Smallbusiness

Step through the glass doors of Eso Won Bookstore, the landmark but struggling Leimert Park shop specializing in African American titles, and you'll see shelves stacked with civil rights classics by Martin Luther King Jr., poetry by Maya Angelou and important fiction including James Baldwin's "Another Country." Their ranks will be thinned substantially when co-owner James Fugate switches to more bargain-priced books when restocking his shelves next year in a bid to boost sales. Too much money is tied up in the slow-moving back-list tomes, which sell for $15 or more, he said.

A House-passed bill that aims to make it easier for small businesses to raise money also weakens investor protections and could create the next generation of telemarketing boiler rooms, according a growing number of critics such as AARP and federal securities regulators. Senate Democrats, in a bid to protect seniors and other potentially vulnerable investors, are working to toughen the legislation. The bill was passed by the GOP-controlled House last week in a rare display of bipartisanship.

Dear Karen: I'm shooting educational foreign language videos. Where can I get information on pricing, Internet sales and grants? Answer: Write a simple business plan and you'll learn about all the issues you must address as a start-up business owner. Diligent research -- online and at your local library -- can help you answer questions about pricing structure, sales and funding, all of which will come up in the planning process, said Bryan Howe, chief executive of MasterPlans, a professional business planning firm based in Portland, Ore. A business plan will also make you confront important issues you might not otherwise think of, such as intellectual property protection.

California's small-business owners worry about the economy, regulatory burdens and taxes, but they're also concerned about the deteriorating quality of public education and crumbling roads and other public works. Those are the findings of an annual survey of 1,067 small-business executives just released by Small Business California, an advocacy group. Employers -- just over half of them with 19 workers or less -- have trouble finding capable staff and then have trouble navigating clogged freeways, said Scott Hauge, a San Francisco insurance broker who is Small Business California's founder and president.

Dear Karen: Can you offer any advice for our first trade show? Answer: Trade shows are excellent opportunities for small-business owners to sell, research the competition and network. But they can be costly and overwhelming, especially for first-timers. Kimberly Grustas, co-founder of skin care company Good for You Girls, said meeting retail customers and prospects is the biggest benefit of trade shows. She sets goals and makes appointments with buyers and media contacts several months ahead.

Chad T. Takenaka sees himself as a craftsman, not a salesman. So when he bought the model-making shop where he worked, he never dreamed he'd face the dreaded prospect of cold calling people to drum up business. As an employee busy making prototypes and mock-ups, he hadn't noticed how the El Segundo company's previous owners pursued marketing or sales efforts to keep the phone ringing. "I was really naive and thought, 'OK, I've got all my documents and stuff, I am in business,' " says Takenaka, 41, who bought the California assets of Design Models Inc. in mid-2006.

Meet the expert Bonnie Nijst is president and chief executive of Zeesman Communications, a Beverly Hills brand strategy and marketing firm that she owns with her husband, Arthur Zeesman. Clients include Four Seasons Residence Clubs, Griffith Observatory, Pioneer Electronics, Walt Disney Co. and the cities of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. Before joining Zeesman in 2000, Nijst worked in senior management at Medialink Worldwide Inc., PR Newswire and Marketwire.

This month's makeover COMPANY SNAPSHOT Business: Design Models of California Inc. is an El Segundo shop that makes working and static prototypes and models -- from small-scale to full-size mock-ups -- for aerospace, engineering, architecture and toy manufacturing clients. It also makes props and displays for museums and the entertainment industry. Owner: Chad T. Takenaka Employees: One Revenue: $295,000 for the fiscal year that ended June 30 History: In 2006, Takenaka bought the California assets of Design Models Inc., which was founded in El Segundo in 1977.

Dear Karen: How can I minimize returns to my retail website after the holidays? Answer: Make sure your sales page includes product details and a toll-free customer service line. "The easier it is for customers to speak to a real human being, the less likely they are" to return merchandise or resort to a credit card "chargeback," said Brien Heideman of BadCustomer.com. Customers sometimes use chargebacks -- disputing credit card charges and demanding repayment -- if retailers don't have a clear return policy.

A small wooden cabinet went up for auction on EBay. Inside were two locks of hair, one granite slab, one dried rosebud, one goblet, two wheat pennies, one candlestick and, allegedly, one "dibbuk," a kind of spirit popular in Yiddish folklore. The seller, a Missouri college student named Iosif Nietzke, described the container as a "haunted Jewish wine cabinet box" that had plagued several owners with rotten luck and a spate of bizarre paranormal stunts.

A modest package of proposals aimed at expanding small business' access to capital cleared the House with broad bipartisan support, a rare accomplishment in this politically divided Congress that puts the legislation on track for passage. President Obama has repeatedly called on Congress to send him such measures that he could sign into law. "What it demonstrates is that we are able to set aside our differences when we want to and come together for producing results that people want to see," said Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.)

Bank of America Corp., under pressure to raise capital and cut risks, is severing lines of credit to some small-business owners who have used them to stay afloat. The Charlotte, N.C., bank is demanding that these customers pay off their credit line balances all at once instead of making monthly payments. If they can't pay in full, they are being offered new repayment plans for as long as five years, but with far higher interest rates than their original credit lines had. Business owners complain that BofA's credit squeeze is abrupt and could strain their small companies and even put them out of business.

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Brian Moynihan shuffled his management team, ousting two top executives as the embattled banking giant faces a plummeting stock price and mounting legal woes. Moynihan on Tuesday announced the departure of Sallie Krawcheck, the bank's head of global wealth and investment management, and Joe Price, president of consumer and small-business banking. Both were top lieutenants to former CEO Kenneth Lewis, who resigned in October 2009. Krawcheck, one of the most powerful women on Wall Street and a former top executive at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and Citigroup Inc., was hired by Lewis in 2009, toward the end of his tenure at Bank of America.

Dear Karen: How can we get better returns on our Internet ads? Answer: Make sure your advertising links to relevant pages on your website rather than just automatically going to your home page. For instance, if you're advertising lawnmowers, visitors should land directly on your lawnmower page, said Jason Hennessey, director of search engine optimization at EverSpark Interactive. "Do not think that by merely directing traffic to any page on your website, visitors will go to the trouble of searching further for the actual information they want," he said.

Dear Karen: Our business always has a backlog of payments due. How can we cut it? Answer: Offer incentives to decrease collection time. You might try giving a 2% discount for payments received within 10 days of invoicing, said John Formento Jr., an analyst at Sageworks, a financial information company. Examine your customers' payment history and contact slow-paying customers to work out a schedule. "If necessary, decline further credit offerings to them," Formento said.

Dear Karen: You answered a question about getting an IRS notice. What if you're being audited? Answer: Get professional representation. Your accountant or attorney can determine precisely what information is being requested, whereas your presence at an audit invites incomplete or off-the-cuff answers that could raise additional issues, said Larry M. Elkin, president of Palisades Hudson Financial Group in New York. "Do not extend the statute of limitations if you are asked," he said.

Silvia Spross took a baby step into small-business ownership when she opened a jewelry kiosk on Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade. It took just $11,000 to set up Lapzos Beads, including $3,500 for the first month's rent. So far the Swiss immigrant has hit her goal to average at least $200 a day in sales of the necklaces, rings and bracelets she makes from rough-cut semiprecious stones, polished rocks and beads from around the world. "I would love to own a little store but figured this would be a great start, just to see if it works," said Spross, whose lease runs just through January.

If you're self employed and yearning to shelter some of your income from taxes, you probably know all about SEP-IRAs, the retirement plan for small-business owners. But do you know about so-called solo 401(k)s? Probably not, unless you can afford to put a substantial amount of your income into tax-sheltered accounts. If you do, solo 401(k)s can offer some advantages. "They give you a lot more options," said Stuart Robertson, head of ShareBuilder 401k, a subsidiary of ING Direct.

If you've had a laptop computer lost or damaged during security screening at Los Angeles International Airport, you are not alone. Laptop computers are the item most often listed as lost or damaged in claim reports filed against the Transportation Security Administration at LAX, according to an analysis of TSA records. In a three-year period, passengers at LAX filed 1,702 claims, second only to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, with 2,277 claims, according to the records for November 2007 to December 2010.

Money from the federal government is flowing into California's small-business loan programs. The state received about $56 million by last month as a first payment. Eventually, under the federal Small Business Jobs Act passed in September, the programs could get a total of $168 million. The funds will be used to help back loans to small businesses that don't qualify for conventional loans. The state loan programs — California Capital Access Program (CalCAP) and Small Business Loan Guarantee Program (SBLGP)