Small Business Essentials

Hello, and welcome to the November 5, 2007 edition of the Carnival of the Capitalists. This blog is called Small Business Essentials, which has been recently relaunched after a hiatus and redesign. I also run a web design and marketing firm, NHG Consulting, which mainly works with small businesses and entrepreneurs.

A small note: This carnival is looking for hosts, so see Hosting the CotC if you might be interested in hosting. Now, on with the carnival …

Business

Steve Bainbridge asks Why do We Trust Directors? at Professor Bainbridge’s Business Associations Blog.

Barry predicts that Sound Will Drive Mobile Web Growth at StayGoLinks.

Human Resources / Hiring

Small Business Buzz lays out employee-employer compatibility in Finding An Employee That Matches Your Leadership Style.

Leon Gettler at Sox First reminds us to be careful about hiring CEOs that have a long way to fall from grace in The downside of charismatic leaders.

Taxes / Regulations / Legal

Ian Welsh at The Agonist explains The Income Tax Lie and why careful wording in statements make a difference.

Economics

James Hamilton at Econbrowser looks at historical employment data to ask Are the employment numbers as good as they sound? (He is leaning towards "no".)

Numerian at The Agonist brings us the new world of inflation and deflation on the global market in As Wall Street Awaits its Destruction.

Marketing and Sales

John at Business Opportunities And Ideas tells us the value in Turning Obstacles Into Marketing Opportunities. I love it when small businesses score big by thinking outside the box.

Golbguru points out the silliness in the perpetual "sale" in Sale Sale Stupid Sale. Are you guilty of this practice in your own business?

Scott Allen shares with us that The Funny Thing About Niche Marketing is that narrowing your target market can actually widen your opportunities for generating income.

People

Wally Bock writes about Brenda Barnes, a women who took time off to be with her kids before returning to a high-profile careeer, in Taking a sabbatical on the trail to the top. It’s nice to know that you can make time for kids and not be jumping off a bridge in your career. You don’t need to be a CEO to learn from this story—I created my own company to fit around my toddler’s schedule for the same reasons.

The Market

Oil, oil, oil—isn’t that on every business owner’s mind? The price of oil was taken on by both Stirling Newberry at The Agonist in $100 a Bungle for Oil and Kurt at the Fundmastery Blog in Oil Surges To $93—Is This Price Sustainable?

Rob May wonders what will happen if Google’s assets stop creating cash flow in Google at $700? What About the Quality of Assets?

Entrepreneurship

Free Money Finance would like us to know: I Told You There Was Big Money in Being a College Advisor! Is this really what our world is coming to, that parents will pay $40K to get their kids into top schools? I really hope those kids don’t turn around and drop out to "tour with their band" or something equally heart-attack-inducing for their parents.

Business Operations

Charles H. Green at Trust Matters bring us lessons in customer service with We’ve Got the Hamburgers: a Customer Service Classic. What’s your favorite "we’ve got the burgers" moment?

Scatterbox by Steven Silvers tells us why Rockies ticket sales fiasco was case study in bad news with a "what not to do" in a business crisis. But hey, what do I care—we’re Red Sox fans!

Matt Wolfe reminds us to Make People Feel Important. This is always a lesson to remember in customer service!

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