Biz Beat
DEANS OF BUSINESS
Making over Maine’s marketing
By Ronald A. Nykiel on May 27, 2011, at 3:54 p.m.
Image and perception are among the top attributes for any destination. Maine has a wonderful image and fulfills the perception of a picturesque state. During my career in business I had the opportunity to visit every state, and Maine is second to none when it comes to image, perception and ...
WOMEN@WORK
May is season of champions for small businesses
By Eloise Vitelli on May 26, 2011, at 6:51 p.m.
Small businesses in Maine enjoy many champions – people and organizations willing to advocate for their chance to succeed – and May was the month to celebrate these champions. National Small Business week, May 15 – 21, saw ceremonies in Washington, D.C., to honor nine such champions. Maine’s senior Sen. ...
Weighing the pros and cons of incorporation
By Brent R. Slater on May 23, 2011, at 10:18 p.m.
Sometime in the life of nearly every small business, the question arises, “Should this be a corporation?” The answer is, “Yes, no, and maybe.” There are advantages to being incorporated, but those advantages come with some cost. There’s legal expense, accounting expense, and changes to the names on accounts and ...
DEANS OF BUSINESS
Health insurance reform needed, outcome still uncertain
By James Shaffer on May 20, 2011, at 6:15 p.m.
The health insurance reform bill, LD 1333, is now signed into law, but uncertainty remains. It’s clearly a partisan issue, with media reporting party line votes and using phrases such as “Republicans insist” and “Democrats object.” Insurance is inherently complicated, and the partisanship has made it difficult to develop an ...
Maine’s small businesses: A pathway to economic growth
By Michael W. Aube on May 19, 2011, at 2:42 p.m.
According to a variety of sources, Maine has approximately 141,000 small businesses. More than 100,000 of those are self–employers. This means about 41,000 businesses employ the majority of Maine’s work force. In Maine, our economic engine is small business. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy in multiple ways. ...
DEANS OF BUSINESS
Online marketing success unlocked with the right keys
By Ronald A. Nykiel on May 13, 2011, at 5:52 p.m.
Today, many businesses are often totally Web-based or are receiving a majority of their revenue through Web marketing. Every hour, day, week, month and year more and more of consumer purchases and decisions to purchase are the result of Web-based marketing. Internet-based marketing can include blogs, Twitter, Facebook, numerous ...
WOMEN@WORK
Serving their country —now as entrepreneurs
By Wendy Rose on May 12, 2011, at 5:37 p.m.
What do the following women entrepreneurs have in common? A real estate agent in rural Maine who has just made her first sale. A top-quality residential cleaner with a growing customer base in central Maine. A basket maker in southern Maine who sells her hand-crafted items at fairs and online ...
CONSUMER FORUM
Youth financial literacy
A recent study found that four-year college graduates from Maine have school loan debts averaging $29,000. Talk with a young person who’s fresh out of school and just starting an entry-level job, and you might hear a comment like this: “Some days I feel like I’m never going to be ...
Balancing taxing and spending to save the U.S. economy
My fellow Mainers, there was a time where our national debt was 120 percent of our GDP (total economic output), just after WWII and, yes, that is a higher percentage than we face today at just over 100 percent of GDP. We could then assume that this situation we are ...
Bill would cut legal ads from newspapers
AUGUSTA, Maine — A legislative committee will hear proposals to change how state and municipal public notices are advertised to Maine residents during a hearing Wednesday. Supporters of the bills say they would save towns and the state considerable amounts of money, while taking advantage of advanced technology to disseminate ...
CONSUMER FORUM
Recalls announced for some Toro lawn mowers, snowblowers
By Russ Van Arsdale, executive director, Northeast CONTACT on May 01, 2011, at 3:49 p.m.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada this week announced a recall involving some Toro lawn mowers and snowblowers. The 20-inch Recycler mower and Power Clear snowblower both have carburetors that can leak, possibly causing fires or burns. They were sold at Toro dealers in the U.S. and Canada ...
DEANS OF BUSINESS
Sport in Maine can be a big business opportunity
By James Shaffer on April 29, 2011, at 3:27 p.m.
Many Mainers would be surprised to learn of the size of Maine’s sport industry. It’s big, huge even, if you define “sport” broadly to include such activities as fitness, venue management, marketing and event tourism. Plunkett Research Ltd. has measured and categorized the sport industry in the United States. Conservatively ...
WOMEN@WORK
The family farm: Women help revive an old tradition
By Eloise Vitelli on April 28, 2011, at 3:57 p.m.
Women’s connection to agriculture dates back to the days of hunter-gatherer societies when men hunted woolly mammoths and women gathered nuts and berries to help sustain prehistoric families. This close association with plants may well have led women to invent agriculture, a theory gaining ground among archaeologists. The recent influx ...
CONSUMER FORUM
Manufactured demand
By Russ Van Arsdale, executive director, Northeast CONTACT on April 24, 2011, at 7:45 p.m.
Many people complain about the number of catalogs they receive in the mail. Not me; why, there’s stuff I didn’t even know I needed until I saw it for sale in one of those slick publications. We probably owe a huge debt of gratitude to Sears, Roebuck and Co. Sears ...
DEANS OF BUSINESS
How to deal with the only constant in business: change
By Ronald A. Nykiel, Deans of Business on April 22, 2011, at 3:07 p.m.
We are in a transitory and ever-changing period for both business firms and marketing. This applies to all businesses, be it a new e-commerce venture, retail or service industry enterprise, a small firm or mega corporation. What worked in the past has no guarantee of working in the future as ...
Michael W. Aube
Katahdin, Bangor regions tied through history, future
By Michael W. Aube, Special to the BDN on April 21, 2011, at 8:46 p.m.
In the early 1820s, territory was cleared for farm land in the Katahdin region. It remained a silent, gentle and quiet set of family farms that grew into a small but vibrant region. The industrial revolution expanded throughout the successful new “Union” and all of Maine. The transportation of commodities ...
Simple steps help small businesses avoid stress
By Larry Wold, Maine Market president at TD Bank. on April 20, 2011, at 5:50 p.m.
The financial and emotional impact of the Great Recession has probably made many Maine small-business owners ask themselves, “Is owning a business even worth it anymore?” The answer can, and should be, “Absolutely!” According to the TD Small Business Happiness Index, a survey that examined the attitudes and behaviors of ...
Touting tourism through technology
By Harold Daniel on April 15, 2011, at 8:49 p.m.
In an earlier column, Dean Ron Nykiel of Husson University highlighted the importance of Maine’s tourism and hospitality industry to the state as a tax revenue generator. He correctly identified the attraction of more out-of-state tourists and the money they spend as a major goal for the industry. We know ...
Women taking the helm in marine trades
By Gigi Guyton on April 14, 2011, at 12:46 p.m.
When we think of the work force along Maine’s coastline and marinas, it’s usually a male figure that comes to mind: salty lobstermen, guys working the docks and building boats. “I’ve been in the industry for 30 years. I can remember a time when I was an oddity,” says Susan ...
Inefficiencies around debt add up quickly
It’s just a couple of hundred bucks on dinner. That was the defense line used by the executive director of the Maine Municipal Bond Bank, Robert Lenna, last Friday in a special board meeting where State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin questioned expenses incurred during the closing of a bond issue in ...
Glenburn art teacher killed in Friday morning collision in Bangor
Harvard student asked to leave bar for ‘bad behavior,’ not drunkenness
LePage blasts teachers union for endorsing same-sex marriage question
Reporting crime
A people’s revolt in Bar Harbor
Old Town football coach steps down
Perakslis helps UMaine beat Albany; Binghamton next in America East tournament
Orono baseball shuts out archrival Old Town for ninth straight victory
Stony Brook knocks out UMaine to win America East tournament
Aroostook businessman expands company out of home with hit mobile app 7 Little Words
Former CEO of MaineToday Media Richard Connor sued over $250,000 in loans
Small idea launches major project in Hampden
Diversity predicts export success, MIT professor tells Maine audience
New, old methods combine to deter scrap metal thefts in Aroostook
Gary Allan talks with the BDN leading up to Bangor concert
Out of the ashes, Central Street’s garden grows
Mid Coast Actor’s Studio provides new forum for classic plays
Signs lead artist to opportunity
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