Krishan Sharma
How workplace technology can transform the small business
After eight failed startups, 27-year-old Nic Blair turned things around with two successful small businesses with using modern technology — Search Factory and Brus Media. Search Factory started out from his parents’ house, and, in just three years, the company has grown to 27 full-time staff members who operate from two offices in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, with an annual turnover of more than AU$2 million. Two years ago, Blair took the learnings from Search Factory andRead More
Chad Brooks
Yahoo Small Biz Exec on Going Digital
With nearly 80 percent of Americans using the Internet, the days of small businesses being able to survive without an online presence are over. No one knows this better than Yahoo! Small Business General Manager Thomas Byun, who has spent the last decade consulting small businesses and has seen the shift in consumers’ methods of finding the businesses they want to patronize. While they used to be much more loyal to local stores, Byun saysRead More
Interact with Investor Connect
Meet the Brightest Innovators The Cleantech Open is the world’s largest cleantech accelerator, and our Investor Connect is a ‘speed-dating’ event which connects investors with startups that have completed the Cleantech Open’s programs, grooming companies in software, materials, energy storage, smart grid, agriculture, water conservation and purification, clean chemistry, and a host of other products that also happen to be ‘clean.’ If you are an Angel, private VC, corporate VC, or potential strategic partner orRead More
Andrew Critchlow
Britain’s export credit agency targets small business as banks retreat
As more British companies begin to look overseas to tap new markets, the pressure is on George Osborne, the Chancellor, who has set a target to double the value of exports to £1 trillion by 2020, to provide greater financial support to businesses selling abroad. Traditionally, British companies were able to draw upon the financial clout of the City and the nation’s banks to help underwrite overseas projects and exports with letters of credit. But sinceRead More
Eleanor Ross outlines the social media platforms that small businesses should be using to stay ahead
Exclusive: Bye-bye Facebook, the future of social media for small businesses
It’s 3am in 2016. Bleary-eyed, you stumble away from your desk, switch off the desk light and pick up your phone to set an alarm for the morning. You decide to log on to your social media site to see if you have any messages. But the background isn’t blue, it’s yellow. Welcome to next-gen social media. Social media entrepreneurs are coming up with ingenious ways to stay connected, and the common denominator of newRead More
Miguel Leiva-Gomez
What is ERP? Does It Have a Place In Small Business?
The internet has really opened up things for small businesses all across the globe. Because of the proliferation of the cloud, smaller enterprises can compete with the bigwigs and tap into markets that only were previously available to larger companies with more locations. This new era of competition has made running a small business increasingly difficult, and many of them have outgrown QuickBooks and other simple accounting software. A new wave of online commerce isRead More
Carolyn Crummey, Ramon Ray and Ashley Meyers
How To Use A Customer Database to Grow Your Business
Ramon Ray, editor of Smallbiztechnology.com recently sat down with Ashley Meyers of the Wells Fargo Business Insight series to discuss the importance of using a customer database to grow your business. During this live audio interview, Ramon discusses four ways every small business can use a customer database to grow their business, along with tips on what types of information you should be collecting and strategic ways to use that information to convert one time customersRead More
Patrick Clark
What Small Businesses Get Wrong About Maternity Leave
where female workers aren’t guaranteed at least some time off to care for newborn children, while only 5 percent of U.S. companies offer fully paid maternity leave. Women employed by small businesses in the U.S. have it even worse. The Family Medical Leave Act provides workers 12 weeks of unpaid leave but exempts companies with fewer than 50 workers from complying. That means tens of millions of workers aren’t guaranteed time off after the birthRead More
GENE MARKS
Links Collection of Today in Small Business: ‘We’re the Uber of Whatever!’
What’s affecting me, my clients and other small business owners today. The Economy Crude oil prices are at their lowest since June 2012. Important measures indicate low inflation for September. Economists are not enthusiastic about the Republican economic agenda. Start-Up A start-up aims to solve a financial problem most people don’t realize they have. Ahead of winter, a new coat company tries to disrupt the market. An “on demand” beauty service raises $7 million. HereRead More
Raymond J. Keating, Economist
Halloween & Small Business: More Treats than Tricks
As Halloween approaches, many of us think about fun involving candy, costumes and scary decorations. It’s also a fun time for many small businesses. According to the Halloween Consumer SpendingSurvey from the National Retail Federation: “More than two-thirds (67.4%) of celebrants will buy Halloween costumes for the holiday, the most in the survey’s 11-year history. The average person will spend $77.52 this Halloween, compared to $75.03 last year. Total spending on Halloween this year willRead More