MARYLAND BUSINESS REPORT
From the pages of the Baltimore Business Journal
The Baltimore Orioles and the Maryland Lottery will team up to celebrate two milestone attendance marks for the franchise. The Orioles will welcome the 50 millionth and the 100 millionth fans at Camden Yards later this season. Through last week's homestand, the Orioles have drawn almost 49.5 million fans to Camden Yards since the ballpark opened on April 6, 1992. Also through last week's homestand, the total attendance in Orioles franchise history stands at 99.3 million fans.
The Baltimore Sun will eliminate 100 positions in August through buyouts, layoffs and attrition. Sun Publisher Tim Ryan announced the job cuts in an internal memo to the staff of the Baltimore Sun Media Group on Wednesday. About half the job cuts are expected to affect the newsroom, according to a news release sent by the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild. The union represents 400 Sun employees. Sun spokeswoman Judy Berman said the cuts will impact all areas of the newspaper and said she could not say how many newsroom employees will be impacted.
Business advice from the Small Business Administration
Every business is different and has its own specific cash needs at different stages of development. Some businesses can be started on a shoestring budget, while others may require considerable investment in inventory or equipment. It is vital to know whether you will have enough money to launch your business venture. To determine your startup costs, you must identify all the expenses your business will incur during its startup phase. A realistic startup budget should only include those elements that are necessary to start the business. www.sba.gov provides tools to help calculate your start up costs.
Too many people think strategic planning is something meant only for big businesses, but it is equally applicable to small businesses. Strategic planning is matching the strengths of your business to available opportunities. To do this effectively, you need to collect, screen, and analyze information about the business environment. You also need to have a clear understanding of your business - its strengths and weaknesses - and develop a clear mission, goals, and objectives. If you are to survive and prosper, you should take the time to identify the niches in which you are most likely to succeed, and to identify the resource demands that must be met.
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