Did you know that you could receive a credit on your income taxes if you rehabilitate a historic building? If your rehabilitation meets certain requirements, you could claim 20 percent of your qualified rehabilitation expenses as a credit on your federal income taxes. And, you could claim 25 percent of your qualified rehabilitation expenses as … More Historic building rehabilitation tax credits: 101
Want to be sure your small business never becomes a big business? A surefire method to ensure a lack of success is to have shoddy accounting practices. Knowing where your money is, how much of it there is, and when you can expect more are key to proper business planning. Without a plan, your endeavor is … More Keep your books in order
Carrying the gardening metaphor forward, there’s not a lot you can do to control the weather. As a whole that’s true in economic gardening as well, but how about encouraging your own microclimate in order to foster a healthy local economy in the middle of a national downturn? It turns out that’s just what many … More Create a microclimate in your economic garden
When times are tough, even the most successful retail business can have some trouble. Making the right business decisions is paramount when the margin for error is slim. “Fear can be a motivator, but it can also lead you into bad decisions, particularly in times like these,” says Norm Brodsky, small business writer for Inc. … More Focus and attitude
Think the talk of “green jobs” is malarkey? This article on RichmondBizSense.com provides an example of how targeted incentives help promote growth in designated industries, such as home solar power, especially in the early stages of an industry’s growth when the economies of scale have not yet kicked in. Another article from The News Leader reviews the growth of the … More Home grown business
Last week we discussed the first step of “Economic Gardening,” preparing your community for entrepreneurial success. Now lets focus on the next steps: planting the seeds and nurturing the sprouts. One of the primary ways that a community can foster home-grown businesses is to offer a business incubator. Business incubators take many forms, the most … More Economic gardening: part II
Question: What took 89 years for the telephone; 38 years for the television; and 14 years for the cell phone? The answer? How long it took for each of these communication devices to be adopted by 150 million users. In only five years Facebook has attracted more than 175 millon users – and it’s not … More New media
Over the past two decades, communities across the country have begun fostering economic growth from within using a technique called economic gardening. This technique is a response designed to reduce dependence on the traditional targets of economic development – large industry. The benefits of an entreprenuerial society are immense. Number one among them – profits from … More Economic gardening: Part I
If the New York Times last week was any indication, there’s a growing big-city awareness of the special value of small-town places. First, Roberta Smith’s review of a current exhibition of postcard images of small towns at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (“Main Street Postcards as Muse,” Feb. 5) uses late photographer Walker Evan’s collection … More Postcards from Main Street
Virginia Main Street 