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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (July 1, 1995)
Smoke Signals July 1,1995 Page 9 Clyde Stryker visits Washington D.C. Clyde Stryker, Grand Ronde tribal member and owner of Spirit Communications, spent the week of June 12-16 in Washington D.C. as a delegate to the White House Confer ence on Small Business. Clyde was one of 20 delegates from Oregon, including Tom Peterson, and representatives from the Governor's Office. Four and a half days of intensive meetings and work ses sions focused on issues and barriers to developing small and home-based business in the United States. The confer ence produced a report entitled, "2020 Visions Policies for the 21st Century," addressing various legislative and policy changes that could radically change the face of small business in this country. The top three issues identified by conference participants were: 1. ) Looking at the legal definition of independent con tractor. The IRS uses a 20 factor test which is vague, and unclear to determine whether a service provider is an inde pendent contractor or an employee. The conference facili tator recommends developing clearer guidelines for the defi nition of an independent contractor, decreasing fines and penalties, and stop collecting back taxes for prior year in vestigations. 2. ) Small businesses compete based on their level of cus tomer service, and the recent changes in the tax law regard ing deductibility of meals and entertainment expenses af fect their ability to market their goods and services. Cur rent tax law only allows 50 of those costs as tax deduct ible expenses; conference attendees are recommending that the law be changed back to 100 deductibility. 3. ) Amend the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980. The act was intended to ease the regulatory burdens on small businesses, and hasn't been effective in doing so. The 2020 Clyde Stryker spoke before the National Indian Business Association conference attendees in Phoe nix, Arizona on behalf of Native American busi ness owners and their concerns. Vision report recommends that Congress reform the act and add a judicial review component. Clyde's work group focused on Community Develop ment in distressed communities. They recommended that Congress enact legislation to maximize community eco nomic development programs by: 1. ) Creating a most favored community status; 2. ) Increased and continued support for the Small Busi ness Administration (SBA) microloan program; 3. ) Enforcing the Community Reinvestment Act, and work to eliminate red-lining practices; 4. ) Federal, state, and local governments should continue to emphasize women and minority owned business partici pation in the economy. Home-based business was another topic of interest. Con ference participants recommended: (I) that Congress en act legislation to acknowledge home offices and home-based businesses; (2) SBA should coordinate developing basic criteria for home-based businesses; and (3) home-based business owners should be involved in drafting laws and policies. The increased use of telecommunications has dra matically increased the number of home-based businesses in the US. Antiquated zoning and laws relating to home based business are creating barriers for many prospective entrepreneurial ventures. Clyde Stryker is pressing to get another Native Ameri can business owner trained and involved in the next con ference. The next conference will be in four years, but the Oregon delegation is pushing to create an Oregon confer ence dealing with issues specific to Oregon business own ers. Clyde is also developing the Oregon Indian Chamber of Commerce, and will soon be sending announcements of the organizational meeting. Overall, the conference developed a plan for addressing issues relating to small business. The second phase of the process deals with implementation and follow up on the recommendations. The SBA was recommended as a key component in implementing change for U.S. small busi nesses. Conference delegates recommended creating a cabi net position for the SBA, and giving it additional "teeth" to improve the business climate in the United States. Write a better business letter Everywhere you turn you find how important com munication is in a business. How do we know if we are effective communicators? Here are some sug gestions from Marya W. Holcombe in the August 1994 issue of Home Office Computing magazine about effective written communication: 1. ) Don't rely on a spell-checker. Although help ful, your word processor's spell-checker can be a dangerous tool. You also need to proofread the docu ment to make sure you haven't written to instead of too or its instead of it 's (which are the most common errors in business writing). If you don't know the difference, look it up. Always double-check the spelling of people's names; more business has been lost by misspelling a prospective customer's name than by any other error. 2. ) Be brief. Say what you want to have happen in the beginning and tell the reader three reasons why you believe he should do what you are suggesting. No one has time for mystery novels masquerading as business letters. Anything over a page in length will not be read. 3. ) Eliminate. Writing concisely means eliminat ing the unnecessary or the repetitive. Eliminate: re dundant modifiers (past experience, end result), meaningless modifiers (certain factors, generally), and redundant pairs (each and every). 4. ) Use the right tone. Although business is be coming less formal, writing is a formal medium. If you don't know a person well, use Mr. or Ms. rather than first names. In addition, use a formal close such as "Sincerely," or "Very truly yours." If you know the person. "Best regards" or "Best wishes" is ap propriate. 5. ) Be sensitive to the gender issue. Don't use "Dear Sir" or "Gentlemen" if you don't know who you are writing to. Use a generic title instead, as in "Dear Marketing Director." 6. ) Take a deep breath. If you are angry or emo tional about something, consider whether you should be writing at all. If you decide to go ahead, wait at least 24 hours and reread the letter before sending it. Intro to PCs - Monday, July 3 Beginning Windows Friday, July 7 Beginning Word -- Tuesday, July 1 1 Advanced Windows -- Friday, July 2 1 Advanced Word -- Tuesday, July 25 Print Shop Deluxe - Friday, July 28 All computer classes are from 2 to 4 p.m. on the days indicated. Please call Penny at 879 2476 or Debby at 879-2484 (or 1 -800-422-0232) to make your reservation. If you don't see the class you're interested in, or the times aren't con venient, call Debby or Penny to make arrange ments. Computer training classes are FREE to Grand Ronde tribal members; $10 fee for non-tribal members. All classes are held at 28840 Salmon River Highway (in the back modular building).
