12/31/2014
Small businesses are driving the U.S. job recovery, according to a recent blog post by Maria Contreras-Sweet, the administrator of the Small Business Administration. In her post she points out that about 7 million of the 10.9 million jobs added since the Great Recession were created by startups and small enterprises.

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12/30/2014
With Christmas finally in the rearview mirror and New Years Day coming up fast, millions of Americans have some time to reflect on their year and look forward to the next one.

Sharon Goldman, a New Jersey small-business consultant who runs the website BloomGrowThrive, says entrepreneurs would do well to have an end-of-the-year talk with themselves.

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12/29/2014
What worked in 2014 may not necessarily work in 2015.

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11/20/2014
Internships provide many benefits. They help you meet your immediate work needs and you get to test-drive potential future employees. They boost your brand and demonstrate that you give back to the community and its students.

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11/18/2014
Fewer small business owners perceive themselves as successful now than did at the start of the economic recovery, a Wells Fargo-Gallup survey of a representative sample of 601 small business owners reveals. In 2009, 43 percent of small business owners reported feeling extremely or very successful as a small-business owner. By 2014 that fraction had eroded to 37 percent.
The results are perplexing.

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11/17/2014
Although major companies like Staples and Home Depot have dominated news headlines lately, they are not the only companies at risk for cyber crime and hacking. Small businesses are far more susceptible to hackers than their larger counterparts, according to information from the National Cyber Security Alliance

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11/14/2014
When one component goes out on an older PC, there’s a good chance more failures are coming soon. Newer software and peripherals also may not work with older hardware. If you just want to boost performance or storage capacity, adding RAM or a new hard drive will do the trick. However, if something serious like the processor, or the motherboard itself dies, it makes more sense to look at a whole new computer rather than hobbling along with expensive repairs.

Eventually a time will come that you need to get rid of old smartphone, computers, or other technology your company no longer needs.

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11/12/2014
Here are four ways to start making your company a truly social organization:

1. Recruit the best and brightest -- the smart way.

For companies of all sizes, hiring top talent is a cornerstone of success, but for smaller companies, finding the right fit for your team is downright critical.

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11/11/2014
Every small business should have a basic knowledge of search engine optimization. In fact, you should almost be exhausted by the term  SEO at this point, as you have been undoubtedly told time and time again just how important it is. But unlike many trending industry buzzwords, SEO is here to stay. Why? In our web-facing world, the (already) dominant search engines are becoming the cornerstone of the internet. Standard procedure for individuals looking for information is to search first.

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11/10/2014
A major trend this year among small employers is to drop group health insurance coverage to help their employees pay for individual health insurance policies. By switching their employees to the individual health insurance marketplace, the small employers are ensuring that their employees get to choose the coverage that is best for their families. In addition, by not offering a group health insurance policy, the employers are making sure their employees have access to premium tax credits to assist them with the cost of their premiums.

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11/07/2014
A website is now a mandatory component of a business regardless of its size. But the road to every business’ online journey is rife with costly traps that have long-lasting effects. This can be very detrimental to small businesses with limited budget for a website build.

Here are common mistakes that small businesses often make when going online:

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11/05/2014
Officially a month into my new business venture, I have fully immersed myself in my company. While each day is an incredible learning experience, I have certainly felt a vast range of emotions over the past few weeks (and I am sure there is more to come).

So, what is it like giving up a steady paycheck and benefits to start your own endeavor?

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11/04/2014
With the introduction of Apple Pay, many small-business owners are weighing whether they should take the necessary steps to accept the new form of payment.

So far, most of the merchants that have signed up to accept Apple Pay are large ones, like Macys, McDonalds, Subway and Whole Foods. To use Apple Pay, businesses must have an N.F.C. reader, which is also called a contactless reader and refers to near field communications. Right now, less than 10 percent of American retailers do, according to Mark Hung, an analyst with Gartner, an information technology research firm.

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11/03/2014
While children are making their holiday wish-list, families are preparing to go out of town and big businesses are expecting long lines of shoppers, there is one group of people who will be working extra hard this holiday season: Small business owners.

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