Inside WBJ

We ran news of efforts by Congress to unfreeze credit to business, and got some interesting comments.

The article explained an effort spearheaded in part by Massachusetts’s own Sen. John Kerry to make small business funding easier to get. The changes give lenders “the discretion to use variable interest rates such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as an alternative to the Prime rate.”

The updates to the SBA loan programs, according to Kerry’s office, are an effort to provide much needed capital to the business sector. According to his office, SBA loans are down 53 percent compared to last year.

However, at least two readers disagreed with the effort. The first said this was another example of a government handout from Washington:

“When will these politicians learn! Easy money got us into this mess. Just what we need is an easy money policy so we can infect businesses with too much debt just like the housing and credit card credit mess. SBA loans are down because businesses are out of formula and business is poor and people are not looking for business expansion capital!”

And this reader questioned the use of variable rate loans:

“I don’t think that a variable interest Loan would be good for Business the way the economy is now. Businesses need to know what there expenses are going to be on a monthly basis … Company’s are running on such low profit margins to keep prices low for there customers that we really need to know what we are going to pay for loans and we could get into trouble just like the loans on homes did to the banking industry. Not a good idea.”

What do you think? Are the new rules a good thing for business?

The WBJ is once again peering into the minds of its readers through the annual Economic Forecast survey. Click here to take the survey. The results will be published in our last issue of 2008, which comes out Dec. 22. We’ve asked many of the same questions that we asked last year, which will hopefully allow us to show how perception has changed over the last 12 months.

In addition to the survey results, the Dec. 22 issue will also have in-depth articles forecasting trends for 2009. With all that’s happening in our economy (good and bad) this issue is sure to be very interesting.

Finally, we’ll be compiling a list of the top local business headlines. Let us know what you think the top stories of the year were by posting a comment here.

Well, the WBJ’s knowledge of local geography was called into question with a recent news item about voter support for Cape Wind. The item originally bore the headline Cape Supports Wind Project. However, that was not entirely accurate, according to the good folks at the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound. It was South Shore towns that voted on the issue, so we’ve since updated the headline and included a line in the story specifying the towns that did cast their ballots on the subject.

Here’s the text from a letter to the editor we received on the subject:

To the Editor:

Please correct your 11/10 article falsely titled “Cape Supports Wind Project.”

On November 4, residents of eleven South Shore – not Cape Cod – towns voted in favor of Question 4, a non-binding referendum addressing future wind power developments and the stalled Cape Wind project.

On Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket, opposition to the Cape Wind project is extensive. In the only local non-binding referendums on Cape Wind, the towns of Mashpee and Nantucket voted against the Cape Wind project by a two-thirds margin.

The South Shore’s approval of Question 4 should not be misconstrued as support for Cape Wind. Lumping Cape Wind and all other wind developments together, Question 4 asked: “Shall the state representative from this district be instructed to vote in favor of legislation that would support the development of Cape Wind in Nantucket Sound and other possible future onshore and offshore wind power developments in Massachusetts?”

Clearly, there is a vast distinction between the costly, irresponsibly-sited Cape Wind project and “other possible future onshore and offshore wind power developments in Massachusetts.” This unreasonable question left no room for a voter to oppose Cape Wind and support deep water offshore or land-based wind projects.

With viable alternatives to Cape Wind rapidly emerging, local opposition to the obsolete project is growing. Deep water proposals, backed by enthusiastic public support, are gaining prominence off the coasts of Rhode Island, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. Moreover, land-based wind projects have proven track records of affordability. Cape and Islands residents are eager to embrace a win-win solution that does not needlessly sacrifice Nantucket Sound and raise electric bills.

Glenn G. Wattley
President and CEO, Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound

Geography questions aside, what do you think of the Cape Wind project?

We let you, the reader, be the editor in the WBJ Story Pitch Contest, and you asked us to profile two local companies: Flimp Media in Hopkinton and Simply Homemade in Holden.

Be sure to read their profiles, which are posted exclusively at WBJournal.com. They are great stories of local entrepreneurs facing the challenges of starting a business. Both offer great lessons on staying the course in the face of adversity.

If you want to know more about the other companies that participated in the Story Pitch contest, click here.

The Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual business expo was held a couple of weeks ago (check out pictures from the event). Some people find trade shows very effective at drumming up new business, while others find them a waste of time.

At our booth at the DCU Center we had a lot of luck signing up new subscribers. But we also heard some negative reviews from people at the show.

What do you think? Do you find trade shows useful? Or are they going the way of the dinosaur?

So, online marketing guru Eric Guerin (and former WBJ 40 Under Forty Winner) penned a great how-to piece for us called 10 Things I Know About… Online Marketing.

And through the wonders of the web, a social media blogger named Danny Brown found Eric’s article for the WBJ and did his own interview with him.

The World Wide Web is an amazing place! And be sure to check out the next 10 Things I Know About… article we’re posting. It’s going to be on business blogging and the author is Kel Kelly of Kel & Partners in Westborough. It should be live on Monday, Nov. 10, along with all the content of our next issue.

The Q&A we ran in the latest edition of People on the Move (our new e-mail newsletter) was with Noreen P. Johnson Smith, the new vice president of development and advancement at the Family Health Center in Worcester.

The interview prompted this response from a local reader:

“What a remarkable woman! And she grasps the economic and social climate of Worcester well. I am absolutely startled that the Family Health Care Center handles such a huge volume of cases! Can’t imagine how many more this recession will bring. Because of this same recession she has a staggering fund raising task in front of her.  Great article. I intend to do something about it.”

There are numerous agencies in Central Mass. taking on similarly huge tasks. Often their stories don’t get told. If you know of any groups that deserve more attention, please let us know by posting a comment.

Also, if you want to start receiving e-mail news alerts from the WBJ (free of charge), click here.

Yesterday, we ran a brief item online about Rep. McGovern’s travels around Central Massachusetts. His stops included the Marlborough Chamber of Commerce, Assabet High School and Anna Maria College’s satellite campus in Worcester. He’s also expected back in Worcester today.

Well, one reader didn’t like the tone of our article:

“Anyone that pays half attention to their local newspapers would recognize that US Rep. Jim McGovern’s ‘whirlwind tour’ is SOP for this tireless public official and hard working advocate of Central Mass. When not in session in DC, you can almost always find the Congressman in his Worcester District office or traveling to the many events and meetings that he participates throughout his District. The implication from your coverage that this “tour” is an unusual presence by Rep. McGovern is misleading and disingenuous.”

While the reader’s point is taken, we really didn’t mean anything by it. We just got an unusual announcement from the McGovern camp about his planned stops and thought our readers would be interested to know that their Congressman was in town.

But what do you think? Was our coverage to snarky?

As some of you may know, our annual WBJ Top Growth issue hit newsstands yesterday. The number one firm on our private companies list is GoodFellas Construction Management of Worcester. The relatively young company posted a 550 percent revenue growth rate from 2005 to 2007. (Check out the WBJ profile of GoodFellas or our list).

In 24 hours, we’ve received two very nice e-mails about GoodFellas that I thought I’d share with readers of Inside WBJ.

From Dave Haines, Haines Contracting:

“Congratulations to Joe & Dale for their success! It’s great hearing professionalism is being brought into the remodeling industry that for a long time has been ranked on the top of the list with used car sales for consumer complaints. Keep up the customer satisfaction guys, that’s who counts the most!”

And from Tim Culhane:

“I have to say I know the GoodFellas are good to their customers as I have met nothing but satisfied customers, but they also know how to work well with their sub-contractors! I worked with quite a few builders when times were busier and none of them treated me as professionally and respectfully as these folks! My hats off to a top notch business!”

The WBJ is at an Internet conference for regional business pubs, and we’re getting lots of new ideas for making our web site better. The first speaker, Robb Montgomery, presented on Web 2.0 and showed us a great Croatian news site that’s really breaking the typical newspaper role.

What’s great about this site is that there’s no scrolling. In the U.S., most newspaper sites use the same homepage layout, with an overwhelming number of links running down the page forever (just visit nytimes.com and see how long it takes you to get to the bottom). This Croatian paper is breaking out of that model, and it could be the wave of the future.

What do you think? What do you like about most newspaper web sites? What do you hate? Do you like scrolling?