Month: November 2014
For Many Small Business Owners, Providing Health Insurance Remains a Struggle
Brian Adams, who sells fireplaces in Indianapolis, is like many of the nation’s small-business owners. As the cost of providing health benefits has climbed, he has struggled to afford coverage for his employees — a problem the new health care law was designed, in part, to address. But a year after the law’s introduction of the insurance exchanges, provisions that were supposed to help small businesses offer employee health benefits are largely seen as a failure.Read More
The Three Letters That Could Change Your Small Business: API
Today’s business owners are incredibly tech savvy. They use cloud-based applications, run their small businesses from mobile devices and track the return on revenue of every advertising dollar with online dashboards. Many can even update their own websites, tweaking code when necessary. But even with this level of sophistication, most entrepreneurs are missing out on what might be the biggest opportunity they have to expand their small businesses, an opportunity expressed in just three letters: API.Read More
Customer Experience Should Not Be the Job of Just One Person
The whole world is going digital and it’s having an immense impact on organizations’ abilities to engage with customers. Through digital channels, social media and mobile communications, consumers today orchestrate their own experiences, choosing how and when they want to interact with companies’ brands. This creates a number of challenges for organizations, as they attempt to provide timely, consistent and personalized experiences to customers across channels. With less than half of companies rating their customer experience asRead More
Small, But Fierce: How Small Firms Can Pack a Big Punch
If you compare the American economy to an automobile, then 2009 was the year it careened off the road. We’ve since towed it out of the ditch but, make no mistake, we’ve still got engine trouble. And there’s no better way to understand this fact than to look at the state of Small Firms in America. These enterprises, led by risk-taking entrepreneurs, have always been the true driver of job growth and innovation in America. AndRead More
Harmoney to target small businesses
Peer-to-peer lending platform Harmoney will add a second string to its bow by facilitating loans to small businesses next year. The Auckland firm has processed $4.5 million of personal loans since its launch in July. The company is the first middleman licensed by the Financial Markets Authority to offer peer-to-peer (P2P) finance. People can apply to seek loans through its website which investors can then peruse and fund. Harmoney doesn’t itself instead lend money, insteadRead More
A Look at the Future of Small Business Financing
When is it going to get easier to get cash—and what do we do meanwhile? Those are the questions small-business owners have struggled with since the economy took a nose dive. Many banks reacted to the financial crisis by tightening their standards, driving entrepreneurs toward other sources of financing, such as alternative lenders and crowdfunding. Now, despite the slow but steady recovery, it’s still tough for many small firms to get a traditional loan. So,Read More
Running a small business like basketball
Q: Steve – Reading your column I get that you are a sports fan. I love to use sports analogies in my business and when I speak with my staff – I find that it is relatable. Glad to see you do the same. Do you have a favorite? — Bill A: Well, I did graduate from UCLA, but unfortunately attended after the glory days of Bruin basketball under legendary coach John Wooden. But evenRead More
50 Side Businesses You Can Start On Your Own
In the past, I’ve discussed how it’s a good idea to spend your spare time dabbling in entrepreneurship: it fills your time with something that you choose (and thus you enjoy) and sets up a potential long-term revenue stream. I also discussed how I got a side business going myself. Since then, lots of readers have written to me, asking for ideas on how to start a simple side business. What follows is a listRead More
Business License Compliance Handbook
The Business License Compliance Handbook is a helpful document for small to medium sized business owners. The Business License Compliance Handbook can be downloaded without charge from Business Licenses, LLC. Almost every business operating in the United States of America is required to maintain multiple business licenses, permits, and tax registrations with the government. That’s a tall order when you consider that there are 55 states and territories, over 3,000 counties and parishes, approximately 36,000Read More
Small Firms Start to Drop Health Plans
Small companies are starting to turn away from offering health plans as they seek to reduce costs and increasingly view the health law’s marketplaces as an inviting and affordable option for workers. In the latest sign of a possible shift, WellPoint Inc. said Wednesday its small-business-plan membership is shrinking faster than expected and it has lost about 300,000 people since the start of the year, leaving a total of 1.56 million in small-group coverage. DuringRead More