘$15 million’ fund will be utilized for ‘gap financing’ for small businesses. The idea

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Western Communications, which is the publisher of the Oregon newspapers, Bend Bulletin, Baker City Herald and the Redmond Spokesman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week. The publisher was unable to resolve issues over its $18 million loan with Bank of America.

Bank of America was criticized on several fronts. A Western Communications CFO said, “They tried to work with us all right—by doubling our interest rate,” and also, Based on what they told us, the bank in general decided that they didn’t like media companies any more and they particularly didn’t like newspapers.

Bend Bulletin Editor In Chief said, It simplifies the issues, but is destructively misleading, to view this Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing as a fight only over money. and It is

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Not quite a yo-yo, but Canadian Chartered bank lending volumes have been volatile during the past three months.

Through the beginning of 2011, Canadian businesses had borrowed about $5 billion in additional bank debt. In May, the outstanding level fell more than a billion, but things happily turned around in June. The $2.5 billion June increase represents the largest single monthly rise since last October, in fact. And September 2010 marked the nadir since I began to track these figures for you , so perhaps a big snap-back in October shouldnt come as a surprise.

In any event, our domestic banks have advanced almost $7.5 billion in new capital this year, according to data released by the Bank of Canada.

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