Growing Your Business? Here Are Some of The Challenges to Overcome

March 30, 2016 by

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Office meetings are costly.  The associated cost of office meetings have to be evaluated to gauge whether the weekly or monthly meetings are detrimental to the bottom line of the business, and whether you are having them too frequently. Having employees sitting around a desk because they have to be present is costly.  Should the time spend listening to ideas be spent by every single employee in the business? Shouldn’t productivity be measured, and projects evaluated before having office meetings with everyone? Before scheduling an office meeting, is there an agenda associated with this meeting, or is it on the spur of the moment meeting?

To read more about small business, follow the links below.

Tired of Useless Meetings? 9 Ways to Make Them More Effective. (Infographic)

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Meetings. What a drag they can be. They go longer than they’re supposed to. Someone blabs out of turn or off topic. Your mind drifts to tasks you could be checking off instead of sitting there, stuck. Then come the action items and, tag, you’re it. Your to-do list just got longer.

Sound familiar? Sure does to us. But, believe it or not, not all meetings are total timesucks and not all meetings are boring. Some run like clockwork. With an attendee nip here and an agenda tuck there, they can be much more efficient, productive and, if you’re lucky, even a little fun.

From holding walk-and-talks outside in the fresh air, to scheduling start times like a Swiss train conductor (we kid you not), here are nine clever ways to have more effective meetings, care of the meeting makers at CT Business Travel. Bonus: Not one mention of Robert’s Rules of Order, we promise.

5 Reasons In-Person Meetings Still Matter

Being in the event planning industry, salespeople are constantly trying to sell me the newest virtual technologies to make events more easily accessible from a wider audience.

One memorable experience I will always remember is when a salesman came into my office to pitch his virtual event product and at the end of the meeting I asked, “If this product is so great, why are you sitting here in person?” After a few moments of silence, he said, “It’s more effective to sell in-person than through a computer.”

Meeting over.

According to a recent Meeting Professional International survey, virtual attendance is projected to grow at twice the rate of live attendance. This rise is the biggest change in how meetings are run since the introduction of PowerPoint.

However, while I believe that virtual meetings can be useful in certain circumstances (when time is short or distance is too far), there are many reasons why in-person events are more effective for businesses, large and small.

3 Growth Challenges Facing Small Businesses Right Now

Hiring is simultaneously one of the biggest opportunities and one of the biggest challenges small businesses have. Expanding your staff is necessary for taking your company to the next level of growth, and the right hire can help your sales skyrocket. On the other hand, it can be incredibly difficult to find the perfect candidate, and if that person turns out to be the wrong choice, it can cost a lot of time and money to replace him or her.

Based on recently released studies and reports, here’s what you need to know about the current state of small business hiring and growth, and what challenges business owners are dealing with.

Seventy percent of small businesses experience problems during the hiring process.

Small businesses were responsible for nearly half of all new U.S. jobs in 2015, and yet the vast majority said that the hiring process takes longer and is more difficult than they expect, found an ADP survey. ADP polled more than 1,000 owners and managers of companies that had fewer than 50 employees, finding that the biggest specific challenges were longer hiring cycles (34 percent), a loss of productivity (28 percent) and new employees not meeting expectations (25 percent).

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Cybercrime; Is Your Business Vulnerable?

March 9, 2016 by

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Big and small business are vulnerable to cybercrime.  Many small businesses frequently do not have the budget necessary to protect their data from a cyber attack, thus making them more vulnerable. For many small businesses the financial hardship they endure due to this crime leaves them unable to recover for many years, setting back their business and profits for the near future.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

 Hacked! Business bank accounts vulnerable to cybercriminals

It’s a chilling moment when a small business owner discovers hackers have stolen thousands of dollars from the company checking account.

Cybercriminals took an average of $32,000 from small business accounts, according to a December survey of owners by the advocacy group National Small Business Association. And businesses don’t have the same legal protection from bank account fraud consumers have.

The Electronic Funds Transfer Act, passed in 1978, states that it’s intended to protect individual consumers from bank account theft, but makes no mention of businesses. Whether a business is protected depends on the agreement it signs with a bank, says Doug Johnson, a senior vice president with the American Bankers Association, an industry group. If the business hasn’t complied with any security measures required by the agreement, it could be liable for the stolen money, he says.

Businesses fail to prepare as cybercrime surges globally

Cybercrime is now the second most reported economic crime and has affected at least a third of organizations in the past 24 months, yet many businesses are still underprepared, a PWC report has found.

According to the Global Economic Crime Survey, cybercrime has jumped from being the 4th to 2nd most reported kind of economic crime, behind only asset misappropriation. Meanwhile, the losses associated with cybercrime are huge and growing, but an alarming number of businesses don’t have a plan in place.

The report finds that only 37% of organizations have a cyber incident response plan, despite the fact that 61% of CEOs said they were concerned about cybersecurity. This backs up the findings from last week’s RSA Conference report, which found just one in seven security chiefs report directly to their CEO, despite rising concern within their businesses.

Around 50 respondents to the PWC survey said they had lost in excess of $5 million, while a third of these said the figure was greater than $100 million. According to the Wall Street Journal, the percentage of companies reporting losses of more than $1 million as a result of cybercrime attacks doubled since 2014.

 Chris McCarty: Protect big, little data against cybercrime

​You probably know about the big breaches. JP Morgan Chase. Home Depot. Target. Maybe you even read a few of those juicy emails between Sony executives bashing Angelina Jolie and Will Smith. I can imagine your reaction: “That’s crazy, but what’re the chances it happens to me or my little company?”

The chances are much greater than you think. In November, during a data breach and privacy law program in Chicago, I attended a session presented by Wesley Hsu, the executive assistant U.S. attorney who headed up the Sony investigation. Here a few statistics provided by Mr. Hsu that should open the eyes of anyone in business:

Every day, there are twice as many cybercrime victims as newborn babies;

There are 50,000 new victims each hour, 820 new victims each minute and 14 new victims each second;

The total number of estimated cybercrime victims over the past year is greater than the combined populations of the United States and Canada.

 

 

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The State Of The Small Business Community

February 3, 2016 by

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Taxes Due are just around the corner and  tax breaks, deductions and the cost of doing business are, if done properly a financial break to your business. You should take advantage of those deductions by talking to an accountant that knows your business well. An accountant is one of the people around your business that you should be very acquainted with, and your business should be of importance to them.  Getting the best advice — if not cheaply- can be to your advantage.

Follow the links for more news about this and other topics.

The Top 6 Small-Business Trends on the Rise

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2016 is a promising year for small business owners and entrepreneurs. The development of modern business technology gives small businesses the opportunity to develop low-cost, enterprise-quality products and services.

Social media, Internet marketing and ecommerce empower your business to reach potential customers in untapped markets all over the world. Staying informed on the latest trends in small business is crucial to maintaining relevance in the ever-evolving world of commerce.

Here are six small business trends you should be aware of in 2016.

1. Millennials

With its oldest members now entering their early 30s, the millennial generation is reinventing the way businesses manage the workplace and its employees. A report published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation describes the social and economic impact posed by the people born between 1982 and 1999.

Small business hiring rebounds, despite rough 2016 start

Despite the worst January for the stock market since 2009, plummeting oil prices and concerns about an economic slowdown in China, U.S. small business hiring bounced last month, according to the Paychex-IHS Small Business Jobs Index.

The index, released Tuesday, rebounded 0.28 percent to 100.65 from December, matching the highest rate of small business hiring since May and offsetting the growth-rate declines of 2015. A reading above 100 indicates growth.

Marty Mucci, president and CEO at Paychex, said there was “nice growth” across the U.S., adding “most regions and states saw a bump up.”

Texas lost 0.47 percent to cede first place among states to Washington, with the impact of depressed lower oil prices taking their toll. Despite a 1.28 percent drop in January, Dallas maintained its top ranking among metropolitan areas for the 16th consecutive month.

Small business bill one step closer to passing

Small businesses are one step closer to having a say at the table of the Securities and Exchange Commission, or as it is more commonly known as, the SEC.

Monday the House of Representative passed the SEC small business advocate Act of 2015.

The bill was introduced by Delaware Congressman John Carney.

If successful, the bill would establish an office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation and formalize a Small Business Advisory Committee.

Essentially what that means is it would offer a clear avenue of communication to SEC leadership on issues affecting small businesses by having a designated representative to advocate their needs.

Top 20 Tax Deductions for Small Business

On Wall Street, there’s a saying that past performance is no guarantee of future results. When it comes to taxes, however, past performance is a great indicator of the types of deductions that businesses typically take each year.

Last winter the IRS released data on Schedule C filers. Here are some of the most popular tax deductions for small business that were claimed by sole proprietors as determined by the dollar amounts, starting with the largest category. The same types of deductions can be claimed by other entities — C corporations, S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies (LLCs) (although there may be slightly different rules for some deductions). See which of these tax deductions for small business apply for your 2015 tax return.

Top Tax Deductions for Small Business

Car and Truck Expenses

Most small businesses use a vehicle, such as a car, light truck or van. The cost of operating the vehicle for business is deductible only if there are required records to prove business usage. In deducting costs, the need to keep records of cost (e.g., gasoline, oil changes) is eliminated if you rely on the IRS standard mileage rate of 57.5 cents per mile in 2015 instead of deducting your actual outlays.

Salaries and Wages

While payments that sole proprietors, partners, and LLC members taken from the business are not salaries (they are nondeductible draws), payments to employees are deductible.

Cyber Security: Keeping Your Small Business Safe

These days, the only way to successfully run a small business is to be connected, and we do pretty much everything digitally. This means that we are using a number of devices in small businesses, and a lot of sensitive information is being stored on these devices. Is your sensitive information safe from hackers? Because they don’t always have a lot of money to invest in sophisticated security software, criminals are targeting more and more small businesses. They know that security is minimal, and that they can steal money, information, and more. Here are some tips you can use to improve cyber security for your small business.

    • Identify All Sensitive Data – It is important that you identify each and every piece of company data that is sensitive. This includes any financial records, employee records, consumer information, etc. You need to know exactly where this information is stored on all devices and severs, and that you have the proper protection in place to keep all of your data safe.
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Ohio’s Economy

January 27, 2016 by

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At the beginning of 2016, and even at the end of 2015, the global market has lost trillion of dollars, and the end of it doesn’t seem to be near.  The U.S economy and Ohio’s economy cannot do better than what is happening globally.  It is not surprising then to know that the unemployment rate increased in December of 2015, and with the quarter of a percent increase in interest rates, small business owners are a bit hesitant about hiring new employees, and have the challenge of meeting payroll month after month.

For more news about this and other topics, follow the links below.

Ohio jobless rate climbs to 4.7% in December

Ohio’s unemployment rate ended 2015 by going in the wrong direction.

The state reported on Friday, Jan. 22, that the jobless rate rose to 4.7% in December from 4.5% in November.

Nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 15,200 over the month, to 5,451,500 in December from a revised 5,436,300 in November, according to data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

However, the number of workers unemployed in Ohio in December was 269,000, up 14,000 from 255,000 in November. The number of unemployed has decreased by 23,000 in the past 12 months from 292,000, the state said. A year ago, in December 2014, Ohio’s unemployment rate was 5.1%

Goods-producing industries, at 900,000, added 3,500 jobs over the month, as job gains in manufacturing (+3,200) and construction (+500) outweighed job losses in mining and logging (-200).

Ohio ranks in bottom third nationally for financial stability of residents: CFED Scorecard

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ohio ranks in the bottom third of the nation when it comes to the financial stability of its residents, according to a scorecard released Monday.

The 2016 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard ranks the 50 states and Washington, D.C., in a range of areas, from financial assets and income to businesses and jobs to education. Ohio ranks 36th out of 51. The Scorecard is done by the Corporation for Enterprise Development in Washington, D.C., or CFED, which is focused on empowering “low- and moderate-income people to build wealth.” Ohio ranked 35 last year.

The Scorecard refers to such measures of financial stability – most often based on analyses of government data — as outcome rankings. Of 61 outcomes, Ohio performed below the national average on several of them most often crucial to ensuring financial stability for a state’s residents, according to Lebaron Sims, research manager at CFED.

Small-business lending: The next fixed income frontier?

​Forget the U.S. government — how about lending to your neighborhood dentist instead?

That’s what firms like Direct Lending Investments aim to allow investors to do, albeit indirectly. The $450 million fund buys loans from nonbank lenders, and packages them in portfolio form for consumption by accredited investors (although it is attempting to transition into a more accessible closed-end fund).

The potential opportunity arises from a few different factors. Over the past several years, traditional bank lending has slowed, and yields on Treasurys and other ultrasafe bonds have fallen, which has increased the demand for nontraditional loans, resulting in outsized yields.

For instance, even as Treasury bonds returned basically nothing in 2015, Direct Lending Investments delivered an 11.7 return. This as the default rate on loans in the portfolio ran at 4.6 percent.

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How Is The Economy Doing In Ohio and The U.S?

January 12, 2016 by

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For many people the U.S economy is recovering,  while for others we are stagnant.  BP and Yahoo have announced a 5% and 10% workforce cuts respectively, while others assured us the U.S workforce added close to 300,000 thousand jobs in December.  It is no surprise then that Americans are ambivalent as to the state of the economy, but hope that the new year bring our small business a better one than last year.

For more business news follow the links below.

Workers in high demand in Ohio, Springfield

applicants in Ohio is as robust as it has been in the past five years, particularly in the trucking and nursing industries.

Ohio saw more online advertised job openings in one month — from Oct. 14 to Nov. 13 — than at any time since the state began tracking online job postings five years ago, according to a recent report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Statewide, Ohio had 240,000 posted openings between those dates. In Springfield alone, more than 1,420 jobs openings were listed Monday on OhioMeansJobs.com, an online state-run help wanted page.

Locally, the areas where workers are most needed closely follow statewide trends. In the 12-county West Ohio area that includes Clark, Greene, Miami and Montgomery counties, heavy and tractor-trailer truck driving was the occupation with the most job ads, 1,912, according to the state’s monthly report.

The Key to Success, Revealed: Leveraging Business Intelligence Tools in 2016

Even with the proliferation of innovation in recent years, there are still business owners using Excel spreadsheets, pencil and paper, and manual logs to track business developments and record data. 

These business owners are so comfortable with their old ways of doing things that they’re afraid of making changes.

Sound familiar? If you’ve put off adopting business intelligence (BI) tools up until now, it’s time that you finally reconsider.

The Value of BI Solutions

There’s no clear or consistent definition for business intelligence, but some definitions are better than others.

According to datapine, a provider of one of the leading self-service BI tools, “Business intelligence tools are designed to help business people draw insights from past performance, predict future events and avoid obstacles even before they have taken place.” In other words, BI is about using past performance and data to predict future outcomes and conclusions.

BI is viewed pretty highly in corporate circles. This means you aren’t going to meet many business owners who are firmly against these tools. Nobody will stand outside your building picketing and protesting the implementation of a BI solution. The issue is that some business owners don’t fully understand the value of these solutions.

Workforce also grows across U.S; wages flatten

WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy entered 2016 with strong momentum as employers added 292,000 jobs in December, pushing the annual number last year to 2.7 million. 

The full-year number was slightly below the 3.1 million jobs added in 2014 but, taken together, they are the top two years for job growth since 1999.

Unemployment held steady in December at 5 percent and workforce participation rate rose slightly last month, to 62.6 percent from 62.5 percent, the Labor Department said Friday. The rate remains near a 40-year low.

Wage growth was mostly flat last month following some improvement over the second half of 2015. Looked over a 12-month range, worker pay grew slightly faster than the rate of inflation, in effect stretching workers’ earnings a bit further.

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Entrepreneurship – What Kind of Smart Are You?

January 11, 2016 by

business (7)There used to be only one kind of “smart”.  You took a test which measured your intelligence quotient (IQ) and were assigned a number based on the results.  The higher the number, the smarter you were and the more likely you were to be a success.  Fortunately, that way of thinking is now known to be flat out wrong.

We all know someone who is book smart, but no one can work with her because she’s completely clueless on how to interact with people.  Then there’s the charming, personality guy who doesn’t know how to turn a profit.  There are many kinds of intelligence. 

Word smart

Word smart people know how to communicate their ideas, visions and goals, which inspires others to support them. They’re able to create loyalty in employees, sell customers, write business plans, teach using funny and interesting stories, influence important people and raise money from investors.

Words matter.  Lack of communication, across the board in all industries, is the biggest complaint workers have about their bosses. It’s a fundamental part of human nature to want to know what’s going on and, more importantly, how we’re going to be affected by it.

Self smart

One of the abilities of the self smart person is the capacity to understand herself (i.e. motivations, limitations, strong points, fears, hopes, wants vs. needs, drives) through others’ eyes.  It’s impossible for us to see ourselves as others see us, we all have blind spots.  Some peoples’ spots are much larger than others – you know who they are. 

Successful entrepreneurs welcome people who challenge them, who “call them on their s***”.  Self smart people seek out feedback from others, it gives them insight, which they use to learn, grow and move forward. 

Number smart

Successful people comprehend profit, loss and margins.  They use financial information to make decisions and do their planning.  This occurs over the life span of the company, beginning with start-up costs and ending with exit strategies.

The lack of number smarts is the biggest problem most entrepreneurs have.  It’s estimated that 80% of businesses fail in the first 5 years because the owners weren’t aware of or didn’t care how vital it is to know and do the math. 

People smart

This kind of smart is having good social or people skills. It’s being able to read and interact with all types of individuals.  These are people who’re energized by and like to work with others. 

Their knack of effectively interacting with people shouldn’t be confused with an ability to communicate (word smart).  They often talk at, rather than with others.  They’re the personable “glad handers” who can efficiently work a group without really saying anything.

If you want to be a successful entrepreneur it helps to know which kinds of intelligence are your strengths and which are your weaknesses.  You can focus on your positives and learn to overcome or compensate for your negatives.  The more you know about them the better chance you have of achieving your goals. 

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2016 Small Business Outlook

December 30, 2015 by

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What’s your outlook for 2016? Did the interest rate increase change your outlook for 2016? Have some of the business decisions for next year changed, because of this increase?  Many business analysts believe small business owners are looking forward to a better 2016 despite the rate increase and a slow economy that didn’t see an increase in their revenues. At the end of the year though when many small business owners are reflecting about what they did right and what went wrong during the year, they are also planning about the next year, and so far the outlook is positive.

For more about this follow the links below.

Paid Leave Policies Can Level the Playing Field for Small Business

The fourth quarter is the busiest time of year for most small business owners. Many of them are working overtime to meet the holiday rush and tie up loose ends before the new year–which means they’re leaning more than ever on their employees to help get things done. This busy season reinforces what small business owners already know: good employees are their best assets, and keeping workers happy and healthy is key to a strong bottom line. Small business owners can take many different steps to retain talented and productive employees, like offering higher wages or health insurance. But what many people may not know is that paid leave can be an effective benefit to help attract and retain a talented workforce.

Paid leave has been a hot topic at the national and local level. Lawmakers around the country are weighing initiatives to allow workers to earn paid sick days or implement family medical leave insurance pools. Maryland’s Montgomery County recently approved a law allowing employees to accrue a limited number of paid sick days, and in the beltway, D.C. is weighing a law that would establish an insurance pool to provide up to 16 weeks of paid family leave.

Small Business Owners Bullish on 2016 Outlook

Small business owners are charging full speed ahead into 2016 despite some concerns over growth in the last year.

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Business Index, which is measured each economic quarter and measures small business owner optimism, says the overall index score fell by several points in 4Q. The report attributes the decline to a drop in the number of small business owners reporting increases in revenue.

While small business owners may feel somewhat negative about their progress (or lack thereof) in 2015, The Bank of America (BAC)Small Business Report says 78% plan to grow their business over the next five years, compared to 67% a year ago.

“There was a marked jump over a year ago, and while Millennials continue to be the most optimistic generation, there was notable increase across the board,” said Bank of America Small Business Executive Robb Hilson.

With 2016, we small-business owners get another chance to do it better

For all the good that happened in my business this year, 2015 also brought its share of frustrations.

Twenty-fifteen, you’ve been a good year, but I can’t say I’m altogether sad to see you go.

We had some great times, like the September afternoon when a client called from out of the blue to propose a much bigger contract. Wow! I felt on top of the world that day.

You also taught me some key lessons about business, and I finally broke free of a vendor relationship that simply wasn’t working for me. Looking back, I wonder why I stayed so long, and I am now much happier in my new arrangement.And then there was the economy. I can’t speak for others, but 2015 was the year I finally saw the unmistakable signs of a robust recovery, not the slow gains I’d seen in previous years emerging from the Great Recession.

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Small Business Tax Breaks

December 23, 2015 by

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For the small business owner, a tax break can mean a little savings that go back into their pockets and not to the IRS.  Buying new computers, printers or machinery that they have postponed buying, can mean that their productivity level might increase thus giving them a better year overall.  Some of the “Tax Breaks” for the small business owner are so minimal that they do not impact their well being or the well being of their business, let us hope some of these tax breaks can affect them positively this coming year.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Small Businesses Get a Permanent Tax Break on Buying Equipment

Tucked inside the mammoth tax and spending bill passed by Congress this month is a much-anticipated provision that will lock in a large tax break for small-business capital investments that has been temporary until now.

The break is intended to make it more affordable for small companies to buy up to $500,000 a year worth of equipment like computers, machinery and vehicles.

Known as the Section 179 deduction, the tax provision allows qualifying capital items to be written off immediately on a business’s taxes, instead of being depreciated over a number of years. That has the effect of lowering a business’s taxable profits, sometimes significantly.

The deduction is essentially limited to small and midsize companies. It begins phasing out when a company spends more than $2 million a year on qualifying purchases, and is eliminated entirely for those that spend more than $2.5 million.

Small Businesses Need to Act Fast to Get This Huge Christmas Present

But the new “section 179” deduction limits will last into 2016 and beyond

The bigger deduction, aimed at stimulating the economy, covers computers, furniture, vehicles and machinery. Under the provision, small business owners can deduct the full purchase price in the year they bought it.

“It’s one of the most immediate, tangible things most small businesses do in some form,” said John Arnsmeyer, founder and CEO the Small Business Majority, a network of 42,000 small business owners. “It has a very immediate benefit for them.”

Small Business “Tax Holiday” Could Be In The Works

TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) – A Senate Republican has proposed creating a sales-tax “holiday” for small businesses on the Saturday afterThanksgiving, one of the busiest shopping times of the year.

The bill, filed by Sen. Rene Garcia of Hialeah, is similar to a measure filed last month by Rep. Jay Fant of Jacksonville, and Rep. Ed Narain of Tampa.

The bills, which will be considered during the upcoming legislative session, would create a “Small Business Saturday” tax holiday on Nov. 26 next year. If approved, small businesses would not be required to collect sales taxes on items priced at $1,000 or less.

Lawmakers considered such a proposal during the 2015 session, but it did not get approved in a final tax package.

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.

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Small Business Saturday

December 1, 2015 by

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This last Saturday (Nov. 28) was the event small businesses look forward to every single year.  Or is it just hype? Many marketers fail to see whether Small Business Saturday does anything to a small business or not.  Yes, there are figures out there that say small businesses do benefit from this event of the year, but cannot tell you where those figures come from. Whether you shop locally and try to do business with the small shop in your city, the question to ask is whether one day a year will make a big difference in the life of the small business owner. For more about this topic follow the links below.

It’s Naive for Small Business to Expect Much From Small Business Saturday

Join us at Entrepreneur magazine’s Growth Conference, Dec. 15 in Long Beach, Calif. for a day of fresh ideas, business mentoring and networking. Register here for exclusive pricing, available only for a limited time.

Can you feel it? The building anticipation for what seems to be the small business event of the year. I’m talking, of course, about next weekend’s Small Business Saturday (Nov. 28). Sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, this is the day that all of America is supposed to be honoring small businesses. It’s our moment. We’re hanging signs and putting out the displays. “Support us!” we demand to our communities. “We’re small businesses!”

Really? Are we that naïve? Do you really think that Small Business Saturday means anything to your customers? Do you really believe articles like this one that report that there were “88 million Small Business Saturday shoppers in 2014” and that they “spent $14.3 billion.” Oh c’mon…where does this data come from? And how many of these shoppers would’ve been out shopping during that first unofficial weekend of the holiday season anyway? Do you think this was because of Small Business Saturday? Believe me…it’s not. But don’t tell that to some.

How Congress could give small businesses a bigger incentive to invest in growth

Under current law, small businesses can expense only $25,000 in capital expenditures this year, a level far below the $500,000 Section 179 expensing limit that went into effect in 2003.

Congress is likely to remedy that problem in December, just like it did last year, when it retroactively raised the Section 179 expensing limit for 2014 to $500,000 on Dec. 19. That left small businesses 12 days to buy eligible equipment and put it into service in order to take advantage of this tax break. This short window sharply reduced the impact of this tax incentive for small businesses to invest in growth.

How to Secure Your Small Business With Big Business Protection

Layer Your Security

The challenge: Network attacks are becoming more widespread, intelligent and difficult to detect, leaving SMBs at an even greater risk due to limited resources and budgets to fend off threats. Network entry points are not the only publicly-facing attack surfaces; employee devices also may be compromised by users outside of the corporate security perimeter. The solution: A layered network security approach brings a new level of scrutiny to network traffic moving into a SMB, making network protection more complete and manageable.
Small businesses face exactly the same security threats as large organizations. However, they also must contend with the perennial challenge of limited budgets for IT expenditures. The job of administering the network in a small business often falls on the business owner or on the default in-house techie, both of whom wear many other hats in the organization and usually do not have the time, resources or expertise to work on complex deployments and administration. Often small businesses think that enterprise-grade protection is beyond their means.
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Ohio Business Registrations Now Easier Than Ever

October 5, 2015 by

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Paperwork is always considered when rating the best states to start a business.  With the new filing fees in Ohio-$99-it is easier now  to file and pay your fees on line and have your business registration done the same day. If you were dreading the filing and the time it took the government to complete the paperwork, dread no more.  Ohio is making the start of your small business easier than ever before.

For more about this and other news follow the links below.

More Ohio business owners to hire, boost paychecks

By Staff Staff

Staff report

More small- and medium-sized business owners in Ohio and nationwide expect to increase hiring and wages for their employees over the next six months, and they also are increasingly optimistic about the prospects for their own businesses, according to the most recent PNC Economic Outlook Survey findings released today, Oct. 1.

The fall findings of PNC’s bi-annual telephone survey, which began in 2003, show that about 36 percent of Ohio business owners said they expect to boost employees’ pay in the next six months, up from 26 percent last spring. And 59 percent of those business owners that do plan raises say the amount will be 3 percent or more. Nationally, the prospect of salary increases is even more promising: 42 percent intend to give raises, which is the highest percentage since 2007.

Ohio’s small, mid-sized firms report worker shortageOhio’s small and midsized businesses say they are having a harder time finding workers.

PNC Bank’s fall survey of business owners and executives released on Thursday found that 4 in 10 businesses say it is more difficult to find qualified employees than it was six months ago. Eleven percent of businesses that aren’t hiring say it is because they can’t find the right skilled workers.

Ohio’s jobless rate dropped to a 14-year low of 4.7 percent in August, and the number of unemployed workers has tumbled in recent months. In central Ohio, the rate is even lower: 3.6 percent.

Some industries are being hurt by a lack of skilled workers. For example, construction workers might have moved on to other industries during the recession, said PNC Bank economist Mekael Teshome.

Teshome said he also has heard of manufacturers struggling to find workers with the technical skills and experience needed for some openings.

In other instances, it is a case where employers aren’t quite ready to raise pay, he said.

Ohio cuts price of new business paperwork to $99

Last week, Ohio became the least costly state in the region to start and maintain a new business. On Thursday, joined by leaders from around our state, I was pleased to announce we’ve cut the cost of registering a new business in Ohio to just $99. We also launched a partnership with Google to help connect new entrepreneurs with resources to get their businesses online, registered with Google Maps and Search tools and other important marketing resources.

Elected officials and candidates talk every day about creating jobs and making it easier to do business, but what exactly does that mean? I suspect even some of the people who say these things don’t really know.

The Secretary of State’s office is the first stop for anyone wanting to do business in Ohio.

We’re working every day to try to make this first interaction positive by implementing more services to help you get your business idea off the ground. Now, we’re taking it to the next level: We’re cutting the cost of starting a business in Ohio.

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