Kern Business
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Guest column: Trading to avoid taxing
The concept behind a 1031 exchange is a simple one that dates back to the horse swapping days of nearly a century ago. Trade a horse for a horse, or in today’s world, property for like-kind property. The purpose of a 1031 exchange is to allow an investor to defer — or maybe avoid altogether — the payment of federal and state capital gains tax when exchanging like-kind property.
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Gaylen Young column: Air service, BBQ take off
Most of us know of life-flight helicopters, but did you know Bakersfield is also home to air-ambulance jet service?
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Oil column: Oxy keeps its secret
Not to frown on gambling, but Oxy’s big news this summer really doesn’t make the best subject for a betting pool.
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Health care column: Stay home, get tucked
If Bakersfield to Beverly Hills seems like a long way to schlep for a tummy tuck, you probably have as tenuous a grasp on plastic surgery as we do.
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Real estate column: Commercial market soft
For more than a year now, real estate watchers have been predicting commercial real estate is the next shoe to drop in the economic crisis.
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Legislation column: Fiscal worries abound
Summer breaks are supposed to be fun, but for the state Legislature, this year’s break is the pits — like retaking a class in summer school or working a loading dock.
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Guest column: Creativity means copyrights
Tattoos, music, maps, technical drawings, books, poems, manuals — the list of what can be protected by copyright is a long one and continues to expand with each new mode of creative expression.
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Guest column: Build a mentally healthy workplace
Work is driving me crazy! According to the article “Building a Mentally Healthy Workforce,” this might not be an exaggerated statement. Author Melissa Dittmann reported that “tedious job tasks, job insecurity or inflexible work schedules can demoralize some employees or lower their motivation.”
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September Business Calendar
Get involved in the many business events in Bakersfield.
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Self-support successes: Entrepreneurial spirit blooms during recession
Anew class of pioneers is defiantly launching new enterprises amid the most difficult conditions in recent memory. The challenges are many. Consumers aren’t spending. Banks are hesitant to finance startups. And resources for aspiring entrepreneurs have been cut back.
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Self-support successes: Polishing credentials
Manuel Cebreros modestly claims that a good business opportunity simply “presented itself” when last year he and his wife, Gloria, bought Country Club Hand Car Wash on Panorama Drive. But there was more to it.
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Self-support successes: Family affair in hair
Family teamwork almost defines Lift-U-Up, a new hair and makeup studio in downtown Bakersfield.
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Self-support successes: ‘I’m not a quitter’
Her mom was skeptical, but Natalie Bernardin’s dad knew she could handle starting her own business.
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Self-support successes: It took a ‘leap of faith’
Bernie Madoff was the nation’s top business story when Daniel Petrey and Jeff Mestmaker launched their downtown Bakersfield investment advisory firm. Looking back at how the scandal shook people’s confidence in big names, they say their timing could have been worse.
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Self-support successes: Help for small businesses
One door has closed but another may be swinging open for would-be business owners in need of expert assistance in Kern.
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Market Intelligence: Kern County's self-employment picture
In Kern County, 55,255 adults identified themselves as self-employed, with 72 percent working full time. Self-employed individuals work in a wide variety of occupations, shown in the table below.
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August Business Calendar
Get involved in local business events. Check out our extensive business calendar.
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Comings & Goings in Kern Business
Maya Bakersfield 16 Cinemas has opened at 1000 California Ave. The 66,000-square-foot theater has stadium seating and three 3-D theaters. It is the second in the Maya chain, joining a theater in Salinas that opened in 2005.
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Gaylen Young column: A year of anniversaries
This is an anniversary year. I’m attending my 40th high school reunion this month. I’m told by those who went to theirs just last year they were awed by how old everyone became. So I’m looking forward to seeing how old everyone else is since I still see myself as about 35 or so. (What gray hair?)
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Health care column: Doctors seek reform too
Anyone who attended the townhall meeting on health care reform last month at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital will surely remember Dr. Les Burson.
