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The credit unions could provide the funding for small businesses and entrepreneurship now lacking from larger banks if Congress could be persuaded to raise their lending limits. What's your opinion? Would credit unions be a good source of loans for small businesses if banks cannot meet the need and should Congress act on this? Leave your comments below Read More

In this review of the book "Social Media 101" by Chris Brogan, Pierre DeBois gives an overview of the tactics and tools you should have at your command after reading. From blogs, to video and audio to LinkedIn, this review gives you a peek into subjects Brogan's book covers. Social media has become a major field for businesses and marketers of all kind. This review suggests another possible resource teaching small business owners to harness the power of social media for their needs Read More

Everyone seems to agree on the need for more entrepreneurship and small business activity to rebuild the economy after the harsh recession. Here's a cool report from Inc magazine writers Adam Bluestein and Amy Barrett with some concrete suggestions, specifically 16 steps, to get us to an environment more friendly to the kinds of entrepreneurship experts say we need to rebuild our economy. Can we make them a reality? Read More

Suggested by BizSugar advisory board member Joel Libava via Facebook, here is a great resource from Carol Roth with more than 80 strategies from many different entrepreneurs. Some of these pieces of advice are bound to contradict one another and not every piece of advice will work for every business...or even every employee for that matter. Incidentally, I first found Carol myself through another BizSugar member Sarah Shaw a.k.a. the Entreprenette. Great resource which I'm hoping everyone here at BizSugar will be sure to check out Read More

BizSugar member Yonatan Maisel specially requested the adding of this blog post with link to a podcast interview with Brad Nellis, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Software Association. Anita speaks about subjects including BizSugar, small business and social media more generally, in this wide ranging interview and the post includes some excerpts from that conversation. In May, the Northeast Ohio Software Association awarded BizSugar it’s Best of Tech Award for Best Social Networking App. For Yonatan and any other members out there who may be interested, I often include posts from the BizSugar blog where applicable here on BizSugar but not always. Of course submitting a favorite post from our blog, if it hasn't been submitted already, is easy simply by clicking the "Submit Story to BizSugar" button above each post: Read More

By the end of 2010, a tax considered a major bane to many small family owned business will return after a one year hiatus. After brief repeal at the beginning of 2010, the estate tax, or "death tax" as it's critics call it, will be back and family owned businesses passed on to children after the death of a parent could see a 55 percent tax on the value of the assets of a business that may have taken years, or in some cases generations to build. A determined battle is now being waged to be sure the death tax does not return. Are there any community members that will find themselves affected by the return of the "death tax Read More

I promised Susan Oakes a couple of days ago to post this article from a blogger I always enjoy reading, Sonia Simone of Copyblogger, in response to Susan's post "Your Customers Have The Need But Do They Have The Desire?" Check it out on her blog, M4B Marketing, or here at BizSugar posted about four days ago. In the post, in turn a response to another post from Stoney deGeyter of Search Engine Guide, Susan argues that "You need to work out the difference between those customers having a need and those that actually have a desire to take action." Susan is definitely right as far as she goes, but Sonia takes it one step further. Those customers with a "desire to take action" may just be the tip of the iceberg!
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Jason Fried of legendary software powerhouse 37 Signals talks about new directions in small business, one of his great passions beyond software, in this in-depth interview with HP Input/Output. Jason talks about everything from startup funding to the evolution of the new workplace, an idea 37 Signals has done much to pioneer. He also believes much that is important about small businesses and how to run them is pretty universal for everything from high tech firms to more traditional businesses. Hear more of his thoughts in this Web cast conversation Read More

How important is sharing small business news with your network of connections and what are the best ways to go about it? (This applies to BizSugar members, of course, but also to anyone else who uses social media.) Sharing small business news or other information of value is a form of marketing whether you realize it or not. See also the video from Greg Fry of Bloggertone, whose posts appear regularly here on BizSugar.com in this latest edition from our BizSugar blog. Read More

This article from The Daily Beast republished in Business Insider looks at a political trend independent of grass roots Tea Party organization, Wall Street or conservative punditry that the current Obama administration may need to worry over. That trend is the growing disillusion of mom and pop small businesses with an administration they feel has ignored their needs and sabotaged their efforts in a down economy while continuing to make promises and to pay lip service to their role in a financial recovery. What do small business leaders in our community feel about the U.S. government's efforts thus far, or those of other governments around the world, on behalf of small business? Read More