Small business owners and farmers who want to ensure their success should prepare for certain upcoming trends and challenges, a Virginia Tech professor advised Tuesday.

At a seminar sponsored by Lake City Bank, David M. Kohl, Ph.D., told small business owners that the aging of Americans, the boom in biotechnology and information sciences, and the movement of much of America's middle class back to rural areas will have a huge impact on small business into the next millenium.

Each trend, in turn, has an effect on another area, Kohl said. For example, the growth in available information has made people into processors instead of thinkers.

"Small businesses that are successful get employees to think instead of processing," he said.

Good, qualified employees are becoming harder to find, Kohl said, creating a major challenge for employers.

Three qualities employers should look for in job applicants are punctuality, ability to follow directions and being able to get along with others.

"The growth of your business is limited to getting good people and to knowing yourself and how you manage people," he said.

Kohl spoke at the small business seminar Tuesday morning, and held a similar workshop for agricultural issues Tuesday afternoon. Both seminars were held in the Shrine Building on the fairgrounds.

Kohl said the state of the national economy is vital to the success of small business, and the growth in credit card debt is cause for concern.

The total charged on credit cards in 1997 was $1.5 trillion, Kohl said. The new trend of taking out a home equity loan to pay off credit card debt, he said, is disturbing.

"We've got some problems," he said. "I see credit card debt as one of the possibilities for stalling the economy."

As a farmer and a small businessman, as well as a college professor, Kohl told the ag seminar participants Tuesday afternoon that agriculture is one of the three fastest growing industries in the United States.

"If it wasn't for you," he said, pointing to the audience, "one out of every five people in America wouldn't be working."

Farming trends he identified included younger people coming back to the farm with a new approach, women moving into farming, expansion of foreign markets, equity financing and the loosening of credit standards.

The last two trends he called "storm clouds on the horizon."

"Remember - equity does not pay the bills; cash flow pays the bills," he said.

Most farmers do not consider family living costs when they make up their budgets, he said. Family living costs are how much it costs to live off the farm.

For a family of four, the costs would be approximately $2,500 per month, or $32,000 per year. Because of the costs, many farm families have at least one member working off the farm to bring in income.

He urged farmers to check their Social Security contributions every three years, and to check credit history every year. Social Security is important to farmers because most do not have disability insurance.

"If you are involved with agriculture, there is a 90 percent probability that you will become disabled for 90 days or more," he said, because farmers work with animals, machinery, chemicals and in the outdoors. Yet 60 percent of farmers have no disability insurance.

Kohl, an energetic speaker who involves his audience in his presentations, has a master's degree and a doctorate from Cornell. [[In-content Ad]]