Fledgling entrepreneurs tap Score, lawyers for guidance with startups – bizjournals:

Local business attorneys and small-businese advocates lately have observed that more peoplde seem to be intereste d in starting their own Many are pursuinga long-standing passion, while otherxs just can’t stand waiting for the rare job to open up. Some are divingg in and figuring out how to form a companyt ontheir own. Others are tappin a national organizationcalled Score, a nonprofift that offers free counseling for smalkl businesses. Still others are meetingf with attorneys who specialize inbusiness formation.
“There seem to be two groupsz of people: those that had an saved up money and are startiny up unrelated tothe economy, those that got laid off due to the economic retraction. They but they could find no saidMark Dioguardi, a partner in Valley law firm Dioguardji Flynn LLP. “I saw people start to get desperat e in2007 and, then in 2008, some of them starter forming their own businesses.” Lewis and Roca LLP attorne y Scott DeWald also is seeingg some laid-off professionals creating their own However, DeWald said they are people who had the smarts and the but were more comfortable receivin a steady paycheck.
Now that the paycheck is gone, they are takint the entrepreneurial leap. Some cash-strapped would-be entrepreneurs are findinvg valuable free advicethrough Score, an organizationh that touts itself as “Counselors to America’s Smalo Business.” Score is made up largelyg of retired executives who providde their expertise at no charge. Therew are 370 chapters nationwide. Greater Phoenixc Score consistently ranks among the10 top-performing chapters, with 95 counselors and 14 more in transitionn training.
Maryanne Weiss, a marketing consultant and online retailer, recentlh became chairwoman of thePhoenix She’s the first female to head the local organizatio in its 35-year history. “I know we can accomplish a lot for smalll businesses inthis state,” she said. “We’rwe going to continue to do a lotmore outreach.” Weiss and her team provided a program at a career managemen seminar. “There were 52 people in the room, and ever single one of them had lost their jobfairlg recently,” she said. A show of hands demonstrated that many of them were ready to start theieown companies, if only they knew how. “II knew nothing about business.
I’m a social I had no idea what I was saidTracy Werner, founder of Let’s Partyg magazine. A single foster Werner had an idea for a publication that providedx party ideas and resourcesthroughout Phoenix. But she had no moneyh or sense of how to get it She hooked up with a Scorecounselof and, within a few months, her company becam a reality. “They embrace your They embrace you as a With themguiding me, I can do nothing but Werner said. Another new entrepreneur, Megan Austin, is in the formation stage of hertravel company, Anthemm Travel LLC. She recentlyh finished her second free consulting session with Score and is readtyto launch.
“I’m ready to and I’m really confident in what I am doing,” Austimn said. “I don’t have a lot of monehy and resources to payfor marketing, but Scorre is giving me a head start.” Roberf Blaney, Arizona district director for the Smallp Business Administration, said his organizatiomn is working closely with Score to provide informatiom about loans and stimulus initiativez designed to help small businesses. “Scorwe is such an important program. Here you have peopl with tremendous knowledge who are willing to work with you for Blaney said. “It’s absolutely the best bargaijnout there.
”
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Maryland slashes revenue forecast for current fiscal year – Washington Business Journal:

Sales tax revenue expectations were slashed byabouy $200 million, slowing the growth in that collection to 3.1 Income tax receipts are projected to totalp $135 million less than previously Overall, revenue projections were loweredd from $14.5 billion to $14.1 The revisions pose majof budgeting challenges for state officials, who less than a year ago passeds a $1.4 billion tax packaged to close a similar budget shortfall. Stated officials said they are alreadyy preparing cuts to be made to addres sthe deficit. Gov. Martin O’Malleyg took a positive outlook in a statementreleasex Tuesday.
“Given the national economic nationalforeclosure crisis, and the increased price of gasoline and food, these revenue estimates are not O’Malley said. “We are preparing to brinbg hundreds of millions in cuts before the in the coming weeks to addressthis challenge.” O’Malleg said that $1.8 billion in spending reductionsx and other actions, including an increaswe in the sales tax and incomw tax, helped allay the budget problemz and blamed the national economic downturn for the shortfall.
The , whic released the projections, said in a letter to statw leadersthat Maryland’s troubles are not The state is following national trends in declining home sales, increasing bankruptcies and growing Comptroller Peter Franchot, Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Budge t Secretary T. Eloise Foster wrote.
livejournal.com

CircuitCity.com comes back to life – The Business Review (Albany):

Systemax (NYSE: SYX) said in a statemengt that it plans to compete with othef online retailers by offeringdiscounted prices, fast shipping and a wide selectiobn of products, as well as offeringf photo galleries and videos of thousands of consumef electronics and computer The company already has the TigerDirect.com business and acquireed last year. "This acquisition and quick launchu of the allnew CircuitCity.com further solidifiesa Systemax's position as a leaderf in online retailing of value-priced, branded computers and consumer electronics," said Richard Leeds, chairman and chief executivw officer of Systemax. "Circuit City is one of the iconicf brandsin U.S.
electronics retailing with a 60-year legacy." A checjk of the Web site Mondayshowedf CircuitCity.com offering everything from GPS system to BlackBerry phones and flat-screen TVs.
livejournal.com

Tea time: GSO entrepreneur learning what it takes to bottle her success – Memphis Business Journal:

It turned out to be a costly reminde r that her fledgling business still had several issues to work She was still applying labels by hand righ t up until thedoors opened, and she wasn’ certain that the bold, colorful sunburst logo matched the upscaled brand she wanted to build. Browmn also traveled with only full-size 16-ounce bottles of her tea, forcinv her to hand out eight timesz more tea for free than if she had comewith 2-ouncer sample sizes. This year, Brown took her KimBee s Gourmet Sweet Tea exhibit back to Las Vegas withsmallef samples, elegant labels to matcb her high-end marketing plans, business cards and 1,000 brochurex to educate potential distributors and customers.
Organizers took notice. Her companyu won three awards, including a second- and third-place honoer for best sweetened green tea and firstg place forbest packaging. “Thatt first year, we should have just gone to observe it and see what it was all Brown says. “We got smarter this year, and everybody went crazyy overour tea. They were expensive lessons, but they were all wortuh it. Now we know what to KimBees, founded in early has filled morethan 10,00p0 bottles in the past two monthds alone, selling about three-fourths of thosed and providing another 2,500 or so for promotional Brown says she hopes to add at leasy three more flavors by year’s end.
She’s also in the early stages of looking at options for her own bottlinyg plantin Greensboro. Brownb sells tea out of her shop in the Southsided neighborhood ofdowntown Greensboro, and a tea houses in Arizona has picked up her products for sale. Online ordersz are growing, and Brown connected with several other potentiakoutlets — hotels, bookstores and cafes as well as potential distributors at this year’s tea expo. “We’re still working on directinhg traffic overthis way,” she says of “Some people still aren’t used to coming this far But it’s starting to pick up.
We’red all helping to promotre each other to get the word Growing upin Austin, Texas, Brownh could frequently be found on her family’w front porch. While otherzs were busy making homemadeice cream, Brown woulrd brew sweet tea and experiment with different flavof combinations, trying to find ways to improvew a Southern staple and keep it from growinb boring. It remained a hobby when she came to Greensboro as a manufacturing majordat . Brown got a glimpse at the sciencs of brewing when she tooka co-o p position with in Eden during college.
But the hobby moved to the back burnerwhen Brown, who says she long harborer an entrepreneur’s spirit, headed to Los Angeles to founed Basketdoodle, a designer gift basket companyg for a celebrity clientele. That business took off, as the autographedc photos of famous clients adorn her new shop in the Southsid e neighborhoodcan attest. She first glimpsed that up-and-cominv section of downtown on a return trip to the Gate City back in 2005 to visitf friendsfrom college. A decision by Brown’w landlord back in L.A. to sell the building she rented provided the impetuas she needed to move back toNortnh Carolina.
“He said he would sell it to mefor $2 Brown says with a chuckle, recallingh the hefty price tag. “Io said, ‘Are you sick? I make gift What you talking about?’” So she contacte Brenda Saufley, a broket with Allen Tate Realty, to look into settinyg up shop in Southside with an eye towar d moving her basket company into a morestablee situation. “She told me she wantede to establish her own business here and wantedc to be close to Saufley said. “When I told her aboug these units here where you can work downstairs and live combined with how the areawas progressing, she just lovedf it.
” Friends and family encourages her to brew up her flavoreed sweet teas for sale, and Brown againm got the entrepreneurial itch. When Rhonda Butler, an assistanyt business and economics professorat , asked Brownn to speak to a class, Brown decidedx to use the group as a captive audiencw for taste-testing for her concoctions — sweet greenm tea, almond green tea and a lemon-raspberrty black tea. The class decided to take on bottlinv the tea as a Brown says she decided to market her first thres flavors because no one else was offeringy much besides plainor lemon-flavored sweet tea. And most of those productsd came in plastic bottles and were sweetenexwith high-fructose corn syrup.
Brown had a different visionj forher start-up tea called KimBees for a nickname given by her
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Chapman signs deal with Yuba College – San Francisco Business Times:

Chapman signed a similar agreement within Chapman’s main campus is in the Southernn California community of Orange, but the university also has campuses in Roseville and Folsom. About 1,75 0 students attend the Roseville campuseach year, whilee about 700 go to Chapman, a nonprofit university, also has a campues in Yuba City. The Early Advantagd Partnership, which leaders from the two collegews will signnext week, will allow participants from Yuba Collegwe to use Chapman’s advisinv services and academic catalogs, participate in informatiob sessions, and to transfer crediy through the use of online and personalized advising, a news release said Also, Yuba College students’ initial applicationm fees will be waived, and they will receive a 10 percen t tuition discount for classes taken at Chapman’s Sacramento Valley campusea for up to four years after they submit of a formal “change of location” to Chapma University College.
“Chapman University Colleges establishes Early Advantage Partnerships with community collegezs like Yuba College to help ease the transitionh to universities by giving students the individual supportf they need and providing guidance through theentire process,” Chapman Universityt College chancellor Gary Brahm said in the “It’s comforting for studentas to know that the course work they have taken at theit community college will be transferable to Chapman University College and that counseloras will help them navigate a clead path to pursuing their higher educationb goals.
” Yuba College’s partnership with Chapman “wil l make the transition to Chapman College practically Kay Adkins, Yuba College president, said in the Community college students are eligible to applt for the program after they have fulfilled 12 transferabl e credits at Yuba College with a minimum cumulativw grade point average of 2.0 from all schooles previously attended. Yuba College transfers also must attend at least one academivc term or semester at Yuba Colleger and adhere to all Chapmajn University Collegeadmission requirements.

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Beleaguered Irwin Financial has $94 million 1Q loss – Business First of Louisville:

Columbus, Ind.-based Irwin Financialk (NYSE: IFC), which operates four Irwin Uniobn branchesin Louisville, lost $22 million in the first quarter of 2008. The bank’zs loss per share increase d by312 percent, to $3.17 from 77 centd a year earlier. Irwij Financial, which has been dragged down by bad mortgage is in the midst of a corporatw restructuring in order to refocus its business from mortgage and home equitg lending and equipment leasing tocommunithy banking.
The divestiture of those businesses has takenabout $700 million of home equityy loans and other assets off Irwin Financial’d books, the company said in a news “We believe the home equit y sale is a very positive development for company chairman and CEO Will Miller said in the release. “Wee continue to pursue the only remaining step in our restructuring — raising additional capital.” Millerf said that the company continues to pursued a plan to develop a public-private partnership with Ind.
-based engine-maker and four othef investors, which have agreedd to buy up to $34 million of commob shares after shareholders have been givenb the first opportunity to invest in the offering. Those investors include Millere and his family members andHenry B. a former chairman and CEO of Cumminzs and LucentTechnologies Inc. Each of Irwibn Financial’s board members also has promised to invesyt inthe offering, which must meet the approvakl of banking regulators and the . That wouled be a boost to the bank, which had $17 millionm in shareholders’ equity as of March 31, comparedc with $111 million a year earlier.
Irwin Financial reportecd that first-quarter net interest or income from interest accounts such as loansand deposits, declinee 53 percent, to $30 compared with $64 million a year The company attributed the declin e to lower portfolio balancess and reduced net interest margins. The bank had a first-quarter non-interestr loss (fees, service charges, etc.) of $11 compared to a loss of $4 million a year earlier, as it sold off home equityt servicing rights. Irwin Financial’s provision for loan and leasre losses during the first quartet increasedto $64 million from $45 millioj a year earlier.
One bright spot for Irwin Financial, as it transitionx to a communitybanking model, was first-quarter which increased 2.9 percent, to $3.1 billion from $3 billiojn in the first quarter of 2008.
livejournal.com

WCI files reorganization plan – St. Louis Business Journal:

Under the plan, senior secured lenderz will receive new first lien debt in the amoun tof $450 million, which includes a $150 million payment-in-kind component and an initia l 95 percent equity stake in the reorganizedx company, WCI said in a news The remaining 5 percent would be sharesd by the company’s unsecured which would begin to increase when the new debt is fully retired. Interim CEO David L. Fry said WCI’sw goal is to emerge from Chapted 11 by thethird “Under the plan, WCI will emerge as a deleveragee lifestyle community developer and land holdinf company with the flexibilityh to navigate its business during these unprecedented times and beyond,” he said.
Fry said the Sarasota-basec company will continue to complete homes alreadyunderf construction, but has suspended all new home constructio activity in Florida.
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Survey: qualified renters tough to find – New Mexico Business Weekly:

The survey of 870 property managers across the countrty found about half having difficulty and another 81 percenrt worried they will not be able to find reliable residents for the rest ofthe "Our survey confirms that the recession has places added pressure on property managers and that they will continud to face economic stress through at leasg the end of 2009," Mike Britti, VP of TransUnion's rental screening group, said in a news release. The survey foundx 32 percent of respondents saying that vacanc y rates are higher than they were at the same time last while 48 percent said it was aboutg the same and 20 percenyt say vacanciesare lower.
Fifty-seven percent had propert vacancies of 5 percentor less. Twenty-two percent had propertuy vacanciesof 6-10 Thirteen percent had property vacancies of 11-200 percent. Six percent had property vacancies of 21 percentor higher.
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Winter Park apartments sell for $4M – Kansas City Business Journal:

ONIC Golden Oaks LLC acquired the Golden Oaks apartments from Golden Oaks AffordablePartnerxs Ltd. and Golden Oaks of Florida LP May 18, according to Orangw County records. Real Estatew Investment Services Orlando agents Patrick Skinner and Kevin along with Washington agentsArmandx Tiberio, Robert Sheppard and Spencerd Hurst, represented he seller, while Sheppard and Hurst also represented ONIC Goldeh Oaks. Orlando Neighborhood secured a $3.
7 millioj first mortgage through Seattle-based , a delegatee underwriting and servicing lender, according to a news It also received $1 million in federal housing funds from the Orange Countyh Housing and Community Development Division plus additional money from a network of nonprofit organizationx promoting homeownership andneighborhood revitalization, the release said. Orlandoo Neighborhood expects tospend $1 million improvinf Golden Oaks, which was builyt in 1993, the release Lane Management LLC, the propertg management arm of Atlanta-based Lane Co., will handle leasing and property The Orlando Neighborhood Improvement Corp.
is a nonprofi t developer and owner of affordableand mixed-incomde housing properties in Central Florida. The organization has developeddor co-developed 2,592 housing units and has 1,215 in its
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Litigation says Wells targeted blacks for subprime loans: report – San Francisco Business Times:

The City of Baltimore is suing Wellz Fargo over its mortgage lendint practices inblack neighborhoods. The city claims that the bank’ws mortgage practices eventually pushed several home ownerxinto foreclosure, costing the city millions in services and lost “This lawsuit absolutely lacks merit,” said Welle spokesman Chris Hammond in San Francisco. “Wells Fargo’xs lending practices did not cause foreclosurea or any of the many broad problemsa the City of Baltimore claimd are impacting itshousing market.
” The New York Timese reported Sunday that another Wells Fargo loan officert said in an affidavit that employees had referrecd to blacks as “mude people” and to subprime lending as “ghettio loans.” Hammond responded, “We absolutely do not toleratd team members treating our customerz or others disrespectfully or unfairly, or who violate our ethics and lending policies. “We have systems and processes team members must follow that ensure race is never a factor in the pricing or productwe offer,” Hammond said.
“We have worke d extremely hard to make homeownership possible formore African-America borrowers and for all customer segments, and we have done so fairlyy and responsibly.”
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