Greening Your Business to Grow Profits Focus of November 23 Economic Perspectives

Jennifer Kaplan

Jennifer Kaplan, author of Greening Your Small Business: How to Improve Your Bottom Line, Grow Your Brand, Satisfy Your Customers – and Save the Planet is the November  23 guest on Economic Perspectives, 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live to the interview online at http://www.live365.com/stations/kazifm?site=pro&play.

Greening Your Small Business is a resource for those who want their small businesses to be cutting- edge, competitive, profitable, and eco-conscious.  Filled with stories from small business owners of all stripes, Greening Your Small Business addresses every aspect of going green, from basics such as recycling, reducing waste, energy efficiency, and reducing the IT footprint, to more in-depth concerns such as green marketing and communications, green business travel, and green employee benefits.
For companies too small to hire consultants to draft and implement green policies and practices, this guide is designed for easy use, featuring:

• Simple ways to make the workplace greener
• Two plans of action for going green (divided into two levels)
• Definitions for green terminology and jargon

Kaplan is a partner in Greenhance a marketing consultancy that provides ecowise advice to help small businesses grow greener. She has more than 20 years of marketing experience with companies such as Discovery Channel, Lifetime Television, Conde Nast Publications and Simon & Schuster Publishing. An Adjunct Faculty in Marketing at Marymount University, she has conducted in-depth research into consumer attitudes about how small businesses can most effectively go green.

How Today’s Smartest Businesses From Facebook to Twitter Grow Themselves Focus of November 16 Economic Perspectives

Adam Penneberg, author of Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves, will be the November 16 guest on Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM, 5:30- 6 p.m.  You can listen to the interview live on the web at http://www.live365.com/profiles/kazifm.

“Here’s something you may not know about today’s Internet. Simply by designing your product the right way, you can build a flourishing business from scratch. No advertising or marketing budget, no need for a sales force, and venture capitalists will flock to throw money at you,” explains Pennenberg.

Many of the most successful Web 2.0 companies, including MySpace, YouTube, eBay, and rising stars like Twitter and Flickr, are prime examples of what journalist Penenberg calls a “viral loop”–to use it, you have to spread it. After all, what’s the sense of being on Facebook if none of your friends are? The result: Never before has there been the potential to create wealth this fast, on this scale, and starting with so little.

In this game-changing must-read, Penenberg tells the fascinating story of the entrepreneurs who first harnessed the unprecedented potential of viral loops to create the successful online businesses–some worth billions of dollars–that we have all grown to rely on. The trick is that they created something people really want, so much so that their customers happily spread the word about their product for them.

Adam Pennenberg

All kinds of businesses–from the smallest start-ups to nonprofit organizations to the biggest multinational corporations–can use the paradigm-busting power of viral loops to enable their business through technology. Viral Loop is a must-read for any entrepreneur or business interested in uncorking viral loops to benefit their bottom line.

Penenberg is a journalism professor and assistant director of the Business and Economic Program at New York University. A contributing writer to Fast Company, he has also written for Inc., Forbes, the New York Times, Slate, Wired, The Economist, Playboy and Mother Jones. A former senior editor at Forbes and reporter for Forbes.com, he garnered national attention in 1998 for unmasking serial fabricator Stephen Glass of The New Republic. Penenberg’s story was a watershed for online investigative journalism.

Strategies for Fostering Equitable Economic Growth in Central Texas Focus of October 12 Economic Perspectives

Ayleen Perez and Cloteal Haynes will discuss the PeopleFund Conference on Economic Opportunity on the October 12 edition of Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Perez is the communications and outreach manager of PeopleFund and Haynes is a long-time board member.  The Conference will be held October 24 at Austin Community College’s Eastview Campus.

Every year, the Conference unites community leaders, business owners, policy makers, developers, and artists to discuss the changes in the region and effective ways to further positive and equitable growth. From adult education and job opportunities to affordable housing options, the Conference addresses the key issues facing low- to moderate-income communities, and highlights strategies for creating opportunity for Central Texans. The program includes a regional and local economic snapshot, as well as breakout sessions addressing both community and business issues.

Ayleen Perez

Cloteal Haynes

The Conference will feature two keynote addresses.  The morning address will be delivered by Kenia Davalos, Los Angeles County Commissioner and Latino Business Advocate.  The afternoon keynote address will be delivered by President Obama’s newly appointed National Director of the U.S. Minority Business Development Agency, David Hinson.

PeopleFund provides affordable loans and counseling to ventures that create jobs, generate wealth, provide care for our children, and develop green technologies. It has invested over $20 million in underserved areas of Central Texas.

Ayleen Perez joined the PeopleFund staff in July 2009 as the Communications and Outreach Manager. In addition to community outreach and brand recognition, Ayleen’s responsibilities include planning and implementing public forums, such as our Conference on Economic Opportunity, that address critical economic needs in Central Texas. Born in Caracas, Venezuela but raised in Miami, Florida, Ayleen moved to Austin in November 2001 and has worked within the Latino community ever since.

Cloteal Haynes is managing partner of Hayes-Eaglin-Waters.  She has has over 30 years of planning and construction experience and has a masters degree from LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.  Cloteal is a graduate of Leadership Austin and a board member of the Austin Black Contractors Association.

Self Employment Opportunity Summit Focus of September 28 Economic Perspectives

Stacy Dukes-Rhone, Executive Director of BiGAUSTIN, will be the September 28 guest on Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM.  She will be discussing BiGAUSTIN’s Self-Employment Opportunity Summit being held October 1, 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Palmer Events Center in Austin, Texas.

The Self-Employment Opportunity Summit facilitates an environment to evaluate, examine, gather information and provide assistance to our small business community. It provides of an avenue for training providers, small business services providers, and lending institutions to outreach and effectively impact our community.  The Summit will provide  several session tracks where aspiring and existing entrepreneurs can learn and uncover opportunities. The session tracks are:

• Exploring Entrepreneurship “Is Entrepreneurship Right for You”, 
• Funding Opportunities “Need Credit, Need Money, Need Help…”
• Business Opportunities “What should I do?”
• Small Business in a Green Economy “What is a Green Economy?”

BiGAUSTIN provides entrepreneurial education, tailored business counseling and flexible loans for small businesses in Central Texas.

How Professional Coaching Can Foster Success Focus of August 24 Economic Perspectives

Elizabeth Bert

The Los Angeles Lakers, the Florida Gators, and the Pittsburgh Steelers all won team sports championships this year, but could they have done it without their coaches Phil Jackson, Urban Meyers, and Mike Tomlin? Maybe a professional coach can help you to achieve the success you are seeking for your business.  Find out more on the August 24 edition of Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM with our guest Elizabeth Bert, a certified professional coach. Bert is the founder of Total Leadership Ventures, LLC., an executive coaching and leadership development company devoted to effectively close the gap between where your leaders and employees are now and where you want them to be.

Bert has over 15 years of experience parterning with Fortune 100 industry giants such as Apple, Dell, HP, General Motors, Microsoft and Motorola.  She applies a wealth of business experience to challenge current thinking and offers new insights to awaken high-tech leaders, corporate professionals, teams and entrepreneurs to find new paths for peak productivity to accelerate innovation and boost bottom-line business results.

Starting and Growing a Business in Today’s Economic Environment

How do you grow the sales of your business when consumers are reluctant to open their wallets and corporations, small businesses, and government agencies are often cutting their expenditures?  Learn some of the keys of business success today at the seminar “Starting and Growing a Business in Today’s Economic Environment” on Saturday, August 22, 10 a.m. – 10:55 a.m., at the Monarch Event Center in the Lincoln Village Shopping Center, 6406 N. I-35, Austin, Texas.  Sponsored by KAZI and the Austin Cen-Tex chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), the seminar will feature presentations by a full-time and part-time entrepreneur on their challenges and successes starting or growing their businesses during the recession.  It will also include an overview by a CPA on setting up an accounting and bookkeeping system.  The cost to attend the seminar, which is part of KAZI SummerFest 2009, is to donate school supplies.  The featured speakers are:

• Marlon Green, owner of MSG Accounting Services
• Tommy Griffin, owner of Speedpro Imaging North Austin
• Betty Works, CPA

Hopeton Hay, host of Economic Perspectives, will serve as moderator of the workshop.

Green, who has a full-time job while running his business on a part-time basis, says that time mangement is critical to success as an entrepreneur.

“Whether you are starting a full time or part time business it will be imperative that you know how to manage your time effectively on a day to day basis, especially when there is a family involved,” advises Green.

Griffin recently left a position at Applied Materials to launch SpeedPro Imaging North Austin.  He encourages fledgling entrepreneurs to ignore the nay-sayers.

“There will always be nay-sayers and people that don’t understand what you are doing or think that what you are doing is crazy.  Ignore them.  Not everyone is an expert that you should except advice from, but there will be plenty of people out there with free advice to discourage you,” says Griffin.

Works, who has a doctorate in business administration in addition to being a certified public accountant (CPA), advises entrepreneurs to set up a separate bank account for the business to handle income and expenses.  She also says its important to treat employees as partners.

“Employees are valuable assets,” says Works.  For more information and to rsvp to attend the seminar contact Hopeton Hay at hopeton@econpers.com.

About the Speakers

Marlon Green

Marlon Green is an Accountant for a consulting company in downtown Austin, Texas. He is a graduate of Houston Baptist University where he doubled major in Business Administration and Accounting.

Mr. Green has spent the majority of his accounting career in the Oil & Gas industry in Houston, Texas where he was employed by Lyondell Petrochemical Company and Shell Lubricants. In 2009 Marlon Green also started a part time tax preparation business which is called MSG Accounting Services. In addition to the experience that he has obtained in the Accounting field, Mr. Green has been a member of the National Association of Black Accountants where he is currently working with the Community Affairs Committee and the Chair of the Technical Sessions Committee for the 2009 Southwest Western Region Student Conference. Mr. Green has also worked as a liaison for the students at Texas State University.  is the new proud owner of Speedpro Imaging North Austin, a small business enterprise that specializes in wide-format printing. 

Tommy Griffin is the new proud owner of Speedpro Imaging North Austin, a small business enterprise that specializes in wide-format printing. 

Tommy Griffin

Prior to going into business for himself, Tommy spent nearly 12 years at Applied Materials in both Santa Clara, California and Austin, Texas.  At Applied Materials, Tommy held various roles in Finance including Internal Auditor and Financial Analyst and was promoted multiple times.  His final role was Gross Margin Finance Manager, responsible for reporting gross margin components for the Silicon Business Segment, and Global Process Owner for Installation and Warranty Reserve Accounting.  Prior to joining Applied Materials, Tommy spent three years at public accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP in San Jose, California and worked with clients such as Network Equipment Technologies, Granite Rock Construction and The County of Santa Clara.  A native Californian, Tommy was awarded a track scholarship while attending California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, concentration in Accounting.  Tommy is a Certified Public Accountant and married with three school aged children.

Hopeton Hay

Hopeton Hay is the host of Economic Perspectives, a weekly business talk show on KAZI 88.7 FM in Austin, Texas and is founder and editor of the Economic Perspectives Blog. 

He has over 20 years experiences assisting small, minority, and women-owned businesses with access to capital, contracts, and surety bonds.  Currently he manages a technical assistance and training program for minority and women-owned businesses for a major university system.  His past experience includes serving as Project Director of the Dallas/Fort Worth Minority Business Development Center and Director of Texas Center Operations of the NAACP Community Development Resource Center.  He is a board member of the Austin Cen-Tex chapter of NABA, the Surety Association of South Texas, and the Texas NAACP.

Dr. Betty Works is an Audit Manager for U.S. Army Audit Agency, Acquisition and Logistics Directorate.  She was also the Field Office Manager. In this capacity, she is responsible for providing leadership and management for the audit technical staff and the field office administrative staff.  She works with Agency headquarters to ensure continuity of field office operations.  Dr. Works also coordinates with the Deputy Auditor General for Acquisition and Logistics and the Program Director for Installation Operations to facilitate audit coverage and technical oversight for audits of Army programs–with budgets in excess of $30 million–required to effectively operate installations. 

Dr. Betty Works

Dr. Works began her career with Army Audit Agency in 1987. Her first assignment was with the former Southwest Region located in San Antonio, Texas. Before assuming her current position, she was assigned to the former European Region (Kaiserslautern Field Office) and the New Jersey Field Office.

Dr. Works educational accolades include a Doctorate in Business Administration, a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. She is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Texas and a Certified Government Financial Manager. She is a member of the National Association of Black Accountants where she holds the position of treasurer. She is also a member of the Texas Society of CPAs.

 Dr. Works is single and resides in Harker Heights, Texas. She has three grown children and a 3 year old grandson.

BizOntheRise.org: New Web Site Features Diverse Entrepreneurs with Innovative Business Solutions

Even in these days of economic uncertainty, the eternal optimism and unflagging energy of creative entrepreneurs insures that they will continue to develop innovative products and services that solve our problems, meet our needs, and fulfill our dreams.  BizOntheRise.org is a new web site that will feature stories about business and social entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds that have developed innovative solutions to the challenges of today.

Alvin Brown

The first entrepreneur featured on BizOntheRise is Alvin Brown, president of Ladder Jumpers. Brown has developed a free service to help family and friends communicate during a natural or man-made disaster, WeAreSafeandSound.com.  During a time when the Gulf coast of Texas and Louisiana seem to have a major hurricane hit nearly every year, Brown’s commitment is worthy of notice.

Here is an excerpt from the article on Alvin Brown:

Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Ike.  If you, family, or friends were in the middle of one of these forces of nature you likely wanted a reliable way to contact family and friends to make sure everyone was okay.  Now an enterprising young man has developed a service to insure you can communicate with them during a natural or man-made disaster, WeAreSafeAndSound.com…To read the entire article on Alvin Brown and listen to a short interview click here.

Entrepreneurial Artist Focus of August 10 Economic Perspectives

The Bydee Art Gallery has been a fixture in the Austin art scene almost continuously since 1990-with a one year detour from 2005-2006 when the owner moved to Philadelphia.  Spawned from the unique vision of Trinidadian artist Brian Joseph, Joseph has successfully fused the spirit of the artist with the cold hard reality of business.  Brian Joseph will discuss his experience as an entrepreneur and artist on the August 10th edition of Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7FM.

Brian Joseph and his art

Joseph started painting in 1986 with no formal training.  His style of painting promotes education and diversity through the fictitious colorful Bydee People which reminds one of  life in the Carribean.  Joseph is  a poet, motivational speaker, and is also the author of four books: Color Me Bydee, Happy Calypso Clowns, People Come In All Colors and Words of Bydee.  He has provided commissioned art for a number of significant institutions including  Auburn University, City of Austin, National Education Agency, Texas A & M University, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Joseph has a bachelors degree in sociology and anthropology from Tougaloo University and a masters degree in urban studies from Trinity University.  Currently he is writing his fifth book titled From Brian Joseph to the Bydee Man.

Making the Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur Focus of July 20 Economic Perspectives

Pamela Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, will be the July 20 guest on Economic Perspectives.  Pamela’s book provides a wide variety of information for those dreaming about making the transition from employee to entrepreneur.  It covers not just the nuts and bolts of starting a business, but a full discussion of the emotional issues involved.

Pamela Slim spent a decade traveling all over the country as a self-employed trainer for large corporations. She was surprised to find that many of the most successful employees at these companies harbored secret dreams of breaking out to start their own business. They would pull her aside after a meeting and whisper, “I would love to work for myself, but have no idea how to get started. How did you do it?”

So Pamela started a blog—Escape from Cubicle Nation—to share her experience and advice. Soon, questions and stories poured in from corporate prisoners around the world. As her blog gained popularity, she also interviewed some of the brightest experts in entrepreneurship on topics from finance to branding to marketing via social networks.

Pamela’s expertise in personal and business exchange was developed through consulting for corporations such as Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard, and Charles Scwab.

Increased Equity and Venture Capital Funding Available For Small Businesses through SBA

From the press office of the U.S. Small Business Administration

Small businesses that would otherwise have difficulty securing private equity or venture capital may find funding easier to get as a result of changes made as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Small Business Investment Company program.

“The Recovery Act expands SBA’s venture capital program to increase the pool of investment funding available to the Small Business Investment Companies licensed by SBA,” said SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills. “We believe those companies will be better equipped by these changes to help sustain and grow small businesses for their next important growth steps.”

Karen Mills

SBICs are privately owned and managed venture capital firms which are licensed and regulated by SBA. SBICs use a combination of funds raised from private sources and money raised through the use of SBA guarantees to make equity and mezzanine capital investments in small businesses. There are approximately 338 SBICs with $17.4 billion in capital under management.

The changes made as part of the Recovery Act are:

• The Recovery Act makes SBICs eligible for greater SBA guaranteed funding and requires SBICs to invest 25 percent of their investment dollars into “smaller” businesses. Also, the amount of funding an SBIC may invest in a single small business is set at 10 percent of an SBIC’s total capital rather than the previous limit of 20 percent of an SBIC’s private capital only. This translates to an effective 50 percent increase in funding available to a single business by an SBIC.
• Maximum SBA funding levels to SBICs will increase up to three times the private capital raised by the SBIC, up to a maximum of $150 million for single SBICs, or up to $225 million for multiple SBICs that are under common control. The cap for all licensees was set at $137.1 million before the Recovery Act.
• These limits are even higher for SBICs that are licensed after October 1, 2009, that certify that at least 50 percent of their investments will be made in small businesses located in low-income areas, up to $175 million for single licensees and up to $250 million for jointly controlled multiple licensees.
• Changes made to the SBIC program under the Recovery Act are permanent.

Industry associations have commended SBA for these changes and SBA continues to encourage new SBICs to apply for licensing and actively participate in the program.

The SBIC program was created to stimulate the growth of America’s small businesses by supplementing the long-term debt and private-equity capital available to them. Since the SBIC program’s formation in 1958 through April 2009, it has invested approximately $56 billion in more than 106,000 small businesses in the United States. For more information about the SBA’s Investment Division and SBIC program, go to www.sba.gov/INV or call 1-800-U ASK SBA.