Fundraising is one of the most vital aspects of any organization. Whether you need money for an educational, scientific, philanthropic, creative, or business-related cause, comprehensive knowledge of how and where to solicit funds is essential. WeDidIt helps nonprofit organizations raise money through engaging crowdfunding campaigns. But for the past twelve months, we’ve been coming at fundraising from all angles in order to finance our own business as well as advise our nonprofit clients in fundraising.

In our initial conversations with our current clients, one of their biggest concerns was that online fundraising – and crowdfunding in particular – is a new(ish) model of raising money. They were concerned that if they launched a WeDidIt campaign, the fundraising they did with us would be a replacement to previous methods of fundraising. This isn’t the case at all. Crowdfunding is an excellent way to reach potential donors who you wouldn’t have access to through more traditional channels.

An important rule in raising money that we tell our clients and follow ourselves is that you should capitalize on every opportunity to raise funds that you can. As we continue to grow our own company, we’re continually seeking new opportunities to raise funds outside of our general sales operation.

Here are the five sources we used and considered for raising capital:

1. Business Plan Competitions. After we finalized our business plan, we researched and applied to several business plan competitions and eventually won the MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneur Series. A solid business plan is a must if you’re thinking of entering a competition, so get yourself some good business plan software to improve your chances.

2. Business Accelerator/Incubator Programs. We’ve applied to at least a dozen accelerator programs over the last 12 months from TechStars New York to Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley. Although we didn’t join any of the accelerators, the interviews and process was rewarding because it made us think about our startup venture in very productive ways.

3. Crowdfunding Project. We launched a crowdfunding campaign directed at our friends and family through our own software and website. The costs were minimal and the returns were better than we’d expected. We raised 127% of our funding goal and showed the world that crowdfunding does work.

4. Investors, Friends & Family. We reached out to people we knew that we thought could help. This wasn’t always asking for hard cash, but for networking opportunities and advice as to where to look for funding. When courting investors, make it a priority to get in bed with investors who can also add strategic value to your startup or organization. Great investors have money AND experience. Use them both!

5. Bank Loan. Loans are one of those resources that make the most sense when your organization has sufficient enough cashflow to handle your monthly loan payments. If you’re a startup still discovering your business model, loans may not be for you. But if you’re fortunate enough to have significant cashflow already, a loan can provide you smart capital without the loss of equity.

Seize as many opportunities to raise capital as you can and don’t think that one fundraising project will replace another. It’s like when you were younger – if you get an allowance, that’s good. If you get a job, that’s great. If you can get an allowance and have a job, you’re doing it right.

To learn more about WeDidIt, check out their Small Business Spotlight featured on Up and Running last week.

Fundraising image courtesty of Shutterstock

Those experts spoke at WorkTech 12 New York, an Unwired forum held in New York today that gave a glimpse of a future workplace that could be sparsely populated, or at least set up completely differently. All seemed to agree: the rise of cloud computing and big data will not just allow some people to work from home sometimes, but entice an army of workersto get the job done anytime, anywhere.

“I think there will be no more reason to come to a workplace unless we make it compelling,” says Philip Ross, futurologist and chief executive officer of Cordless Group and Unwork. “All is headed to the cloud.”

Much more work will be automated, done by machines via what Brian David Johnson, chief futurist at Intel, calls the “secret life of data.”

“It will feel like data has a life of its own,” he says. “You will have algorithms talking to algorithms, machines talking to machines.”

So what role will human workers have in all this? They’ll be there to handle “serial” tasks, completed one after the other versus the computational tasks machines can do in parallel, Johnson says. They’ll also be there to collaborate on ideas in a workplace that, panelists suggest, will be wireless and sparse.

In what he calls the “thin” workplace, Ross sees workers being able to dock their smartphones to slim laptops, the use of wireless display or WiDi, and the ability to transmit photos from a smartphone to a screen just by holding the phone up to the screen.

Forget giant writing pads on easels during meetings. There will be digital wallpaper that will let us write or sketch on the walls with a finger, and within two to three years, Microsoft Kinect business technology that reacts to people’s movements.

Peter Miscovich, managing director of corporate solutions at Jones Lang LaSalle says that everything will be wireless. “Keyboards will go away and we will all be talking to our screens,” he says. Or at least, that is, when we are in the office at all.

He points out that by 2012, 30 percent of the workers across Fortune 100 companies will be part of a “contingent workforce” that clocks in as needed. By 2020, 60 percent will be free agents, and by 2030, he predicts that 80 percent of the workers will be contingent meaning while there might be 100,000 workers in an office on Monday and 20,000 on Friday.

Several speakers—who were addressing workers whose primary task is creating and maintaining workplace facilities—mentioned that workers will have no reason to go to an office if they don’t want to.

“How will you attract people to bring them into the office?” Ross asks. He says that quirkiness, great design and a sense that is a workplace is a relaxed site for innovation will be key. He points to the eclectic array of workspaces at the Google offices in London as one example.

“They brought in desks and put in desk phones, but no one uses them,” Ross says, pointing out that there are living room-like spaces where people can work more comfortably and that staffers are each given their own swatch of an outdoor garden on the roof.

Ryan Anderson, director of future technology at Herman Miller, says all of this mobility is nothing truly new, but what the office of the future will bring is more interactive design that bring aspects of Facebook or Twitter into the office. What companies should not do, though, is mandate mingling since jobs that require thought often require solitude or at least a team of two, not eight.

In one photo of a workplace in his slide show, Anderson shows two people working at a table, and one man in a hammock with a tablet.

“We all need time to think and reflect,” Anderson says.

And an office hammock would be nice too.

Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/executive-style/2012/05/16/is-going-into-an-office-going-to-become-obsolete#ixzz1v8YflDVe

First, have big goals. I don’t necessarily mean you have to aim to build a huge corporation, worth billions of dollars. You can be a success — a big success — without creating the next Google or Facebook. Perhaps start small, but don’t be afraid to have a big vision — especially when you’re young. Stretch your imagination; be bold.

• MORE: Rhonda’s column index

Make a difference. Businesses only succeed when they meet a real need. But those needs can be petty or small: Think of those who’ve created reality shows about housewives and New Jersey. Instead, look to fill needs that are important, your contribution positive. Do something — create something — that has an impact. It doesn’t have to be world-changing — you don’t have to invent a miracle medical device or devise a way to feed the world’s poor. But whatever you choose to do, try to have a beneficial impact on the world you inhabit.

Create jobs — and I mean good jobs. One of the sure-fire ways you can change the world for the better is to grow your business in ways that you create good jobs for others. By good jobs, I mean jobs that pay a fair and living wage, where employees are treated with respect and they have a chance to have their ideas valued. Think of the impact you have when an employee of yours goes home with pride in the job they’ve done, feeling respected and valued, and with the ability to support themselves and their family. There is no end to the good you have done. And they, in turn, help you succeed.

Make something. I often say that there are two main types of businesspeople: builders or traders. Builders create — new products and services — whether physical or digital. The long-term health of our economy depends on these new creations. Traders serve an important need, but they aren’t the fuel for our economic engine. I’d rather be a builder.

Don’t be greedy. Even if your goal is to get rich, you don’t have to get filthy rich. Don’t focus on making a fortune; instead focus on creating a great business — focus on your product and your people. A baseball player — I believe it was Mike Piazza — said the only way to hit a home run was not to concentrate on hitting a home run. The same is true in business — just go out and hit the ball.

Share. Recognize that whatever success you do achieve, you won’t have made it all on your own. Your family, teachers, customers, employees, even suppliers will have helped you succeed. You may have had the benefits of going to a good public school, benefiting from the help your fellow citizens have given you. Remember that it took a network of people to enable your success; in return, be sure to support and give back to that network. And help other entrepreneurs who come after you.

Fail. Don’t be afraid to have crazy ideas. Great entrepreneurs typically fail, so don’t be afraid to try things that don’t work, launch businesses that go bust. If you’re afraid of failing, you’ll clip your own wings. So recognize failure for what it is €” a chance to learn what went wrong so you can make sure you set it right.

Finally, remember that the origin of the word is entreprendre; French for “to undertake.” Take a look at that word — “undertake.” Notice that it emphasizes an attempt to act, and not the outcome of that action. You undertake something. What matters is that you have begun something; you’ve started on a journey. And although traveling on that journey may not always be a smooth ride, at least you’re in the driver’s seat.

So to those of you just starting out on your journey of building your own businesses, I wish you all the very best of luck on your entrepreneurial road.

Across the United States, industries, businesses and consumers are climbing out of the Great Recession’s lows. US gross domestic product is forecast to grow 3.3% per year over the next five years, a welcome change from the meager growth of 0.6% per year between 2007 and 2012. Some industries, however, aren’t just recovering – they’re flourishing.

IBISWorld has compiled a list of these standout industries based on their contributions to the economy as a whole (measured as industry value added), absolute revenue growth and establishment growth over the past 10 years, as well as performance expected through 2017. Whether by focusing on environmentally friendly practices and operations or benefiting from technological advances, these industries are expected to continue their meteoric rise and far outpace the rest of the economy:

• Generic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
• Solar Panel Manufacturing
• For-Profit Universities
• Pilates & Yoga Studios
• Self-Tanning Product Manufacturing
• 3D Printer Manufacturing
• Social Network Game Development
• Hot Sauce Production
• Green & Sustainable Building Construction
• Online Eyeglasses & Contact Lens Sales

Thinking green

Over the past decade, the dramatic rise in energy costs and an increasingly vocal, environmentally conscious public have led to the growth of green industries. The Solar Panel Manufacturing industry has been at the forefront of the green industrial movement with average annual revenue growth of 32.3% from 2002 to 2012, including expected growth of 9.4% in 2012. As the federal government looks to reduce the United States’ dependency on fossil and other non-renewable fuels, green energy firms have reaped the benefit of substantial subsidies. Without assistance, solar power generation firms would have little chance against entrenched, traditional fuel sources. Moreover, falling silicon prices have allowed US firms to compete with low-cost manufacturers abroad. Over the next five years, revenue for the Solar Panel Manufacturing industry is expected to continue expanding at an average rate of 8.2% per year.

The construction industries were early victims of the Great Recession, but the Green and Sustainable Building Construction industry capitalized on the green movement and weathered the downturn well. Since 2002, industry revenue has experienced annualized growth of 28.9% and anticipated 18.3% growth in 2012. Firms in the industry construct energy-efficient buildings that are often largely composed of sustainable materials. Aided by local and state building codes that promote the use of energy-efficient building design and materials, demand for green construction has skyrocketed. Government programs like Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Energy Star have also driven demand forward. Over the five years to 2017, revenue for the Green and Sustainable Building industry is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 22.8%.

Taking care

Along with their heightened concern for the environment, Americans are increasingly seeking ways to become and stay healthy. Consumer awareness of the harmful effects of UV ray exposure and the prevalence of skin cancer has led to the rapid emergence of the Self-Tanning Product Manufacturing industry, which has experienced average annual revenue growth of 22.7% per year since 2002.

With the dangers of tanning beds foremost in many consumers’ minds – a study by the National Cancer Institute found that tanning lamps and beds can more than double the risk of skin cancer – self-tanning products have become more popular. Heightened interest in such products has led to more innovation. Today’s offerings produce a more natural tan for a wider range of skin tones. In 2012, revenue for the Self-Tanning Product Manufacturing industry is expected to grow 18.1%, with average annual growth of 10.7% projected over the next five years.

Consumers are also seeking alternative ways to stay fit. The Pilates and Yoga Studios industry provides health-minded Americans with conditioning routines focused on building strength and flexibility. From 2002 to 2012, the industry grew an average of 12.1% per year and is projected to expand 5.1% in 2012. Pilates and yoga studios were highly resistant to the recession; instead of facing negative growth in 2008 and 2009, revenue merely slowed. In the five years to 2017, industry revenue is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.8%.

Emerging technologies

The accelerating speed and accessibility of the Internet has led to skyrocketing growth for web-based industries. Over the past five years, social networks, in particular, have become an integral part of life for many consumers, connecting them with others and helping them find a cheap alternative source of entertainment. The Social Network Game Development industry owes its existence to these needs, and as sites like Facebook have grown exponentially, so too have social network game developers: Since 2002, this industry grew an average annual 128.0%. The industry’s games are usually free to play; developers earn revenue through the sale of virtual goods that enhance game-play and through advertisements shown onscreen. Unlike most of the economy, the recession was a boon for the industry because under- or unemployed consumers spent extra leisure time with these low-cost games rather than with expensive console games or software. In 2012, industry revenue is expected to grow 20.0%, and over the next five years, revenue is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 22.0%.

As the speed and security of online monetary transactions grow, online retail for more products will become commonplace. Eyeglasses and contacts are increasingly being sold through online stores thanks to the higher prevalence of broadband Internet in households. Between 2002 and 2012, revenue in the Online Eyeglasses and Contact Lens Sales industry has grown 28.2% on average annually; in 2012, revenue is expected to grow 11.9%. New technologies, such as virtual try-on systems in which shoppers upload a picture to see how frames look on their faces before ordering a pair, have made customers more confident in their online purchases. Over the next five years, industry revenue is expected to grow 8.8% per year on average.

Rapid technological advances, falling costs and a greater need for new medical devices have led to the growing presence of 3D printing, a process in which successive layers of material are laid down until the product is finished. 3D printers allow the manufacturer to create something from precise schematics in a single build process. The 3D Printer Manufacturing industry’s revenue has grown an average of 8.8% per year since 2002, with 20.3% growth expected in 2012 alone. As the cost of producing these high-tech machines decreases and printer technology is refined, they will be used for an increasing number of applications, such as aerospace-related part manufacturing. With the rapid pace of innovation already present in the industry, double-digit annualized growth (14.0%) is projected to continue into the next five years.

Other upstarts

In 2012, the For-Profit Universities industry’s revenue is projected to grow 5.0%, and over the next five years, revenue will grow an estimated 3.6% per year on average. As more and more high school students seek a college education after graduating, gaining admission to traditional public and private universities has become more difficult. At the same time, state budget cuts have shortened the resources these institutions can use to cope with the influx of students. Stepping in to alleviate the heightened demand for higher education, for-profit universities have become a common sight in education in the United States; since 2002, the For-Profit Universities industry grew an average of 13.6% annually. Classes taught at for-profit universities are often accessed through alternative means to the classroom, such as through TV programming or the Internet. The low cost of teaching online classes has been particularly essential to the rapid growth of these institutions. Moreover, with the high unemployment caused by the recession, workers and high school graduates without a job chose to continue their education rather than combing the job market. Independent of state budgets and able to avoid the high tuition costs of private schools, for-profit schools grow by selling shares to investors.

The Generic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing industry has found sustained growth over the past 10 years, with average annual revenue growth of 9.6%. As the median age of the US population increases, more consumers require a greater amount of prescription drugs. Generic drugs are sold without patent protection and tend to be cheaper than brand-name drugs, making them more attractive in the face of rising overall healthcare costs. Many industry operators have closed inefficient plants and removed redundant sales positions to cut costs, expanding profit margins. However, as more consumers qualify for private insurance, insurance providers will gain more leverage to negotiate lower drug prices, which could reduce the industry’s profit margins. Still, revenue is expected to continue rising, with 8.1% growth expected in 2012 and average annual growth of 6.3% projected through 2017.

The Hot Sauce Production industry has heated up over the past 10 years, with average revenue growth of 9.3% per year and expected 2012 growth of 4.5%. While the recession did cool the industry’s prospects, rebounds in 2010 and 2011 reestablished it as a rapidly growing part of the food sector. Demand for hot sauce has been driven by demographic consumption trends, immigration and international demand from Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan. As Americans’ palates have become more diverse, hot sauce has earned tenure on the dinner table. Demand from supermarkets and grocery stores has reflected the change in consumer taste, and food retailers are dedicating more shelf space to ethnic cuisine. Ethnic supermarkets – also growing rapidly – more prominently offer a variety of hot sauces than more traditional stores. Hot sauce production isn’t expected to burn out any time soon: Over the next five years, industry revenue is projected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.1%.

To download full research reports for the industries discussed in this article, click on the report titles below.

Generic Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, Solar Panel Manufacturing, For-Profit Universities, Pilates & Yoga Studios, Self-Tanning Product Manufacturing, 3D Printer Manufacturing, Social Network Game Development, Hot Sauce Production, Green & Sustainable Building Construction, Online Eyeglasses & Contact Lens Sales

How to boost the ROI of your email campaigns by focusing on three key areas

Specific steps to take to increase your email response rates

Email averages a return on investment (ROI) of $40 for every $1 spent, far outstripping banner ads ($2) and keyword ads ($17). So it’s no surprise that 67% of organizations plan to increase their email spend in 2012.

You can use those increased email marketing budgets to push your ROI higher by focusing on the following three areas.

1. Deliverability

Though it’s long been discussed, email deliverability remains a critical issue. A recent Return Path report found that nearly one-in-five emails sent by commercial email senders never reaches the intended recipient’s inbox (and may not even reach the spam folder!).

Therefore, the average campaign can enjoy a 25% increase in response. If you believe that emails that don’t bounce are being delivered, you may not realize anything is wrong.
How to Do It

A lot goes into email deliverability. Deliverability experts can offer guidance for your specific program, but make sure you’re covering the following basics:

1.Reduce complaints. Subscribers report unwanted email as spam (or, worse, they send it to antispam institutions such as SpamCop), which damages the sender’s reputation. So, make it clear at the time of subscription how often you’ll email subscribers. Include a name that subscribers recognize in the sender field of your emails, and make it easy to unsubscribe. Do not require subscribers to provide you with a username and password, an email address, or a “mail us your request” note to unsubscribe. Allow them to unsubscribe via one click (because it’s very easy for them to click the “spam” button as an alternative).

2.Don’t set off content filters. Though no longer the most important component of spam filtering, “spammy” words and coding errors still set off alarm bells. Many email service providers (ESPs) offer in-platform tools to check emails before hitting “send.”

3.Monitor your delivery with a seed list. Set up accounts on top domains and include those accounts in your lists for each campaign. Then, confirm your email messages reached the seed list inboxes so you know about problems as they arise.
2. Behavioral Targeting

Behavioral targeting is not a new concept, but it’s more technically difficult—and so less used—than demographic or geographic targeting. Marketers who use behavioral targeting to send emails (or, better yet, to trigger automatic emails) achieve hefty gains in revenue per email sent. (One-to-one marketing emerged 30 years ago, right? Are you still sending the same email to every subscriber?)

How to Do It

Though the methods for implementing behavioral targeting for email are almost limitless, here are three ideas to consider if you’re just getting started:

1.Purchase behavior. Many marketers send triggered emails to recommend complementary products after a purchase. For extra accuracy, Nespresso (which makes coffee makers that my coworkers might not make it through the day without using) calculates customers’ reorder time based on previous purchases.

2.Nonpurchase behavior. Cart abandonment emails are among the best known triggered emails… and for good reason. Those emails can help you reignite interest in an abandoned purchase or elicit feedback about why the purchase didn’t go through.

3.Email behavior. Targeting by email behavior can be the simplest method because the information is already in your ESP’s platform. Consider sending a loyalty offer to the subscribers who most often open your emails. Or, include a special offer in the subject line for those who rarely (or never) open your messages.
3. Acquisition Email

Handled well, acquisition email offers an opportunity to bring the high ROI of email to your customer acquisition strategy. For marketers, retaining subscribers and increasing their numbers are perennial priorities. What better way to do that than by using your email marketing skills to build your customer base?

How to Do It

If you’ve never used acquisition emails in the past, consider these three key ideas.

1.Value. Offer customers something of value in a creative and appealing way using the skills you’ve gained via retention email. I agree, that should be evident! But, sometimes, email acquisition campaigns look… cheap. This email is your first impression, so make it a good one.

2.Target. The days of batch-and-blast emails sent to huge numbers of people with the hope that a few will respond are over. To get the best response, narrow your focus to people who are likely to be interested. Again, it’s all about behavioral targeting. Unfortunately, what has done for years in display advertising had not (until now) been implemented in the email channel.

3.Respect. Show respect to your…
Prospects. Send emails only to opt-in records via a publisher or service provider that accurately represents who the email is from (both the brand of the list and the advertiser) and uses legally compliant unsubscribe links.

Customers. Are you offering free shipping for the first order? A 20% discount for new customers? Please don’t send that message to current customers. Are you scrubbing your list of customers from email acquisition campaigns? You should be.

Brand. The more “blast” emails you send, the more Internet service providers (ISPs) will hate your brand. Do it the wrong way, and even your transactional and retention emails won’t reach subscribers’ inboxes. Send as few emails as possible to the right people if you want to keep a solid “technical reputation.” Easy to say… but not always easy to apply with the current practices in the email acquisition market.
* * *
Some of the points in this article rely heavily on email acquisition channel best-practices and good habits, and very few companies can partner with you to make those happen. But things are changing, just as they did when the first AdServer (DART) was created.

What do you think are the biggest drivers for email-marketing effectiveness? What are your biggest challenges in raising the bar and getting things done the right way?

Read more: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2012/7500/boost-your-email-marketing-roi-by-focusing-on-three-key-areas#ixzz1rJceylTu

That’s bad news for the economy and the job market, since Kauffman also has found that startups create more jobs, on net, than existing businesses.

So what can policy makers in Washington, D.C., do to get the great American startup machine cranking again? Here are five ideas:

1. Give a green card to foreigners who earn post-graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at U.S. universities.

Today, many of these foreigners are taking their talents back to their native countries because of the difficulty in obtaining permanent visas in the U.S.

That not only deprives U.S. companies of the highly skilled workers they need, it also depletes what had been a rich pool of potential entrepreneurs. A study conducted in 2007 found that 25 percent of all engineering and technology companies started in the U.S. between 1995 and 2005 had at least one key founder who was an immigrant. Now many of these would-be founders are leaving the U.S. “after we train them in the best university system in the world,” said Giovanni Coratolo, vice president of small business policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce    U.S. Chamber of Commerce Latest from The Business Journals Follow this company .

“We should welcome them with open arms and use their skills to foster innovation and job growth in this country,” he said.

2. Continue efforts to make capital more accessible to startup companies.

That means quickly implementing the provisions of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, which was signed into law last month, particularly the provision that enables businesses to raise capital through crowdfunding.

The Securities and Exchange Commission    Securities and Exchange Commission Latest from The Business Journals Best Buy loses fourth high-ranking executive Dave Deno to parent of Outback SteakhouseShopNBC and ValueVision CEO Stewart has pay cut by a thirdBody Central reports first quarter earnings Follow this company also needs to refrain from heavyhanded regulation of crowdfunding, which allows businesses to obtain small investments from lots of individuals through Internet intermediaries.

“The SEC needs to give this new industry the opportunity to cost-effectively help small businesses access capital, not undermine it from the beginning,” said Karen Kerrigan, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

The National Small Business Association contends startups also would benefit from legislation that would allow credit unions to make more business loans. This bill, however, faces an uphill battle because of strong opposition by the banking industry.

3. Preserve some health care reforms, particularly the ban on insurers discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions.

This ban may not work if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down health care reform’s individual mandate, because premiums would go up for everyone unless more healthy people, as well as sick people, join the risk pool. But something needs to be done to end “job lock” — the phenomenon that forces people who would be great entrepreneurs to continue working for somebody else because they can’t get or can’t afford health insurance on their own.

Many small business advocates think Congress should start over with health care reform because it failed to make insurance more affordable. Health reform advocates, such as Small Business Majority, contend insurance will become cheaper for individuals and small businesses in 2014, when health insurance exchanges bring more competition to the market.

4. Expand tax incentives for startups.

Startups, like other businesses, would benefit from simplification of the tax system, because the complexities of the current tax code cost businesses too much time and money. But until the elusive goal of tax reform is achieved, Congress could consider more robust tax breaks for startups and their investors.

Given a so-so economy, “the incentives for startup entrepreneurs need to be far more dramatic,” Kerrigan said.

She suggests cutting income taxes in half for startups during their first three years, and expanding the capital gains tax exclusion for investments in small business startups to all startups, not just C corporations.

Even less dramatic tax breaks would be helpful. The National Federation of Independent Business    National Federation of Independent Business Latest from The Business Journals 5 things Washington can do to boost startupsKnow when to start your own businessMaryland Business wants to be voice for small business Follow this company , for example, is pushing legislation to allow startups to deduct up to $20,000 of their business expenses during their first year, up from the current startup deduction limit of $5,000.

5. Boost confidence by showing Washington is up to the nation’s challenges.

Entrepreneurs, by nature, are optimistic — otherwise they wouldn’t take the risk of starting their own businesses. But the inability of policy makers in Washington, D.C. to solve the nation’s most pressing problems has got to be taking a toll on business confidence.

It’s an election year, so don’t expect miracles, but if Congress could agree on more bipartisan measures such as the JOBS Act, that just might encourage more would-be entrepreneurs to take the plunge and start their own businesses. For example, some of the ideas here already are included in a bipartisan bill known as The Startup Act. Congress would send a powerful signal to entrepreneurs if it would take up that bill, debate it thoroughly, modify it if necessary, and then pass it.

Congress’ current course — pointing partisan fingers at each other and waiting for the results of the November election — won’t inspire anyone to start a business.

There are many tasks every small business owner must handle personally, but none is more CEO-specific than allocation of capital. Because the only thing more precious to a small business than capital is time.

Cash management is also a CEO-critical task, but operating cash is not capital. Cash is for expenses and is measured daily, weekly, and monthly. Capital is for investment and, as such, is measured in years; possibly even generations.

Below are three classic capital expenditure categories:

1. Replacement and upgrade

This is not repair (that’s an expense funded by operating cash flow), it’s a bigger commitment, most often caused when repair is no longer an option, or by obsolescence.

2. Innovation

Exciting innovations in digital devices and programs are at once creating opportunity and causing disruption. Small business CEOs have to mete out precious capital for innovation in a way that maximizes opportunity and minimizes disruption. This is a tough job because 21st century innovation weaves a fine seam between the leading edge and the bleeding edge.

3. Growth opportunity

Should your market footprint be expanded with an acquisition or new branch, or should an investment be made to build-out more online capability? Should investment be made in support of a new product direction, or in a digital inventory management system connected to the supply chain?

What to invest capital in – and when to do it – is different for every business. But what is not unique is making sure cash and capital are applied properly. Here are three classic best practices:

1. Don’t use operating cash to pay for something that has a life of more than a year.

2. Leaving profits in the business produces retained earnings as reserves to be used for capital investment.

That reality check led the sixth-generation brewer—who holds a bachelor’s degree, a law degree, and an MBA from Harvard—to create a philanthropic program to finance loans and offer advice to other entrepreneurs in the Boston area running food, beverage, and hospitality businesses. Launched in 2008, the initiative aims to go beyond traditional corporate philanthropy to “leverage” Boston Beer employees’ expertise, “rather than just giving away money or time or beer,” says Koch. “I wish I could’ve had some loan money instead of having to raise equity, and I would’ve loved to have advice about the nuts and bolts of growing a business.”

Now the program, Brewing the American Dream, which has advised nearly 3,000 business owners and financed more than $1 million in small loans for about 150 businesses, is going national. Boston Beer, the largest craft brewer in the U.S., plans to lend at least $1 million this year, hold monthly speed-coaching events in major cities across the country, and curate an online-networking and education site for participants.

The coaching events, at which beer flows freely, are meant to be informal and are open to any business owner, not just loan recipients. “You put [Jim Koch] in a room with business owners and they’ve come in part because they know of his success and they really admire the brand,” says Gina Harman, president and chief executive officer of Accion U.S. Network, a nonprofit microlender with which Boston Beer has teamed to administer the loans and help coach entrepreneurs. “They expect somebody who is completely unapproachable to enter the room. Inevitably he walks in in his khakis and his blue shirt and a bottle of beer in his hand and you can just see the whole room relax.”

Koch isn’t seeking a financial return from Boston Beer’s investment in the program—a tiny fraction of the $157 million the company says it spent in 2011 on advertising, promotions, and selling expenses. “There is a huge amount of coaching, hand-holding, advice to get the repayment [rate] up to 95 percent,” says Koch. “I know from the economics of our program; you lose money on it. It has to be philanthropic.”

Supporting small businesses through donations to nonprofit lenders has been catching on among prominent companies, which have created programs such as Goldman Sachs’s (GS) 10,000 Small Businesses and Starbucks’s (SBUX) Create Jobs for USA. “But [Boston Beer’s] combination of employee engagement, capital resources, and mentoring feels new to me—and very much a response driven by what’s been happening in the economy in the U.S. over the last several years,” says Harman. “It was a right time in the economy because lending had all but come to a halt and small businesses were really struggling.”

Anita Gokey got a sense of Koch’s pain when she and her husband bought Karl’s Sausage Kitchen & European Market, a gourmet retailer outside Boston nearly five years ago. They were turned down by several banks when they sought a loan for capital improvements. She received an $18,000 loan within about six weeks of applying to Boston Beer’s program in 2008. Now Gokey says she’s just landed a conventional bank loan that she is using to buy and gut a building twice the size of her existing space. “We could show a track record of investment and growth in the business, so the new lenders were much more into working with us on the next venture because of that,” she says.

Here’s another sign that an economic upswing is taking hold: Business owners are finding it easier to sell their companies.

The number of U.S. businesses sold in 2012′s first quarter was 3.9 percent higher than during the same period a year ago, according to BizBuySell.com, which collects data from business brokers across the country.

BizBuySell reported the sales of 1,729 businesses in January, February and March 2012.

The number of transactions was the largest in any quarter since the final three months of 2008. The recession officially began in December 2007 and reached its worst levels in 2008 and 2009.

But this increased activity came with a price — more specifically, a slight decrease in price.

The median sales price for business transactions actually dropped during the past year — from $155,000 in the first quarter of 2011 to $150,000 in the same quarter this year.

And the same trend is evident when prices are compared to revenues and cash flow. Buyers typically paid 2.48 times cash flow for businesses a year ago, a multiple that dropped to 2.36 times cash flow during the most recent quarter.

So which trend will prove to be more significant — higher sales or declining prices?

BizBuySell opts for the former. Its quarterly analysis suggests that business owners are gaining confidence that their companies are healthy enough to sell, even if the yield may a bit lower than they might have hoped.

“There are certainly small business owners who have been biding their time since the recession hit in 2008,” said BizBuySell’s group general manager, Mike Handelsman, in a prepared statement. “With better financing available for buyers and a larger supply of businesses ready to hit the market, we may finally have the right conditions for a more significant bump in the number of closed transactions.”

Facebook’s surprise announcement that it would buy Instagram for $1 billion, less than a week after venture capitalists valued the company at half that amount, has sparked talk of inflated valuation for the photo-sharing company.

Andy Baio of Wired compares the Instagram purchase to some other prominent tech buyouts and reached the conclusion that Mark Zuckerberg got a bargain, sort of. And Jenna Wortham of the New York Times makes the case that Instagram may mark the first of a series of deals involving companies with little presence on computer desktops but plenty of mobile users.

Baio writes that young Internet companies have traditionally been valued for their growth and number of users. By those measures, Instagram beats most, even though the company has no revenue and no clear path toward making money. He argues:

If we look strictly at the acquisition cost per user, Facebook got a relative deal with the Instagram purchase, paying roughly $28 for each of Instagram’s 35 million users.

Meanwhile, the Times reports that Facebook’s big buy has other app makers seeing dollar signs, and the purchase is a giant step in the shift from desktop to mobile computing.

Wortham writes:

Smartphones are everywhere now, allowing apps like Foursquare and Path to be self-contained social worlds, existing almost entirely on mobile devices. It is a major change from just a few years ago, underscoring how the momentum in the tech world is shifting to mobile from computers.

In that context, the Instagram deal looks like something of a turning point, as even the Web giant Facebook tries to get a better grasp on a market that requires a rethinking of old rules.

“For decades, the center of computing has been the desktop, and software was modeled after the experience of using a typewriter,” said Georg Petschnigg, a former Microsoft employee who is one of the creators of Paper, a new sketchbook app for the iPad. “But technology is now more intimate and pervasive than that. We have it with us all the time, and we have to reimagine innovative new interfaces and experiences around that.”

If that is indeed the case, the Instagram deal is just the start of something very big as the world of apps comes of age.

Read more: http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/money-hunt/2012/04/11/facebook-instagram-purchase-has-some-seeing-bubble-while-others-see-next-big-thing#ixzz1rpDreuHB