Highlights of the November 2006 Issue of FSB: FORTUNE Small Business

The full stories are available at FSB.com.

 

COVER STORY

Play Big, by Alessandra Bianchi, Justin Martin, and Julie Sloane, page 26

Once upon a time it was easy to tell the difference between a small business and a large competitor: Big firms had access to more capital, diverse markets, better technology, and economies of scale; small companies had to make do with whatever they could afford. But as technology has advanced, that distinction has blurred. New software and services are helping small firms act and profit like their big rivals. FSB looks at entrepreneurs who are taking advantage of new technologies and strategies and learning a powerful lesson: It's never been easier to play big.

 

GREEN TECHNOLOGY

Can This Man's High-Tech Chimney Save the Planet?, by David Whitford, page 54

Tom Kiser, a small-town heating and ventilation engineer with no illusions about his customer's true priorities , has suddenly found himself on the front lines of the fight to halt global warming. His weapon? A new experimental technology he calls a liquid chimney that captures the greenhouse gas escaping from coal and natural-gas furnaces and turns it into a harmless material that could be used in construction or even dropped into the ocean to rebuild coral reefs. The impact could be huge, considering that half the greenhouse gas that America generates comes from burning coal and natural gas.

 

START UP

Everybody Says 'I Love You', by Richard McGill Murphy, page 16

Many politicians say they have the best interests of small business in mind. But when it comes to proving their fealty to small business, most politicians offer little more than words. Don't believe them.

PLUS: Whom Do You Trust? Nobody, Really

A recent Zogby poll conducted for FSB asked respondents to gauge-on a scale of one (low) to five (high)-how believable various politicians were as advocates of small business interests. The percentages below refer to the share of fours and fives each candidate received. Not one politician was seen as very trustworthy by a majority (though a large percentage of respondents said they hadn't made up their mind about Giuliani or McCain). President Bush scored highest; Senator McCain lowest.

• George Bush 41%
• Rudolph Giuliani 28%
• Al Gore 25%
• Hillary Clinton 13%
• John McCain 8%

 

Like Me? Hire Me!, page 20

Willy Loman was right: It's important to be well liked. At least that's the finding of a recent survey by NFI Research, which found that managers at small businesses are more likely to make hiring and promotion decisions based on personality than on such insignificant factors as, oh, skill level.

Kind Cuts for a Dot-Com Stylist, by Mina Kimes, page 21

Silicon Valley 's technology workers may be among the most likely to succeed, but they aren't always voted best tressed. Cutting the hair of computer geeks may not be a hairstylist's dream, but it offers a lucrative niche for one Silicon Valley entrepreneur. With stops at Google, eBay, and Yahoo, Onsite saw revenues increase 800% to about $200,000 this year.

 

 

CASH FLOW

What's Your Magic Number?, by Patricia B. Gray, page 72

A fast-growing small company finds success with a financial strategy long favored by big corporations. Rackspace Managed Hosting currently hosts 10,800 customers on 25,000 servers in six data centers. After adopting a metric called true profit, Rackspace watches its bottom line blossom. The concept of true profit is a religion at Rackspace, and CEO Graham Weston preaches it with the passion of a zealot. Like most religions, it is based on a very basic principle: create new wealth.

PLUS: How to Calculate the True Profit at Your Small Company

Is your business generating a true profit? The number tells you how hard the invested capital in your company is working. There's a dangerous tendency to think invested capital is free, because you don't have to pay for it every month as you would for a bank loan. Not so. True profit factors in what you might earn on that capital in another venture. Fortunately, it's easy to calculate.

 

OFF HOURS

Off Beat Schools, page 96 Who said school can't be fun? There are hundreds of unusual schools in the U.S. , teaching subjects increasingly diverse. Most are run by entrepreneurs trying to turn their knowledge and love of an obscure field into a business. FSB takes a look at courses that teach you the skills of a blacksmith, a chocolatier, or even a knife thrower.

Dressed to Kill, page 104 Hunting gear designed and manufactured by small businesses.

OTHER FEATURES

What a Steal An auction website sells second-hand goods to the public.

Crushing Copycats Innovative designs make us successful, but defending our intellectual property keeps us in business. A entrepreneur tells how he protects intellectual property.

 

FSB is available in digital format.  To access this version go to: http://digital.fsb.com