Skip to main contentSkip to navigation
Print subscriptions
Sign in
Search jobs
Search
The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Gene Marks

Gene Marks is a columnist, author and small business owner. His company, the Marks Group PC, provides technology and financial management services to SMBs in the US and abroad.

January 2024

  • People walk past a now-hiring sign

    Fellow Republicans, it’s time to admit that the US economy isn’t bad

  • Man read newspapers<br>Posed by model Older man reading newspapers

    Don’t laugh: boomers still rule the world – for now

December 2023

  • Black headset on a silver laptop with black keys.

    The best time for a meeting is no meeting at all – unless you’re a Meeting Whisperer

    Employees who fill up their schedule with them and do little should take a hard look in the mirror and change their ways
  • People at a shopping mall in front of a Black Friday sign offering 50% off.

    All about the consumer: next year will see the end of the spending party

    Interest rate hikes will probably end by next year, but small business owners should be prepared for a consumer slowdown
  • A pair of maybe dirty white hands holds a long white receipt, with groceries blurred on a table in the background.

    Pennsylvania may lean Democrat, but that doesn’t mean Biden will win the state

    Bidenomics remains abstract against the cold hard reality of higher prices and higher taxes

November 2023

  • U.S. Economy Adds Jobs In September, Unemployment Rate Drops To 3.7 Percent<br>NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 05: A now hiring sign is displayed in the window of a Brooklyn business on October 5, 2018 in New York, United States. Newly released data by the Labor Department on Friday shows that US employers added 134,000 jobs last month. While this was below economists expectations of 185,00, it brought the unemployment rate down to 3.7 percent, the lowest since December 1969. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

    Top US economists are often wrong – should we trust their predictions?

    They write books, review papers and oversee research, and they oftentimes get things wrong – very wrong
  • Donald Trump in court in Manhattan in October.

    Trump and SBF blamed their accountants – but your taxes are your responsibility

    We business owners can’t just shrug and say it’s the accountant’s job – it’s our signature on those forms
  • Cloud computing, futuristic display technology connectivity concept

    Cloud service firms lock customers in while nickel-and-diming them

    It’s a company’s dream business model – the services are too difficult to switch, and small price increases are often overlooked

October 2023

  • Portrait of cheerful man pulling out suitcase from hand luggage compartment, overhead locker while traveling by plane<br>2GF1YM6 Portrait of cheerful man pulling out suitcase from hand luggage compartment, overhead locker while traveling by plane

    Airline boarding: how to end the game of thrones fight for baggage space

  • People walk past a Citibank branch on Avenue of the Americas, in New York.

    The grey moral ground of lying on expense travel reports

  • A worker organizes cannabis flowers at the first legal recreational marijuana dispensary in New York City.

    Cannabis firms are cut off from the US financial system, but relief is in sight

  • A white-on-blue sign that says NHS on the outside of a building that is all dingy, rectangular white tiles.

    I know the NHS has its problems but for healthcare I envy UK employers

September 2023

  • Bed Bath and Beyond Warns it might File For Bankruptcy, New York, USA - 11 Jan 2023<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by John Nacion/REX/Shutterstock (13710548f) Bed Bath &amp; Beyond Inc. called off a proposed debt exchange and said it might not be able to continue as a going concern, bringing another US retail chain to the precipice of bankruptcy. Bed Bath and Beyond Warns it might File For Bankruptcy, New York, USA - 11 Jan 2023

    Yes, bankruptcies are on the rise in the US – but there’s no need to panic

  • Plumber repairing toilet cistern at water closet<br>2BJDEG5 Plumber repairing toilet cistern at water closet

    Why go to college when you could be a plumber?

August 2023

  • Illustration in China.<br>Mandatory Credit: Photo by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/Shutterstock (14048278f) In this photo illustration, the LinkedIn logo is displayed in the Apple App Store. Illustration in China.

    Everyone on LinkedIn is absolutely crushing it – or so it seems

    LinkedIn is not a place to be honest. It’s a place to sell your products, your services and most of all yourself
  • Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Highlights IRS Modernization Efforts Under Implementation Of The Inflation Reduction Act<br>MCLEAN, VIRGINIA - AUGUST 02: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen delivers remarks regarding the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during an event at 22nd Century Technologies on August 2, 2023 in McLean, Virginia. Secretary Yellen spoke on “the significant progress that’s been made on modernizing the IRS and improving taxpayer service in the first year of the Inflation Reduction Act.” (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

    $80bn for the IRS? Fund the US taxman, but not like this

    The Internal Revenue Service is woefully underfunded, and badly needs money – but Biden has made a PR blunder
  • ‘Measuring consumer and business “optimism” is a tricky and flawed business in itself.’

    If the US economy is so good, why are small business owners so pessimistic?

    Each small business owner has their own reason for feeling less confident about the economy. This is what I’m hearing

July 2023

  • ‘A substantial amount of square feet in all those tall office buildings in our major metropolitan areas are going to remain empty.’

    US offices are sitting empty – business owners will have to adapt

    You’d better not wait – small businesses must reconsider their location and business model to survive in this new era
  • 60 Wall Street, an office building with commercial space available in the financial district, is seen in New York City, U.S., July 7, 2023. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

    Treat workers like adults and they’ll get the job done

    As a small-business owner, I don’t ask employees to account for their hours – what’s important is they’re doing their jobs
  • Colleagues analyzing current profitability and risk of a firm out of office, in a restaurant. One of them is holding a pen and a pie chart and pointing at a laptop screen.

    No, startups are not facing a ‘mass extinction event’

    Gene Marks
    Just look at the numbers: despite interest rate hikes and a slash in venture capital, new business creation is going strong
About 318 results for Gene Marks
1234...
Explore more on these topics