Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Arizona is noted for its desert climate, exceptionally hot summers, and mild winters, however it also features pine forests and mountain ranges in the northern high country, with cooler weather than in the lower deserts.
The general consensus is that the name of the state comes from an earlier Spanish name, Arizonac, derived from the O'odham name alĭ ṣonak meaning "small spring", which initially applied only to an area near the Mexican silver mining camp of Planchas de Plata, Sonora[6][7][8][9] This is supported by the fact that that area is still known as alĭ ṣonak in the O'odham language.[10] Other possible origins that have been proposed are the Spanish phrase 'árida zona' (arid zone), shortened to Arizona or the Basque phrase aritz ona, "good oak."[11][12][13]
Arizona is located in the Southwestern United States as one of the Four Corners states. Arizona is the sixth largest state in area, after New Mexico and before Nevada. Of the state's 113,998 square miles (295,000 km2), approximately 15% is privately owned. The remaining area is public forest and park land, state trust land and Native American reservations.
Arizona is best known for its desertlandscape, which is rich in xerophyte plants such as the cactus. It is also known for its climate, which presents exceptionally hot summers and mild winters. Less well known is the pine-covered high country of the Colorado Plateau in the north-central portion of the state, which contrasts with the desert Basin and Range region in the southern portions of the state (see Arizona Mountains forests).
Like other states of the Southwest, Arizona has an abundance of topographical characteristics in addition to its desert climate. Mountains and plateaus are found in more than half of the state. Despite the state's aridity, 27% of Arizona is forest,[14] a percentage comparable to modern day France or Germany. The largest stand in the world of Ponderosa pine trees is contained in Arizona.[15]
The Mogollon Rim, a 1,998-foot (609 m) escarpment, cuts across the central section of the state and marks the southwestern edge of the Colorado Plateau, where the state experienced its worst forest fire ever in 2002.
Arizona belongs firmly within the Basin and Range region of North America. The region was shaped by prehistoric volcanism, followed by a cooling-off and related subsidence.
The canyon was created by the Colorado River cutting a channel over millions of years, and is about 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than 1 mile (1.6 km). Nearly 2 billion years of the Earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut through layer after layer of sediment as the Colorado Plateaus have uplifted.
Arizona is home to one of the most well-preserved meteorite impact sites in the world. The Barringer Meteorite Crater (better known simply as "Meteor Crater") is a gigantic hole in the middle of the high plains of the Colorado Plateau, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Winslow. A rim of smashed and jumbled boulders, some of them the size of small houses, rises 150 feet (46 m) above the level of the surrounding plain. The crater itself is nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, and 570 feet (170 m) deep.
Arizona is one of two states that does not observe Daylight Saving Time, except in the Navajo Nation, located in the northeastern region of the state. The other state being Hawaii.
Due to its large area and variations in elevation the state has a wide variety of localized climate conditions. In the lower elevations, the climate is primarily desert, with mild winters and hot summers. Typically, from late fall to early spring, the weather is mild, averaging a minimum of 60 °F (16 °C). November through February are the coldest months with temperatures typically ranging from 40–75 °F (4–24 °C), although occasional frosts are not uncommon. About midway through February, the temperatures start to rise again with warm days, and cool breezy nights. The summer months of June through September bring a dry heat ranging from 90–128 °F (32–53 °C), with occasional high temperatures exceeding 128 °F (53 °C) having been observed in the desert area.[16] Arizona's all time record high is 128 °F (53 °C) recorded at Lake Havasu City on June 29, 1994 and July 5, 2007; the all time record low of −40 °F (−40 °C) was recorded at Hawley Lake on January 7, 1971.
Due to the primarily dry climate, large temperature swings often occur between day and night in less developed areas of the desert. The swings can be as large as 50 °F (28 °C) in the summer months. In the state's urban centers, the effects of local warming result in much higher measured nighttime lows than in the recent past.
Arizona has an average annual rainfall of 12.7 inches (323 mm),[17] which comes during two rainy seasons, with cold fronts coming from the Pacific Ocean during the winter and a monsoon in the summer.[18] The monsoon season occurs towards the end of summer. In July or August, the dewpoint rises dramatically for a brief period. During this time, the air contains large amounts of water vapor. Dewpoints as high as 81°F (27 °C)[19] have been recorded during the Phoenix monsoon season. This hot moisture brings lightning, thunderstorms, wind, and torrential, if usually brief, downpours. These downpours often cause flash floods, which can turn deadly. In an attempt to deter drivers from crossing flooding streams, the Arizona Legislature enacted the Stupid Motorist Law. It is rare for tornadoes and hurricanes to occur in Arizona, but there are records of both occurring.
The northern third of Arizona is a plateau at significantly higher altitudes than the lower desert, and has an appreciably cooler climate, with cold winters and mild summers. Extreme cold temperatures are not unknown; cold air systems from the northern states and Canada occasionally push into the state, bringing temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C) to the Northern parts of the state.
Indicative of the variation in climate, Arizona is the state which has both the metropolitan area with the most days over 100 °F (38 °C) (Phoenix), and the metropolitan area in the lower 48 states with nearly the most days with a low temperature below freezing (Flagstaff).[20]
Marcos de Niza, a Spanish Franciscan, explored parts of the area in 1539 and met some of its original native inhabitants, probably the Sobaipuri. The expedition of Spanish explorer Coronado entered the area in 1540–1542 during its search for Cíbola. Society of JesusFather Kino developed a chain of missions and converted many of the Indians to Christianity in Pimería Alta (now southern Arizona and northern Sonora) in the 1690s and early 18th century. Spain founded presidios (fortified towns) at Tubac in 1752 and Tucson in 1775. When Mexico achieved its independence from Spain in 1821, what is now Arizona became part of the Territory of Nueva California, also known as Alta California.[21] In the Mexican–American War (1847), the U.S. occupied Mexico City and pursued its claim to much of northern Mexico, including what later became Arizona. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) specified that the sum of $15 million U.S. dollars in compensation (equivalent to about $380 million in present day terms[22]) be paid to the Republic of Mexico.[23] In 1853 the land below the Gila River was acquired from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. Arizona was administered as part of the Territory of New Mexico until southern New Mexico seceded[24] from the Union as the Confederate Territory of Arizona on March 16, 1861. Arizona was recognized as a Confederate Territory by presidential proclamation of Jefferson Davis on February 14, 1862. This is the first official use of the name. A new Arizona Territory, consisting of the western half of New Mexico Territory was declared in Washington, D.C., on February 24, 1863. The new boundaries would later form the basis of the state.
Although names including "Gadsonia", "Pimeria", "Montezuma" and "Arizuma" had been considered for the territory,[25] when President Lincoln signed the final bill, it read "Arizona", and the name became permanent. (Montezuma was not the Aztec Emperor, but the sacred name of a divine hero to the Pima people of the Gila valley, and was probably considered—and rejected—for its sentimental value before the name "Arizona" was settled upon.)
During the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920, a few battles were fought in the Mexican towns just across the border from Arizona border settlements. Throughout the revolution, Arizonans were enlisting in one of the several armies fighting in Mexico. The Battle of Ambos Nogales in 1918, other than Pancho Villa's 1916 Columbus Raid in New Mexico, was the only significant engagement on U.S. soil between United States and Mexican forces. The battle resulted in an American victory. After U.S. soldiers were fired on by Mexican Federal troops, the American garrison then launched an assault into Nogales Mexico. The Mexicans eventually surrendered after both sides sustained heavy casualties. A few months earlier, just west of Nogales, an Indian War battle occurred, thus being the last engagement in the American Indian Wars which lasted from 1775 to 1918. The participants in the fight were U.S. soldiers stationed on the border and Yaqui Indians who were using Arizona as a base to raid the nearby Mexican settlements, as part of their wars against Mexico.
Arizona became a U.S. state on February 14, 1912. This resulted in the end to the territorial colonization of Continental America. Arizona was the 48th state admitted into the U.S. and the last of the contiguous states to be admitted.
A sunset in the Arizona desert near Scottsdale. The climate and imagery are two factors behind Arizona's tourism industry.
Cotton farming and copper mining, two of Arizona's most important statewide industries, suffered heavily during the Great Depression, but it was during the 1920s and 1930s that tourism began to be the important Arizona industry it is today. Dude ranches such as the K L Bar and Remuda in Wickenburg, along with the Flying V and Tanque Verde in Tucson, gave tourists the chance to experience the flavor and life of the "old West." Several upscale hotels and resorts opened during this period, some of which are still top tourist draws to this day; they include the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in central Phoenix (opened 1929) and the Wigwam Resort on the west side of the Phoenix area (opened 1936).
Arizona was the site of German and Italian POW camps during World War II and Japanese U.S.-resident internment camps. The camps were abolished after World War II. The Phoenix area site was purchased after the war by the Maytag family (of major home appliance fame), and is currently utilized as the Phoenix Zoo. A Japanese American internment camp was located on Mount Lemmon, just outside of the state's southeastern city of Tucson. Another POW camp was located near the Gila River in eastern Yuma County. Because of wartime fears of Japanese invasion of the west coast, all Japanese residents in western Arizona were required to reside in the war camps.
Arizona was also home to the Phoenix Indian School, one of several federal institutions designed to forcibly assimilate native children into Anglo-American culture. Children were often enrolled into these schools against the wishes of their parents and families. Attempts to suppress native identities included forcing the children to cut their hair and take on English names.[26]
Arizona's population grew tremendously after World War II, in part because of the development of air conditioning, which made the intense summers more comfortable. According to the Arizona Blue Book (published by the Arizona Secretary of State's office each year), the state population in 1910 was 294,353. By 1970, it was 1,752,122. The percentage growth each decade averaged about 20% in the earlier decades and about 60% each decade thereafter.
The 1960s saw the establishment of retirement communities, special age-restricted subdivisions catering exclusively to the needs of senior citizens who wanted to escape the harsh winters of the Midwest and the Northeast. Sun City, established by developer Del Webb and opened in 1960, was one of the first such communities. Green Valley, south of Tucson, was another such community and was designed to be a retirement subdivision for Arizona's teachers. (Many senior citizens arrive in Arizona each winter and stay only during the winter months; they are referred to as snowbirds.)
In March 2000, Arizona was the site of the first legally binding election to nominate a candidate for public office ever held over the internet.[27] In the 2000 Arizona Democratic Primary, under worldwide attention, Al Gore defeated Bill Bradley, and voter turnout increased more than 500% over the 1996 primary.
Three ships named USS Arizona have been christened in honor of the state, although only USS Arizona (BB-39) was so named after statehood was achieved.
View of suburban development in Phoenix metropolitan area.
Arizona remained sparsely settled for most of the 19th century.[28] The 1860 census reported the population of "Arizona County" to be 6,482, of whom 4,040 were listed as "Indians", 21 as "free colored" and 2,421 as "white".[29] As of 2006, Arizona had an estimated population of 6,166,318.[30] Arizona's continued population growth is putting an enormous stress on the state's water supplies.[31]
The population of the Phoenix metropolitan area increased by 45.3% from 1991 through 2001, helping to make Arizona the second fastest growing state in the nation in the 1990s (the fastest was Nevada).[32] Currently the population of the Phoenix metropolitan area is estimated to be over 4.3 million.
According to the 2008 U.S. Census Estimates, Non-Hispanic White Americans made up 57.3% of Arizona's population. Hispanics and Latinos (of any race) made up 30.8% of Arizona's population.[33] The state has one of the highest concentrations of Native Americans, with over 85,000 individuals speaking Navajo,[1] and 10,403 persons reporting Apache as the language spoken at home in 2005.[1]
In 2010, illegal immigrants constituted an estimated 7.9% of the population. This was the second highest percentage of any state in the nation.[34][35]
The 2006 total gross state product was $232 billion. If Arizona (and each of the other U.S. states) were an independent country along with all existing countries (2005), it would have the 61st largest economy in the world (CIA - The World Factbook). This figure gives Arizona a larger economy than such countries as Ireland, Finland, and New Zealand. Arizona currently has the 21st largest economy among states in the United States. As a percentage of its overall budget, Arizona's projected 1.7 billion deficit for '09 is one of the largest in the country, behind such states as California, Michigan, and Florida, to name a few.[38]
The state's per capita income is $32,935, ranking 43rd in the U.S. The state had a median household income of $50,958 making it 22nd in the country and just shy of the U.S. national median.[39] Early in its history, Arizona's economy relied on the "five C's": copper (see Copper mining in Arizona), cotton, cattle, citrus, and climate (tourism). At one point Arizona was the largest producer of cotton in the country. Copper is still extensively mined from many expansive open-pit and underground mines, accounting for two-thirds of the nation's output.
The state government is Arizona's largest employer, while Wal-Mart is the state's largest private employer, with 17,343 employees (2008). As of June 2010, the state's unemployment rate is 9.6%.[40]
Nearly 70 percent of the land in Arizona is owned by the U.S. government, which leases a portion of the public domain to ranchers or miners.
Arizona collects personal income taxes in five brackets: 2.87%, 3.20%, 3.74%, 4.72% and 5.04%. The state sales tax is 6.6%; however, county and municipal sales taxes generally add an additional 2%.
The state rate on transient lodging (hotel/motel) is 7.27%. The state of Arizona does not levy a state tax on food for home consumption or on drugs prescribed by a licensed physician or dentist. However, some cities in Arizona do levy a tax on food for home consumption.
All fifteen Arizona counties levy a tax. Incorporated municipalities also levy transaction privilege taxes which, with the exception of their hotel/motel tax, are generally in the range of 1-to-3%. These added assessments could push the combined sales tax rate to as high as 10.7%.
[edit]Public transportation, Amtrak, and intercity bus
The Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas are served by public bus transit systems. Yuma and Flagstaff also have public bus systems. Greyhound Lines serves Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, Yuma, and several smaller communities statewide.
A light rail system called Valley Metro Rail has recently been completed in Phoenix; it connects Central Phoenix with the nearby cities of Mesa and Tempe. The system officially opened for service in December 2008.
In May 2006, voters in Tucson approved a Regional Transportation Plan (a comprehensive bus transit/streetcar/roadway improvement program), and its funding via a new half-cent sales tax increment. The centerpiece of the plan is a light rail streetcar system (possibly similar to the Portland Streetcar in Oregon) that will travel through the downtown area, connecting the main University of Arizona campus with the Rio Nuevo master plan area on the western edge of downtown.[41]
Amtrak service covers Northern AZ via its East West corridor, including Winslow, Flagstaff, and Kingman, and South-Central Arizona, including Tucson, Maricopa (Phoenix), Yuma and Benson.
Other significant airports without regularly scheduled commercial flights include Scottsdale Municipal Airport (IATA: SCF, ICAO: KSDL) in Scottsdale, and Deer Valley Airport (IATA: DVT, ICAO: KDVT, FAA: DVT) home to two flight training academies and the Nation's busiest general aviation airport.[44]
The state capital of Arizona is Phoenix. The original Capitol building, with its distinctive copper dome, was dedicated in 1901 (construction was completed for $136,000 in 1900), when the area was still a territory. Phoenix became the official state capital with Arizona's admission to the union in 1912.
The House of Representatives and Senate buildings were dedicated in 1960, and an Executive Office Building was dedicated in 1974 (the ninth floor of this building is where the Office of the Governor is located). The original Capitol building was converted into a museum.
The Arizona Legislature is bicameral (like the legislature of every other state except Nebraska) and consists of a thirty-member Senate and a 60-member House of Representatives. Each of the thirty legislative districts has one senator and two representatives. Legislators are elected for two-year terms.
Each Legislature covers a two-year period. The first session following the general election is known as the first regular session, and the session convening in the second year is known as the second regular session. Each regular session begins on the second Monday in January and adjourns sine die (terminates for the year) no later than Saturday of the week in which the 100th day from the beginning of the regular session falls. The President of the Senate and Speaker of the House, by rule, may extend the session up to seven additional days. Thereafter, the session can only be extended by a majority vote of members present of each house.
The current majority party is the Republican Party, which has held power in both houses since 1993.
Arizona state senators and representatives are elected for two year terms and are limited to four consecutive terms in a chamber, though there is no limit on the total number of terms. When a lawmaker is term-limited from office, it is not uncommon for him or her to run for election in the other chamber.
The fiscal year 2006–07 general fund budget, approved by the Arizona Legislature in June 2006, is slightly less than $10 billion. Besides the money spent on state agencies, it also includes more than $500 million in income- and property tax cuts, pay raises for government employees, and additional funding for the K–12 education system.
Arizona’s executive branch is headed by a governor, who is elected to a four-year term. The governor may serve any number of terms, though no more than two in a row. Arizona is one of the few states that does not maintain a governor’s mansion. During office the governors reside within their private residence, and all executive offices are housed in the executive tower at the state capitol. The current governor of Arizona is Jan Brewer (R). She assumed office after Janet Napolitano had her nomination by Barack Obama for Secretary of Homeland Security confirmed by the United States Senate.[45] Arizona has had four female governors including the current Governor Jan Brewer, more than any other state.
Arizona is one of seven states that do not have a specified lieutenant governor. The secretary of state is the first in line to succeed the governor in the event of death, disability, resignation, or removal from office. The line of succession also includes the attorney general, state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction. Since 1977, four secretaries of state and one attorney general have risen to Arizona's governorship through these means.
The Arizona Supreme Court is the highest court in Arizona. The court currently consists of one chief justice, a vice chief justice, and three associate justices. Justices are appointed by the governor from a list recommended by a bi-partisian commission, and are re-elected after the initial two years following their appointment. Subsequent re-elections occur every six years. The supreme court has appellate jurisdiction in death penalty cases, but almost all other appellate cases go through the Arizona Court of Appeals beforehand. The court has original jurisdiction in a few other circumstances, as outlined in the state constitution. The court may also declare laws unconstitutional, but only while seated en banc. The court meets in the Arizona Supreme Court Building at the capitol complex (at the southern end of Wesley Bolin Plaza).
The Arizona Court of Appeals, further divided into two divisions, is the intermediate court in the state. Division One is based in Phoenix, consists of sixteen judges, and has jurisdiction in the Western and Northern regions of the state, along with the greater Phoenix area. Division Two is based in Tucson, consists of six judges, and has jurisdiction over the Southern regions of the state, including the Tucson area. Judges are selected in a method similar to the one used for state supreme court justices.
Each county of Arizona has a superior court, the size and organization of which are varied and generally depend on the size of the particular county.
Arizona is divided into political jurisdictions designated as counties. As of 1983 there were 15 counties in the state, ranging in size from 1,238 square miles (3,210 km2) to 18,661 square miles (48,330 km2).
From statehood through the late 1940s, Arizona was primarily dominated by the Democratic Party. During this time period, the Democratic candidate for the presidency carried the state each election, with the only exceptions being the elections of 1920, 1924 and 1928—all three of which were national Republican landslides.
Since the election of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, however, the state has voted consistently Republican in national politics, with the Republican candidate carrying the state every time with the sole exception of Bill Clinton in 1996. In recent years, the Republican Party has also dominated Arizona politics in general. The fast-growing Phoenix and Tucson suburbs became increasingly friendly to Republicans from the 1950s onward. During this time, many "Pinto Democrats," or conservative Democrats from rural areas, became increasingly willing to support Republicans at the state and national level. While the state normally supports Republicans at the federal level, Democrats are often competitive in statewide elections, as in 2006, when Janet Napolitano was handily reelected the state's governor.
On March 4, 2008, John McCain effectively clinched the Republican nomination for 2008, becoming the first presidential nominee from the state since Barry Goldwater in 1964.
Arizona politics are dominated by a longstanding rivalry between its two largest counties, Maricopa County and Pima County--home to Phoenix and Tucson, respectively. The two counties have almost 75 percent of the state's population and cast almost 80 percent of the state's vote. They also elect a substantial majority of the state legislature.
Maricopa County is home to almost 60 percent of the state's population, and most of the state's elected officials live there. It has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1948. This includes the 1964 run of native son Barry Goldwater; he would not have carried his home state had it not been for a 20,000-vote margin in Maricopa County. Similarly, while McCain won Arizona by eight percentage points in 2008, the margin would have likely been far closer if not for a 130,000-vote margin in Maricopa County.
In contrast, Pima County, home to Tucson, and most of southern Arizona have historically been more Democratic. While Tucson's suburbs lean Republican, they hold to a somewhat more moderate brand of Republicanism than is common in the Phoenix area.
Arizona rejected an anti-gay marriage amendment in the 2006 midterm elections. Arizona was the first state in the nation to do so. Same-sex marriage was already illegal in Arizona, but this amendment would have denied any legal or financial benefits to unmarried homosexual or heterosexual couples.[46] In 2008, Arizona passed Proposition 102, an amendment to the state constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman.[47]
In 2010, Arizona passed the toughest illegal immigration legislation in the nation, igniting a fierce debate between supporters and detractors of the law.[48]
Tucson is the state's second largest city, and is located in Pima County, approximately 110 miles (180 km) southeast of the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Tucson metropolitan area crossed the one-million-resident threshold in early 2007. It is home to the University of Arizona, which, along with Arizona State University in Tempe, are considered the state's flagship universities.
The Prescott metropolitan area includes the cities of Prescott, Sedona, Cottonwood, Camp Verde and numerous other towns spread out over the 8,123 square miles (21,000 km2) of Yavapai County area. With 212,635 residents, this cluster of towns forms the third largest metropolitan area in the state. The city of Prescott (population 41,528) lies approximately 100 miles (160 km) northwest of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Situated in pine tree forests at an elevation of about 5,500 feet (1,700 m), Prescott enjoys a much cooler climate than Phoenix, with average summer highs in the upper 80s Fahrenheit and winter temperatures averaging 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Yuma is center of the fourth largest metropolitan area in Arizona. It is located near the borders of California and Mexico. It is one of the hottest cities in the United States with the average July high of 107 °F (42 °C). (The same month's average in Death Valley is 115 °F (46 °C).) The city also features sunny days about 90% of the year. The Yuma Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 160,000. Yuma also attracts many winter visitors from all over the United States.
Flagstaff is the largest city in northern Arizona, and is situated at an elevation of nearly 7,000 feet (2,100 m). With its large Ponderosa Pine forests, snowy winter weather and picturesque mountains, it is a stark contrast to the desert regions typically associated with Arizona. It sits at the base of the San Francisco Peaks the highest mountain range in the state of Arizona, with Humphreys Peak, the highest point in Arizona at 12,633 feet (3,851 m). Flagstaff has a strong tourism sector, due to its proximity to numerous tourist attractions including: Grand Canyon National Park, Sedona, and Oak Creek Canyon. Historic U.S. Route 66 is the main east-west street in the town. Flagstaff is home to 57,391 residents and the main campus of Northern Arizona University.
Public schools in Arizona are separated into about 220 local school districts which operate independently, but are governed in most cases by elected county school superintendents; these are in turn overseen by the Arizona State Board of Education (a division of the Arizona Department of Education) and the state Superintendent of Public Instruction (elected in partisan elections every even-numbered year when there is not a presidential election, for a four-year term). In 2005, a School District Redistricting Commission was established with the goal of combining and consolidating many of these districts.
Private higher education in Arizona is dominated by a large number of for-profit and "chain" (multi-site) universities.[49] Only one traditional (single-site, non-profit, four-year) private college exists in Arizona (Prescott College).[50] Arizona has a wide network of two-year vocational schools and community colleges. These colleges were governed historically by a separate statewide Board of Directors but, in 2002, the state legislature transferred almost all oversight authority to individual community college districts.[51] The Maricopa County Community College District includes 11 community colleges throughout Maricopa County and is one of the largest in the nation.
Besides being home to spring training, Arizona is also home to two other baseball leagues, Arizona Fall League and Arizona Winter League. The Fall League was founded in 1992 and is a minor league baseball league designed for players to refine their skills and perform in game settings in front of major and minor league baseball scouts and team executives, who are in attendance at almost every game. The league got exposure when Michael Jordan started his time in baseball with the Scottsdale Scorpions. The Arizona Winter League, founded in 2007, is a professional baseball league of four teams for the independent Golden Baseball League. The games are played in Yuma at the Desert Sun Stadium, but added two new teams in the California desert, and one more in Sonora for the 2008 season.
A spring training game between the two Chicago teams, the Cubs and the White Sox, at HoHoKam Park in Mesa
Arizona is a popular location for Major League Baseballspring training, as it is the site of the Cactus League. The only other location for spring training is in Florida with the Grapefruit League. The Los Angeles Dodgers have a new spring training facility in Phoenix owned by Glendale which opened in 2009, making them the 14th team in Arizona. Spring training has been somewhat of a tradition in Arizona since 1947 (i.e. the Cleveland Indians in Tucson until 1991, and the San Diego Padres in Yuma until 1992) despite the fact that the state did not have its own major league team until the state was awarded the Diamondbacks in Phoenix as an expansion team. The state hosts the following teams:
Phoenix Art Museum, located on the historic Central Avenue corridor in Phoenix, is the Southwest’s largest collection of visual art from across the world. The museum displays international exhibitions along side the Museum’s collection of more than 18,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, Western American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. With a community education mandate since 1951, Phoenix Art Museum holds a year-round program of festivals, live performances, independent art films and educational programs. The museum also has PhxArtKids, an interactive space for children; photography exhibitions through the Museum’s partnership with the Center for Creative Photography; the landscaped Sculpture Garden and dining at Arcadia Farms.
Arizona is a recognized center of Native American art, with a number of galleries showcasing historical and contemporary works. The Heard Museum, also located in Phoenix, is a major repository of Native American art. Some of the signature exhibits include a full Navajo hogan, the Mareen Allen Nichols Collection containing 260 pieces of contemporary jewelry, the Barry Goldwater Collection of 437 historic Hopi kachina dolls, and an exhibit on the 19th century boarding school experiences of Native Americans. The Heard Museum has about 250,000 visitors a year.
Sedona, Jerome, and Tubac are known as a budding artist colonies, and small arts scenes exist in the larger cities and near the state universities.
Arizona is prominently featured in the lyrics of many Country and Western songs, such as Jamie O'Neal's hit ballad "There Is No Arizona". George Strait's "Oceanfront Property" uses "ocean front property in Arizona" as a metaphor for a sucker proposition. The line "see you down in Arizona Bay" is used in a Tool song in reference to the possibility that L.A. will one day fall into the ocean.
"Arizona" was the title of a popular song recorded by Mark Lindsay. Arizona is also mentioned by the hit song "Take It Easy" written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey and performed by the Eagles. The song includes the lines:
^ McClintock, James (1916). Arizona, Prehistoric, Aboriginal, Pioneer, Modern: The Nation’s Youngest Commonwealth within a Land of Ancient Culture. Chicago: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
^ Saxton, Dean, Saxton, Lucille, & Enos, Susie. (1983). Dictionary: Tohono O'odham/Pima to English, English to Tohono O'odham/Pima. Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press
Miller, Tom (editor), 1986, Arizona: The Land and the People. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. (ISBN 0-8165-1004-0).
Officer, James E., 1987, Hispanic Arizona, 1536-1856. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. (ISBN 0-8165-0981-6).
Thomas, David M. (editor), 2003, Arizona Legislative Manual. In Arizona Phoenix, Arizona, Arizona Legislative Council. Google Print. Retrieved January 16, 2006.
Trimble, Marshall, 1998, Arizona, A Cavalcade of History. Treasure Chest Publications, Tucson, Arizona. (ISBN 0-918080-43-6).
Arizona State Databases – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Arizona state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.
Info on Arizona State Business websites needed. Publish an Arizona State Business website review (terms negotiable).
A Small Business Blog and Small Business Tips Related to Growing, Marketing and Managing a Small Business.
Small business blog for small business owners, includes resources for businesses, small business grants, business plans, business letters, daily business tips, online marketing advice and information. Learn ideas for your small business.
According to Cassino, social- media marketing offers local businesses an easy way to sidestep expensive local-media advertising channels and deliver their offers directly to potential customers.
In the latest survey of more than 4,000 small firms conducted by Borrell, local business owners on average said they expected to devote about 14 percent of total online-ad spending this year to social media. That is more than double the 6.6 percent social-media allocation by local businesses in 2011.
Put that into dollar terms and it represents a spending increase from about $1.1 billion last year to projected spending on social media this year of over $2.2 billion by local businesses.
While recent trends indicate that many of us are opting to use cloud-based and mobile software, businesses rely on software that can reside on a variety of platforms: cloud, mobile, and yes, on-premise.
We have picked 25 small business apps—some of which are clouds services, others for mobile devices and some are standard on-premise software installs. What they all have in common are ways to enhance your business and your business success.
Form 1099s are information returns. They make the IRS aware that someone else has received income from you.
Generally speaking, if you paid any one person or entity $600 for services last year, tax law requires you to send them and the IRS a 1099-MISC. That MISC is for miscellaneous income.
Not everyone does that right now, accountants say. Consider the small building contractor who pays his painter, drywaller and other subcontractors in cash. He might not have filled out a 1099 for each. A self-employed consultant who pays a graphic artist $600 for marketing material must file one, too.
This year, for the first time, the IRS is reminding all these taxpayers of their legal obligation directly on tax forms
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No country suffered more than Japan in 2011. Japan was rocked by an 8.9 earthquake, then a tsunami that was created from the quake hit the small island. The tsunami caused significant damage to one of Japans power plants making it impossible to properly cool or shutdown the nuclear reactor. The inability to cool the nuclear plant resulted in a nuclear melt down, and the escape of radiation. When the trifecta hit, the Japanese people earned the world's respect, they managed the tragedy with stoicism and grace. The consequences of this horrible tragedy, and implications of the radiation leaks, into the sea and atmosphere are still unknown. Japan will bear the scars from 2011, for generations to come.
The U.S. Small Business Administration - SBA is seeking nominations for awards honoring the critical economic role small businesses play in federally funded research and development through SBAs Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs.
With our economic challenges sure to continue for a while, here are some resolutions to consider for 2012.
Business plan
This is the most fun-damental item needed by any business. You wouldn't drive to Florida without a map; you shouldn't try to start or run a business with a business plan.
Creating a safety net for your social-media activities has never been more important.
When Twitter went down last year for several hours, tweeters believed that it was a service attack with all their personal and business information hacked and lost. Although Twitter denied falling victim to an attack, new hackers and technologies surface daily -- making protecting your social content and contacts all the more vital.
What is Hot and What is Not in Technology for 2012
Top Winners Predicted for 2012 What is Hot
1. Mushroom Cloud
The virtual cloud is now a mushroom cloud. More and more applications and data is available virtually. Customers are no longer tied to their desktops, data is accessible in the cloud. As long as you have an Internet connection, you have access, regardless of your hardware.
2. Smart Mobility
Mobile phones have become smart devices, they are more than just phones and alarm clocks. By the end of 2012, it will be hard to find a phone that does not run games, support Internet connections and have built in web browser.
3. Multi-Function Devices
I suspect that devices will begin merging, there is no longer a need for so many gadgets. The functionality of the devices from smart phones, kindles, ipads and computers are redundant and there is likely to be device consolidation as the overlap in functionality increases.
In a recent study conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, small business owners stated their biggest challenges are:
1) Economic Uncertainty- 49%;
2) The National Debt- 47%;
3) HEALTH CARE- 39%;
4) Over Regulation- 36%;
5) Taxes- 28%.
Next to the state of the economy and the debt, the most specific fear for small business comprises the impending health care regulations which are proving to be difficult to decipher and threaten profitability.
Tis the season for year-end wrap-ups and Top 10 lists. While condensing a years worth of events into a single Best Of list can be daunting, looking back can also give us a fresh perspective. In that spirit, we are highlighting some major themes that came up in our small-business coverage this year.
While it is impossible to make a single pronouncement about the overall state of American small business in 2011, a few general observations hold: The business climate is still fairly bleak, as is the mood of many owners. Few companies are planning hiring sprees for 2012, and the hurdles to growing a business weak customer demand, tougher credit requirements remain daunting.
That said, start-ups still started up this year and business owners still invested in new ideas and strategies. Here are some of the other small-business topics that resonated with us this year:
Waiting to the last minute to buy holiday gifts is often rite of passage in December. But no doubt a holiday list is waiting in an iPhone, on a to-do list in the kitchen or rattling around in your head. But when thinking about what to get the loved ones in life, don't forget the small business owners in your life. Being a part of a community means frequenting local businesses that work tirelessly year round to provide the highest quality products and services. When you have a good relationship with a small business owner, sometimes even a small gesture can mean the difference between a good year and a great year for them.
But what do get a small business owner? Here are five suggestions on both the low and high end, depending on how generous you are feeling this year:
Snail mail is about to trudge even slower, forcing companies dependent on the postal service, such as prescription-medication firm Express Scripts and thousands of small businesses, to revamp fundamental business models.
The U.S. Postal Services plan to save $2.1 billion a year and fend off possible bankruptcy threatens to end almost all overnight delivery of first-class letters and postcards next year.
MerchantCircle, the largest social network of local business owners in the nation, today issued the results of its seventh Merchant Confidence Index, a survey of local business owners across the country sharing their confidence levels in the current economy, and their expectations of future revenue, marketing spend and hiring. The results of the 2011 Q4 survey of more than 2,500 local merchants indicate that business optimism has decreased over the past six months. The current MCI score is 59.4 out of 100, down 6 percent from the score of 63.2 in June 2011.
As 2011 winds down to a close, many small business owners are scrutinizing year-end tax deadlines in a last-ditch effort to lighten their payment to Uncle Sam come April. One of the smartest moves they can make, including the self-employed is to start a 401(k) plan before December 31st. It’s important to note that while a few solo 401k plan providers will allow purchases for a 2011 plan through December 31st, a traditional plan for a business with employees would need to be purchased a week or two earlier.
In order to effectively target your customers, you need to know who and where they are. Customers come in all shapes and sizes, so how do you discern which customers are the best to target?
Three-quarters of small business owners say so many Americans are financially unprepared for retirement it's reached crisis levels, a survey says.
A survey of small business owners by Nationwide Financial indicates small businesses may add to the problem because only 19 percent of these businesses offer their employees a 401k or other employee self-funded retirement plan.
A recent study distributed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute showed that Texans have the lowest financial literacy in the country. The survey revealed that Texans largely do not understand basic financial concepts like interest rates, mortgages, and investments. But this knowledge gap is not limited to Texas alone; it is issue throughout the United States.
We know the holidays are always hectic, but it is an important time of year for your business. Not only is this the season when retailers make most of their income, it's also a good time to sit down and strategize, USA Today recommends.
Although they are some of the busiest people in the country, small-business owners find time to get involved in the democratic process. Many of them feel they have no choice but to push back on a government that sings their praises while dipping its long arm into their coffers. Not to mention all the times they get nudged, pushed or slapped by its misguided policies.
Because gift-giving and many other aspects of the Christmas festival involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, the holiday has become a significant event and a key sales period for retailers and businesses. The economic impact of Christmas is a factor that has grown steadily over the past few centuries in many regions of the world.
While Black Friday may be known as the busiest shopping day of the year for large retailers, independently owned boutiques are hoping the next day, Small Business Saturday, will be their busiest day of the year.
Small Business Saturday is a day that is designated nationally to supporting local busineses.
Technology product review sites can be a valuable resource for small businesses that need to make purchasing decisions. Sites offer expert and consumer opinions, as well as how-to information, competitive pricing locations, and the latest news on technology trends.
62 per cent of small business owners expect their revenue to increase in 2012 27 percent plan to create new jobs over next twelve months 65 percent say winning new business will be their priority over the next twelve months
Britains small businesses expect to grow their profits and employee headcount over the next 12 months despite the bleak economic climate, according to a survey of 374 small businesses by Simply Business, the UKs largest business insurance broker.
Many small business owners will tell you that regulatory concerns hamper their plans to hire and expand. But according to a new survey, where they really run into difficulty is pinpointing exactly which regulations are responsible for their problems.
Echoing the results of several recent studies, four out of 10 small employers (between one and 25 employees) say regulatory and legal problems are impeding the growth of their businesses, according to the latest National Small Business Poll released Tuesday by the National Federation of Independent Business. More specifically, 82 percent of them said the obstacles stemmed from government regulations.
But here is the real kicker: Of those who said regulations were a major growth impediment, only 36 percent identified a specific regulation or set of regulations that was responsible for their problems.
Any tips on how to survive in a highly seasonal small business?
Many retailers encounter a huge spike in business during the holidays. Seasonal businesses dedicate a large part of the year to preparing for those certain weeks or months when most of their revenue is generated.
Those boom times come at a price - a struggle for financial survival throughout the remainder of the year, when business slows to a trickle.
Small Business Saturday is coming up in two weeks and it's not to early to prepare for it.
Experian Business Services recently listed 10 tips for preparing for the day, Nov. 26. Small Business Saturday started last year as way to encourage people to shop at local stores and to think about small businesses as an important part of their holiday shopping.
U.S. small businesses, which are responsible for almost two-thirds of new hires annually, are facing rising barriers and an increasingly hostile relationship with Washington due to federal regulations.
As a small business owner, it can be difficult to decide where your time is best spent, especially since your time really does equal money. Technology may make marketing and customer service easier, but it can also be more time consuming with existing, and potential, clients expecting a 24-7 social media presence, and business owners wanting to take advantage of every available opportunity to spread the word of their product or service.
This list of resources for small business leaders and entrepreneurs includes Small Business Trends and our sister site BizSugar and will supply plenty of ideas for use in your own business.
Bad relationships with big banks are leading more small-business owners to switch to local banks, community banks, or credit unions. While banks such as Wells Fargo and Bank of America claim their small-business lending has increased this year, many of the banks define small businesses as those with less than $20 million in revenue.
Small businesses are toning down their holiday celebrations and gifts this year, experts say. Some spent a little more in 2010 than they had during any other year of the recession, but slow growth is making them scale back again.
Two generous tax breaks that small business owners got during the recession are going to shrink dramatically in 2012. That makes yearend tax planning more important than usual.
The changes affect the deductions for purchases of equipment. One is called the Section 179 deduction, a name taken from a provision of the Internal Revenue Code. The other is called bonus depreciation. Congress approved the breaks as an economic stimulus move — they were intended to make it easier for small businesses to expand and hire workers. Although the economy is still slow, the breaks are being scaled back.
October is Womens Small Business Month. There are more than 27 million small businesses in the United States, and over 7.7 million of these businesses are owned by women. This is a 20.1% increase from 2002. Women -owned businesses, where women own 51% percent or more of the stock or equity, generated $1.2 trillion in receipts. Women-owned businesses will account for one-third of the new jobs created by 2018.
According to the 2007 Survey of Business Owners, almost 800,000 small businesses are owned by Latinas, more than 900,000 small businesses are owned by Black/African-American women, over 500,000 small businesses are owned by Asian-American/Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women, and close to 15,000 small businesses are owned by American-Indian-Alaskan Native females.
Researchers have just come up with a way to turn an iPad into a Braille keyboard--but until this kind of technology is on the market, it is up to business owners to make sure that their websites meet the needs of clients with special needs.
According to accessibility guidelines from the U.S. government, 8 percent of Americans have a disability that affects how they can access and use websites. Among the conditions in this group, four percent are vision-related, two percent are movement-related, one percent hearing-related, and less than one percent related to learning disabilities. This means that accessibility may have more of an effect on Web sales than you may have previously thought. But what can you do to improve website accessibility for these customers?
An accessible website will also be friendly to seniors--and small businesses will need increasingly to cater to them. By 2018, almost 24 percent of the population will be over 55.
Social media are currently the two words on everyone business owners lips,this new phenomenon is a modern and effective method of communication which brings together businesses, organisations, people, news and hobbies. The latest ground breaking news can be spread across the world in seconds and businesses can go from zero to hero within a matter of weeks. If utilised to its full potential, social media can be the most effective marketing tool for small businesses with minimal effort and expenditure.
Occupy Boston has been in the news a lot lately, but one recent story has some Boston residents riled up and crying hypocrisy.
Due to the groups presence in Dewey Square, the Greenway Mobile Food Fest, a free event featuring Bostons food trucks, local bands, and a food drive for the citys homeless, has been cancelled.
Comments on the articles about the cancellation already circulating make it clear that people are angry at Occupy Boston. After all, this is not just any event -- it’s one that represents almost exactly what the Occupy movement supports: small business owners and victims of the 1%.
The following are some of the more common mistakes made by ISVs and software developers...
1. Lack Of A Plan
Many software developers start out simply by writing an application to make their own lives easier, and often do not really have a plan to turn that idea into a business. But they later decide to do just that, and like any other business, a plan is necessary in order for a software company to succeed. Create a development road-map, a marketing plan, and a business plan, all of which lay out goals, feature priorities, and a time frame for accomplishing specific parts of the plan.
FedEx Office, an operating company of FedEx Corp. , today announced it will host a three-part Tweet Chat series featuring industry leaders addressing small business trends and issues. The series will be held over three weeks and each Tweet Chat will feature a different small business expert who will discuss important topics for entrepreneurs--including Recession Proof Your Small Business, Make Your Advertising Pay Off and Branding on a Shoestring Budget.
The virtual Boost Your Small Business Tweet Chat series will take place on three consecutive Thursdays in October, and the moderator will be Brian Wharton, a former 15-year small business owner and current marketing manager for FedEx Office. To attend these sessions on Twitter, participants should follow the #fedexsmallbiz hashtag at the following times.
The employees who help you run your small business may also be helping to destroy it.
Though they usually do not mean to do any harm, employees are increasingly responsible for network security breaches, according to an article in Mondays Wall Street Journal. This is because hackers have gotten adept at breaking into company networks by exploiting well-intentioned employees.
A Treasury Department program aimed at helping small businesses get their hands on cash ended this week -- with a thud.
The Small Business Lending Fund, set up last year with $30 billion to help banks jumpstart lending, disbursed a mere $4 billion, Treasury said. And it left many rejected bankers frustrated.
The news comes as small business owners complain that they cannot grow or hire because they lack access to credit. The sector has been in the spotlight as the country grapples with a sky high unemployment rate.
Reasons behind the disappointing results are myriad.
The U.S. economy is now the same size that it was before the 2007 recession, and yet we have 7 million fewer jobs. The latest data from the Department of Labor suggests that zero job growth is here to stay well into 2012. As conversations across the nation shift from how to create economic growth to how to create more jobs, many are asking: what should be done? To answer this question, we have to consider in which sectors America can achieve competitive advantage relative to emerging powerhouses such as China and India.
Small and medium-sized businesses played a key role in helping Canada move forward from the 2008-2009 recession, with many owners making personal sacrifices to help their businesses survive, according to a new report from The Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The report found that 62 per cent of business owners worked longer hours; 43 per cent cut their own salaries including one owner who had not taken a salary since July, 2009); 40 per cent took on more debt; and 37 per cent cancelled personal holidays to weather the economic storm. Just 20 per cent made no changes in their own behaviour at all.
Sheryl Sandberg is new COO of Facebook, the same position she held at Google. Now, she is working to encourage businesses to treat each of the 750 million users as potential customers and advertise with the website.
Among the benefits of a Facebook marketing campaign is that companies can target their advertising materials, narrowing demographics down to just one zip code or gender, if they wish, the news source explains.
All of us start the day with every intention of completing a variety of tasks, but unfortunately many of us become distracted as the day moves on. Or even worse, we are tasked with crisis management, and at the end of the day we find that we have made little progress in whittling down the days planned tasks. As well intentioned as you may be, it seems to become a routine, and one that far too many of us fall into.
When the country recovered from recessions in the past, small businesses were usually the first companies to start hiring. But smaller companies are so pessimistic now that they are not taking on their historical leadership position.
The National Federation of Independent Business, which issues a monthly report on small business optimism, says confidence in the future of the economy crashed in August. The group's optimism index -- which it wryly called the Small Business Pessimism index -- was down for the sixth straight month.
Small businesses pay the heaviest price to comply with these rules. According to the Small Business Administration, mom-and-pop businesses pay 60 percent more to meet federal standards than larger corporations. In fact, the cost exceeds $10,500 per year, per employee. It's no surprise, then, that small businesses are extremely reluctant to hire new workers — even if they can — because of the cloud of uncertainty that billows out of Washington these days.
IBM Corp. will provide $1 billion in financing over the next 18 months to credit-worthy small and medium businesses to help them acquire the companys new suite of advanced technologies.
Announcing the financing initiative Thursday, officials at IBM headquarters in Armonk said it is aimed at helping those businesses spur innovation and drive economic growth by making credit more easily accessible and eliminating many of the cost barriers to business growth.
They pointed to U.S. Small Business Administration reports that more than 50 percent of small businesses fail within their first five years due to lack of capital.
A band of thieves rents an office in the same building as a California law firm. They then use that address with a different suite number to have $70,000 worth of computers and office furniture delivered using the law firms line of credit. They load the furniture into a truck and disappear.
In Pennsylvania, thieves place malware on a school districts computer system and use information gained to siphon about $700,000 from its bank accounts in 74 transactions over a two-day period.
A vast majority of the nations small business owners expressed concern about the possibility of a double-dip recession, according to the latest Citibank survey, though many also said they are successfully coping with uncertain economic conditions.
According to the survey, nine out of 10 small business owners said they are concerned the nation could slip back into a recession. But 79% of small business owners said they are prepared if the economy were to experience another downturn.
More than 1 million self-employed Americans are no longer in business almost four years after the last recession began, as the economy constrains entrepreneurial activity and small-business job creation.
The 18-month contraction that started in December 2007 initially resulted in more would-be business owners, as the number of people who work for themselves grew to 16.3 million in July 2008 from 15.7 million at the end of 2007, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since then, the total has fallen about 10 percent to 14.7 million in July, the data show.
A pair of florists, a nutritional therapist and an aspiring coffee shop owner sat among a dozen others in a small Portland classroom on a recent evening, trying to understand a big issue. Social media.
The two words are quickly becoming a necessity when it comes to running a business. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and a host of other social media outlets promise low-cost, targeted routes to customers.
More and more companies are joining one or more social networks to learn how they work -- and how they pay. But many wonder, if likes and tweets do not lead to sales, is it all worth it? Small businesses often don't have the staff or budget to find out, leaving owners to navigate the networks themselves.
There are many rewards in running your own business. But you must be aware of the tradeoffs and sacrifices that come with being in charge. Over time, the stress may take its toll on your physical and emotional health, affecting your business as well as your relations with employees, family and friends. Fortunately, there are good ways to keep business burnout at bay.
First, identify responsibilities or activities that are causing the stress. What regularly causes your anxiety? Perhaps you dread mundane tasks like bookkeeping and filing reports, or having to make sales calls. You may have customers who are difficult to work with or do not pay invoices on time. And, because you are responsible for everything your business does, you may obsess about things beyond your control.
Cellphones have been around for a long time and many small businesses have them. They are good for phone calls and basic text messaging. Smartphones - more powerful cellphones - were introduced to the business world more recently, and their popularity has grown exponentially ever since.
Smartphones, such as BlackBerry, are used today for much more than phone calls and text messaging - small and large businesses alike rely upon them every day for everything from email and browsing the Web, organizing calendars and scheduling appointments, to editing documents and tracking orders and customer activity. They are essentially pocket-sized computers that have, arguably, led to a new generation of mobile workers, new ways of doing business and the emergence of a new type of office - the mobile office.
For East Coast business owners shaken by last weeks earthquake and bracing for Hurricane Irene's onslaught, the stats are gloomy. Twenty-five percent of small businesses hit with a disaster like a flood or an earthquake never re-open.
A new session of Entrepreneur School will launch early next month at Southwest Florida Enterprise Center, the city of Fort Myers' small-business incubator.
Entrepreneur School runs one evening a week, for six consecutive weeks. It boasts more than 200 past participants. This program could be right for you if:
- You are thinking about starting a business;
- You are starting a business but are confused about everything you have to do; or
- You own a business, but are dissatisfied with the results.
The poor economy is prompting many cities to bend their rules to help struggling businesses. Their actions could pay off for residents as well.
In Lighthouse Point, neon-lit Open signs now are tolerated in storefront windows. Downtown Boca Raton is welcoming sandwich-board business signs on sidewalks. Restaurants in Fort Lauderdale, Margate and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea now can sell alcohol at Sunday morning brunch. And in Boynton Beach, the commission in September will consider easing requirements for sidewalk cafes downtown.
Scams that target small businesses come in a number of forms, and can leave your business vulnerable and exposed to a variety of threats.
Scammers will often go to great lengths to convince businesses that their offer or request is legitimate. Many scams succeed because they look like the real thing or try to take advantage of a busy office environment.
The best defence to protecting your business is by being aware of the most common scams targeting businesses, and knowing what to do if you are targeted by a scam.
The devastation may seem overwhelming, but business must go on as quickly as possible. Here are some tips to consider to help your business bounce back and get up and running as quickly as possible in the wake of a disaster.
1. Have a Plan.
Consider what the impact will be if power and communications are down for a day…or a week. Communicate now--proactively--with suppliers, partners, customers, or other affected parties to explain the situation, and to inform them that business may be interrupted, and you may be unable to communicate reliably, but that business will resume as quickly as possible.
In the event of an accident or disaster, small business employees are well positioned to keep operations running smoothly while a business owner is away. Developing a business continuity plan and sharing it with employees can prepare them to properly navigate most emergency situations while the business owner is out of the office.
A new definition of what constitutes a small business being considered by the Treasury Department is raising concerns among some closely held companies that it’s a step toward requiring them to pay corporate taxes.
The proposed definition, included in an Aug. 9 Treasury report, places the upper limit for a small business at $10 million in annual gross income or deductions. Currently, there is no size limit on what constitutes a small business for purposes of tax policy discussions.
Attracting new customers can be a challenge for any company, and small businesses have to work exceptionally hard to reach this goal. By using Facebook the right way, Galloway business owners can spread the word about their companies.
The first thing you’ll want to do is set up a Facebook account for professional use. You probably won’t want to mix your personal and professional Facebook friends, and the easiest way to keep them separate is with a second account dedicated to professional use.
Once you have created the account, take the time to fill out all of the information fields.
This economic recession has brought a plethora of business failures and it’s safe to assume that once the economy gets roaring, many of these failed businesses will come back and be very successful. However, some businesses will never recover to what it once was.
History has shown this to be true.The telegraph industry was decimated by the Great Depression, ultimately getting replaced by new technology (telephone) coming out of that Depression.
Yes, you need a website. No matter the size or type of your business, if you’re trying to compete in todays tech-savvy world then you need a website in order to market yourself, gain traction in your industry and simply be found by customers. Today when someone is looking for a dry cleaner, antiques dealer, or hair salon they are going to Google. Lets face it, most people don’t even open that big yellow book that shows up on their doorstep each year. Do not have a website? Only listed in the directory sites? You are losing customers.
Small businesses tend to be more agile than large corporations, but in order to take advantage of that strength, they must be willing to adapt with changing times in order to prosper and survive. This is especially true when faced with a difficult economic climate.
The latest cat-and-mouse battle between Facebook and Google is being fought in the business world – specifically, the world of business as it appears on each company's social network. And Facebooks newest salvo, a guide to Facebook for Business, is a direct thumb of the nose against its scrambling competitor.
The company unveiled Facebook for Business earlier this week, but don't be alarmed by the title – it is not a new feature or page setup on the site for businesses. Rather, Facebook for Business is a small portal that Facebook created to show companies how they can maximize their social presence on the site.
Privately-held businesses are aggregately performing better now than at any point since the recession -- sales are growing across the board, and profit margins are increasing, too. With such objective evidence of success, privately-held businesses should be celebrating. Instead, they are cautious.
The National Federation of Independent Business reports the Small Business Optimism Index, a measure combining ten factors including plans to invest, planned hiring and expected economic expansion.
Small business represents 64 percent of net new jobs for the past 15 years, but -- in spite of their profits and growth -- small businesses haven't been hiring lately, according to the still-elevated unemployment rate. There is too much uncertainty for employers to take on the long-term financial risk of new employees.
A business Insider survey of 16 small business owners in San Francisco who have done business with Groupon found that more than half of of the owners would not want to do another Groupon deal.
Even with just over half of the business owners not wanting to participate in another Groupon daily deal, more than 60 percent of the surveyed businesses called the deal a success. The majority of respondents offered between 70 and 80 percent off, according to charts on the website.
Just under 60 percent of the surveys respondents recevied between a 25 and 50 percent revenue split with the Chicago-based Groupon.
The clock is ticking to raise the national debt limit. Lawmakers have just two days left to come to an agreement before the government defaults on its loans. But one local business owner says it might not matter either way.
We are basically damned if we do and damned if we do not says Daniel Nelson.
Daniel Nelson, owner of small business Chocolat by Daniel in Rockford says, even if lawmakers raise the debt limit before Tuesdays deadline, our nation won't necessarily be in a better state.
If we do raise the debt limit, we continue down the path we are currently on; spending, spending, spending, getting deeper in the hole, says Nelson.
But if we default on our bills small businesses like Nelsons could be stuck paying higher interest rates.
The head of the Food and Drug Administration is pledging to work more closely with small medical technology companies, who have criticized the agency for unnecessarily slowing down approvals of new drugs and devices.
FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg is telling business leaders in Cleveland that the agency will invite medical entrepreneurs into the agency to train scientists on how to work with small businesses.
Two sobering business surveys, a weak June jobs report and interviews with local business owners show a continued reluctance to add new employees anytime soon.
Even a decade ago, most small businesses were shackled to locally installed software for their business needs.
Much of the SMB was pressed to use Office for line-of-business rather than purchasing dedicated Line-of-Business solutions from vendors like Peachtree or ERP programs from Lotus and IBM. Such software was first off, expensive especially when purchasing licenses and often required knowledgeable IT staff to deploy and maintain. Programs in the Office suite were substitutes for more robust solutions: Excel for financials and bookkeeping, Publisher for desktop publishing, Front Page for creating websites and so on.
With the emergence of cloud computing, however, SMBs now have vast numbers of solutions to choose from. Multi-tenancy cloud platforms from the likes of Amazon and Salesforce.com can scale to support millions of users. A small business simply can sign up for any of the wealth of cloud-based services available, and can never outgrow the service no matter how the business grows.
Chinas economy is caught in a difficult dilemma between trying to maintain growth and controlling inflation. Tougher lending policies are favoring large national and state-owned companies, while privately owned small and medium-sized enterprises are struggling or are closing down due to lack of financing. At the same time, food prices continue to soar, and the Consumer Price Index in June surged to a three-year high.
Managing a small business can be a thankless job, but if the business is at least yours there are some rewards. For years, large companies had the spotlight with better news coverage and higher salaries. Today, the coverage is all too often negative and the salaries are being cut or frozen. If you run a small business today, you are the superstar. You operate a company that could help the flagging economy and change the world. Here are some resources just for you.
The Federation of Small Businesses has reported that almost three quarters of small businesses have been paid late in the last 12 months.
This is a major issue for many SMEs, as they do not have the same financial buffers available to larger enterprises. This often causes a vicious circle for many, as 38% in turn are unable to pay their employers.
43 percent of those questioned are awaiting payment, while over half have been forced to write off invoices worth between £1 and £9,999. In the construction sector, 6% of businesses have had to write off payments of £35,000 or more.
While the government has succeeded in their pledge to pay invoices to small firms within ten days, the survey also showed that public sector clients had paid nearly a fifth of survey respondents late.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is reminding military veterans that it offers a loan program designed to help them start or expand their small businesses.
The Patriot Express program offers SBA-guaranteed loans to small companies owned by veterans, reservists and their spouses. The loans can also be used for other business purposes including equipment purchases, inventory and capital, SBA officials said.
Patriot Express loans are available in amounts up to $500,000. Since the program began in 2007, it has provided more than $633 million in SBA-guaranteed loans to 7,650 veterans. The loans are offered through SBAs network of participating lenders nationwide, agency officials said.
The initial knee-jerk reaction of any business owner to a review posted on a national website that has negative content about their business is bound to be not so positive.
But, initiating a lawsuit over the review is entirely different – and it may be side-stepping important steps to help resolve your customer’s problems in a less public and aggressive way.
One thing is for certain: if your customer is simply expressing an opinion, or if what they are saying is simply true, a defamation lawsuit will fail. Opinions and truthful statements are protected.
Some companies compete by getting into the minds of their competitors. Competitive Intelligence is the process of collecting information about competitors in a competitive environment. These tips and tricks will help marketers better understand competitive intelligence, and how to effectively compete in their marketplace.
The Export-Import Bank says it is on pace to back 5,000 new small-businesses exporters by 2015, part of an administration-led effort to encourage smaller firms to pursue global markets amid weak demand at home.
The U.S. government needs to get out of the way of business to allow for job creation, Rep. Renee Ellmers said in her partys weekly address Saturday.
The freshman Republican representative is a former nurse and married to a surgeon. She said their small medical practice in Dunn, N.C., is an example of how government regulations are affecting businesses.
You can market your small business in a lot of sexy new ways, but hold on. Do not overlook one of the most tried-and true ways to let people know about your business.
I am talking about signs.
The concept is hardly ground breaking, but that is why they are easily forgotten. Signs are cheap and easy, but best of all they work.
You heard correct. Free advertising. If you are starting a new home-based business, advertising online is essential to your success. Advertising however, can be extremely costly. Posting ads on Free Classified sites can be a good way to start getting your name out there, learning how to position your business, and to test your ad copy.
With online ads like Facebook or Google Ads, you can quickly rack up huge costs because the wrong people are clicking on your ads. When they click, you pay. If you post free classified ads, you don’t pay anything, unless you want to be showcased on a main page or at the top of your category’s listings.
CLASSIFIED SITES There are several free classified sites that you can use for home business advertising. Craigslist, eBay Classifieds and Kijiji are the biggest ones I know in North America. Some others are Backpages, BOCOnline and iNetGiant, to name just a few. If you search for ‘free advertising’ or ‘free classifieds’ in your country or city you may find something different.
Deluxe Corp. unveiled Thursday results of a small business survey of more than 500 social-media-savvy entrepreneurs, revealing most started their businesses as a result of personal passion.
The growth engine for small businesses used PartnerUp, the first online social network for small business owners and entrepreneurs, to survey a growing demographic of social media savvy self-starters.
In its monthly report, entitled Small Business Economic Trends, the National Federation of Independent Businesses found that small business optimism declined for the third straight month during the month of May.
The reason for that continued pessimism seems related to reports of low sales. Indeed, when asked what single problem most concerned the surveyed small business owners, poor sales was the most frequent reply.
Nearly two-thirds of small business owners fear outliving their retirement money and one-third plan to work into their 70s, according to a new study.
The retirement views of the nations small business owners are radically shifting, said a news release about the study conducted by the Guardian Life Small Business Research Institute. The Institute, part of Guardian Life Insurance Co., polled 1,433 small business owners who operate companies with two to 99 employees.
This is a great new site with business cards templates. Choose the business type and you will see an assortment of cards that can be customized to suit your business needs. See the Business Card Store for details.
Want to increase your slice of the U.S. $1.7 trillion export pie of goods and services? The Small Business Administration has launched its Export Business Planner to help you.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, the export is not just the province of corporate giants. Nearly three-quarters 70 percent of all U.S. exporters have fewer than 20 employees, the SBA said.
This new, free online tool will help small businesses gauge their readiness to export and help them develop an export business plan.
The Planner is downloadable PDF file that features an extensive compilation of worksheets, export research and information, including quick links to websites, video profiles, training podcasts, trade statistics, contact information to counseling resources such as SCORE and small business development centers , a list of current SBA lenders and much more.
The data reveals that Facebook ad offerings are making inroads with local merchants, which could put pressure on companies like Google and Groupon for share of local marketing budgets. Thanks to huge consumer adoption, ease-of-use, and low barrier to entry, Facebook continues to be the most popular way for merchants to market their business: 66 percent use the social network for marketing. Facebook Ads is benefitting from the social network’s high level of adoption with a 94 percent awareness rate among local merchants.
For under a thousand dollars a small business owner can create their own multimedia empire and reach their target audience. This means that they do not have to hire a public relations firm to get them booked on CNBC or profiled in a glossy magazine. They can create their own broadcasts with the help of consumer grade cameras, a few wireless microphones and a felt backdrop all for a fifth of the price that a firm might charge them for one month of consulting.
The next step in the process is to flood the social media universe with your content and use it as a de-facto broadcast network for any programming you come up with.
Small businesses get started for all kinds of reasons—a great idea, recognition of an underserved niche, loss of a job, boredom, desire for additional income, and plain old foolhardiness. But to succeed, businesses need to get their tech right, from the very beginning.
But where to begin? How do you get a web site and a .com address for your business? Are online email services likes Gmail the best option for communicating with customers? Do you need to invest in servers and computers for you and any potential employees? Do you need a wireless network? These can be daunting tech questions for starting a business, but they don't have to be.
The answers all depend on the type of business you are running and your business goals. Our step-by-step guide will walk you through some of the most important early steps and give you pointers for getting started on the rest.
A large majority 79 percent of small business owners do not feel guilty for taking a vacation, reports the AmEx survey of 500 small business owners.
But other reasons not to get away loom large:
- Busy work schedules 37 percent and affordability 29 percent affect some owners hesitancy to take a vacation this summer.
- Entrepreneurs are less plugged in than they were in 2008, but 68 percent still check in every day while on vacation, and 18 percent say they check in several times a day.
- Rising gasoline costs will affect half of small business owners vacation plans, keeping them closer to home or staying home altogether.
- The uncertain economy is affecting 57 percent of small business owners vacation plans. Still, 46 percent of small business owners surveyed say they will take a summer vacation this year.
More than 600 million people are on Facebook, including at least 150 million Americans, or one in two adults. Twitter recently topped 300 million accounts. Small-business owners are trying to capitalize on social media to promote their businesses and broadcast messages.
Kerpen offers the following five tips for small-business owners venturing into social-media networking.
Entrepreneurs and small businesses have led the way in cloud storage adoption and still comprise the largest faction of cloud users, but this is quickly changing. Larger companies are following suit, investing more in cloud technology to meet their business infrastructure needs in today’s global, distributed business environment.
Businesses have always had the need to store, share and back up data. Traditionally, this was done with on-site physical file servers, tape backups, file transfer protocol - FTP and virtual private network - VPN systems. While these methods offer high speed and performance, they are expensive and increasingly impractical and cumbersome in todays collaborative business world.
Building a blog is no longer an option for most businesses. If you doubt it, just look at some of the figures below. In the first link we see an oft repeated idea that blogging is dead. It might be better to say that blogging is not cutting edge anymore. It is becoming mainstream. And, particularly when it comes to small business, it is becoming clear they are now standard equipment.
The Small Business Influencer initiative honors contributors who have made a significant impact on the North American small business market. Nominate a Small Business Influencer.
Computer programs designed for smartphones and tablets save small businesses more than a billion hours and $17.6 billion a year, according to a new report from the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council.
The study, Saving Time and Money with Mobile Apps: a Small Business Apportunity, looks at the growth of cell phone and other mobile technologies and why small businesses are using mobile applications to solve key business challenges.
Nearly half of small businesses use smartphones compared to a fifth of the general consumer market. Owners and their employees are using mobile apps to squeeze more productivity from their work week, reducing overhead costs, increasing revenues and sales-related activities, improving competitiveness and even allowing firms to add jobs.
Why buy online? Why not buy online? Have you ever considered the pros and cons to shopping at a retail store vs shopping online? Lets take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of purchasing online...
Advantages Of Shopping Online...
1. Saves Time
If you already know what you are looking for, shopping online can save you a significant amount of time. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can place your order and move on to other things.
Total marketing spending by U.S. small businesses will expand in 2012, as an increased number of firms invests in advertising and promotional activities. According to New York-based Access Markets InternationalPartners, Inc., overall spending is expected to grow 4% rebounding from 2010 recessionary lows.
These findings from AMIs 2010 - 2011 U.S. Small Business Marketing Activity and Spending Study reveal that apart from social media marketing, which is estimated to grow a considerable 35%, most marketing categories are still slowly rebounding from the economic downturn.
Taxes always give small-business owners a big headache. Today, we hear there is more pain coming their way.
In Charge colleague Laura Saunders writes in an article that the Internal Revenue Service, which is moving aggressively to collect more taxes from small businesses, is now seeking small companies software files.
The IRS is telling some businesses already under audit that they must turn over records kept in popular software progams, such as Intuit Inc.s QuickBooks or Sage Groups Peachtree, according to the article.
Small-business groups are pushing back, saying the IRS should realize that they are not big firms with elaborate accounting systems or lots of tax professionals on staff Ȓ and that they ca n not easily turn over very specific files. Instead, to comply with the IRS requests, many small businesses must turn over complete electronic records Ȓ and there is no telling what the IRS might do with that, they complain.
Few people begin building a small business with full knowledge of the skills required for success.Even those with extensive business experience or education still need to bring themselves up to date on the effective use of new technology, employee management, business development and financing.
Fortunately, the range of small-business-oriented learning opportunities and training programs has never been broader for experienced and novice entrepreneurs. Seeking help is simply smart. No business owner can be adept at every aspect of operating successfully. Plus, conditions change rapidly, so keeping yourself informed is vital to long-term success.
Starting or running a small business is not an easy task.
Many times, as consumers we do not see the trials and tribulations that small business owners go through. We miss the sacrifices they make to their families in order to provide a living for themselves and their employees. This week is dedicated to them and their commitment to making their communities and companies better.
During the last couple of years, the business world has seen great turmoil.
The Office Depot Foundation, the nonprofit charitable giving arm of the office supplies giant Office Depot, announced Friday that it is offering a number of programs and services to help the families and small businesses affected by the recent tornadoes in the Southeast. The Foundation has teamed up with the National Disaster Help Desk for Business to provide information and facilitate aid to businesses located in the tornado disaster areas.
Businesses needing assistance with relief and recovery efforts can call the Help Desk toll-free 24 hours a day, as well as email and reach out on Twitter.
The midpoint of the year is a great time to take stock of your companys progress, though, and make plans for what you want to accomplish by the end of 2011. Taking summer classes at a local business school or college can help keep you on track with those goals -- or inspire you to set some new ones.
If you have no employees other than your spouse or a partner, you can establish an owner-only 401k, also known as an individual 401k. This plan offers many of the same advantages of a traditional 401k: a range of investment options, tax-deductible contributions and the opportunity for tax-deferred earnings growth. You may even be able to choose a Roth option for your 401k, which allows you to make after-tax contributions that have the opportunity to grow tax free.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is forming a small-business committee to review fundraising rules for small private firms that critics say hinder access to capital and are stunting economic growth.
Wells Fargo, HSBC and U.S. Bank are the worst credit card companies for small business, according to a recent study by Card Hub. The study rated each of the top 10 credit card issuers in the U.S. in terms of both its transparency and the extent to which it has voluntarily extended the new credit card laws protections to its business credit cards. Bank of America, the study says, was the only major issuer to apply all of the major protections implemented by the law—the Credit CARD Act of 2009—and is therefore the best credit card company for small business owners.
Telestra says small business is dragging its feet on take-up of new technology, with thousands of firms still not using computers or mobile phones.
More than one in ten businesses with less than 20 employees operate without even a desktop PC, according to a study commissioned by Telstra.
Telstra says the survey of 500 business decision makers found nearly one-quarter did not use a standard mobile phone, while 45 per cent did not have smart phones.
Around half of the businesses surveyed did not have a website or use online transactions in their business, Telstra said.
he Small Business Authority with a portfolio of over 100,000 business accounts, announced recently the findings of its SB Authority Market Sentiment Survey, a monthly window into the concerns of independent business owners. Based on a poll of approximately 1,200 respondents, one of the key findings from Aprils survey was small business owners apparent lack of e-Commerce initiatives.
Mention starting a small business and conventional wisdom will tell you that you should write a business plan first. Generally every small business needs a plan, but there are a few steps that should be taken before you invest any time writing one. A small amount of time spent considering what it will be like to start and own a business can help you avoid major mistakes and pay big dividends later.
Know your personal goals. Decide what you want out of life and then build a business that supports those plans. Take time to think about the entrepreneurial lifestyle and how it fits in with your personal and family lifestyle. One definition of an entrepreneur is someone who is willing to assume the responsibility, risk and rewards of starting and operating a business. Does that describe you and does it fit with the kind of life you want to live?
Ten of the nations top 20 markets for small business are in the South, according to the report.
The rankings were derived from a formula that considered such factors as local concentrations of small business, population growth and employment gains or losses.
When Congress revamped food-safety laws last year, small farmers and food producers won a victory when they were excluded from many of the new rules.
Now, as the Food and Drug Administration implements the new Food Safety Modernization Act, the small businesses are hoping they are not snagged by the new rules anyway.
The legislation, which updates 100-year-old food-safety regulations, does not apply to meat, eggs or dairy products, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Small-business owners on the go appreciate access to the free Wi-Fi networks popping up almost everywhere.
They are not alone: According to a recent poll conducted by Wakefield Research and the Wi-Fi Alliance, 32 percent of respondents said they have tried to get on a Wi-Fi network that was not their own.
The Better Business Bureau, along with the Federal Trade Commission urges all people - business owners and their customers - to take precautions before using a Wi-Fi hotspot.
One very good way is to participate in Lemonade Day on Sunday, May 1. This is a free communitywide program dedicated to teaching children how to start, own and operate small businesses through the time-honored act of building and running a lemonade stand.
Lemonade Day pairs an adult with a child and provides free materials and support, thanks to local sponsors who recognize the significant benefits of teaching youth business skills early. Imperial Sugar, as a longtime company in Texas, and BBVA Compass continue to be the leaders in supporting Lemonade Day.
For an increasing number of entrepreneurs, employing a family member has been a boost to business, new research shows. According to a recent survey of 1,000 small-business owners conducted by specialty insurance firm Hiscox, 21 percent employ a family member. Of those who do, 94 percent said the family hire benefits their business. When asked about the reasons for employing family members, 57 percent said it had to do with trust, followed by 45 percent who cited reliability as an advantage. An additional 44 percent also said they were confident that their family members would work hard.
Many small business owners support a government shutdown and believe that it will have little effect on them, according to a new study.
The study from Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management reports that 48 percent of small private business owners and those who lend to small businesses said they supported a government shutdown. Thirty-nine percent said they opposed a shutdown.
The survey also showed 62.4% of supporters said they would support a shutdown even if it lasted a month or more.
Question and answer websites have popped up all over the Internet. These interactive sites are designed to connect individuals, and help them get answers to questions. We have compiled a list of some of the more popular Question & Answers websites...
The new guide, called the ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business, describes how the ADA applies to employees and customers in situations many small businesses encounter every day. It includes recent changes and clarifications that went into effect on March 15th of this year.
The workplace is changing. Gone are the days when people in your organization needed only a computer and a desk to do their jobs. Now, they may need that computer, but they do not always need that desk. Instead, they need smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices that help them perform the days tasks wherever they are. This is particularly the case for small businesses, according to a study from wireless carrier AT&T. The Small Business Technology Poll, which surveyed 2,000 respondents, reveals how small business are making use of smartphone apps. While some organizations are readily embracing cloud-based and software-as-a-service mobile solutions, an equal number admit to having no idea what such solutions are all about.
recent report from American Express OPEN, called the State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, is showing that small business startup news has never been better for women.
According to the study, the number of women-owned businesses has increased from 5.4 million in 1997 to 8.1 million in 2011. Furthermore, revenue generated by these firms is expected to grow to approximately $1.2 billion this year.
Your business is rolling along and you think your brand strategy is working. But is it? Are your marketing messages and materials driving the results you need? If not, it might be time for a marketing makeover.
When speaking at a conference or a seminar, it is important that your presentation convey professionalism. A PowerPoint presentation can be used to visually represent your material. The presentation should be polished and consistent throughout. The visual presentation should supplement your speech, not distract or detract from your oral presentation. Rarely should PowerPoint be used without an accompanying explanation of the slides. Here are a few tips for making your PowerPoint presentation better and more professional...
Small-business owners may think they will not be targeted by cyber criminals the way a big company or military contractor might, so it is natural to become lax about cyber security.
That is the mindset a local program wants to change by raising awareness and educating entrepreneurs that they are also vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Assuming you can get a connection, here are some time-saving tips I have come up with, along with others that fellow Gadlingers suggested to keep me from pulling my hair out at the local Internet cafe.
Philosophies regarding social media networks, such as Twitter, can vary greatly. But similar to email, an unspoken etiquette has emerged for these social websites as well. The etiquette for these social sites does not consist of hard and fast rules, but is simply a list of guidelines for posting. The following is a set of Twitter etiquette guidelines, but can also be applied to other social networks...
Nearly three-quarters 72 percent of small companies indicated they use mobile apps in their day-to-day business operations, according to the AT&T Small Business Technology Poll. Furthermore, 38 percent of these respondents said that either they could not survive or it would be a major challenge to survive without these apps.
My wife and I put it off for as long as we could. Our friends teased us about it. We had visions of the both of us crouched over on our hands and knees scrubbing the floors all day. Potty training was the one aspect of parenthood that my wife and I absolutely dreaded. Unfortunately, we had to bite the bullet sooner than we wanted to because our preschool forced us to take action. In order for our daughter to advance to the next class level, she had to be potty trained or be held back with the younger kids. And to make things worse, we recently had brand new carpets installed.
Yet in many ways, what instigated my wife and I to start our business and to potty train our daughter were very similar. Some external event forced us to take action and we came out of the experience more confident and more knowledgeable as a result.
The proposal, published Wednesday in The Federal Register and available for public comment, looks to expand the revenue-based size definition of small businesses in 36 industries.
The changes would allow some 9,450 additional companies close to exceeding the size threshold for their respective industry keep small-business status and access to federal assistance programs and contracts, according to the SBA.
There is a firestorm in Washington right now over an issue that's complex but has major implications for the 471,000 small businesses in Tennessee, particularly those that accept credit and debit cards for payment. The issue also matters to anyone who is employed by a small business, has a loved one who is, or who ever patronizes small merchants. That is a lot of us.
Last year, when Congress passed financial reforms, it attempted to fix a quirk in the behind-the-scenes marketplace of processing debit-card transactions. The quirk has rendered big banks free from competitive forces that otherwise would discourage or prevent them from gouging small merchants with astonishing fees each time a debit card is swiped. Over the past decade, these fees have risen faster than health-care costs and today bear no resemblance to what it costs big banks to process those transactions. The Federal Reserve estimates that actual cost to be around 4 cents, but debit swipe fees charged to small merchants average 44 cents.
The House of Representatives passed the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011 by a 314-112 vote. The bill would repeal the expanded Form 1099 information reporting requirements mandated by last years health care legislation. It would also repeal the new 1099 reporting requirements imposed on taxpayers who receive rental income.
You are a small business, so you does not have a hundred grand in cash sitting around to market your small business. Trouble is, without letting the consuming public know about your products and services, you may as well shut your doors and go fishing. The fish will know you are there because you will make sure they see your flashy lures and smell your tempting bait. We could learn a thing or two from those fish. If you want customers, you need to get their attention and then give them what they want. It does not have to cost a fortune either.
Less than 1% of small business owners in the UK connect with clients using social media so that means that a whopping 99% are missing out on an opportunity for online marketing of their small business. Traditionally the small business was trusted by consumers and social media is the modern way of building and keeping that trust going.
The majority of people that buy from small businesses buy from the person behind the small business so as the business owner it is up to you to build and maintain a relationship with existing and potential clients. When you are considering your offline marketing strategy you should also be considering your online marketing strategy, the internet is here to stay so you might as well learn to use it to your advantage.
Small retail businesses who are making the move to an online presence may feel overwhelmed by the process of creating a website. Web templates can often help make the process less painful for a small business. To assist webmasters in the template vs custom design decision, we have outlined the pros and cons to each...
Tax season is upon us, which means it is time to start pulling out records and paying the government. While no one enjoys this process, it is possible to make it a little bit friendlier on your pocketbook. With these five tips and a little work, you can master the art of small business tax deductions.
Small and medium-sized companies may be overlooking potential business risks from using unlicensed software, which may add up to as much as $40,000 in damages a year, the latest study done for Microsoft by the International Data Corporation, or IDC, suggests.
Small and medium-sized businesses are accustomed to linking the use of pirated software with exclusively legal responsibility, which, though relatively rare, can be quite harsh in Russia (fines and possible imprisonment), but they often overlook the financial losses they may incur from using such software.
Though the legal side of your business may not necessarily involve making money or expanding your client or customer base, mistakes can certainly cost you money thus threatening even a profitable business if the errors are particularly costly. Here is the latest from around the Web of legal tips you may want to consider to protect your small business today and in the future.
Since 1997, S corporations have been the most popular form of corporate tax return filed with the IRS. Over 3 million U.S. companies that are defined as small businesses elect S corporation status on IRS Form 2553 instead of filing their income tax returns as standard C corporations.
There are many benefits to S corporation tax treatment. Like standard C corporations, S corporations shield owners personal assets from unpaid debts, provided they are not personally guaranteed and other business liabilities. With the exception of taxes on certain capital gains and passive income, an S corporation is exempt from federal income tax. This means that most S corporation profits and losses are passed through to the individual shareholders, just like a sole proprietorship.
Social media is coming into its own as a tool for networking and marketing in small business and larger brands a like. Beginning with blogs and moving into the rapidly expanding worlds of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more there is a lot to learn AND a lot to be gained, so log on and enjoy!
High corporate income taxes or sales taxes can be a huge challenge for small businesses, depending on where they are located. So where does your state stack up?
Location, location, location: It is not only important when it comes to where you live or where you set up shop -- it affects the taxes you pay on business profits, the sales taxes your customers pay and the property taxes you pay on your facilities directly as a property owner or indirectly through rent.
Each year thousands of Americans take the leap to starting a business to leverage their expertise and passion for a particular interest or hobby.
Here are some tips for turning your hobby into a business from FindLaw.com:
Get free help. Trial and error is an essential part of the entrepreneurial experience. Tapping the experience of seasoned business professionals can help you avoid mistakes, and provide you perspective in times of stress.
Write a business plan. A business plan gives you and others a clear idea of your goals, the processes you will implement to achieve those goals and how you will measure your success.
One of the main reasons any entrepreneur chooses to incorporate his or her business is to protect or shield the founders and corporate officers’ personal assets including cars, homes, savings accounts, vacation homes, etc. from potential unpaid business debts, liability issues and other costly business dealings.
This protection, as it is typically called is a corporate veil, and is designed to safeguard the things you have already worked so hard to earn as your business grows and flourishes.
What you need to make sure you understand is that the corporate veil remains in effective only if the corporation remains in good standing by meeting all of its corporate duties as described in your incorporation documents and state requirements.
If you want to find customers, I have got a number for you to remember: 95.
That is the percentage of all the world's customers who live outside the United States. Yes, the largest market is outside our borders, and you need to look beyond the border as well to get a piece of this huge market.
Fortunately, small business owners can get help to take the financial risk out of exporting.
What is your brand? Branding in small business can be the key to success. When marketing globally or locally, branding sets you apart. But there is much more to establishing a brand for yourself or your business than might at first meet the eye. In a world of infinite choices, it is one of the most important ways you can distinguish your business or yourself as an entrepreneur. Let the following roundup be your guide to the art and science branding for your small business.
The Wells Fargo-Gallup Small Business Index survey also found a split in whether those small businesses were hiring as many employees as they needed and a variety of reasons influencing why businesses decided not to hire workers.
Conducted in November, the poll showed that 48 percent of small businesses that hired brought on the number of employees they needed, with another 9 percent hiring more than was immediately necessary.
On the flip side, 42 percent of the hiring businesses took on fewer workers than desired. Those businesses cited worries about cash flow and a lack of qualified candidates as among the reasons they decided to not hire as much.
The Internal Revenue Service has released final guidance for small employers eligible to claim the new small business health care tax credit for the 2010 tax year. Included in the release is a one-page form and instructions small employers will use to claim the credit for the 2010 tax year.
New Form 8941, Credit for Small Employer Health Insurance Premiums, and newly revised Form 990-T are now available on IRS.gov. The IRS also posted on its website the instructions to Form 8941 and Notice 2010-82 , both of which are designed to help small employers correctly figure and claim the credit.
Be courteous, but firm with customers. Most small businesses do not have the cash flow that allows the luxury of providing lines of credit to their customers. Track accounts receivables closely, and follow-up on past due accounts.
Top U.S. trade officials plan to spread out across the country this year to recruit small-business owners in the administrations effort to double exports by 2015.
A year after President Barack Obama announced the export initiative to help tackle stubbornly high unemployment, the administration is trying to reach out to the group of business owners that account for nearly two-thirds of job creation but less than a third of total goods sold abroad.
Hate to disappoint, but Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media tools are not magical. They are communication tools and communication is hard work. Connecting with your customers on a deep and emotional level can pay off big time for all businesses, but it can also backfire.
The Internet has become a highly interactive medium. In order to participate in discussion forums and newsgroups, it is important to be familiar with standard and accepted Internet forum etiquette. Here are some tips to help make your forum participation more productive and beneficial...
1. Terms-Of-Service
Read the forum rules and terms-of-service before you begin posting. This way, you can avoid having your introduction to the forum being an accidental breaking of a rule or other misconduct.
Some of the biggest problems small business owners have during income tax filing season are the result of mistakes and oversights they made during the previous year.
Sloppy record-keeping, even when accounting software is used, is a big reason why owners struggle at tax time. Another problem is that owners often short-change themselves by not being sure they are taking all the deductions they are entitled to. That can also be the result of haphazard records, but it also may come from not knowing some tax law basics.
This multitude of causes for the decline complicates efforts of policymakers to return small business credit to prerecession levels. While many small business owners and elected officials are looking for easy answers, boosting bank lending to small businesses will take more than simply intructing bankers to make more loans. And it will require more than the recent effort to boost the Small Business Administrations loan guarantee program, because SBA-guaranteed loans are a tiny sliver of all bank loans to small businesses—about 44,000 of the 1.6 million small business loans made in 2009. The implications are stark: Unless policymakers implement effective solutions to the problem, the small business sector will receive far less bank credit than it used to, hampering the economy for years to come.
A PowerPoint presentation can be an extremely valuable marketing tool for businesses in this day and age. Here are a few common mistakes that you should try to avoid when creating your presentations...
1. Excessive Animation
Excessive animation can really distract from a presentation. Keep animation to a minimum. Transitions between slides may be appropriate, but a constantly-moving animated image on a slide can make the text on the slide difficult to read, and can distract the viewer from the message.
Because starting a business is a huge amount of hard work and requires a great deal of time, you better enjoy what you're doing. When I started Virgin from a basement flat in West London, I did not set out to build a business empire. I set out to create something I enjoyed that would pay the bills.
There was no great plan or strategy. The name itself was thought up on the hoof. One night some friends and I were chatting over a few drinks and decided to call our group Virgin, as we were all new to business. The name stuck and had a certain ring to it.
Small business grants are closer than you think. In fact, the small business grant you need to start or expand your business may be available right in your own home state.
While there are still no direct small business grants available from the federal government, many state development agencies offer direct small business grants and other types of financial assistance designed to encourage and assist entrepreneurs in starting or expand a small business.
The following is a list of links to economic development agency Web sites of each state. Whenever possible, a link to the specific financing resources is listed as well.
BizBuySell.com — one of the most popular online sources of small-business for-sale listings — has released its Fourth Quarter 2010 Insight Report, showing a return to realism by sellers at the end of 2010, and some promising indicators for improvement in the overall marketplace in the coming year.
The fourth quarter tends to be a busy time for business brokers in general, as buyers and sellers want a transaction completed by the end of a calendar year — although here is my recent take on the market. According to the report, there was moderate, but steady improvement during the fourth quarter, which saw an increase in total transactions of 11 percent compared to the same period in 2009, some of which may be attributed to uncertainty surrounding the expiration of the Bush-era tax cuts. The total number of closed transactions for 2010 was up 3 percent, largely as a result of a strong fourth quarter.
Small-business valuations, however, continued their downward trend, with average revenue multiples down 2.1 percent and the average cash-flow multiples down .6 percent.
To further advocate for Veterans, VA announced that companies identifying themselves as small businesses or Veteran-owned businesses to gain priority for some Department of Veterans Affairs contracts must now provide documentation verifying their status within 90 days of receiving notice from the agency.
The jobs drought in the U.S. saw some rain in December. And small business owners across the country have varying reactions to the precipitation.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to from 9.8 % to 9.4 % in December with the economy adding 103,000 jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday. That was the biggest one-month drop since April of 1998, and the last time it was this low was in May of 2009.
Of the 103,000 jobs added in December, 47,000 were in the leisure and hospitality sector, and 36,000 were in the healthcare industry.
Things may be looking up, but what are business owners themselves actually saying about hiring?
This list is meant to be a list of goals to accompany your social media plan – not serve as a standalone social media blueprint. Remember that there is no end-all-be-all social strategy for all companies, so make sure that you are not making your brand the square peg forcing itself into a round social hole. So, onto the social media resolutions for 2011!
The year of 2010 was considered a rough year for the United States. There was a variety of economic issues, a tragic oil spill, and two tumultuous wars. The world's troubles were no less; they also included evident with failing economies, political struggles and natural disasters.
The environment faced both natural and man-made disasters in 2010. An earthquake in Haiti rocked the country to its roots early in the year. European travel and United Kingdom travel was suspended, disrupting travelers schedules for the better part of a week. When a volcano in Iceland erupted, making it too dangerous for commercial flights to fly. The Gulf of Mexico was tainted by an oil spill of massive proportions. Destroying a way of life and ecosystem throughout the Gulf. The oil gushed unchecked into the serene waters, for more than 100 days.
Theres no telling what the future will bring, but one thing is sure: In the world of technology, nothing stays the same for very long. The year 2010 wasn't terribly turbulent for tech, but 2011 is shaping up to be more of a thrill than you might expect. From Androids scorched-earth march across the industry to malware threats that we have yet to wrap our arms around, it seems as if everything is about to change.
With that in mind, here are nine resolutions for the small business operator to think about for 2011.
Funding extended through 2018 for the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Program
Small businesses in the science and innovation field got good news recently when the U.S. Senate reauthorized two National Science Foundation programs, aimed at helping entrepreneurs gain access to capital.
In one of the final moves of the year, the Senate passed a bill which will extend funding for the Small Business Innovation Research Program and the Small Business Technology Program, both of which were established in order to help small businesses get better access to federal dollars and development funds. Thanks to the passage, the program will be funded through 2018, after relying on short-term funding to solve the issue.
Over the last two years, it has been widely reported that small businesses create more jobs than big businesses and thus are critical to the recovery. It has also been widely reported that small businesses are getting squeezed — by the credit freeze, by skyrocketing costs like health and unemployment insurance, and by cheap imports, to name a few examples.
So, if you own a small business, is the deck stacked against you? Can you overcome all of the obstacles? Is it harder than it used to be to start a business? Is it going to continue to get harder? Are the banks going to loosen up? Is the recovery ever going to reach small businesses the way it has big businesses? Which is it: Are small businesses going to be saviors or victims?
Despite hiring figures that point to positive gains for entrepreneurs, this group still has mixed emotions about the direction of the economy in 2011, according to a survey from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The data indicate that more than 50 percent of entrepreneurs rated the economy as bad, with another 20 percent rating it as "very bad." Another 20 percent rated the economy as fair. These figures suggest the level of caution with which small businesses will conduct hiring in the new year.
Fresh from cutting its workforce, Yahoo! is looking at getting rid of products that do not fit the struggling Internet pioneers efforts to re-invent itself.
Right now, U.S. shoppers have already spent $21.95 billion shopping online during the first 40 days of the November - December holiday season, according to data from comScore. That figure represents a 12% increase from the amount spent during the same time period in 2009.
Paypal is one of the biggest and most widely adopted forms of online payment on the web today. With the weight of Ebay behind it, PayPal has truly went from strength to strength, and is a well recognised web brand. That said, it has not avoided negative press, with reports of accounts being frozen, and Paypal slow to respond to support queries, many people have been forced to review and compare other options.
Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it invested $175 million in social coupon service LivingSocial — the latest sign that the online retailer is delving into promising new methods of e-commerce.
Similar to popular online coupon site Groupon, LivingSocial lets users sign up for daily discounts that are generally for 50 to 70 percent off at local businesses like pizzerias and hair salons. If you refer three friends who end up buying the same deal, you get the deal for free.
Did you ever want to know which domains have the most backlinks? Worldwide or country by country? Now you can. The online SEO tool suite SEOprofiler.com publishes a free daily updated list of the domains with the most unique backlinks.
Only the first seven results in Google Places are shown on a specific search and, since the service is free, there is ample opportunity to not only get listed, but to break into the top seven.
The very first Small Business Saturday, courtesy of the branding folks at American Express, is over. So did it do as it intended and lure more shoppers into the privately-run boutiques, the mom-and-pop stores, the independent non-big box retailers? Judging from a review of local stories from various publications around the country, the answer is resounding meh.
Compelling customers to take the final step from browsing to purchasing is not always an easy transition. Marketers and entrepreneurs who have studied purchasing habits have found that the following enticements can help encourage potential customers to take the final step to purchase...
Small business is the lifeline of our local economies. Small businesses have generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade; and represent 99.7 percent of all employer firms (according to the SBA). In fact, for every $100 spent in locally-owned, independent stores, $68 returns to the community through local taxes, payroll and other expenditures.
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Arizona: 
