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).