Small Business Success Index 5

Index Score^*		Grade
SBSI INDEX	73	C-
Capital Access	67	D+
Marketing & Innovation	65	D
Workforce	76	C
Customer Service	88	B+
Computer Technology	75	C
Compliance	92	A-
*Index score is calculated on a 1-100 scale.

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Small Biz Resource Tip: Wunderlist

February 3rd, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich

Wunderlist

Still looking for a way to get organized? Some “organizer” applications take more time to learn than the tasks you actually need to get done. Or maybe you need to organize a project—and that means you need to organize your team as well. Wunderlist offers the solution to both your problems by making the interface simple and allowing you to share task lists with friends, partners and associates. You can print tasks, send them by email or share them in the cloud. Reminders will keep you on schedule; a drag and drop feature lets you organize your tasks easily. Use on the Web or from an app on your mobile device.

Tags: small business resources
Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

More Americans Willing to Move for New Jobs

February 3rd, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

Are you looking for new employees? Well, don’t feel your search is limited to those in your own backyard. I’m not talking about virtual employees or outsourcing, either: A new study by CareerBuilder of workers nationwide found nearly half (44 percent) of respondents would willing to relocate for a career opportunity. In fact, CareerBuilder says that off laid-off employees who found jobs in the past year, 20 percent relocated to do so.

At the same time, more employers are struggling to find skilled workers–and are willing to pay to import talent to their city. Thirty-two percent of employers in the survey said would be willing to pay to relocate new employees this year; 19 percent would pay a smaller first-year salary so they could give a relocating employee a signing bonus.

Which types of workers are most in demand? The top areas for which workers were most willing to pay to relocate employees all relate to technology or to revenue-generating jobs:

Engineering – 30 percent of employers
Information Technology – 23 percent
Business Development – 21 percent
Sales – 21 percent
Financial – 16 percent
Marketing – 13 percent
Legal – 11 percent

If you’re looking for workers out of your area, you might want to check out CareerBuilder’s new site, CareerRelocate.com, which targets workers who are seeking employment outside of their area. Employers can post jobs and find candidates. Job candidates can search by keyword or category search to see where the most and fewest opportunities are for their skills; view jobs in different cities; compare salary averages and standard of living in different cities; and research homes, property values, mortgage quotes and moving and storage costs.

More than three-fourths of workers who relocated in the last year said they didn’t regret the decision. But if you’re planning to hire workers from outside your area, you should be aware of the top problems workers cited with relocating:

Cost of living is higher – 26 percent
More stress on the family unit – 24 percent
Difficult to make new friends – 18 percent
Feeling homesick – 16 percent

Knowing what issues your new employee is dealing with can help you be proactive in supporting them so they feel valued and welcome at your company.

Image by Flickr user Marxchivist (Creative Commons)

Tags: small business employees, Workforce
Posted in Small Business, small business, Workforce | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: e-SignLive.com

February 2nd, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich

e-SignLive.com

No one likes to wait for the signed document to show up in the mail, but a live signature is still required for many business contracts and forms. e-SignLive.com offers a free high-tech solution and an alternative to the pen-on-paper signature. Signers can sign from any device, and there’s no software to download. You can even have multiple signers, and everything is customized to the authentication level you require. If your business requires similar documents be signed over and over, you can create a template to use multiple times. Also, set a due date so signers know when the signature deadline is coming up.

Tags: small business law, small business resources
Posted in Business Law, Compliance, Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

Government Contracting: How Are Small Businesses Doing?

February 2nd, 2012 :: Karen Axelton

By Karen Axelton

Small businesses who obtain government contracts know that the U.S. government is a desirable client. But how are small companies doing when it comes to landing federal contracts or subcontracts? American Express OPEN’s second annual government contracting survey of more than 700 active small government contractors found they are facing some challenges, partly because federal government contracting spending was down 14 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. Here’s what else the study found:

Small businesses are spending more trying to obtain federal contracts. In 2011, active small business contractors invested an average of $103,827 in both time and money in seeking federal contracting opportunities—up 21 percent from the previous year ($86,000).

Businesses owned by minorities invested more than the average—an average of $139,709, fully 56 percent more than small businesses owned by Caucasian men and women.

Women, overall, were spending less time and money pursuing federal contracts. The average investment by women-owned firms was 30 percent less than that made by men-owned firms.

Small businesses are bidding less often. Even as they spend more on their average bid, small firms are bidding far less. Both in prime contracting and subcontracting, bidding activity has declined by nearly half.

So what does it take to succeed in federal contracting? Here are three tips:

Be persistent. The small business contractors in the survey reported that they had to submit an average of 4.4 bids before earning their first prime federal contract. Once they did land that first procurement opportunity, however, things got easier. Two-thirds of active small business contractors reported they have performed more than one federal contract. On average, it took these firms just under a year after their first procurement to win their second contract.

Be selective. The study found that when it comes to bidding on contracting opportunities, there is a law of diminishing returns. Businesses that bid on six or more contracts in a three-year period saw their success rate fall below the overall .379 “batting average.” American Express OPEN suggests the best strategy is to concentrate on just a few procurement opportunities annually; don’t submit more than two or three bids per year.

Be patient. The average success rate in obtaining prime contracts was 38 percent. However, success rates were significantly higher among small businesses that had been seeking federal contracts for 10 or more years (53 percent success rate) compared to those who had been seeking federal contracts for three years or less (20 percent success rate).

Has your business bid on government contracting opportunities? Have you found it growing easier or more difficult?

Image by Flickr user Donkey Hotey (Creative Commons)

Tags: sales process, small business
Posted in Business Development, Sales Process, sales process, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Experiment.ly

February 1st, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich

Experiment.ly

An online ad campaign shouldn’t be planned with the attitude, “Let’s throw something out there and see what sticks.” Experiment.ly lets you test and measure the performance of many aspects of your ad campaign before you sink unnecessary dollars into your efforts. You can test anything–buttons, text or images–and there’s no need to get a designer or programmer involved. It’s easy to use, with drag and drop features, so you can quickly create different versions of an ad and see which version tests the best. A free version can get you up to 5,000 unique visitors a month. Other payment plans exist if you want a more extensive campaign.

Tags: small business advertising, small business marketing, small business resources
Posted in Marketing, Resources, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Does This New IRS Form Affect Your Small Business?

January 31st, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

Will your business be affected by the new 1099-K form the IRS is rolling out this year? Business Finance reports that businesses accepting payments by credit card, debit card, gift card or online payment options such as PayPal, you could be getting 1099-K forms in the mail.

The form or forms will be sent to you payment settlement entities such as banks if gross payments to your business by that entity in 2011 totaled 1) more than $20,000 and 2) more than 200 transactions. Payment settlement entities report the information to the IRS as well; the forms are due to small businesses by today, January 31.

The new reporting requirement was created as part of the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 and is intended to make sure that merchants accurately report their income from credit and other payment cards. The goal is to increase compliance in reporting income among merchants, and over 10 years, the new requirement is expected to raise more than $9.5 billion in taxes on income that would otherwise have gone unreported or underreported.

Business Finance says the 1099-K forms will include contact information on both the entity filing the tax return and the payee; the gross amount of merchant card or third-party network payments the payee received in 2011, detailed by month. If your company gets a 1099-K, you must report the amounts on your business taxes.

If you sell products and services, you might get a 1099-K and a 1099-MISC reporting the sale of the same service, Business Finance notes. If so, you will have to contact the entity that issued the forms and ask them to correct the error, or they will be reporting your income twice to the IRS.

You can find detailed explanations about 1099-K forms and information on how to report the income on your tax forms at the IRS website.

Image Courtesy Karen Axelton

Tags: small business accounting, small business compliance, small business taxes
Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Compliance, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Codecademy

January 30th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich

Codecademy

Ever wish you could just code your own blog or website without having to call in the tech team? Started by two guys who were frustrated by having to learn programming, Codecademy teaches coding the way it should be taught–by actually having you do the coding. Courses range from “Basic Functions in JavaScript” to “Hello, New York,” which is a quick course in the basics for even the busiest of New Yorkers (assuming New Yorkers are the busiest people on the planet). Encourage your employees and fellow business associates to sign up and you can encourage each other and check up on each other’s progress.

Tags: small business resources, small business technology
Posted in Resources, Small Business, small business, Technology | No Comments »

Who’s Buying What on Mobile Devices?

January 30th, 2012 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

What are Americans doing—and buying—on their mobile phones and tablets? Increasingly, they’re buying products and services. Among smartphone owners, a December survey of a sample of TechBargains.com visitors found 32 percent of women and 25 percent of men made half or more of their holiday purchases via mobile phones, reports Internet Retailer.

iPhone users were most likely to use smartphones to shop. Overall, 34 percent of iPhone users and 20 percent of Android users who made purchases with their phones said they did half or more of their holiday shopping on the phones.

While tablets are relatively new to the party compared to smartphones, they’re already slightly ahead of smartphones as a shopping tool. Among tablet owners, 35 percent of women and 21 percent of men in the survey said that half or more of their holiday purchases were made using tablets. And overall, 75 percent of respondents had made purchases on a tablet, compared to 58 percent who had done so on smartphones and 94 percent who have done so on laptops.

For those who shop with their phone:

79 percent use the phone to research products,
77 percent to compare prices, and
73 percent to browse stores.

Of the 58 percent of shoppers who make purchases via their mobile devices:

69 percent use both the mobile browser and apps to buy products,
18 percent only use apps, and
13 percent only use a mobile browser.

What were users buying on mobile phones?

70 percent of shoppers purchased digital goods,
60 percent purchased physical merchandise,
46 percent purchased services, and
38 percent purchased consumable goods.

Of the 75 percent of tablet owners who use their devices to make purchases:

90 percent use tablets to browse stores,
89 percent research products, and
85 percent compare prices.

The iPad has the edge in mobile shopping with 86 percent of iPad 2 owners making purchases via their tablets. However, despite being brand new, the Kindle Fire is close behind, with 74 percent of users making purchases via their devices.

What about people who aren’t using their mobile phones to buy? Of those, 42 percent of men and 38 percent of women said security concerns kept them from buying on the device, while 54 percent of men and 59 percent of women cited problems in completing purchases. Want to capture shoppers’ mobile dollars? Make sure your security is airtight (and that you promote and explain this to users), and make sure your process is simple and easy to use.

Image by Flickr user Charantan Patnaik (Creative Commons)

Tags: small business marketing, small business technology
Posted in Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Lookout Mobile Security

January 27th, 2012 :: Maria Valdez Haubrich

Lookout Mobile Security

With the world going mobile at an increasing pace, the threat of malware crashing your phone is increasing, too. All you have to do is visit a “bad” website from your smartphone or download a malicious app, and you could become a tech hostage to the scammers who attacked your phone. Lookout Mobile Security can help you identify threats before you visit a site you shouldn’t and also backs up your data to the cloud in case you lose your information (or actually lose your phone). You can also erase your entire phone’s contents remotely if your phone is stolen or lost.