Category: Op-ED

Marty Keller Resigns – A Sad Day For Small Business | Peter Mehit

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Marty Keller, who has been Governor’s Small Business Advocate for the last four years, is resigning. This is not good news as Marty has been a tireless advocate for small businesses in our state. Despite many setbacks and obstacles, Marty never quit reaching out to our community, while speaking truth to power about our situation and our needs.

Good luck, Marty. We know we’ll see you again in better circumstances. Keep your chin up! – Ed.

Marty’s letter:

Dear friends and colleagues,
It is with a sense of accomplishment and gratitude that I write to let you know of my decision to resign as the state’s Small Business Advocate effective July 31, 2011.
I am leaving this great job in order to work directly for small business owners.  Come the beginning of August, I will be embarking on a different course of advocacy, one that will not be shackled by the restrictions of political appointment.  I look forward to sharing the details of this new and exciting adventure in two weeks’ time.  You can be sure I will be inviting you to join me.

Politicians Won’t Stay Bought | Peter Mehit

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In a casual conversation someone quipped, “You know the real problem with politicians…they just won’t stay bought.” There was muted laughter. It’s too true to be funny.

Politician. The word has precise sound to it, as if your mayor had been called by God to run. As if people go into public service like it’s a ministry. For the good of all with pure, honorable intentions.  But the job is nothing like that. It’s a lot of arm twisting and ear bending by people all wanting you to do conflicting things. And in the end, nobody’s really happy with you. As Parker and Stone pointed out, the public sees you either as a ‘Giant Douche’ or a ‘Turd Sandwich’. Why would anyone want a such a shitty job?

Power.

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Karma Matters | Peter Mehit

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Karma is the concept that what you do is done to you. You do dirt, you get dirt. You do good, good comes to you. The problem is that a lot of people want to specify their karmic reward. It doesn’t work like that. The good you do today is not instantly rewarded, or placed on account like frequent flier miles. It is distributed based on forces unknown and unseen to us. Your karmic good may not come back to you in ways you recognize, but that does not change your duty to do it. It is more faith than science but it is real and it is in operation all the time.

Recently, I’ve witnessed tea party enthusiasts recoiling in horror when Jerry Brown had the temerity to do what they say they want done, slash spending. “It’s okay to kill other people’s programs, just not mine,” they exclaim. I’ve seen progressives dismiss those concerned about the massive debt as knuckle dragging throwbacks in an attempt to keep the money flowing. What I don’t see very often is truth or constructive conversation. Budgets will be cut, pain will be felt.  It will be exquisitely bi-partisan.

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In The Mind’s Eye | Peter Mehit

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Many times when people think about getting into business for themselves, they cherish the idea of the freedom and control it would bring, but are often stifled by fear. ‘How will I find customers?’, ‘How do I find the money I need?’, ‘Will anyone really buy what I’m selling?’ are typical of the questions we run through our minds just before a wave of fear spills over us and we suddenly feel grateful for the job we loathe.

We tell ourselves that having a business is for people that come from money, yet many of the greatest success stories are people that had little or no money at the beginning of their journey. We are convinced that we need ever increasing amounts of education, but Bill Gates, one of the world’s richest people, didn’t complete college, Sir Richard Branson never went.

So what is it? What makes some people successful and others not? It boils down to three primary traits:

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Generation Y Consumers | Lydia Mehit

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Gen X as a Target Customer was first in a series of articles aimed a helping you identify the habits and proclivities of a generation. This is to allow you gain insights into how to better approach them with your marketing message. This article will discuss Millennials and the unique circumstances of their generation.

Generation Y encompases a broad range of ages from teenagers (age 14) to home-owning adults. The older end of generation is believed to have the potential to attain the greatest spenfing power of any prevous generation. This means advertisers want to understand what drives the Gen Y consumer to purchase.

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Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality: Scientific American

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A great piece by Tim Berners-Lee, who, unlike Al Gore, actually did invent the internet. It’s an extended reading piece, but worth it as it explores the importance of net neutrality, freedom of expression and the importance of the internet to all of us.

Why should you care? Because the Web is yours. It is a public resource on which you, your business, your community and your government depend. The Web is also vital to democracy, a communications channel that makes possible a continuous worldwide conversation. The Web is now more critical to free speech than any other medium. It brings principles established in the U.S. Constitution, the British Magna Carta and other important documents into the network age: freedom from being snooped on, filtered, censored and disconnected.

Read Article.