As we welcome 2019, attention is shifting to what’s on the horizon for small businesses in the year ahead. The reality is that the nature of work is evolving. During my more than 25-year career, I have held a number of leadership positions. Early in my time in the health insurance industry, compensation reigned supreme among my employees, while health and wellness were perceived as a nice-to-have benefit.

Now, workplace norms are beginning to align more with employee wants and needs and new rules about conducting business are being established — particularly when it comes to employee health and wellness. I believe this shift, which I have witnessed within my own team, will continue to dominate work environments across the nation in the new year.

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Like departments and agencies throughout government, the Air Force is tuning its acquisition methods to get closer the speed of technology, and will be holding its first live pitch day in March, with an available funding pool of $40 million.

The Air Forces Small Business Innovation Research program has issued a call to start-ups and small businesses—those with fewer than 500 employees—to offer pitches on innovative technologies for secure communications, down-range battlefield operations and digital technologies.

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Being a leader can be a difficult, and sometimes thankless, job. You work long hours, make tough decisions, and try your best to make your employees and your customers happy. But things don't always work out the way you hope.

Every leader can use a bit of inspiration and humor every once in a while. Adding some fun to your day can make it all come together and, at the same time, perhaps even put a smile on your face.

The next time you feel down, here are 17 funny leadership quotes to perk you up.

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Crowdfunding has become a viable form for funding a venture, project, cause, event and much more. For small businesses looking to bypass traditional sources of financing such as bank loans, angel investing or venture capital, it is now a great option.

If you have been thinking about starting a campaign, it is important to note there are different types of crowdfunding. And this does not mean the platform or portal such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and others.

The confusion stems from clumping crowdfunding under one umbrella, when in reality there are different types or models. Depending on your project, choosing the right model for your small business is critically important to ensure the success of your campaign.

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Most working class Americans are employed by companies that either require or offer retirement savings options in the form of a 401(k), 403b), or pension plan. Because these contributions are automatically deducted from the employee’s paycheck, saving for retirement tends to be a rather painless process. Over time, the cumulative effect of regular monthly contributions leads to a nice sized nest egg that can be used in the retirement years.

But for entrepreneurs, the story is a little different. With no steady paycheck or employer-sponsored plans, many of these hardworking individuals forgo retirement contributions.  And though it may not seem like a big deal in the early years, this misstep can prove to be dangerous and irresponsible as entrepreneurs age.

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How did life lead you to entrepreneurship?

I have been in the technology industry for 25 years. I am a business-facing technologist, which basically means I have a background in finance and business. However, I stumbled into being a software engineer early on in my career. This resulted in a passion for data and solution creativity.After hitting the 20-year mark of working for enterprise-size organizations, I decided I needed a change. I experienced some life-threatening health challenges--all while taking care of my two sons with their own unique needs. A culmination of it all really made me stop and reflect on what I really wanted to do on a daily basis and the people I do it with.

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When done correctly, a tagline can become synonymous with a brand. A good tagline should communicate your companys message quickly and effectively, helping your target customers understand how you can help them in a way that’s easy to remember.

Since it is something that will likely appear in all of your companys marketing materials and may stick with you for years, your team should put a lot of care and consideration into crafting your tagline.

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Many successful entrepreneurs were inspired to start their businesses after noticing a hole in the marketplace that needed to be filled, whether it was Bill Gates creating an operating system for home computers, Pierre Omidyar starting an online auction site, or Elon Musk building a reliable electric car.

But what happens when you want to jump feet first into a marketplace thats already crowded? We spoke to the entrepreneurs behind a wide-ranging group of successful companies in some of the most competitive digital spaces -- from butchers to home brands to eco-friendly cleaning products -- to get their insights into what makes a business that lasts.

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So what sets those who actually take the plunge from those who only dream? What pushes a keen hobbyist or excellent amateur into actually becoming a business owner? A recent study of more than 400,000 people out of MIT came to decisive answer, and it is not the one you are probably expecting.

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Ever wonder how people get chosen to speak at TED? Well, it is curator Chris Andersons job to weed through the thousands upon thousands of possibilities and choose who will appear on the events prestigious main stage. Clearly, the guy is amazing at separating the wheat from the intellectual chaff.

Which is why TED fans (or anyone looking to make themselves smarter and more aware in easily digestible 20-minute chunks) should pay attention to Andersons picks for the 10 best TED talks of 2018. Touching on topics ranging from astronomy to social justice to artificial intelligence, they are guaranteed to change how you think about the world.  

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Billing your customers is, of course, vital -- but even more critical is getting paid for those bills. Thanks to the ongoing evolution in the payments industry, there are more payment tools and platforms to choose from to help find the perfect option for your business based on how many payments you receive, the type of business you have and your budget.

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Big companies often have big perks. That is especially true in the technology Opens a New Window.  space, where free meals, gyms, and even day care are quite common. Even more traditional large companies that do not offer those kinds of benefits still have things that smaller businesses Opens a New Window. do not -- there are more opportunities for advancement, more training opportunities, and maybe even the option of transferring to another location.

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SBDC Centers offer free consulting and free or low-cost training. (Find yours here.) Their results speak for themselves: SBDC clients grow sales by an average 18.1%, which is 4.3 times the national average. March 20th is SBDC Day, and to celebrate, we assembled some tips from their experts.

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Owners of small businesses should consider hiring their children.

A young person whos claimed as a dependent on their parents return can still have $12,000 of wages in 2019 and pay no income tax. The Standard Deduction offsets the wages.

The parents probably provided more than 50 percent of the basic support of the child (housing, food, clothing, medical and transportation expenses). The parents can still claim the exemption for the child, but dependent exemptions are no longer done (allowed). If the child is younger than age 17, the parents do get a Child Tax Credit of $2,000. That credit directly offsets income tax of the parents.

If the business is a sole owner business, a single member LLC or a partnership owned only by the childs parents, there are no payroll taxes for the child or the employer to pay on the wages.

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Spreadsheets have long been an important tool for businesses. You can use them for just about anything. This includes budgeting and planning out important marketing campaigns.

No tool seems more synonymous with spreadsheets than Excel. Microsofts tool allows you to easily fill in spaces and create tables. But it also takes advantage of some more advanced features. However, starting from scratch will not give you a productive business.

You may want to take advantage of all that Excel has to offer. But maybe you don’t know exactly how to get started. So templates become a great option. Check out some sources for Excel business templates that can help you in 15 different areas of business operations.

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People have a lot of opinions when it comes to debt and borrowing. At one extreme, some believe that all debt should be avoided and there’s no room for argument on the subject. Others perhaps borrow a little too freely, taking out new financing with little thought about whether doing so will be a benefit or a hindrance in the long term.

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A new report finds that a good number of small businesses (29%) are spending somewhere in the sweet spot of  ($750-$2499) monthly to get the data needed for good online advertising results.

WordStreams Online Advertising Landscape in 2019 report also found that only 10% of the respondents had a monthly advertising budget less than the low end plateau for effectiveness of $750 monthly.

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As your small business grows, it will eventually become too big to run out of your home. With steady clients coming in or an expanding workforce of people you have hired, you probably don't want to keep conducting business in your basement or at your kitchen table.

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Many people dream of owning a small business. Owning a company is ideal for people who are naturally creative, are visionaries, and want freedom from the daily toil of a corporate job. However, launching a small business is not solely about having enough capital or a great idea. A would-be entrepreneur should also have the courage to take risks, a great imagination to be innovative, and the self-discipline to sustain the work needed to attain set goals. Here are some important considerations to think about before launching a small business.

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There are dozens of small things to keep in mind before calling yourself an entrepreneur: Have you found a good accountant? What's your niche? Who are you bringing onto your project?

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Running a business is often about setting goals and putting in the long hours and hard work to achieve them. Regardless of what type of business you run, it’s likely that selling more has a frequent, if not long-term, place on your to-do list. It’s a goal that requires staying up to date on new techniques, honing strategies, and being in touch with the latest industry news.

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Surprising new research from NYU and the Wharton School shows that entrepreneurs who start a business on their own are likelier to succeed than those who do so with one or more partners.

That's pretty much the opposite of what most aspiring founders would guess. After all, you can't be good at everything. You might be a marketing expert but not know how to manage cash flow. Or you might good at building great products but bad at setting prices for them. So you team up with someone who's strong in the areas where you're weak, and you start the business together.

This reasoning seems logical, and it is how most people--even experts--see entrepreneurship. In fact, it is such an ingrained belief that VCs and other investors routinely choose to fund companies founded by teams rather than those with a solo founder.

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Diction or word choice is important when it comes to drafting your resume, not just to ensure that your resume is reviewed positively by software, but also because you want to wow recruiters with your skills, competencies and relevant credentials.

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Secure-computing engineers generally view these schemes as sound in theory and productive to deploy. But in practice, it can be dangerous to rely on a sole element to act as the check on the whole system. Undermining that safeguard—which has proven possible in many companies implementations—strips a device of critical protections. Worse still, manipulating the enclave can make it appear that everything is fine, even when it's very much not.

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Small-business owners were victims in 43 percent of data breaches tracked between Nov. 1, 2017, and Oct. 31, 2018, according to a 2019 Verizon report. The report tracked security incidents across all industries, but the most vulnerable sectors this year were retail, accommodation and healthcare.

What does the issue look like on a national scale? If we take the sample size of infected sites SiteLock said they found in 2018 -- approximately 47,244 out of 6,056,969 checked -- and apply that percentage to the country’s estimated 30.2 million small-businesses websites, minus the estimated 36 percent that do not have one, then we can loosely estimate the amount of infected small-business websites to be around 150,757.

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Your 6-Step Guide to Successful Project Management

1. Define your goal and get buy-in from all project team members.

As you do this, you will want to determine each team member’s role and responsibilities. In this step, also consider how the project will affect your company and how you’ll measure the projects impact.

2. Determine the project deliverables.

What key tasks do team members need to accomplish to move the project along the path to completion? You will also need to identify which deliverables depend on other deliverables, so you can establish a timeline that puts tasks in a logical order.

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If you want to ensure new customers are able to find your business, then you need to know how to optimize your business for voice search, which is becoming one of the most popular ways of searching.

Voice search is not quite taking over the search world yet—but it is getting closer. Last year, more than half (58%) of consumers used voice search to find local business information, according to BrightLocal’s Voice Search for Local Business Study 2018. Almost half (46%) of voice search users searched for a local business daily; 28% used voice search to search for a local business about once a week.

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Effective Aug. 19, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is raising its monetary-based small business size standards for inflation by an average of 8.4%, an adjustment that the administration expects will allow 90,000 additional companies to participate in its loan and contracting programs. The SBA said that this increase could result in $750 million more total contracts awarded to small businesses and as much as $65 million more in small business loans.

In order to be considered a small business under current SBA guidelines, most general, heavy and civil construction companies cannot have more than $36.5 million of average annual sales receipts.

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Time is said to be spent or invested. But without time management, it can also be squandered.

Is your to-do list constantly growing? Do you feel like there are not enough hours in the day to meet your family, work and social obligations?

For a business leader, time management is especially problematic given their magnitude of responsibilities and limited hours in the day. Lost time is not only never found again, but not managing it strategically harms the executive's well-being, effectiveness and organizational performance.

My team and I had the opportunity to lead coaching sessions for executives of public and private companies worth billions. And one thing is clear-- how you manage your time leads to success or failure.

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Regardless of your industry, if you want to thrive, then you need to network. Although you already know the catch: How can an entrepreneur or founder possibly fit networking into their already hectic schedules? Here are 11 tips to resolve the networking issue when you're crunched for time.

1. Make networking a habit.

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Since its inception in 1994, Amazon.com has grown from a small online bookseller to an online retail juggernaut. In the second quarter of 2019, Amazon facilitated $63.4 billion in sales of everything from telescopes to toothpaste. It’s a ubiquitous part of the American business landscape, and that can either work for or against a small business owner.

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Web accessibility may not be the first thing you think of when designing a website for your small business, but in the long run, few things could prove more important. Just like how a brick-and-mortar store must comply with ADA guidelines to ensure that all individuals can access their facilities regardless of whether they have a disability, business owners, as well as web design and digital agencies, must also ensure that those with disabilities have equal access to web content. Failure to make web accessibility a priority when designing your website could have significant long-term consequences.

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How does a leader manage to harness the talents of a group without letting things descend into chaos? How does a leader give firm direction without stifling creativity and individuality?

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High-profile entrepreneurs like Stitch Fixs Katrina Lake and The Riveter's Amy Stern Nelson are using Stories to answer questions about everything from managing cash flow to storing breast milk during business trips.

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As is common in many aspects of life, there are lessons we learn that we wish we’d known sooner. When it comes to being a small business owner there are insights you can only gain from gathering years of experience. That is why it’s important to surround yourself with people that know things you don’t.

Here are a few tips from successful small business owners.

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Eleni Gianopulos spent more than 15 years selling her handmade sugar cookies to a famous gourmet grocery chain. Then Dean & DeLuca stopped paying its bills. By January 2018, Gianopulos, founder and owner of New York City-based bakery Elenis Cookies, realized that she might never be paid for $86,000 worth of 2017 custom holiday orders.

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If you run a small business, security is probably near the top of your priority list—and if it’s not, it should be. Businesses are the most common targets for cyberattacks, and the consequences of having data stolen can be huge ever since the passage, implementation, and consequences of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in Europe.

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A new free analytics tool introduced on Sept. 10 by the Atlanta-based lending platform Kabbage analyzes the live data of more than 200,000 companies in an effort to give small business owners a way to assess how their businesses are performing in real time. It’s daring to meet the demands of the ever-changing world of small business.

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How do you hire, onboard, and retain a great team?

You start by viewing your company through the EQ lens to discover your organizational obstacles―the elephants standing in the way of your company's success.

Attend this webinar, How to Attract, Hire, and Retain Unicorn-Level Talent, as headhunter and executive coach Caroline Stokes delivers a blend of recruiting and emotional intelligence strategies essential to helping you identify and tackle your elephants and acquire and retain key hires―those unicorns―that will help your company stand out, stay resilient, and drive growth.

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Graphic design is an essential aspect of any marketing campaign or emerging business. You can't brand a business without design tools. When you are starting a business, contracting designers for a website, marketing materials, flyers, a logo, and countless other business expenses can add up fast. At some point, you have to be willing to take on some of the creative challenges yourself.

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Selling a small business for the maximum value to the right purchasers on the right terms can be a tremendous challenge, even for experienced business owners. Buying and selling an existing company is a complex process, but one that should be demystified. At its most basic level, the process is straightforward, just like the purchase of a single item. The small-business owner sells the object (in this case, their own business) to a potential buyer for an agreed-upon price and mutually acceptable terms. Yet, as always, the devil is in the details -- in this case how the deal is structured.

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In other words, press coverage is priceless, but where do you start? To find out more, we asked 16 marketing experts and entrepreneurs to share interesting and cost-effective ways to get media coverage.

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If you run a small business for a long time, you will probably need to navigate through a lot of major changes. Members of the online small business community are very familiar with these shifts. From getting started to deciding when to retire, here are some valuable insights for making big changes in your business.

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As of Jan. 1, there are higher minimum wages in a quarter of the states, and new federal overtime rules. The IRS has new W-4 forms owners will need to get used to. Plastic bags are on their way out at stores and other businesses in a growing number of places around the country. And California has new laws on freelancers and consumer privacy that can affect out-of-state companies.

A look at a handful of the 2020 changes in federal, state and local laws and regulations:

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The start of a new year provides the perfect opportunity for business owners to set new goals and find unique ways to improve their operations. There are plenty of different options for your 2020 resolutions, from shoring up your finances to organizing your online presence. Here are some suggestions and tips from members of the online small business community.

Grow Your Savings with Money New Mindset
If one of your resolutions for 2020 is to save more money for your business, you may need to shift your mindset. So how can you look at things a bit differently in the new year? Jamie T. Wiseman of Miss Millennia Magazine explores a handful of mindset shifts in this post.

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The first weekly roundup of 2020 starts with some motivational quotes to get you up and running for the new year.

Once you are all pumped up, an article about the economy should also get you excited. The report says all 50 states have improved their GDP since the 2016 election. And if the rally of the stock market on January 2, 2020 is an indicator of things to come you can expect even better numbers.

The optimism for the coming year is also being shared by business leaders. Over two thirds or 76% of them say they see similar or more profits in 2020. The data comes as part of a survey that polled 940 business owners in this article.

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While cyberattacks facing large corporations and government entities may dominate headlines, small businesses are victim to the majority of cybersecurity breaches. In fact, nearly half of small businesses in the United States suffered a cyberattack in 2017, according to a recent study.

Cybersecurity attacks are constantly evolving to accommodate the latest technologies. Small businesses contend with several existing and emerging internet-related threats, including malware, ransomware, phishing and botnet infections.

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While small businesses make a huge impact when put together, individually they are often operating on small budgets. Which means small business owners need to be aware of every penny.

If you look at the worldwide cost of bad data, it is overwhelming. $3.1 trillion. If you operate a small business, you might just brush that huge number off. But the reality is, when studies put the cost of bad data at $100 per data record, it can add up quickly. Even if you only have 100 contacts—because 20% of your database is likely bad.

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The research shows that the majority of small businesses believe their revenue growth underperforms their peers. Specifically, 60% of respondents ranked their revenue growth below the 50th percentile of similarly sized companies. Yet, when comparing their actual cash flow and revenue data with the analysis drawn from the Kabbage Small Business Revenue Index, the information indicates that the vast majority of respondents have healthy revenue performance. The question is, why are these business owners feeling pessimistic about their company's performance, and how is it impacting their decision making?

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Spring may be just around the corner, but for accountants and tax professionals, this is crunch time. Here are five ways you can help smooth out the filing process for your small business clients (and, consequently, yourself) this tax season.

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