The CFO CC blog post is up at: http://www.rochesterstartups.com/2010/06/30/cfo-c...

Heh, well I'm not sure the author would agree with you, nor the millions of investors he bilked. As far as the author was concerned he was a (brilliant) but sociopathic criminal that caused much of the market crash of the 30's. The author (who spoke at the conference) also said that Citibank and other large investment banks are modeled in structure after Ivar's scheme and will also come crashing down around our ears unless the government enacts similar restrictions to what was enacted in 33/34.

I see you posted this back in August - I guess I just didn't catch it then, or maybe the predominance of people calling themselves gurus has finally gotten to me. I mean I've done public presentations on social media - but I don't call myself a guru. There are so many things to learn about ANY subject that calling yourself a guru is just hubris. And there are SO MANY OF THEM out there that call themselves "social media gurus". Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like social media in particular seems to attract this particular brand of guruism. Maybe it's the extroverted nature of most social media participants?

Brenda,
I'm glad I could help!
Cheers,
Lee

Fixed - sorry about that :)

I email it to each user. For others, just post here, and I'll drop you an email.

You guys just have WAY too much fun. You need to come to Rochester NY and spread your entrepreneurial goodness here... :)

mmmm yummy spinach. I'll take your advice when writing up my releases. Thanks for the help!

Valid response as far as it goes. The problem is that the number one way to change people's outlook is..... the media! And the other problem is that if media takes this attitude then they are following trends rather than leading them - and we all know that the media is having problems keeping up with and surpassing the internet as a source of news, entertainment and interest. Who looks in the paper for weather news any more when www.weather.com is a click away?

Let's take your answer as the given truth though - media is only a follower not a leader. How do we change what listeners/readers/watchers WANT to consume if we don't use the media to do so? Personally visit their houses? Create a letter campaign to every consumer in the region? I'm serious here - how, without using the media, are we to change people's outlook on what is important?

I know there is the issue of "C" corps being double taxed on retained earnings (if they take those earnings out as profit later). On the other hand, the ability to retain earnings is what kept my "C" corp alive last year. We had enough cash stored up that we could weather a downturn in the economy and still be cash positive by the end of the year. That's something that becomes much more difficult if you must push all the profit out to your shareholders each year. Retaining earnings is what allows a company to weather not only the upturn growth but the downturn economy without risking personal funds to do so. With the new stimulus allowing us to write down losses this year against past profitable years, that only increases the value of having those earnings around to keep your cash rich position during hard times. Run in the black - it only makes sense :)

Remember - Cash is King!