Baltimore “Thinks Big”

June 6, 2011

Clay

Baltimore’s time to think big has arrived! TowsonGlobal and Baltimore area innovators are organizing the first annual Think Big Baltimore, an educational forum where entrepreneurs and investors get together to discuss ideas and opportunities for growth.

This day-long event, hosted at Towson University, will feature expert panel discussions, keynote speakers, and in-depth educational sessions.  Attendees also will have the opportunity to generate new connections, catch up with other entrepreneurs, and share ideas over cocktails and appetizers in a powerful networking session the evening before. Finally, guests will participate in CrowdPitch, an event where selected pitching companies will present in front of a panel of experts and an audience.  Audience attendees will receive $100 of fun money which they can “invest” in their favorite pitching company.   The winner will be selected based on who receives the most “money”.

Events like Think Big Baltimore keep entrepreneurial spirit alive, create more jobs, generate opportunities for start-ups and small businesses, encourage innovation, and promote competition—all necessary for the Greater Baltimore area’s growth and success. Do not miss out on the opportunity to receive valuable advice from experts, or network with peers and investors.  Regardless of the stage a business is in, whether it is just an idea or a reality, Think Big Baltimore will be place to be!

The event will start with a networking reception on Tuesday, July 12th at 6:00 pm, followed by a day-long conference on July 13th, 2011, at Towson University. Use TowsonGlobal’s code 07132011 when you register, to get a special discount.  For more information, please visit http://www.thinkbigbaltimore.com/

Leave a Comment » | Community Outreach, Education, Entrepreneurship, Events, International Business Development, IT, News, Small Business Development | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Clay Hickson

VIDEO: Towson Global Helps Entrepreneurs Bring Dreams to Reality

February 2, 2011

Clay

TowsonGlobal-Business Incubator was featured earlier this week in a news segment on WJZ. The segment emphasized that despite the tough economic climate for starting a business, Towson University’s incubator makes it easier for entrepreneurs to gain access to the resources needed. The new Business Plan Competition was highlighted as was new member, Keffa Coffee. If you are interested in participating in the Business Plan Competition, don’t forget that Executive Summaries are due on February 7th.

Leave a Comment » | Entrepreneurship, International Business Development, Small Business Development, Students, TU Faculty & Staff | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Clay Hickson

Three New Members Join TowsonGlobal

January 10, 2011

Clay

According to the Federal Reserve Bank’s Livingston Survey, the US economy is expected to grow at an annual rate of 2.5% in the first half of 2011, followed by growth of 2.9% in the second half of 2011. This moderate growth could be signaling economic recovery. Here at TowsonGlobal we are certainly seeing an increase in activity and are pleased to announce that three new companies have joined the incubator program:

Chesapeake Compensation Solutions LLC, a provider of compensation consulting services for mid-large sized firms and non-profit organizations, joins as an Associate Member.  The firm’s two principals bring over 43 years of combined hands-on experience in internal corporate and external compensation consulting.
Keffa Coffee LLC, a leading importer of specialty coffees to roasters across the United States and Canada, and also to several Asian countries, joins as a Resident Member. Keffa holds a significant quality advantage in the Ethiopian segment of the coffee industry because of the principal’s experience in the industry, his personal relationships with farmers in the major coffee growing areas of Ethiopia, and his product knowledge.  The owner is one of only 350 certified coffee tasters worldwide.
Sterling America Inc., a full service tax sale investment services company that provides investment opportunities for clients seeking safe, secure investments in tax liens and deeds across the United States, joins as an Associate Member. The firm’s products and services are designed to break down geographic limitations and open tax sale investment opportunities across the US to any individual or entity.

The technologies, products and services these companies are developing will greatly enhance the economic vibrancy and health of the Baltimore region.

Interested in tapping into the resources of TowsonGlobal? Enter our Business Plan Competition for startup companies, which offers a free 90-day Resident membership along with mentoring and advisory support services.  Visit www.towsonglobal.com for more information.

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Posted by Clay Hickson

Is Maryland the tax hell that many in business portray?

May 6, 2010

Dr. Daraius Irani

It is often said that first impressions last for a lifetime.  In the past, many believed that Maryland had the motto “If you can dream it, we can tax it” as its tax policy while also being surrounded by states that had the perception of lower taxes and perhaps a more business-friendly climate.  Unfortunately many individuals believe that Maryland still abides by this motto.  This may actually be more perception than reality.

Admittedly, recent actions by Maryland’s government have done little to dispel the notion that Maryland is a high-tax state with the increase in sales tax and the millionaire’s income tax rate as well as the proposed tax on computer services.  This even crossed political lines with the so-called flush tax enacted by Maryland’s former Republican governor.

While many pundits recommend lower taxes to state policy makers, many feel this is a far too simplistic approach.  According to the Tax Foundation, an ideal tax policy should yield a tax system that is simple, transparent, stable, neutral to business activity and pro-growth.  In this tax system, tax payers would ultimately base their decisions on the economic merits of their transactions and not on the tax implications.

Many institutes publish lists and articles that rank states according to their tax climate, effective tax rates and the burden of government as a means to gauge a state’s tax system and business climate.  Such studies often show conflicting statistics because they rarely compare “apples to apples”.

  • According to the Tax Foundation’s “2010 State Business Tax Climate,” Maryland ranks 45th worst in the nation in terms of its business tax climate, as compared to 25th in fiscal year 2006.
  • However, in a 2010 Ernst and Young report “Total State and Local Business Taxes,” Maryland was ranked 11th in the nation when considering the total effective business tax rate.
  • Moreover, over the period 2005 to 2009, only 17.5 percent of the change in taxes was borne by businesses in Maryland as compared to a national average of 46.7 percent.  In fact, in only one other state was this share lower.

As you can see, measurements and analyses are not without their own shortcomings and detractors.  Some food for thought,

  1. These analyses do not account for the possibility that high taxes may also result in high levels of public services. For instance, there is a high degree of correlation with Maryland’s number one public school ranking in the US with its purportedly high tax rate.
  2. Many other states rely on fees rather than taxes. For example, while South Carolina is a fairly low income tax state, it relies heavily on user fees to finance the state expenditures.

While all of these indices and measurements provide valuable information, they still do not provide the answer to the question of whether Maryland is a high tax state.  To determine the answer, perhaps the more fundamental question of whether the current tax policy in Maryland meets the standard of an ideal tax system should be examined.

So, while this blog did not answer the question of whether Maryland is a high tax state or not, it did illustrate one fact: that the analysis of state tax policy should not be based upon changing the relative rankings, but supporting a tax policy that favors no one, is easy to understand and encourages business to grow and engage in transactions for their economic merits and not their tax implications.

2 Comments | Business Analysis, Economic Analysis | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Daraius Irani

Women Business Owners Plug In and Power Up

January 7, 2010

Marcia

Women business owners have a lot of positive attributes in common.  They are generally organized multi-taskers who are deliberate in their actions and succinct in their responses.

While women generally don’t waste any time getting to the point, they are the first to ask for more information if needed.  But according to author, speaker and organizational development expert Joni Daniels, “sometimes women misunderstand their power as a professional.”  Daniels’ experience in working with business owners finds that while men tend to ask for validation that solutions they use for business are the best ones, women often hesitate and ask, “How can I become more powerful?”

Joni Daniels

Speaking recently to 30 women business owners at SBDC’s December women’s business roundtable at Towson University, Daniels presented her insights on the topic:  Energy and Focus:  Where it went and how to get it back.  Here it was clear Daniels undoubtedly knew how to effectively engage an audience.  Her leadership abilities and facilitation skills evoked earnest, heart-felt and productive conversations which brought lucidity and insight to a group of confident women entrepreneurs ready to collaborate about issues in common.

The group of Baltimore women entrepreneurs hung on every word as Daniels delivered a highly spirited and spontaneous presentation on how to activate one’s personal power tools to improve concentration and enliven a vision of success. Juggling multiple roles and self-imposed heavy work/life expectations were the root cause of many misplaced priorities, resulting in lack of energy and loss of focus.

Educating her audience on how to retool and realign their personal and professional life, Daniels proposed re-harnessing one’s inner strength as a more effective means to power up. Daniels advocates that improved utilization of one’s vision, intuition, parameters, communications and relationships, can help re-position them for personal and professional success.

Steadfast in her belief that success is primarily bred by improved self realization, polished intuition and honed skill sets, Daniels recharged this group of enterprising women to be more effective and efficient.  Personal experiences and working examples yielded many ah-ha moments as collaborative conversation helped the group identify opportunities for personal and professional growth.

As a select trainer and subject matter expert on organizational development for SBDC’s CEO Accelerator program, Joni Daniels-principal of Daniels and Associates, a Baltimore-based business solutions consulting firm- will continue to shepherd SBDC business owners through her empowerment zone processing model.

If you are interested in attending SBDC’s CEO Accelerator training topic sessions, include your name, email address and phone contact information in the return section of this blog.  We’ll contact you with updates on the CEO Accelerator training schedule series featuring topics such as: goal clarification, problem assessment and delineation, target market analysis, and effective business optimization techniques.   Stayed tuned for our January 25th blog to find out more about the CEO Accelerator program.

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Posted by Past Bloggers

Got Social Media?

November 23, 2009

Sharyn

Last week I had the opportunity to return to one of my alma maters, University of Baltimore, to attend an event hosted by the Public Relations Society of America’s Maryland chapter. “10 Questions to Ask When Developing a Social Media Strategy” presented by Sean Carton of idfive was exactly the new information I was looking for. I’m eager to keep learning more and more about social media and how it can be used in a business capacity. What I liked about Sean’s presentation was that he spent a little time on the basics of social media and then he posed questions that really made me think and evaluate the strategy that we have in place for DECO. I was smiling and even laughing out loud throughout the presentation because Sean was able to share his 10 tips in a humorous, yet informative manner. Below I’ve highlighted a few of the questions he posed.

from fresherthan.com

Why chose social media?

Don’t think jumping on the bandwagon is a good enough answer. Just because everyone under 25 is doing it, make sure your organization is doing it for the right reason. You have to know your audience, or have a desire to build stronger relationships with that audience. Maybe you’re an organization that attracts a certain niche or you do something better than your competitors. We found that within our organization that offers services like economic analysis, it solutions, GIS consulting, business incubation, small business development and education, that we have a story to tell and we wanted to make sure the region was hearing about it.

Are you ready to give up control?

This is something that can be tricky. You can’t control what people say about your organization. And today, it’s easier and easier for people to say what they want in forums, twitter, blogs, and really anywhere. So don’t be scared of that, join the conversation. The whole point of social media is that it should be a two-way conversation. As Sean pointed out during his presentation, the truth can hurt, but it may be worth hearing.

How do you plan to get users to visit?

You can build it, but will they come? How will you spread the word? We’ve found that the content we create on our blog can help generate tidbits for our quarterly newsletter and twitter account. We’re asking university and business partners to help promote our blog and we’re sending relevant blog posts to clients hoping they will be enlightened or even share the information with other colleagues. Since the blog’s launch we have received more and more comments and also had our articles picked up internally at TU. You could say our approach is a little more on the grass roots side right now.

Who’s responsible for maintenance?

This is the tricky, but critical part of an organization’s social media strategy. At DECO we didn’t want to jump in head first and just hope the blog would work. We spent an entire summer talking with our team in DECO to find out who was interested in working with the blog, impressions of social media, and developing policies. We reviewed other blogs for what we liked and didn’t like, and then started building the framework. Since the launch, we formed a user group and meet monthly to talk about our posting schedule. This helps to keep all the contributors in the loop of the expectations. Editing and posting the articles then becomes a pretty easy task. It’s a good idea to make the maintenance part of someone’s job responsibilities so that it gets done. It’s also important to establish criteria of your social media, allow autonomy to your staff who oversees the social media and integrate it with all the forms of communication you are currently using.

Hearing this presentation gave me a few things to think about and I have a better idea of how to evaluate our social media strategy and make our presence stronger.

Click here to view the presentation

2 Comments | Business Analysis, Small Business Development | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Sharyn Kuczka

What is an Entrepreneur?

October 15, 2009
Clay

Clay

The term entrepreneur comes from the French word, entrependre, which means “to undertake,” and this is precisely the basic principle of entrepreneurship.  An entrepreneur is one who has a vision of an opportunity and takes the initiative to capitalize on it.  In simple terms, he or she organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business.  Surprisingly, there actually is debate over exactly what the term means, but few would argue that anyone who embarks on a new venture in order to create a new business would be considered an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs and other small businesses are the driving force behind the US economy, creating jobs and innovative technologies.  These businesses “represent 99.7% of all employers, employ more than half of the private sector workers, account for 39% of high-tech jobs, and create 60-80% of the net new jobs annually,” says Entrepreneur magazine.

A true entrepreneur has a vision to seize an opportunity with passion and diligence.  And these traits are crucial to success.  If you are thinking to yourself:   “This whole entrepreneurial thing is a piece of cake!  It can’t be a complicated process?  I can make millions effortlessly!”  Well, you are sadly mistaken.  Experience, knowledge, and most importantly, planning breed success.

from Flickr MartinPhotoSport

from Flickr MartinPhotoSport

Entrepreneurs often are innovators, creating new products, new production methods, new markets, new forms of organization….  However, being an innovator doesn’t ensure success.   People come up with new ideas everyday that we never even hear about.

Planning is the key to success.  Even though some entrepreneurs may “luck” into success, a lack of planning really is a recipe for failure.  There must be a market for whatever the idea is, and the product/service must actually be successfully produced and marketed.  And then there is the competition; someone may already be doing something very similar, or may learn how to do it better very quickly, stealing the market away.  The successful entrepreneur has a pretty good handle on all of these elements because he’s done his homework, he has planned.

towsonglobalMany entrepreneurs find that obtaining the support of an incubator can help them move more quickly along the path to success.  Incubators like TowsonGlobal provide a wide range of support, including affordable office facilities; business counseling & mentoring; networking assistance; and workshops and other educational forums.

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Posted by Clay Hickson

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