Archive for January, 2010

09.01 2010

4 Ways in which an Entrepreneur Boosts the Economy

How do entrepreneurs stimulate the economy? Is it only by creating jobs or are there other ways entrepreneurs jumpstart our economy? While there may be many ways, here are 4 ways an entrepreneur stimulates the economy.

Who Are Entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurs have been called leaders, quirky, eccentric, idealists, innovators, problem-solvers, and egomaniacs to name a few. The complimentary name-calling is usually offered by entrepreneurial peers, while the others come from people who are generally followers, not leaders.

The entrepreneurial bunch are often referred to as what started our economy, what made it grow, and what made it flourish. Who knew two guys named Ben and Jerry would turn their ice cream into an empire?

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08.01 2010

How Deficit Hawks Could Derail The Recovery

The ghost of 1937.

According to press reports, the Obama administration plans to put forward a budget on Feb. 1 containing significant deficit reduction measures. Some liberal economists are warning that it is grossly premature to implement deficit reduction. Indeed, they believe that additional fiscal stimulus is necessary to prevent a double-dip recession. They argue that there is a danger we will make the same mistake that Franklin Roosevelt made in 1937, which crippled the economy’s recovery.

To evaluate the relevancy of 1937 to current economic and fiscal conditions we first need to review a little history of the Great Depression. First of all, it’s important to remember that what we call the Great Depression was not a continuous downturn; it was really two back-to-back recessions.

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08.01 2010

Partnership

What is a partnership?

Generally, when we talk about partnerships, we’re talking/thinking about general partnerships. A General Partnership is defined as a business arrangement between two or more individuals who share the profits and liabilities of the business.

However, General Partnerships are not the only types of partnership arrangements that can be formed. In Canada, there are two other types of partnership:

Limited Partnership – A partnership consisting of one or more general partners, who have unlimited liability, and one or more limited partners, who have limited liability depending upon their contribution to the partnership. Often the limited partner contributes financially but is not otherwise involved in the business.

Limited Liability Partnership – In Canada, a limited liability partnership is often only available to groups of professionals, such as lawyers, accountants and doctors. T

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06.01 2010

Challenges and Goals of Cash Management for Businesses

If you’re a small business owner, chances are you’ve wondered what are the challenges and goals of cash management for businesses? The goals of cash management for a business are not just ensuring you have enough money to pay all your bills, it’s about keeping your business open.

The Cash Challenge

When you first started your business, you had your opening balance sheet that showed ample cash. You should have also created cash flow statements showing income and expenses for a few years out. Even so, the cash challenge can’t always be determined by what you have on paper, especially in tough economic times, unforeseen expenses, or slow sales. The sma

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06.01 2010

How To Buy An E-Reader

With several models on the market, ”test drive” an e-reader before you buy it.

The e-reader market long dominated by Amazon’s Kindle has matured into a mainstream technology with viable competitive brands and a large, but still growing, choice of books and publications available. E-readers were arguably the hot tech gift on most holiday gift lists.

Amazon recently announced that not only was the Kindle the most gifted item ever on Amazon.com ( AMZN – news – people ) but that “On Christmas Day, for the first time ever, customers purchased more Kindle books than physical books.” I suspect most people are likely to download a book upon receiving a Kindle to try out their new “toy,” whereas an Amazon gift card to buy a hard copy book is likely to be set aside for later use.

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05.01 2010

Absence of Capital Damaged Many Franchises in 2009

Franchises had a difficult 2009. Lack of access to financing made it difficult for many franchises to invest and grow. With an industry-wide loss of 409,000 jobs, franchises are looking for broader sources of funding.

According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, banks and lenders are setting the bar higher than ever to lend money to a franchise.

Franchise lawyer Jim Wilson, of Wilson Stoyanoff PLC in Henrico, said some major lenders who helped finance start-ups and franchisees aren’t in that market anymore.

The tried-and-true lenders who are still around — “it’s not that they’re not doing loans,” he said. “But you’ve

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04.01 2010

Euro Stocks: Strong Start To 2010

Deals, Bernanke and China data drive leading shares higher.

LONDON — European traders marked the start of 2010 with plenty of buying, sending the region’s main indexes higher in midday trading on Monday, and in spite of a mixed close in Asia.

The Dow Jones Eurostoxx index of 50 leading shares was up 0.9% at 2992.99 points, with London’s FTSE 100 up 0.7%, the Paris Cac-40 gaining 1.1% and Frankfurt’s DAX up 0.9%.

Markets were led higher by a relatively good read on Chinese manufacturing data along with comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who hinted at a speech on Sunday of no new rate hikes in the near future and called for stricter regulation of the financial system. Bernanke also shot back against criticism that the Fed had inadvertently fuelled the U.S. ho

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