Big storm is big business for small companies

By Catherine Clifford August 27, 2011: 10:37 AM ET 

AdvantaClean crews get ready for the arrival of Hurricane Irene. If the storm hits hard, the business could see a couple million dollars worth of business.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- While some business owners are fretting over the damage Hurricane Irene could cause, others are gearing up for business opportunities. Depending on the severity of the storm, AdvantaClean, a North Carolina disaster cleanup company, could see a couple million dollars worth of business in the storm's aftermath.

 

Certainly, our industry does see an increase in demand during these times," said Jeff Dudan, CEO and founder of AdvantaClean, headquartered in Huntersville, N.C. "Typically our volume will go up both at home, and we can get some incremental volume and revenues in those areas if we are called in to respond." In addition to being AdvantaClean's founder, Dudan owns one of the franchises and has 13 full-time employees and 26 contractors. The company provides cleanup services including air duct cleaning, mold removal, and emergency services from water or fire damages, which means responding to disasters.10 great franchise bets The 17-year-old company's bottom line got a big boost after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Dudan's team responded in Gulfport and Biloxi, Miss., and in the French Quarter of New Orleans. In the immediate emergency response period, Dudan said his company did a couple million dollars worth of work after the storm. And AdvantaClean made more money working large projects in the region for another four years. The company has been preparing for Hurricane Irene. "We have checked all of our vehicles and made sure that they are fueled," said Dudan. "We ended up pulling the trigger on several sets of new tires." In addition, the team has reviewed its emergency response plan. Still, they are not rushing in. "Personally, we just don't go running off immediately if it looks like a hurricane may or may not hit," said Dudan. "It is really difficult to predict whether there will be any real damage."

Insurers brace for stormy sell-off

 Let them eat cake: Whether Irene lands with a whomp or a whimper, at least one company is prepared to make a buck. Cakes for Occasions, a gourmet bakery in Danvers, Mass., is running a competition on its Facebook page, asking fans to predict what category the National Weather Department will call the storm on Monday. One person who guesses correctly will be randomly selected and get a coupon for 20 percent off. Also Cakes for Occasions is giving away free "Hurri-cakes": two-inch chocolate mousse cakes, glazed with chocolate and decorated with the national hurricane symbol and the name of the storm, Irene. The idea behind the promotion is that customers can't come into a bakery without being tempted by the smells, said owner Kelly Delaney. In addition to its single storefront, the bakery has a website, Cakes4Occasions.com. "It always generates some additional sales," said Delaney, who has run freebie promotions on Facebook before. "You will have a handful of people that will come in for just one, but that is just life." Delaney has made 210 Hurri-cakes and estimates she will give away 40. Then she hopes to sell the rest, which retail for $1.95 each. A banner year: It has already been a good year financially for Howard Altschule, who owns Forensic Weather Consultants, a company that provides weather damage reports. Altschule saw more business after last year's blizzards. And if Irene lives up to expectations, 2011 could turn out to be a banner year for his company. "I have already seen a 50% increase in revenues this year, without the hurricane," said Altschule. "It could end up being a 100% revenue jump this year. It all depends on what exactly happens and to what extent." Altschule, a certified meteorologist who analyzes weather conditions, provides expertise to insurance companies, law firms, engineers and other companies. Altschule said he would not be surprised to see a billion dollars worth of damage from Hurricane Irene, between the damage and the loss of revenue. He expects to be "immensely busy."

Hiring: Yes. No. Maybe so.

Surf's up: There won't be throngs of beachgoers this weekend, but some diehard surfers are expected to catch the waves. "This is something that surfers wait for, the waves that hurricanes bring," said Johannah Sena, the manager of the family-operated Rockaway Beach Surf Shop in New York. "You have to have a board that is a more high-performing board." Still, most expert surfers -- the ones most likely to try surfing during a hurricane -- already have the gear necessary to ride those enormous waves. So she doesn't expect to be selling out of boards. But, "we will be selling a lot of wax, that is for sure," said Sena, explaining that surfers use wax to add traction to their boards. Otherwise, the storm won't be good business for the Rockaway Beach Surf Shop. "Nobody is going to the beach to buy a bathing suit, towels, that kind of stuff," she said.

Firing horror stories

Firing an employee is never easy. But these horror stories teach the following: Always be polite and professional when giving an employee the boot. And if the person getting fired starts to lose it,duck.

Firing horror stories

Think getting fired is hard? Try doing the firing. And when you are a small business owner it can be particularly hard. At best, it's an uncomfortable face-to-face confrontation that can lead to hurt feelings. At worst: physical altercations, hacked servers and lost clients. "Large corporations have a team of people who can assist with hiring and training new people," said Roberta Chinsky Matuson, president of Human Resource Solutions, a Massachusetts-based consultancy. "Small businesses have much less bench strength when it comes to staffing and training." They don't have much when it comes to firing either. Here's what seven disgruntled employees did to small business owners after they learned they were getting pink-slipped.

Irene leaves businesses reeling in its wak

 
Hurricane Irene left a swath of destruction in its wake, leaving Main Street businesses devastated. Some small businesses actually stand to make a buck on the cleanup.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Mother Nature doesn't play favorites. As Hurricane Irene barrelled up the Eastern seaboard, some small businesses were spared, while others were devastated. The Small Business Administration is just beginning to assess the hit to small businesses. But estimates for  overall damage caused by Irene is up to $10 billion.

 

Wrong place, wrong time:When your house has just been flooded, redoing the flower beds is not exactly a priority. Gina Samarotto's fledgling landscape design business has a tough row to hoe thanks to Hurricane Irene Samarotto plans to offer some of her clients free post-hurricane cleanup services, because she doesn't want to take advantage of people during hard times, even though that means less revenue for her company. Because outdoor landscapes are not covered by most people's insurance, "we are trying to absorb what we can," said Samarotto.                  

  Hiring: Yes. No. Maybe so.

Samarotto Design Group, which designs, installs and maintains landscaped property for homeowners, is only five months old. "We simply don't have the resources or the reserves to weather something this dramatic," said Samarotto, the owner of Samarotto Design Group in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., of the natural disaster.

Irene smacks local N.J. businesses

Samarotto expects to lose business, particularly from clients who have suffered damage from the storm. "Whenever something rocks their world like that, the first thing to go is discretionary spending," she said. And landscaping work falls under that category, she added. Another problem caused by the storm is the water-saturated ground, which makes landscaping almost impossible to do. Irene also arrived at a bad time for the seasonal business. As the weather gets colder, fewer people will need landscaping services. Overall, "from a business point of view, it is going to be pretty financially devastating," she said. More mosquitoes, more business: Michael Ritchie, the owner of Mosquito Squad of the Crystal Coast in Swansboro, N. C., expects to see an uptick in business. Mosquitoes breed in water. "There is going to be more standing water around the six counties that I cover that will give the mosquitoes more" places to breed, said Ritchie. Mosquito Squad, an exterminator business, is an independently owned franchise of the national brand, Mosquito Squad. Ritchie -- who works with one or two part-time employees -- uses three different treatments on his clients' properties and can reduce mosquitoes by 85% to 90% for up to three weeks. "I would say within the next seven to 14 days, I should see an increase in phone traffic to my business, based on what happened last year when Tropical Depression Ophelia came in," said Ritchie. Tropical storm Ophelia battered the East coast in 2005. Business picked up between 20% and 25% after Ophelia, he said. Open for business: Many small businesses in Vermont suffered from flooding after Irene passed through. But Renaissance Fine Jewelry on Main Street in Brattleboro, Vt., didn't have such problems, so it was open for business Monday. "Everything is normal," said Wendy Lillie, co-owner of the jewelry store. "The store has several people in here shopping."

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Other businesses were suffering. Lillie knew of fellow business owners who were dealing with flooding. "But we are up on high ground here," she said. Had to evacuate: Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie lost three days' worth of business. But otherwise, "we are doing fine," said Samantha Citrin, manager of the small bakery. "We actually prepared for a bigger storm, because we are right here on the water." The Brooklyn bakery had to close its doors Saturday and Sunday, because it is was located in a part of New York City that was required to evacuate. Although it is near the ocean, the Red Hook bakery came away unscathed. "There are a few streets that got flooded," said Citrin. "But we were pretty lucky."

Gibson Guitar CEO fights back

By Les Christie September 2, 2011: 3:55 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz is fuming. As he sees it, his company, the iconic maker of the Les Paul and Firebird X electronic guitars, is being unjustly attacked by the federal government. On Aug. 24, armed agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service raided two of Gibson's Tennessee production facilities and its Nashville headquarters. The agents confiscated nearly $1 million in rare Indian ebony, finished guitars and electronic data, according to Juszkiewicz. It was the second time in two years that Gibson's factories have been raided by the feds over the rare woods it uses to build its guitars. "It was a nightmare," said Juszkiewicz. "We had people sitting there making guitars. We had no weapons." Given that the company was already dealing with the government on an earlier investigation, he said the feds should have worked with the company to make sure its procedures were in compliance. The company has always made a good-faith effort to follow the law, he said. But now Juszkiewicz isn't feeling so cooperative. The latest raid revolves around a trade issue. The wood was allegedly exported illegally because it was unfinished and too thick to be a veneer, the only unfinished wood India allows to be shipped, according to a Justice Department affidavit.

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Why the U.S. government would enforce an Indian trade law can be explained by century-old legislation called the Lacey Act, which mandates that American companies observe the laws of foreign countries in the trade of many animal parts, plants and their products, including wood, which was added to the act three years ago. However, Juszkiewicz insists the wood is legal under Indian law because it's a finished product -- a fingerboard that gets attached to the neck of the guitar. He said he has letters from the Indian government to prove it. The company hasn't been charged with wrongdoing, but Juszkiewicz said he was told that if the company sells or ships any of the Indian wood or finished guitars containing the material, it could be charged with additional violations of the Lacey Act and also with obstruction of justice. As a result, his entire operation could effectively be shut down, he said. The Justice Department said it couldn't comment on the ongoing investigation.

Is your Gibson guitar contraband?

If Gibson were to shut down its Tennessee factories, it would put more than 700 people out of work. And Juszkiewicz will have none of that. He's keeping the factories running and told the Justice Department he will take personal responsibility for any legal liability. If anyone is arrested, he said, it will be him. "We have not been able to make some products, but I'm not going to lay people off," he said. Juszkiewicz is eager to prove his case in court, but he isn't optimistic he'll get the opportunity. "The problem is, we have no recourse," he said. "These guys have investigated us for two years. They came in twice and shut the place down." The company is still awaiting judgment on the earlier case, which involves rare wood from Madagascar confiscated from Gibson's factories in 2009. Meanwhile, Juszkiewicz hasn't been able to get the wood or some of the guitars that were confiscated returned. Since the company hasn't made much headway in the courts, it has taken its case to the masses. Juszkiewicz and his company have rallied a virtual army on the web by encouraging people on Facebook and Twitter to write their representatives and demand action. The company even launched a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #ThisWillNotStand. "Why is big government spending our money to harm ordinary citizens and small businesses?" Juszkiewicz tweeted last Friday.  

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Guitar enthusiasts are angry because not only is production of the famed guitars now in question, but under the Lacey Act, anyone owning or selling one of Gibson's guitars could also be arrested for obstruction of justice. For its part, the Justice Department said that in such cases it generally only pursues retailers or manufacturers that knowingly engage in the sales of a substantial number of instruments -- not individuals. Perhaps unwittingly, Gibson has also garnered the support of Tea Party activists and political conservatives who see the raid as evidence that the Obama administration is killing American jobs. Juszkiewicz said he doesn't think the raid was about politics, however. He just remains puzzled -- and frustrated -- about the whole ordeal. "It doesn't even make sense politically," he said. "Gibson believes it is innocent of any wrongdoing. We will fight aggressively to prove our innocence

Businesses after Irene: From wipeout to windfall

Waste removal companies are literally cleaning up because of Hurricane Irene, but other businesses have been ruined. Here are their stories.

 Wiped out

 Mickey Daniels stands in front of his crab processing business, which has been ruined by Irene. 

 Business: Daniels Seafood & Crab House Location: Nags Head, N.C. Hurricane Irene destroyed Mickey Daniels' crab processing business, and he doesn't have flood insurance. He can't afford to replace it. Daniels Seafood & Crab House in Nags Head, N.C., is a family business. Daniels started working for his dad when he was 11 years old, and that was 53 years ago. Irene busted the walls out of his business and left it inoperable, he said. "My son works with me here. I don't know what he is going to do now," said Daniels. "We are kind of in a limbo." Before being wiped out, Daniels Seafood & Crab House would cook thousands of pounds of crab, and then half a dozen women would pick out the crabmeat and put it in cups to be sold both wholesale and at a small retail shop out front. Facing tough competition from crabbers in countries like Venezuela, Indonesia, and China, Daniels was forced to downsize a few years ago. "We downsized, got smaller. Just got to a place where I couldn't afford it anymore," he said. "I didn't have any flood insurance." While his home survived the storm, his mother's and sister's houses have been damaged by the storm. The destruction to his business and his family's homes has left Daniels "kind of in a daze, not knowing which way to turn or what to do." He will see if he can get any assistance from the government to fix his shop. "I don't know what is out there right now," said Daniels.

You paid what?!?

If people are tightening their purse strings, these 10 businesses wouldn't know. Their bestsellers have jaw-dropping price tags and plenty of buyers.

You paid what?!?

What recession? Even with the crazy swings in the stock market, gloomy economic forecasts and beyond embarrassing government and consumer debt, Americans still can't resist the luxe. And while many companies are scrambling to heavily discount their inventory to attract customers, the following 10 small businesses are selling products with astonishingly expensive price tags. Perhaps even more astonishing is that these products -- which include a $250 chocolate and a $40 bar of soap -- are flying off the shelves. Eat your heart out Wal-Mart and McDonald's. Paying through the nose is the new black. NEXT: $500 jigsaw puzzle

BP oil spill fund: $5 billion in claims paid out

 By Catherine Clifford August 23, 2011: 4:50 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The fund to compensate Gulf Coast businesses and residents for damages from last year's BP oil spill says it has paid out $5 billion of the $20 billion set aside for recovery. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility, which took over the claims process from BP (BP) in August 2010, has approved 38% of the 947,892 claims submitted, according to an executive summary it released Tuesday. The fund, which has employed as many as 3,000 people, has received claims from all 50 states and 36 countries. The vast majority of the claims paid have gone to five states. Florida residents and businesses have been paid $2 billion, more than any other state. Louisiana recipients have been paid $1.5 billion. Recipients from Alabama, Mississippi and Texas round out the top five, respectively. The historic environmental disaster was the worst oil spill in U.S. history, claiming 11 lives and spewing over 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf

BP Pay Czar: 350,000 claims denied

The spill had wide-ranging economic consequences in the region. Businesses such as fishing, oyster harvesting and charter fishing boats, were impacted directly by oil in the water. Restaurants, hotels and rental properties that depend on tourism money saw a drop-off in sales, even in cases where there was no oil visible on the beaches. "It is interesting to point out the different nature of the claims coming from Florida, largely tourism, as opposed to Louisiana, largely commercial fishing," said Kenneth Feinberg, the head of the fund and the former administrator of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. As the leader of the fund, Feinberg has taken heat from both BP for being too generous in his payments and from the government for being too stingy in his payouts. One year after the BP spill, this family business is still reeling Many of the claimants who were denied payouts say the process was unfair. The U.S. Coast Guard, which has reviewed more than 1,000 claims from unhappy claimants, has sided with Feinberg's decisions. Also, for the sake of full transparency, the fund has agreed to be independently audited by the U.S. attorney general by the end of the year, according to the executive summary. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility will continue to process claims until August of 2013. To top of page To write a note to the editor about this article, click here. First Published: August 23, 2011: 12:14 PM ET

Help for social media mayhem

 Cindy Waxer, contributing writer August 24, 2011: 12:50 PM ET

 

 NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- It wasn't until a man diagnosed with measles ate at her New Jersey diner that Connie Correia Fisher, co-owner of The Pop Shop, discovered that the only thing that spreads faster than an infectious disease is bad news. "We had every major TV station here. All the papers were here, and people were freaking out," said Fisher, who co-owns The Pop Shop with husband and professional actor Stink Fisher. But that's not all. Within no time, parents and restaurant regulars alike had taken to the Internet, voicing their health concerns on public platforms like Twitter and Facebook.  But while Fisher couldn't stop the television crews from hanging outside her six-year-old restaurant, she was able to "constantly beat back down" the fear-mongering flooding social media channels, thereby saving her company "thousands of dollars" in lost business. That's because Fisher subscribes to Sprout Social, a social media monitoring tool that, for $50 a month, helps her keep tabs on every single online conversation mentioning The Pop Shop. Welcome to the world of social media where 140 characters can cause irreparable damage to your company's reputation -- and bottom line -- in seconds flat. Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn -- each one is a digital grapevine, letting consumers air their grievances to millions with the single click of a mouse. 10 great franchise bets When someone posted a video on YouTube of rats running around a New York City Taco Bell restaurant in February of 2007, the video spread across the web like wildfire, causing Taco Bell's (YUM, Fortune 500) stock price and sales to drop, and prompting duplicate videos with more than two million views to date. And then there was the catastrophic BP oil spill in early 2010. Despite thousands of tweets from angry citizens being published within hours of the Gulf of Mexico disaster, it took the oil giant seven days to issue a Twitter response. Despite these social networking snafus, multinational corporations can more easily rebound from an onslaught of unflattering tweets and derisive Facebook updates than a resource-strapped small business.

"Large enterprises spend a lot of money on public relations so they can throw an entire army at the problem," said Tim Hickernell, an analyst with Info-Tech Research Group. "But a small business owner doesn't have that army. He has to take the time to manage his company's reputation." No wonder then that a growing number of small businesses like The Pop Shop are turning to social media tracking technologies such as those offered by Sprout Social, Radian6 (recently acquired by

See Google Chrome get hacked

Salesforce.com (CRM)), HootSuite, Twitter Advanced Search, and Sysomos. These modern-day eavesdropping tools scour the conversations taking place on social networks for relevant comments -- and damning criticism, enabling companies to respond in real-time to online opinions. In fact, according to a Forrester survey, of the 301 customer intelligence professionals canvassed, 78 percent responded that they actively monitor what customers are saying online. Take, Blue Sky Factory, for example. When a customer tweeted a complaint to his 50,000 followers about the Baltimore company's customer service, Radian6 immediately caught the criticism and alerted Blue Sky Factory's 23-person agency via email. Within minutes, a Blue Sky Factory customer service representative responded directly to the tweet with a very public apology. It was a critical intercept given that 22 percent of Blue Sky Factory's business hails from social media channels. In fact, the company sees close to 1,000 mentions a month. 8 cities that want your business! Stephan Howard wasn't so lucky. Instead of using a social media monitoring tool, Howard, the owner of Flik and Company, a Toronto interior design firm, learned from customers that his business was being trashed in a local community blog. 'Have you been 'Flick'd' Over?' read the thread initiated by a disgruntled Flik customer, who claims Flik failed to make good on a down payment for furniture until he took his ordeal to the blogosphere. (Howard denies the allegations). In no time, the blog became ablaze with name-calling, finger-pointing and commentary from scores of customers. That is, until Howard contacted the local police department, which ordered the blog's administrator to terminate the thread. "It really did get ugly," said Howard, who has since moved out of the neighborhood and relaunched his store under the banner Flik by Design. "I was bothered a lot by what happened, I was sick to my stomach, and there were nights when I didn't sleep." Social media monitoring products can help. However, selecting the right one for your business requires sifting through "hundreds of tools from free services to million-dollar-plus technologies," said Zach Hofer-Shall, a Forrester Research analyst. These products range from Web-based dashboards that aggregate social media data to sophisticated analytics tools that mine data and generate custom reports. For cash-strapped small businesses, free tools such as Google Alerts and Twitter Advanced Search let users conduct keyword searches for the names of their companies and competitors, but have "very limited functionality," warned Hofer-Shall. That suits Parties That Cook just fine. The San Francisco corporate team-building and cooking class company relies on Google Alerts to flag mentions on user review sites like Yelp. "In a small company with limited resources, it just doesn't make sense to spend the extra money or extra time [on a costly social media monitoring tool]," said Crissy Gershey, Parties That Cook's marketing director. Nevertheless, the $5.99 a month it costs for HootSuite's basic analytics solution, or $500 a month for Sysomos' more robust Heartbeat solution, can be a worthwhile investment. By upgrading from Google Alerts to Radian6, DJ Waldow, Blue Sky Factory's director of community, said he spends nearly three times less sifting through company mentions, and no longer worries about angry tweets or Facebook comments "slipping through the cracks."

iSucceed: Companies inspired by Apple

Steve Jobs not only was a genius when it came to building Apple. He inspired numerous entrepreneurs to succeed. Here are some.

Steve Jobs inspired

Steve Jobs, thanks. That's at least what some small business owners have to say to the brainy Apple co-founder who stepped down from his position as CEO last week. The risk-taker and college dropout, who resigned from Apple in 1985 only to return in 1997 and sell his colleagues on a then-crazy idea called the iPod, has put fire into the bellies of budding entrepreneurs. From an apparel company to an audio-book creator, some small businesses would not be around if not for their tight connections to the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac products. To sync up with Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple, small businesses have learned to roll out products quickly, to keep up with the rapid speed that new versions of Apple products are released. "No other company, in our modern age, has moved things, as far as technology goes, so quickly," said Damon Brown, author of "Damon Brown's Simple Guide to the iPad" and "The Pocket Idiot's Guide to the iPod" (Alpha Books, 2005), "It's a game changer. Small businesses have to move much faster than they used to. They have to listen. That could totally destroy, or totally create, a new market," said Brown.