PSoTD

I recently had a conversation with my sister-in-law as she was thinking about starting her own business. She's in the food service industry - a chef - and wants to capitalize more directly on her own skills. No problem with that, but running a small business is a whole web of required skills, and over time most of the businesses that succeed have notable quality in those skill sets, and most of those that fail don't have enough quality. It's not just about the actual provision of service or product.

Anyway, the real gist of what I was trying to say to her was that I didn't see this as a time to take a big risk in small business - the less start up cost, the less maintenance cost, the better - unless you already had experience in building a business and were successful. This economy is becoming more risk-averse all the time, both commercially and consumer-wise.

I'm going to forward her this article, I think it has the same kinds of issues to consider. And a nugget of real wisdom:

I advocate starting a new business without incurring debt.

There's plenty of time to do that if you figure out how to generate revenue.

Does your employer have one?

Back in the late 1960s and early 1970s our family was one of those stereotypical "car camp across America" vacationers. We'd pack up Dad's station wagon with the tent and camping gear, our clothes, food, and away we'd go. A few of these trips we totaled somewhere around 5000 miles of travel, which meant a lot of campgrounds.

Back then, KOA was the place we'd go if we weren't at a national park. It used to be that KOAs were everywhere, or at least seemed like it to me, but now they're less visible. I'm not sure if this is because of the rise of many lower-priced highway motel chains, or because the appeal of car-camping is limited and it didn't take long for America to make a different choice, or if it was an increase in camping competition for KOA that reduced their number, but it does seem to me that there are less of them visible on the road today.

Maybe this is due to an improvement in KOA's facility standards. I remember some of the KOAs that we stayed at when I was a kid as not much more than an open field and a water spigot. A nice one had a swimming pool. Now they offer wireless internet, planned activities, bicycle rentals... some offer cabins with heat or air conditioning... it's a different experience, it seems now.

Anyone out there been to a KOA recently?

How is local, smalltime tourism impacted by recession? Particularly one that is partly fueled by high energy prices?

For example, the weekend trip - do families do more of the small, cheaper trips in a trade off from longer, more expensive trips, or do those trips stop altogether? How recession-proof is a place like Blue Rocks Family Campground, compared to a place like Mackinac Island in Michigan? One is a three-day trip for most families, the other is a longer vacation destination, with the requisite travel time and costs involved.

So what do people cut back on first?

I think we need a few of these.

Everyone wants a bottled water when they're in the hot tub, but bottled water is so wasteful...

And stores that do this shouldn't ever be trusted again.

You know that Sharper Image gift card you got for Christmas? Right now, it's worthless. And other gift cards in your wallet could lose their value, too.

As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year.

The Sharper Image announced late last month that it was suspending the acceptance of gift cards, at least temporarily. It urged shoppers to check the company Web site later this month for an update. That is typical of businesses that reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which treats gift cards as a loan to the company, not as cash.

The number of retail bankruptcies or liquidations this year is expected to reach the highest levels since the 1991 recession.

Brian Riley, senior analyst at The TowerGroup, estimates that shoppers could lose more than $75 million just from stores and restaurant closings in 2008.