FREE - online copy of "In the Trenches - Financial Survival During Times of Hardship"

In The Trenches is offering a free online copy of their book  "In The Trenches - Financial Survival During Times of Hardship".

You can follow the link to their blog to get to the free online version: 
Free Copy of In The Trenches - Financial Survival During Times Of Hardship

No strings attached, they have it posted on Goggle docs.

I have not read the book myself, just passing along a freebie.

Minimum Wage Rose in 7 States

 The article Minimum Wage Earners in 7 States Getting Raises  points out that Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington all have minimum wages that are indexed to inflation and above the federal minimum.   Since they are indexed to inflation it is normal to get an annual raise to coincide with the inflation rate.   Florida, Missouri and Nevada also have rules about increasing their minimum wage based on inflation but those states are not getting increases this year.

 The article also says that about 647,000 people in those 7 states will get raises due to the increase in the minimum wage.   That sounds like a ton of people but given the employment figures for those states adds up to about 14.7M people it actually works out to around 4.5% of the population is earning the minimum in the 7 states.  That is a higher level than other states which makes sense.   Nationally about 3% of the population earns the minimum wage.   But if a higher minimum wage then it will cover a larger group of the lower income earners.

The new minimum wages for the states with increases are as follows:

Washington state will have the highest minimum wage at $8.67 an hour.

Oregon is $8.50
Arizona $7.35
Colorado $7.36
Montana $7.35
Vermont $8.15

Most states are fixed at the federal rate of $7.25
.

But the following states have rates higher than the federal but not indexed to inflation.  

Alaska $7.75
California $8
Connecticut $8.25
D.C. $8.25
Illinois $8.25
Maine $7.50
Massachusetts $8
Michigan $7.40
Nevada $8.25
New Mexico $7.50
Ohio $7.40
Rhode Island $7.40

10 Reasons Small Businesses Fail

An article from the New York Times carried by Yahoo titled Top 10 Reasons Small Businesses Fail
gives this list of 10 reasons:

1. The math just doesn't work.
2. Owners who cannot get out of their own way.
3. Out-of-control growth.
4. Poor accounting.
5. Lack of a cash cushion.
6. Operational mediocrity.
7. Operational inefficiencies.
8. Dysfunctional management.
9. The lack of a succession plan.
10. A declining market. 

The article goes into more depth on each point and elaborates on their meaning.   Its quite a good list if you ask me.  If you're thinking of starting a business or if you are already running one then I think it would be good to make sure you're not vulnerable to any of the items.

Here's my thoughts on them.

1 and 5 are basically business plan items.   You need to make sure you have a product people will buy and that your capital will last.   This kind of failure may start from day one and could be insurmountable no matter how much of a genius you are at handling customers or other facets of running the business.  

2,4,6,7,8  all seem like items that are basically flaws or weaknesses of the business operators themselves.   If you don't do a good job running the business then it may fail.   Some are more understandable like #7 "operational inefficiencies" which any business has to keep an eye on.  But others like #8 "dysfunctional management" really translate into failure by the people running the show.

#3 is a sign of your own success.   If you grow too fast you can fail.  You do a perfectly good job managing a small retail shop with 5 employees.  But if you then decide to expand to a regional empire with 25 locations and 125 employees you may realize you're not capable of handling that kind of thing and it may all collapse. 

9, 10 are items that seem more like things that even good businesses may be vulnerable.    You might do a wonderful job running a business for many decades and then end up failing due to one of these.   Small businesses in particular are often ran primarily by a single person.  When that person retires or otherwise leaves then thats a key transition.   A very successful business may fail eventually simply because the world changes.  Just look at the New York Times themselves.   They and other print newspapers are on the path to failure if current trends continue.  They need to adapt to the new media or they will fail.

I don't run a small business myself unless you want to count our rental properties as a business which it is in a way.

Best of blog posts for week of January 7th

Get Rich Slowly has a nice, long, detailed article on How to Take Control of Your Finances in 2011

DoughRoller answers What is IRS Tax Form 1099?

DoughRoller also informs us about  Dish Network and Your Credit Score–What You Should Know

And a third article from DoughRoller is Shouldn’t Life Insurance Companies All Be Bankrupt?

3 articles in a week from Dough Roller they were on a roll this week.  (sorry)

Pop Economics discusses their view on 2011′s job market: The separation of the haves and have nots