Positive Yarn

I am typing this poolside from a resort near Williamsburg, VA — against my husband’s better judgment. He didn’t want me to bring my laptop in the first place, but I knew I’d be miserable without it.

I don’t remember the last time I got away from home and work, and I suspect most of you are the same way. We have to check in on our businesses to make sure it’s still there to come home to.

If you are one of the lucky ones who can close the door to your shop, office or studio and honestly let it go while you enjoy some time off, congratulations — you’ve achieved something for which we all should strive. For the rest of us, though, here are a few links to great articles about making sure vacation isn’t completely dragged down by the stress of being away from work.

• A Small Business Owner’s Guide to Taking a Vacation: Among its several great tips, this About.com entry from Darrell Zahorsky reminds readers that time away from the office can actually be a source of inspiration for new ideas.
• How I Managed to Take a Vacation: Paul Downs’ recent essay in the New York Times struck a particular chord. The upshot of his experience? “The sky did not fall. The bookkeeper paid the bills, and we didn’t run out of money.”
• Smart Small-business Owners are Making Vacation Plans: Carol Tice’s blog post on Entrepreneur.com reinforces the health benefits of getting away from it all for a little while.
• How to Book Vacation Time When You’re Self-employed: At the women entrepreneur site SheTakesOnTheWorld.net, Chantielle MacFarlane offers four tips to ensure you’re not leaving any customers hanging.
• Entertain Your Readers When You’re Not There: Last but not least, I sure wish I had read Lisa Barone’s advice on SmallBusinessTrends.com about strategies for keeping blog posts up-to-date when you’re away — or in my case, the weeks leading up to my being away, because my blog has been sorely neglected. I promise to make amends soon.

Now, it’s your turn: How do you deal with being away from work for some rest and relaxation? Or has that not happened yet? Drop me a line below or at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

Online handcrafted retail giant Etsy.com was a focus of an article today in the New York Times ("Hobbyists Use Etsy to Trade Day Job for Hard Work"). As someone who quit an office job for the trifecta of being home for the kids/being my own boss/setting my own hours, I can sympathize with many of those interviewed for the story — the sometimes 18-hour days, the challenge of work/life balance. I can also see the critics’ point that the whole quitting-a-day-job-and-livin’-the-dream scenario is more fantasy than fact for the majority of crafters on the site, and to promise them anything that gets their hopes up without arming them with some major small business knowledge is simply cruel.

I am curious, however, about what my readers think of Etsy (and similar sites like Indiepublic and American Craft Guide Community, all three of which I actually belong to, but am not very active in). Is it something that your customers love to discuss, or even buy or sell from? Is it something that you use yourself, to unload old inventory, to buy great deals on supplies, to sell your own creative offerings or just to peruse to get ideas and inspiration? Is it passe at this point, or even something that has never really touched you or your customers? Please let me know by dropping me a line in the comments below or email positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

And in case you haven’t seen it yet, check out Regretsy.com, the site that cheekily rounds up the somewhat eccentric (and let me warn you, often mature content) items available on Etsy. It is quick to point out that art is subjective, and that it’s just having a good time poking fun at some of the more offbeat offerings (and perhaps justifiably so, copyright infringement!). There is even a page that shows items that people have purchased from the respective shop owners as a result, lending credence to the old adage there is no such thing as bad publicity. Unless, of course, you’re a respected sports figure…

It may not have received a lot of fanfare, lost amid a sea of automaker news and reality show finales, but on May 20 the U.S. Congress passed H.R. 627/S. 414 — the Credit Cardholder’s Bill of Rights. Among the 19 sections of the Congressional Research Service’s summary (a full list is here):

• Amends the Truth in Lending Act to prohibit a creditor from increasing any annual percentage rate of interest (APR) applicable to the existing balance on an open end consumer credit card account unless specified conditions are met.
• With certain exceptions, credit card issuers cannot add a finance charge based on the double billing cycle method.
• Creditors are prohibited from charging a fee on an outstanding credit card balance at the end of the billing period if the fee is attributed to the interest accrued on an outstanding balance that was fully repaid during that preceding billing period.
• Consumers have the right to reject a new credit card after the creditor notifies a consumer reporting agency of its corresponding account.
• If two or more different APRs apply to different portions of an outstanding balance, the amount of any payment above the required minimum payment needs to be applied to the balance with the highest APR first and then to lower APR balances.
• Creditors are required to provide a grace period for payments, even if the cardholder takes advantage of a promotional rate balance or deferred interest rate balance.
• Creditors are required to send credit card statements at least 21 days before the due date of the outstanding balance.
• Creditors are prohibited from charging a fee to make telephone and web-based payments. However, a fee may be charged for expedited telephone payments made on the due date or the day before the due date.

The National Federation of Independent Business released an announcement this week praising the passage. In a 2008 small business poll that the NFIB conducted, it found that nearly 3 out every 4 small employers have a business credit card.

In a release, Susan Eckerly, NFIB’s senior vice president, public policy, noted that “the poll showed that small business owners, as credit card consumers, often experienced industry unfair practices. For example, in the last 12 months, 14 percent did not receive credit for payments until well after the payment cleared, and 11 percent were charged overdraft fees when the overdrafts were the exclusive result of bank holds on some portion of their account. As credit card consumers, small business owners will benefit from the protections in the legislation against unfair business practices.

“Although the Senate did not include the amendment introduced by Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) clarifying that the protections in the legislation extend to credit cards used by small business owners, the legislation calls on the Fed to examine and issue a report on credit card use by small businesses,” she continued. “NFIB will continue to ask Congress to provide small businesses that use credit cards with the same protections as consumers.”

Overall, I think this is a great piece of legislation. But there is another side, one that is a bit off-putting to me as a consumer who tries to pay the balance in full every month. The Boston Globe reports here that “cardholders who pay off their balance in full each month could see new annual fees and lucrative rewards programs canceled.” Still, it’s a small trade-off in light of the crazy fees we are sometimes forced to accrue when we’re a day late or cannot pay in full.

Do you think this Bill of Rights will be helpful for you — and by extension, your credit-carrying customers? Sound off in the comments below or drop me a line at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com.

Every media outlet imaginable has some take on what the stimulus bill that President Obama signed into law today means to the nation, but I came across a news release from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that might directly affect small businesses — in a positive way.

According to the release, which can be found as a downloadable PDF here, “the bill provides $730 million to the SBA and makes changes to the agency’s lending and investment programs so that they can reach more small businesses that need help. The funding includes:

• $375 million for temporary fee reductions or eliminations on SBA loans and increased SBA guaranteed shares, up to 90 percent for certain loans
• $255 million for a new loan program to help small businesses meet existing debt payments
• $30 million for expanding SBA’s Microloan program, enough to finance up to $50 million in new lending and $24 million in technical assistance grants to microlenders
• $20 million for technology systems to streamline SBA’s lending and oversight processes
• $15 million for expanding SBA’s Surety Bond Guarantee program
• $25 million for staffing up to meet demands for new programs
• $10 million for the Office of Inspector General

“The bill also authorizes refinancing for certain SBA loans so borrowers can expand their businesses on favorable terms, and expands leverage capability for small business investment companies.”

But before you spread the word that the SBA holds the answers to all your business funding prayers, be mindful of an alert purported to have been issued late this afternoon: There is a so-called “phishing” scam running rampant, with letters being sent to small-business owners under the guise of being from SBA and asking for banking information so as to give the recipient a tax rebate under the new law.  While as I post this, I personally do not see this alert anywhere on the SBA.gov site, it’s being reported by a wide variety of credible news outlets that the SBA is aware of the problem and is working with investigators to put an end to it.

The SBA has long been a champion of American small businesses. If this scheme is really going around, I hope that law enforcement can catch and prosecute the people behind it before the fraud tarnishes the Administration’s reputation. However, I also believe that with the risk of identity theft so prevalent in today’s society, most business owners carry a healthy suspicion that if something sounds too good to be true — and asks for their bank account — it’s just too illegal to be true.

I’d love to hear your opinions on what this new legislation means to the craft industry and its professionals and enthusiasts. Drop me a line at positiveyarn@goochandgooch.com, or please feel free to comment below.