Money
How Small Businesses Can Raise Money, Get Loans, Get Paid
4 Tips for Making Better Decisions
Whether solving a daily conundrum or plotting a game-changing move, small-business owners are constantly making decisions. However, spending the day putting out fires may not be the best use of …
How “The Lean Startup” Method Is Changing Small Business
Build big. Go fast. Invest heavily. And fly by the seat of your pants. It’s been the American way for business for decades, and much of the time, it’s worked. …
Author Carol Tice on What Makes a Great Company
Entrepreneurs often know — based on intuition and experience — that they’re sitting on a great idea, whether it’s tangible (like a clothing line) or intangible (like a groundbreaking service). …
Before Renting a Commercial Space, Check Out the Landlord
Signing a long-term lease for office space is one of the largest commitments you may make as a small-business owner. Once you sign on the dotted line, you are tied …
Pint-Sized Entrepreneur on Perfecting Her Pitch and Meeting Warren Buffett
Making light-up holiday sweatshirts with her family sparked a business idea for 10-year-old Aria Eppinger. After it took her dad “forever” to finish soldering her creation, the pint-size entrepreneur from …
How to Find the Small-Business Insurance That’s Right for You
No matter what type of business you run, you need to protect it from potential lawsuits, the loss of a key employee, and other calamities. An earlier post covered five …
8 Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail
Nobody starts a business expecting to fail, but sobering statistics indicate that many do, in fact, go under. According to the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy [PDF], three out of …
In the Trenches: How to Be Charitable
Last week, I was awakened by a call to our urgent assistance line sometime around midnight or 1 a.m. I answered to find someone in desperate need of help but …
Sweet Success for Small Business: Updates to QuickBooks Online Suite
Today Intuit announced updates to the QuickBooks Online suite of connected applications that deliver a personalized and complete financial management package to our more than 360,000 small business subscribers. The …
3 Things to Know about Buying Into a Franchise
Running a small business takes courage and a streak of independence. You either have both, or you don’t. Deciding whether to run your startup as an independent company or as …
‘Rebel Entrepreneur’ Author Jonathan Moules on Breaking the Rules
After profiling hundreds of business owners for the Financial Times, journalist Jonathan Moules (pictured) noticed an interesting trend: The most successful ones are often those who buck conventional wisdom about …
What’s the Difference Between a Bookkeeper and an Accountant?
Fledgling small-business owners are often told that they should hire a professional to help with the accounting side of their companies. Because both bookkeepers and accountants offer services, understanding which …
8 End-of-Summer Contests for Small Businesses
Contests and competitions offer an excellent way for your business to get publicity, build brand awareness, and interact with other small-business leaders. Even if you don’t win a prize (such …
What You Need to Know (and Do) about Embezzlement
If you’ve ever talked to business owners who’ve dealt with embezzlement, you likely detected their astonishment that the perpetrator was someone they trusted. That’s what makes the crime so heinous. …
How to Protect Your Small-Business Assets
You’ve spent years of your life building a successful small business. How do you protect your operation from being destroyed by legal proceedings, natural disaster, or even sudden death? The …
