Distributor News

There's still time to cast your vote for the 2011 Supplier Excellence Awards! Come watch our video and go vote!

Running a small business can be a lonely life. Working long hours to keep the doors open, it can be easy to feel as though you're the only struggling entrepreneur. But you're not—and help is available.

The irony is that many small-business owners don't ask for assistance even when there are valuable and affordable resources out there providing expert advice and support. Here are five often-overlooked sources of help for entrepreneurs.

Maine's Portland Herald Press recently published an article about lead promotional products distributor Geiger. In it, they cover the company's history dating back to 1878, its business practices, the company's move from New Jersey to Maine, and how the business has helped the local community.

There's still time to cast your vote for the 2011 Supplier Excellence Awards! Visit www.promomarketing.com/promo/excellenceawards to vote!

The Quality Certification Alliance has awarded QCA accreditation to Charlotte, North Carolina-based JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars.

Total marketing spending by U.S. small businesses (companies with fewer than 100 employees) will expand in 2012, as an increased number of firms invest in advertising and promotional activities. According to New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners Inc., overall spending is expected to grow 4 percent rebounding from 2010 recessionary lows.

These findings from AMI's 2010 - 2011 U.S. Small Business Marketing Activity and Spending Study reveal that apart from social media marketing, which is estimated to grow a considerable 35 percent, most marketing categories are still slowly rebounding from the economic downturn.

In an audio interivew, Proforma founder Greg Muzzilo shares his thoughts on trade associations, the global economy, and dealing with suppliers who sell direct.

The Obama administration announced 30 plans Thursday to scale back or eliminate hundreds of federal regulations and save American companies billions of dollars in unnecessary costs.

The proposals, the latest attempt by the administration to burnish its pro-business credentials, will affect workplace safety, environmental protection, endangered species and a number of other areas. Many of the changes involve reducing paperwork or eliminating redundancies in the law.

Cass Sunstein, a Harvard Law School professor who leads the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, laid out the proposed changes in a speech Thursday morning at the American Enterprise Institute.

The Supreme Court today upheld an Arizona law that imposes harsh penalties on businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

The 5-to-3 decision amounted to a green light for vigorous state efforts to combat the employment of illegal workers. The majority opinion, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts on behalf of the court's five more conservative members, noted that Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia have recently enacted laws similar to the one at issue in the case.

The decision did not address a second Arizona law that in some circumstances requires police question people about their immigration status.

Vernon Company announced that 17 Vernon Company account executives and their clients were recently honored as winners of the company's annual Galaxy Awards competition.