What do credit card balances have to do with continuing education?

A news story I picked up last week was one in which the statistic was about consumers paying down their credit card balances. The commentary was how this would be bad for business because it meant that discretionary income was going toward reducing debt instead of being spent in local businesses.

Let's take a closer look at that decision by our 'mutual consumer'. If they have a credit card balance they are paying down, they are also making a monthly payment of interest on that balance. That interest payment is going to some bank; not to some local business.

In the short run, the local business is not winning. In the long run, the local business can win because that interest will become additional discretionary income.

What does this have to do with continuing education? There is a similar pattern I observe with too many small businesses. These owners are looking only to the short term; learning more about how to profitably operate a business can wait until later or when there is a problem that requires immediate attention.

What is it that has gotten me so stirred up about this? Let me share just two examples from conversations I had recently.

An association has invited me to be a part of their program for early next year. A request was that I would speak with one of their directors about the content of the topic. I called the director and we had our discussion. At the conclusion of the conversation I stated that I hoped to meet this person at the event.

The response was they had been in business for many years and they had heard everything; they would not be attending the event. In addition to wondering why a person with this thought process is even on the association board, I wondered if this person has noticed how much business has changed in the last 20 years. Do they think all the changes that are going to happen have already happened?

The second person was one that I had worked with in a one-on-one basis. While progress was being made with regard to solving their challenges, the owner of the business felt they had solved the issue and could now go back to doing things the way they used to. They had shown they could make a change and that was sufficient.

My point with just these two examples is that no business should ever be looking at only the short term; just like the credit card interest, you do have to look at the long term.

And as one final example on the topic; think about how much education you get each year about how to be a profitable business. It is important to your staying on the cutting edge.

Comparatively, would you want to be taken care of by a doctor that that the same amount of medical education each year that you get in business education? Or would you rather be attended to by a doctor that makes a point to learn as much as they can about caring for their patients?

The doctor and their education is necessary for your physical and mental well being. The business education is necessary for your financial well being.

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We hope you enjoyed our conversation in October with D. Wendal Attig. As was mentioned in the e-ret@iler conversation conference call, I can give first hand witness to his tremendous abilities with regard to small business.

For the November call we are going to have as our guest an individual I have had the pleasure of working with as well as having his webinars. Ron Friedman, and his wife Gloria, own Damomics, a business in New York providing the Counterpoint software system, as well as support, for many small businesses.

While there are other companies that a business can buy the software system from, I want to introduce you to Ron because of his intense interest in his customers. In addition to the webinars I previously mentioned, Ron and Gloria also have a user conference where these customers are introduced to additional software as well as individuals whose information and services can be of value to their customers.

With that in mind, allow me to invite you to join us as we ask Ron to share his information with you. November e-retailer conversation conference call
8pm eastern on Thursday the 15th

For those that are new to our newsletter and group, each month we have a conference call with a special guest. You pay nothing to participate and nothing for the phone call. We have the e-retailer conversation conference call because Bill and I enjoy visiting with each other as well as hearing new ideas from our special guests. This link will allow you to look at the catalog of our conference calls over the past four years. You can even download the recordings of previous sessions.

E-ret@iler conversations

We will be sending two email announcements with the call in information in the days just before the event.

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Hats off to American Express for being so smart as to create Small Business Saturday which will be the 24th of November this year.

The compliments are for American Express because of their having created an event that draws in customers as well as businesses. The promotion of giving away American Express gift cards is, as it did last year, attract the attention of a lot of customers.

My observation of the smart move is that American Express did it with so many small businesses not accepting their card. I realize they have a different discount rate and a different payment schedule than the other cards.

However, an American Express card user has a higher than average purchase. To me, this says a small business should accept the card.

And for those who have said to me, 'No I will not take the card. I haven't found it necessary before to accept it, I don't need to start now', here is my response:

'You don't know what you have lost in sales. Just because no one has walked away at the point of sale, it doesn't mean they haven't gone somewhere else to spend their money'.

Accept the card and join the promotion. This website has the promotional material for your business.

Small Business Saturday

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Most all of us think of SBA as an acronym for the Small Business Administration. At Profits Plus, SBA is a different acronym which is Small Business Advisory. Our SBA is a free monthly service we provide to associations, Main Street programs, Chambers of Commerce and other organizations whose website, newsletter, and magazines you would be reading.

Each month we publish an article that is relevant to your business with business ideas that can help you increase profits plus resolve challenges you face.

We created our SBA because we know organizations are wanting content to share with you. We felt this could be a great way we could help. We invite you to share this link with those organizations.

All that is needed to receive our monthly SBA is for someone from the organization to sign up to receive it.

Small Business Advisory sign up