With the many issues small business owners deal with every single day, the health care law is one of the most important ones affecting them right now.  Headlines about the health care law are everywhere, illustrating the condition business owners and individuals are finding themselves into, while figuring out the options for health insurance for them and their employees.

You can read about this topic and others by clicking the links below.

Small business owners remain confused, misinformed about the health care law

It has been more than three and a half years since the health care law was signed, yet many small-business owners say they still don’t understand the legislation and what it means for their businesses, according to a new study.

Others, meanwhile, think they know more than they really do.

Half of small-business owners say they are only somewhat confident, not very confident or not at all confident that their company will be compliant with the law, parts of which create important new insurance requirements for certain employers. One third say they are not familiar with law, according to the first installment of a three-year health care study by the National Federation of Independent Business, a small-business lobbying group in Washington.

The new health care law has spent the past month in the political spotlight for all the wrong reasons, as its new online insurance marketplaces for individuals and small businesses have suffered a glitch-filled rollout. Just last week, it came to light that the site for employers would not be fully functional until the end of November, a month later than expected.

The Good News for Small Retailers Is That Shoppers Love You

Small retailers have lots of concerns this holiday season: A shorter than normal holiday shopping period, fallout from the government shutdown affecting consumers’ confidence and spending, and competition from big-box and online retailers with more sophisticated digital marketing tactics.

But there’s some good news that could potentially offset those difficulties: The 2013 Deluxe Annual Holiday Shopping Survey reports that consumers have a lot of goodwill toward small, local businesses and a great willingness to shop there.

More than one-third (35 percent) of consumers say they are going to shop at local, small businesses this year, an increase from the 27 percent who planned to last year. Of those, 57 percent are specifically doing so because they feel it is “important to support local businesses.” In addition to those who already plan to shop at small businesses, the vast majority (95 percent) of respondents say it’s important to support local independent businesses.

Thanks to a False Sense of Security, Small Businesses Are Skipping Cyber-Protection

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) should be paying more attention to the growing threat of cybercrime – but they are not. Despite overwhelming statistics that show this group to be at risk, more than three-quarters in a recent survey said they feel confident that they are not – and are failing to take protective measures.

McAfee has announced findings from a joint survey with Office Depot that revealed surprising security misconceptions among SMB owners. More than 1,000 SMBs participated in the Office Depot Small Business Index survey last month, and a super-majority (66%) felt confident that their data and devices are secure and safe from hackers, with 77% responding that they haven’t been hacked.

The results are at odds with industry research that has revealed these same businesses are actually prime targets of complex and evolving cyber threats. Almost three-quarters (72%) of data breaches investigated by Verizon Communications’ forensic analysis unit in its latest Data Breach Investigations Report were focused on companies with less than 100 employees, for instance.

With the fear of our government shutting down, the Obama health care plan coming into effect today, and all those businesses uncertainties we seem to be dealing with these days, we are bringing you some of the most recent articles dealing with information and answers to some of the questions you may have about the government shutdown and the Obama health care plan.

What impact would shutdown have on small business?

Q: Will the government shutdown (if it happens) have an effect on my business? — Taylor

A: The short answer is that the only effect any shutdown may have is if your business does direct business with the government. If you contract with the government, or get payments from them, then yes, a shutdown would have a negative effect on your business.

More broadly, it’s hard to imagine a group less effective, less professional or more shortsighted than these elected “leaders.”

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN: What to know

If any of us ran our businesses the way they run the country, we would be bankrupt.

Can you imagine running a business this way? Lurching from crisis to crisis, not paying your bills, verging on defaulting on your creditors, threatening to default on your creditors — it is business (and political) malpractice.

Government shutdown leaves small business loans in limbo, shutters SBA

Congress’s failure to pass a spending bill has brought a halt to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s ability to process new loan requests as part of the broader government shutdown.

In the weeks and days leading up to the shutdown, bankers flooded the agency with loan-guarantee applications, racing to secure funding before the lights went out.

“We could read the tea leaves and see we were heading this way, so lenders have been working overtime to get the applications done and in to the SBA,” Tony Wilkinson, president and chief executive of the National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, an organization comprised of roughly 750 small-business lenders, said in an interview late Monday.

Small business borrowing rises in August, slowly

Borrowing by U.S. small businesses edged up in August, pushing an index of borrowing to a six-year high.

The Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, which measures the volume of financing to small companies, rose 1 percent to 116.6, the highest level since August 2007. The index registered 115.4 in July, revised from an initial reading of 117.7, PayNet said on Tuesday.

Historically, PayNet’s lending index has correlated to overall economic growth one or two quarters in the future.

The reading came as investors were boosting expectations the Federal Reserve would likely reduce its massive stimulus program in September.

You have been toying with the idea of starting your own business, and you have a product, or service you want to develop or promote. You are tired of the same repetitive tasks at work and can wait to do something different that will challenge your intellect, and patience.

But have you thought about all the challenges you’ll be facing and the many tasks you will be required to do in order to get your business off the ground? According to the Small Business Administration, of the 27 million small businesses there are today in the United States, 50% of them will fail within 5 years. And although the idea of being your own boss is to say the least liberating, there are many challenges you must be aware of before quitting your job.

Read more about this by clicking the links below.

How to start a small business with smarts

There is no single recipe for how to create a financially sound small business.

Some founders make their money off a few big clients. Some have many customers.

There are those who use credit cards and personal savings for working capital. Others seek investor money through crowdfunding websites.

“There are lots of ways to make your business work,” says William Dunkelberg, chief economist at the National Federation of Independent Business. “This is what entrepreneurs do — they find clever ways to get things done.”

SMART SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPANTS: These entrepreneurs get a taste of success

When the Giacomini family, who run Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. in Point Reyes, Calif., first decided to diversify beyond milk production on their farm, they sold off half the cows in their herd and used the proceeds to build a cheese-producing creamery.

Small Business Learns to Build Customer Loyalty Like Luxury Brands

There are more than 27 million small businesses in the United States, according to the Small Business Administration, but 50% of them will fail within five years. While lack of capital is a major factor, also significant is the lack of a customer-centric culture.

“Many entrepreneurs launch businesses with a great product or service idea, and then proceed to focus on daily transactions rather than building long-term customer relationships,” says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Customer Culture Institute. “Focusing on transactions over relationships does not breed customer loyalty.”

Successful smaller companies, says Pedraza, are organized at an early stage to deliver extraordinary experiences to every customer on a daily basis. The problem for most small businesses is a lack of expertise and a proven process.

Small Business: High-performance presentations

You’ve made it onto the short list for that big contract, and the client wants you to present your proposal to the executive committee. Or the leader of your networking group has offered you a spotlight presentation at next month’s luncheon. Or you get the chance to informally pitch your new business concept to an angel investor over coffee.

What do you do next?

Get grounded: Whether you’re starting with a blank page or sifting through a pile of marketing collateral, begin your process by setting a solid foundation for your talk. Geni Whitehouse, author of “How to Make a Boring Subject Interesting,” advises answering these questions:

Why am I speaking?

If you are a small business owner, you have to have an opinion about this.

Although some of the articles speak of an economy that is showing signs of life, other indicators from other industries show that it may just be a stagnant economy.

You can read more about the most recent small business news by clicking the links below.

Small businesses should take stock, take a little risk

The economy is showing signs of life and that makes it a good time for small business owners to re-evaluate how they are running their companies.

Now that crisis mode has passed, owners need to make sure they’re ready to take advantage of growth opportunities on the horizon. Experts say it’s time for owners to think about taking some risks and to make sure that they are taking care of employees.

There’s evidence that owners are more confident. Nearly half of small business owners say there will be growth opportunities in the coming year, according to a survey taken in June and July by the National Small Business Association. That’s up from 38 percent six months ago. And the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index of small business confidence, compiled from a July survey of owners, jumped 9 points to 25 from the start of the year.

Small Business Spotlight: Boardroom Development Partners

What Boardroom Development Partners does is a little like an online dating service.

First there’s a survey of interests. Then more detailed information might be shared. The first face-to-face meeting takes place over cocktails in a public setting. If chemistry results, there are more intimate meetings.

With the parties BDP puts together, though, “closing the deal” means, well, closing an actual business deal.

BDP specializes in creating and hosting business events where CEOs of various financial services sectors meet and — based on surveys taken before the event — are matched with service providers who can help grow their business.

On tax reform, lawmakers target small business concerns — but will it matter?

Most small firms are set up as pass-through entities, meaning taxes are paid by their owners at the individual rate, which runs as high as 39 percent. By comparison, the corporate rate is 35 percent, and after deductions, corporations pay an actual average rate of about 12.6 percent, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Consequently, many small-business groups bemoaned a proposal last month by the Obama administration to lower the corporate rate without also lowering individual income rates.