Oil Closes at $200 A Barrel, Is Your Business Ready?

Oil closed at USD$120 today for the first time. Also for the first time, I heard these talking head prognosticators projecting USD$200 a barrel oil.

I was thinking about the impact this might have on my clients when my usual airline passed rising fuel prices on to passengers, yet again.

What can you do if your business involves travel – getting yourself, your message, your goods and services from Point A to Point B?

Is Your Business Ready for Higher Costs?

Raw material prices will rise as the cost of transporting these goods rises. So, even if you don’t maintain a fleet of delivery vans, your business is going to feel the pinch one way or another.

So what can you do to survive in a climate of rising fuel costs that are fueling inflation of all goods and services?

Seven Tips to Help Your Business Survive a Big Oil Crunch

1. If your business employs a number of people, organize a carpool to defray the costs of getting to and from the office.

2. Allow employees to tele-commute. Security encryption software ensures even sensitive data moves seamlessly from home work station to office network.

3. Order early. Whatever your office needs, order early and use the lowest shipping priority available. This is also true of shipping items. Offer clients or customers a slower but lower-cost means of shipment.

4. Use the back office of your company web site to create a Project Board – a page listing all current projects, to whom they’re assigned, uploaded research, message boards – a virtual office. This content management software enables you to track progress on projects from anywhere.

5. Outsource. It’s an ugly word to many small business owners but these are desperate times. And small businesses are going to take the hit first. You can outsource any task – legal, administrative, clerical – whatever the task, someone will do it for less than you’re paying now. If this sounds cruel, consider the alternative.

6. Expand your margins – slowly. Avoid creating “sticker shock” among clients and customers by expanding margins gradually rather than in one big price jump. Increase cost of goods and services slowly – below the level of inflation to create a more stable and accepting client base.

7. Open a VoIP account. Skype, for example, enables you to talk to clients around the world free. It doesn’t replace face time but it’s always good to stay in touch with your regulars, regardless of where they’re located.

The price of fuel may be hurting your business now. Chances are, it’s only going to get worse in the months and years ahead. Now’s the time to reconfigure your business to manage higher fuel prices, higher salaries, insurance, rents, airline tickets and lunch.

Yahoo Walks Away Leaving $47.5 Billion On the Table

Like many business people I have been watching the Microsoft / Yahoo saga with interest.

On May 5^th, 2008, Jerry Yang, CEO of Yahoo, and his band of accountants, negotiators and consultants walked away from Microsoft’s $47.5 billion offer to acquire the second most popular search engine/portal site in the world.

Interestingly, despite prognosticators dire predictions of a 30% drop in Yahoo share price, May 6^th revealed investors had pumped up Yahoo’s share price by 6%. Indeed, there are Yahoo shareholders still holding out hope for some sort of buy-out on the part of Microsoft, and though the software giant is known to play hardball in negotiations, Yang knows a thing or two about search engines. He knows even more about content – and plenty of it.

The Marriage Between Google and YouTube

In ’07, Google bought fledgling YouTube (founded in 2005) for $1.65 billion, making instant millionaires out of the two college roommates who thought it would be fun to post funny videos. This corporate alliance changed the way people use the web.

Google quickly integrated the thousands of video clips from its acquisition into Google’s SERPs. Now, to watch a video clip, you Google the subject, Google generates the SERPs and links to the video are provided right there on the SERPs. You, the searcher, never leave Google. Google comes to you. With content. Stupid content, poignant content, political content, how-tos – it’s endless.

This marriage between search engine and content developer showed the synergies that can be created between SEs and good stuff to watch or read.

That’s Why Bill Gates Wants Yahoo

Microsoft owns the OS market. Certainly in the home and small business worlds. However, Microsoft doesn’t have a search engine (MSN employs Inktomi) and it doesn’t have much good content. The company’s online presence, MSN is a perpetual also-ran with a short life expectancy.

Microsoft, to maintain its pre-eminent position at the apex of computing and information dissemination, needs content and a means of accessing that content.

Today, Yahoo closed up on the NASDAQ. Let’s see if Microsoft comes back to the bargaining table. From my perspective, Gates and company don’t have much choice and Yahoo knows it. Yang wants more, and don’t be surprised if this hard-headed negotiator gets what he wants – a bigger payout for Yahoo shareholders. 

How a Country Motel creates a Point of Difference

Driving from Canberra to Adelaide this week I spent the night at the Saltbush Motor Inn (http://www.saltbushmotorinn.com.au/) in Hay NSW.
(http://www.visithay.com.au/)

I have stayed here three times now and here’s why:

* The rooms are spotlessly clean
* The beds are comfortable
* The hot water is hot and plentiful

I can hear you saying so what, that’s what you expect everywhere. But they also:

* Have free Internet in every room (common in the US but usually cost $25.00 a day in Australia). Australian hotels seem determined to build Telstra’s portable modem business.
* Give every guest a little pack of delicious home made cookies (and yes they have the standard free biscuits in every room)

What is your point of difference?