March 8, 2010

This week, from the Statehouse: Secret ballot legislation fails; Upstate legislators vote to create unions; House passes tort reform bill and the economic development bill.

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March 1, 2010

This week on Capitol Impact: the ESC bill passes; becomes cabinet-level agency. Also, the Employee Free Choice Act, and more on the ongoing incentives for businesses in the airline industry.

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February 22, 2010

This week at the Statehouse: the 108-to-1 House vote on ESC reform; the Senate tort reform bill gets put on hold; House bill 4343 passes committee and Harrell’s bill hits pause, and more coming up this week…

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February 16, 2010

This week, from the Statehouse:  Should the Employment Security Commission be a cabinet-level agency? Also, legislation that creates incentives for the air industry, Point-of-Sale legislation, and a look at Bobby Harrell’s  S.C. Economic Development Competitiveness Act of 2010 bill.

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February 8, 2010 Capital Impact PodCast

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If you knew that by reading this article, you could reach any goal that you set, would you read it?

Reaching any goal is possible­—the key lies not in setting that goal but in the step before it, which is found in the questions, “What do you want?” and then “Why?”

So many people in sales (although this applies to every area of life) want to jump straight to putting numbers on a page: “I’m going to book this many appointments, sell this many contracts or make this much money.” They set some tangible goal. But these goals become nothing more than numbers on a page unless they become internalized. Each person needs to consider what it would mean to reach them and why reaching them is important.

In planning your goals for 2010 and beyond, you need to start with the “What?” and “Why?”

So, first, ask yourself: “What do I want?”

You may remember reading a poll asking the American people “What do you want?” The number one answer? “I don’t know.” Number two? “To be happy.” And number three? “Money.”
So what’s your answer? Do you truly know what you want?

Consider your definition of happiness. What is your definition of “enough” money? If you don’t set a goal that reflects what you truly want, you’ll always strive for more, which can ultimately leads to burnout, addiction or worse.

But even once you know what you want, you’re still not ready to put numbers on a page yet. Your next step is to run those desires and wants by the five people closest to you to see if they’re consistent with who you are and what truly makes you happy. If you’re not honest with yourself (even if you don’t realize it), they will be.

After internalizing what you want, the next step is to ask yourself: “Why do I want this?”

The tricky part here is that the answer is the question, and the question is the answer: “What do you want?” is the question; the answer is “Why do you want it?” So why do you want to make that much money or book that many appointments?
Here’s the key to asking yourself “Why?” If your why doesn’t really mean something to you, you’ll never achieve it because it’s not really worth making the effort to you.

This is the reason why this series is entitled “The Art of Goal-Setting.” The “what” and “why” are your art. The science, or numbers on a page, only comes after the art is complete. You get to put the colors on the canvas and be the artist of your life. Once you’ve internalized that, then there truly isn’t any goal you can’t reach or anyone or anything that can stop you.

In preparation for this coming year, begin planning around what you truly want to accomplish in life and why you want it. If you plan your goals around those two factors, you’ll set yourself up for success and be pleased with the outcome.

On the heels of “cozy” products hitting the shelves, local entrepreneur Sandra Cannon wants her product to hit the market with a bang. Does her Kozy Sleeves product have the potential to warm the hearts of investors and buyers alike?

How They Tell It:

I’m Sandra Cannon, the founder of Kozy Sleeves—fleece arm warmers that allow you to stay warm and comfortable wherever you are without having to lug around a bulky jacket or cumbersome blanket. The design of the sleeve allows your fingers to be free to perform a multitude of activities while staying warm. Kozy Sleeves are one size fits all, machine washable, 100% fleece, soft and light, but also functional and practical. Kozy Sleeves are for personal comfort at every level when you’re at home, reading in bed, knitting, or watching movies. This lifestyle-enhancing gear is also great for work or play, indoors or outdoors, and Kozy Sleeves are easily portable for car and plane travel.

The Kozy Sleeves website has been up for a few weeks now and for the next phase my goal is to focus in on specific demographics where this product is wanted and, in fact, needed, including active seniors, the medical industry, physically limited individuals and athletes.

Kozy Sleeves can provide comfort, warmth and ease for seniors and others with poor circulation. Kozy Sleeves are great for hospitalized surgery patients; the arm warmers are specifically designed not to hinder intravenous medication. Kozy Sleeves are also beneficial for athletes during a game to keep their arm muscles warm and loose, and after to help soothe sore and aching muscles; the wide sleeve design allows perfect space for hot and cold therapy products.
This is not a seasonal novelty item; this is a good tool for flexible living environments.

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What the Experts Say…

I’m going to assume that you have an ability to do small runs of product and that sales to-date have been primarily from word of mouth and possibly a number of on-line buyers. There are a number of other “Kozy”-named apparel products offered, so trademark infringement might be an issue. It would be worthwhile to obtain a professional point of view in regard to your freedom to operate your business using the Kozy Sleeves name.

Getting a large volume of product into place to satisfy rapid, high-growth demand will change the dynamics of the business from where you are today. A first large order in the wide spectrum of colors you currently have on your site will be expensive (minimum quantities will be high) and you will need to have sufficient cash on hand on at the front of the order to get started, more than likely from an Asian manufacturer. Timing is key as well, both in terms of the ramp time needed to have product on hand and also in terms of actually generating a cash flow from sales.

A few similar “wrap” products have hit the infomercial market very successfully during the last few years. If you can build sufficiently convincing market research or early sales success that would assist in getting the attention of a credible promoter in that area you might be able to attract enough interest and funding to get you positioned to make that happen. The same is true for getting onto one of several TV-based home shopping venue. However, if you can get it started, insure you have solid professional legal and financial assistance, and a willingness to work harder and longer than you have in life to this point, you might just be the next one to set a sales high water mark with an interesting early product and be prepared to grow a great company.

Greg Hillman
Zone Management
SC Launch

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Kozy Sleeves is an interesting idea. But, many questions come to mind…Why would I need Kozy Sleeves? Is this the newest fashion craze like Crocs or Snuggies? Will my kids ask me for Kozy Sleeves for Christmas? Maybe this idea is ahead of it’s time and in three to give years we will see Kozy Sleeves info-mercials and people sitting next to us at the football game are wearing only sleeves, but in my opinion, it doesn’t appear, at this time, to be a feasible idea.

The first thing that came to mind when I heard about this idea was “leg warmers for your arms”. Why buy this product when I can easily get a light jacket or a heavier long sleeve shirt? What’s the practical use of this product?
My suggestion would be to narrow your target market because I don’t think your target is the fully active person. I think this product might be good for those with limited mobility or those with poor circulation.

Create a focus group of athletes, seniors, teenagers and business people. Let them test the product for a day and get their feedback. This will give you ideas on feasibility, price, quality and your narrowed target market.

John Clement
Director of Marketing
Redemption Marketplace Alliance

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Now You Weigh In…

We want to hear from you. Give us your thoughts, ideas, and feedback. Post your comments below.

Steve Gonzalez and Cutter Mitchell have a plan to usher the business card into the digital world.  Does their plan

have what it takes to make it big?

How They Tell It:

SpartX, Inc., founded in August 2008 and launched in March of 2009, offers a sophisticated networking tool for professionals, being the first company to truly virtualize the business card. The virtual business card is just as it sounds; a business card, only online.

Members, using the SpartX virtual business card designer on the SpartX website, are able to build a completely customized virtual business card, pair it with a tangible counterpart, and put it to work in the real world, networking in-person, and enhancing their business relationships through technology.

With a SpartX Virtual Business Card, users are able to literally do everything they can do now with their tangible (paper) business cards. Forgoing the handshake, the standard card exchange is still possible, only now it is done digitally! Among other features, users are also able to leave their virtual business card on any website across the Web.

SpartX is reviewing its technology in order to pursue patents and secure its trade secrets. Currently, SpartX has the only clickable, fully dynamic, virtual business card that successfully navigates 98 percent of all spam filters.

SpartX.com offers three main virtual networking tools: The SpartX Virtual Business Card, the SpartX Card Slider, and a search feature that allows members to search for jobs and events. Both the SpartX Virtual Business Card and the SpartX Card Slider are supported by member-generated presentation information (i.e. resumes, credentials, sales sheets, and company overviews).

By combining these features, SpartX provides members with all the tools they need to network effectively in the 21st century!

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What the Experts Say…

In a world going relentlessly virtual, there is certainly value in an effective and efficient way of networking and exchanging contact information, company briefs, event information, bios and resumes, and the like—so SpartX grabbed my attention right off the bat. However, I immediately ran into trouble distinguishing the proposed benefits from far more established competitors with similar purposes in mind— LinkedIn, Plaxo and the host of competitors that offer similar types of features, from Ryze to BoardEx to Spoke—all of whom are competing in roughly the same space and seeking the same type of person. And all of whom offer a free basic service with optional upgrades for nominal ongoing fees.

Couple the competitive onslaught with a growing number of users of such technologies who are increasingly upset about receiving unsolicited information and contact requests from users to add or update their contact information, and—while there is certainly interest and opportunity for a quality new entrant in this arena—it is likely to be a long haul and expensive investment to realize the summit of this space. Perhaps more of a vertical focus to targeted user groups might help SpartX gain traction and work out kinks before trying to compete with the big boys?

Sam Patrick

Patrick Marketing &

Communications, Inc.

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The digital business card is an interesting idea. However, the value is in the execution. One question that I don’t think is answered is…Why would I need a digital business card? What real world problem does it solve that a physical card doesn’t? Better organization? Quick and error-free information transfer?

In my mind this leaves more questions than answers. How does it work with email? What about vCards? Does it work with Plaxo? Linked In? Facebook? my blog? How does it simplify the task of managing my contact information?

The business model is not entirely clear from this pitch, but this is definitely a mass-market idea. The value of the card grows exponentially with the number of people using it. I’d suggest making it free and extremely simple for someone to get a card by registering on your website. You can gain revenue by adding additional fee-based services such as graphic design, online file storage, additional web pages, custom domains & email addresses—since most of the world still uses paper business cards, you could have a hybrid approach that provides a professionally designed paper card that includes the online business card address so that people can use whatever contact method works best for them.

Also, it’s not clear what the business card slider is, or why I would want one. Is it a piece of hardware? How much does it cost, and what value does it bring?

Peter Waldschmidt

Gnoso, Inc.

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Now You Weigh In…

We want to hear from you. Give us your thoughts, ideas, and feedback. Post your comments below.

A conversation with a taxi driver during a trip to Europe early this year caught me a bit off guard. I asked if people were suffering because of the economic crisis, and, to my surprise, the answer was ‘not really.’ At a time when we in the U.S. were reeling from a constant stream of news of ‘the worst economic crisis in a generation,’ the Dutch economy was doing just fine, thank you.
As it turns out, the recession truly is a global phenomenon, but its impact has varied around the world. Two good indicators of economic health are gross domestic product (GDP) and unemployment.

GDP is picking up in parts of Europe and Asia; China recovers
There are signs of recovery on the horizon. France, Germany, Japan and South Korea all saw slight GDP growth in the second quarter, hinting that they may be moving out of recession.
Those lagging behind include the US and the UK with slight declines, reflecting both economies’ greater exposure to the banking and real estate crises.

Contrast this with China. As if on another planet, GDP there rose 7.9 percent in the second quarter. This growth reflects the government’s investments in infrastructure, and increased access to credit. Most pundits are claiming the recovery is well underway in China.

Unemployment hits Europe, U.S. and Japan hard
Europe and the U.S. have seen significant rises in unemployment. But the increase has been particularly fast in the U.S. due to much looser employment laws and the sheer number of high profile bankruptcies.

Japan recorded the highest rate of unemployment since records began in 1953, something that may have contributed to the historical change of government there.

Although Chinese unemployment data is notoriously unreliable, they have felt the pinch of the downturn, as government officials have stated that unemployment jumped at the end of 2008.

South Korea is a notable exception, showing only a slight increase in unemployment over last year.

Case for optimism, but proceed cautiously
Lots of statistics—but what to make of all this data?

Clearly, the recession is a global phenomenon that has affected almost every economy. The impact has been felt differently in different countries. The Asian economies, and China in particular, continue to be export driven, with increasing trade within the region. Europe is showing signs of recovery in some markets, but unemployment is chronic and growth stagnant.

There are early signs of a recovery, not only in the GDP data but also business sentiment, credit loosening and fairly robust recovery of most stock markets.

For businesses considering expansion into other markets, there is a clear indication that it may be time to have a peek overseas for opportunity. While it may take several more quarters for the U.S. to emerge from its deeper recession, several European and Asian markets could be fertile ground for new products and services.

On July 22, Acres of Hope, a non-profit based in Liberia, posted a blog about Alvin, a 13 year-old overcoming spinal tuberculosis. Although he had been treated for the tuberculosis, his illness caused bedsores that began to destroy his body even further.

Water of Life, a non-profit based out of Upstate S.C. whose mission is to dig wells in Liberia, received word of Alvin from Acres of Hope and heeded their calls for help. Roland Bergeron, president of Water of Life, spread word to his constituents and left immediately to help in getting Alvin to the U.S., where an adoptive family waited for him, as did complete medical care.

What happened over the course of the next few weeks is anything but ordinary. The story of Alvin permeated the Upstate, taking a community by storm through social media, news outlets and personal involvement, causing a Ripple Effect that was felt from cities and countries far away.

You may notice that this strays from our editorial map quite a bit—it isn’t related (directly) to business, and it didn’t have a direct impact upon the Upstate business community. But as Business Black Box has chosen Water of Life as its charity of choice in 2009, and as we became involved on a very intimate level with Alvin and his story, we hope that you will see it as we intend it—a very cool look at how a community came together to help save one person, thousands of miles away.

Click here to see the timeline online »

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