Independents week has me geeked!

If you haven’t seen the news (or the web page), June 30 - July 6 is Independents Week in Arizona. The basic premise: take the pledge and buy local.

For me, the challenge is: how many ways can I find to shop local? Let’s see…

1) I need a new windshield (thanks to the Arizona heat and yet another truck with a blowout on the 101). I guess that means a call to Diamond Auto Glass.

2) I need an AC checkup. I guess that means a call to a guy my wife met who is just starting out on his own.

3) I need groceries, so that means a trip to Bashas. This is doubly enjoyable because a neighbor manages a store and I’ll give his store a little bump too.

4) I haven’t played golf in something like 2 months, but I absolutely love the municipal course at Aguila, so count me in. The city and state governments need your help too.

5) The neighbors want to go eat Italian (hey, their from Philly), so I think we’ll go to Amano Bistro. A simply beautiful restaurant with the freshest food south of downtown.

6) One of my clients downtown is overdue for a courtesy call. Luckily, they are within walking distance of Athenian Express.

7) I’m ready to make another advertising buy, so I need to make up mind between one of the local papers, a magazine published by Republic Media or a direct mail campaign. I can do the printing for direct mail locally, but the postage might violate my 100% local pledge. Tough one.

Why I love IMAP!

As someone who provides a service, i.e. my technical know how, to whomever and whereever the customer may be, here in Phoenix, I am very mobile.  As a consequence, I may be answering an email using my phone (Treo 700wx, which I love), using the Internet at a client site or sitting right here in front of the laptop in my office.  I may be answering an email on a thread that is many days old.  I may need the content of an email I sent 3 weeks ago, right now, right whereever. 

IMAP, the internet message access protocol, makes my remoteness entirely possible.  You see, in the good old days, web hosting companies only provided POP3 which required you to download the email to answer it.  Get it?  Download.  As in, download to my PC, to my phone, etc..  After that, you better have that same download device around if you need to dig up that email thread.  Same goes for emails you sent.   IMAP uses the client-server model to manage your email.  In other words, no download.  It all stays on the server, every day and every where.  Thank you, IMAP!  In one small way, you make my small business better.

Joining LocalFirstAz

As I spend a lot of time in downtown Phoenix assisting clients, I am inevitably in all kinds of independent restaurants, bars and coffee spots lending my support to local businesses.  I’ll save it for another post but supporting local businesses is the the only way to go about your business if you own a business.

Anyways, I’m always picking up fliers, reading bulletin boards and picking up as much info as I can.  One of these was the Small Wonders map published by Local First Arizona / Arizona Chain Reaction.  I can’t begin to tell you how much recognition and support these small businesses deserve.  This map is just scratching the surface of the number of great services available to all of us.

Even though the map is only a start, I seriously RESPECT the effort put forth by Local First to do something, anything.  This has lead me to do my part and join Local First Arizona / Arizona Chain Reaction and I encourage you to as well.

What I learned at the Arizona Senior Olympics

I had the good fortune of attending the Arizona Senior Olympics today in Suprise, AZ.  My wife was volunteering as a judge for the aerobic fitness competition.  I think this was her 3rd year participating but my first time attending.  What a great experience!

I see less activity out of a group of geeks, network admins and software developers nearly every day.  These competitors were healthy, happy and much more capable than I.  Not that I am a slouch (I do manage to lift weights), but aerobically, they would run circles around me in less than five minutes.  I have the stamina to get to the mailbox and back but they would probably go to the post office and back instead.

So what did I learn?  I’m as good as dead the day I retire, unless I get out and get active today.  I may have community with my fellow geeks via the message boards, forums and email, but I’m not sure it will allow me to live longer (and thus, enjoy the community).  Patience is not necessarily a personal trait, but a privilege.

Government policy can encourage growth of entrepeneurship

For anyone who doesn’t think government policy affects growth of entrepreneurship needs to take a look at this article on the nytimes.com website today.  Ireland made several key changes to policy which had a direct impact.

Higher education was made free via the Free Fees Initiative in 1995 by the Ministry of Finance.  A simple investment in human capital provided opportunities to many who otherwise would not have been able to afford it.

Additionally, the tax on corporate profits was set to 12.5% which is in stark contrast to personal income tax rates between 20% and 41%.  Originally, it was 32% but the finance minister introduced legislation that phased in the reduction to 12.5% over the course of several years.

Most of the legislators in Arizona discuss economic development in terms of investment, but that only works if the investment is in education.  I wonder if they should start thinking in terms of environment.  Only with the proper nurturing can entrepreneurship really take off here.

More information on the Free Fees Initiative, please note this article.

Where are the Phoenix bloggers?

After I myself had become a Phoenix blogger, I wanted to know who else was doing the same.  Good luck finding anyone blogging about small business in Phoenix, but there are plenty of realtors, t-shirt designers and the occasional accountant. 

The only ray of hope seems to be ReadPhoenix.  At the minimum, it is exclusively blogs AND it has some variety.  There are some must reads here.  Escape From Cubile Nation is one.  Phx411 is another.  A must see is I Do IT Digital, if you are not familiar with video blogging.

Economic development in Phoenix, who knew?

I was so happy to see this article in the Denver Post.  If you are a regular reader of the Arizona Republic, you are probably convinced by now that Phoenix is falling behind in economic development in a number of areas.  Although the article is no manifesto, it does point out some of the positives in the Phoenix metro area.

There is no more important economic engine in Phoenix than Sky Harbor airport.  If you haven’t read this magazine article from FastCompany, you should read up on the Rise of the Aerotropilis.  In effect, airports are becoming part of many business’ production systems.  Products are required to be cheaper, faster and smaller and airports are the great enabler for global trade, i.e. the company that can make that product with those attributes can reach any market… overnight.

Our regional economy continues to expand as well.  We continue to be a more affordable alternative to southern California, thus providing a continuous stream of transplants.  The boomer generation and it’s wave of retirees will continue to provide plenty of human capital, financial capital and a few consumers as well.  Land is still plentiful for building communities and assets that will continue to attract more and more to the greater Phoenix area.

All in all, I’m expecting tremendous growth in many fronts of economic development and am glad that others, even those outside the state, can appreciate it.  It’s too bad the Arizona Republic doesn’t seem to share the enthusiasm.

Would you make a sale if your business was closed?

An interesting topic came up today as I was doing some Christmas shopping.  If a customer were to walk in an open door (literally), but the business was closed would you still try to make a sale?  I think I might. 

Obviously, there might be some caveats.  The computer might be down.  The cash drawer might be empty.  The electrician might have all power off to the building.  Believe it or not, me as a potential customer would be very understanding.  I might not need a receipt.  I might not need change back.  I might buy more if I only had a 20 dollar bill in my pocket.

The point is, everyone who walks through the door is a customer.  If you are honest with them, they just might understand.  They just might be charmed by the unique situation both of you find yourselves in.  They might be so charmed by the simple gesture that they tell a friend or two.

The second point is, you don’t simple state “we’re closed, we’re usually open Wednesday through Sunday…”.  You might not get another opportunity to make a first impression.

Phoenix city sales taxes are a burden to small business

Have you ever started a small business that required sales tax collection?  I, myself, did back in the midwest back in the early days of the internet and it was a pain.  The forms, the tracking, the micro payments (this was a micro business my partner and I were in).  All of those memories came rushing back as a friend described her surprise at the cost of getting a sales tax license in the city of Phoenix.

If you’ve started a business from scratch, retail or otherwise, you are a micro business at the beginning.  You have no customers, no sales and only an inkling that a need or channel for your service or product will produce income.  On top of that, in Phoenix, you must acquire a $50 city sales tax license each year.  If you are a micro business selling a product for $10 and your markup is 20%, it will take 25 sales just to cover licensing annually.  Imagine if, like my friend, you were selling online via Ebay and your chances of selling locally were extremely slim.  It would or could take years to justify the expense of the $50 annual license.  If you do make a sale locally, then all of the tracking and forms I mentioned earlier come into play.  All to record a sales tax collection of around 97 cents based on the $12 sale I mentioned earlier.

Does this seem like a burden?  It does to me.  Perhaps you think the $50 annual is justified and it costs the city this much or more to administrate each city sales tax license.  I might agree with you just because I know they have to validate those same records, forms and payments.  Again, for a collection of just 97 cents.

Is that really a business in Arizona?

As a small business owner, I am keenly interested in who or whom I conduct business with.  You should be too.  Do you know if that sales call or flier came from a real business registered in Arizona, Phoenix or ??  Do you know if the business has had any complaints filed against it with the Better Business Bureau?  Is the business regulated by the City of Phoenix?

Here are a couple of tools I have utilized in the past:

BBB Reliability Report Search

Arizona Corporation Commission Search

City of Phoenix Business Licensing

Arizona Registrar of Contractors - Info and Searches