Handle Your Business

Few people know much about the health care reform bill (officially the Affordable Care Act) that was passed last year.

The sections that have the biggest impact on small businesses dont go into effectunitl 2014, so there isnt a huge rush to learn more.

But if you are interested, The National Association of Realtors has a great Q&A covering the topic in easy to follow language.

The Q&A covers exchanges, SHOP plans for small business and other exciting features of the law.

We posted earlier this week on the controversy swirling around this bill and its likely impact on small business.

The economy seems to be picking up for most small businesses. I hope that means your business is doing well.

I dont know how much you pay attention to connecting with your customers using email, but if you arent you are missing a really good opportunity to build a long lasting relationship and to grow your business.

Email has been a mainstay for a long time now and is still one of the best ways to connect to those who know and love what you have to offer.

But there are plenty of people who still make tons of mistakes (and miss a lot of opportunities) when connecting with customers using email. Specifically, if you have a blog or create regular content for your website, you have many chances to really grow and connect with them.

Are you taking advantage of all those opportunities?

I know I wasnt. Ive missed the boat a bunch on creating better relationships and engaging with people like you through email. But thats about to change.

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Confidence among UK small businesses is at its highest level since October 2009, new research shows.

According to research carried out by workplace provider Regus, the Business Confidence Index (BCI) is at an average of 108 points, which is relatively encouraging considering the economic conditions.

The latest Business Tracker report, which published findings from over 4,000 UK businesses, found that small business confidence measured 103 in the index. Approximately 26% of small businesses said they experienced an increase in profits last year.

Despite high levels of optimism, small businesses will remain cautious in their projections for 2011. Only 27% believe the economy will advance in the latter half of the year.

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We recently moved our offices from southern California to southern Oregon, and we have made a few discoveries, most notably that small banks actually like small business. This is revolutionary to us since everything in California is BIG — big business, big buildings, big leases, big investments. California banks can’t afford the luxury of working with truly small businesses because they can’t make enough profit to pay their Big office leases and Bigger salaries.

Oregon is absolutely refreshing. I’ve seen more bank ads directed at small business in one week than I saw for years in California. Several banks, like the local Umpqua Bank, even advertise business loans as low as $10,000. I didn’t think such a thing existed.

There is a real message here for small businesses. Understand what your local bank can, and cannot, do for your business. A small fish in a huge frying pan will get burned time and time again. Read full post…

Its taken a long time, but the small business economy is finally shaking off the Great Recession and showing solid gains. A couple of data points:

- The overall job market is picking up with Marchs job report showing a gain of 216,000 jobs, and more importantly a gain of 230,000 private sector jobs. Great quote from an AP story on the numbers:

“We are clearly seeing a breakout in the labor market,” said Paul Zemsky, the head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management. “The jobless recovery is ending and we are moving into a job expansion stage of the economy.”

- As reported by Business Week, data from the Intuit Small Business Employment Index as well as from Paychex and ADP all show small business hiring growth in March.

This doesnt mean the small business economy has fully recovered. For example, Marchs Discover Small Business Watch sentiment index showed a decline.

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It is with a heavy heart that I watch the disaster in Japan reveal the devastation that has occurred. Who knows how many small businesses have come to an end as a result? While many of us will never experience a disaster such as that, there are many more potential disasters waiting in the wings for small businesses like ours. And any one of them can put you out of business.

About ninety percent of the small businesses in the US have less than ten employees. And plenty of those only have one or two. So the loss of a single person in your business can tip it right over the edge.

Ive heard of three disasters in the last month that could have put companies out of business but didnt because of action that was taken quickly to move the company forward. Two of those are solopreneurs with outsourced support staff that could have lost their entire business.

Late last year, Michelle MacPhearson had a medical emergency that put her out of commission.

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