Business startup rate drops to 10.1 percent in U.S.

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Slightly more than 10 percent of American adults are starting or running a new business, according to the 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor.

That's down from 12.4 percent a year ago, but within the statistical margin of error, according to GEM researchers.

Peru, at 40.2 percent, has the highest percentage of adults engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity. Belgium ranks last at 2.7 percent.

In China, 16.7 percent of adults are starting or running new businesses, up from 13.7 percent a year ago. One-third of Chinese adults expect to start a business in the next three years.

In every country except the Philippines, men are more likely to start a business than women. However, the gender gap is most pronounced in high-income countries.

Individuals, ages 25 to 34, are the most likely to start new businesses; adults in the 55 to 64 age range are the least likely.

The annual GEM research project is directed by Babson College and the London Business School.

Meanwhile, the U.S. ranks No. 4 in the Heritage Foundation's latest Index of Economic Freedom, behind Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia. North Korea and Cuba are at the bottom of the rankings.

Countries are measured in 10 categories, ranging from business freedom to freedom from corruption. Nations that increase their economic freedom levels grow faster, according to the foundation.

Another survey, however, found that, for the first time in five years, European business leaders are more optimistic about their economies than U.S. business leaders are. Asian business owners are the most confident in the world, according to the Grant Thornton International survey of 7,200 business leaders in 32 countries.

For more, see www.gemconsortium.org, www.heritage.org or www.internationalbusinessreport.com.

Find tax forms at Business.gov

Businesses that need federal tax forms and guides can easily find them on Business.gov, the official business link to the U.S. government.

This help might be particularly useful this month, as employers prepare W-2s for their employees.

"January may be a stressful time for a business owner, and one of Business.gov's main goals is to ease the burden of federal compliance on businesses," says Steven Preston, who heads the Small Business Administration.

The SBA manages the Business.gov site.

For more information, see www.business.gov.

© 2007 New Mexico Business Weekly

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Small Talk: Postal rate hike changing the way many do business

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When postal rates go up on May 14, many small business owners will be looking for ways to save on their mailing costs. Many will switch to e-mail and other high-tech methods, while others will opt for smaller envelopes or thinner packages.
    And some will take more drastic steps - such as abandoning higher-cost, low-margin parts of their businesses.
    Steve Weber, who sells books online, already stopped shipping some lower-priced books in recent years because he simply couldn't make enough of a profit as mailing costs increased. When rates rise again, he expects to pare his inventory further, discarding or donating books that would sell for $5 or less.
    ''I'll probably downsize quite a bit and focus in on the items that are worth more money,'' said Weber, adding that he'll also be shipping fewer books overseas.
    Weber noted that there are booksellers whose specialty are books that cost just a few dollars, and so shipping costs - which can be limited by online retailers that display the booksellers' inventory - can offset or outstrip any profits. That means some book merchants will be forced to find entirely different books to sell, perhaps targeting a niche market.
    ''The key to making money is to specialize,'' said Weber, who runs his business, Weber Books, from Falls Church, Va. ''You've got to focus in on markets like collectible cookbooks or poetry.''
    The postal rate change that will send the cost of a first-class stamp up 2 cents to 41 cents will also make it more expensive for businesses to send most of their letters and packages. Evan Bloom, who co-owns a Sir Speedy printing franchise in Westbury, N.Y., said that while in the past the U.S. Postal Service based its prices on weight and size, now thickness of a letter or package is being thrown into the mix.
    He noted, for example, that a business sending out a letter with a complimentary pen to a prospective customer has only had to worry about the weight of the package. But as of May 14, the thickness of such an envelope will figure into the cost because the pen will make it harder for the package to be sorted.
    Bloom said many companies will be able to save on postage costs by using different size envelopes or making smaller mailings. But, he said of the increase, ''there's no way to avoid it entirely.''
    He expects his clients to do what his company has already been doing to contain its own costs - culling mailing lists to target the best sales prospects. ''It makes me think more in detail about how I'm mailing, whether it will reach the people we need to,'' Bloom said.
    Bloom also expects the postal increase to affect his revenue as well as his costs. ''Some clients will now decide maybe they'll do a little less,'' he said.
    The postal rate hike follows by several months rate increases at package delivery services including FedEx Inc. and UPS Inc. And so the higher cost of mailing and shipping is likely to make many small businesses turn to e-mail and Web-based mail to send out letters, reports, presentations, projects and more.
    Andy Abramson, chief executive of Comunicano Inc., a Del Mar, Calif.-based marketing firm, said his company uses e-mail and the Web to send and receive most of its documents, bills and letters. For larger mailings that are too big for some Internet service providers or servers to handle, Comunicano relies on companies that deliver PDF files.
    Business owners wanting to learn about the various high-tech ways of mailing need only talk to other, more tech-savvy entrepreneurs, or to search the Web. While there are many sites run by companies wanting to sell you services, you can still learn about your options without signing up. You can also get some help from SCORE, the organization of retired executives who counsel small businesses for free; its Web site is www.score.org.
    But Abramson, who noted that he is the son of a postal worker, said businesses shouldn't expect to abandon regular mail altogether. Some pieces of mail can have an impact - especially an emotional impact - that e-mail and PDF files just can't deliver.
    ''There is something special about receiving a card, or a calendar that goes on your wall,'' he said.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune - Small Talk: Postal rate hike changing the way many do business

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