WASHINGTON — Sales of previously occupied homes rose in January to the highest pace in nearly two years, flashing modest signs of health ahead of the spring-buying season. The National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that home sales increased 4.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.57 million. That’s the highest [...]
Business
Apple’s escalating trademark dispute with a Chinese company over the rights to the term “iPad” reached a courtroom on Wednesday — and the result was a contentious four-hour hearing that was long on theatrics but short on progress toward a solution, according to several reports out of Shanghai. The increasingly acrimonious battle adds to Apple’s [...]
Business
The holiday season might seem like the distant past, but fourth quarter earnings numbers released yesterday prove that top retailers adapted remarkably to lackluster sales that plagued most of last year. Saks Fifth Avenue is one of the few luxury brands to report higher revenue. The high-end department store reported one of the highest revenue gains to [...]
Business
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The superintendent of the West Virginia coal mine where an explosion killed 29 men was charged Wednesday with conspiracy to defraud the federal government, becoming the highest-ranking Massey Energy employee to face criminal prosecution so far over the deadly blast. Former Upper Big Branch mine boss Gary May, 43, of Bloomingrose, W.Va., is named [...]
Business
The craft of ghostwriting is a dark art of sorts, replete with secrecy and scandal. But lately, it’s also becoming a booming business. Ghostwriters, once the preserve of politicians and celebrities, are in demand by a swelling rank of lesser knowns who crave the prestige of a book but don’t have the time or talent [...]
Business
That’s the ,000 question, particularly for the U.S. presidential elections – if things keep improving, it’s only good news for Obama. The economy has been on a roll this year, with unemployment down, consumer and business confidence up, inflation falling, and monetary policy still loose. 
Business
Optimistic entrepreneurs are the most successful kind. They are energetic and fun to be around, and it is exciting to be party to their startup endeavors. Sure, they require a good heaping dose of realism, too, but their passion and conviction ooze through every pore of their being and their enthusiasm is downright contagious.
One might wonder if my colleagues and I simply see the world through rose-colored glasses, especially in a questionable economy. I say, we’re seeing things in their appropriate light. Just last week, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in conjunction with LegalZoom, released its inaugural Startup Confidence Index. The results mirror my own experience — entrepreneurs today are surprisingly optimistic about 2012. In fact, more than 25 percent of them plan to expand their staffs in the next several months, and twice as many of them — 68 percent — expect the economy to improve or stay the same during the year.
In my own work with the FastTrac program, where we open a portal to the entrepreneurial ecosystem for current and aspiring business owners — before, during and after the startup process — I am exposed to this type of optimism on a daily basis. Nothing gives me a greater charge than to hear from one of our entrepreneurs around the world — their willingness to share their successes, their setbacks, how they are moving forward and their ideas to help other entrepreneurs. It is incredibly inspiring.
But, let’s face it; optimism alone is not enough to ensure business success. I am often asked if there is a checklist — some source code to determine what it takes to cut it as an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, there is no magic bullet. However, there are some indicators of entrepreneurial potential.
Successful entrepreneurs develop feasible ideas into profitable businesses. They recognize opportunity; consider and implement sales and marketing plans; convert prospects into customers; locate and acquire financial capital; build solid, effective management teams; and they ably manage risk. In fact, speaking of risk, it is critical for an aspiring entrepreneur to identify his or her risk tolerance level. He or she might ask:
There is no hard and fast rule for whether the answers to any of these questions will help an individual to succeed as an entrepreneur, but a “Yes!” response to questions like these indicates a person’s ability to work through the uncertainty associated with entrepreneurship with confidence, perseverance and aplomb.
An individual with a strong desire to succeed coupled with passion for what he or she is doing helps to get the entrepreneurial ball rolling. I have discovered, too, that the best entrepreneurs I have encountered exude determination, physical energy and resiliency — they tirelessly pursue a vision and readily overcome the setbacks and disappointments often experienced when launching or growing a business. They are always selling — they have their stories down cold and are eager to share their vision with anyone who will listen, making them interesting and persuasive and compelling. They hold themselves accountable for achieving results and have the self-discipline necessary to move the business forward, to shift gears as necessary and to take action even in ambiguous, confusing environments. They are a confident breed, and others gain energy from simply being around them.
That, of course, brings us back to optimism. Above all, great entrepreneurs are optimistic. Their passion, their belief, their can-do attitude all lead to a positive vision for the future.
In fact, you might wonder, what is better than an optimistic entrepreneur? The answer: Many optimistic entrepreneurs! The point here: Don’t go it alone. Entrepreneurship by its very nature can be daunting and lonely and risky and scary. There is no need to go through it by oneself — in fact, I don’t recommend it. Instead, an entrepreneur should surround him/herself with the best — the best support network (family, friends, informal advisers, and mentors), the best business partners and employees (people who care [nearly] as much as you do), the best board of directors or advisory board (be sure that they are fully committed to supporting you and truly enthusiastic about your success and the success of your business). Indeed, optimism and enthusiasm and a positive attitude feed on themselves and regenerate, leaving more of the same! Part of success is simply believing — truly, deeply in your heart of hearts, in your gut — that you will succeed.
So count me in. I stand by the optimistic entrepreneurs. Like them, I have high confidence in the future, and 2012 is a perfect place to start — and to ’startup’ your idea.
Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian company that makes the BlackBerry, released an update to its PlayBook tablet computer almost a year later than promised. Here are some developments related to its struggles to compete with Apple’s iPhone and iPad and phones running Google’s Android system:
Sept. 15, 2011: RIM reports a sharp drop in net income and revenue in the fiscal second quarter and says it has sold far fewer PlayBook tablet computers than it expected.
Oct. 10: Email and Internet services are disrupted for three days, primarily outside North America. RIM says a crucial link in its infrastructure had failed, and a backup didn’t work either. By the third day, other users, including those in the U.S. and Canada, were affected by a backlog of traffic.
Oct. 25: RIM says it is delaying the launch of an upgraded operating system for the PlayBook until February, saying it isn’t up to its standards yet. The company also says the new version initially won’t have the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger. It’s the third delay announced since the features were promised in April.
Dec. 1: RIM suspends two employees after their drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver. The two are later dismissed from the company.
Dec. 2: RIM says it is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets after it had to sell them at a deep discount. The model originally priced at 0 now costs 0. The company says it’s taking a pre-tax charge of 5 million in the just-ended quarter. RIM also says it will sell fewer BlackBerrys in the holiday quarter than in the one that just ended. It also says it won’t meet full-year earnings guidance of .25 to per share, the third cut in a row.
Dec. 5: Police in Indonesia say a senior RIM executive is a suspect in a stampede at a BlackBerry promotion there in November. Police say several people fainted and dozens were injured at the global debut of the BlackBerry Bold 9790.
Dec. 6: RIM says “BlackBerry 10″ will be the new name for its next-generation system after the company loses a trademark ruling on its previous name, BBX.
Dec. 15: RIM says new phones deemed critical to the company’s future won’t be out until late 2012. The company says the BlackBerry 10 phones will need a highly integrated chipset that won’t be available until mid-2012, so the company can now expect the new phones to ship late in the year. The company also says BlackBerry sales will fall sharply in the holiday quarter compared with the three months that ended Nov. 26. RIM says it would only ship between 11 million and 12 million BlackBerrys in the fourth quarter, down from 14.1 million in the third quarter.
Jan. 22, 2012: RIM founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis announce they will step down as co-CEOs. Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, was named as their replacement.
Tuesday: RIM finally releases an upgraded operating system for its PlayBook. The free upgrade allows for built-in email, calendar and contacts on the tablet â features promised within 60 days after the PlayBook’s launch last April. The PlayBook had received negative reviews because it launched without an email program and the popular messaging service BlackBerry Messenger. The new version still doesn’t include the messaging service.
Most companies want to be the best at what they do. But in the vast majority of business, there is no such thing as “the best.” 
Business
NEW YORK — The Dow Jones industrial average made a run at 13,000 on Tuesday, powered higher by a long-awaited bailout deal for Greece and strong corporate earnings reports at home. The Dow came within five points of the milestone an hour and a half into the trading day. Just after 11 a.m. EST, the [...]
Business
