Gaining customers. Producing a quality product. Finding new markets. These are the things that small business owners focus on when starting their latest venture. But while entrepreneurs are busy planning for the future, many fail to prepare for the worst.

Businesses large and small are loaded with risk. Liability is—or should be—a chief concern. Too many entrepreneurs, however, overlook the need to plan for and manage risk when launching their businesses.

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1. Get comfortable being uncomfortable.
2. Commit yourself.
3. Really understand your clients/customers/target audience.
4. Get connected.
5. Prioritize.
6. Team up.
7. Find your balance.
8. Say what you mean and mean what you say.
9. Make it fun! Starting

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Despite the importance of putting the right people in charge, companies fail to choose the managerial candidate with the right talent for the job 82 percent of the time, according to new research from Gallup. The research revealed that, overall, just 1 in 10 people possess the talent needed to manage others.

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Most of us are not that talented. We could use a little white space in our lives that we can fill with new ideas.

Lets talk about the 15 ways you could carve out more time to think, ideas suggested to me by some of the most successful entrepreneurs I know.

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The latest neuroscience suggests you can literally edit your memory. Here is what this big breakthrough means for you.

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Unlike the CEOs of major public companies, whose personal financial situation has little effect on their companies borrowing, if you are a small business owner, your personal credit is a major factor influencing your companys access to capital. The power of personal credit scores to predict small business loan repayment, the legal structure of many small businesses, and small business owners’ use of personal guarantees and personal borrowing to finance business operations, all link small business owners personal credit to their companies’ access to capital.

Many, if not most, lenders will look at your personal credit score if you are a small business owner seeking a loan for your company. A 2006 report written for the U.S. Small Business Administration found that 71 percent of banks used small business owner credit scores when underwriting small business loans.

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Like anything in life, being an entrepreneur has its ups and downs, it has good and bad points. I happen to think the good far outweighs the bad, but not a few people disagree or learn about the bad the hard way.

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As human resources budgets have decreased, the number of job interviews that take place through video calls has increased. With that comes a whole new set of standards for interview etiquette. For instance, though it might not feel natural, it's important to maintain eye contact as well as lean forward toward your camera in order to make your candidate feel that you're interested in them.

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A recent report conducted by AT&T and the Small Business & Entrepreneurship  Council, a nonprofit group that promotes entrepreneurship and small business, small business owners have netted $67.5 billion a year from implementing smart phones and tablets in their day to day business activities.

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One persons perspective on whether you should hire a friend!

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The House voted Thursday to make permanent a tax break allowing small businesses to write off up to $500,000 in new equipment purchases.

While the move adds to momentum for congressional efforts to extend a range of now-temporary tax breaks, it also sharpens a conflict between the House and Senate over whether to extend the breaks permanently or temporarily.

Thursdays vote was 272-144, with several dozen Democrats joining Republicans to support the measure.

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Two recent news clips caught my attention. One involved a company trying to avoid the IRS. The other involved the IRS trying to avoid trouble. Taken together, I can see how a small business owner might cynically ask if a small business has a fighting chance as far as taxes.

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Have you ever used a technique for years, only to find out that it blows people away? For SEO purposes I use a very quick and simple system to find the right keywords, that factors in how popular a keyword is with the level of competition. It only takes a few minutes and helps you tap into the gold that lies buried  in the rubble that Google give you.

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In July 1776, our founding fathers joined together and signed this countrys Declaration of Independence, declaring every American citizens access to certain inalienable rights. The document was adopted by the Continental Congress on the fourth.

The spirit of that message and the rights to which we are all entitled seem particularly embodied by entrepreneurship. While the landscape of America has changed in ways those men could never have imagined, they still had at their core the same principles that mark the entrepreneur of today.

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Even experienced managers can suffer from this tendency, so don't beat yourself up if this is your first time managing people and you find yourself slipping into these bad habits. Just like anything else, the first step is recognizing that you have a problem.

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Need a reason to start your own business? Here are 20 of them.

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Ever look up and see one of your employees texting or chatting on his cellphone when he should be working?

If the answers yes, you are certainly not alone.

One in five workers admitted that during a typical workday he or she spends at least an hour on personal calls, emails or texts, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey on the top productivity killers at work.

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Whether your business is just getting off the ground or you are a well-established small and growing company, managing employee performance is a key ingredient to a productive and happy workforce.

Managing Employee Performance
And yet without a formal human resources department, many small business owners lack a formalized way to manage employee performance. The good news is there are simple practices a small business owner can start to successfully manage employee performance.

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Small-business owners often are so busy working that they do not take time to plan for their retirements.

But that is clearly a mistake, financial advisers say.

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We usually learn more from our work for smaller clients and that’s counterintuitive, is not it? When I was very young, I thought that knowledge and business experience flowed downhill from the lofty heights of executive boardrooms to home offices. I have since learned that just as often, the knowledge flow is uphill from the small to the huge. I should have known that, anyway.

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Small business owners can get pretty personal. At least, they are influenced by personal relationships more than anything else, according to a new report by the National Association of Women Business Owners ( and credit card company Ink from Chase.

In fact, at 89 percent, a vast majority of small business owners said that their personal relationships have an impact on the way they run their business, and 67 percent said their peers influence them. Fifty-three percent reported that other small business owners influence them as well.

So what influences small business owners the least? Surprisingly, mentorship — only 51 percent of business owners admitted to being influenced by mentors in their field.

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In a recent study by the financial advice tech company SmartAsset, it turns out Omaha is the top pick. The biggest reason? The cost of living in Omaha is almost half that of San Francisco about 58 percent and less than half that of New York 40 percent. That means renting office space is going to be quite a bit cheaper, not to mention buying a home and paying expenses.

Other surprises include the fact that seven of the 10 top cities are all in the Midwest. Places like Columbus, Ohio, and Springfield, Illinois, rank higher than Chicago and Minneapolis. Iowa scored two cities in the list, Cedar Rapids and Dubuque.

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Here are five lessons we learned from this unique and experienced group of successful small business owners:

1. Start With a Clear Purpose

All the entrepreneurs articulated a clear and powerful purpose for starting their business — and none mentioned money as a major driver. Rather, they started their companies to do what they love, solve a problem, provide awesome service, live in a more desirable location, create jobs and give back to their community.

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1. Be prepared.
Are leaders ready if an unexpected crisis hits the organization? It’s up to managers to respond in the appropriate way. Not only are employees looking for the manager to lead them through a crisis should one arise but so are customers.

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Running your own business is no easy task, and your to-do-list is guaranteed to never end. This said, you should not use this as an excuse to take short cuts when it comes to having online visibility. Beginning with your website, its vital to position yourself online with a strong, professional destination that gives customers the impression you mean business and the motivation to want to engage more with your business. With this in mind, consider these five reasons why having a strong website is important.

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An Entrepreneur is an individual who starts and runs a business with limited resources and planning, taking account of all the risks and rewards of his or her business venture. The business idea is usually a new innovation, product or service, rather than an existing business model.

Such entrepreneurial ventures target high-returns, with high level of uncertainty. The entrepreneur is willing to put his or her financial security and career at stake to take risks on an idea, spending time as well as capital on an uncertain venture.

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There is nothing wrong with having high hopes for your small business. Fulfilling a dream usually is what brings us to starting a business, and we get to decide how far and wide that dream will go.

Dreaming big is not for every small business, but it is something that many small businesses aim to grow.

With your head in the clouds…

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While children are making their holiday wish-list, families are preparing to go out of town and big businesses are expecting long lines of shoppers, there is one group of people who will be working extra hard this holiday season: Small business owners.

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A website is now a mandatory component of a business regardless of its size. But the road to every business’ online journey is rife with costly traps that have long-lasting effects. This can be very detrimental to small businesses with limited budget for a website build.

Here are common mistakes that small businesses often make when going online:

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Although major companies like Staples and Home Depot have dominated news headlines lately, they are not the only companies at risk for cyber crime and hacking. Small businesses are far more susceptible to hackers than their larger counterparts, according to information from the National Cyber Security Alliance

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Small businesses are driving the U.S. job recovery, according to a recent blog post by Maria Contreras-Sweet, the administrator of the Small Business Administration. In her post she points out that about 7 million of the 10.9 million jobs added since the Great Recession were created by startups and small enterprises.

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According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the median loss in small business fraud cases is $154,000. Can your clients absorb a loss like that?

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A community of small business owners was polled to find out what they thought the top industries would be for next year. Technology, at 42%, is predicted to be the most successful industry in 2015, followed by health care 28%, retail 14%, and finance 14%.

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Here are 10 trends to keep an eye on as you develop your marketing plan.

1. Social media will continue to propel consumer spending. In 2014, both Twitter and Facebook began testing a new feature that will make it easy for users to buy products and services in just a few clicks.

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2014 was a great year for consumer tech, so we decided to take a look at the best startups that launched this year.

When looking at the best startups, we took into account factors like funding, revenue, growth, and investor interest

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What do you want to achieve in 2015 for your small business? The beginning of January is the time for New Year's resolutions, so here are my top 10 resolutions for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

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From the ever-changing technology sphere to ideas about the economy and business growth, here are 50 big ideas, predictions and trends to look out for in the small business world in 2015.

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Think you need an MBA in order to be a successful entrepreneur? Think again. There are many aspects to founding a successful business, and a foundation based on business (which is highly subjective) is just one of them. In fact, almost any degree you can imagine can bolster small business success if you look at it from the right angle.

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What do you want to achieve in 2015 for your small business? The beginning of January is the time for New Year's resolutions, so here are my top 10 resolutions for small-business owners and entrepreneurs.

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Small business ecommerce operators may be in for good news in the New Year. We spoke with a couple of ecommerce experts to get their perspective on how the ecommerce industry will shape up in 2015, and which trends are likely to affect small business etailers.

Top Small Business Ecommerce Trends for 2015
1. More consumers shop with mobile devices

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There are a lot of articles out there telling you to go forth and start a business! But the truth is, not everyone should start a business. If more of the 80 percent of small businesses that fail had but hesitated and considered why they were getting into business, we would probably have fewer businesses and more successes in those that did exist.

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Online marketing is an industry that is constantly changing. The search engines are constantly rolling out updates and data refreshes, pay per click advertising platforms are always revealing new features and social media marketing is always evolving.

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The transfer of ownership interests in a small business should take into account all of the considerations that make each business, and especially a family-owned business, unique. The vehicle for accomplishing the transfer is usually called a buy-sell agreement. Its name barely begins to describe the buy-sell agreements various purposes. With professional advice, the agreement can be tailored to meet the objectives of each small business, whether the business is in the form of a close corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or some other structure.

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As a small-business owner, you are always on the lookout for ways to boost cash flow. Although increasing sales is one way to make that happen, cutting costs can be a faster way to increase cash. Here are seven of the most effective ways to reduce expenses without compromising quality.

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Whether you decide to outsource your tax tasks or perform them in-house it is important to arm yourself with the relevant knowledge to make sure your business not only complies but also saves time and money wherever possible. Here are a few resources to get you started:

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I found that persuasion plays a critical role in personal relationships and business relationships. Whenever two or more people get together to complete a task, whether it be a social actively like picking a restaurant or being part of team, there is always the possibility of an argument instead of agreement, which is where the power of persuasion comes in. With persuasion, there are no winners or losers. Persuasion is the art of convincing others to do what you want them to do because they want to, not because they are forced to. And it can be tapped using these simple techniques.

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Are franchises small, independent businesses or should they be considered part of a much larger company?

The question is at the heart of two upcoming legal cases. The outcomes could affect profits and change how franchisees hire, fire, manage and pay workers.

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I think many of the tools on this list have the potential to become invaluable assets for both small businesses, and individuals alike. Jump over to the bottom of the post to see these tools in action as I have gathered up a slideshow to give you a better idea of what to expect.

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Having a clear vision of your expected customer base will increase your business chances of success. Clearly defining your target audience — whether it is senior citizens, busy moms or millennials in California — can help answer a lot of questions and overcome obstacles that may be plaguing you as you kick-start your online store. Some of the business questions you will be addressing include:

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Successful entrepreneurs naturally have plenty of money to spend and, not surprisingly, they often spend it indulging their personal interests.

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