Early in 1975, Gary Dahl a California advertising executive came up with the idea of the “Pet Rock” which quickly became a pop culture phenomenon and made him a millionaire. By Christmas of that year, the fad was over and the cute little rocks from a Baja beach went back to just being nuisances at the ocean’s edge. I think that Twitter may be destined for a similar fate.
I must confess that as a small business owner, salesman and marketer, I haven’t yet found a use in my business for Twitter and I’ve treated every encouragement to use it like a jury duty summons. Because my business resources are limited by dollars and staff size, the first question I ask about any new whiz bang idea is “how does it help me get the attention of people who are in a position to buy what I’m selling?” In my case those products are, TV and radio program sponsorship plus seeking partners for our non-profit, the Making It Institute. If I can’t connect those marketing and sales dots with Twitter, I’d prefer to just read about it rather than invest precious hours in attempting to make it work for my business.
Here are some interesting numbers on Twitter from RJ Metrics that would interest marketers. The number of monthly new users dropped from 7.8 million to 6.2 million in mid 2009. That report also says that just 17% of Twitter users updated their accounts last December, an all time low. The Nielsen Company says that 60% of Twitter users don’t return from one month to the next. While I’m not predicting the total demise of this branch of the social media tree, the digital world is littered with formerly hot ideas. You remember Friendster and Second Life don’t you?
The words Tweet and Twitter imply something small. At a certain level, I think that Twitter is made for small businesses since we are always yearning for economical ways to put our messages in front of prospective customers. Because small business owners can say and do things that buttoned up corporate marketing types would have to get lots of signed approvals for, there are some success stories. I read a story that Someecards has about 1.7 million followers while the giant and legendary Hallmark Cards has around 2000. One of those companies has 14,000 employees and the other just 5 full timers. Part of the Someecards winning strategy is not being afraid to post some downright crass statements in their tweets.
How are the big marketers handling Twitter? Dell Computer seems to be riding a wave of success because they use the service to tell customers about bargains in their outlet store. In American culture having someone lead us to a good deal is very high on the “I love it” scale right behind our affection for the flag and long buffet tables! One of our sponsor clients, Verizon shelled out a billion in advertising dollars in 2009 but they only have about 5000 followers in their tweet parade. In other words you’ve got to have an offer that has some special appeal to your followers and consumers.
Even politicians (or their assistants) are thumbing their way through this fairly new form of outreach. This week the Los Angeles Times featured an article titled “Congress Keeps it Short and Tweet” about the legislators who are using Twitter. Just the idea of those folks on social media sites reminds me of the historic phrase, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned.” I’m under the impression that the 140 character limit that Twitter enforces might not be compatible with the natural verbosity of politicians who are usually looking for a more spacious platform. Elected officials are probably the polar opposite of an ideal profile for effective Twitter marketing.
Here is my bottom line. The flood of messages showing up in my in-box these days has me dreaming of an electronic shovel to get rid of 100 or more messages per day. Add social media messages to that, and the whole thing is making me antisocial! If your life is being bombarded in a similar way, you too may be growing suspicious of all electronic message advertising. For any of the social media tools to really work for you, it had best be by spreading useful, compelling and beneficial information to prospects and customers. Just as before Twitter, there must be a strategy and good idea in your marketing messages. Sometimes you’ll have to be snarky and irreverent to break through the clutter of clogged in-boxes, but small business owners can get away with that much better than large corporations. Despite some marketing success stories, something inside continues to tell me that Twitter is really the territory of those people named Hilton or Kardashian or Kutcher. I must confess that I often feel that everybody’s talking but very little of immediate use or lasting value is being said.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I'm a Customer, Damn It!
The older I get, the more I enjoy a helpful interchange with people who work diligently for businesses of any size. But, with each passing day, businesses who covet my dollars seem to want me, the supposed customer to do more of their work and to give them money for that privilege! If I’m paying, being treated like a customer would be a fine idea.
I think it all began with self service gasoline stations. Not only do I remember .55 cent gasoline, but I recall the days when there were service station attendants who would check the oil and scrutinize the tires while filling your tank. Sadly, those memories are now shrouded in the mists of history. At first it was a charming novelty and a time saver to pump your own gas. They even discounted the price! Now we are the hose handlers, there are no discounts and the only people you see are behind a bullet barrier.
In the early 1980s I was an early adopter of an ATM card from my bank. It was both cool and great to be able to replenish my cash supply at times when the bankers were asleep. But as time went on it became obvious that the bankers really wanted us to use the ATM all of the time so they could get by with fewer tellers. In a counter move a couple of years ago, at least one bank began offering concierge service to get a competitive advantage.
Supermarkets are now joining in that game with some featuring self-check-out. Do you really want to be behind the person with 40 items in their cart the first time they use that service? I’d rather have to take close up pictures of a rattlesnake! I like what comedian George Carlin had to say on the subject of getting out of a supermarket. “I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.”
One of the things we most easily connect with and sometimes yearn for is the sound of a human voice, especially one that is able to respond to your questions. It is OK for me to tell my Blackberry to “call office” and have it do just that, but when I get the office, I want to speak with a real live person. Customers should be warmly greeted and treated with respect. Too many managers and employees loose site of who is really paying their salaries.
Everywhere we look, businesses are beating the bushes in search of customers, but the same enterprises are pinching and squeezing on customer service. Yes, it is challenging to find good people and even more so to train them well. Sadly, service from a live and knowledgeable human being is becoming the new luxury, soon to be afforded only by those who demand it and are willing to pay more. You can now book a plane trip, print out a ticket, endure the security screening and be on your way to the destination without anyone paying attention to your needs until they offer to sell you a sandwich onboard! And airlines wonder why they are sliding toward post office territory on the scale of experiences we dislike.
No, I’m not against progress but I am also a true contrarian. In my own business the phone is answered by live people between 9am and 6pm. We don’t ask you to choose languages or have a trap door behind the pound key leading directly to voice mail hell.
If I’m dealing with your business as a customer, then I really want to be treated like a customer, not one of your associates who works there and gets paid for it. My money should buy service and the attention of a human being even if fleetingly. Give me a human experience and in return I’ll give you loyalty and more business.
Anybody can install an automated phone system and other electronic “service” devices. They are now just another commodity. If you want a competitive advantage in this marketplace, bring a human face and voice to what you do. It will be appreciated and we know that can lead to sales and growth. Give me a reason to be a good customer by treating me like a desired customer. That is the true definition of a brand.
I think it all began with self service gasoline stations. Not only do I remember .55 cent gasoline, but I recall the days when there were service station attendants who would check the oil and scrutinize the tires while filling your tank. Sadly, those memories are now shrouded in the mists of history. At first it was a charming novelty and a time saver to pump your own gas. They even discounted the price! Now we are the hose handlers, there are no discounts and the only people you see are behind a bullet barrier.
In the early 1980s I was an early adopter of an ATM card from my bank. It was both cool and great to be able to replenish my cash supply at times when the bankers were asleep. But as time went on it became obvious that the bankers really wanted us to use the ATM all of the time so they could get by with fewer tellers. In a counter move a couple of years ago, at least one bank began offering concierge service to get a competitive advantage.
Supermarkets are now joining in that game with some featuring self-check-out. Do you really want to be behind the person with 40 items in their cart the first time they use that service? I’d rather have to take close up pictures of a rattlesnake! I like what comedian George Carlin had to say on the subject of getting out of a supermarket. “I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing 'Enter,' verifying the amount, deciding, no, I don't want Cash back, and pressing 'Enter' again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.”
One of the things we most easily connect with and sometimes yearn for is the sound of a human voice, especially one that is able to respond to your questions. It is OK for me to tell my Blackberry to “call office” and have it do just that, but when I get the office, I want to speak with a real live person. Customers should be warmly greeted and treated with respect. Too many managers and employees loose site of who is really paying their salaries.
Everywhere we look, businesses are beating the bushes in search of customers, but the same enterprises are pinching and squeezing on customer service. Yes, it is challenging to find good people and even more so to train them well. Sadly, service from a live and knowledgeable human being is becoming the new luxury, soon to be afforded only by those who demand it and are willing to pay more. You can now book a plane trip, print out a ticket, endure the security screening and be on your way to the destination without anyone paying attention to your needs until they offer to sell you a sandwich onboard! And airlines wonder why they are sliding toward post office territory on the scale of experiences we dislike.
No, I’m not against progress but I am also a true contrarian. In my own business the phone is answered by live people between 9am and 6pm. We don’t ask you to choose languages or have a trap door behind the pound key leading directly to voice mail hell.
If I’m dealing with your business as a customer, then I really want to be treated like a customer, not one of your associates who works there and gets paid for it. My money should buy service and the attention of a human being even if fleetingly. Give me a human experience and in return I’ll give you loyalty and more business.
Anybody can install an automated phone system and other electronic “service” devices. They are now just another commodity. If you want a competitive advantage in this marketplace, bring a human face and voice to what you do. It will be appreciated and we know that can lead to sales and growth. Give me a reason to be a good customer by treating me like a desired customer. That is the true definition of a brand.
The Fear Locker
There is a film out right now titled The Hurt Locker that is getting a lot of buzz as the movie awards season rolls out. The movie follows an Explosive Ordnance Disposal bomb technician, one of the hundred or so soldiers in Iraq who dismantle roadside IEDs planted by insurgents. What I find even scarier than being in close contact with a live bomb is the way that we are being inundated with messages of fear from every angle in every part of our lives.
We received a great lesson on fear over 70 years ago when newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt uttered one of his most memorable phrases in his inauguration speech: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
The attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas day is what prompted me to sort of audit everything I heard or saw on radio and TV for one day. To sum it up, I should be cowering in fear at this very moment based on what the media outlets sent my way. Trembling should rack my body with any thought of flying, driving through certain parts of town, touching my neighbor’s child, consuming a long list of foods, and not to mention that the future of civilization as we know it may be in doubt. Today, I’m sitting in my Los Angeles office looking at a light rain falling between me and the Hollywood sign. Meanwhile, the media is shouting at me about possible mud slides rather than the fact that we live in a desert and need every drop of the water. The rain is a blessing, not a curse. But of course, “run for your life” gets more attention than “we are grateful for the drought relief.”
The radio is on while I’m writing this, and it is teaching me about fears that I have never experienced. In just two minutes, I learned to be fearful of the Internet as it relates to children and that I need a paid consultant to fight the credit card companies. The recent election upset in Massachusetts was a good indicator that institutional fear is driving an increasing number of our actions.
Since I view the world around me through the prism of small business and entrepreneurial thinking, I suspect that the business of capitalizing on fear is a growing enterprise. Do you have an electronic security system at your home? How high is the stack of your insurance policies that cover the loss of darned near everything? About a year ago, gun dealers were even running out of ammunition to sell. When did we stop doing things for rational or emotional reasons and start waiting for our fears to be unleashed to prod us into action?
Business owners are not exempt from fear, but if you aren’t selling it, you are certainly working to conquer it. When I was a youngster attempting to build a submarine sandwich business with a partner, our landlord gave us some of the best advice ever. He said, “in business you have to learn to love your problems because they are the only thing you are assured of having every day.” Business problems plague all companies from time to time. Searching Google will bring over 30 million results on the topic. It is not the business problem itself that defeats people from solving it, but it is the fear the problem generates. Recognizing that difference is the first step to a solution. By identifying critical elements to the problem, the solutions reveal themselves as a by-product of the process. Fear has only a miniscule place in the equation of success.
Though I’ve chosen to sell hope instead of fear in my business, I do have some fear infused days as a business owner. I’m working to make them a rare occurrence and I hope that you are too. We can’t move forward until we step out of the fear locker. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.”
We received a great lesson on fear over 70 years ago when newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt uttered one of his most memorable phrases in his inauguration speech: “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”
The attempted bombing of an airliner on Christmas day is what prompted me to sort of audit everything I heard or saw on radio and TV for one day. To sum it up, I should be cowering in fear at this very moment based on what the media outlets sent my way. Trembling should rack my body with any thought of flying, driving through certain parts of town, touching my neighbor’s child, consuming a long list of foods, and not to mention that the future of civilization as we know it may be in doubt. Today, I’m sitting in my Los Angeles office looking at a light rain falling between me and the Hollywood sign. Meanwhile, the media is shouting at me about possible mud slides rather than the fact that we live in a desert and need every drop of the water. The rain is a blessing, not a curse. But of course, “run for your life” gets more attention than “we are grateful for the drought relief.”
The radio is on while I’m writing this, and it is teaching me about fears that I have never experienced. In just two minutes, I learned to be fearful of the Internet as it relates to children and that I need a paid consultant to fight the credit card companies. The recent election upset in Massachusetts was a good indicator that institutional fear is driving an increasing number of our actions.
Since I view the world around me through the prism of small business and entrepreneurial thinking, I suspect that the business of capitalizing on fear is a growing enterprise. Do you have an electronic security system at your home? How high is the stack of your insurance policies that cover the loss of darned near everything? About a year ago, gun dealers were even running out of ammunition to sell. When did we stop doing things for rational or emotional reasons and start waiting for our fears to be unleashed to prod us into action?
Business owners are not exempt from fear, but if you aren’t selling it, you are certainly working to conquer it. When I was a youngster attempting to build a submarine sandwich business with a partner, our landlord gave us some of the best advice ever. He said, “in business you have to learn to love your problems because they are the only thing you are assured of having every day.” Business problems plague all companies from time to time. Searching Google will bring over 30 million results on the topic. It is not the business problem itself that defeats people from solving it, but it is the fear the problem generates. Recognizing that difference is the first step to a solution. By identifying critical elements to the problem, the solutions reveal themselves as a by-product of the process. Fear has only a miniscule place in the equation of success.
Though I’ve chosen to sell hope instead of fear in my business, I do have some fear infused days as a business owner. I’m working to make them a rare occurrence and I hope that you are too. We can’t move forward until we step out of the fear locker. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Don't waste life in doubts and fears; spend yourself on the work before you, well assured that the right performance of this hour's duties will be the best preparation for the hours and ages that will follow it.”
BEST OF THE BOWL
Whatever the Super Bowl represents to die hard football fans, it also is one of the largest gatherings of American business people each year. In addition to being a schmooze fest in a warm weather location, I feel it is a celebration of “the best” that can be inspiring to small business owners as well.
I haven’t been to a football game since Al Davis’ Raiders left Los Angeles to return to Oakland, which lets you know that on a scale of 10, my fan level is at about 4. When the raiders were the local LA team, I was attracted to their positioning slogan which was “commitment to excellence.” I don’t know when they last lived up to the phrase, but I liked it and think that my connection to any sport played at the highest level is really about an interest in excellence.
The Super Bowl is much more than just a football game that determines the world champion in a bruising sport. It is a great business exercise which attracts other businesses and provides opportunities for doing business even while shouting, eating, and perhaps sipping a drink or two. As a bonus, it is usually held in a location where the danger of a snowstorm spoiling the fun is very low. Small business owners get a piece of the pie from dozens of events that are staged each year during Super Bowl week as well as in the months leading up to it. It’s all pretty entrepreneurial. Even a Motel 6 in the host city probably has a couple of great weeks.
Though my football libido is less than average, I am a fan of some of the legendary coaches and players because they embody success lessons that all business owners can learn from. The late Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers to win the first ever Super Bowl, may be the most quoted football coach ever. A copy of the book, “Motivation Lombardi Style,” is on my office bookshelf with plenty of marker tabs signifying favorite pages. From 1959 to 1967, every season was a winning season for Coach Lombardi’s teams. Now the winning Super Bowl team receives a championship trophy named after Lombardi. My favorite quote from him is: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.” Vince Lombardi.
So when I settle in at a social gathering with an all carbohydrate snack menu while watching Super Bowl 2010, I’ll take inspiration from seeing the best playing the best. It will remind me of the psychic and material rewards of discipline, focus, and determination. The game will remind me that a team of people working together from a common playbook can overcome some pretty intimidating obstacles. One of the fundamental rules for that level of accomplishment is preparation, preparation, and more preparation. When the camera tilts up from the field to the owners box, it is a reminder that there is room at the excellence table for twenty somethings and for senior citizens. At both sidelines there are nervous coaches who know that they have done their best to lead the eleven men on the field. Like true leaders, they realize that greatness comes in shared responsibility. The best earned their place at the table; it wasn’t legislated for them to be there. “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.” Vince Lombardi.
As the New Orleans Saints take the field in Miami against the Indianapolis Colts, you don’t have to really care which fine team wins. The same spirit of enterprise and indomitable will that has built and sustained our country is what you’ll see in the game and hopefully find uplifting. I like what Jim Mora, former coach of the New Orleans Saints, had to say about the Colt’s quarterback Peyton Manning. "What sets him apart is his preparation. That's it in a word: preparation. He prepares himself mentally, physically and emotionally to be the best that he can be. Now, everybody wants to be the best. But Peyton does what it takes to be the best. There's a difference."
May we all allow ourselves to aspire to really being the best. That is my super bowl.
If you want to see more of my blog posts or website, visit: makingittv.
I haven’t been to a football game since Al Davis’ Raiders left Los Angeles to return to Oakland, which lets you know that on a scale of 10, my fan level is at about 4. When the raiders were the local LA team, I was attracted to their positioning slogan which was “commitment to excellence.” I don’t know when they last lived up to the phrase, but I liked it and think that my connection to any sport played at the highest level is really about an interest in excellence.
The Super Bowl is much more than just a football game that determines the world champion in a bruising sport. It is a great business exercise which attracts other businesses and provides opportunities for doing business even while shouting, eating, and perhaps sipping a drink or two. As a bonus, it is usually held in a location where the danger of a snowstorm spoiling the fun is very low. Small business owners get a piece of the pie from dozens of events that are staged each year during Super Bowl week as well as in the months leading up to it. It’s all pretty entrepreneurial. Even a Motel 6 in the host city probably has a couple of great weeks.
Though my football libido is less than average, I am a fan of some of the legendary coaches and players because they embody success lessons that all business owners can learn from. The late Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers to win the first ever Super Bowl, may be the most quoted football coach ever. A copy of the book, “Motivation Lombardi Style,” is on my office bookshelf with plenty of marker tabs signifying favorite pages. From 1959 to 1967, every season was a winning season for Coach Lombardi’s teams. Now the winning Super Bowl team receives a championship trophy named after Lombardi. My favorite quote from him is: “The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.” Vince Lombardi.
So when I settle in at a social gathering with an all carbohydrate snack menu while watching Super Bowl 2010, I’ll take inspiration from seeing the best playing the best. It will remind me of the psychic and material rewards of discipline, focus, and determination. The game will remind me that a team of people working together from a common playbook can overcome some pretty intimidating obstacles. One of the fundamental rules for that level of accomplishment is preparation, preparation, and more preparation. When the camera tilts up from the field to the owners box, it is a reminder that there is room at the excellence table for twenty somethings and for senior citizens. At both sidelines there are nervous coaches who know that they have done their best to lead the eleven men on the field. Like true leaders, they realize that greatness comes in shared responsibility. The best earned their place at the table; it wasn’t legislated for them to be there. “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow.” Vince Lombardi.
As the New Orleans Saints take the field in Miami against the Indianapolis Colts, you don’t have to really care which fine team wins. The same spirit of enterprise and indomitable will that has built and sustained our country is what you’ll see in the game and hopefully find uplifting. I like what Jim Mora, former coach of the New Orleans Saints, had to say about the Colt’s quarterback Peyton Manning. "What sets him apart is his preparation. That's it in a word: preparation. He prepares himself mentally, physically and emotionally to be the best that he can be. Now, everybody wants to be the best. But Peyton does what it takes to be the best. There's a difference."
May we all allow ourselves to aspire to really being the best. That is my super bowl.
If you want to see more of my blog posts or website, visit: makingittv.
AMERICA VS CANADA
I had never heard of something called The Index of Economic Freedom until recently. The 2010 edition of this index published by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal tells me that Canada, our frozen neighbor to the north is now economically freer than the United States! That was a head turning surprise to me. I thought that being born in America and living in California placed me in the spacious corner office of the headquarters for economic freedom. As it turns out, I was wrong, really wrong. The most famous Canadian entrepreneurs that I knew of left that country to build their empires. Jack Kent Cooke moved to California to own media companies, the Los Angeles Lakers and The Forum. Roy Thompson, a nerdy newspaper owner moved to Britain where he became Lord Thompson of Fleet. They certainly weren’t letting any Canadian ice form under their feet or chill their ambitions.
You see, I grew up on the Canadian border in Niagara Falls, New York and I worked in radio and television in Canada’s capital, Ottawa for over ten years. My first business ownership was there when, with a partner, we opened Fat Albert’s Subs and Pizza. While every country has its entrepreneurial class and awe inspiring success stories, I never thought of our frigidly frolicking neighbors as being really business friendly. In fact, a feeling of heavy taxation and questionable national priorities is what prompted me to return to the U.S. and to work my trade here in the much warmer Golden State.
Economic freedom is measured in 10 categories by the Heritage Foundation, and they’ve been issuing their report for the past 16 years. For 2010, America took a tumble from sixth place to number eight behind Canada. The top 5 are Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. Note that Asian-Pacific countries dominate the rankings. But you’ll be delighted to note that some logic does prevail since Cuba, Zimbabwe, and North Korea are at the very bottom of the list.
So what did the U.S., a country built on the entrepreneurial spirit, do to lose our footing? According to The Heritage Foundation, we are now lacking in the areas of monetary freedom and property rights. Our government’s reactions to the economic and financial crises of the past couple of years are seen as interventionist. They say that the Washington gang’s actions discourage entrepreneurship, accelerate job losses, and weigh us down with record setting deficits. In countries such as South Korea, Germany, and Poland (yes, Poland) they defied the economic pressures and maintained or expanded economic freedom as measured by Heritage.
I agree with the Heritage Foundation folks that private and free enterprise does the best job of reducing poverty. Heavily regulated economies have an internal friction that slows or prevents forward movement and puts a chill on ambition. The public sector simply does not create value in the marketplace or incentivize its participants to be better and faster. High rank elected officials often talk about change, but they are really mired in the status quo. A wise and wealthy friend of mine recently said regarding political office seekers, “Nelson why wouldn’t anybody question the motives of a person who spends $5 million in pursuit of a $200,000 job? They will owe their soul to people who simply want their own gravy train to keep on running.”
The delicate balance between free enterprise capitalism and useful regulation is difficult to achieve. We have had it before in the U.S., and we need to get back to that place. When the sticky stuff hit the financial fan a year and half ago in our country, I called a couple of Canadian real estate friends in Vancouver and Ottawa. They were not having a mortgage meltdown, and their banks were not begging for outside help. It seems that their regulations had saved them from playing the same foolish games that our bankers had been allowed to indulge in. Perpetual vigilance is demanding but necessary. Economist Adam Smith wrote in his 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations, that “When institutions protect the liberty of individuals, greater prosperity results for all.”
We should be humbled by the fact that the economic freedom that lifted America to be the most prosperous country in the world is being systematically eroded and compromised. Increasingly, the small business community is on the front line in defense of the entrepreneurial spirit and values. When our friendly neighbor to the north, whose primary export seems to be winter weather cold fronts, moves above us in the economic freedom ranking, it may be time for us to put on a parka and learn something—eh!
If you want to see more about my blog or website, visit: makingittv.
You see, I grew up on the Canadian border in Niagara Falls, New York and I worked in radio and television in Canada’s capital, Ottawa for over ten years. My first business ownership was there when, with a partner, we opened Fat Albert’s Subs and Pizza. While every country has its entrepreneurial class and awe inspiring success stories, I never thought of our frigidly frolicking neighbors as being really business friendly. In fact, a feeling of heavy taxation and questionable national priorities is what prompted me to return to the U.S. and to work my trade here in the much warmer Golden State.
Economic freedom is measured in 10 categories by the Heritage Foundation, and they’ve been issuing their report for the past 16 years. For 2010, America took a tumble from sixth place to number eight behind Canada. The top 5 are Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland. Note that Asian-Pacific countries dominate the rankings. But you’ll be delighted to note that some logic does prevail since Cuba, Zimbabwe, and North Korea are at the very bottom of the list.
So what did the U.S., a country built on the entrepreneurial spirit, do to lose our footing? According to The Heritage Foundation, we are now lacking in the areas of monetary freedom and property rights. Our government’s reactions to the economic and financial crises of the past couple of years are seen as interventionist. They say that the Washington gang’s actions discourage entrepreneurship, accelerate job losses, and weigh us down with record setting deficits. In countries such as South Korea, Germany, and Poland (yes, Poland) they defied the economic pressures and maintained or expanded economic freedom as measured by Heritage.
I agree with the Heritage Foundation folks that private and free enterprise does the best job of reducing poverty. Heavily regulated economies have an internal friction that slows or prevents forward movement and puts a chill on ambition. The public sector simply does not create value in the marketplace or incentivize its participants to be better and faster. High rank elected officials often talk about change, but they are really mired in the status quo. A wise and wealthy friend of mine recently said regarding political office seekers, “Nelson why wouldn’t anybody question the motives of a person who spends $5 million in pursuit of a $200,000 job? They will owe their soul to people who simply want their own gravy train to keep on running.”
The delicate balance between free enterprise capitalism and useful regulation is difficult to achieve. We have had it before in the U.S., and we need to get back to that place. When the sticky stuff hit the financial fan a year and half ago in our country, I called a couple of Canadian real estate friends in Vancouver and Ottawa. They were not having a mortgage meltdown, and their banks were not begging for outside help. It seems that their regulations had saved them from playing the same foolish games that our bankers had been allowed to indulge in. Perpetual vigilance is demanding but necessary. Economist Adam Smith wrote in his 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations, that “When institutions protect the liberty of individuals, greater prosperity results for all.”
We should be humbled by the fact that the economic freedom that lifted America to be the most prosperous country in the world is being systematically eroded and compromised. Increasingly, the small business community is on the front line in defense of the entrepreneurial spirit and values. When our friendly neighbor to the north, whose primary export seems to be winter weather cold fronts, moves above us in the economic freedom ranking, it may be time for us to put on a parka and learn something—eh!
If you want to see more about my blog or website, visit: makingittv.
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