This weekend we celebrate our country’s independence. Although it’s usually marked with parades, fireworks, BBQs and assorted razzle dazzle, we often take the holiday’s significance for granted. Among other things, our Founding Fathers fought for the freedoms that make today’s business opportunities possible.

Many of the people who traveled to America from Europe prior to the American Revolution did so seeking better opportunities and better ways to earn a living. However, many of the actions passed by the British Parliament in the late 1700s curtailed the the colonists’ ability to trade. For example, in 1764, the passage of the Sugar Act impeded the colonists’ molasses trade with the French and Spanish West Indies.

Later, in 1767, the Townshed Acts placed taxes on many of the products the colonists purchased from England, such as lead, glass, paper and even tea. In response, many colonial merchants agreed not to import goods from England. Eventually, the Townshed Acts were repealed, except for the tax on tea. The rest is history. We’re all familiar with the Boston Tea Party and the events that eventually led to the American Revolution.

When I ask enterpreneurs and small business owners why they took the leap, they often speak with a passion that I imagine Hancock, Jefferson and Adams shared when they wrote of “freedom,” “independence,” and “opportunity.”
Although in our troubled economy, business owners may sometimes identify with  the famous words Thomas Paine penned in 1776, “These are the times that try men’s soulds,” the entrepreneurs I meet talk much more often about pursuing their dreams and the opportunity to make their own decisions.

This year as you bask in the rockets’ red glare celebrating our independence as a nation, take the time also to celebrate the independent spirit that drives you as an entrepreneur.

I frequently hear from business owners who say that government regulations hamper their growth, or that legislation often is not small business friendly. A small group of business owners here in town make sure they have a seat at the table on legislative issues—they play an active role in shaping public policy. Others say they don’t have time to get that involved, they don’t understand the intricacies of policy making, they don’t have a stomach for the politics that accompany it, or they are just plain bored by it. But they still want something done about their issues.

Well, there is one way we can all participate. It does require a bit of prep time and a bit of initiative, but it’s the most basic way we can make our voices heard. We can vote in the upcoming August primaries. Do a little research and find out which candidates support your business agenda.

Both the Kansas and the Missouri primaries are scheduled for August 5. Not registered?

Click here to register in Kansas, or here to register in Missouri.

If you’re interested in advance voting in Kansas, click here; if you want information on absentee voting in Missouri, click here.

Many of the local chambers of commerce have information on their Web sites about the candidates, plus you can visit candidate Web sites. Answer your door when a candidate knocks and have your questions ready—don’t just rely on the literature you get in the mail. If a candidate who may potentially represent you holds a public meeting, try to attend.

Don’t forget—your “primary” objective is to educate yourself so you can choose a candidate who will promote your business.

I frequently hear from business owners who say that government regulations hamper their growth, or that legislation often is not small business friendly. A small group of business owners here in town make sure they have a seat at the table on legislative issues—they play an active role in shaping public policy. Others say they don’t have time to get that involved, they don’t understand the intricacies of policy making, they don’t have a stomach for the politics that accompany it, or they are just plain bored by it. But they still want something done about their issues. 

Well, there is one way we can all participate. It does require a bit of prep time and a bit of initiative, but it’s the most basic way we can make our voices heard. We can vote in the upcoming August primaries. Do a little research and find out which candidates support your business agenda. 

Both the Kansas and the Missouri primaries are scheduled for August 5. Not registered?

Click here to register in Kansas, or here to register in Missouri. 

If you’re interested in advance voting in Kansas, click here; if you want information on absentee voting in Missouri, click here. 

Many of the local chambers of commerce have information on their Web sites about the candidates, plus you can visit candidate Web sites. Answer your door when a candidate knocks and have your questions ready—don’t just rely on the literature you get in the mail. If a candidate who may potentially represent you holds a public meeting, try to attend. Don’t forget—your “primary” objective is to educate yourself so you can choose a candidate who will promote your business.

I am in Atlanta for the WBENC conference, an opportunity for certified women business owners to meet with corporate buyers. On Tuesday, Bernice King, the youngest daughter of the late Martin Luther King, Jr., was our keynote luncheon speaker. King, a minister who holds a master of divinity degree and a doctorate of law degree from Emory University and an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from Wesley College, is internationally recognized as a powerful and motivating speaker. She started her oratorical journey at the age of 17 when she spoke at the United Nations.

During her keynote, in which she challenged women to continue to be the champion for change in the workplace and our larger society, she declared that we are not in the midst of the “Year of the Woman,” or even the “Decade of the Woman.” Rather, she champions that we are living in the “Century of the Woman.” And, she asserted, women who are in positions of leadership have to position ourselves to push through the change that women can bring.

She said that although women in business have made progress, the reality is that our progress cannot stop. She told us that her mother, Coretta Scott King, used to remind that freedom is not ever really won—you earn it and win it again in every generation. Now, she says, women in business are earning and winning their freedom.

Her mother, who was also a businesswoman who raised $8 billion to build the King Center, had naysayers and critics every step of the way. But she refused to pause, refused to engage her detractors. She allowed the power of her mission to transcend the power of her emotions.

Although King’s remarks were largely directed at women (she was, after all, speaking to a conference of women), anyone who is in business can apply them. In fact, they have implications that far exceed a business environment. Her words contain principles we can all live by, and in so doing, change ourselves and change society. The power is in each of us—and it is up to each of us to decide whether to exercise that power.

Here are the main principles Bernice King shared about her mother that we can learn from as business owners:

·         Coretta Scott King knew “it” was about the next generation; it was about the people. We must restore ethics to the business world.  We’ve become a “thing” society rather than a “people” society. Although “things” are fundamental to running a business, people must still be first.

·         Her mother mentored, prepared, and role modeled others. Bernice King challenged us that we are all in a position to do the same. She also reminded us that as women business owners, others model us, so we must not compromise our ethics. Noting that her mother was not threatened for others to be benefactors, she asked us not to forget that the reason we are here is to nurture others as we grow in our own success. We must not horde relationships, and we must be open to ensuring access for others.

·         Her mother mastered the ability to learn how to begin again. She tried not to harbor resentment toward those who opposed her or tried to manipulate her.

·         Her mother could build multi-faceted coalitions. People don’t at first follow worthy causes; they follow worthy leaders whose authenticity they believe in. It is incumbent upon us to distance ourselves from toxic thoughts and toxic people because emotional toxicity hinders creativity, hinders the spirit of our companies and breeds distrust.

·         Her mother kept first things first. Here, Bernice King was speaking about balancing work, profession and family. We can’t sacrifice our kids for the sake of doing business. She noted that her mother raised her kids at the same time she raised a nation. Women, Bernice King said, must be the ones to demand respect for family time.

·         Her mother lived by a set of non-negotiables. We must decide what our non-negotiables are and choose our deals and projects based on them. Women business owners are in a position to have an incredible voice and to bring morality to business.

She closed with this lesson about the one law of the universe:

There were two kingdoms. In the first kingdom, a visitor saw a banquet feast—chicken and enchiladas and prawns and fruits and fried rice—foods of all kinds teaming from trays everywhere. But the people there were bound and unhappy. They did not know the one law of the universe.

In the second kingdom, the visitor witnessed the same banquet feast. But the people there were happy and there was forward progress. That’s because they understood the one law of the universe.

What is the one law of the universe?

You must use the utensils provided by the management.

You see, in both kingdoms, the utensils were 10 feet long. In the first kingdom, the people kept trying to feed themselves but they couldn’t manage the utensils on their own and so they were starving to death.

But in the second kingdom, the citizens reached across the table and fed each other.

It’s about reaching across the table. In business we are part of a community. We can reach across the table, we can reach across fear and across biases. We can reach across the table and continue to feed each other, and ultimately that is what will lead us to achieve the mandate and the mission that’s in our hearts.

I am proud to live and do business in Kansas City, in an entrepreneurial community that is shaped by the generosity of such programs as the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, the MidAmerica Minority Business Development Council, the First Step Fund, and NAWBO’s Potential of Pink program for young women with business and political aspirations. These are only a few of the programs and individuals who reach across the table and help to feed the success of others in our community. Kudos and thanks to all of you. But, as Bernice King reminded us, “The progress cannot stop.”

If you want to travel this summer—and mixing business with pleasure sounds like a good idea—here are some opportunities to visit other cities for conferences designed to help you position your company for doing business with federal contractors.

• Dept of Energy Small Business Conference, San Antonio, TX, June 24 - 26, 2008
• Agency Spotlight:  U.S. Dept. of State, Arlington, VA, July 8, 2008
• U.S. Dept. of Navy:  Women-Owned Business Day, Washington, DC, July 23, 2008
• National Small Business Federal Contracting Summit, Washington, DC, July 23 - 25, 2008

These conferences are being presented by the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Small Business Contractors.

If you know a young woman business owner with lots of potential, here’s an opportunity that might give them a boost. The Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneur Scholarship is a bi-partisan effort, established to recognize high potential young women business owners who are leaders in their community. The scholarship provides resources and guidance to help them achieve business and personal success.

Here are the qualifications for application:

• Business must be at least 51% woman-owned
• Entrepreneur must be between the ages of 21-35
• Entrepreneur must be a U.S. citizen
• Business must be 5 years old or less
• Business must have revenue of $500,000 or less for service industries OR $1milion or less for manufacturing industries
• Business must have capacity to assume more debt
• Owner must have a satisfactory personal credit history

Program details are available on www.wipp.org. The  application deadline  is Monday, June 30.

We’ve all heard the expression “small is big,” and nothing could be truer about small business owners and the 2008 presidential election. According to national survey results (February 15-19, 2008) recently released by the National Federation of Independent Business, a whopping 43 of U.S. registered voters are part of the small business community. As a voting bloc, we have the ability to have a big impact on the outcome of the election.

If that surprises you, it shouldn’t. When you think about it, 86 percent of all businesses nationwide have 19 or fewer employees. For heaven’s sake, American small business is the third largest economy in the world, trailing only the U.S. economy as a whole and Japan. With that being the case, it strikes me that, at least on the surface, the percentage of registered voters who are part of the small business community should be even higher. If you’re reading this and you’re not registered to vote, you don’t have a place at the table on so many important issues that affect your business.

So what’s on the minds of business owners as they do consider which candidate to vote for in November?

In a word, healthcare.

According to the NFIB survey, 69 percent of small business owners agree that how the presidential
candidates’ healthcare plans will impact their businesses is an important factor in determining who they will vote for. 53 percent of small business voters, defined as owners and their employees, agree that healthcare is the most important factor in determining their vote for the next president. Further, 38 percent of small business voters said healthcare costs and availability is the most important economic issue facing American families.

It’s interesting to note that although small business accounts for such an overwhelming majority of all businesses in existence and is heralded as being the “backbone of our economy,” “the economic engine of our country” and a whole host of other platitudes, small business owners and their employees are one of the largest groups of the uninsured. Of the estimated 47 million Americans without healthcare, more than 28 million are small business owners, employees or their dependents.

Take this one step further. Health care for small businesses is an issue that doesn’t just stop at ensuring that business owners and their workers can afford basic health care services. It’s also a hiring and retention problem. How many small business owners have been unable to make it to the next level because their benefits packages weren’t strong enough to attract the best and the brightest? Small businesses generate half of our country’s GDP and create two-thirds of net new jobs annually, but the issue of affordable health care threatens that success.

Why is it that in a country where the ratio of small businesses to all businesses is so staggeringly high, small businesses continue to struggle with being able to insure themselves and their employees? You’d think that given the volume of voices we represent, we could have done something about this issue by now.

But that would mean getting involved in shaping public policy—something that too many business owners don’t do, either because they don’t have time, it’s boring, it’s intimidating, it doesn’t make a difference anyway, and on and on. At the very least this November, exercise your most fundamental right to shape public policy—make sure you vote. It’s the surest way to guarantee yourself a seat at the healthcare reform table.

If you’re like me, you get more email than you have time to read - much less respond to. One of my problems - and one that I hear other business owners mention - is that some of the email I receive requires a response that’s too lengthy for the time I have at the moment I’m reading it. I always have the best intention to go back and respond later - WHEN I HAVE MORE TIME. But here’s what tends to happen: it gets buried deep down in my list of emails as more messages come rolling in during the day. After a few days, the message is hopelessly lost. I try to clean out my Inbox at least once a week, a time-consuming job given the hundreds of emails I receive each day, and sometimes I do rediscover the messages at that point and send off a note of apology in addition to the response the writer sought.

I’ve read many articles offering tips on how to organize email and respond to it more productively, so that it is the tool it is intended to be rather than a time waster. Most of them don’t work for me. But I read a new tip this morning that I think has some potential. In fact, I got so excited about it that I thought I would share it. When you receive an email that requires a response but you don’t have time to address it right away, simply hit Reply, as if you were going to respond, and then save it in your Drafts folder. This isolates all the emails you need to respond to and you can go to the folder once a day and finish sending your replies. You save time because all the emails that require a response are in one place - you don’t have to sort through a long list of perhaps several hundred in your Inbox. You also preserve goodwill because you won’t “lose” email and offend the person who needs to hear from you.

The National Weather Service has reported that this season’s tornado activity is the most active in history. News of the recent damage across the country is a reminder that disaster can strike at any time and in a variety of forms. Is your business prepared?

The U.S. Small Business Administration issues the following advice to businesses for preparing for a disaster:

• Create a solid emergency plan. find evacuation routers from your business and establish meeting places. Make sure everyone understands the plan beforehand. Keep emergency phone numbers handy. Designate a contact person to communicate with other employees, customers and vendors.
• Make sure your insurance coverage is adequate. Make sure you have at least enough to rebuild. Review your policy to see what is and isn’t covered. If you don’t already have it, consider “business interruption insurance” which helps cover operating costs during the post-disaster shutdown period. Don’t overlook flood insurance - it is essential.
• Make copies of important records. It’s a good idea to back up vital records and information on your computer hard drives and store it offsite - not just away from the office but at some distance from the office. Store copies of important documents and CD in a fireproof safe deposit box offsite.
• Put together a “Disaster Survival Kit.” The kit should include a flashlight, portable radio, extra batteries, first-aid kit, non-perishable packaged and canned food, bottled water, basic tool kit, plastic bags, cash and a disposable camera to take pictures of any property damage after a storm.

More tips for preparing you business for disasters and emergencies are available on the SBA’s Web site. The Institute for Business and Home Safety also has additional information.

The Kansas City Small & Minority Business Networking Breakfast has a new location. For all of you who are regulars, be sure to note the change. For first-timers, welcome to the group - just make sure you get to the right place.

The June 3 and July 1 networking breakfasts will be held at the Embassy Suites Kansas City - Plaza, 220 West 43rd
Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64111.

The cost is $13.00 at the door (accepting cash or credit card only).

This is the 17th year of the monthly Networking Breakfast, a venue that llows businesses to connect with those who can provide opportunities for them to grow.

It is held the first Tuesday of each month, at 7:15 a.m. and offers exposure to small and  large businesses, business development organizations, school districts and universities, as well as local, state and federal agencies.

Everyone is given the opportunity to introduce themselves by category, so you’ll know who attended at the end of the Breakfast.  Prior to that, though, up to 10 persons are given the opportunity to give a “2-minute” presentation (once every 12 months).

On-line registration for the breakfast, (plus listings of attendees for last month’s breakfast) is available at http://r6.gsa.gov/breakfast/breakfast.asp or call 816-926-7203.