January 30, 2012 Social Media 101: The Business of Being "Connected" Okay, I will admit to being technically challenged, and that the computer and Internet are only my friends if I have a human life raft to reach out to! However, being connected and connecting others is my life's work. At the end of the day, it's all we have. Did you reach out to anyone today and make their day a little brighter with your presence? Did you bring a little sunshine into anyone's life? Did anyone bring some to yours? It is so easy these days to be connected, next-door or across the ocean. A simple click sends our thoughts to the far corners of the globe and lets our loved ones know we care about them. So if it truly is this easy – and I believe it is – why don’t we do it more often? Or for those of you who do, why don't we do it more efficiently or with more purpose? I think we do it without thinking. We just click and send, and off go our messages. On several occasions in 2011, I wrote about how people feel less connected to each other and, quite frankly, less connected to anything! Sitting at a traffic light this week, I noticed a bumper sticker that read, "I love my country but it may be time to start seeing other people." I’m not at all surprised someone created it - perhaps some lonely soul, or the voice of someone expressing the views of millions, or even billions, of lost or unconnected people. We read and hear every day about closings, downsizings, layoffs, foreclosures, bankruptcies, tragedy and mayhem. It's everywhere like never before, certainly not in my lifetime. So why do we still feel so isolated? There is a proliferation of online ways to connect or even find the love of your life! If you don’t believe me, ask your friends, or log onto Match.com (or any other such site) and see for yourself. We’re busy, we're frustrated, and we're too broke or disinterested to hang out in bars hoping to meet Mr. or Miss Right – we have a better statistical chance of hitting the lottery! Maybe we feel too isolated in our suffering that no one will understand or want to hear our drama. I'm certain the answers lie in a combination of all the above and some I don't know. Read more...

January 24, 2012
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?

As we get deeper into the upcoming presidential election, one can only wonder, where have all the leaders gone? I borrowed that title from Lee Iacocca's last book, but it applies to so many things we are dealing with today. With the Democrats squarely behind the incumbent president, the Republicans scramble to field a candidate to challenge him. Mr. Obama's election is historic in many ways, and his first term will go down in history as one charged with pulling the country back from the brink of total economic collapse.

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November 2, 2011
Catch Someone Doing It Right!

With the state of the state, and the state of the economy, we have all become just a little jaded or at least lost some of our spark (at least I have, can't speak for you). Never in 51 years have I seen folks walking around in such a cloud of uncertainty and disbelief. Obama says we'll be out of Iraq by the year’s end with a bare minimum 36,000 troops left on the ground. All this at a cost of over $700 million and 4,000 American lives lost. Wow, what could we have done with all those resources, both economic and human? Families and lives will never be the same again. To make the big inspirational transition you can see why we need to find the silver lining on every cloud. I am happy to say I found two right here in Charm City and one new comer to the landscape that is not necessarily starting off with a bang! I'll compare and contrast – you'll understand.

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October 5, 2011
Walk in My Shoes

I'm sitting in my car while the rain pummels the earth! I just left my neighborhood bank and the head teller lamenting about the fat-cat bankers and their fat-cat bonuses! She inspired me to send this out, as I know she speaks for millions, if not billions, of people around the world who have little to no voice for their frustration.

While the average guy on the street has lost not only hope, but his job, his house, his dignity and pride, high-level bankers and others are still lining the valet parking line at the country club and every fancy restaurant in town. Sales at Tiffany’s and other high-end retailers have been going up. How do we justify or even balance this in the face of so much despair and bewilderment? Truthfully, we don't, we can't – “it don't make no sense,” as Joe The Plumber might say!

What it does is widen the gap between have and have not and further push the shrinking middle-to-lower-middle class into a new population sector. Let's call them the disenfranchised! They are everyone you see on the street, in the mall and at the gas station, wondering who in the hell knows what's going on and will come along to right this sinking ship.

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September 27, 2011
Take My Challenge!

Have we really become so insensitive and unkind that we need books to tell us how and why to be nice? Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval wrote a book a few years back called “The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness.” Thaler and Koval run a successful New York advertising agency called The Kaplan Thaler Group. Our own local celebrity agent and attorney Ron Shapiro wrote a similar book entitled “The Power of Nice: How to Negotiate So Everyone Wins, Especially You!” The Thaler Koval book is a total of 127 pages, including the index in the back! Not rocket science, but powerful in its simplicity nonetheless.

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September 23, 2011
When a Cheap Breakfast Costs You a Fortune

Okay, so I must admit, while the breakfast is good, I'm tired of spending $15 for an omelet or $10 for the cheapest thing on the menu at Miss Shirley's. Times are tough and they call for tough measures! I think the food's good but not great. What you do pay for there is the "dining experience," as much as that can be for breakfast. Let's take our hats off to Eddie Dopkin and the folks at Miss Shirley's - they put on a great show! The venue is crisp and inviting, as fancy a breakfast experience you will ever have in Baltimore. You would have to travel all the way to Eggspectations in Columbia to even come close. Dopkin really understands that having any meal is an event, otherwise who would pay the freight for bacon and eggs! His concept has been so successful that there are now two more Miss Shirley's, one in downtown Baltimore and one in Annapolis. Let's raise a mimosa to Eddie! He's a man after our hearts, just not our wallets!

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September 21, 2011
Opportunity lost or none available?

With another mayoral election, for all intents and purposes, behind us, I have to wonder if we blew another chance! With historically low voter turn out, an apathetic electorate usually pushes the incumbent button – at least at the state and local levels. We all know what happened to most Democrats in the last national election – pretty much a wipeout with the exception of Maryland (and don’t get me started on that)!

Is the general consensus in Baltimore that while Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is widely considered to lack leadership, vision or enthusiasm for the job, she’s the “devil we know for the devil we don't,” as the saying goes? The other “also-rans” never really caught on with the possible spike to voter interest in Otis Rolley. As they trolled to the end, all the candidates seemed to get caught up in their own personal implosion. All seemed to have an issue or two that mysteriously made its way into the headlines!

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September 15, 2011
That's Why They're Called Legends!

At the close of the Inaugural Small Business Survival Summit last week, I was drawn to reflect on many of the highlights. While critics might bemoan the smaller than anticipated attendance, it would be a mistake to dismiss the event’s closing! All I can say is, if you missed it, you… missed it!

The crowd was treated to real-life pearls of business wisdom from such notables as Alan Elkin of Advanced Business Systems, Rick Huether of Independent Can Company, Ken Potter of AgraCo Technologies International and Bob Wolfgang of Wolfgang Candy Company. It was my pleasure to moderate the panel. While these men represent different industries, have varied backgrounds and interest, common threads continuously resonated throughout the comments they shared. Words like ‘integrity,’ ‘commitment,’ ‘teamwork,’ and ‘loyalty’ were used consistently. These legends had no advance knowledge of the questions the audience or I would ask, and yet their answers were eerily similar.

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September 13, 2011
Who's On Your Team?

As the economy sputters along and business owners struggle for ways to reinvent themselves, I pose a question to everyone out there who owns or supports a small business: who’s on your team? Reminded that it takes a village to raise a child, is small or even large business any different? When was the last time you as the business owner asked yourself this question?

Some thoughts for you to ponder: Who are my regular customers and clients, and more importantly, why? What is it is about my product or service that keeps them coming back? Have you ever asked? Is this a market base that can sustain and support the growth or expansion you want? Lots of questions in my comments today are really designed to shift your paradigm, awaken the entrepreneurial spirit that got you here in the first place and maybe spark some new sales or certainly new ideas.

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September 5, 2011
Where Are Our Leaders?

On the eve of the Small Business Survival Summit coming to the Baltimore Convention Center September 7-9, I'm reminded that in my 51 years I have never seen an economy like this. Compounding that and perhaps more difficult to fix is the sense of hopelessness, frustration and despair on the face of many Americans. It truly seems like only yesterday when Barack Obama was swept into office and hailed as, not only the chief, but in many eyes the second coming of Christ! The only time I can remember such euphoria, relief or disgust was when Jimmy Carter replaced the disgraced and scandal ridden Richard Nixon. The country was begging for a kinder, gentler America and chose a peanut farmer, governor of Georgia to lead us back to prosperity and harmony. Sadly, we all know how that ended.

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August 31, 2011
The Answer is "YES"

Whether the question is "do you want fries with that order" or "of course we can do that," business has to be trained and reminded that the customer is always right! On a recent Monday night after working late, I was desperate for dinner! A ham sandwich would have been great. Nowhere to be found. Monday night is notoriously a dark night for many restaurants. Everywhere I went, I was turned away! That is, until I stumbled upon Crush, in Baltimore's Belvedere Square. I arrived after a performance at the Creative Alliance and was indeed informed the kitchen was closed! At this point, after trying four or five places, I gave up, resigned to having a nightcap and heading home.

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