Archive for February, 2010

Need help with a small business challenge? Find it at a nearby college

February 27, 2010
By Rex Hammock
Need help with a small business challenge? Find it at a nearby college

Across the U.S. — indeed, around the world — universities are responding to a wave of students who want careers as entrepreneurs and small business owners. Over 110 university programs focused on such entrepreneurship, small business and family business education and training are now featured in the SmallBusiness.com University Entrepreneurship Programs Hub. Each entry...
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If you are attending SXSWi, look for me

February 26, 2010
By Rex Hammock
If you are attending SXSWi, look for me

Each March, I* go to the gigantic gathering in Austin, Texas called South by Southwest Interactive. In the years I’ve attended, it has grown from a small conference that was held in a small corner of that city’s convention center to a sprawling mega-convention that spreads out over the entire convention center and hotels...
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Opinion: Small businesses need fixes, not more health-care reform political posturing

February 25, 2010
By Rex Hammock
Opinion: Small businesses need fixes, not more health-care reform political posturing

Today, members of Congress are attending a health-care summit hosted by President Obama in order to see if a healthcare reform legislative package can be negotiated and passed this year. Most of the coverage leading up to the gathering has been focused on the political intrigue of the summit: “High stakes gambit” is how...
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Happy National Entrepreneurship Week

February 22, 2010
By Rex Hammock
Happy National Entrepreneurship Week

I’ll be the first to admit, I get a little confused because there seems to be several weeks and months throughout the year that we are supposed to celebrate some official small business or entrepreneurship week or month. (In a later post and SmallBusiness.com entry, I’ll list several). I guess it’s a little...
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The gig economy is fueling this recovery

February 19, 2010
By Rex Hammock
The gig economy is fueling this recovery

Elance Blog served up economic wisdom that seems to confuse some economists: If the economy is growing, dramatic increases in productivity can only cover so much of that improvement. And so, if the Labor Department keeps reporting that jobs are lost, who’s doing all that work that’s expanding the economy? Well, for one thing, labor...
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4 reasons to create a SmallBusiness.com user profile

February 17, 2010
By Rex Hammock
4 reasons to create a SmallBusiness.com user profile

First the best news: We’ve made it much, much easier to create a User profile on SmallBusiness.com. We’ve installed a wiki “extension” that makes creating a user profile as easy as filling in the blanks and uploading your photo or logo (or, avatar, as it’s officially called). To create a User profile, simply log...
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Small business doubles use of social media

February 16, 2010
By Rex Hammock
Small business doubles use of social media

Small businesses have doubled their usage of social media in the past year according to a press release issued today by the Univeristy of Maryland’s School of Business as part of its on-going “Small Business Success Index” annual survey sponsored by Network Solutions. The survey found that nearly one out of five small business owners...
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4 places to find local small business counseling

February 15, 2010
By Rex Hammock
4 places to find local small business counseling

I have yet to meet a small business owner — especially myself — who knows everything. When faced with a business-related dilemma, it’s important to admit it when you don’t know something — and quickly turn to someone who does. While sites like SmallBusiness.com are packed with answers and how-tos and guides and definitions and...
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A helpful tutorial from the Helpers

February 13, 2010
By Rex Hammock
A helpful tutorial from the Helpers

At SmallBusiness.com, there’s a group of folks we call helpers. They are like elves. You never know where you’ll find them. Recently some helpers put together a new Editing Tutorial on SmallBusiness.com. It’s a great way to get familiar with the wikitext method of formatting an entry on SmallBusiness.com or any wiki running on...
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Calling all guest bloggers

February 12, 2010
By Rex Hammock
Calling all guest bloggers

On the new SmallBusiness.com blog, we want to feature lots of voices from the world of small business. We’ll be calling on our friends — bloggers and others who have great insight, points of view and information about specific products, trends or issues that are important to small businesses. But we want to hear from...
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