Atlas Van Lines Affiliate Receives
Several Honors
Worried your Web site isn’t safe? You’re not alone. Most small business owners are concerned their company’s Web site will fall victim to unwanted intrusion, according to a recent survey of more than 700 small business owners nationwide.
SurveySite Market Research, which conducted the survey, said small business owners worry about their company Web site, with 71 percent fearing unintended data access and damage.
Fear of potential viruses was also strong, with 64 percent of small business owners citing their worries. Also, 60 percent worried about an attack on the Web site or hacker intervention, the survey said.
Roughly eight out of 10 small businesses featuring a company Web site ranked security as a top priority. However, the survey also indicated less than half of those business owners have actually invested in Web server security.
Rhonda Barreras, marketing director for Amarillo, Texas-based Web security company SAGE, Inc., which helped sponsor the survey, said added security is crucial for small businesses.
“Hacker attacks and Web site intrusions can come unexpectedly at any time and can cause irreparable damage to a business,” she said. “It’s really surprising so many small-business owners take security seriously yet neglect to adequately protect their own professional investment.”
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Top Honors: A San Diego affiliate of Atlas Van Lines was honored this month as one of the top moving companies in the nation.
Ace Relocation Systems, Inc., was awarded by Evansville, Ind.-based Atlas in a ceremony Dec. 7 at Atlas’ 53rd annual convention in Marco Island, Fla. Reg Lammers and Lance Bauserman accepted the awards on behalf of Ace.
Ace snagged awards in several categories. The Top Agents with Multiple Locations Award is presented to the five best revenue-producing agents with multiple locations. Ace placed fifth in that category, said James E. Huth II, a spokesman for Atlas.
Ace also snagged the Sales Achievement Award, presented to agencies with more than $1 million in sales during the year. On top of that, Ace also won a New Member Millionaire Club Award, which is presented to agencies reaching a new million-dollar plateau. Ace won at the $3 million level and the $4 million level, he said.
Ace also won third place in the category of International & Off-Shore Military Relocations Award, granted to the top three revenue-producing U.S. agencies in this area, Huth said.
Atlas Van Lines is the nation’s fourth largest carrier of household goods and special products, with nearly 800 agents worldwide.
News That’s Fit To Be Tied: A small-business expert vented his anger at the New York Times earlier this month for its front-page story, “Entrepreneurs’ ‘Golden Age’ Is Fading in Economic Boom.”
Raymond J. Keating, chief economist with the Small Business Survival Committee, assured small business owners throughout the country that the Dec. 1 story was wrong.
The original story, citing a survey of 50,000 households by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, stated both the number and percentage of Americans who are self-employed dropped slightly between 1994 and 1999.
The Times story went on to say this could mean the growing levels of entrepreneurship in the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s were an exception in what the Times called a “century-long trend” of fewer self-employed individuals, highlighted by decades of movement from farm to factory.
Keating disagreed.
“Unfortunately, the Times chose to take a BLS survey, extrapolate onto the economy at large and make sweeping conclusions. When one looks at actual tax return data from the IRS, for example, a quite different picture of entrepreneurship materializes,” he said.
The number of business tax returns filed by individuals climbed each year between 1995 to 1999 , from just over 18 million to 19.2 million. For 2000, the number is projected to increase to almost 19.5 million, Keating said.
Similarly, the number of corporation returns rose from 4.8 million in 1995 to 5.6 million in 1999, and is expected to reach almost 5.7 million in 2000, he said.
Also, the number of partnership returns increased from 1.6 million to 2 million between 1995 and 1999, and is expected to hit about 2.2 million in 2000, Keating said.
“Based on these actual numbers, it seems that entrepreneurship is thriving in the U.S.,” he said.
The small business and retail column appears weekly. To submit a small business and retail item, contact Lee Zion at lzion@ sdbj.com or call (858) 277-6359, Ext. 112.
