The State of Small Businesses Today

April 13, 2016 by

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The small business outlook has declined this past March, and some believe that the 7.7 decline over the last year is an indication of a possible recession. Although some small businesses are blaming the increase in minimum wage the culprit for this less than bright outlook, the United States Department of Labor disagrees.

To read more about this topic follow the links below.

As Minimum Wage Marches Toward $15, Small Businesses Adapt

In the aftermath of California and New York becoming the first states to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15, some small businesses with hourly workers are rethinking how they can absorb the increase.

The owners of Dog Haus, a chain of about 20 franchise restaurants in the West, may have customers pick up their meals at the counters in two company-owned stores instead of using servers to carry food to tables. The Pasadena, California-based company is also looking at hiring more experienced workers who can shoulder more responsibilities than entry-level staffers who earn minimum wage. For example, a cashier might now take on some administrative tasks. That way, Dog Haus could hire fewer people.

“We’ve known this has been coming for a while, and we’ve been preparing for it,” co-owner Andre Vener says.

State minimum wages have been rising the past few years as pro-labor groups including unions call for higher pay for workers, especially those at fast-food restaurants. That’s forcing small businesses that are more vulnerable to labor cost increases than large companies to reassess their operations. Some are thinking of cutting staff, and others are raising prices.

NFIB: Small-Business Gauge Is Flashing Recession Warning

Optimism among small-business owners slipped 0.3 point in March to a two-year low of 92.6, and the 7.7-point decline in the index over the last 15 months is a flashing warning signal of a possible recession, the National Federation of Independent Business said.

April’s Index of Small Business Optimism could determine whether a recession alarm should be rung, according to William Dunkelberg, NFIB chief economist.

Regulations were small firms’ top concern, with 21% listing it as their primary worry, followed by 20% of respondents who cited taxes as their main worry.

New York and California are two states that have passed gradual raises of their minimum wage to $15 per hour — moves hailed by unions but criticized by small businesses.

Supporters of the wage hikes have targeted blue-chip companies such as McDonald’s (MCD) andWal-Mart (WMT), but opponents argue that the pay raises will hurt small firms and their workers more.

Small Business Owners In Ohio Cautious On Economy

Ohio’s small- and mid-sized business owners are turning more cautious about the economy, both locally and nationally, as they fret about the presidential campaign and the stock market, according to a PNC Bank survey.

The survey found that 41 percent of business owners are pessimistic about the U.S. economy, about the same as in the fall survey, but up from 31 percent last spring. When it comes to their local economy, 35 percent are pessimistic, up from 26 percent in the fall.

“There was definitely more pessimism about economic conditions,” said Mekael Teshome, a PNC economist. “But Ohio business owners’ sentiment about their own business is remarkably quite stable.”

Pittsburgh-based PNC conducted the survey from Jan. 21 through March 8. At the time, there were worries about the economy slowing or even slipping into a recession and the stock market was tumbling. Also, 61 percent said they were not satisfied that the presidential candidates were addressing the key issues for business.

 

 

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CyberSecurity And Your Business

April 5, 2016 by

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Billions of dollars are spend yearly in cyber security globally, and according to the most recent surveys, that amount is likely to reach $101 billion by the year 2018.

But, although billions of dollars are spend trying to secure the amount of information hackers or other people have access to, many cyber analysts believe that spending more in cyber security does not necessarily mean better security.

For more about this topic, follow the links below.

Mobile Messaging Apps: 8 Tips For Keeping Your Workplace Secure

The old struggles over BYOD have been replaced with application struggles, as employees use favorite mobile messaging apps for enterprise purposes. As with BYOD, pushing back isn’t the answer. Innovating forward is.

Using popular third-party messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Snapchat for business communication can introduce a level of discomfort for IT, as well as for your legal, corporate, and governance and compliance teams. In many ways, it’s like the early days of the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement; these days it’s all about Bring Your Own Apps.

“The issue of employees using personal social media accounts/networks, and their non-work personas, for business purposes is very real and it does impact IT, especially when considering that electronic communications should be retained for legal and regulatory purposes,” Mike Pagani, the chief evangelist at Smarsh, told InformationWeek in an interview.

Smarsh offers an archiving platform that supports social media, text messages, email, and other platforms so that they’re indexed, policy-checked, able to be supervised, and easily retrievable if they’re needed for auditing or litigation.

A reality check for security leaders on insider risk

Mike Tierny shares his insights on successfully implementing processes to combat insider risk by engaging the right people at the right time in the program.

“I trust the people in my company. I still monitor everyone.”

That statement came during the MISTI CISO Leadership Summit I lead on Sunday at InfoSecWorld. One of the security leaders made that comment during our session on trust. It got a lot of nods and even more discussion.

Just the week prior, I talked with Mike Tierney (LinkedIn, @mikejtierney) the COO of Veriato Inc. about the reality of insider threat and our need to engage others in the process. As COO, Mike is ultimately responsible for organizational security.  His insight on insider risk is forged by experience and his success implementing processes across the organization.

During our conversation, he talked about the leadership approach of engaging others in the process – before we have problems. He shared some things I hadn’t seen implemented before. Approaches that made sense.

Cybersecurity spending: more does not necessarily mean better

Cybersecurity is not something you can just buy, but something you should thoroughly build.

Last week, I had a great opportunity to explore the APAC cybersecurity market and meet many brilliant people during Black Hat Asia 2016. Singapore’s economic miracle made its cybersecurity market as attractive as the North American one, attracting the largest security vendors to the region.

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) protection, Threat Intelligence, Enterprise Immune Systems, Cloud Access Security Brokers (CASB), User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) – these are just a few of the offerings currently available on the cybersecurity market. I bet that many security industry professionals (including myself) hardly understand the real meaning of some of these terms, or to be more precise – the real difference between them and the generic terms existing for years. But this is a topic for a dedicated article, and in this piece we would rather concentrate on cybersecurity budgets and related challenges.

 

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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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The Problems Plaguing The Small Business Owner

March 22, 2016 by

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For many small business owners sales and marketing are not the only problems they have to contend for the success of their business.  Not long ago, the idea of  online marketing, online retail, and having a social media presence for their business was a remote possibility for them. Now, the small business owner has realized the importance of utilizing the web to expand, promote and acquire the sales required for its survival. As a small business owner, what is a big problem within your business? Is it the amount the taxes you have to pay every year, the paperwork, or hiring the right people for your business?  Follow the links below to learn what are some of the problems plaguing the small business owner in the United States.

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).

DIY IT: What Your Small Business Needs to Know

Cybersecurity is an issue that’s probably on the mind of every business owner. The growing list of corporate data breaches, coupled with the more-secure EMV credit card chip technology that emerged last year, has made businesses and consumers alike highly aware of the security risks that exist in today’s world.

Despite numerous studies and statistics on hackers targeting small businesses, many owners still have an, “It won’t happen to me” attitude about security. This is a dangerous way of thinking that could ultimately leave your business open to a whole host of potential risks.

“Many small business owners underestimate how vulnerable they are to security threats,” said Sanjay Castelino, vice president of marketing at Spiceworks, a provider of information technology solutions. “Our recent IT security report shows business owners are facing a number of threats from malware to phishing to ransomware, and the attackers range from lone hackers to rogue employees. Once [a business is] successfully attacked, earning back customer trust and fixing the damage is often too costly for small companies.”

What Many Small Businesses Call Their Biggest Challenge

The 2015 Small Business Credit Survey Report on Employer Firms, released March 3 by seven Federal Reserve Banks, contains disturbing news.

Twenty-two percent of small businesses with annual revenues over $10 million identified compliance with government regulations as the biggest challenge they faced over the past 12 months. That’s up from only four percent in a similar but smaller survey last year.

Participants in the 2015 survey ranked government regulations as more problematic than credit availability, cash flow, the cost of running a business, taxes, and other problems.

For an overview of how government regulations continue to climb, see The Heritage Foundation’s “Red Tape Rising: Six Years of Escalating Regulation Under Obama.”

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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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Retirement For The Small Business Owner

February 25, 2016 by

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Many small business owners work way past the time they can retire.  The reasons are simple:  They enjoy their business and the challenges they face day in and day out.  Many small business owners take an active role in their business even if the reins have been passed down to their business partners or their children. Financially, many small business owners are prepared.  Others do count on their retirement that they have set aside, but believe social security will provide some of the funds they need to live well during their retirement years.  If you are a small business owner and need help funding your retirement ,or don’t know where to start, follow the links below for more information.

Captain401 Raises $3.5 Million to Help Small-Business Employees Save for Retirement

Captain401 Inc. has raised $3.5 million in seed funding to help small businesses and startups give their employees retirement savings help similar to that of larger and deeper-pocketed employers.

The company’s site and service allows an employer to set up a 401(k) retirement savings plan for employees in minutes, without the paperwork, manual administration, repetitive data entry and high fees affiliated with traditional retirement plan providers like MetLife MET -0.47%, Fidelity, or Charles Schwab SCHW -2.45%.

And once employees enroll, it helps them set goals and automatically invest towards meeting them.

Investors in Captain401 include SoftTech VC, SV Angel, Y Combinator, Crunch Fund,Slow Ventures, Susa Ventures, FundersClub and several individual angel investors including NerdWallet co-founder Jacob Gibson and Stripe Chief Technology Officer Greg Brockman.

Captain401 co-founder and Chief Executive Roger Lee said he was inspired to help small businesses extend a 401(k) plan to their employees while earlier working an advertising tech startup, PaperG, which is still in business.

“I’m an advocate of personal financial health, and it’s the right thing to help employees save for the future and on taxes,” he said. “But without a full-time HR person, accountant and the like, it took us years to offer a 401(k) benefit, even though that would be a basic part of an offer to employees from a larger company.”

Retirement planning steps for small-business owners

According to the Small Business Association web site, there are 28 million small businesses in America — and that number is growing. For many of these entrepreneurs, their business may be their single largest asset.

So what happens when it’s time to retire?

Often, the business owner may look to cash out of the business either by selling it or by passing it on to family members. In both instances, the business owner needs to have a succession plan in place well before he or she plans to retire.

Unfortunately, many business owners don’t have a written succession plan. According to the Financial Planning Association/CNBC Business Owner Succession Planning Surveyreleased in 2015, 78 percent of respondents said they plan to sell their businesses to fund their retirement, and that the proceeds are needed to fund 60 percent to 100 percent of their retirement needs. Yet, less than 30 percent actually have a written succession plan.

The goal of a succession plan is to allow an organization to continue to conduct business even in the event of a key individual’s departure — whether that departure is planned (such as through retirement) or unplanned. While business succession planning is critical to the survival and stability of any organization, it also is crucial to the retirement goals of millions of aging baby boomers.

 Small businesses could pool retirement plans under Obama proposal

President Barack Obama wants small businesses to help more Americans save for retirement.

One-third of American workers don’t have access to a retirement savings plan at work, and many of them work at small businesses. Only half of employees at businesses with fewer than 50 employees have access to a retirement plan through their employer, according to the White House.

As part of his upcoming budget plan, Obama wants to encourage more small businesses to offer retirement plans by making them easier to administer and providing tax credits to offset some of the costs.

His proposal also includes a new mandate for employers to make part-time workers eligible for their retirement plans. Workers who have worked for at least 500 hours per year for a company for three years would be eligible for this benefit.

This mandate is opposed by the National Federation of Independent Business.

“Many small businesses have a handful of full-time employees and larger part-time workforce,” said NFIB Research Director Holly Wade. “If they’re forced by the government to offer retirement benefits to everyone, some may very well discontinue the plan altogether. That would be a classic unintended consequence.”

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Small Business Financial News

February 18, 2016 by

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Depending on what news you read small business in the United States might be doing great or it may not.  According to CNBC -small business confidence is at the lowest since February 2014.  If you instead look at the survey conducted by Gallup at the beginning of this year for Wells Fargo, you will find that small business optimism jumped 13 points to reach the highest level in a year.

As a small business owner you have to decide for yourself – Bank statements handy — whether the economy and your optimism are at a good point at this time for you and your business.  Your industry may be doing extremely well while others industries are collapsing, or you may be ready to hire employees this year independently of what the polls are telling you. You know your small business better than anyone, make decisions that benefit your business and those working for you. Everything else will fall into place.

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

Small businesses in best financial shape in eight years

Most small business owners are feeling good about their financial situation, and that’s improved their outlook for the coming year.

That’s according to a quarterly survey of small business owners conducted in January by Gallup for Wells Fargo. This survey’s index of small business optimism jumped 13 points from November to 67, its highest level in a year.

These results run counter to what the National Federation of Independent Business found in its January survey of its members. NFIB’s small business indexfell last month to its lowest level in two years. The questions in each survey are slightly different, so that might account for some of the difference in the results.

The most noteworthy finding in the Wells Fargo survey was that two-thirds of small business owners rated their financial situation as good. That’s the highest percentage in eight years. More than 70 percent expect their financial situation will be good 12 months from now.

What small businesses can learn from a big business’s mistakes

It’s not hard to think of big businesses that have run into problems trying to grow in an economy that’s expanding in low single digits and where organic growth is very hard to generate. Mergers and acquisitions are increasingly becoming the best way to deliver the rapid growth that owners want and investors demand. Unfortunately merging and acquiring is a minefield – no matter how big or small the numbers involved might be.

The list of businesses that have overreached by borrowing money to buy a rival is long. Think of Hewlett Packard’s $5 billion write-off following its $11 billion acquisition of the software group Autonomy. Or Quaker’s disastrous takeover of Snapple, a deal which ended up costing Quaker $2 million for every day it owned the soft-drink group. Then there was the telecommunications giant Sprint, which ended up writing off a staggering $29.5 billion after buying Nextel. Its due diligence and haste to make the deal happen resulted in one of the biggest write-downs in corporate history.

Are the Conservatives losing the small business vote?

Government cuts alongside changes to tax returns, pensions and taxes on dividends is leading to a growing sense of outrage among entrepreneurs.

hen the first Conservative majority government in nearly 20 years came into power last May, there were high hopes among business owners. The Tories had assiduously courted support from SMEs during the election campaign, even launching a small business manifesto, pledging to cut red tape and review business rates.

With Cameron et al in Downing Street, many business owners breathed a sigh of relief. Among them was Richard Merrin, managing director of communications business Spreckley. “The biggest inhibitor over the past year was the prospect of the general election itself,” says Merrin. “It was no surprise to me that the very next day we saw an immediate uplift in new business inquiries and there is no doubt that the more business friendly Tories gaining an outright majority added to that confidence.”

 

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Small Business Confidence in The United States

February 9, 2016 by

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2016 has not been kind to the stock market. The quarter of a percent increase to the interest rate last year scared many people, even though analysts predicted the change would not be felt too much.  Globally, the markets are not doing any better than the US market, and commerce has slow down across the country and industries.  But despite all these issues, and despite the fact the small business confidence it at its lowest since 2014, the small business community feel confident about the labor market in this country.

For more about this follow the links below.

US small business confidence at two-year low

U.S. small business confidence fell in January to its lowest level in nearly two years amid worries about the near-term outlook for business conditions and sales growth, consistent with a recent slowdown in economic growth.

The National Federation of Independent Business said on Tuesday its Small Business Optimism Index fell 1.3 points to 93.9 last month, the weakest reading since February 2014. Still, small businesses remained fairly upbeat about the labor market.

The NFIB said there was little sign that a stock market selloff and December’s interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, the first in nearly a decade, had impacted confidence. Owners’ perceptions of business conditions in six months weakened sharply as did their views of expected sales.

Workers Are Ready To Quit; Small Business Pay Hikes Hit 8-Year High

Americans are ready to quit, while small firms are hiking pay rapidly despite weak sales and gloomy forecasts. Business continue to trim inventories too.

Job Openings Jump; More Workers Quit

Job openings rose to 5.61 million in December from 5.35 million in November, the Labor Department said in its JOLTS survey. The number of hires climbed to 5.36 million from November’s 5.26 million. That’s the highest since September 2004.

Total separations climbed to 5.1 million. Quits hit a 10-year high of 3.06 million, up sharply from November’s 2.86 million. That suggests workers are growing more confident about finding other, better employment.

Wholesale Destockpiling Continues

December wholesales inventories fell 0.3% vs. the 0.2% drop expected. November stockpiles were revised from -0.3% to -0.4%. Meanwhile, wholesale sales fell 0.3% after tumbling 1.3% in November. The data suggest inventories were a slightly larger drag on Q4 GDP than first thought. Q4 GDP growth was initially estimated at a 0.7% annual rate, with other data also signaling downward revisions.

Rural businesses are struggling to recruit young people

Poor public transport, sluggish broadband and a talent drain to big cities is making it hard for countryside enterprises to survive

​face a number of challenges with running my rural Indian cookery school in Somerset. So when I had a chance to question George Osborne at the recent Federation of Small Businesses policy conference in London, I asked: “What assistance will there be to attract skilled young people to settle and take jobs in rural areas?”

Osborne suggested broadband was the answer, much to our amusement. His response missed the point: we do need better broadband, poor internet speeds are an ongoing problem in rural areas, but it isn’t the solution to attracting young talent.

To recruit young people I’m competing with a talent drain into the cities. Many young people who grow up in rural Somerset leave for university in Bristol, Bath and Cardiff and never return. Poor public transport links and living costs put them off. The majority of new people moving to my village are retirees.

 

 

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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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