Small Business Hiring And Other News

July 3, 2014 by

business (1)It is always good for the small business owner’s morale knowing hiring is up and the economy is recovering.  According to recent numbers, hiring in June has been the strongest since two years ago, and that can only be good for the US economy and the small firms across the United States.  For more info about this and other stories follow the links below.

Small business hiring surges to fastest pace since early 2012

Now that’s more like it.

Small businesses nationally added 117,000 jobs in June, a 60 percent increase over their average for the first five months of the year and the fastest pace of hiring since early 2012, according to the latest numbers published Thursday by payroll processing firm ADP.

More than the companies in any other size category, those small firms pushed the overall job numbers last month to 281,000, the highest mark since fall 2012. Construction, transportation and professional services sectors posted the steepest gains.

“The job market is steadily improving,” Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, said in the report, noting that the gains were “broad based across all industries and company sizes.”

Still, it’s a particularly important rebound for the county’s smallest employers, who are often lauded as the most steady job creators but hadn’t cracked six-digits in monthly job gains since November. In addition, June was the second straight month that small companies have contributed more than 40 percent of all jobs created — a mark they fell shy of during the first four months of the year.

The Not-So-Small Business Administration

Last month the Small Business Administration updated the criteria it uses to determine what qualifies as a “small business” for the first time since 2008. The formula varies by industry, sometimes calculated by number of employees, other times by annual revenues or total assets. Thanks to the change, approximately 8,500 more companies (some with more than 1,000 employees) will now be eligible for the designation—and the federal assistance that goes with it.

Modern Tools for Mom-and-Pops

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. — Operators at KES Dispatch keep track of the company’s taxis on a yellow legal pad. They communicate with cars using a two-way radio. Drivers navigate their journeys largely by memory.

In the age of Uber and Lyft, the company is desperate to modernize.

“I gotta change something,” said Miguel Duarte, who has run his Mount Kisco, N.Y., company for 13 years. “I gotta stay ahead of the competition.”

Help is on the way. Dashride, a new start-up, wants to give KES Dispatch a fighting chance. It is helping Mr. Duarte modernize his company’s clunky dispatch system, starting with a mobile app that will soon let customers book, track, pay for and rate rides.

Dashride is just one of several web-based start-ups with a mission of empowering small, local businesses — often in struggling, traditional industries — by equipping them with tools and strategies that could help them keep up with changing times.

For example, Cups, a coffee subscription app that came to New York in April, helps independent coffee shops compete with giant chains like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts. It is working with 50 small shops in Manhattan and Brooklyn. ShopKeep, a New York company, helps small businesses ring up sales, accept credit cards, email receipts or print remotely with an iPad-based checkout system.

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Small Business News you Cannot Afford to Miss

June 25, 2014 by

business (10)The Small Business Administration office of Advocacy defines a small business as an independent business that has fewer than 500 employees.  This comprises 99.7% of all U.S employer companies and provides almost 50% of the private sector employment in the U.S.  In 2010 there were 27.9 million small businesses, and government agencies and officials realize the importance of this sector for the U. S. economy when dealing with policies and tax breaks.

Read more about this topic by following the links below.

Why Congress can’t afford to ignore small businesses this fall (5 reasons)

Right up there with cheesy slogans and attack ads, praise for small businesses has become a staple of campaign season in Washington.

It’s likely to be the same again this fall, and with good reason. Congressional hopefuls, both incumbents and their challengers, can’t afford to overlook the nation’s smallest employers, not just because the rest of the country has a soft spot for them, and not just because it makes for sound economic policy.

Rather, small business owners themselves represent a key voting bloc — individually not with quite the sway of large corporations, of course, but influential just the same. Here’s why.

1. They vote

Only about three in four eligible Americans are registered to vote, according to most estimates, and barely more than half cast a ballot during the 2012 elections, according to research by the Bipartisan Policy Center.

DCA Commisioner Menin Promises ‘Big Announcements’ on Small Business Fines

City Department of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Julie Menin promised a group of small business owners a series of “big announcements” in the coming weeks around the agency’s inspection and fines process.

Speaking this morning at the annual meeting of the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District, Ms. Menin pledged to follow through on Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s campaign declaration that he would lessen burdensome regulations on small business owners.

“As a former small business owner, and one who dealt a lot with the DCA, I really know what it’s like to have a DCA inspector come and not know what they’re looking for,” Ms. Menin told the audience of around 50 business owners from the Upper West Side area in the breakfast meeting at Isabella’s restaurant. “We’re already starting to make changes at DCA.”

Even Small Business Owners Can Use These Tax Breaks

Two recent news clips caught my attention. One involved a company trying to avoid the IRS. The other involved the IRS trying to avoid trouble. Taken together, I can see how a small business owner might cynically ask if a small business has a fighting chance as far as taxes.

The first news item was about the latest rage in large company tax planning: “tax inversions.” U.S. companies seek to sidestep U.S. corporate taxes by relocating offshore through foreign mergers. The most recent example is the proposed Medtronic/Covidien merger. Even though Covidien has headquarters in the U.S., officially it is located in Ireland where the top marginal tax bracket is 10% lower than in the U.S. Apparently Medtronic hopes to save taxes by merging with an Ireland-based company.

The second news item relates to an ongoing scandal where the IRS is accused of targeting certain not-for-profit organizations because of their political leanings. The IRS announced this month that it can’t find two years of emails from Lois Lerner (the former head of the troubled not-for-profit tax division) to the Departments of Justice or Treasury. An agency spokesman blames a computer crash.

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Complacency is Not a Successful Management Style

June 23, 2014 by

business (10)“I don’t want to rock the boat”  “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” “This is the way we have always done it.”  “It’s not that bad, let’s just wait and see.”  In today’s tentative business climate who hasn’t heard these statements from their managers.  You’ve probably said some of them yourself.

Over the last several years the workplace has been in transition, managers have hunkered down to wait it out or for it to blow over.  Unfortunately, while waiting, many managers have turned reasonable caution into unproductive complacency.  They’ve become complacent about their current jobs and future careers, no longer innovating for their company or themselves.

Complacency is defined (Merriam-Webster) as: 1. self-satisfaction, especially with one’s merits, advantages, or situation, often without awareness of potential or actual dangers or deficiencies 2. A feeling of unaware or uninformed satisfaction with how things are and not wanting to try to make them better.  It’s an unsatisfying, self-sabotaging, unproductive and potentially destructive way to think and behave.  Here are 6 ways to tell if you’ve become complacent.

You’ve lost your excitement – Have you begun to lose passion for your work?  Or have you already lost it and are no longer excited about your job or career?  Your passion may have disappeared or just gone astray, but either way it’s important to find it again.  Passion fuels excellence, gives you something to strive toward and helps sustain high performance, which makes it worth getting up in morning.

You look for shortcuts – Are you as thorough or detailed as you once were?  Many complacent mangers count on their past successes and good reputations to cover for their current laziness.  They become a liability to themselves and the company.

You no longer invest in yourself – Are you focused on success in your current job and long term career?  Complacent people stop investing time, money and energy to meet their goals and objectives; they no longer strive to improve.  They don’t maintain relationships with in-house and outside colleagues, network or attend trainings.

You’ve stopped learning – Do you think you’ve learned everything you need to know?  Managers who are “know it alls” are particularly dangerous to an organization.  They’re disruptive, negative, poor team players and routinely disliked by their co-workers.

You’ve stopped thinking and disengaged – Have you stopped asking questions and challenging yourself or others?  Complacent supervisors go along to get along.  They specialize in doing only what they’re told to do and bring little value to the company or to their careers. They’re seldom collaborative and do little to move company objectives forward.

You don’t take risks – Are you looking for the next calculated risk that will move you and your company forward?  Risk is healthy and essential in work and in life.  Complacency makes people poor judges of constructive risk vs. destructive risk.

We all have supervised, worked with or for people who are complacent mangers and have been frustrated by this management style.  It’s unsuccessful at its best and destructive at its worst.  It’s highly probably that George Patton was talking about just such a person when he said, “We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people.  Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.”

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Succession Planning – It Ain’t Over ‘Til it’s Over.

June 11, 2014 by

business (11)Your small business has been successful.  It has provided you and your family income and personal satisfaction.  It’s been a good run and you’re ready to move on to the next phase of your life – do some traveling, go fishing and spend time with the grandkids.

About 2 months before you retire you tell everyone the succession plan.  1. The business will provide your retirement income.  2. Your son, daughter and/or key person will take over.          3.  You will have a party, eat some cake and make a speech.  This is the most common succession plan among small business owners.

However, the belief that it’s enough planning and that “everything will work out” is usually wrong.  It rarely works because it’s not actually a plan.  A successful succession plan takes time, money and effort.  It can be one of the most difficult challenges an owner will face.  It’s difficult for a variety of reasons.

The owner may have become complacent over the years and doesn’t want to make the hard management/personnel decisions that need to be made, which are mandatory in a good succession plan.  A poor management choice can close a formerly thriving business in just a few years.

A successful plan needs time and may take over a year to implement.  This can be hard for someone who has a tough time giving up control or is conflicted about retiring.  If procrastination is a part of his management style he may be counting on someone else “to figure it out when I’m gone”.

Finally, outside assistance is essential and many owners find it difficult to see the need for and to ask for help.  Now is not the time for your pride and ego to get in the way.  A good plan requires the input of professionals who understand the management (consultant), legal (lawyer) and financial (accountant) issues.

Because it’s difficult most owners avoid succession planning to the detriment of the company, their employees and their retirement.  Avoidance and passing the buck seldom works and can lead to damaged personal and professional relationships, decreased wealth and closure of the business.  It’s not uncommon for owners to have to come back and attempt to rescue it.

As Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.”  A complete, thought out and well executed plan starts well before the actual day of retirement.  This approach provides the needed stability to make a complete transition, one which safeguards the business’s wealth and sustains harmony among the employees.  Successful owners manage the succession plan as they have managed their company, with forethought and good stewardship, right up until the cake and speech.

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Ohio Unemployment

June 10, 2014 by

business (3)The United States unemployment rate for April was 6.3% down from 6.7% back in March.  The April rate is a 1.2% decrease from last year, and it seems it has been steadily decreasing over the last 12 months. In Ohio we are doing a little bit better than the national average. Ohio’s unemployment rate was 5.7 % in April 2014, down from 6.1 % in March.  Small businesses across our nation provide a great percent of the jobs created, and in Ohio small business provide more than half the jobs. Helping them succeed should be a top priority for the Ohio government, and providing them with resources and guidance can make a huge difference.

Read more about business in Ohio by following the links below.

Ohio Growth Summit seeks to unleash job-growing power of small businesses

Fully 99 percent of Ohio businesses have fewer than 100 employees – and though they’re small, they still provide 60 percent of the jobs.

The key to exponential job growth is for public-private partnerships to help micro-companies progress to the 10-99 employee stage, said Jerry Ross, executive director of the National Entrepreneur Center in Orlando, Florida.

“We are a small-business country,” said Ross, opening speaker of the Ohio Growth Summit entrepreneurial conference being held Wednesday and Thursday at Columbus State Community College.

“What we need to do as communities is say, ‘How do we get together to grow our small businesses?’ ” he said. “The leaders need to start talking to each other.”

Ross’s center combines the forces and expertise of 12 different economic development agencies under one roof, including the U.S. Commerce Department, the University of Central Florida’s Small Business Development Center and incubation program, the Orlando chapter of the Score business mentorship group and several minority business associations

SEA Change, a new Cleveland business accelerator, is looking for startups with heart: the Mix

CLEVELAND, Ohio–If you have an idea for a smartphone app or an Internet-based service that could conceivably scale to something big, and make people rich, there are several business groups in Northeast Ohio that might help you get started.

But what if your venture is intended mostly to solve a social problem or better the world? Good luck. There really has not been any place to take such a notion locally–until now.

This week, a group of entrepreneurship enthusiasts will introduce SEA Change, the region’s newest business accelerator and one that aims to add a new dimension to local innovation.

As a social enterprise accelerator, SEA Change will offer training, connections and capital to startups that have humanity at heart, organizers say. Noble ventures could partake of thousands in seed money.

More details will be revealed Friday, when SEA Change is launched at Shaker LaunchHouse, one of the collaborators behind it. And much will not be revealed because no one is quite sure how SEA Change will evolve.

Ohio Business Owner Sentenced For Lapsed Comp Coverage

Columbus, OH (WorkersCompensation.com) – A Ravenna (Portage County) business owner was ordered to pay $3,500 in connection with lapsed workers’ compensation coverage. Ronald G. Larlham pleaded guilty May 12 in Portage County Municipal Court to workers’ compensation fraud, a first-degree misdemeanor.

“Businesses in Ohio cannot operate with lapsed workers’ compensation coverage,” said Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Administrator/CEO Steve Buehrer. “The bureau makes good faith attempts to work with businesses to bring them into compliance, but if unsuccessful, we must take the issue to court to comply with state law and to protect the State Insurance Fund.”

The BWC’s compliance department referred the matter to the Special Investigations Department’s Employer Fraud Team (EFT) after Larlham continued to operate his business, RGS Automotive in Ravenna, with lapsed workers’ compensation coverage. He had failed to work with the compliance department to bring the company’s policy back into compliance. EFT agents then made numerous attempts to bring the company’s policy back into compliance. The case was referred to the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office.

 

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How the Ohio BWC is Hurting Small Businesses

May 28, 2014 by

business (3)News about the Bureau of Workers Compensation and the illegal practices against small business, the cost to Ohio workers and the state as a whole is nothing short of abhorrent.  How many small businesses have scraped by or gone under because of the high rates imposed by the BWC? Small business with less capital are  at the mercy of these institutions, and the rates that have been historically and inexplicably high have certainly put a burden to the small business owner. Read more about this topic by following the links below.

BWC is hurting small businesses

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is hurting the majority of job creators in Ohio — the small business owner, like me. It overcharged me and Ohio’s other small business owner so it could give a few businesses, usually the larger companies, huge price breaks on their worker’s compensation coverage premiums. A court has ruled that the BWC overcharged me — to the tune of several hundred dollars a year, and the majority of other small business owners illegally. It is sitting on an $8 billion (that’s right billion with a “b”), but refuses to pay the judgment against it; even after losing the frivolous appeal it filed to try to overtune the judgment against it in favor of the small business owners it overcharged.

It’s time for the BWC to do the right thing, take responsibility, and pay the judgment against it in favor of the small business owners it overcharged. And every day the BWC refuses to honor its obligation, it is costing Ohio $2.3 million dollars a month. It’s time for the BWC to meet its responsibility to pay its obligation to the roughly 270,000 employers who struggled to pay the Bureau’s illegally inflated premiums when paid and who continue to thwart the same roughly 270,000 employers from investing on the future of Ohio’s economic comeback.

Ohio Senate approves bill to expand income, business tax cuts

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Senate on Wednesday approved one-year expansions of state income and small-business tax cuts, as well as raising tax credits and exemptions for poorer Ohioans.

The Republican-sponsored measures in House Bill 483, which passed the Senate, 24-8, come as a result of higher revenues and lower state spending than expected.

Under the revised budget review bill, a 9-percent income tax cut previously approved for this year would be increased to a 10-percent cut. The move would save taxpayers an additional $94 million this year, according to state Sen. Scott Oelslager, a North Canton Republican.

Another change would give businesses making $250,000 or less a 75-percent business tax deduction for 2014, up from a 50-percent deduction in current law. That would mean $225 million in savings, Oelslager said.

System works against small businesses

For many years, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has favored some businesses and charged more for others (“Appeals court: Ohio businesses were overbilled,” Dispatch article, May 17). This ends up making the small mom-and-pop shops that employ many Ohioans the bearers of undue burdens.
Many of us go out of business due to these unfair practices.

The Bureau of Workers’ Compensation has lost its case in court, and again lost its appeal. It’s time for Ohio small businesses to get what is lawfully theirs.

We are Ohio. The bureau is here to serve us, not themselves.

JOHN ANDERSON
President/CEO
Anderson Computer Consulting
Marion

Regulators close small lender in Ohio

WASHINGTON — Regulators have closed a small lender in Ohio, marking the eighth U.S. bank failure of 2014 after 24 closures last year.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Friday that it has taken over Cincinnati-based Columbia Savings Bank.
The lender, which operated a single branch, had about $36.5 million in assets and $29.5 million in deposits as of March 31.
United Fidelity Bank, based in Evansville, Indiana, has agreed to assume Columbia Savings’ deposits and to buy essentially all of the failed bank’s assets. Columbia Savings’ failure is expected to cost the deposit insurance fund $5.3 million.
U.S. bank failures have been declining since they peaked in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis and the Great Recession.
Only three banks went under in 2007. That jumped to 25 in 2008, after the financial meltdown, and ballooned to 140 in 2009.
In 2010, regulators seized 157 banks, the most in any year since the savings and loan crisis two decades ago. The FDIC has said 2010 likely was the high-water mark for bank failures from the recession. They declined to 92 in 2011 and fell to 51 in 2012.

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3 Types of Networks Every Leader Should Develop

May 26, 2014 by

business (9)Every organization has a “go-to person”, the leader who can successfully get things done, who knows everyone and is well liked.  The one some call a natural leader and while others say he’s/she’s “just lucky”.  However, chances are, luck has very little to do with it.

Organizations are social structures created and operated by people.  Leaders effectively navigate them by building and maintaining the relationships they need to be successful.  In the article “How Leaders Create and Use Networks” (Harvard Business Review, 2007) Herminia Ibarra and Mark Hunter identified the 3 types of networks successful leaders have or should develop.

Operational – This network is internal to the organization and is developed to get work done effectively.  The goal is to build strong functioning lateral relationships by identifying who can be counted on in other departments (HR, IT, accounting, etc).  It’s equally important to identify individuals who are depending on you and to be an essential part of their network.

Personal – This network is mostly external to your organization and is crucial to your personal and professional development.  Successful leaders have an eye on the future and become involved with outside activates, which provide opportunities to meet useful contacts.  The key to establishing this network is to be involved in the activity and not just show up.

Strategic – This is a leveraging network that separates the leaders from the managers.  It’s both internal and external to your organization and is oriented to the future.  Identify your future priorities and challenges, and then secure support for them with the people in this network.  Formal or informal mentors and coaches are usually a part of it.

The main factor in successfully building and maintaining all 3 networks is to give more than you take.   Leaders know that establishing relationships, doing a favor, showing interest in someone, giving a referral and communicating face to face is still how things get done.  Yes, it can be time consuming, but as Coleman Cox said, “I am a great believer in luck.  The harder I work the more of it I seem to have”.

Nicole Abbott – writer, educator and psycho-therapist

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The Benefits Of Having A Virtual Team

May 13, 2014 by

business (2)The integrated workforce experience page at Cisco tells us that the company sales force consists of 20,000 people in 87 countries, and keeping abreast of the new products, solutions and architectures is a critical task.  Although your company may have a smaller workforce than Cisco, the challenges and rewards of having a virtual workforce is indubitable.  Keeping your team engaged and collaborating with other team members may not be as easy as you would think.  The challenges of keeping your team members offering great customer service (if you are a service company) may not be easy to track if you do not have a good system in place. Training and engaging your virtual team is a must for your business and the rewards you can achieve with them can be beneficial for all parties.

Building an All-Star Virtual Team

Employers and managers are often skeptical when it comes to hiring virtual workers.

To build a virtual team of employees, trust and confidence factor into the hiring process. Indeed, some employers never meet candidates in person. Yet that employee is involved with building a company’s success; no wonder some managers are nervous when it comes to hiring virtual workers.

Apprehensive about hiring telecommuters? Consider current trends about virtual work environments: According to Forrester, nearly 34 million Americans are working from home and telecommuting is expected to rise 43 percent in the United States by 2016.

Virtual teams allow an employer to tap into some of the best talent available because recruiting is not restricted by geography. By opening up positions to candidates across the world, companies such as Upworthy, Buffer and Mozilla have experienced success with virtual teams, finding individuals who are truly passionate about what they do.

Smells like team spirit

A virtual workforce opens up access to a global talent pool, but needs special attention and a personal touch to build trust among members spread across geographies

The website that you use for online shopping or the aircraft that takes you places have most likely been built through the collaborative effort of teams dispersed across continents. Organizations are increasingly turning global to take advantage of diverse talent, achieve operational and cost effectiveness, and inculcate the ability to respond to market demands with swiftness to be able to thrive in a highly competitive environment.

Virtual teams are the order of the day and, this, of course, has been facilitated by the rapid advancement of technology which has helped transcend distance, time zones, cultures and organizational boundaries. Virtual teams embody a distinctive shade of group dynamics, along with their concomitant set of unique challenges. There are umpteen examples of teams that have outshone their collocated counterparts in terms of productivity and effectiveness, but there are plenty that have shrivelled and fallen apart. So what makes a virtual team tick?

Managing & Achieving Goals with a Virtual Team

Managing one or two remote workers can be difficult enough–never mind an entire team of virtual employees! Whether it’s for a short period of time or a long-term work situation, virtual teams are becoming a more common occurrence in the modern workplace. There are many benefits for both the team members and the employer, such as less time spent traveling to meetings and a reduced commute for employees. However, virtual work needs to be monitored closely to ensure quality and productivity. There are a number of available tools that make this task much easier.

1.  UberConference: UberConference is a hit among virtual workers and those who manage them. The rich interface is actually quite easy to use, and provides virtual workers with a number of tools and resources they need to easily complete a remote work assignment. This is a good option for those who need to participate in remote conference calls, as it allows workers to easily connect to and chat with others.

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Is Small Business Hiring Slowing Down?

May 5, 2014 by

business (10)A Washington Post article by J.D Harrison dated April 30th. talks about  how small business hiring has remain flat in April, and the belief that the projections of greater figures in the small business sector has fallen short. The news can lead one to wonder whether the rising costs of health care and the minimum wage increase has led small business owners to think about those issues first before hiring.

Read more about this topic by following the links below.

Small business weekly: Minimum wage, maximizing loans and expensive limes

A review of the biggest small business and startup stories from the past week, with a special focus on Washington.

SBA slammed: During a hearing last week, Democrats and Republicans on the House Small Business Committee ripped into the Small Business Administration for creating several new entre pre neur ship training programs that have not been approved by Congress while pulling back on some of its long-standing counseling programs. (OSB)

Nation’s job engine? While employers as a whole posted strong job gains last month, small businesses are still struggling to pick up the pace. Hiring by small companies was flat in April, according to the latest readings by ADP, while their share of the nation’s total job gains declined for the fourth consecutive month. (OSB)

Mimimum wage splits businesses: Senate Republicans last week blocked legislation from moving forward that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.00 per hour. Some small business owners say the legislation would cripple their companies by driving up labor costs, while others strongly favor raising the floor on wages. (OSB)

Many Small Employers Face Rising Insurance Costs Under ACA

Size matters – when it comes to the impact of the Affordable Care Act on employers. For the next three days ideastream health reporter Sarah Jane Tribble will walk us through the differences. She starts the series today by going to a bar.

Paul Siperke is the co-owner of Fat Heads – a popular brew pub in North Olmstead. He has fewer than 50 full-time employees, so he’s classified under the Affordable Care Act as a small business.

He doesn’t have to provide health insurance to his employees. But that’s what he’s been doing despite some pretty crazy volatility in rates.

“They just seemed to keep going up every year.  One year we got a 38 percent increase, another year we got 11. One year we got 3,” Siperke says.”

This year, under the Affordable Care Act, he saw another hike – this one for about 20 percent.

“It just seems odd that we get such a drastic price increase when nothing has really changed with us as far as our employees and health issues,” he says.

Until now, if employees were healthy and claims were few, premium prices were relatively good. But, for a small business, if even one employee was in a car accident or was diagnosed with cancer, insurance costs could skyrocket the next year.

Advice for small businesses navigating Obamacare

Serving as a partner in a health care staffing and consulting firm, health insurance costs were the second largest expense only to employee salaries.

We maintained a commitment to providing health benefits to our team, but each year the cost would climb often by double digits, forcing tough decisions on whether to reduce benefits, increase employee shares or take a bite out of the bottom line.

As a business owner, the decision to offer health benefits is critically important particularly in light of the roll out of the Affordable Care Act.

Health benefits help companies recruit and retain talent in their workforce. A recent survey by Towers and Watson found that more than half of employees surveyed identified the health plan offered as a major reason to stay with their current employer.

Small business has traditionally been at a disadvantage providing these benefits facing higher premiums and administrative costs than large employers.

Much attention on the Affordable Care Act has been on the individual health care coverage options and the technical challenges with the exchange website. Depending on where you stand on the issue, the act has been a great success at enrolling millions of uninsured into coverage, or complete failure in both concept and implementation.

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Small Business Lending And Other News

April 17, 2014 by

business (6)According to the United States Small business Administration $3.5 billion were invested in small businesses in 2013 alone.  Although the Small Business Administration does not provide the investment directly to businesses, it partners with private investors that manage the funds that finance small businesses.  One of the banks that is leading the way in providing loans to small businesses in Ohio is Huntington National Bank, with a 46% increase from last year.  For this and other news follow the links below for more information.

Huntington Bank on track to become nation’s largest small-business lender, but profits dip in first quarter

CLEVELAND, Ohio — After several years at No. 3, Huntington Bank is on track to become the No. 1 small-business lender in the United States.

Through the first six months of the federal fiscal year, Huntington has the greatest number of SBA loans. This is especially interesting because Huntington is the nation’s 33rd largest bank by assets and it does SBA loans only in the six states where it has branches: Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia and Kentucky.

Huntington has catapulted to No. 1 because its SBA lending has increased by about 20 percent, while lending at other banks has fallen, Craig Street, head of SBA lending for Huntington, said in an interview.

In the Cleveland district, Huntington’s lending has soared even more, with a 46 percent boost. Huntington made 396 loans for $38.2 million in the six months ending March 31, 2013, and 580 loans for $54.7 million for the six months ending March 31, 2014.

Small Business Administration, AARP can help business owners older than 50

Are you older than 50 and looking for your next career? New research shows that one in four people ages 44 to 70 are interested in starting their own business or nonprofit in the next five to 10 years.

Did you know you aren’t alone? There are 76 million people older than 50 in the United States. That’s why the U.S. Small Business Administration and AARP are teaming up in April to host National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Month.

Together we will provide events to help connect encore entrepreneurs with mentors, such as those from SBA’s network of Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, and SCORE chapters who can help with strategies to grow an entrepreneur’s business.

We know that kind of training can be critical for the success of a small business. It can help folks bring their experience, knowledge and skills to a new venture, and that can create exciting new opportunities and jobs.

BigCommerce Increases Reach Into Small Business Commerce

BigCommerce is known for the big brands that are using it to get eCommerce sites up and running quickly. Clients include Gibson Guitar, YETI Coolers and many others.

But the company says that BigCommerce isn’t exclusively for major national brands. Small businesses can and should be taking advantage of what the eCommerce platform can offer.

In an interview with Small Business Trends, BigCommerce CPO Westley Stringfellow said:

“The reality is BigCommerce is built for business, large or small. Our vision is to power small business. Our role is to amplify the merchant.”

If your business is in the market for an eCommerce platform, BigCommerce appears to be a powerful option to consider. Having your own store online can help you to build your brand and break free from other services like eBay or Amazon.

Stringfellow says:

“It’s very clear that as we grow, merchants want to have their own presence. They want to grow their brand. It’s hard to do that on eBay.”

BigCommerce users have access to dozens of store design templates, many of them free, as well as hundreds of apps to help you manage your store. Many of these apps are also free.

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