Here is this week’s news round-up for home business, micro business, sole-traders, freelancers, self-employed and any one who is interested in small business news from around the world.
- Obama’s progress: Small business still struggling: While Washington talks up the importance of small businesses and their vital role in economic recovery, small business owners remain caught in a credit maelstrom.
- Job recovery: Wait till next year: The days of cataclysmic layoffs may be waning, but companies are still cutting every position they can spare. Employment at America’s small businesses, those with less than 50 employees, dropped by another 138,000 workers in July, according to estimates released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP.
- Repairman’s Advantage: Even in Hard Times, Things Need to Be Fixed: Even during a recession, plumbers, electricians and the like say they are still finding work, albeit not as much as in the good times.
- Business confidence up, new survey shows: A new survey of small business owners reveals a growing confidence in the economy with expectations of an economic turnaround in 2010.
- We’re the popular kid: The economy is showing signs of revival, but in the small business trenches, companies are still struggling. Sales are down, credit is tight, and the tally of laid-off workers keeps growing. Leading the federal government’s effort to shore up Main Street businesses is Karen Mills, now four months into her job heading the Small Business Administration.
- The Self-Employed Program Is a Great Way to Start a Business: There’s no doubt about it; if you qualify, the federal government’s Self-Employment Program is the best way to start a small business. The Self-Employment Program gives you three big advantages…
- Alberta firms among most positive: Alberta small businesses placed third among western provinces in positive attitude, according to the most recent business confidence poll by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
- Business owners optimistic: Small business owners in Saskatchewan were the most optimistic in Canada last month, according to survey results released Wednesday by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business
- Internet startups struggle to make money from chatter:It seems like a long time since Internet startups thought they could offer a free product and make a living selling ads. That would be in 2004, during the birth of Web 2.0.
- Entrepreneur sees dollar signs in ‘assembly required’ horror stories: Scraped knuckles, stripped screws and missing nuts.
- More SMEs sure of second-half profits: MORE small businesses are confident about posting a profit in the second half of 2009, the latest National Australia Bank survey shows.
- Support for promising tech start-ups: Capital idea: The next time somebody says there is always enough money for good companies, I’m going to throw a bucket of cold water over them.I say this in light of news of the ProvencoCadmus receivership. No doubt its current status is due…
- Small business optimistic about economy: The attitude of small and medium businesses to the Australian economy has dramatically improved over the last three months, with most expecting activity to expand or remain the same.
- Stimulus could hurt recovery unless wound back faster: The Australian economy will recover from the global crisis faster than any of us thought. The Reserve Bank will lead the world in reversing the over-sized interest rate cuts of late last year and early this year.
- SMEs upbeat about profit outlook: Small business conditions have improved and the outlook for profits among SMEs is at its highest since last September, according to the results from the latest NAB SME survey.
- Small businesses find credit scarce and dear:Businesses are finally finding it easier to get credit, though they are having to pay more for it, the Confederation of British Industry has said.
- FSB warns against high street banks holding small business monopoly: The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is challenging a potential monopoly of power being built up by high street banks over small firms seeking finance, two years after the credit crunch started.
- Incomes of self-employed fall: Self-employed people in debt have seen their incomes drop by nearly ten per cent since last year.
- Calls for supermarket sweep welcomed: Small business groups have welcomed the Competition Commission’s recommendation to Lord Mandelson for a grocery ombudsman to regulate supply chain practices.
- Tax timebomb could force more small businesses under: A leading insolvency expert has urged small businesses affected by the recession not to “bury their heads in the sand” as another wave of business collapses could be on the horizon, triggered by the inability to settle tax liabilities
- As always this list is not exhaustive, but I hope it will give you a little overview. — ST.
