LAS VEGAS, NV (October 5, 2018) - Nevada has seen the most growth of all states in women-owned businesses in the last ten years, alongside Las Vegas ranked eighth of all American cities, according to a new report by American Express.
“We have a diverse community that means different markets to cater to. Part of the reason why we have a lot of women entrepreneurs here is because they see a blend of necessity and opportunity,” said reporter Nina Porciuncula.
LITTLE ROCK, AR (September 10, 2018) - Arkansas business owner Erin Hohnbaum launched an Instagram social movement to highlight the success of entrepreneurs.
“There are so many fascinating women doing really cool things and there needs to be a place where we can showcase that,” Hohnbaum said. “I feel like a lot of the women we look up to followed a similar path, but there are so many different paths out there for women nowadays.”
MADISON, WI (September 5, 2018) - The women-led Doyenne Group hosted the 5x5x5 pitch contest last week as part of the Forward Festival celebrating Wisconsin entrepreneurs.
“While I agree it’s been a banner year for women, in general and in Madison, female entrepreneurs still face steep challenges in the startup space, especially in tech,” said CEO Abigail Barnes, of Allergy Amulet.
NEW ORLEANS, LA (August 31, 2018) - A $6,000 Partnership Grant to New Orleans nonprofit Urban Conservancy will fund programming to educate business owners in the greater New Orleans area.
“Receiving the grant enabled us to be creative in our programming,” Abigail Sebton of Urban Conservancy said. “It is incredibly important to both create programs and to strengthen relationships between local organizations and their banking partners in the Greater New Orleans area.”
SIOUX FALLS, SD (August 14, 2018) - The states of South Dakota, Tennessee, Alaska, Michigan and Utah rank highest for being friendly and supportive to small business owners, according to a new national survey of 7,500 business owners.
BRIDGEPORT, CT (August 13, 2018) - The new initiative Urban Synergy in Action (USA) is building an incubator to provide office space and business development support to the growing tide of urban entrepreneurs.
“It’s important to see people who live in your neighborhood or reflect the demographic of the neighborhood, opening up businesses and having a slice of that American dream… of being able to contribute, create jobs and be a fabric of the community,” said the director of Bridgeport’s Small and Minority Business Enterprise, Fred Gee.
TULSA, OK (August 9, 2018) - Black women-owned businesses in Oklahoma grew 160 percent from 2002-2012, a new report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City found.
The Kansas City Federal Reserve hosted an event for regional business owners to share their experiences and concerns. Chief among their concerns were challenges with credit, as well as lack of access to mentorships and business development information.
"You could see the palpable energy in that room when they talked about their experience as owners and what they had to go through to do what they needed to do,” said Dell Gines of the Kansas City Federal Reserve.
Source: Montana Public Radio
HELENA, MT (August 7, 2018) - Montana leads the United States in entrepreneurship, according to a new study by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana.
More than ten percent of Montanans own a business as their primary job, compared to the national average of six percent. Approximately 3,400 Montanans launch a new business every month, and more than half of all businesses opened in 2011 were still open five years later.
"Industries wax and wane. The entrepreneur's job is to kind of say, ‘Oh hey, that industry over there is on a downturn. That means there's some capacity that’s going un-utilized here. Let me see if I can figure out how use that to do something else,” said researcher Bruce Ward. "We create a lot of seeds, those seeds germinate and tend to survive."
PROVIDENCE, RI (September 4, 2018) - The Rhode Island Coalition of Entrepreneurs formed to offer events, community-building and business development training for founders and CEOs of new startups throughout Rhode Island.
“One of the things that has always struck me as odd is most entrepreneurs here in town don’t know each other,” founder Pat Sabatino said. “I’ve had instances of talking to people who had adjacent products and offices less than a mile apart, and they didn’t know each other.”
NEW YORK, NY (March 26, 2018) - Sales and revenue growth is the top challenge for small and mid-size business owners, according to the JP Morgan Chase 2018 Business Leaders Outlook survey.
“Just half of small business executives—those who lead businesses with revenues of $100,000 to $20 million—say growth is a challenge, a significant jump from last year. While 63 percent of leaders at midsize companies (with revenues of $20 million to $500 million) say the same, that portion has been trending downward for two years in a row,” the survey reports.
NEW YORK, NY (March 21, 2018) - Blockchain technology could prove to be a game-changer for small business owners in their everyday activities.
With blocks of tamper-proof data, blockchain can validate identity, products, and the entire supply chain for a business, as well as storing digital assets and protecting intellectual property. Business owners can streamline operations with sending money, tracking shipments, and utilizing self-executing smart contracts.
NEW YORK, NY (March 20, 2018) - USA Today reveals the key factor behind Elon Musk’s successful approach to marketing: find something unique that people will want to talk about.
Standing out from the crowd is a challenge in today’s market, but successful businesses thrive from highlighting features or events that people will remember.
Musk’s company SpaceX recently launched a rocket with a Tesla onboard into space and successfully landed it back on earth, achieving the ultimate publicity stunt.
Other companies have employed similar awe-inspiring tactics.
“What about the Amazon drone delivery system?” author Steve Strauss writes. “You remember that, don’t you? Of course you do. A few years ago, right before the holidays, Amazon cleverly released videos of a drone delivering packages to customers’ doorsteps. That it hasn’t happened yet has not hurt Amazon’s image as an innovator and go-to shopping hub.”
Read the entire article here with tips on how to utilize these strategies on the scale of a small business.
NEW YORK, NY (February 16, 2018) - NYC’s Department of Small Business Services launched a free service providing legal advice regarding leases and real estate issues for small business owners.
“Small businesses are the economic heart and soul of this city and they deserve every opportunity to succeed. The Commercial Lease Assistance Program will give small business owners the help they need to resolve legal issues without driving them out of business,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
BROOKLYN, NY (February 12, 2018) - Starting a business as a student is an exhilarating challenge that requires a strategic approach. Entrepreneur offers a guide to smart financial tips for students starting out in the business world.
NEW YORK, NY (February 6, 2018) - Advertising is essential for any company to spread brand awareness, and yet most small businesses don’t have an advertising professional on staff or understand how to maximize its use.
Forbes presents a guide to advertising for small business owners with a focus on doing a lot with a little - using resources and time intelligently and effectively.
“Creativity has nothing to do with size of your budget or team. As Vahbiz has seen with many of her nonprofit clients, being creative with where you spend what few resources you have is the key to success. Take the time to think about what you have and how to use it best to grab headlines,” Anuja Khemka writes.
NEW YORK, NY (January 26, 2018) - Building an online business is an incredible challenge that requires a unique mindset and approach.
Suhaib Mohammad at Entrepreneur offers seven ingredients that business owners need to thrive and grow a business in the online business world. “The arrogance of success," he quotes William Pollard, "is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow."
NEW YORK, NY (January 24, 2018) - With so many responsibilities, small business owners often make marketing a lower priority. However, marketing plays a crucial role in every business - if people don’t know your product exists, they’re not going to buy it. TGDaily provides some excellent advice on how to streamline and maximize your marketing efforts.
SAN JOSE, CA (January 23, 2018) - Devin Wenig, CEO of eBay shares a compelling Op-Ed in USA Today highlighting the importance of connection and collaboration between the tech industry and the small business world.
“Creating pathways between remote areas and urban centers is beneficial in recirculating economic prosperity. Instead of painting the tech sector and innovation as job destroyers, we need a new model of public-private tech partnership where technology companies and public officials come together to rev the small business engine,” Wenig writes.
NEW YORK, NY (January 19, 2018) - Big Data and artificial intelligence have been hot topics in the media lately - and yet most entrepreneurs don’t realize that they can use these tools in their own business.
“The majority of techniques used in Big Data and the Internet of Things (even some artificial intelligence) don’t require a large budget or a huge staff. They only require a willingness to learn and experiment,” the business blog SmallBizTrends reports.
The blog presents a fascinating list of books on Big Data, introducing the opportunities that it offers for business and offering ways to utilize these resources.
WASHINGTON DC (January 17, 2018) - The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act offers a 20 percent deduction for business income from limited liability companies and S corporations, causing many entrepreneurs to contemplate whether they should incorporate their business. However, the new law provides numerous stipulations that are important for business owners to understand.
CNBC offers a straightforward guide to evaluating and maximizing the tax law for your business. Read the entire article here.
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