Internet tracker comScore says visits to www.gasbuddy.com, which steers drivers to stations featuring low fuel prices, are up nearly 30 percent and it expects to report spikes in traffic to finance and bargain-hunter websites when September statistics are calculated later this week.

complete article

I wish life were more like Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Remember that show? It’s the one where three smart alecks watch a bad movie and make fun of it. I’ve watched a lot of it, and often I’ve wished I could talk back to life’s soundtrack without bystanders thinking I was crazy.

This cartoon came during a meeting (as they often did) when we in sales were being lambasted. Amid the motivational idioms and cliches was “sales have really gone south lately.” Immediately I wanted to say “somewhere down in Texas we think.”

My bank account was glad I refrained, and I squirreled the idea away for later.

* * * * *

About: Mark Anderson’s cartoons appear in publications including The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. Anderson is the creator of the popular cartoon website, Andertoons.com, where he licenses his cartoons for presentations, newsletters and other projects. He blogs at Andertoons Cartoon blog.

From Small Business Trends

When Business Goes South on You

read the full article

Being unemployed gives me a large chunk of discretionary time, but only a finite amount of which I can dedicate to a job search. The law of diminishing returns kicks in and it’s better to focus efforts elsewhere for the sake of productivity, not to mention sanity.

I’ve always wanted to run my own operation. Thus, I’ve been taking some of my aforementioned time to work on an alternative project. Like many other M.B.A.s, a good friend from school and I would often inadvertently conjure up ideas over late night beers. One such project is our website FloridaLacrosse.com, an online vendor of lacrosse equipment and apparel.

Now, a spin off that has come to immediate fruition is an Internet concept called Blind Bid Sports, which has a unique twist on the eBay business model and works by purchasing team equipment, uniforms or anything in bulk. I’ve worked on a business plan and we’ve shopped some agencies to build the Web site, however the concept is still in it’s infant stages, and can expand to virtually any sport and possibly into consumer goods. Currently, we are exploring funding options.

I used to be very skeptical regarding such ideas, and thought any efforts would be ultimately trivial. Recently, I’ve been spending about 20 to 25 hours a week on this and other endeavors that have slowly developed. Once I go back to full-time work, the concepts will get whatever time I can devote to them depending on vitality and future short-term earning potential.

One thing I’ve certainly learned is that great ideas really do need to start somewhere. If I don’t pull the trigger and take some fliers based on nothing but faith in my own ability, great dreams won’t ever be realized.

Safe to say, I would never have voluntarily chosen this unenviable state of being unemployed. However here I am, and I might as well make the most of it.

Photo by FloridaLacrosse.com.

I watched a lot of TV growing up. My favorites were always the sitcoms, and I saw them all: new, old, good, bad, anything!

One of the funniest shows I remember was Mary Tyler Moore, and a while back I saw the very first episode where Mary is meeting Lou.

Part of the exchange is this:

Lou: You know what? You’ve got spunk.
Mary: Well, yes…
Lou: I hate spunk.

Funny, and “spunk” is just a great word! That got me thinking of other words like it, and this cartoon came to me.

If I ever meet Mary Tyler Moore I’m going to have to say thanks.

* * * * *

About: Mark Anderson’s cartoons appear in publications including The Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review. Anderson is the creator of the popular cartoon website, Andertoons.com, where he licenses his cartoons for presentations, newsletters and other projects. He blogs at Andertoons Cartoon blog.

From Small Business Trends

Do You Have Spunk and Gumption?

read the full article

Getty Images

An article in The Wall Street Journal today by my colleague Miriam Jordan tells the tale of Dolores Jacobo, a nanny for a wealthy couple in Malibu, Calif. In addition to watching the children, she shopped for groceries and ferried the golden retrievers to grooming appointments.

Last week, her employers informed her that her $1,000-a-week job was getting cut.

Similar scenes are playing out across affluent America. Christopher Baker, a top household staffer in Los Angeles, told me the story of a personal assistant in Orange County whose employers told her she would have to take a pay cut. “They said they just didn?t have the money,” he said.

The personal assistant then discovered the family was spending $12,000 on outdoor Christmas lights. She confronted the employers, who told her that they had to buy the lights to “keep up appearances” for the neighbors.

“She quit and went to work for another family,” Mr. Baker says.

Natasha Pearl, president of Aston Pearl, a New York advisory firm for wealthy families, says some families who have several housekeepers are cutting back to one or two, while those with “senior” and “junior” nannies are cutting back to just one “senior.”

Some also are using the economy as an excuse to get rid of people they wanted to fire anyway, she says. “They are using this as a chance to drop the nonperformers,” she says.

Household staff may seem like an essential part of life for the wealthy–uncuttable even in tough times. But as staffing salaries soared in recent years with so much demand for help–with household managers starting at $50,000 or more–staff has become a prime budget target.

“When a family steps back and does an analysis on ?where are we spending?? household staff is where the big money is,” Ms. Pearl says. “If you pay your nanny salary and benefits in a major city you?re looking at compensation that could be $50,000 to $70,000 a year.”

That has meant tough times for staffing agencies and help alike. Mr. Baker said his fourth-quarter revenue is down 10% from the same period in 2007, while volume is down about 25%.

First Class Care in Chicago said business is down 30% this year. Annie Davis, chief executive of Annie’s Nannies Household Staffing in Seattle, estimates a drop of 10% this year, and says, “It’s going to get worse.”

It all adds up to further proof that the budget crunches of the rich are going to have an outsize impact on the rest of the economy.