Watch John help another hard-working entrepreneur get her dog grooming business up and running in a new spot on CNN! The spot will air on CNN Newsroom through the weekend and is available to watch embedded in this post, or at CNN’s website. cf2nkge7t6

In the video, John and Dani Babb help retired Air Force veteran Lori Lawrence reduce start-up costs for her new dog grooming business, My Pampered Pooch, in order to make the business a reality.

In a few short days, John and Dani helped Lori cut her start-up costs from $147,000 to only $35,000 by securing better prices on labor and equipment due to the recession, negotiating a better lease to take advantage of the weak commercial real estate market, and giving her advice on which services to pay professionals for and which ones can be done on her own with free online alternatives.

Watch the clip and see how you can take control of your own life by starting a small business, or find out how you can help support My Pampered Pooch. You can also read CNN’s full article on the story here.

 

A new article about how to find financing for your small business that I wrote with Dani Babb is now up on the TheStreet.com. It’s called How to Get Startup Funds in a Tight Market and answers a simple but important question from Mary in Arkansas: “How do I get money to start my business?” Check it out – it’s a valuable resource for anyone out there trying to turn their business ideas into a reality.

(May 16, 2009) Yesterday I woke up a lot earlier than I like (that would be noon) to do the Fox Business 8AM Money for Breakfast show with Alexis Glick. Our assignment was to review the impact of recent government policies on the economy. It was set up as a debate with me squaring off against Christie Hefner (yes, that Hefner). Fun stuff. Here are a couple of the things we discussed.

JOBS- Government policies are destroying jobs, not creating them. The Treasury alphabet programs (TARP, TARF, BARF, TALF, ALPO, WALDO, DILDO,…) should have been titled the Hedge Fund Relief Act. They have set up a situation where banks can make tons of money by selling bales of certain kinds of paper to hedge funds who will make 30% returns on the paper. Banks have responded by ordering their troops to shut down all other activities, including small business loans, personal credit lines, home equity lines and jumbo mortgages.

Memo to Geithner (the Doogie Howser of finance): ALL JOBS come from small businesses. The shutdown of business credit lines is forcing small businesses to fire people. We get heart-breaking calls from these people every Saturday noon-2PM on our FBN entrepreneur show. You can measure the impact of the working capital shutdown in the weekly new unemployment claims reports (+637,000 last week) and the monthly job reports (-539,000 in April). You can also measure the loan activity directly in the chart below.

(May 16, 2009) In spite of what many people think, entrepreneurs don’t only happen in America. They happen everywhere people want to build a better life—in China, in India, in Colombia and in Brazil. And as I keep reporting week after week from our Fox Business Saturday show, there are tons of entrepreneurs in America too. Entrepreneurs are the source of the energy that makes the world grow and keeps living standards rising.

America is the richest, freest country in the world. We need to make sure we nurture and grow entrepreneurs and small businesses in America if we want to stay that way. That’s why I make such loud noises on TV when politicians do thing–taxes, regulations, mandates–to make it harder for people to start and grow businesses.

I Just received an email from my good friend Ed Hotard who is in China this week. Ed divides his time between Beijing and  Houston–his travel schedule makes me look like a homebody.

I met an interesting man yesterday at my Berkeley lecture. He has taken the energy transformation framework from my new book and designed a framework for restructuring companies to accelerate innovation and entrepreneurial activity.

JR

We have a new Fox Business show for entrepreneurs. It airs LIVE every Saturday from 1-2PM EST (10-11 PST for the mathematically challenged). I would love to have you and everyone you know join us every week. Dani Babb and I kick butt and take names every Saturday with live call-ins, emails and twitters from viewers who want to take back control of their own lives.

I don’t mean entrepreneurs like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. they are already wealthy. I mean REAL entrepreneurs that start companies in their kitchen and struggle every day to survive.

Our message is simple. We need to stop waiting for the government to bail us out or some big company to offer us a job. We need to get off the couch, light the blue flame, and do it ourselves by starting and growing our own businesses.

Yesterday we had a ton of calls from people fighting to survive in the tough economy. It breaks my heart to talk with a man running a shower door company, like we did yesterday, who is trying to decide who to fire because he can’t make next week’s payroll or pay the rent. But I admire these people so much that we have to try–and sometimes we can find a way to help.

Every week there is some person on the show that really gets to me. These are my heros. So far my all time champion is Terry–tell you about him later. This week my hero is Mary from Arkansas.

Mary called in to ask us if we thought she was crazy that she is thinking about starting a business.

Mary is 70 years old and has no business experience. But she has developed a dipping sauce in her kitchen that her friends all say is so good that she ought to be selling it. She had 2 questions. Was she crazy at her age to think she and her family could do this in their own kitchen? And how can she get started?

Crazy? Are you kidding, Mary? It is you, and people who have even half your energy, that built this country in the first place. I am humbled by your example. Go get ‘em girl.

Mary’s questions were good ones. Does she need any special equipment? (No) Can she start it in her own kitchen with her family? (Yes. That’s the best way.) Does she need a bigger pan to get started? (she only has a 5 quart pan) (No. Buy a bigger pan when you make some money.) Should she start selling the first (5 quart) batch or wait until she has made a lot more of it? (Waiting is for tourists. Start NOW.) And how can she find customers (lots of ideas including using local restaurants and gift shops, a card table by the road, going on local (free) radio and TV, and friends and family.) I told Mary I would take a jar of her sauce with me next trip to China.

Later in the day I got emails from people all over the country who were inspired by Mary to get their businesses going too. Working on a way to connect the mini entrepreneurs into a virtual marketing network they can each help the other sell into their local markets.

I may be a simp, but Mary gives me hope. I hear so many people whining every week about what they don’t have that I am uplifted to talk with a 70 year old woman in Arkansas who is ready to kick some butt.

Mary, you are my hero.

JR

As you know, I am not a fan of sitting around waiting for the government to bail you out or a big business coming along to offer you a job. I think things work better when you ignite your own energy and scramble for ways to make money by starting a business. The week I spent in North Korea last week makes me even more committed to this idea. I think that people starting and running companies is what makes America the most resilient and creative economy in the world.) Today they call this stuff entrepreneurship–too big a word for something as important as survival.

That’s why Dani Babb and I have a show on Fox Business every Saturday from 1-2PM EST to help people figure out how to start and grow their own companies. We take call ins, emails and twitters from people all over the country struggling to do their own thing.

My purpose of this post is to tell you of a victory we had last week. This victory may seem simple but makes all the work we are doing worth it.

Two weeks ago we took a live call from Terry. Terry told us he is a disabled vet but wants to work. He has accounting skills and wondered if we had any ideas that would help him get going. I can’t tell you how excited we were to talk with him about starting a company in his home to be the off-site accountant to help small companies everywhere do their books, file their taxes, and collect their receivables.

But that wasn’t the payoff. Last week we received a call from a different man (we’ll call him Tom) who had been motivated to start a company while watching one of our earlier shows. He said his business was succeeding and he had reached the point where he needed an accountant, that he liked the sound of the man he heard call into our last show, and wondered if we would put us in touch with Terry.

Are you kidding? We could have fallen off the couch! God, I love these guys. That is exactly what we started the show for. With people like Terry and Tom out there we can make this place work again. Terry and Tom are the REAL entrepreneurs, not Bill Gates or Warren Buffett. We need to recognize them for the heroes they really are.

Another show next Saturday. Tell all the people you would like to see a blue flame coming out behind them to watch the show and give us a call.

JR

The show is to help people who want to make the leap and start their own companies to light the blue flame and leave the cubicle, kick butt and take names. Live call-ins, emails and twitters during the show.

Hope you can make the show and would welcome your comments and advice how to make it better.

JR

The producers asked everyone on the Fox Business Bulls and Bears (4-5PM EST) show today to each bring one idea we would like the viewers to walk away with. Mine was ‘Kick butt-take names’.

Too many people today are sitting home in front of their TV in panic like a deer in the headlights. Fear is for tourists. My grandma Flora used to tell me it’s OK to get knocked down, but it’s not ok to stay down. Many viewers have been paralyzed while watching their 401ks shrink with a mindset that their productive life is over. No matter who you are, where you are, or how old you are your productive life is not over. There are lots of ways to start businesses today with no capital, even small ones run by old guys like me. It’s OK to fail trying. But you have to change your mindset and attack to win.

JR

We are starting a new show on Fox Business about entrepreneurs-Saturday 1-2PM EST. All live call-ins, emails and twitters. I will answer any question there about anything. I sent out a blog asking for stories from entrepreneurs. Here is a comment I got this morning from Marilee.

Today the news is full of bailout stories. People like Marilee aren’t waiting for a bailout-they are doing it themselves with their own hands and their own energy. I think we need to spend more time celebrating Marilee and less time discussing what some politician said. If we had more Marilee’s we would not be in this mess.

Send me your stories.

John

Greetings John,
Being a Realtor and having the CA Real Estate market taking a serious downturn, I started to look at other avenues in business. I landed on a Beauty Salon in our small town of Cool, CA (population 2520). My thought process was regardless of a recession and even when tightening the purse strings, women will give up shopping, movies and lunch dates before cutting back on their beauty routine.
I’ve grown the business in 4 months, from 2 hairstylists to 5 hairstylists and one manicurist.
I am still active in Real Estate. The Salon will hopefully allow me to survive this economy until CA Real Estate (especially Horse Properties) recovers.

Dear Marilee,
Thanks for writing. You are exactly what the country needs today to climb out of the hole we are in. It is people’s ENERGY, not bailout packages, that will fix the economy. You have my admiration.
Give us a call on the show.
Wish there were 10 times more of you.
best regards,
John