The try-out period for social media is long past. Even tiny businesses – even many who don’t even have their own websites – know they need to be on social.

10 Classic Small Business Social Media Mistakes

In other words, small business optimism is mostly a false front, not anything real about how he is expected to affect the economy. There was sort of a pent-up demand to rebound from the unwarranted fall in optimism during 2015, and when you combine that with a lot of support for Trump, you get a spike in reported optimism.

Why Are Small Business Owners So Happy?

Here is a fact: fake news is everywhere.  There is not a reputable news source out there distributing information with an objective, unbiased voice. It just does not exist anymore.

Where are the Cronkites, the Huntleys, the Brinkleys? In this frayed political climate, fake news seems to be at the very top of every discussion; it’s almost inescapable

Fake News Hurts Small Business

Your small business is up and running, and you have a product or service that you are excited about. How do you boost your chances of building a venture that will last for the long term? A government statistic shows roughly 40% of Australian businesses fail within the first four years.

Three Key Success Metrics Every Small Business Owner Should Focus On

Amazon can truly be called a retail innovator, and since its inception as an online bookseller in the 1990s, it has forever changed the way consumers shop for products. Amazons reach is staggering -- nearly 50% of internet users in the US live in a household with a Prime membership and amazon.com receives more than 2 billion visitors every single month.

A Small Business Guide To Selling On Amazon: Be Ready To Compete On Price

Businesses are incredibly difficult ventures to start. More than half of all businesses fail within five years of starting, according to statistics gathered in 2016. While this is far better than the traditional belief that half fail within a single year of starting, it is still clearly a challenge to start and continue running a small business.

6 Things Your Small Business Needs to Spend More Money On

It is common knowledge around the Friedman household that when Emily was born, if she had been a boy instead of a girl, her name would have been Ted. Katie was also going to be named Ted and so was Jenni. When a boy was born to us in 1994, just a few short weeks after we moved to Ankeny, to no one’s surprise, we named him Ted.

Small Business Today: What Is in a name?

Have you procrastinated about setting up a tax-advantaged retirement plan for your small business? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. Even so, this is not a good situation. You are paying extra income taxes every year that you could easily avoid. However, you still have time to set things right and line yourself up for major tax savings for this year and beyond. This column explains the basics about your tax-smart retirement plan options.

When you cut through all the technical details, you’ll discover that tax-advantaged retirement plans come in two basic varieties:

Defined-contribution plans, which come in several different flavors.
Defined benefit pension plans.

How to choose a retirement plan for your small business

After five straight months of declining or flat readings in small business optimism, Julys update from the NFIB showed a big turnaround. With economists expecting the headline index to come in at a level of 103.5, the actual reading came in at 105.2. This puts the index back within a point of its cycle high and indicates that despite a lack of progress in DC, small business owners are seeing improved conditions on the ground.

Small Business Confidence Bounces Back

U.S. small businesses added more workers in July and plan to ramp up hiring in coming months. That is according to the National Federation of Independent Business monthly employment survey, due out later today.

Small Business Hiring Rises

Want to start a business from the comfort of your own home? There are plenty of business opportunities out there for homebodies. So if you are looking for a way to make some money without having to be away from home most days, here are 50 ideas.

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Experts from the nations 63 Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) are more than happy to share their advice for starting and growing a business successfully. They work with entrepreneurs every day, providing free and low-cost consulting. Collectively, SBDCs help a new business launch every 31 minutes, and provide more than 1.3 million hours of consulting services to entrepreneurs annually.

To get you started, we’ve asked some of these advisors to share their best tips for new businesses.

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When your small business gets stuck in a rut, you need to find a quick way to snap out of it. This can mean finding a new source of inspiration, following some new trends or even kickstarting your marketing efforts. For more on breaking your small business out of a rut, check out these tips from members of the online small business community.

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The big question therefore is: are you prepared for a cyber attack? Small business credit provider Headway Capital, has compiled data to help you check yourself.

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Every business needs well managed capital to scale. If you’re able to budget properly, then there will always be enough capital for you to grow your business. Every business operates differently which means there is no universal formula to creating a viable budget for your company.

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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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Marketing is a moving target these days. Technologies evolve and customer behavior seems to change almost every day.

Small businesses tend to be a little slow with marketing developments. Some are cutting-edge, of course – but most wait until theres proof a tactic works.

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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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Networking skills: sometimes it feels like you either have them or you do not. Putting yourself out there at social gatherings comes so naturally to a lot of folks, while others struggle when forced to strike up conversations with strangers.

Networking can be especially overwhelming for small business teams, who usually do not have a safety net of colleagues at networking events — or a big company name in their back pockets. Yet networking has clear benefits that can help your company and career. Not only does it expand your network of contacts, it introduces you to new opportunities, advice and opinions. Put in a little practice, and networking makes you more visible and even helps boost your self confidence.

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We have officially entered the holiday season! October through January is filled with holidays from Halloween to New Years. As a small business, you can take advantage of this joyful time by taking your marketing efforts to the next level. There are many different ways a small business can celebrate (and profit from) the holidays, so let’s jump right into to our extensive guide.

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While there are hundreds of thousands of brands competing online, there are a few e-commerce sites, like Amazon, that top the rest. Amazon is the big box store of years past. At one time, consumers would shop at several small businesses to get what they need, but later, larger stores like Walmart popped up, serving as one-stop shops for every consumer need.

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Amazon Business Prime Shipping is a paid annual membership program, which enables registered multi-user business customers to take advantage of unlimited fast and free shipping. The program is currently available for Amazon Business customers in the United States and Germany.
Small businesses are often faced with the challenge of sharing passwords for authorizing procurement and shipping tasks. With Business Prime Shipping everyone in a business account automatically gets Business Prime Shipping.

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For entrepreneurs in the natural food and products industry like Constantine, Whole Foods has served as a launchpad of sorts for companies looking to get on mainstream store shelves. Companies and local farmers often would get into one or two locations and grow from there if their products took off. Like the big supermarkets and food manufacturers who are nervous about Amazon's size and power, many small suppliers can see benefits of the combination, but are also concerned what it could mean for them.

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In recent years Instagram has risen to become one of the social media giants, with over 800 million monthly active users, it can be a fantastic tool for businesses and brands. Not only is it a great platform to showcase what you have to offer, it’s also a great place to make connections, get involved in influencer marketing and reach new clients and customers. So how can you use the platform to make money? Here are some Instagram tips for small business owners.

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Minimum wage increases in states across the country are helping drive up wages, although the rate of job growth at small businesses has slowed down, according to payroll giant Paychex.

The Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch, which Paychex compiles with the research firm IHS Markit, ended the year with a decline in small business job growth, but with wages higher compared to the previous year. The Small Business Jobs Index slipped to 99.70 in December, down 0.16 percent for the month and 0.78 percent for the year.

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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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Roughly 60 percent of millennials want to increase sustainability efforts in business. Millennials make up the largest group of consumers besides baby boomers, and 72 percent are willing to pay more for products from businesses committed to sustainability.

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The freedom to chase your entrepreneurial dream is one of the great foundations of America. Owning a business is a freedom the U.S. Census Bureau of Labor Statistics records 29.6 million Americans pursue today, supporting local communities with products and services while contributing millions of dollars and jobs to the American economy.

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Numbers do not lie, and the statistics are in -- there is a gender gap in salaries. There are varying statistics with different percentages, but the discrepancy is out there. Data from PayScale shows the difference in parity between controlled and uncontrolled pay gaps. The World Economic Forum shows gender gaps is a problem on a global level. But, how do employers structure and communicate salaries without any inequality?

After leading a small business human resources and operations department for 13 years, I know the answer is simple: Keep your policy simple and communicate it well.

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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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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was signed into law by President Donald Trump on Dec. 22, 2017, and it is being put into action starting with the 2018 tax year.

On the personal side, the final bill cuts income tax rates in almost every tax bracket, doubles the standard deduction, eliminates personal exemptions, doubles the child tax credit, expands medical expense deductions, repeals the Obamacare tax and doubles the estate tax exemption.

On the business side of things, the tax bill lowers the corporate tax rate from 35 to 21 percent -- which is the lowest rate since 1939. For pass-through businesses -- which many small businesses are -- the standard deduction gets boosted to 20 percent.

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Personal resolutions can be tough to keep — lose those pounds or quit smoking — but those of the small business variety can be a whole lot easier and bring you greater satisfaction and success by year’s end.

Seven resolutions to help you succeed in 2018:

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Although there are still many unknowns about the tax law that took effect Jan. 1, some small business owners have already figured out that they stand to gain from some of its changes and are changing their plans to maximize their benefits. Some believe they will get a break on income taxes for sole proprietorships, partners and what are called S corporations. Those who buy new computers, vehicles or other equipment can take a bigger deduction.

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Branding, services, promotions, products, pricing, prints, blogs, advertising, research and social media -- all of this is marketing. With all the marketing options out there, it can be difficult for small businesses to know what to do. Marketing is a concentrated effort to do push your brand across a variety of platforms and hope that enough makes it through to your customer. Customers need to hear your message several times, so brand, brand, brand! Here are some simple steps to help you market your small business:

1. Get organized. Getting an organized plan is the first step in any marketing effort. Make one. Start with brainstorming, create themes and transfer action items to a calendar or to-do list.

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Building a small business online is scary. Big businesses can easily outspend you with PPC, SEO, SMM and inbound marketing campaigns.

However, smart startup founders grimly pass around business battles on the blogosphere, charging low prices for quality product, reversing their vision, failing to voice their opinion on their podcasts, showing contempt for our product, and disrespect for our craft.

And yet, look around at the World Wide Web jungle. It's watered by the services offered by small businesses. The technology to produce product and convert customers exists because we create codes, design services, and write web pages, blog posts, and marketing materials that generate leads and close sales. And every 350-pound gorilla company uses our products or services to thrive.

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In fact, some business leaders get so overwhelmed by the din of competing voices from service providers, they sit on the sidelines and fail to take advantage of some productivity and profitability enhancing systems.

I want to point out several good apps and SaaS tools, but before I get into specifics, I want to create a simple framework in which you should evaluate these tools. Further, keep in mind that one of the biggest advantages these tools give you is the ability to successfully manage virtual teams. However, you will find almost all of them appropriate for local use as well.

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Being a small business owner is expensive as it is -- every penny counts when entrepreneurs are living on razor-thin margins and fighting for market share. But owning and operating a small business is even more expensive when you pay more taxes than you owe.

In a survey personal finance expert Garrett Gunderson conducted of his small business-owner clients and wrote about for Forbes, approximately 93 percent of them had overpaid over the past dozen years. Now, nobody expects owners to be tax professionals -- you do have businesses to run, after all -- but it's important to know where you can save money in order to invest that money back into your business.

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Sixty-nine percent of small business owners have zero to little confidence they will be able to retire comfortably, Paychex found in a survey.

Thirty percent said they were somewhat confident, 21% said they were not at all confident, and 18% fall between somewhat confident and not at all confidentȒadding up to a total of 69%. Only 20% said they were very confident they will have enough money to retire comfortably.

Asked what could help improve their situation, 68% said being able to save more. Other ways they would like to receive financial help were assistance in converting a portfolio balance into monthly income, cited by 10%; guidance on investments and the appropriate savings rate, also cited by 10%; and retirement tools to cover a wide range of expenses, including health care, cited by 8%. Fifteen percent said that nothing would help them feel more confident about retirement.

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Enhance The Customer Experience

The term user experience or UX is often used in the context of web design, with the idea that features must be designed with the end user in mind. Customer experience or CX includes UX but also encompasses every touchpoint that customers have with your business.

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New-generation information technology continues to offer more efficiencies for small and midsize businesses, and for those ready to take a leap and invest in these fast new tools and services, 2018 promises to be a good year.

So what exactly are the top technology trends for small businesses? Well, basically anything that a large enterprise needs and uses, midrange-size companies also can put to work. This is not a trickle-down-type process; the midrange enterprise market is the largest in the world, and tech companies continue to come out with new and improved products designed specifically for them.


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A majority of small business owners, 63.8 percent, believe that President Trump's policies have helped their business, according to a survey from the Job Creators Network.

More business owners—57.5 percent—believe Republicans do a better job of managing economic issues than do Democrats (14 percent). The survey finds the support is likely due to Trump's ability to roll back regulations and red tape on businesses.

A majority of businesses also support the tax reform package that was signed into law and believe media coverage of the proposal was biased.

Sixty-eight percent of small businesses view the legislation favorably or somewhat favorably. Fifty-eight percent said the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will benefit their business.

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Why does qualifying for a small business loan have to be such a mystery?

According to a CB Insights study, cash flow issues are the second most common reason startups fail, accounting for 29% of failures. In many cases, access to capital would make a big difference. Yet the loan application process is notoriously opaque for small business owners. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows the average small business owner spent 26 hours searching and applying for credit, contacted three financial institutions and submitted three credit applications. Despite this time-consuming work, only half of small-business applicants end up being approved for the loan amount they applied for.

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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was signed into law by President Trump near the end of 2017 and it mostly took effect in 2018. While the TCJA impacts almost every single individual taxpayer to some degree, the changes also significantly impact corporations and small businesses. In some areas, the impact was purposeful and directed. However, in other ways, the TCJA will have both positive and negative secondary effects. One area that could see a secondary or unintended boost due to a new tax deduction (IRC § 199A) for pass through businesses is retirement plans with small business employers.

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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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Salesforce may derive a grand majority of its revenue from large customers employing 1,000 or more people. But it reached out this week to the smallest of small businesses -- 20 employees or less -- with the release of Salesforce Essentials.

The new suite of Salesforce small business cloud tools, which manage both sales and customer service/support, will replace current offerings Desk.com and SalesforceIQ. The company will retire those in 2020.

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The business terrain is one that changes much faster than most -- basically because the way business is done evolves based on cultural changes, changes in technology and even generational changes. It is safe to say that at all times, at least one of these things is changing.

We are in the era of giving back and social impact. Businesses should face this, and stop using the fact that they are not yet big businesses as an excuse for boycotting charitable involvements or social responsibility. Businesses that do this are missing out on the great benefits hidden on the other side of socially responsible companies.

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The majority of small business owners agree that online marketplaces have positively impacted their sales, according to a poll by Manta.

Nearly 70% of small business owners polled stated that marketplaces like Amazon and eBay have helped them increase sales, while about 30% believe they have had a negative impact. Most small businesses (81%) believe that online sales are critical to their companys success, but most rely on their own websites as an e-commerce channel. Sixty-six percent of small businesses sell products through their own websites, 24% sell on Amazon, and 22% sell on eBay.

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In our age of political polarization, the right, left and center agree on one thing: Big business is wicked, and small business is noble.

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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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