Economic Trends
U.S. Economic Conditions are Good for Small Business
Economic conditions are good for U.S. small business:
"Economic conditions for small business continued to be strong in the fourth quarter of 2004," said Dr. Chad Moutray, Chief Economist for the Office of Advocacy. "And for the year, GDP growth of 4.4 percent is good news for small business. In … Read More
Carnival of the Capitalists Has Arrived
Welcome to the January 17, 2005 edition of Carnival of the Capitalists, the Internet's most intriguing collection of free-market articles. With nearly 45 entries, we've got a huge line-up this week.
Organizing the Carnival entries is always a challenge. Since many of the entries could have fit … Read More
Top Economic Trends for Small Biz
Dr. John Soper, an economist with John Carroll University, will be speaking with us tomorrow about the economic trends impacting small business in 2005. I can't wait to hear what he predicts. And I hope you'll join us.It's another of our 45-minute audio Conversations with small business experts … Read More
The Small Business Advocate’s 2005 Predictions
Jim Blasingame, the Small Business Advocate, has issued his list of Top Predictions for 2005 in his newsletter (free subscription required). There are a large number of predictions -- 18 to be exact -- but I'll highlight just a few of the most universally relevant predictions:2005 Prediction: … Read More
More Top Trends for 2005
Kiplinger Forecasts (requires subscription) has just issued its Top Ten Trends for 2005. These trends are applicable to the U.S. economy as a whole, and not necessarily just small business:
1. Higher energy prices -
Kiplinger says look for higher gasoline prices by Memorial Day, with prices … Read More
Free The Grapes
I wish I could claim to have thought up the creative title of this post. But actually it's the name of an activist website called Free the Grapes.
It refers to the movement gaining popular support from just about everyone (except wine wholesalers and state bureaucrats) to dump the outdated laws … Read More
U.S. Home-Based Businesses Grow
The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) reports that home-based businesses are on the rise in the United States:As technology increases convenience, more and more self-employed have opened or moved their business into their own homes, giving them greater flexibility and control over … Read More
Weak Dollar Hits European Small Businesses Hard
Last week I wrote about the weak dollar and whether it helps or hurts U.S. small businesses (answer: it all depends).
Here is another side to the story. A New York Times article by Mark Landler profiles the disastrous impact the dollar's fall is having on European small businesses that export to … Read More
Small Fry Retailers Gain Popularity
BusinessWeek has an insightful article by Amy Tsao about the comeback of smaller specialty retailers. As it turns out, news of their death at the hands of Wal-Mart was greatly exaggerated:Wal-Mart's influence over shoppers "has peaked," says Zandl. Maybe consumers need to go to big-box retailers … Read More
Backyard Wineries and Garagistes
You've heard of garage bands. You've also heard of the high tech companies started by "two guys in a garage."Well now there are garage wineries. These are small businesses making wine from their homes, without the expensive vineyards.An article in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights this … Read More
Holiday Plans Suggest Good Economic Times
It looks like small businesses in the U.S. think things are going well for them -- well enough to do a little more for their employees this holiday season:"Small-business employees should find more to celebrate this holiday season, according to the 2004 Small Business Monitor by OPEN from American … Read More
African Entrepreneurs Ascending
Steve Rucinski of Small Business CEO emailed me a link to an article suggesting that African eCommerce may be on the verge of bigger and better things.
A joint marketing agreement between Quadrem and TradeWorld holds promise of growing the revenues of South Africa's 75,000 small and midsize … Read More
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Remember: Confidence Is Crucial
The level of confidence you walk into a sales call with has a big correlation with the level of sales you walk out with. Preparation… Read MoreSmall Business News Releases
- The NASBP Recognizes National Small Business Week With Launch of Small Business Spotlight Award to Honor Smaller Businesses and Start-ups
- Freudenberg Launches the "ideaTrophy" Competition
- Piracle Launches New Cloud-based Piracle Pay Service For Netsuite
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Ivan Widjaya - Noobpreneur.com
Anita Campbell
Martin Lindeskog
Martin Lindeskog
Robert Koenig