Lara Hertel

Brace yourself, because George Cloutier has some unsettling news: your failing business is your fault.

Cloutier is the no-nonsense CEO of American Management Services and author of Profits Aren't Everything, They're the Only Thing, a literary slap in the face to small- and medium-size business owners who wonder why sales are slipping and cash is tight.

Like the gruff boss he urges small business leaders to be, Cloutier doesn't waste any time trying to get you to like him -- he wants your respect, and his book fires off rules without apology: "Love your business more than your family", "End your denial" and, perhaps most startling, "Give up golf - it's a waste of time!"

Profits Aren't Everything is peppered with real-life examples of businesses teetering on the brink of disaster because they invariably failed to put profits first. Of the hundreds of maxims Cloutier imparts, the profit rule trumps all others: "In the game of business, pure profits are the only prize," he writes. The message is clear: fire your family members, skip your kids' recitals. Do whatever it takes to bring your business to profitability.

The book offers a few surprises, too. When Cloutier's not scolding readers for taking weekends off or phoning their spouse from work (both definite no-nos), he insists they stop underpaying themselves and take a big, fat raise. His logic? A salary demonstrates who's boss and if you can't pay yourself like one, there's something wrong with your business. (So fix it!)

The endless barrage of rules would all seem like a bit much if it weren't for Cloutier's impressive track record. The so-called "Turnaround Ace" has made a successful career out of digging hapless businesses out of debt and mismanagement by demanding his clients fire dead weight, own up to their laziness and stop making excuses. And it works.

Cloutier's unrelenting "business-above-all-else" mentality is likely both his biggest asset as a CEO and his most damning fault as a husband, friend and boss. But if you learn anything from Profits Aren't Everything, it's that being a success isn't easy and it certainly has nothing to do with being a nice guy.

Last year was a record for small businesses, which scooped up more than $93 billion in federal contracts, a $10 billion jump from a year earlier, according to a report by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).

It's good news to be sure, but critics are already grumbling that the government only allotted 21.5 percent of its promised 23 percent target to small businesses for fiscal 2008.

Key among their complaints:

* High costs: Small businesses often opt out of the running for government contracts for fear that they can't absorb the proposal costs that can run as high as $25,000 to $500,000, The Washington Post reports.

* Misrepresentation: Critics say large businesses have been known to fudge their size and scope to win contracts intended for their smaller counterparts, and urge government to penalize companies that do so.

* Poor enforcement: Small businesses are calling for a tougher crackdown on government agencies that fail to meet their contracting requirements. (The SBA report shows that only one agency actually met its goal.)

Has your business lost out on a lucrative government contract? If so, what should be done to ensure small business get their fair share of work? Share your story below.

It's no secret that the economic downturn is having an impact on the careers of millions of Americans.  Just ask Matthew Derra (pictured here), who found himself pursuing a degree in renewable energy after his job at American Axle disappeared.

As the U.S. braces for yet another monthly dismal jobs report, thousands more will be faced with one big question: what now?

Turns out, not everyone is looking for jobs in the field they once called home.

"We're seeing people more willing to consider opportunities in places traditionally they wouldn't locate to,' says John Flanigan, VP of staffing company Aerotek.

Just as Derra found himself back at school, people are finding themselves in some unlikely scenarios. One former executive took an entry-level job after losing his job at Hewlett-Packard, a move he says set his career (and his salary) back by two decades.

Sound familiar? Now that the job market has narrowed, what are you doing with your career? Share your thoughts below.

We've all heard of summer camp, boot camp, even fat camp. But how about a camp for young women with a knack for business?

That's the idea behind Girls Inc. Corporate Camp for Entrepreneurs, a week-long workshop held earlier this month in New York City for 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 18.

Now in its fourth year, the camp hand-picked its attendees from a pool of 70 applicants across the U.S. who competed in teams with like-minded young women to come up with an original business product or service, complete with a viable business plan. (Think: The Apprentice, minus Donald Trump and the TV crew.)

The resulting ideas were certainly unique. In a nod to eco-conscious consumerism, Team "Water Girls" came up with a calendar that monitors water usage with the aim of helping customers conserve and save money. (Watch their presentation here.) "Teenage Touch" presented a mini-service salon offering a range of beauty services aimed at girls. The young women pictured above created "Oh!Zone",  a 5-in-1 game aimed at getting adults and teen girls to talk about touchy issues like health and self-esteem.

The winners were treated to 7 days of business-building tips and presentations from small biz owners and volunteers from Goldman Sachs Community TeamWorks with the goal of developing the country's next entrepreneurial gurus.

"By learning firsthand how women are successful in the traditionally male-dominated business world, they're able to envision themselves as leaders in business or any career they pursue," Girls Inc. President Joyce Roché told Reuters.

Are we doing enough to encourage entrepreneurialism in young people? Tell us what you think below.

Caption: The Memphis team of Girls Inc. prepares for its presentation of Oh!Zone. REUTERS/Handout/Duffy-Marie Arnoult Photography

Small business owners say they're more confident about the economy, but they're still plagued by worries about paying their bills and slumping cash flow, new research from Discover Financial Services shows.

Their optimism is a bit of a head-scratcher, especially considering the slew of discouraging news the survey uncovers. Some highlights:

* nearly 70 percent of small biz owners say their take-home pay has taken a hit in recent months.

* more than half say they've held off on bill payment because of cash flow issues in the past 3 months.

* almost 60 percent rate the economy as "poor", and half of them said it was getting worse.

So why the optimism?

Ryan Scully, director of Discover's business credit card, offers some context. For starters, he says the uptick in the confidence level is incremental (and a long way off its high way back in March 2007).  And although only about a third of business owners think the economy is getting better, that's up significantly from 16 percent in March.

"So we can't say exactly what is fueling their confidence, but not all of the news they've been hearing is bad," Scully told Reuters.

Interestingly, the survey found that business owners are shying away from traditional borrowing practices such as applying for a loan or getting a line of credit, possibly in favor of funding from friends and family, Scully said.

Are you more confident about the state of the economy than you were six months ago, or do you think the worst is yet to come?  Tell us what you think below.

Tough-talking Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz sure knows how to get the media's attention. Virtually every quip she's ever uttered -- including her famous "Tell me why I shouldn't fire the whole lot of you" line -- has been happily devoured and dissected by reporters looking for juicy quotes.

It makes for a great story, but you've got to wonder what it's like to work for her.

A recent article from Entrepreneur.com suggests that bosses like Bartz might want to lighten up -- not just because it's good for office morale, but it may also boost their company's bottom line.

Writes author Nancy Mann Jackson:

"Quite simply, if employees like and respect you, they’re more invested in your company and interested in its success. They’re willing to work harder and give more. But if they don’t care about you, they don’t care about your company."

Not exactly rocket-science, but it's an idea worth considering, especially in today's morale-crushing economic times.  Since the recession kicked into high gear last year, there's been no shortage of reports warning about undermotivated, overworked employees struggling to keep up with growing workloads while worrying about losing their jobs.

But forward-looking leaders would do well to nurture office relationships, particularly during tough times.

"This is when managers typically go into 'avoidance mode,' and as a result productivity goes down and morale goes down," said Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ, in an interview with Reuters.

The better approach, he says, is to give employees a sense of purpose. Just don't fall into a coddling trap. In research to be published in his forthcoming book, Hundred Percenters: Challenge your employees to give it their all and they'll give you even more, Murphy found that most employees would prefer a boss that pushes them to achieve their full potential instead of one whose sole concern is making them happy.

Maybe Bartz is on to something...

Do you think being liked by your employees is good for business, or do bosses have to be the bad guy? Tell us what you think below.

Picture the founders of any big-name tech company in the U.S. and you'll probably think of Twitter's Biz Stone, or Apple's Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates from Microsoft.

In other words: white American men.

But a report released this month reveals that 16 percent of high-tech, "high-impact" companies are founded by immigrants.

The study, commissioned by the self-proclaimed "business watchdog" Office of Advocacy of the U.S. Small Business Administration, is significant for a couple reasons. For one, consider the term "high-impact," which describes firms with sales that have at least doubled over the most recent 4-year period, with notable employment growth. These aren't fledgling gadget companies with no hope for survival.

Even more importantly, the research underlines the vital role U.S. immigration policy plays in entrepreneurialism -- particularly in light of growing competition from emerging economies like China.  As the study points out, immigrant entrepreneurialism isn't just on the rise, it's driving job creation in a key industry and growth in the U.S. economy.

But immigration policy has some cracks in it, and it could be costly.  Says the study:

"Even those individuals who have a reasonable prospect of extending their stay in the United States may lack the certainty that they will be here long enough to be able to reap the benefits of taking the entrepreneurial 'leap' because of the way the immigration system handles their cases. As a result, their potential entrepreneurial contribution to the nation may be lost."

One final note about immigrant entrepreneurs, lest anyone think they're swooping into the U.S. to make a fortune before they fly the coop: a big chunk of them have been in this country for two decades or more, more than three-quarters of them are U.S. citizens, and two-thirds of them received undergraduate or graduate degrees in the U.S.

Is the U.S. doing enough to foster entrepreneurialism?  Share your thoughts below.

Millions of minimum wage earners across the United States have circled July 24th on their calendars, marking the day a mandated pay hike will bump up their hourly wages to $7.25 from $6.55.

The move is the latest in a three-part pay increase approved by Congress in 2007 in a bid to fatten up the paychecks of the country's lowest earners and "improve the lives of working families across the nation," the Department of Labor said.

But many small business owners are left asking, "What improvement?"

"For the business owner who hires a lot of people, I see prices going up and doors closing," a sandwich franchise owner told the Indiana's Journal and Courier newspaper.

Indeed, reports are already popping up about worried business owners forced to pass on higher costs to their customers, slash shifts, and in some cases, reduce headcount when the burden of higher wages catches up with them.

Meanwhile, critics are taking aim at the pay hike's poor timing. With an unemployment rate at a dismal 9.5%, many are wondering how much more the bruised labor market can take.

But there is an upside, at least according to analysts at liberal think-tank Economic Policy Institute. The EPI says the wage increase will give consumer spending a much-needed boost and prevent the worst recession in decades from spiraling out of control.

Will the mandated minimum wage hike affect your business? If so, how are you planning to manage the increased costs?

It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the economy is tanking, but recent headlines suggest that recovery isn't so far off -- and that means small businesses better dust themselves off and brace for a turnaround.

According to small biz expert Rieva Lesonsky, all the inventory-slashing, staff-paring and morale-squashing that's been the norm of late is bound to backfire when consumers wake up from their recession-induced spending coma and come a-knockin'.

So what's a small business owner to do in the meantime? Lesonsky offers the following tips:

Play nice: Demoralized staffers will be the first out the door when the economy picks up again. If you want to keep them (and save yourself the time and expense of hiring a new person), treat them like a valued member of the team.

Make smart investments: Now's the time to revisit contracts with suppliers and vendors to hammer out the best available deal. It's also an ideal time to upgrade outdated technology and refresh depleted inventories, if possible. Customers who can't find what they want will go elsewhere.

Beef up your staffing: Even if you can't afford to hire full-time, consider bringing in interns or temps to fill the void. Again, customers will take their business to competitors if they feel service is lacking.

How are you preparing for the economic turnaround? Share your thoughts below.

You know something has buzz when it makes the leap from noun to verb. Like Google before it, Twitter -- a social networking site that lets users follow and communicate with each other via 140 character messages, known as "tweets" -- is raising the eyebrows from the big business gurus at Starbucks to small businesses like the local bakery.

Can 140 characters revolutionize your business?  If that possibility isn't already on the mind of every marketing whiz across the globe, then maybe it should be.

Twitter aims to keep people connected by asking one basic question: What are you doing? Naturally, this invites an avalanche of answers of the banal "clipping-my-toenails-on-the-couch" variety.  On the flipside, businesses are starting to recognize it can be a free, highly-effective tool for communicating with customers. (Emphasis on free.)

Consider Starbucks.  The ubiquitous coffee chain's presence on Twitter aims for the same folksy,  feel-good vibe that it so carefully constructs at every store around the world. With updates besieging you to have a "happy weekend" or reminding you of the benefits of soy milk, Starbucks wants Twitter to push its brand into the eager, caffeinated minds of the Twittersphere. If it sounds like your worst nightmare, you can always choose to "unfollow" the Starbucks twitter account.

The impact on the bottom line is hard to quantify. Has Starbucks sold more non-fat vanilla lattes since it started tweeting? Maybe not. But it's hard to deny how slyly the company has managed to slip into the cyberworld, even earning the free publicity of coffee fans who choose to be identified as "Starbucksgeek" or "Starbucks_girl".  (Not everyone's a fan -- just ask "Kissmystarbucks", a disgruntled barista who Twitters with passionate discontent.)

The beauty of Twitter is you don't have to be a a multinational to reap its rewards. Reports are popping up about local coffee shops that tweet to their customers when a table has opened up, or bakeries that send out alerts when fresh cookies come out of the oven.  Twitter has the unique ability to make users feel part of something much smaller and more organic, something that a 30-second Super Bowl commercial or glossy magazine ad would be hard-pressed to achieve.

Take it from Kogi Bbq, a pair of taco trucks in Los Angeles that turned to Twitter to keep its customers in the loop. The restaurant's Twitter page has more than 15,000 followers, and business is booming despite the dire economic times.

So is it time to get Twitter-fied? Says one marketing expert: "You have to be a complete moron to ignore it."