Dynamix7.com Helps Small Business Owners in Struggling States - PR Inside Dynamix7.com Helps Small Business Owners in Struggling States - PR Inside

Friday, June 8, 2012

Dynamix7.com Helps Small Business Owners in Struggling States - PR Inside

Dynamix7.com Helps Small Business Owners in Struggling States - PR Inside
2012-06-08 14:41:31 - Starting a business in any state can be tough, but a new study shows it proves more challenging in Nevada. Dynamix7.com has the resources to help small business owners overcome those barriers in Nevada and across the United States.

A new study from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management and Dun & Bradstreet Credibility Corp., a business credit-building company, reveals that small business owners are having the most trouble setting up shop in Nevada, according to a CNBC news article. Dynamix7.com, an online training resource for local entrepreneurs, can help individuals get their business off the ground in Nevada and elsewhere in the United States.

Nearly 6,000 small businesses responded to the survey. Three-quarters of businesses in the state said they could not grow because of trouble obtaining financing. Other small business owners said they are being forced to transfer personal assets to support their businesses because of minimal financing options.

Of course, Nevada is not the only

state where business owners are running into problems obtaining capital. Across the country, 64 percent of businesses with revenues under $5 million reported that the hardship of getting funding was limiting their growth potential. More than 50 percent claimed the financing issues were also affecting plans to expand their work force. John Paglia, director of the Pepperdine Private Capital Markets Project and associate professor of finance at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, said the tight credit market is definitely playing a huge role in the economy’s recovery.

“Demand for credit is growing, but the supply is not meeting the demand, especially for small businesses,” Paglia said. “What we are seeing is business owners increasingly looking to unconventional financing options to grow their businesses and in some cases they are putting their expansion plans on hold altogether.”

The study showed that less than 50 percent of businesses transferred personal assets, such as personal savings and investments, to their businesses because no other funding sources were available. Other than Nevada, Wyoming, South Carolina, Colorado, Arizona and Virginia businesses were most likely to dip into personal assets for business-related needs.

“As small businesses struggle to secure financing from traditional lenders, they are increasingly dipping into their own pocketbooks,” Paglia said. “As long as business owners have personal assets to tap and it makes economic sense to do so, we may continue to see business owners continue this trend until the financing environment improves.”

As small business owners struggle with these challenges, they can cope by turning to Dynamix7.com. The company has resources small business owners need to grow and market their business successfully in Nevada and any other state. Students learn processes and techniques from professional Dynamix7.com instructors to help market their businesses online. The information Dynamix7.com graduates learn will help them better secure financing for their business too.

ABOUT:

Dynamix7.com employs professionals with a wide range of experience in various online marketing aspects. The company hires in-house web developers, designers and programmers to help educate local business owners on how they can achieve their goals. For more details, go to dynamix7.org.



French Business Confidence, Italian Output Fall - Businessweek

French business confidence and Italian output declined as recessions in at least six European countries weighed on demand and risked causing a quarterly contraction in France for the first time in three years.

Sentiment among French factory executives fell in May to 93 from a revised 94 in April, the Bank of France said today in an e-mailed statement. Italian industrial production dropped 1.9 percent in April from March, when it rose a revised 0.6 percent, Rome-based statistics office Istat said.

Confidence has stagnated all year, last showing an increase in December, and today’s reading suggests that France, Europe’s second-largest economy, will shrink 0.1 percent in the second quarter, the central bank said. With neighbors such as Spain and Italy already in recession and unemployment crimping demand at home, French executives are restraining costs and may hold off on investment.

Companies are in “a cautious mood given the weakening order books,” said Pierre-Olivier Beffy, chief economist at Exane BNP Paribas in London. “The rebound we initially expected in the second quarter” may not materialize and the possibility of a “negative quarter is increasingly likely.”

Stocks fell, the euro declined and oil headed for the longest weekly losing streak in 13 years after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke damped expectations for monetary stimulus and German exports dropped. U.S. Treasuries and the yen rallied.

Stocks Drop

The MSCI All-Country World Index (MXWD) dropped 0.7 percent at 9:46 a.m. in Paris, paring its weekly gain to 2.4 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 1 percent, while Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures lost 0.7 percent. The euro fell 0.6 percent while the yen gained versus all its major counterparts. Oil slumped 2.5 percent, poised for a sixth week of declines. The S&P GSCI gage of commodities tumbled 1.8 percent and gold fell 1.1 percent.

Italy’s economy, the euro area’s third-biggest, fell into a recession in the fourth quarter of last year just as Prime Minister Mario Monti pushed through 20 billion euros ($25 billion) in austerity measures to tackle the debt crisis. The nation’s joblessness rate of 10.2 percent is the highest in more than a decade and consumer confidence is at the lowest in more than 15 years amid Italy’s fourth slump since 2001.

Bracing for Impact

Policy makers across the globe are girding for a deeper impact from Europe’s debt crisis, with China cutting borrowing costs yesterday for the first time since 2008 and loosening controls on bank lending and deposit rate. Australia and Brazil have also lowered rates in the past eight days.

Gross domestic product in the 17-nation euro-area economy stalled in the first quarter as companies cut spending to weather the sovereign debt crisis, offsetting a gain in exports, the European Union statistics office in Luxembourg said June 6.

The European economy is struggling to gather strength after the need for new Greek elections and Spain’s worsening banking crisis heightened concerns that the single currency could splinter.

For French President Francois Hollande, the stalled economy presents a challenge after winning this year’s election on a promise to revive growth. After less than a month in office, he’s facing rising unemployment as companies from Air France-KLM Group (AF) to PSA Peugeot Citroen contemplate job cuts.

Order Books

“Industrial output fell back in May, notably in the car and metal sectors,” the Bank of France said today. “Factory use contracted and weakening demand has led to an erosion of order books.”

The Bank of France also said today that its gauge of service-sector demand fell to 92 from 93, its lowest since 2010.

Any drop in France’s growth rate would force the government to make deeper-than-expected cuts to meet its target of reducing the budget deficit to 4.5 percent of GDP this year and 3 percent next year.

“Hollande’s honeymoon will be brief,” said Joost Beaumont, an economist at ABN Amro in Amsterdam. “His biggest domestic challenge will be to restore order in public finances. It’s likely there will be fiscal slippage, given his optimistic growth assumptions and tendency to lean more toward raising revenues than cutting spending.”

Hollande, whose Socialist Party faces legislative elections on June 10 and 17, has promised to introduce a new budget to meet those targets in late June or early July.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Deen in Paris at markdeen@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Craig Stirling at cstirling1@bloomberg.net



Business, labor leaders clash on assessment of legislative actions - Bangor Daily News

Business and labor groups say Maine’s latest legislative session had its ups and downs for their members, but union leaders say the downs were pretty deep.

The wrap-up of the 125th Legislature last week also marked the end of the first period in decades in which Republicans controlled the Blaine House, Senate and House of Representatives — and, so, the constitutional offices of state treasurer, attorney general and secretary of state.

Assessments of the session by organized labor and business leaders were, predictably, somewhat different.

“I think Maine people and workers were looking for policies that rebuilt the economy, [and] supported the middle class, and didn’t find that,” said Matt Schlobohm, executive director of the Maine AFL-CIO, which has about 30,000 members. “Instead, from the majority party, we got policies that squeeze the middle class harder, [and] side with insurance companies and big companies.”

Meanwhile, Dana Connors, president of Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said many of the priorities tackled by Gov. Paul LePage’s administration and the Legislature were in sync with key issues identified by a report issued by his group and the Maine Development Foundation, “Making Maine Work.”

“When you look at the two years, you can’t help but be impressed with the results,” he said. “I think it gives the business community the confidence that change is taking place, that priorities are being met.

“Maybe it means they invest in one more job, one more piece of equipment, and so much of consumer confidence is built on that investment,” he said.

Labor leaders saw setbacks when it came to bills passed in the last session that changed the workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance systems in the state.

“Workers definitely took it on the chin when it came to the rollbacks on workers’ comp, and the unemployment insurance bill,” said Chris Quint, executive director of the Maine State Employees Union, which has about 10,000 members.

Quint said cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services also hurt, noting the elimination of 91 jobs at Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center in Bangor to deal with a decreased budget.

Schlobohm agreed, suggesting that the administration’s efforts seemed to focus largely on a trickle-down economic theory where benefits to larger businesses were seen to also benefit the middle class.

In addition to the bills Quint mentioned, Schlobohm noted passage of bills that repealed collective bargaining rights for child care workers and some farm factory workers.

There were some positives, Quint noted. Labor forces defeated bills that sought to privatize public sector functions, such as the inspection of amusement park rides, he said. And, he said, so-called “fair share” and “right to work” bills aimed directly at public- and private-sector unions were defeated.

And both Quint and Schlobohm said being forced to play defense brought memberships of both unions together — and saw greater cooperation between the two organizations, as well.

“We’re going to take that into the fall and make sure we elect those legislators who will stand up for working families in Maine, and stand against the governor’s attacks on workers which, from our estimation, won’t stop,” said Quint.

Business groups saw the changes to workers’ comp and unemployment as good things. While some in the business community have said the changes didn’t go far enough, Connors suggested the right balance was struck.

“Lasting, enduring change is based upon incremental success,” said Connors. “You can’t eat the apple with one bite.”

The latest session was the shorter one of the Legislature’s two-year term, noted Chris Hall, senior vice president for government relations at the Portland Regional Chamber. And it was right before an election season, he noted, and as such, no major policy shifts were expected.

On balance, said Hall, he saw more wins than losses in the last session. Part of LePage’s education reform package got through, said Hall, and he thought the policy changes regarding standards-based diplomas and teacher evaluations will have a positive impact on the state’s workforce skills gap.

The tax cut in LD 849 also was seen as positive by the business community at large, said Hall. Many Democrats, however, saw it as a backdoor way to pass a taxpayer bill of rights, which voters have rejected in the past.

John Porter, president and CEO of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, agreed with Hall.

“It’s not much, but it’s symbolic and important to businesses that we start to work on that issue,” said Porter.

Hall said he thought advancement on reducing energy costs in Maine was “a miss” in the last session. And he was surprised there wasn’t more discussion in the State House about jobs, Hall said.

“That was a missing piece for me,” he said.

Connors and Porter said their members were disappointed with the governor’s vetoing of a $20 million research and development bond proposal. That veto was sustained by the Legislature.

“The governor had his reasons, but the truth of the matter is in a knowledge-based, technology-driven economy that we’re a part of, where 79 percent of our businesses employ fewer than 20 people, where innovation is a leading feature of any state’s gross state product, research and development is fundamental to any one of those,” said Connors.

Past investments have resulted in commercialization efforts, spinning research out into real companies in the Bangor region, Porter said.

“It’s really disappointing people didn’t have the vision to see that even if money goes to a non-profit, it’s ultimately an investment in the private sector,” Porter said.

Connors said a new law allowing employees to keep firearms in their vehicles at their workplaces was a negative for the chamber. And he said he was surprised the state didn’t do more with setting up a health exchange. Even if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the federal Affordable Care Act, it would have made sense for Maine to set up an exchange with the provision that it would die if the federal law died, he suggested.

On the whole, Hall said, continued efforts on regulatory reform, lowering taxes, reforming education are all positives.

“Now we have to start harvesting those things, and we also need to talk more about the investment climate, the demographic challenges facing the state, making sure we’re really freeing up the private sector as much as it needs to be,” said Hall.



Money Centers of America Inc., acquires Landmark Group Holdings assets - YAHOO!

Money Centers of America, Inc. (http://www.moneycenters.com) announced Friday that it had acquired the assets of Landmark Group Holdings. The deal includes Landmark’s proprietary software and contracts with properties in Washington, Idaho, California, Colorado, South Dakota, and Nevada. The company will continue to operate under the Landmark name as a subsidiary of Money Centers.

King of Prussia, PA (PRWEB) June 08, 2012

Money Centers of America, Inc. (http://www.moneycenters.com) announced Friday that it had acquired the assets of Landmark Group Holdings. The deal includes Landmark’s proprietary software and contracts with properties in Washington, Idaho, California, Colorado, South Dakota, and Nevada. The company will continue to operate under the Landmark name as a subsidiary of Money Centers.

Washington based Landmark provides check guarantee, check verification, Title 31 / Currency Transaction Reporting, and on-line software applications to establish credit limits and monitor guests’ marker activities.


Landmark’s C4 software captures and stores check cashing, credit and debit card transactions and related credit information in a real-time, on-line environment. This product is designed to increase cash flow and minimize declined check requests on responsible guests. The Landmark system gives the client immediate and specific information including credit history and available credit.


Landmark and Money Centers describe this as an opportunity to grow a national database and consolidate software products for the cage.

“It is a data driven world today. Cashing checks, extending credit and processing cash advance transactions from the cage is the lifeblood of the casino. Having real-time transaction information not only puts money on the floor but also allows the casino to get better information on their customer’s available credit for marketing and player tracking purposes.” Landmark and Money Centers President Mark Wolfington said.

Money Centers Chairman and CEO Chris Wolfington says acquiring Landmark is a sign of Money Centers growth. “Since 1998, Money Centers has been providing cash access services and software that enables gaming operators to use the power of technology to increase profits and improve the customer experience. Adding Landmark’s technology and products is an extension of that mission.”


“We have worked with Landmark in the past year integrating our ONtime POS system with Landmark’s check guaranty engine. Landmark has a deep database and long history of cashing checks. By combining their West Coast presence with our locations we have created a national database. We are excited about the opportunity to own our own risk management software and have a fully integrated credit database.”

Lauren Anderson
Money Centers
610-354-8888
Email Information




'Social Business by Design': A Road Map - ClickZ

A former supervisor used to hand out tough assignments for projects to our team, consistently saying they'd be "easy" to complete. Invariably, "easy" became a euphemism for four-letter words: work - hard work.

social-business-by-designThe same truism applies to social media and social business. If a supervisor thinks it's easy to do both, you have important allies in Dachis Group consultants Dion Hinchcliffe and Peter Kim. Their new business strategy book, "Social Business by Design" provides a road map, written jargon-free for the C-level executive, to understand options on the path to social business nirvana.

As most marketers know, social media marketing is difficult but rewarding work. While just about anyone can set up a Facebook page, Twitter account, or YouTube channel, those are baby steps to becoming a social business.

Embracing a social business mindset is even more challenging. It demands that a business overhaul its operations to be more inclusive of all employees, partners, and customers. This sort of undertaking requires buy-in from nearly everyone in an organization, from top-level executives to front-line customer service reps.

Let's consider Hinchcliffe's and Kim's definition of social business:

Social business…"taps into entirely new sources of creative output (everyone on the network), relinquishes structure that reduces productive outputs, and inverts methods of traditional control and decision making in work processes (anyone can contribute as long as they create value) while focusing on useful outcomes."

To keep things simple, Hinchcliffe and Kim identify 10 social business tenets and provide examples for adopting the tenets throughout the book. Narrative is accompanied by charts that depict areas of functional responsibility for social businesses, an "engagement cycle," and more.

Who's Winning in Social Business and Why

Throughout the book, the authors discuss how social business strategies help real businesses get real results: better marketing, sales, customer service, product development, and work productivity.

Take the example of Intuit's TurboTax and its aging customer support system. It could not keep up with rival H&R Block's network of 12,000 office locations and in-person support. The authors explain:

"Intuit came to a remarkable conclusion: its single largest and most valuable asset wasn't its brand, its state-of-the-art facilities, or even its thousands of workers. It was its customers. They were the millions who had to file tax returns every year and had been through every possible tax situation," the authors wrote. Intuit created a system called Live Community social support system and integrated it into the TurboTax product. That service was credited with helping Intuit provide better customer support, lower product abandonment, and achieve over twice the market share of its competitor.

The authors pack "Social Business by Design" with dozens of other examples, explaining how other businesses have adopted social business principles and what that meant for their operations. Among the examples: enterprise tech companies SAP, IBM, and Microsoft, as well as MillerCoors, Ford, the Amex Open Forum, Intuit's TurboTax, and L'Oreal.

The authors demonstrated discipline, writing for high-level business executives and avoiding technology buzzwords and acronyms. For instance, when discussing "social media building blocks," they define for search engine optimization, social customer relationship, community management, and workforce collaboration. I found their definition of "demand generation" to be helpful, too: "Targeted digital awareness efforts to drive an understanding of and interest in a product or service."

Throughout the book, Hinchcliffe and Kim focus on businesses - and not the people or technologies that make them social. It goes without saying: any business that aspires to be social must put people first. Maybe that's a project that social business advocates can produce in a collaborative project.


You are invited to participate in a ClickZ-Google Analytics industry survey for trends in mobile marketing and apps. You'll also be entered to win a free iPad or 1 of 2 free passes to SES Conference & Expo.



Oracle moves its business software into the cloud - eSchool Online

Oracle will have to prove that it can adjust to the changes triggered by cloud computing—while still trying to profit from the old model of installing and maintaining software.

Business software maker Oracle is finally adapting to a shift in computing that is threatening to turn the company into relic.

The 35-year-old company hailed its technological transition June 6 at its Redwood Shores, Calif. headquarters, where hyperbolic CEO Larry Ellison announced plans to distribute more than 100 business software applications over the internet instead of selling them as products that have to be installed on individual office computers.

The concept of leasing software applications reachable on any internet-connected device is known as “cloud computing.” It’s an idea that Ellison has frequently mocked as a passing fancy, but his comments June 6 made it clear that he realized some time ago that the trend had become a serious business.

Ellison said it took thousands of Oracle engineers the past seven years to develop the company’s suite of cloud computing services. The work was code-named “Fusion,” but Ellison acknowledged it became so disjointed that he understood why it was skewered as “Project Confusion.”

Despite all the manpower and money that Oracle poured into its cloud computing expansion, the company still couldn’t build everything on its own. To fill the gaps, Oracle has spent more than $3.5 billion buying some of the early pioneers in cloud computing, including RightNow Technologies and Taleo.

“This was as difficult a thing that we have ever done at Oracle,” Ellison conceded during a presentation that The Associated Press watched on a webcast. He said he now believes Oracle has “the most comprehensive cloud on planet Earth.”

All boasting aside, Oracle will have to prove that it can adjust to the changes triggered by cloud computing—while still trying to profit from the old model of installing and maintaining software on the premises of its corporate, government, school, and university customers.

Ellison acknowledged it won’t be easy, saying “very few technology companies cross the chasm from one generation to the next.”


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