Category: Small Business Trends
You’re Never Too Old to Start a Successful Business
Think you’re too old to start a business? Think again. Mark Zuckerberg may have started Facebook at 19, but he’s in the minority of entrepreneurs. Through the years, there have been plenty of successful people in business and other endeavors who didn’t get started until a bit later. Funders and Founders recently shared an infographic outlining late bloomers who displayed proficiency in a variety of fields showing that great achievements don’t always happen at aRead More
Small Business Development Center Welcomes New Director
The Southern Maryland branch of the Maryland Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has welcomed a new regional director – Ellen Flowers-Fields. Flowers-Fields has a history in the county, having moved to Calvert 14 years ago. She spent 10 years heading federal workforce initiatives with the Tri-County, then went to work for the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation as the deputy secretary of workforce development. She brings her background to her work with theRead More
Free small business help available
MARSHFIELD – A counselor from the Small Business Development Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point will be in Marshfield, by appointment only, Nov. 12. Confidential business counseling is available without charge to current or prospective small business operators on issues ranging from financial management to sources of capital. The SBDC staff member will meet clients at the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MACCI) from noon to 4 p.m. Appointments must be madeRead More
Hottest Small Business Trends
Trend watching has emerged in big business as a discipline of business management and a popular topic among top media publications and futurists. Small business can benefit from trend watching, too. This week’s feature is on the hottest trends for business of all sizes. Trends are far easier to observe than time. Timing of entering into a growing trend market can be costly if the trend has yet to enter public consciousness. My personal experienceRead More
There’s No Such thing as “Perfect Work-Life Balance”
“Stop trying to achieve it all.” That bit of wisdom may sound surprising, coming from the head of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). After all, you might expect the head of a prominent women’s business organization to advocate for trying to achieve everything you can possibly achieve. But Darla Beggs, the National President of NAWBO, is NOT saying women should stop pushing for business success or settle for something other than theirRead More
What Issues Are Affecting Small Business Right Now?
Small Business owners have their fair share of issues they need to stay on top of. These days they can add three more to the list. Gas prices are plunging. Fears about the Ebola virus are increasing. And the upcoming elections are raising questions about what the new Congress is likely to do. All of these issues affect small businesses and can have positive or negative ramifications depending on the situation. Here’s a look at each:Read More
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
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
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