04/29/2016
You know what they say about free advice: Sometimes, it is not worth the price.

But that does not apply to the folks at SCORE, who provide advice to startups and established businesses. Their advice is free and it often results in businesses that get off the ground and grow.

SCORE was originally known as the Service Corps of Retired Executives, a nonprofit organization partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration and created in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson.

Now, it is just known as SCORE.

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04/27/2016
According to a December survey of owners by the National Small Business Association, cybercriminals raked in an average of $32,000 from small business accounts.

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04/25/2016
There are 28 million small businesses in the country, and they provide most of Americas jobs and sales. According to the Small Business Administration, large companies have cut four million jobs since 1990, while small businesses have created eight million. Most small businesses want to become big businesses, so a new dog-walking service is probably not going to turn into the next Uber (though you never know! Dream big!).

Here are some of the top, best, most promising industries you might want to consider where businesses are growing. They are also ripe for disruption.

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04/23/2016
For any business to succeed, achieving product/market fit is a primary goal. But verifying that your product or service meets a strong market need and can stand up to competitors is certainly not an exact science, nor does it typically happen overnight. Building momentum in a market requires patience and comes with no guarantees as customers’ needs, regulatory landscapes, and competitive pressures change over time.

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04/21/2016
Things to Know About Your Brand New Facebook Page

It blinks, it cries, it drinks from a bottle. That is right, kids, your new Facebook Page can do everything other little dollies can, and even more.

Lets take the beginning of this song and do it nice. And easy.

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04/18/2016
After almost two decades, the federal government for the first time has been able to meet its goal of awarding five percent (worth $17.8 billion) of all contracts to women-owned small businesses.

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04/18/2016
Everyone by now is well aware that IT networks are subject to various cyber threats, and small and medium size businesses (SMBs) must protect against them just as larger enterprises do. But these threats are not limited to the online world. SMBs also have to protect the IT equipment itself from physical dangers.

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04/15/2016
Over 51% of businesses will fail in their first five years (U.S. Census data), and even 25-30% of venture-backed businesses fail.

If you want to innovate and put yourself out there, you have to accept that every entrepreneurial venture is a risk.

But how can you reduce that risk of failure for your next startup?

Often, it helps to turn to the experience of others, to learn what lessons we can from their failures, and cut the learning curve for ourselves. Even if you feel like you are reaching (or surpassing) your prime, it is never too late! Jeffrey Brotman, founder of Costco, didn't launch that successful company until he was into his forties.

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04/13/2016
Without further ado, then, here are some of my favorite Instagram ads, as well as some that I would have handled differently, and the lessons you can learn from them.

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04/11/2016
Small businesses have traditionally had a hard time accessing extra capital — i.e. through small business loans — from banks, big and small. And economic realities and forecasts dictate, generally, just how generous these institutions are at any given time.

Still, small businesses aren’t exactly being choked off entirely from getting approved. And the market has been improving for small businesses seeking loans. But in order to get a lender to take a flyer on your small business, it is best not to make a rookie mistake on your way to getting that loan approval.

Below are some of the top small business loan mistakes you can make.

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04/08/2016
Many people who work a regular job dream of walking out of their cubicle and starting their own business. And every year, about 800,000 Americans do just that.

Dave Selden is one of them. His business grew out of his passion for beer — glass after glass of it. That is immediately clear when you take a look at a video on his website.

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04/06/2016
Do you like to read good content online? I sure do. One of the key secrets to being successful in business is to be a voracious reader. I learn a great deal by reading individual and corporate blogs online. If you're like me, I bet you want to to know who provides the most valuable content at every stage of business ownership. I put together a list of 10 top small business blogs to follow to help you improve skills for running your small business. Remember, you must grow yourself to lead your business effectively.

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04/04/2016
For initial, up-front investment or a low-cost monthly subscription fee, there are great tech products and services that can save you money in the long run on common business expenses. Here are a few tips for small businesses with fewer than 10 employees.

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04/02/2016
To trust or not to trust. That is a question small and medium-sized business owners often find themselves asking when it comes to relying on certain brands for day to day business operations and other needs.
Keeping their interests in mind, Alignable, a Boston-based platform for local businesses, has launched the SMB Trust Index. It measures companies based on an assigned Net Promoter Score, submitted by contributors on the Alignable platform.

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03/31/2016
Much has changed since 1994 when the U.S. government implemented an initiative to spend at least 5% of its contracting dollars on women-owned businesses. Today, women-owned businesses in the U.S. account for approximately 9.4 million companies and generate more than $1.5 trillion in revenue nationwide. Although it has taken more than two decades to reach its goal, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced that small businesses  that are majority owned by women earned $17.8 billion in federal contracting dollars, which amounts to about 5% of the $400 billion budget for federal contracts.

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