He had great credentials when President Ronald Reagan nominated him to be chief of the Federal Reserve in 1987. Just 69 days into Alan Geenspan’s term, however, the Dow dropped by 508 points and 22 percent (if the stock market average dropped 22 percent today, the Dow would lose about 3,000 points). The financial system was close to a financial panic, but that didn’t happen, not then and not during his five terms as Fed chairman.

In his book The Age of Turbulence, Greenspan says the effect of 9/11 was far different. Not much happened at all. He knew then that the world of a global capitalist economy is more resilient and fast-changing than it was in 1987.

Previous to his tenure, it was assumed that an unemployment rate below 6 percent would trigger inflation. Greenspan believed the New Economy would prevent that. In 1995 and 1996, he convinced the Federal Open Market Committee to leave interest rates low in spite of falling unemployment. He was right. The unemployment rate fell below 4 percent in the 1990s without causing inflation.

Some economists blame the post 9/11 interest rate cuts for cheap money that wound up in the real estate market. Greenspan says the blame lies less with the Fed and more with investors’ demand for high-yielding debt like subprime mortgage bonds.

His 531-page book provides glimpses of his life, including several less well-known aspects. Greenspan started playing the clarinet at age 12 and later studied at Julliard School of Music. He played professionally in the Henry Jerome band in 1944 before deciding on a career in economics. In 1948, he graduated summa cum laude from New York University and later earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. He co-founded Townsend-Greenspan & Co., an economic consulting firm. In 1974, President Ford named him chairman of Committee on Social Security Reform.

The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan, Penguin Press, 531 pages, $35.

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The economic census measures the nation’s economic activity, providing key source data for the gross domestic product (GDP) and other indicators of economic performance. Providing data that businesses need to compare industries and locations, the economic census is vital for developing business plans, gauging the competition and assessing efficiency.

On Dec. 17, 2007, most U.S. businesses with paid employees will receive an economic census form. The Economic Census takes place every five years in years ending in 2 and 7, and traces its roots back to the first census of manufactures in 1810.

Now 197 years since U.S. marshals first rode out on horseback to collect economic information, American businesses can respond via the Internet using an electronic reporting tool, or they may report using the paper form. A Web site was created
<www.business.census.gov>
to help businesses understand why the economic census is important. It also includes economic snapshots of selected industries.

Forms must be returned to the U.S. Census Bureau by Feb. 12, 2008. Online help can be found at:

<http://bhs.econ.census.gov/ec07/index.html>

Businesses that receive forms are required by federal law to respond. Information about individual firms is kept confidential.

4,700,000
The total number of census forms that are being mailed for the 2007 Economic Census. California is receiving approximately 550,000 forms, Texas approximately 330,000 and Alaska about 12,000. The Ashland, Ohio, micropolitan statistical area will receive about 710. To find an estimate of the number of forms your state, county or metropolitan area will receive, see

557
The number of different versions of the economic census form used to collect the data. There are 22 additional forms unique to Puerto Rico and the other island areas.

Driving Around

16 to 1
The ratio of auto paint or body repair shops to automobile driving schools.
$4,135,433
The average amount of sales per employee at new and used automobile wholesalers, including automobiles, trucks, trailers and other motor vehicles, such as motorcycles, motor homes and snowmobiles.

$24 million
Average new car dealer sales per establishment. This compares with $2 million for used car dealer sales.

At the Gas Pump

14.7%
Percent increase from 1997 to 2002 in the number of gas stations with convenience stores.

-38.6%
Percent decrease from 1997 to 2002 in the number of gas stations without convenience stores.

$1.99 million
Total amount of sales per gas station with a convenience store.

$2.25 million
Total amount of sales per gasoline station without a convenience store.

$259,000
The amount of revenue brought in per employee for gas stations with convenience stores.

$305,000
The amount of revenue brought in per employee for gas stations without convenience stores.

42%
Sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products by gas stations with convenience stores as a percentage of all retail sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Eating, Drinking and Shopping

$258
Per capita sales at drinking establishments in Montana. <

$52
National average per capita sales at drinking establishments. Seven states had more than $100 in per capita sales (Montana, Nevada, Alaska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin), while Mississippi and Virginia were among the states with the lowest per capita sales. Nevada ranked highest in average sales per establishment at $607,500, compared with a U.S. average of $305,000.

$1,115
Average sales at eating and drinking establishments of all types for every U.S. resident in 2002.

85
The average number of seats at a full-service restaurant in 2002. There were eight times as many full-service restaurants with an average cost per meal of $7 to $9.99 as there were with an average cost per meal of $30 or more. However the average sales per establishment for the less expensive eateries was nearly two and a half times less than those of the more expensive counterparts.

9,355
The number of department stores in the United States.

789 million square feet
The amount of selling space at department stores in the United States.

$278
Sales per square foot of selling space in U.S. department stores in 2002.
Sales per square foot of selling space in supermarkets and other grocery (except convenience) stores. Conventional department stores sell much less per square foot of selling space–$225. Warehouse clubs and supercenters do better, with $528 per square foot of selling space.

North vs. South
Among supermarkets and other grocery stores, the New England states were among the highest in sales per square foot of selling space with an average around $736 per square foot. Three Southern states – South Carolina, Mississippi and Arkansas – had sales per square foot of selling space less than half of their New England counterparts at about $337 per square foot.

Utilities, Movies and Fast Food

$23.3 million
The amount of the total receipts per establishment in the utilities sector. These were the highest per establishment among the 18 sectors in the 2002 Economic Census. Retail trade receipts per establishment were $2.7 million, while wholesale trade averaged $10.6 million.

$68,705
The average annual payroll per employee in the management of companies and enterprises sector. Employees in the manufacturing sector earned an average of $39,197. Accommodation and food services

$83,521
The revenue per employee for movie theaters (excluding drive-ins).

$9,744
The average annual salary per employee at movie theaters (excluding drive-ins).

65
The number of videotape rental stores per 1 million U.S. residents. There were also 17 movie theaters and one drive-in theater per 1 million U.S. residents.

285
Number of drive-in movie theaters nationwide. California and Ohio had the most with 28 each, followed by Pennsylvania (24), New York (22) and Indiana (16).

16
The average number of workers employed by a limited-service (fast-food) restaurant.

1,319
The average number of people employed at a casino hotel.

Sports

12,261
The number of golf courses and country clubs in the United States.

312,812
The number of employees working at golf courses and country clubs in the United States.

$21,280
The average salary per employee at U.S. golf courses and country clubs.

67
The number of professional (and semiprofessional) football establishments.

6,722
The number of employees who work for football establishments.

$411,824
The average salary per employee among football establishments.

242
The number of professional baseball establishments.

15,976
The number of people employed in professional and semiprofessional baseball.

$156,307
The average salary for employees who work for professional baseball establishments.

$25,701
Receipts per employee at skiing facilities.

Personal Business

Getting your hair done
18 to 1
The ratio of beauty salons to barbershops.

$39,584
The average receipts per employee at nail salons.

$38,271
The average receipts per employee at barbershops.

$36,457
The average receipts per employee at beauty salons.

Who needs a lawyer
169,120
The number of law offices across the nation.

Is there a doctor in the house?
705
The number of physician’s offices per 1 million residents

Buying a house
67%
Percent of revenue from real estate agents and brokers offices that came from the sale of residential property.

Leaky faucets?
The dollar value of business done per paid employee by plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractors.

Yard work
76,102
The number of landscaping establishments. One-third of the landscaping businesses provide tree and shrub services; one in five operates a snowplow.

Taking care of the kids
91%
Percent of child day care services that have no paid employees. (Most are self-employed individuals.)

Sweet tooth?
$374
Average amount dentists in Washington received per each state resident, the highest in the country.

$247
The average receipts per capita for dentists

Special Editions of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Facts for Features are issued to provide background information for lesser-known observances, anniversaries of historic events and other timely topics in the news.

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This is a video post I found about Seth Godin

The film stars the ever-curious Seth Godin. Prolific best-selling author and one of the most-read business bloggers in the world. I filmed Seth without really knowing much about him. The result is ‘curiosity’, a place we might have never reached if I had known the events of his life.

After having read Seth’s blog for a while now - I’m a fan - I suspect his ’success’ to come as a result of a burning curiosity.
Source: http://www.monday9am.tv/

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A non-profit organization hopes to help children in impoverished countries by distributing low-cost computers.

Designed with help from major companies including Google, NewsCorp, and Nortel, the XO went into mass production in November and has been tested in countries like Brazil, Nigeria, and India already.

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Provided by HPEstablish a Broadband Connection
Wireless networks are always an extension of your broadband wired connection. Before you put your wireless network in place, be sure you have a T1, DSL, cable, or other broadband connection in place in your office.

Decide Who, What, When, and Where
Determine who will be using the network and what they’ll be doing on it. Find out when they’ll need it so you can prevent bandwidth-intensive tasks from bogging down your wireless network. Determine the number and location of wireless access points.

Get the Gear
Purchase the gear that creates the wireless network and connects you to the Internet—the access points, routers, and hubs. You’ll also need to purchase wireless network cards for every desktop, laptop, PDA, printer, or other device that will connect to the established wireless network. Be sure that the cards support the same standard and broadcast frequency as the wireless access point.

Implement Wireless Security
Wireless networks broadcast data packets—your information—out into thin air where anyone can pick up the broadcasts. So you’ll need to implement some wireless-specific security measures, such as MAC addressing, data encryption, and other traditional security techniques.

© 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP

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Become the master of your day by Keith Rosen

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 Is It Right for You?

Hundreds of thousands of individuals decide to start a home-based business each year. Many succeed. About 70 percent of all home based businesses are in operation after two years. Before entering this venture, entrepreneurs should consider several key questions:

• Can you operate the business alone with little help?
• Do you have contact with buyers or your services?
• Is the location such that distributors, sales staff, clients and others can reach it without difficulty?
• Is start-up and operations capital available for the first year?
• Can the business really be operated from the home?
• Do you have separate spaces for storage, records, isolation, parking, etc.?
• Can a business in the home compete with similar businesses?

As in most businesses, there are advantages and disadvantages to the home-based business. A business in the home permits flexibility of working hours, lower start-up costs and allows family affairs to continue during business hours. There are also disadvantages—zoning restrictions may prohibit business, the IRS may raise tax questions, it may be difficult to get materials and customers to the location and financing the business could be challenging.

The IRS specifies that a home-based business must have its own location away from the family living space that is devoted exclusively to the business. The business must be in regular operation, profits must exceed expenses in order to claim deductions, the business must be conducted almost exclusively in the home and the motive must be profit.

A major challenge in operating a home-based business is isolation from distributors, merchants, clients and interested parties. Modern communications help to alleviate the problem—a computer is a necessity. A fax machine and Internet access are almost certainly necessary for communications within the business community. In addition, separate telephone phone lines must be installed for telephone, fax and Internet access and the business phone needs some type of answering service.

In summary, the business must be run as a business not as an extension of the home. It is essential that the prospective business owner have a good business and financial plan, separate from the family finances, that clearly spells out the present and future of the business.

Be aware that many neighborhoods have deed restrictions forbidding the operation of a business. Some require extra off street parking, others forbid deliveries and signs, etc. It is wise to check with your Home Owners Association and with your local government for a complete survey of your city or county regulations.

It may be difficult to raise capital. The average home-based business requires about $10,000 in start-up costs. Although this may be much less than opening a business outside the home, both the start-up and operating funds should be in hand before beginning the business operation.

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By Holly BerkleyPicture yourself at the ball game cracking through a bag of dry roasted peanuts. You’re on your second handful when that familiar red and white logo pops up on the big screen advertising an ice-cold Coca-Cola. You immediately track down the next vendor with a basket of ice-cold drinks. This is called “pin point marketing.” It is the process of delivering an appropriate message at the right time that produces actual results.

In contrast, let’s say you are enjoying those same peanuts when an advertisement for Toyota Trucks pops up on the same screen. It’s a nice ad, but not nearly as effective. This is an example of “interruptive marketing.” It is not truly targeted because it is not what you are actively looking for at that moment.

What does this scenario have to do with your business? Well, rather than wasting valuable marketing dollars on billboards, 30-second television ads or radio commercials (all examples of “interruptive marketing”) focus your energy on putting your product in front of potential customers while they are looking for it. Unlike when people watch TV or listen to the radio, Internet users are actively looking for a solution to a problem. If you can place your product in their path at the right time, you’ve made a customer. The most cost-effective way to achieve this is by combining your marketing message with important content that users are already actively seeking out.

Start by submitting “how-to” or “industry news” type articles to relevant Web sites in your industry. Unique Web content is important to all size companies. And, buying custom content is expensive and time consuming. As a result most companies are willing to trade a free plug for your Web site or company for an informative, well-written article.

Every article you submit should enhance your company’s position as an expert or industry leader, while providing valuable information at the same time. Content written around your company or product also helps your business gain credibility, which is extremely important for small businesses.  When a potential customer reads your article, you have already established yourself as an expert in that field. By the time the customer clicks over to your Web site or gives you a call, you have a very hot lead.

Perhaps you own a local painting business. Your target customers are most likely looking for home improvement information online, so you could exchange stories and “how to” advice with local carpenters or electricians. Or take it a step further and submit your “expert painting advice” to popular home improvement and real estate Web sites. You can swap content with anyone in your industry that is not a direct competitor. By doing so, you’ll open your company up to a wider audience while building up your credibility.

Also, think about what type of person will be using the Web site you select to post your article. For example, studies show that a mother of two who needs a quick dinner recipe will do a quick search, and then print out the page. So animated banners ads or even a link to your Web site may not be the most effective way to get her attention. On the other hand, adding a clip out coupon to the article would be very effective.

In traditional media, one positive sentence in editorial is worth much more than two paid advertisements. The same is true on the Internet. Getting a free link or product mention on another Web site is an extremely valuable way to gain high quality leads. Combine that free link or product mention with a well-written article and you’ll turn that product mention into a sale.

Holly Berkley is the author of Limited-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business and owner of Berkley Web Strategies, a San Diego-based Web design and online marketing company specializing in helping all size businesses succeed online.

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New functions enable you to use the power of Google search to automatically pull up-to-date information from all over the Web, including stock quotes and news, into your Google Docs spreadsheets. Use these functions to keep tabs on prospects and competitors or identify new business opportunities

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Analytical ability
The ability to assess a situation or issue and identify key elements that need to be addressed to move on. You will have used this skill in your academic work to solve problems, in your choice of university course and where you decided to live.
Commercial awareness
Being aware of the business issues affecting the sector to which you are applying. Having an understanding of external factors and internal structures. You will build on this skill as you begin to apply for jobs, as you gather details about companies and follow up information sources.
Computer literacy
Virtually all employers will expect a basic level of familiarity with a range of computer packages for word-processing and spreadsheets, and of course email and web use. Take any opportunity you can to widen your knowledge while you are studying.
Decision-making
Choosing the best option by looking at the various paths open to you, identifying the pros and cons and making a balanced judgement. Examples include choosing your career or your university course where you need to gather information before you can begin to reach a conclusion.
Influencing
Working to gain the agreement of others to a particular course of action, for example setting up a rota for dealing with household tasks, acting as a course representative, working on a group project.
Initiative
The ability to find a new way of doing something, not waiting to see if the problem is solved by someone else, very close to problem-solving, but more pro-active. You may have taken the initiative in a bar job when you saw that certain basic processes could be managed more effectively, or played an effective part on a hall committee to instigate recycling of waste paper for example.
Leadership
Leadership centres on encouraging others to move towards a specific goal. It determines an agenda for action, ideally in consultation. It is the ability to inspire and motivate without ‘owning’. You may have demonstrated leadership in a team sport, organising and chairing a committee or co-ordinating activities within a group project.
Negotiating
Negotiating usually involves discussing a situation face-to-face or on the phone. The purpose is to reach a mutually satisfactory conclusion which often involves some compromise which is acceptable to all parties. You may have negotiated with your landlord over your rent or repairs you needed fixing, or the bank for an increased overdraft for example.
Networking
This is an awareness of the need to develop a good network of contacts throughout your working life and indeed beforehand if you are attempting to enter a highly competitive field such as advertising. You need to be able to develop and maintain this sort of network in your professional life for advice and information. Effective networking depends on good oral communication and negotiation skills.
Oral Communication
Communicating with others through speech in a clear manner avoiding unnecessary jargon. It is the ability to explain processes simply and at a relevant level. You demonstrate this skill in seminars and tutorials, when you give a presentation or explain a work process in any job you may have held.
Planning
The ability to organise resources, time and events that will enable you to meet your goal. You could well have used your planning skills in project work, writing your dissertation, or organising an event. Think about the process you went through and try and identify various occasions when you used these skills.
Presentation
The ability to choose an appropriate method to give information or facts, to present yourself to your employers in a positive manner, linked very closely to self-awareness and oral communication.
Problem-solving
The ability to find an appropriate solution to a problem using whatever information, experience and resources are available. Think about problems you have solved in your academic work, where a logical approach is frequently required. Other examples might be found in any outside activities you enjoy such as the planning of events. Linked closely with analytical skills.
Self-awareness
The ability to identify clearly your skills, values, interests and core strengths - what makes you different. You welcome and act upon feedback constructively. This is a vital skill for your career management and one which takes time to develop. Resources such as Prospects Planner will help, together with discussions with your careers adviser.
Self-confidence
The ability to feel confident of your position and your views in a variety of situations - some of which will feel unfamiliar to you. You develop this skill through vacation activities such as travel which you have organised yourself and where you have had to depend upon your own initiative. Giving presentations adds to confidence too; in fact any work that brings you into contact with the general public will enhance your self-confidence.
Self-management
Self-management requires self-awareness but it is about setting your own targets and working out a plan to achieve them. You may have demonstrated good self-management in your successes to date, in sporting achievements, in excellent project reports for example.
Team-working
The ability to work with others in an organised manner to achieve a goal. This is a key skill and you will have demonstrated it in any group project work, through team sports, committee activities, vacation work, Duke of Edinburgh activities among others.
Tenacity
This is all about not giving up when the going gets tough! It is about sorting out the problems that occur at the last minute and believing in getting the job done. You will have demonstrated this skill in your determination to achieve against the odds. Maybe you had to retake an examination or face some other disappointment such as not getting a vacation job until you had applied for about 20. As long as you found a way to resolve the situation and move on you have demonstrated tenacity.
Time-management
Time-management is demonstrated through juggling the many aspects of your working, academic and social life. Employers like to see well-rounded individuals who have busy lives, but who are in control. Some people plan their time graphically, others carry deadlines around in their head. Make sure you know what is effective for you.
Willingness to learn
This includes the ability to deal with change, both in the work place and in your personal life, and to learn from the experience. Working structures are not static and it is essential that you show you are able to cope with new challenges and take calculated and informed risks. Your academic experience and any work you have undertaken outside university should give you examples of when you have demonstrated this skill.
Written communication
The ability to produce well expressed and easily understood text whether in emails or reports. You will have developed this skill through your course work, in project reports or dissertations, and you demonstrate it in covering letters and application forms too!

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