Blog

Even though the economy has been dismal and unemployment has been on the rise, a fascinating phenomenon suggests that small businesses and boutique firms stand to gain customers in these trying times.  Let’s face it, whether times are good or bad small businesses have never been able to afford the luxury of being wasteful, inefficient, or careless with money.  Large corporations, on the other hand, which are bureaucratic by their very nature, have a tendency to become highly inefficient and wasteful when times are good.  When faced with an economic downturn, the inevitable occurs in a large corporation—mass downsizing resulting in a loss of valuable talent and customer service.  Consequently, the large name brand company that customers were paying for tends to lose its luster in the face of lost relationships and customer support.

Peter Bregman, CEO of Bregman Partners, Inc., a global management consulting firm, also believes that small companies will win in this economy.  He states that “Small is the new big.  Sustainable is the new growth.  Trust is the new competitive advantage.”  He says that “small companies with low overhead, reliable owners, a small number of committed employees, personal client relationships, and sustainable business models that drive a reasonable profit are the great opportunity of our time.”  To read more about Bregman’s point of view on this topic visit his article Why Small Companies Will Win in This Economy.

The tenants of the Brentwood Business Center, the Sand Creek Business Center, and the Sand Creek Plaza are all too familiar with this mantra.  The majority of the tenants renting space in these Brentwood business centers are small local vendors with a particular focus on sustaining clients through relationships and keen customer service.  In fact, KMB Management, the managing firm over these properties, has developed a philosophy that embodies the spirit of Bregman’s slogan:  “Small is the new big. Sustainable is the new growth.  Trust is the new competitive advantage.”  Each new customer and/or potential customer at KMB Management is treated with respect, professionalism, kindness, and commitment. 

In closing, if you are a small business in this trying time don’t lose heart.  This is your golden opportunity to take advantage of the niche opportunities that are out there.  Just remember that small is the new big and the power of the personal relationship can never be underestimated.  Creativity may also be your number one asset in attracting new business and retaining loyal customers.  The business expert Peter Drucker once said that, “Business has only two basic functions—marketing and innovation.”  Therefore, turn your creativity into innovative marketing endeavors! 

Small, large, existing and start-up businesses alike can all benefit from building a community on Twitter.  If you are not familiar with Twitter, it is a social networking site designed to help people connect and share information.  Flyte, a web design and internet marketing company located in Portland, Maine, defines how Twitter works as follows:

“Twitter users—often called Tweeple (or worse)—have 140 characters to answer the question, “What are you doing?” If you join Twitter you can “follow” other tweeple, which causes their updates to appear on your home page. In turn, they can follow you, a form of permission-based marketing. You can also direct message them, but always in 140 characters or less.”

As of August, 2009, Twitter provides access to 23.6 million people according to Web-analytics firm Compete Inc.  It is apparent that Twitter has created a wonderful platform for business people to gain the attention of millions of people.  Therefore, the only question that remains is how does one use Twitter for Business?

Start by Building a Community

First you need to find the right people on Twitter.  One way to do this is by utilizing the Twitter search box which will find keyword matches in others’ profiles.  There are also several third party tools that allow for more advanced searches such as Who Should I Follow and Summize.  Who Should I Follow finds and suggests like-minded people based on your tweets.  Summize allows you to search tweets for keywords.  

In essence, you want to seek out industry leaders who post links to important resources and influence conversations.  Once you have discovered these people, you should do the following:   

• Post questions for quick answers and answer others’ questions to establish your credibility and expertise.
• Create links to your Web site or blog.
• Keep up on the buzz in your industry.

Get People to Follow You

According to Flyte, this is the way to get people to follow you on Twitter:

• Follow them. There’s an almost kneejerk reaction to follow people who follow you. However, there’s a backlash against people who follow just about everyone for the sole purpose of gaining followers. In short, be discriminating with whom you follow.
• Post some good tweets right before following someone else. I find that if someone follows me and they only tweet about how hungry or tired they are, I don’t follow them back. The same goes for people who haven’t tweeted in a while.
• Complete your bio. People rarely follow strangers, so complete your one-line bio and include a URL in the More Info URL section of your profile.
• Add your Twitter feed to your blog or to other social media profiles. If you have a following at your blog or a lot of connections at Facebook or LinkedIn, you can leverage this audience to increase your followers at Twitter.
• Reply to people you are following, especially if they’re not yet following you. That’s a good way to engage someone and get them to follow you, even if they didn’t follow you immediately.

Doing it Right

If you are still struggling with how to best utilize Twitter for your business, here are a few examples of how community based businesses might start implementing this powerful tool.  The Brentwood Business Center, for instance, is home to many local businesses such as general contractors, auto mechanics, heating and air contractors, a cheerleading and gymnastics school, and many more.  These businesses would us Twitter as follows:

• The general contractor tweets about current remodeling projects or new construction techniques. 
• The auto mechanic tweets about car repair promotions or car ownership advice for continued maintenance.
•  The heating and air contractors tweet about the latest innovations with energy efficiency.
•  And the cheerleading and gymnastics school tweets about local cheer events and gymnastics competitions.     

In addition, there was a great article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday entitled A Start-Up’s Tale, Tweet by Tweet.  This article describes how a start-up company propelled itself off the ground by using Twitter as a tool.    

In recent years, green living and design have become popular subjects and business practices in California.  In fact, it is hard to go anywhere without seeing a new advertisement for a natural or eco-friendly product.  It makes one wonder if this green craze is just a passing fad or if it is truly here to stay.  One thing is for certain, Americans are demanding a healthier lifestyle and the market seems to be responding to this shift in consumer demand.

For entrepreneurs and savvy business owners, this shift in demand can be equated with opportunity—the opportunity to gain market share in the ever emerging fields of sustainable products, design, and business practices. 

Green building and design is one facet of the emerging green market that presents opportunity to developers, general contractors, and subcontractors.  A great example of green building in the Bay Area is Oakland’s Margarido house.  According to the Contra Costa Times, the “Margarido House is the first home in Northern California to be both Greenpoint rated and to earn platinum certification — the highest — from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, green building rating system.”  In the design and construction of this sustainable home, many local architects, engineers, and contractors had the opportunity to expand both their knowledge base and resume of green building by participating in this project.  If you are interested in viewing the Margarido house, sign up for tickets prior to September 20 at www.rockridge.org.

Many of the tenants leasing space at the Brentwood Business Center, such as Easton Construction, Devcon Construction, Pacific Crest Landscape and Maintenance, and A Quality Heating and Air, have the same unique opportunity to break into the field of green building and design right now.  Features such as green roofs, rainwater catchment systems, low or nontoxic materials, energy efficient lighting, and heating, solar energy and green landscape design are becoming more popular and in some cases even subsidized by the government. 

I say “green” is here to stay.  So , if you have the opportunity to expand into this market take it and make your little piece of the world more sustainable in the process.                   

It's time for Cornfest! So strap on your cowboy boots and join the fun. The Brentwood Chamber of Commerce will be hosting its annual festival on July 7th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm, July 8th from 10:30am to 9:00pm, and July 9th from 10:30am to 6:00pm. The event will be held at Brentwood City Park, surrounded by Second Street from Liberty High School to Oak Street. General Admission is ten dollars for adults and five dollars for students and seniors who are 65 or older. Children under the age of five will get in free!

Each year, Cornfest draws thousands of people from the local and surrounding communities. If you are new to Brentwood or the local community, this is a great opportunity to meet wonderful families, new friends, and business owners. The festival will also be packed with attractions and activities for the whole family. There will be live music, a carnival, a car show, pony rides, arts and crafts, great food, local wines and microbrews, a kid's zone, Friday night fireworks, info alley, and plenty of corn!

This event showcases the City of Brentwood as one of the fastest growing communities in Contra Costa County. In fact, Brentwood has experienced population growth of 104.05 percent since 2000. As of 2009, Brentwood boasts a population of 48,448 people making it an excellent location for new businesses and families. Without the help of new local businesses like Fremont Bank, Cornfest would not be the successful event that it is. The Brentwood branch of Fremont Bank which is located in the Sand Creek Plaza across from the Sand Creek Business Center, Brentwood's office and retail hub!  These properties are affiliated with the Brentwood Business Center.

Other event sponsors include the City of Brentwood, Coca Cola, Bud Light, The Monthly Grapevine, Brentwood Press and Publishing, Mike's Auto Body, Black Bear Diner, Kohl's, and many more. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities for your business contact the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce.

You will not want to miss out on this wonderful event, the opportunity to meet your neighbors, and learn more about your local community!

Much has been recently written on the closings of a number of automobile dealerships throughout the United States, and in particular in the San Francisco Bay Area. With the closings has come much pain for all those associated with them, including customers, employees, owners, suppliers, and the like.

Having said this, a question that can be asked is whether or not there is any "silver lining" in this situation. At first blush, one might say what a ridiculous question. With customers having to relocate to different dealerships or find other places for service opportunities, with confusion as to warranty and other maintenance concerns, with traditional and ongoing relationships being severed, as well as a myriad of other related issues, it could be said that the thought of any sliver lining with these dealership closings is thoroughly ridiculous.

In general, a key element of any dealer-customer relationship is trust. This is particularly true when such a relationship relates to service aspect of a vehicle. The superiority of the servicing of vehicles can vary from dealership to dealership, and in those dealerships that have been closed that had superior trust relationships, such closings can be devastating to the customer.

But once again we return to the question of do these closings have any "silver linings." It can be argued that such closing may have the opportunity of unintended consequences of enhancing increased service capacity at a lower cost than was available prior to such closings. For example, dealer service labor rates are quite high in general. If a dealership closes and its service department closes as well, which is usually the case, where will their former customers service their vehicles?

We believe that as choice becomes a more prevalent issue for customers in a variety of industries, the same can hold true for vehicle service.  In this regard, we can see a whole new entrepreneurial output of service shops being spawned out of these recent dealership closings.  Such shops may well provide superior service and a lesser cost. In his book "The Long Tail," Chris Anderson asserts that the "future of business is selling less of more."  In this respect, what we might see is a number of very specialized vehicle service firms locating near one another and enhancing one another, thereby not trying to have a one-size-fits-all model when it comes to auto service.


For many, the American Dream is to be in business for oneself.  For those mechanics and service technicians that have been laid off as a consequence of dealership closings, some will certainly find work with other entities.  However, for those with high skills and training that they have gained at these dealerships, and for those with a desire to have their own business, it can be asserted that there has never been a better time to start their own business since such closings open the possibility to start a business in a growth field, in that Americans appear to be servicing their cars and owning them longer, rather than buying a new car every few years.

In the Oakland Tribune, Gilbert Zamora was quoted as saying that "GMAC is forcing a lot of dealers out of business."  The Wall Street Journal reported that the "National Automobile Dealer Association estimates the closings will add 6,800 people to unemployment." Or, for those who are trained mechanics, is this a time for a new entrepreneurial explosion?  For example, many dealerships are auctioning off equipment such as car lifts and other valuable and specialized repair tools at a fraction of their original value.  Accordingly, it is possible that those who have dreamed of opening their own business could do so now, particularly in the automotive service area.

One area where the closing of dealerships has proven to be helpful is at the Brentwood Business Center in the Northern California City of Brentwood.  This community is characterized by synergy among the many new automotive uses that are able to promote one another.  In one location, one finds a tune-up shop, a transmission shop, a car stereo facility, an accessories store, as well as a number of classic car restoration firms.  Each of these facilities feeds off of one another, and each is able to provide superior service at generally less than what would have been the case in a higher cost dealership situation.

At the Brentwood Business Center there is a true feeling of community spirit here. To help facilitate more business for our tenants we like to inform the community about local activities and events that are planned throughout the year with our community newsletter we call The Brentwood Insider. The Brentwood Insider keeps the tenants and the entire San Francisco East Bay involved in our community and the surrounding areas. The newsletter also provides coupons to local shops, and useful information about tenants and other opportunities are available at affiliate properties.

The Brentwood Insider was established in 2006 to provide a medium between the community and our tenants. Keeping the community informed on these events and matters directly impact charitable causes. Published at the beginning of every month, our newsletter is sent out via email in the form of an eBlast and also available online at www.thebrentwoodinsider.com. The eBlast has been very effective in directing traffic to the website and to the events. Thanks to your support the Brentwood Insider has been a success and will continue to set the city of Brentwood apart from the rest.

To be apart of our community newsletter and begin receiving monthly eBlasts with all the local events, email us at offer@brentwoodbusinesscenter.com.

While sales of new homes recorded an unexpected increase in October as median home prices dropped to the lowest level in four years, the sales of new single-family homes rose by 2.7 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 464,000 homes. Economists had expected sales would drop from the September level. But what exactly does this mean for you? Well, if you're a small business paying high rent or lease, and your landlord is not willing to negotiate, then it's time to move on! At the BBC we have heard all kinds of horror stories due to the recent foreclosures. It's time to break the chain and secure a location that will stand the test of time. The Brentwood Business Center is centrally located in the city of Brentwood, CA and is here to work with you to better fit your budget.

Analysts are not convinced that the sales increases are signaling a bottom for the housing market. They note that the September gains came before the latest upheavals in financial markets which have raised new worries about the overall state of the economy. Many analysts believe the country has already entered a recession. The forecast is significant increases in job losses, which will make it even harder to secure locations. Builders have been sharply cutting back on production, trying to get inventories more in line with sales. The inventory of unsold existing homes is also remaining near historic highs as that market is being increased by a record wave of home foreclosures.

I always like to look at the Los Angeles housing market to see how the other half of California is surviving... According to the LA Times, homes sales are booming, but prices are down 33 percent from a year ago. From what I read it sounds like people are buying, which is a good indication money is changing hands. Agents I've spoken to here in the Bay Area tell me the only thing really selling these days is foreclosures, short sales and all cash deals. The rest of us will benefit from cheap rental or leases popping up across the board.

Since this is this first official blog post for the Brentwood Business Center we would kick it off by thanking you for visiting. To introduce ourselves we would like to tell you a bit about us and the services we offer.

The BBC is Brentwood's finest offering of a comprehensively planned and architecturally thematic business park. We provide distinctive warehouse and retail office properties in a landscaped environment. We have a variety of spaces available for immediate occupancy. From small offices and light industrial to warehouse, flex & automobile repair spaces, we are prepared for your immediate move in!

Located at 580 Valdry Court in Brentwood, CA our spaces available for rent or lease are the best in town at unbeatable prices. Please contact Nate Lorenzini anytime for more information (925) 918-2861 We look forward to hearing from you