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Recent Press Releases (U.S. and international) for magazine issues and staff changes may be found below. Please note that for many issues there exists only a highlights sheet, while for others there may also be a full press release. The cover of FSB's current issue is pictured at right. Please contact the appropriate communications staff member with any questions.
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Highlights of the
February 2007 Issue of FSB: FORTUNE Small Business
The full stories are available at FSB.com. COVER STORY Everybody Wants In, by Phaedra Hise, page 20 Once upon a time, small business was seen solely as the domain of idiosyncratic, iconoclastic outsiders, willing to forgo the security of corporate life to venture out on their own. But today entrepreneurs are America 's role models. Last year a record number of Americans started companies. Some 66% tell pollsters they want to be their own boss one day. FSB examines why entrepreneurship has become a national obsession, and what that means for veteran business owners. Plus… The current entrepreneurial boom is not only larger than that of the mid-1990s, but also more diverse. Everyone is partaking of this surge, FSB takes a closer look at a few groups: • Women —A Jersey City woman's healthy lifestyle and love of organic foods drove her to a juice bar startup. • Minorities —A Mexican immigrant who initially came to the U.S. to work as a busboy now owns 14 restaurants as well as the first Spanish-language radio station in the state of Tennessee. • Kids —A 13 year old who started her first business at age 10 already has her own views on entrepreneurship. “Being an entrepreneur is a perfect equation: Fun plus money plus happy customers equals a great job.” • Corporate Dropouts —The former president of a public company is invigorated by the idea of starting a business with a blank slate, without the bureaucracy or legacy of a large company.
STARTUP Some business owners balk at any plan that would punish them for unknowingly hiring illegal workers. Meanwhile, entrepreneurs who scrupulously follow the law are routinely victimized by competitors who hire cheap, illegal labor—a breach that routinely goes unpunished by the federal government. Now, tired of waiting for the legislative branch to solve the problem, entrepreneurs are turning to the courts.
Outgrowing Your Small-Biz Contract, page 16 For years the term “federal small-business contract” has contained an internal contradiction: Many firms receiving the deals had outgrown the designation or been acquired by large corporations. In November, SBA officials introduced a new rule that they say will rectify the situation: As of June 30, companies receiving small-business contracts must recertify their small-business status every five years and must report mergers and acquisitions within 30 days.
OFF HOURS Sweet Spots, by Brandi Stewart, page 96 FSB takes a look at innovative Valentine sweets made by small companies. • Plush Puffs Marshmallows —The Sherman Oaks, Calif. candymaker treated celebrities at last year's Golden Globe Awards to a new sugary snack before the show. • Little Flower Candy's Sea Salt Caramels —Created using hand-harvested salt from France 's ancient salt flats, the Los Angles based company sells caramels at about 50 gourmet retailers around the country and to the Four Seasons Resort in Palm Beach . • Hammond's Candies' Lollipops —When Whole Foods Market requested more natural-flavored candies from Hammond's Candies in 2005, owner Bob List, now 70, increased the recipes that substituted ingredients such as red-beet powder for food dye. • The Popcorn Suite's Strawberry Shortcake —Anita Mazurek, 38, who worked at a popcorn stand in college, quit her job as a manager at Microsoft in 2003 and founded the Popcorn Suite.
TECH EDGE Screen Your Server, by Fawn Fitter, page 51 Larger companies have been able to keep their networks clean and their employees out of the back alleys of cyberspace with all-in-one devices that combine multiple layers of security capable of screening every byte traveling between the internal network and the web. However, these unified threat management (UTM) appliances cost several thousand dollars and require a crack IT team to install and manage properly. Now, however, vendors are beginning to offer UTM appliances simple and affordable enough for small-business owners with no IT background.
LOCAL COLOR Chasing the Dream, by Eilene Zimmerman, page 72 Political refugees flee the worst places on earth to launch businesses in America . The U.S. admitted nearly 53,000 political refugees in 2005. Many have overcome linguistic, cultural, and financial obstacles to start their own businesses. Many of these refugees receive help from the International Rescue Committee, a charity based in New York City that helps refugees and victims of armed conflict around the world. Since 2004 the IRC has provided financing and business counseling to 43 refugee startups in San Diego . Eighty percent of those entrepreneurs are still in business. FSB takes a look at some of their stories.
MARKETING Jingles for Sale , by Mina Kimes, page 62 Startup Enthem wants to immortalize your company in song. But don't come to Enthem if you're looking for your average ten-second jingle. The San Francisco company writes and records full-length corporate theme songs, some running longer than three minutes.
HEALTH CARE Cancer Fighter, by Ron Stodghill, page 65 Robin Smtih, a Raleigh entrepreneur, envisioned a one-stop shop geared toward not only helping patients deal with the unique emotional stress that attends their disease but also monitoring the increasingly individualized drug protocols prescribed by oncologists. So she cashed out her 401(k), sold her house, and took out a $50,000 line of credit. Biologics was born. However, Biologics is a different kind of pharmacy. There are no Biologics storefronts; its pharmacists send medications to patients' homes. It stocks only cancer drugs, and it takes an active role in managing patients' care—making sure that they take medications at the right time and checking in to see if they experience any side effects. A recent study projects global oncology drug sales to more than double by 2010, to $65 billion a year.
SOFTWARE SHOWDOWN Battle of the Bean Counters, by Jonathan Blum, page 56 As if there weren't enough tussling in the technology world, two software giants are duking it out over—get this—bean counting. Internet-search giant Google recently cut a deal with Intuit, the 800-pound accounting software gorilla. Intuit's QuickBooks accounting package now features internal links to Google marketing tools such as AdWords and Maps. Not to be outdone, Microsoft fired back with a spanking-new web-oriented accounting product of its own: Microsoft Office Accounting Professional. How does Microsoft's new accounting software stack up against the mighty Quickbooks? FSB takes a look.
WHAT WORKS, from the editors of Business 2.0 The Gadget That Watches Your Energy Bill, by Siri Schubert, page 79 When Danny Tuff was growing up in Newfoundland , his father often prodded him and his siblings to switch off the lights and turn down the heat. If only there were a way to plainly show how electricity translated into real money, his father used to say, people would waste less. Years later Danny and his brother Maurice launched Blue Line Innovations and chose a home meter reader that shows power use in dollars and cents. After selling 30,000 units to Ontario utility Hydro One, at least 50 more utilities are eyeing the device.
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