You the business owner , “Blew It!”

These are words that no business owner wants to think about! Yeah times are hard here on Long Island as they are everywhere else in America. You the business owner, “Blew It!”. You are so busy cutting costs, laying good hard working employees off, haggling with your vendors for lower prices, listening to the nay-sayers on TV and print that tell you this is how you run ‘your’ business and the only way to stay profitable, that you forgot that this is just another down cycle in our economy. Long Islanders bounce back FAST! And they have mouths. They spread the word about businesses good and bad. Sadly we usually only hear about the ‘bad’ stuff.
You as a business owner should be looking for innovative ways to take advantage of the down turn in the economy. Look into small business loans from the government to upgrade your equipment, train your employees in the new technologies. Start those projects that need research. Sitting back on your hands when ACTION is what will get you ahead of the competition is not considered ‘coasting’. It is considered loosing ground to your competition.
Every business owner right now is standing in front of a crap table called your business environment. Some of you just stand there watching, caressing those budgets carefully in your pockets, trying to make a decision to step up and get into the game. Scared to do anything other than ‘hold back’. While you watch the other people at the table ‘in the game’. Making strategic investments, and yes, taking chances. But calculated chances.
Some of the things you are holding back on are employee training and yourself (but don’t be selfish in this respect), new equipment, planning for projects that have been put aside, and advertising.
One of the first things that companies pull back on is marketing and their IT budgets. Well when everyone else is doing that, you should be out there will BIG Ads. Since everyone else is holding back you will look bigger without a lot of effort.
IT budgets, well as an IT consultant and previously employed IT Manager, I can tell you that now is the time to look at your equipment. Older, power hungry computers, monitors and servers can actually be upgraded for less than you think because you have to remember that new equipment puts out less heat (so the need to cool is less expensive), and that the newer OS from Windows called Windows 7 will make those PCs running VISTA (hold the curses) actually a pleasure to use and increase your employees output.
Contact your marketing partners. Contact your IT people in house and consultants. Start a dialogue with them to start learning what they can do for your business. You know the big boys are quietly doing this! You know you need to set yourself apart from your competition. You KNOW they ARE doing these very same things. You KNOW you don’t want to look yourself in the mirror in a few very short months and say to that stressed out person looking back at you, “YOU BLEW IT!”.

Public Hearings Set for the Long Island Lighthouse Project

THE TIME IS NOW FOR THE LIGHTHOUSE PROJECT.

Lighthouse supporters, we need you. The long awaited public hearing has been scheduled by the Town of Hempstead, and Tuesday, August 4, 2009 is the day we’ve all been waiting for. The meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. at the John Cranston Adams Playhouse on the campus of Hofstra University.

The public hearing is the time you need to let your voice be heard. Please make an effort to be a part of history in the making. Bring your friends and family and show your support for Long Island’s future. You’ve been there for us before, and we need you to be there for us again.

The Town has offered several ways for the public to comment on the project. You can comment via email at lighthousecomment@tohmail.org or in a letter to Lighthouse Project Public Comment, One Washington Street, Hempstead, NY 11550.

For more information please visit www.lighthouseli.com or the official blog of the Lighthouse Development Group the Light Post at lighthouseliblog.blogspot.com. Follow the Lighthouse project on Twitter at @lighthouse_li or join the “I support the Lighthouse at Long Island” on Facebook.

Yes We Can!

OK so I grabbed that from our new president! I say use what works! In my last post I said that you should be watching out for all the new ‘green’ initiatives that the White House would be rolling out. And now every where you look, newspapers, magazines, blogs, websites, forums, etc., everyone is talking about ‘greening’ their businesses and homes. New cable channels are popping up. The Discovery Channel has one called Green. I watched it yesterday off and on for the entire day and although they don’t have a full house of shows ‘yet’, it is only a matter of time. Emeril from FoodTV has signed on, cooking with all natural and organic ingredients! Steve Thomas from This Old House is doing one on using green technologies in refurbishing homes. They have a Game Show called ‘Going for the Green’.

Green forums are popping up all over the place. I joined a few this weekend to see what everyone was talking about. Which mostly is people looking for ‘the best book’ on this or that for their kind of businesses.

There are now ‘green search engines’ and not just one or two!

You need to get out there and get involved. You need to find your own niche and what works for you. Whether it is starting your own green business, or just making sure that the right recyclables are going in the right place. You do know that soda cans have a 5 cent deposit and should be returned to the store, don’t you??? Not put in the recycling bin. You know cardboard doesn’t go in the garbage pail.

You know you can make a difference and now that we have an administration that is pushing this kind of thinking and technology, my thoughts of helping companies go green is more important than ever!

Can a small tech company make a difference with small and medium sized companies with their energy consumption???

YES I CAN!!!