Up Market |
- Seeking Sources for Small Business Loans
- The Dangers & Opportunities of Social Media
- Creativity, productivity, and sources of inspiration
| Seeking Sources for Small Business Loans Posted: 24 Jun 2012 08:00 AM PDT
At the country's biggest banks, just a hair more than 10 percent of small business loans were approved in May, a drop from earlier this year, according to the Crain's story. But experts disagree whether that's a sign of trouble for times ahead. A recent survey showed that businesses are growing more optimistic about their chances of getting a bank loan. Among business owners surveyed, "47 percent said they had been successful in getting a bank loan during the previous six months," according to an Associated Press story. Almost a third of survey respondents "said they plan to seek new financing in the next six months." Lending can vary from state to state, not just from bank to bank. New Jersey reported an uptick in small business loans, according to a story in The (North Jersey) Record, while The Dallas Morning News reported that lending fell in North Texas last month. A new tool may also help business owners find the best bank: Bank Grades, from MultiFunding, provides a report card to determine how friendly a bank is about its small business loans. For more information about small business loans, visit the US Small Business Administration (SBA) (and read this New York Times blog post about SBA myths, while you're reading). For another important viewpoint on whether bank loans are ideal — or even wise — for small business owners, check out Derrick Jones’ recent article on Upmarket: Why Banks Are Bad For New Entrepreneurs. Image credit: Philip Taylor PT |
| The Dangers & Opportunities of Social Media Posted: 24 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT I came across a fantastic infographic, recently — Are people sharing too much online? — that I thought I ought to share and discuss. My thoughts as I browsed through its statistics were as follows… Many social media users simply don’t understand their privacy options — or the privacy policy they agreed to when they signed up for a particular service. (This is certainly a candidate for simplifying legal jargon, as previously discussed.) Facebook is notorious for its complex and confusing privacy controls, for instance. Furthermore, many social media users don’t understand their right to privacy, either. So much sharing happens by default online, it’s difficult for many to remember what the point of privacy is, or why it should be protected. There are many great arguments for openness and transparency — and not just from the businesses who benefit from each user’s shared information. My own struggle with privacy centers around my realization that each shared experience might make a positive difference to another person; they might learn something, or feel less alone, or be able to provide insights that I’d very much like to know more about. At the same time, when we share such a large portion of our experience, sharing becomes something that’s so incredibly easy to do that the mindset bleeds over into other parts of our lives — parts of our lives that maybe are best left unshared, like exactly where we live, or what time we left the house, or how long we’ll be out of the country on that exciting vacation. And then there are issues with personal information, of course, and identity fraud. Where does it stop? How do we benefit from the use of social media, without being overwhelmed by the pitfalls?  Let’s be really clear — it ain’t all bad, not by a longshot. Social media may be a time suck and a productivity challenge for many business owners, but it’s also created a way for us to be connected in real-time with cultures and communities we might never have otherwise known. It’s given you and I a leg up in business, brilliant opportunities in conversation and education and collaboration. It lets us reach a hand out to our loved ones. It lets us serve others in new and surprising ways every day. It lets us build businesses that simply wouldn’t be possiblewithout social media.I realize that overall, we’re still transitioning into a space where the Internet is a comfortable part of our culture (and universe). None of us really knows yet where all this is going, and there will be more bumps and bruises before we figure it out. How do you find balance for your business between the dangers and opportunities of social media — for yourself, your employees, and your customers too? Image credit: Visual.ly |
| Creativity, productivity, and sources of inspiration Posted: 24 Jun 2012 02:00 AM PDT
Creativity and innovation are the source of new business ideas, excellence in entrepreneurship, and talented individual success stories. It would be nice to assume that creative people are "just talented," and fall back on the assumption that "you either have it or you don't." The truth is, most creative people understand what it takes to be creative – diligence, persistence, hard work and perhaps a bit of a struggle – and tap into various sources of inspiration and known methods for productivity. Behind every success story – from Steve Jobs of Apple and Bill Gates of Microsoft, to Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook – there is an individual or a team working hard and following these three tenets of productivity:
First: The Best Sources of InspirationThe number one source of inspiration? The people and the networks around you. If you want to be inspired, just watch interesting people, follow talented businesses, engage in new activities, and commit yourself to learning something new. Become a student of what you want to learn. People are inherently fascinating. Bruce Desilva, a novelist who teaches part-time at Columbia University, describes people as "endlessly interesting." When asked what inspires him, he replied: "People do. Human beings are endlessly interesting if you just learn to pay attention." In business, most successful ventures start with simple ideas about how to improve upon something that already exists. Red Box and Netflix took movie rentals to the next level by changing the way that movies were delivered to the customer – offering an additional layer of convenience. The idea of renting movies was not new; how they were made available was changed in a way pleasing to more people. Paypal and Ebay took the sales and exchange of goods and items to a new front by opening up a virtual marketplace and reconfiguring how we exchange money. Facebook and other social networking sites reconfigured how we think about networking – replacing excel networking spreadsheets with a system that manages our networks and allows "friends" to update and exchange their personal information with us – for free. Pete's Coffee and Starbucks Coffee are profiting wildly from the sale of a cup of joe mixed with varying amounts of sugar – not a new invention. Want to make a few dollars? Bottle some water or brew some coffee. Hundreds of companies are doing it. The premise is the same: people and businesses are inspired by the world around them. Each of these ideas began with several concepts that weren't "new." Most complaints are actually opportunities to make something new and better by fixing or improving upon something that's existing. Second: Cultivating Great Moments for InspirationHow do you get that "ah-hah!" moment? In each human mind, we revisit our understanding of the world as it exists from time to time. The mind is the most creative during sustained, semi-focused activity. Here are a few moments that creative people use for cultivating great thinking:
On a more personal level, here are a few more things that help me to be creative… Driving. If it's not in traffic, I find that driving, out on the open road, particularly scenic drives or roads that are familiar to me — can really be a place to let my mind wander. I've taken to carrying a tape recorder in my car, to "write down" the thoughts as they float in and out of my brain. Swimming and running help me think by reducing the amount of ambient noise and clutter surrounding me (can't carry an iPhone in the water just yet!), and letting me get into a different rhythm of thinking that's more in tune to the strokes of swimming or the pounding pavement of running. Sometimes I carry my "dumb phone" with me while I'm running, so I can stop and send a short text message to myself if I figure out a new idea on the way. Sitting outside or walking through quiet, green spaces. Being in a garden or an outdoor setting is lovely. It helps me think. Finding the parks and spaces to think – in your city, rural area, or suburban area – and changing it up from time to time – can really help kick-start your brainwaves. Places and spaces that reduce inspirationJust as there are activities that are conducive to creative thinking, there are also sustained activities that are not advantageous to free-form, imaginative thinking. Activities that are over-stimulating or entertaining by their nature (watching television, spending time in front of a computer) can, depending on how and how often they are used, reduce creative impulses. Unfortunately, I don't always think in the same free-flowing way when I sit behind a computer. (The irony is that I'll sit behind the laptop screen, WordPress framework in hand, trying to come up with a post — and these are usually the worst posts.) Furthermore, interesting research by Modupe Akinola, a professor at Columbia Business School, and Joe Forgas of the University of New South Wales, Australia, suggest that our dispositions and our emotional framework can influence our creative impulses. In "The Dark Side of Creativity," Akinola finds that being somewhat melancholy can actually improve your creativity. The research suggests that a sad mood can make people better at judging, accuracy, and observing the world around them. Jonah Lehrer, author of Wired's Science Blog, "The Frontal Cortex," sums up the results of their research succinctly:
Finally: Putting the work behind the inspirationNot every moment of brilliance comes during a casual stroll on a beautiful sunny day without any effort. Creative people don't sit lazily by a lake, waiting for the next great idea. Most great inventors and thinkers toil away at their ideas, producing new iterations daily, until they figure out something that works. Perhaps hard work facilitates a sense of angst or anguish – stimulating further creativity through some emotional strain, as suggested by the research of Akinola and Forgas. Even the most creative people forget about the anguish of the process – how difficult it can be to create – after they've arrived at a solution or design that works. When the inspiration doesn’t come – and sometimes we have to create even when we're not in the thick of inspiration – get outside, talk to other people, throw ideas around, read, look, question, and wonder. And above all, iterate. Iterate, iterate, iterate. People that are productive, putting their ideas to work, find successful ideas over time – through careful consideration, reflection, and hard work. Robert Sutton describes it well: "The truth is, creativity isn't about wild talent as much as it is about productivity. To find a few ideas that work, you need to try a lot that don't. It's a pure numbers game." Image credit: m4tik |
Money may be a headache for entrepreneurs as they start their businesses or try to expand. Crain's New York Business 
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