08/31/2015
You built a stellar reputation for your business. You sold your heart out bringing in a new client. You gave that client your best work. And months later, you are still waiting to see the money in the bank.

And waiting. And waiting.

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08/28/2015
The Internet of Things includes, among many other items, sensors for monitoring business and home security.

How IoT Can Help Small Business Compete
Here are two examples of small businesses that have figured out to compete against Goliath by finding low-cost ways to incorporate IoT into their operations:  

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08/26/2015
For the fourth year running, California and Rhode Island earned an F in a massive survey of small business owners rating state and local governments’ friendliness to small business. At the other end of the spectrum, also for the fourth year in a row, Texas and Utah earned an A+ from entrepreneurs.

What matters to small business owners? Nearly 18,000 entrepreneurs surveyed by Thumbtack.com said: Chamber of Commerce-style training and networking; regulatory and licensing simplicity, helpful government websites to cut red tape, and taxes.

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08/24/2015
Across the U.S., U.K., Germany, Brazil, China, and Australia, international ecommerce is predicted to triple by 2018, reaching $307 billion. The number of international shoppers will grow to 130 million, with 72 million of them using mobile devices to make cross-border purchases. Buying foreign goods online today is so easy that you no longer need to wait to take a vacation to purchase international items.  

Small business owners who want to participate in this massive global market can do several things now to start growing their sales across borders.

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08/21/2015
Among the countless factors a small business owner must consider when running his or her business, social media is quickly becoming one of the most important.

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08/19/2015
As a small business develops, it moves through five growth stages, each with its own distinctive characteristics. Small businesses vary widely in size, industry focus, management styles and capacity for growth.

While each enterprise is unique in many ways, all experience common problems arising at similar stages in their development. For owners, understanding what can be expected in each stage of development will aid in assessing challenges and smooth the transition for business growth.

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08/17/2015
Between handling customer complaints, keeping track of employee work schedules and monitoring expenses, running a small business is hard work. If you’re looking to increase productivity and organization — or just make your life as an entrepreneur a little easier — a good app might be just what you need.

To help you navigate the seemingly endless sea of apps out there, we’ve compiled a list of our favorites. These 20 apps can help you stay organized and on top of your small-business to-do list.

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08/14/2015
There is a convenient narrative about small business that we have all heard a million times.  Small business represents a huge, underserved, and highly lucrative market for finance-oriented entrepreneurs and large organizations alike. The prevailing wisdom is that these businesses run on Intuits QuickBooks, which enables them to have organized, accurate, and timely financial information at their fingertips. By all accounts, the small business market should be an easy one to serve. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Organizations big and small have struggled to serve the small business market in an efficient and effective matter, and it is all due to what we call the 90% challenge.

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08/12/2015
Connections. Community. Mentorship. Immersion in management theory, market strategy and financial forecasting. A big, fat résumé boost.

The benefits of getting a business degree are multifold. But as many MBAs and their undergrad counterparts can attest, so are the falsehoods imparted.  

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08/10/2015
Cloud-based services such as Spotify and OneDrive have irrevocably changed the way we consume, store and share content in our personal lives.

Similarly, many large organizations have become well accustomed to the cloud, having years ago turned to hosted storage and remote disaster recovery to boost productivity, reduce costs and preserve business continuity.

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08/07/2015
Does your back hurt from slouching over your keyboard all day? Having trouble focusing after lunchtime? Do you remember that great idea you had the other day? Whatever is holding you back from doing your best work, there is probably a wearable claiming to solve the problem.

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08/05/2015
If there is one clear trend that has emerged as we compiled the 2015 Brilliant 100, it is that everyone—especially young adults—wants to keep tabs on everything.

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08/03/2015
From struggling with a business plan to hiring the wrong talent, there are a lot of opportunities for small-business owners to make mistakes, especially when starting out.

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07/31/2015
With every passing week comes a story about some technological snafu at big companies—and even in the government. But small businesses are very vulnerable to cybersecurity issues, both because they lack the resources of big enterprises and because their lack of resources means that an attack can be even more devastating.

Here are some best practices that small businesses can put into place to make sure that they are secure.

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