North Bay Business Journal

The Supreme Court put it back in our court. The election did not cause its rejection. We have been replete with information about the health insurance reformation, what it will deplete and the promises it should complete. And complete it is, but the Affordable Care Act is ultimately not about affordability, which we are spending considerable time and money to discover. So should we hope, change, hope to change or change our hopes? Or at least our expectations.

Sonoma Clean Power is a program being developed by the Sonoma County Water Agency to purchase electricity for Sonoma County customers.

This program has multiple benefits and risks, is complex and not well-understood by Sonoma County residents and businesses.

In order to help the North Bay Business Journal readers understand the various aspects of Sonoma Clean Power, the Journal is partnering with the Sonoma County Water Agency to publish a series of articles discussing the various aspects of this effort.

Many business owners are aware of the Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs in which local banks participate. Most are not aware, however, of the SBA’s Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program. The SBIC program was created to help fill the gap between the availability of growth capital and the needs of small businesses.

In this challenging time for investors, let’s take a look at a few considerations when it comes to fixed income investments.

The key to strategic planning in today’s business environment is to initially focus less on the environment and more on you and your business. Go back in time – not 5 years to the “good ol’ days”, but to those gloriously sleepless nights when you were so excited about that idea that you were formulating. Go back to the “you know, I think this could work” moment – to your peaks of professional passion. Force yourself to not ask the question “why am I doing this?” in the negative sense, but ask it in the reinvigorating, inspirational sense.

On Nov. 6, Marin County voters will be deciding whether to approve Measure A, the Marin Parks, Open Space and Farmland quarter-cent sales tax measure. On Aug. 7, after a series of public meetings, a public opinion survey, a recommendation from the County Parks and Open Space Commission and at the urging of community groups [...]

As a family business owner, thinking you have a succession plan in place and actually having one are two different beasts. I often meet people who tell me they want to leave their business to their children.

There are a number of ways to leave the company intact and leave your family secure, without all the headaches of running a business. One method is to sell either all of, or a portion of, the business to a private-equity group.

The average American spends 45 years or 90,000 hours working. She typically spends about half that time — 20 years or more — retired. Yet, planning for retirement is often overlooked or put off until it’s too late to adequately prepare.

You probably know how much revenue or income you produced last month. You probably have a figure in mind for sales over the next few years. But if you’re like most businesses, you’ve never done the exercise to determine your current capacity to reach these targets.

In case you haven’t noticed, young adults no longer wear watches. Is it because they are indifferent to the time of day and have nowhere to be? Of course not. It’s because smartphones have taken the place of watches, as well as encyclopedias, dictionaries, phone books and in many cases, even traditional computers in the lives of many so called “Millennial” consumers.

Marin County has learned some hard lessons about economic development, but we still have a long way to go. A step in the right direction is a new advisory group being convened to review planning processes and how the county interacts with Marin’s businesses and residents. This group was conceived by the county as a result of the Grady Ranch failure and years of contention between planners, applicants and Marin residents.

As anyone who has been through the process knows, resolving civil disputes through full-blown litigation is enormously expensive, and can take years to complete. For many years, various alternative dispute resolution, or ADR, methods have been used to reduce costs and expedite resolution of civil disputes. The two most-used ADR methods have traditionally been arbitration [...]

If we review sales activity over the past 18 to 24 months, we can see how the role of foreign investment in the U.S. wine industry has evolved. Broadly speaking, there are three general categories of foreign investment in the United States wine market from which to gauge activity.

Last month the North Bay Business Journal celebrated the many accomplishments of women in business in the North Bay. This recognition is so important for the many women who have made lasting contributions to the health and vitality of the North Bay economy. Here at Bank of Marin, we have also had many outstanding women who have contributed to our growth and success.

As residents of the North Bay, we care about consuming locally-produced goods and patronizing our neighbors’ businesses. Even with our community’s commitment, it seems we are still inundated with goods imported from China. For most Americans, consuming Chinese-made goods is just part of life. Does China’s rising prominence threaten our economic well-being?

As baby boomers enter retirement age and begin focusing on securing their nest eggs, a large number of privately owned businesses are expected to be sold and transitioned to new owners, many of whom will require some form of financing. The Wall Street Journal has predicted a $10 trillion wealth transfer by 2020 through the sale of small businesses alone. Uncertainty about the treatment of capital gains is also likely to spur sales of businesses, as owners seek to avoid potentially negative tax implications in the future.

When I say the words, “set the standard,” what comes to your mind? Is it personal standards of yours? Is it standards that your business sets? Is it standards you have in your mind about other people? Is it standards you have in your mind about other products?

Last August, I was called to help a man with his dying wishes. He had three. The first was to go to Zen Hospice in San Francisco for his final days. The second was that a Tibetan Llama accompany him with prayers and chanting for the last part of his journey, and the third was for medical cannabis so that he could reduce his reliance on prescribed opiates and die with a “clear mind.”

Two national surveys released recently provided very bad news for California’s 2 million unemployed workers. The first survey, Best/Worst States for Business, was released by CEO Magazine. The survey of 650 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) found California the worst state in which to do business, a ranking California has held for the past eight years. [...]

In the last decade a number of family owned, mission driven companies have had to sell to large corporations. The juice-maker Odwalla’s Web site advertises it as “earth-friendly” and as “a business with a heart” but nowhere on the site will you find the information that it is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coca-Cola.