There are sources for women or minority entrepreneurs and virtually anyone else.

The money may not be enough to keep you afloat for several years, but it can make a big difference. Here are 13 places to find small-business grants. And although there is no way to know if LendingTree will repeat its $50,000 small-business grant competition, it still has information on applying for grants and what grant issuers are looking for.

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The tools, platforms and methods you use to grow your business are constantly changing. So you need to keep up with all the latest updates and trends. Members of the online small business community have some great insights about these changing tools and trends, ranging from social media algorithms to augmented reality. Read on for some helpful tips.

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Whether you realize it or not, artificial intelligence has become a ubiquitous part of our lives. Companies large and small are embracing the opportunity to achieve more and set bigger goals by using AI. Solid proof of this embrace can be seen in CRM giant Salesforce, which embeds AI into its leading CRM platform. Driven by the idea of democratizing AI so companies of all sizes can deliver smarter, more personalized, and predictive customer experiences, Salesforce created Einstein, your personal AI data scientist to guide you through your day.

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Last summer, Square began offering loans to non-Square merchants with the help of a restaurant software partner called Upserve. Now, the payments and financial services company has created a formal partnership program with the long-term goal of reaching millions more.
Square Capital is launching the partnership platform with BigCommerce, an e-commerce software company that is letting Square make loan offers to its tens of thousands of small business clients.

Square is also extending loan offers to restaurants that work with its own delivery service, Caviar, but which do not already process payments through Square.

Taken together, these new partnerships give Jack Dorseys company a way to jumpstart further expansion of its lending program, which has already extended $1.8 billion in funds to more than 140,000 businesses since its launch three-plus years ago.

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Having a smart mobile marketing strategy is an important part of building your personal brand online. Leveraging your social networks to their fullest potential is also important for visibility.

Instagram is one of the most widely used networks today that can help build a larger audience and following online, making it a must-engage tool for brands. Posting relevant images, ads and videos that your audience will love is just one part of the success formula.

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Technology has made it so you can start a new business without even paying for a lease. Simply using your laptop and smartphone, you can create an ecommerce site and have customers buying items from you with minimal expense.

But technology solutions are not always as helpful and convenient as they’re cracked up to be. A brick-and-mortar store is still a huge plus for many types of businesses, especially if you sell products that people want to try out.

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Here’s a list of the top recurring billing and payments tools to transition the process from the ledger to the internet.

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Do you constantly find yourself making excuses? Do you try to ignore the toxic work environment you’re in? Are you in denial about your exercise and health regimen? Whatever it might be, if you want to be successful, you have to identify these things and face challenges head-on.

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The beginning of the new year is when the worlds top investors make their predictions of industries to keep an eye on. Innovative technologies and ways of doing business are creating growth in certain industries. For those looking for something new to invest time or money in, take a look at these five industries that experts predict to have an increase in growth in 2018.

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Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 — Amazon Go cashier-less convenience store opens to the public in Seattle.

This week in Seattle, Amazon opened its cashier-less convenience store to the general public. At Amazon Go, customers scan their smartphone on the way in and are then tracked with cameras and other sensors as they browse.

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Video is a medium that gives your small business lots of different options for communicating and sharing information with customers. But it can be sort of overwhelming for some small businesses. Arielle Kimbarovsky of CrowdSpring offers some suggestions for businesses looking to make the most of video in a recent post.

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Koch wanted to give back in the most meaningful and valuable way he and his team could. Ten years ago, the company started the Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream (BTAD) program to mentor and provide funding to food, beverage and hospitality startups. Many of these companies are founded by African American women, including Jessica Spalding of Harlem Chocolate Factory.  During the past 20 years, African-American women’s rate of starting businesses was 605% versus 44% for all businesses, according to The 2017 State of Women-Owned Businesses* commissioned by American Express.

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If your small business has a team of employees, then you need a payroll service to manage all of those payments and details. A good small business payroll service should automatically calculate how much pay each employee earns during every pay period, then process those payments and calculate taxes and reports to help you keep your financial records in order.

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As an entrepreneur and an angel investor, I get really excited about the future of personal finance.

As new technologies develop, from cryptocurrencies to virtual wallets, I see advantages for businesses. I also see opportunities for everyday Americans and our families to make--and keep--more of our own money.

In meetings with financial technology startups, I am seeing so many incredible new developments on the horizon. Any innovation that improves how we live, shop, and pay sets off alarm bells--of the good kind--in my friendly neighborhood Certified Financial Planner brain.

Here is a sneak peek of why I think the next five to 10 years are going to make making money easier for all of us. It is thanks to these five emerging technologies:

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Intrepid entrepreneurs find a way to make their own success before they have the money. One way they do this is by acting as if they already have it, or the success that comes with it. While this idea sounds like fake it till you make it, it is actually rooted in fundamental concepts about consumption, perception, and scaling.

Here are some ways you can appear stronger, more successful and better funded than you might actually be.

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Want to turn every customer or friend into a potential backer of your business? Since regulations changed in 2016, small businesses have been able to raise money from non-accredited individual investors. While equity crowdfunding, as it is now known, can be complicated and expensive, it's also been lucrative for some businesses that have taken the plunge.

Over the past several months, Inc. followed four founders and CEOs who raised money from big groups of people. What they learned: There's no one right way to crowdfund. You can do this sort of fundraising on your own, or you can rely on third parties; three of the following startups paid a commission to use a new Indiegogo platform, which handled their technical and marketing and investor-relations headaches. You do not even have to stick to selling traditional shares of your business. Indiegogo lets the companies that use its equity platform sell debt or preferred stock or other securities instead. (Several of these companies also thanked their investors by giving them sample products, T-shirts, or other types of the rewards that crowdfunding first became known for.)

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Time is a valuable, nonrenewable resource that is distributed equally to each of us. We all get the same 1,440 minutes every day. Are you using your time successfully, or are you wasting your time and draining your energy?

In coaching top leaders around the world, I have discovered some patterns in how people waste their time and energy. Here are eight of the most common:

1. Being distracted.
Leaders who have a lot to do are easily distracted. No one can stay on task 100 percent of the time, but distraction can pose a serious obstacle to getting things done. It eats away at your time and causes unnecessary stress. Limit distraction by being mindful of how you organize your time and work environment and by preparing yourself to accomplish what needs doing. Develop habits and strategies to minimize your access to distraction, keep your focus on the task at hand, and improve your overall ability to concentrate.

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U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry today announced that the Department of Energy will award 219 grants totaling $34 million to 183 small businesses in 41 states.  Funded through DOE’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs, todays selections are for Phase I research and development.  

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The month of May begins with a focus on the importance of Small Business followed by the love for Mom. The charts and analysis that follow are from Prospers monthly survey of over 7,500 Americans.

We asked Deborah Weinswig, Managing Director of Coresight Research, to provide commentary on the data from the most important deciders for the economy… the consumers themselves.

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The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards, designed to ensure businesses which accept and process credit and debit card information, do so in a safe and secure environment.

No matter what industry you operate in or what size business you have, if you accept card payments and process, transmit and store cardholder data, you must host your data securely with a hosting provider that is PCI compliant.

The PCI security Standards Council was formed in 2006 by the five major credit card brands — American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Japanese Credit Bureau (JCB) and Discover. While each credit card brand has its own compliance programs, the PCI standards are the foundation for all of them.

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Leaders of movements--entrepreneurial businesses included--incite followers to believe in a vision, in one another, and in themselves. To amass the power of many, they address the needs and dreams of individuals.

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For most of us, that means establishing a nest egg in the form of an IRA, 401(k), or both. But a large number of small-business owners have a different sort of backup plan for covering the bills in retirement: their businesses.

An estimated 42% of small-business owners say that their businesses will serve as their personal pensions, so to speak, according to data from New York Life. But that's a dangerous proposition in several regards.

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Growing your business is an exciting task. It means customers are receiving your business well and you are bringing in a profit.

But, growing your business can be intimidating. Many things have the potential to go wrong. That’s why you need a plan. When you know what to do and what to avoid, you can avoid stumbling.

Use the following seven dos and do nots to successfully grow your business.


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Making the right investment in your small business can mean the difference between growth and stagnation. What that right investment is – marketing, training, technology, labor, personal development – will vary from business to business and owner to owner, depending on a variety of factors.

Several entrepreneurs recently shared their best business investment from the past year, or top planned investment for this year.

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If you do not have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Remember this one, from, like, kindergarten? Apologies are one thing, but better to just avoid the whole thing altogether. Note: this is not the same thing as ignoring criticism. There are constructive ways of responding, though, that will not send your companys stocks plummeting.

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Email is not going anywhere. There are 3.7 billion global email users, and that number is expected to grow to 4.1 billion by 2021. What is more, this communication channel is supremely popular: People check their emails multiple times a day, and when you're trying to market your company, you can get your name into thousands of inboxes just by launching an email marketing campaign.

The cost? Email marketing is also super-affordable, which makes it great for small businesses.

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There is something incredibly important in life that I do not hear enough people talking about. It is called your personal brand and it goes far beyond your career.

I started learning about personal branding over 10 years ago when I got into the entrepreneurial world. I noticed a big difference between some peoples brands and others. So I started taking notes.

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Business owners need to constantly learn in order to be successful. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned entrepreneur, resources like business experts, books, tools and exercises can help you shape your strategies and cultivate sustained success. Here are some suggestions from members of the online small business community for resources and tips that can help you build a successful business and life.

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Social media, email, text messaging and other communication technologies are transforming government into a more efficient, effective and dynamic process. Whether it’s an elected official using Twitter to address constituents or a city using a Facebook page to make public announcements, government entities and elected officials are becoming more accessible and connected to constituents. And therein lie today’s nuanced First Amendment related challenges

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Then, as the recovery progressed, taxes and regulations reemerged.   But over the last year, those two concerns have been displaced by the availability of qualified labor.  Finding qualified employees is always a concern in a growing economy and has certainly grown in importance in this expansion, even more prominent than in 2000, when the ratio of employment to the population hit a record high.

Assisting its rise to number one has been the decline in the concerns about taxes and the cost of regulatory compliance.  The sharp decline in concerns about taxes and regulatory compliance are most likely due to the policies of this administration.  Record levels of proposed regulations peaked in the last two years of the last administration but dropped to practically nothing early in this term.  Since then, many existing regulations and rules have been eliminated or scaled back.

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To really manage and maximize your time — to squeeze every opportunity out of it — you have to appreciate how much you have. Take control of your time, and don’t allow others to. Get family, friends, colleagues, and employees to agree on the most important priorities. Otherwise, they will pull you in multiple directions. When I do this, I'm able to control my time better.

I typically wake up before the sun and stay busy all day. Time is either invested or wasted, so I do not like white space on my calendar. I make time for myself, my family and my business, to do things like writing my goals, working out, taking a walk with my kids, and leading calls and meetings.

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Running a business often means you have your hands in every aspect of the company. You are managing day-to-day tasks and making crucial business decisions all at the same time. It's no wonder small-business owners can often lose sight of the forest for the trees and get mired in the task of simply getting through each day.

Taking a step back gives you a tremendous amount of insight that not only reenergizes you to keep going, but can lead to crucial business decisions that transform and grow your business. Finding a way to build that inspiration into your life is not just a luxury—it is a necessity if you want to maintain a thriving business.

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Whether you are a small business owner, a consumer, or the CEO of a big corporation, you likely know that small companies are a pretty big part of the economy. This year, show your support for small enterprises by participating in Small Business Saturday® (SBS).

My accounting and payroll software company, Patriot Software, is an advocate of Small Business Saturday. And personally, I am a major supporter of small businesses. I know how much time, dedication, money, and hard work entrepreneurs pour into their small companies.

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The holidays puts everyone in a celebratory mood — or almost everyone. For small business owners, the celebration may be tempered by stress over unpaid invoices. My business is lucky: Lots of our clients are scrambling to issue payments before year-end to finish off their fiscal years. But for other small businesses, freelancers and entrepreneurs in the B2B world, getting paid this time of year is an ongoing struggle.

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Establishing a strong social media presence can mean big business for your small business. But if you don’t have dedicated resources to devote to it, or you don’t have much time to spare, you might find it tough to gain traction. Use these nine social media tips to boost business and grow your brand.

Set Clear Goals

No matter how eager you are to start using social media for your business, take the time to set clear goals before you begin. Try setting SMART goals — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely — to guide your social media strategy.

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Being a leader can be a difficult, and sometimes thankless, job. You work long hours, make tough decisions, and try your best to make your employees and your customers happy. But things don't always work out the way you hope.

Every leader can use a bit of inspiration and humor every once in a while. Adding some fun to your day can make it all come together and, at the same time, perhaps even put a smile on your face.

The next time you feel down, here are 17 funny leadership quotes to perk you up.

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Step 1: Set meaningful goals.
People do nott achieve goals unless the goals are meaningful to them. Sure, every seller has a quota for this year, but so what? If you want to maximize your motivation to achieve the goals, you must know why achieving it is important to you. To do that, go beyond your one-year quota-focused goal.

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Billing your customers is, of course, vital -- but even more critical is getting paid for those bills. Thanks to the ongoing evolution in the payments industry, there are more payment tools and platforms to choose from to help find the perfect option for your business based on how many payments you receive, the type of business you have and your budget.

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The latest report from Clutch says 39% of small businesses will add sales and marketing employees.

This data point underscores the importance of sales and marketing in today’s digital commerce. You must optimize websites, social media channels and eCommerce sites to make it happen. And you need sales and marketing employees to do  the heavy lifting.

Some small businesses have already created a digital presence. And the job of sales and marketing generally goes to in-house staff. This job often goes to employees with the necessary skill sets or to someone learning on the job. But remember how important these positions figure in the company’s growth.

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It is hard to start a profitable business in a competitive landscape. No doubt, business starts with a primary goal of making profits. Getting these profits from the phase of no client to multiple clients is a period of learning, falling, getting through and finally managing to sustain.

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Micro influencers are social media personalities with anywhere from 2,000-50,000 followers. The numbers vary depending on the source, but their importance is universal. They are a great cost efficient way to provide targeted advertising for small businesses with limited budgets

Here is what you need to know about how these people can benefit your small business.

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One of the main conclusions Brian Tracy has come to from his years of study is that self-confidence is key to what you can accomplish.

If you have a good amount of self-confidence you will be more likely to try more things. If you are constantly trying more things, that means you're likelier to accomplish more things, since success is often just a measurement of odds.

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One thing brands should never do.

But it leads to something no brand should ever do: You should never assume that your customers feel the same way about your brand that you do. Your brand is how other people feel about your company, not how you feel about it.

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The entrepreneurs on Inc.s second annual Female Founders 100 list have transformed every major industry in America. Meet the boundless dreamers making the biggest difference in 2019.

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How do you hire, onboard, and retain a great team?

You start by viewing your company through the EQ lens to discover your organizational obstacles―the elephants standing in the way of your company's success.

Attend this webinar, How to Attract, Hire, and Retain Unicorn-Level Talent, as headhunter and executive coach Caroline Stokes delivers a blend of recruiting and emotional intelligence strategies essential to helping you identify and tackle your elephants and acquire and retain key hires―those unicorns―that will help your company stand out, stay resilient, and drive growth.

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The start of a new year provides the perfect opportunity for business owners to set new goals and find unique ways to improve their operations. There are plenty of different options for your 2020 resolutions, from shoring up your finances to organizing your online presence. Here are some suggestions and tips from members of the online small business community.

Grow Your Savings with Money New Mindset
If one of your resolutions for 2020 is to save more money for your business, you may need to shift your mindset. So how can you look at things a bit differently in the new year? Jamie T. Wiseman of Miss Millennia Magazine explores a handful of mindset shifts in this post.

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Insiders say the ability to appeal to the emotional side of the SBO will become more important, as so-called Millennials – those born between the years 1980-2000 – are the fastest-growing segment of SBOs and may be more inclined to own a small business than members of older age groups. A study released in 2017 found, among other favorable statistics, that Millennials have more experience with small business and greater desire to start businesses than previous generations.

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For small businesses, resources can be tight. Especially right now.
Limited budgets can present challenges for how businesses raise awareness, acquire customers, and generate revenue.

In fact, 39% of small business owners agree that a limited budget is a major roadblock in growing their businesses.

However, there are plenty of low-cost, high-yielding marketing hacks that can help you reach your customers.
Get featured in press by responding to journalists and podcasters
Personalize cold outreach campaigns
Correct Existing Mentions of Your Brand
Add videos to your landing page
Repurpose old blog content

Understand the Challenges Your Customers Are Facing
Before you can market during any period, you need to be able to solve a problem for your customers. During a pandemic, the problem you are solving may change. So you have to be able to communicate that. Part of this is just understanding the current climate. It is probably safe to say that many small business customers are hurting financially. Some may also be in a hurry to receive specific types of items. By understanding your market and staying up-to-date on news in your industry, you should be well versed on the basic challenges that might impact your strategy or talking points. However, Perkin also recommends surveying customers however possible so you can quantify how many of them are struggling in specific areas. Once you know the problems your customers are facing, you can work backward to create your marketing communication strategy.

Learn How to Communicate with New Customers
In fact, you may need to pivot all or part of your business strategy in order to stay afloat during the pandemic. For example, Marran pointed out a UPS client that previously sold pet costumes, but has recently shifted into manufacturing face masks and PPE. This is likely to be a temporary change. But they still need to shift their marketing and communication strategy toward hospitals and B2B customers, rather than focusing on the consumers they normally serve.

The law of the jungle states, in evolutionary terms, that only the fittest survive. Before you can effectively brand an organization, you need to understand its clients/customers/donors/community and its competitors. In the marketing world, this is called a landscape analysis.

Often, companies — especially startups and nonprofits — will say they do not have competitors. Let me get this out right away: Everyone has competitors. Even nonprofits. If you think you do not have competitors, that means you don’t understand what a competitor is. A competitor is any person or organization taking business away from you.