Happy Anniversary

A marvelous gift from staff at the shop. The adventure started four years ago this month...

Could have Told you That!

December sales were down and 2009 a year of record bad retail numbers: Retail sales fell in December as demand for autos, clothing and appliances all slipped, a disappointing finish to a year in which sales had the largest drop on record.

The weakness in consumer demand highlighted the formidable hurdles facing the economy as it struggles to recover from the deepest recession in seven decades.

The Commerce Department said Thursday that retail sales declined 0.3 percent in December compared with November, much weaker than the 0.5 percent rise that economists had been expecting. Excluding autos, sales dropped by 0.2 percent, also weaker than the 0.3 percent rise analyst had forecast.

For the year, sales fell 6.2 percent, the biggest decline on records that go back to 1992. The only other year that annual sales fell was in 2008, when they slipped by 0.5 percent.

Our December was right in line with the rest of 4Q09, right around 20% off of last year's numbers. If there's an economic rebound but you've gone out of business, did it really happen?

How low Can you Go?

From NRO's Media Blog...just wow:

The Boston Globe was sold to the New York Times Co. for about $1 billion. The Philadelphia Inquirer was sold to Bruce Toll and the gang for about $515 million. The Chicago Sun-Times is on the block and the best offer so far is ... $5 million in cash and an agreement to pick up $20 million in debt and obligations.

Gives new meaning to "pennies on the dollar". As a former member of the industry (and one who rejoices daily at my freedom), I can't say, unfortunately, that I'm surprised.

Come to think of it, it's time for the quarterly check to see if Lee Enterprises is bankrupt yet...not that I can see but this analysis from earlier in the year is interesting.

Business Tip of the Day

When you're meeting with an investor who is footing the bill for start-up costs, don't submit work bids that you haven't reviewed.

'C' for Crap you could Never make up in a Million Years...Or things

GM's new Chairman acknowledges that he doesn't know anything about the car industry...

Edward E. Whitacre Jr. built AT&T Inc. into the biggest U.S. provider of telephone service over a 43-year-career. By his own admission, he becomes chairman of General Motors Corp. knowing nothing about the auto industry.

The 6-foot-4-inch Texan nicknamed “Big Ed” said steering the nation’s largest automaker after bankruptcy is “a public service.” People who know him say he can meet GM’s need for the type of transformation he orchestrated at Dallas-based AT&T.

“I don’t know anything about cars,” Whitacre, 67, said yesterday in an interview after his appointment. “A business is a business, and I think I can learn about cars. I’m not that old, and I think the business principles are the same.”

Really?

It is true that to a large degree 'business' is indeed 'business' and there will be many principles that apply in high-tech communications that can also be applied to automotive manufacturing. Given, however, that even after injections of oodles of taxpayer dollars GM more resembles a dead-corpse than a healthy business entity, is now the best time to put a neophyte in charge?

Then again, he's in good company.

Clownshow

Job Security

It's all about being the irreplaceable one...

Principles of Negotiation

Disincentives

Work is hard enough, how management thinks erecting road blocks is cool has always escaped me...

The Brand is Everything

When cash isn't King...

I'm the King of the World!

Er, I'm running the shop. Haven't a clue what I'm doing but we'll see what happens...

Stupidity on Parade

It is Keith Olbermann after all...why would you expect anything different?

What does 'Minimally Involved' mean?

That's my line. Numerous people have asked exactly how involved will I be at the shop. My answer is nearly always the same.

This is a four-person deal, yes but only two are working full-time and I am not either of them. "I'm minimally involved."

My employer asks how much might this endeavor potentially interfere with your work here? "It won't. I'm minimally involved."

Sim wonders what I'll be doing. "I'll be in on the decision making but won't do much of the day-to-day stuff...I'm minimally involved."

Friends have asked similar questions. You guessed it; "I'm minimally involved."

So what exactly does that phrase mean? For as easy as it rolls off the tongue, it's rather vague.

Well, on Opening Night at least, it meant that I was the guy at the shop 'til 10:45 working with the IT guy getting the computer systems up and running.

I'm minimally involved, yes.

Business Lesson #2

When you think you've spotted someone in the act of shoplifting, stop them.

Doubling Down

My wife and family are entering into the world of business in a joint venture; the learning curve is steep. Very steep.

And it's made steeper by vendors. Time lines, time-tables, unforeseen delays all conspire to leave you behind the eight ball. Your woes are compounded when your vendor makes a mistake and the whole situation explodes when he doubles down and pulls out in a fit of pique.

Lesson number one--surely of many--in how not to do business...