Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
INFORMER :: ECONOMY
Small businesses use ?R?
word in U.S. Bank survey;
credit tools can help
by Beth Ewen
Seventy-four percent of Minnesota small-business owners believe the economy is in a recession, and 46 percent report lower revenue this year than last.
That?s according to a U.S. Bank small-business survey conducted in June, which queried 401 Minnesota business owners. ?They were positive about the availability of credit,? says Christine Hobrough about the respondents. She?s regional manager for U.S. Bank who oversees all the Twin Cities branches.
Seventy-eight percent say that the availability of loans or credit has had a positive or no impact on their businesses. Among those who wanted to access credit, 73 percent said securing loans was ?easy? or ?very easy,? while 27 percent called it ?difficult.?
?The fact that the business owners were so positive was a pleasant surprise,? says Hobrough. ?I think what they said is, we?re in a recession but Minnesota is a good place to be given those challenges.?
She says she wasn?t surprised that business owners called the state of this economy a recession, while economists and pundits mostly aren?t. ?When you?re a leading authority, your statements govern a broad spectrum.? By contrast, for business owners ?this is what they live.?
It?s the first such survey for U.S. Bank, coinciding with additions to its small-business banking services. Hobrough says they added 28 small-business specialists in the Twin Cities in April, to the two dozen or so already in place. ?We wanted to dig down? to find out what was on the minds of those customers.
She advises business owners to first address the flow of money, and cited some tools that can help: bill-paying products, that help owners schedule their payments automatically and merchant bank card programs so that businesses can accept credit and debit cards.
(She recommends that owners talk to their bankers about interest rates in an environment of rate cuts.)
She also highlights a product that ?sweeps? excess balances from a checking account into investments.
Her main advice: Build a relationship with a business banker, and check in with that person each quarter.
Christine Hobrough, U.S. Bank: 612.872.2657; ch****************@****nk.com; www.usbank.com
