I want to offer a great, big, heartfelt THANK YOU to all the businesses that supported the auction. What strikes me about the list of donors is that the vast, vast majority are small businesses.  Once again, they answered the call when we asked them to support a worthy cause, despite the awful economy. And once again, they came through in a big way.

Abaca Imports, my favorite furniture store in the world, once again donated two Asian-inspired lamps.  Salon DeZen, where I get my hair cut every couple of months, donated a haircut and facial.  Signature Theater donated 2 subscriptions to their 2010-2011 season.  Marrakesh Restaurant donated dinner for 10.  Rosenthal Jaguar donated the rental of a 2010 Jaguar for the weekend.  Liberty Tavern donated a progressive dinner for 6.  Thrive Pilates and Yoga donated ten classes.  Amber Association Partners donated two front-row tickets to see the Wizards.  And on, and on.  (You can view the entire, amazing list on the Doorways Web site.)

Matrix Group works with several, prominent trade associations representing small businesses.  If there’s one message that resonates constantly, it’s this:  small businesses are a vital part of our communities because they are more likely to support local charities and groups. As one exec put it:  You never see a big box retailer’s name on the uniform of the local little league team; it’s always a small, local business that put up the money.

Don’t get me wrong.  The auction got great support from large corporations, particularly hotel chains.  Marriott, Sheraton and The Hotel Hershey were very generous.  (God bless these guys, they  must get thousands of solicitations each year.)  The vast majority of our donors, however, were small businesses.

So thank you to all the businesses that supported Doorways, a small, local charity doing great work.  And thanks to all the small businesses out there who support local charities and causes everywhere.

You’d think that sending out an e-mail over paper would be an easy choice.  But the holiday cards were a big deal.  Each staff member signed the cards for all the clients they supported and partners they worked with.  The new biz, net admin and administration teams signed every single card.  I am famous for signing every card and writing notes on many of them — yep, nearly 900 of them last year!  Clients and friends have told us that they love the Matrix Group holiday card precisely because they are signed by the staff who support them.

So what happened this year that we abandoned a decade-old tradition? I was meeting with Jaime, my Director of Administration, to pick the card design and go over numbers.  It hit me that we were about to spend close to $2,500 on cards.  It seemed like a lot of money.  I also thought about how many of our charities and non-profit clients struggle to raise every dollar and consider gifts of $250, $500 or $1,000 major gifts.

So I did what I always do when I need guidance on a work issue: I consulted with the staff, who promptly agreed it would be a good idea to spend what we otherwise would have spent on printing and postage and make donations to local charities. The choice of the charities proved more difficult.  During a late afternoon discussion, we decided to support our three pro bono charities plus two others.  We focused on charities that are providing the most basic of services to those truly in need during these tough times — organizations providing food and shelter. Our final charity list is:

• ALIVE! House
• Capital Area Foodbank
• Doorways for Women and Children
• Washington Animal Rescue League
• Women Empowered Against Violence, Inc. (WEAVE)

Our decision is not novel or revolutionary, but we’re proud of it.  It’s green to send e-cards and we hope that we’re making a small difference on our community.  If you haven’t been introduced to these organizations, I hope you’ll take a minute to click on the links and learn more about them.  They’re well managed, they have great leadership, and they have effective programs.

How about you?  Is your organization sending paper or e-cards this year?  What organizations are you supporting during these tough times?

Under the law, 65% of COBRA premiums will be subsidized by the federal government, with the remaining 35% paid for the former employee.  After receiving the reduced premium from the former employee, the employer or health plan offsets its payroll tax liability by the other 65 percent. If the offset amount does not cover the subsidy, the employer files paperwork with the government to get a refund.

Lots of employee benefits companies are covering this issue, including The Segal Group.  Everyone is talking about the requirements, but did anyone consider the true impact on businesses, especially small businesses? And just think about this: small businesses will be responsible for new paperwork and fronting the COBRA premiums for former employees until they get reimbursed by the government. Yes, employers can offset their payroll tax liability with the COBRA amount but if the offset doesn’t cover the COBRA premium liability, employers are liable for the amount until they get reimbursed, which will probably take months, if we’re lucky.  Dear Mr. Congressman, for a small business that is cash-strapped, this could mean hundreds or thousands of dollars every month!

I’m lucky.  I haven’t had to lay off anyone but I can certainly relate to the small business owner who will go nuts with all this new paperwork and potential liability — during a time when cash is tight.  Could this new law actually lead to more layoffs?  Sheesh.

Neal, my insurance agent said that of the 100 phone calls he’s made to business owners and plan administrators, not one person has said, “oh wow, what a great idea, I’m excited about these new requirements.”

So I changed my card number but the Carfax charge comes up again.  Now I was really worried.  Does the thief have access to my personal accounts?    How did he or she get my new card number right away?  So again I called Amex and here is what I learned:

• Amex reversed the previous charges but did not instigate a fraud investigation.  Great, I didn’t get charged but the thief got away scot free for three months.
• Amex changed my card number but honored the recurring charge from Carfax, which turned out to be a subscription.  Amex routinely allows subscriptions to still be processed, as a service to card holders, but I specifically changed my card number to stop the recurring, fraudulent charges from Carfax.
• Carfax has very little protections against credit card theft on their site. The security number is not required and, according to customer service, they don’t validate against the billing address.  Which means any hacker who has the algorithm can generate a valid credit card number and use it on Carfax.  Okay, I know it’s not that simple, but Carfax sure could make it harder to use a stolen credit card number.
• There are thousands of fraudulent charges every day and the credit card companies, merchants and law enforcement simply can’t investigate them all, so the vast majority of crooks get away with their crimes.

Ugh.  So what’s a consumer to do?  A Web site of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Bank of America (IDSafety.org) has these tips:

• Protect your personal information.
• Share your personal information prudently; just because someone asks for your social security number does not mean you should share it.
• Eliminate paper and shred, shred, shred.
• Secure your computer; whenever I walk away from my laptop, I lock it.
• Secure your E-mail; again, lock your computer and use a strong password.
• Review your financial activities/Review all statements carefully.

With the economy tanking, crime is on the rise, so be safe out there in cyberspace!

• Give List lists ways to support communities and causes this holiday season (and year-round for that matter) that don’t necessarily require writing a check.  Ideas include:  donating frequent fliers to soldiers so they can fly home and visit their families; send a note to someone who works for a non-profit and thank them for their work; and create a video about an organization or cause that is important to you and post it on YouTube.
• Volunteer to be on a Board of committee of a local non-profit.  Organizations all over the country are experiencing a dearth of people willing to donate their time and expertise.  Several years ago, I called the Executive Director of a non-profit that I admire (Doorways for Women and Families) and asked how I could become involved.  Today, I serve on the Board and help organize two fundraising events.  I have helped raise a bunch of money, but I have also learned a great deal about non-profit management and fundraising, experiences that have benefited me at work.
• Philanthropy.com put together a list of ways to support social causes without giving money.
• The Daily Green lists 20 ways to give without giving “stuff”

I have a 4-year old so I have to admit that this Christmas, I am giving him a bunch of “stuff.”  Yes, there are a lot of Thomas trains under our tree.  The magic of this season, however, is that my entire family is together.  And this year, I’m hosting the Christmas Eve dinner for the first time ever!

Happy Holidays to you all!  I hope that your holiday is safe, warm, happy and full of family and friends.  Oh yeah, I hope you get that one thing you want most.  Now back to my cooking and baking.

• Every time I get together with friends, someone says, “I have a friend who just got laid off.  S/he is terrific, can you help?”
• A buddy who runs a medium-sized government contracting firm was asked by a government agency to submit a letter from their bank saying they were in good financial standing; this, despite a history of working together that spans many, many years.
• Every single candidate we interviewed for a recent Network Administrator position had recently been laid off.
• While shopping at Harris Teeter this morning, the guy at the deli counter said, “It’s been really slow.  I hope it gets busy soon.  We need the customers.”
• Several holiday cards from friends who run businesses say they are bracing for a tough 2009.
• While looking at office space for a potential move, we’ve seen downward movement in prices, despite Old Town supposedly being a very strong market.
• After reviewing proposals, many clients are saying, “This is great, but can we scale back the scope or phase out the work over two years?”

Sign ‘o the times, I guess.  I count my blessings every day.  I hope you and your loves ones are safe, warm and joyous during this holiday season.  Happy Holidays and here’s to a better 2009 and a market recovery.

I was recently interviewed by Jill Foster for the Network Solution blog on a variety of topics, including using social media for recruiting and what we’re doing here at Matrix Group to survive this hellish economy.

When our fiscal year ends next June, I want to be able to say that we were counter-trend and that our company grew, despite the recession.  Here are my top strategies for surviving this economic bloodbath.

• Stay close to our customers. We’re listening extra hard when customers give us feedback, request new services, and share their pain points.
• Keep marketing. I’m seeing my competitors cut back on their marketing efforts, but here at Matrix Group, we’ve expanded our sales and marketing staff, we’re doing more webinars, we’re using social media, and we’re looking at every opportunity.
• Manage vendor relationships. When the market crashed, one of my first calls was to our leasing company, whose President assured us that the credit crunch didn’t affect us and it’s business as usual.

Here’s a link to the Network Solutions blog post:
http://blog.networksolutions.com/tag/joanna-pineda/

And here are some great articles I found about thriving in this market.

• Southwest Airlines changing strategy for LaGuardia presence
• How to survive: market segmentation

Geek note: During the interview with Jill, she created a podcast using a service called Utterli. At the beginning of the conversation, Jill dialed a number on her mobile phone, talked into it, then handed the phone to me when it was my turn to comment. At the end of the conversation, Jill hung up and said, “okay, the podcast has been uploaded to my blog.” I was dumbfounded. Jill used her phone to create a podcast!

Note to self: create an Utterli account and create podcasts from the next conference I attend.

Second note to self: ask clients how we can combine our Web development services with Utterli to give them a more powerful blogging platform from their meetings and conventions. Any takers?

I was looking for navy shoes and Mike was my guy.  While I was trying on shoes, I asked him about business.  Mike said that in his 15 years in the shoe department at Nordstrom, this is the worst he’s seen.  I looked around, the store was packed.  The food court had been packed.  A couple of weeks ago, Tysons Galleria was packed.  How could business be down?

Mike said, “look around, nobody’s carrying bags.”  And you know what?  He was right.  Very few people in the store were carrying shopping bags.  I was obsessed with people watching the rest of the afternoon and Mike’s words kept ringing true.  Few people were carrying bags.

As Mike rang up my purchase, he said,  “don’t be a stranger.”