What else was in this issue of SmallBiz?
Personally I found the article titled "Get 'Em In Gear" (about making a sales force more productive) and "A Perfect Match" (about choosing a retirment plan) to be more interesting and helpful over all. The finance piece describes SEP-IRAs, the Simple IRA and 401(K)s as well as profit-sharing plans. A shorter article ("Benefits Surprise") goes hand-in-hand describing how business owners can make use of individual health coverage policies to better serve their employees and their bottom line. Good stuff to know, especially as we all begin reviewing tax issues with the preparers right now.
Businesses hit by Hurricane Katrina are part of a good-sized (and highly interesting) "Frontline" section. "A Deluge at the SBA" discusses the bottleneck on application reviews and the high number of declined loan applications, while three businesses are visited and their stories of rebuilding shared. Three words I take away from this piece are: Diversify (Ralph Kastner of Tuff Equipment Rentals cleaned up and actually is selling more based on a decision to bring in equipment that could assist locals in their efforts), Persist (Loretta Harrison of Loretta's Authentic Pralines is fighting hard to rebuild, commenting "I need New Orleans like she needs me."), and Prepare (the disaster plan created by Mark Mayer of Peter A. Mayer Advertising is one to model!).
All in all, this issue follows a great Fall 2005 edition quite nicely. Time to pull out the old subscription card...
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