Small Business Trends

Is this the golden age of small business? Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine thinks so. We lead off with an Open Forum interview of Anderson by marketing guru Seth Godin. It may feel strange to think of the tail end of the Great Recession as small business’s Golden Age, but listen to Chris and see if you agree. This is the small business news roundup from Small Business Trends for April 28, 2010.

Small Is Big

There’s never been a better time. A boom for business may never have looked stranger, but here is Anderson’s bold argument that we are entering a Golden Age. Open Forum Innovation

Small business, like life, has its ups and downs. One small business guru shares his own personal battle as an example of the right attitude toward failures in business and life. Barry J. Moltz

Selling your small town business. The sixth part in this rural business series talks about the challenge of finding a buyer in a small rural market. Small Biz Survival

How to make your small business profitable. Some important variables any business can change to create a brand new profit formula. Zane Safrit

Startup

How much is your business worth? And how do you decide how much to give away to investors when seeking money to startup or grow. WSJ

Got a date with an angel? Here are some important pointers for gaining funding from an angel investor. WSJ

Does your small business qualify for government contracts? Washington has set-asides for a variety of small businesses in special classifications. Learn more in this video. Open Forum Innovation

Finance

Challenges for the self-employed or small business owner. Simple financing can be one of the greatest difficulties small businesses and entrepreneurs face. The Yonatan Maisel Blog

Marketers

As if we needed more data on this. A new report suggests as much as 91 percent of businesses use social media for marketing. Webbiquity

Turning up the lead generation. How is generating an ongoing pipeline of leads like mixing a great piece of music in a recording studio? It all comes down to tweaking the right dials. B2B Lead Generation Blog

Fiona White knows social media is important for marketing. But she’s beginning to really worry about the time she’s been spending on Facebook. Bloggertone

Tech

A new app can help record business mileage. Read this review of the new iPhone application TripAlly for more on the tool that is making recording mileage by hand history. National Association for the Self-Employed

Networking

A how-to for business networking. If this is something you don’t already do well or something you feel you could use some help with read this post. Bloomberg Business

Tweeting to your network. The microblogging platform presents some excellent opportunities for a lot more than marketing. Here’s how to use Twitter for your networking needs. Cindy King

Policy

Free seminar May 12 on legislation and your business. Learn more about how such issues as healthcare, cap and trade and labor regulations affect your business and your profits. National Federation of Independent Business