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 the United States:
- Recession Has Landlords of Retail Tenants Extending Discounts of their Own:Some small businesses are finding a silver lining in the recessionary clouds: they suddenly have leverage with their landlords.
- Financing, With Strings Attached: Small business owners should think carefully before accepting an investor’s offer of cash.
- Reaction mixed to 5-day mail delivery: Many manufacturers, publishers and a variety of small businesses say they oppose any move by the post office
- Make Your Business the Next Economic Epidemic: Viral videos represent one way for small businesses to level the advertising playing field.
- Startups offer new ways to fix your computer: Think of it as an eBay for tech support. You can choose among multiple technicians for the highest-rated one who offers what you need at the right price — and then get help from that person right away.
- NBC uses startup’s tech to expand Web localization: Web sites for NBC-owned television stations are tapping technology from an Internet startup to let visitors hone in on their particular neighborhoods. Instead of running a generic site for the entire New York metropolitan area, for instance, NBC uses…
- Venture deals down, but not as much as stocks or home prices: Amid the layoffs, foreclosures and other signs of economic gloom, the entrepreneurial ecosystem seems to be holding up better than most sectors.
- Small business incubator receives grant: A $12,000 grant from the Wachovia Foundation will help Jackson County’s new small business incubator set up shop to support local start-up companies, organizers announced last week.
- Be wary of tax prep pitfalls: NEW YORK — Income tax filing season can be a trying time for small-business owners, and in a recession, even more so.
- “The backbone of our economy”: ABERDEEN, S.D. (AP) The regional director of the South Dakota Small Business Development Center in Aberdeen says small business is the backbone of the economy.
- U.S. Recession Predicted to Spark a Surge in New Small Business: Out of Work Professionals Join the Entrepreneurial Movement: With the unemployment rate up 2.3% and nearly half a million business professionals out of a job in 2008, it is predicted that many will join the entrepreneurial movement and start a small business. While now is a good time to make bold business moves, ironically it’s the scariest time. Fear transformation expert, Kim Castle says there’s hope through a fear eliminating process that gets at the root of fear. To learn more about BrandU’s fear transformation process, visit www.brandu.com.
- Community banking: Where people come first: Customers tired of the impersonal feel of larger banks may find a better relationship from small rivals. In a recessionary economy where the statement “too big to fail” has become associated with global megabanks such as Bank of America and Citibank, a less visible but encouraging trend is continuing to gain strength: the expansion of community banking.
- Marshall’s health care bill would help small business: RICHMOND – Del. Daniel W. Marshall III, R-14, has introduced a bill that would allow businesses with fewer than 50 employees to offer health insurance that does not meet state mandates.
As always this list is not exhaustive, but I hope it will give you a little overview. — ST.
