Small business lessons from big business mistakes

Owning a small business is an all-out battle to find the right balance between generating revenue and limiting costs. That’s especially true in a business’s first year, when finding a sustainable customer base requires investment. We asked Rita Cheng , a financial advisor who works with small businesses, about ways

Tax-Reduction Tips for Small Businesses
Small businesses face many challenges, especially in the early days, including developing a product or service, targeting it to the right market, hiring the right employees and keeping expenses under control. Meanwhile, taking the right approach to taxes is a crucial factor that sometimes is overlooked. We asked

5 Small Businesses to Start After 50
The passion that spurs someone to dream of starting a business isn’t reserved for the techie millennial in the torn jeans and hoodie. Even the person in the relaxed-fit khakis and reading glasses can feel the zeal. Research shows baby boomers may have a greater passion for entrepreneurship than younger generations.

Remember America’s militia on Memorial Day
This is Jim’s traditional Memorial Day column. Reasonable people disagree on the origins of Memorial Day, but most accept that the practice of decorating the graves of Americans who died in military service began in earnest during the Civil War. On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, Commander of the Army of the

How to Build Up A Business Credit Score
Building your company’s credit history is important — now more than ever. Most firms seeking loans aren’t examined by Venture Capital investors with the time and resources to carefully examine balance sheets. Major banks now issue fewer small business loans than ever before. For these financial institutions, the

Small Businesses Can Get Better at Managing Cash Flow
One of the most essential jobs for a small-business owner is ensuring that enough money is coming in — at the right time. Managing cash flow well means that you have money to pay bills during slow times. Managing it poorly could mean the end of your business, no matter your revenue. We asked Dmitriy Fomichenko , a

A Beginner's Guide to Freelancing
More than one in three American workers are setting their own hours and working from home or cafes while still contributing to companies large and small on a consistent basis. Yes, freelance or contract employees are here, and they’re here to stay, given that technology increasingly allows us all to work together

What Business Owners Should Think About in the First Year
You’ve come up with an idea for a product or service, identified a target market and decided to start your small business. Congratulations on pursuing your dream! Now comes the hard part — long months spent building a business, one customer at a time. The first year of a small business’s existence is crucial, as

Why Ignoring Cash Flow Can Kill Your Small Business
Businesses face many hurdles, especially when just getting started, and cash flow is near the top of the list. Even for profitable companies, it can be a challenge to make sure that more money is coming in every month than is going out. Inventory, accounts receivable, vendor contracts and payroll all must be managed

Organizational special sauce: an intangible force
”Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.” You may know this line as the commercial jingle describing the Big Mac that McDonalds’ created to compete with the Hardee’s Husky, which came with essentially the same condiments, including Hardee’s own special sauce. Over

The Benefits of Credit Card Financing For Small Business
It’s becoming increasingly harder for small businesses to get traditional loans, forcing many entrepreneurs to scramble for solutions. As MotleyFool’s John Maxfield puts it “loans to big businesses offer economies of scale, which offset the individualized attention that’s needed to analyze a business’

Four marketplace truths about your customers
Spend time in the marketplace and you’ll have many close encounters of the third kind with the most interesting species in all of nature: the human being. And as we have learned, the nature of humans isn’t much different from other animals: All need to breathe, eat, drink, procreate and survive.  But there is

You say your business plan every day
Do you have a business plan? What? In your head? How’s that working for you? Don’t know how to get one started? Well consider this conversation that happens many times, every day, between business owners just like you and the people they meet. Friend:   “Hi Joe.  Heard you started a business. What’re you doing?”

Four things salespeople can learn from Sir Laurence Olivier
The great English actor, Sir Laurence Olivier, once admitted after a lifetime on stage and screen that he had always suffered from stage fright. Think about that. One of the 20 th century’s most revered actors, who appeared in over 120 stage roles, 60 movies, more than 15 television productions and countless

25 Ways to Double Your Paycheck in One Month
Let’s face it: Everyone wishes they were making more money. But unfortunately, not everyone can ask for a pay increase and actually get the raise. Still, there are ways you can increase your take-home pay each month without relying on a salary bump. So, double your monthly paycheck by employing these 25 tips.

What politicians, small business and mice have in common
Almost 20 years ago, Dr. Spencer Johnson wrote a legendary book titled, Who Moved My Cheese? It tells a story about four characters who ate only cheese. Early in the story all four characters went to the same place in their world – a maze – to get cheese. The first two were not picky about their cheese or where

Do you value your soybeans more than your time?
Ever think about time as a commodity? Commodity: something in common use, readily available and virtually the same wherever you find it. Time certainly fits that definition, doesn’t it?  But so does a soybean. Time may be the only commodity we haven’t synthesized. Until we do, it will continue to be unique among

Leveraging a Business Line of Credit for Your Small Business
By Dmitriy Fomichenko Learn more about Dmitriy on NerdWallet’s Ask an Advisor Having access to credit can help your small business thrive — even if it’s facing difficulties. There are a number of financing options  for small businesses, but a business line of credit is often the best bet for those

Now is the winter of our economic discontent
If you’re wondering how the economy’s doing, here’s what top news outlets are reporting: “U.S. GDP Fizzles in the fourth quarter” ( Marketwatch.com ); “Economy grinds to a halt in last quarter 2015” ( Money.CNN.com ). But there’s good news: Q1 2016 GDP is projected to be in the 2% range, unlike the two previous

Gen Y: Startup Tips
More than half of Gen Y ers  start or want to start their own business. I wholeheartedly believe that entrepreneurship is the new job security for Gen Y , which is why today I’m focusing on how to prepare

Are you asking the Outsourcing Power Question?
Biutou Doumbia lives in a tiny village in Mali, in western Africa. She and her family live in poverty, very close to the line between survival and, well, you know. Oh, one more thing: Biutou is a small business owner. She makes and sells peanut butter. In Mali, as reported in a Wall Street Journal article, peanut

Ensuring Family Biz Legacy
Few family enterprises survive long after founders pass them to younger generations. You can beat these odds with frank discussion of some of the most important and often ignored aspects of running a business. The  Wall Street Journal  article,

Family Biz and Tax Advantages
Family businesses often employ parents, children or grandchildren. If your business does, employees from your family might warrant tax exemptions that can save you big. “One of the advantages of operating your own business is hiring family members,” claims

How to Choose the Right ROBS Provider When Financing a Business
Entrepreneurs looking to start or recapitalize a business are always thinking about securing enough

Small Business Value Improvement
Maybe you set personal goals for this year like losing weight or quitting a nasty habit. If you own a company or small business, your goals focus on hitting revenue or profit milestones. The trick is how to make

Jim Blasingame's 2016 Crystal Ball Predictions
Here is the 16 th edition of my New Year predictions. Wall Street’s digital greed, Washington’s anti-business policies and collusion between the two continue to create a moribund Main Street economic environment for small businesses. With a declining global economy and having exhausted financial manipulation

Small business owners – still crazy after all these years
Small business owners are constantly compared to other, more popularly trodden professional paths that could have been

Smart Biz Plan: Outsource