Get your business fully listed on YELP.com FREE along with 1500+ other top websites and Apps with ... By Julia McCoy  Yelp is a social site for everything local. When you sign up, you can find the best businesses in town. There are lists of restaurants, hotels, dentists, and gyms. If you’re looking for professional services, you can find landscapers, contractors, electricians, and plumbers. Curious about that new restaurant down the block? You can check Yelp to read customer reviews. Want to do something fun this weekend? Yelp lists the popular activities near you. What Yelp does is bring out the best in your area for you. If you aren’t using Yelp yet, read on to find out why it might be a good fit for your business. If you already have an account, it’s great to know Yelp’s history and fun facts not many of your fellow Yelpers know. Here are 15 facts you might not know about Yelp. 1. Yelp Was Once a ‘Glorified Email Circle’ In 2004, PayPal employee Jeremy Stoppelman fell sick. When he searched online for the best doctor, he realized there wasn’t much information on whether Doctor A or Doctor B was a better option. To fill in the information gap, Jeremy and his PayPal colleague Russell Simmons raised $1 million to form an email circle. Friends inside the circle could write and swap business reviews with each other. This is how Yelp was born. 2. What’s Behind the Name? Jeremy Stoppelman wanted to call his business “Yocal,” but was unable to obtain the domain name. The business continued without a name until one of its earliest employees, David Calbraith, came up with “Yelp.” The idea was rejected at first because “Yelp” sounds close to “Help.” After thinking about it, however, Stoppelman realized the name made perfect sense. Yelp’s first mission, after all, is to help people with their local needs. 3. 92% of Yelp Visitors Make a Purchase after Visiting the Social Network Consider these facts:
4. Yelp Is the #1 Site for Public Directories Online The average Yelp visit is 3:10 minutes long, and the average visitor clicks through to 7.10 pages, per SimilarWeb. 5. 55% of People Searching for a Restaurant on Yelp Have Ordered Delivery or Takeout from a Restaurant They Found on the Platform 53% of people who ordered from a restaurant on Yelp weren’t familiar with the restaurant before they found it on the platform. How has the competitive landscape changed? Find out if your competitors secured their market positions in recent months. 6. Yelp Doesn’t Issue ‘People Love Us on Yelp’ Stickers to Everyone Ever notice this sticker on the window of a restaurant you love? Although it seems a simple enough sticker, these are given only to qualified businesses. If you get one, it means Yelp appreciates your establishment. You:
7. Businesses with Higher Yelp Ratings & More Reviews Experience Faster Revenue Growth If your rating increases by one star on Yelp, you’ll enjoy a revenue growth of one to two percentage points. Ten new business reviews mean you’ll get an average of two revenue growth percentage points. 8. Businesses with 4.5 Ratings Experienced the Largest Revenue Growth from 2016-2019 Surprisingly, businesses with 4.5 stars on Yelp grew more than businesses with five stars! 9. Google Offered to Buy Yelp in 2005 Yelp started out with a two-year license that allowed Google to use Yelp content in organic search. In 2005, Google offered to buy Yelp for $550 million. Stoppelman, however, refused to sell his company. Here’s what he said in an interview with Time. 10. You Can Now Personalize the Yelp App Are you a vegetarian? Indicate this on the app, and your home screen will display the best vegetarian-friendly restaurants in your area. Do you love hiking? Yelp will show you excellent places for day trips, picnics, and family activities. A fan of coffee? You’ll get suggestions about amazing breweries to visit near you. Simply spend two minutes indicating your preferences on the Yelp app, and you’ll get a personalized home screen and experience. 11. Yelp Has 68.76 Million Mobile Web Unique Visitors It also has 35.6 million mobile app unique visitors. 12. 64% of Yelp Users Have Gone to College; Other Yelp User Facts
13. Restaurants Are the #1 Reviewed Business on Yelp Next to restaurants come Home/Local Services and Shopping. They’re followed closely by Beauty and Fitness, Health, Auto, Travel and Hotel, Arts, and Nightlife. 14. Yelp Has 205 Million Reviews Each year, Yelp obtains 16% more reviews than the year before. 15. Yelp Enjoys Global Domination Yelp isn’t only used to find local businesses in the U.S. In fact, people from over 35 countries worldwide use the app. It’s available in 42 different languages (including local variants). How Yelp Can Increase Your Business’s ROI Of the 2 trillion online searches per year, 46% will be a local search. But it isn’t enough to get noticed by prospects. You need to impress them and show them they’ll be satisfied with your products or services. And what better way to do this than by “word of mouth?” With Yelp, you’re taking word of mouth to the next level. If you have something excellent to offer plus great customer services, people will start talking about you with their Yelp “friends.” And the more reviews you have, the higher your revenue growth will be. More Resources: www.PayOnlyForSales.com Read more from Search Engine Journal Image Credits All images taken by author, April 2020 Get your business fully listed on YELP.com FREE along with 1500+ other top websites and Apps with ...
National workplace safety rules would protect employees from coronavirus and employers from lawsuits.By Noah Feldman "Opinion"  A barbershop in Oklahoma on Friday, April 24, 2020. Photographer: Bloomberg Whenever we’re ready to re-open Covid-closed businesses, we’ll have to resolve some important questions about how to do so safely. One of them: what kind of measures should businesses take to keep employees and customers safe, and how should business owners be held accountable if they play fast and loose with others’ health?
This debate over limiting liability has just begun, and it’s already taken a partisan turn. That’s unfortunate, because there’s a straightforward middle-ground solution available. Republicans have called for federal legislation to render businesses immune from lawsuits; Democrats are skeptical of the whole idea. Both sides are on to something important. The risk of being sued — and having to pay outsize damages if people become sick — is real. But so is the risk that complete immunity from lawsuits would lead to lax safety standards that endanger public health. Congress should direct the CDC to issue a specific protocol designed to keep workers and customers safe. Businesses that follow these federal rules should have a safe harbor from liability, even if some people get sick on their premises. Those who break the rules should be able to be sued for breaches that lead to infection. This approach would follow the basic rule of tort law, which is that if you make “reasonable” efforts to avoid accidents, you shouldn’t be liable; if you don’t, you should pay the costs of damages that ensue. At the same time, linking liability a clear federal guideline would solve the most serious problem associated with potential Covid lawsuits: uncertainty about which preventive measures would count as reasonable, creating disincentive for businesses to take the risk of reopening. Ordinary tort liability won’t work very well here, because it relies on after-the-fact judgments by juries about what counts as reasonable precautions. The great Judge Learned Hand proposed that reasonableness should be quantified by measuring whether the cost of the burden of accident prevention (known as B) outweighs the expected value of the accident — the probability of the accident (P) multiplied by the gravity of the loss (L). That’s more predictable than a jury’s instinct. But it still relies on a business owner’s capacity to predict the probability of an accident and the magnitude of its costs. Doing so is inordinately difficult during a developing pandemic. If business owners cannot know reliably how likely it is for employees to get infected and how costly their infections will be, then there’s no simple way for the business owners to set the correct level of prevention. Consequently, business owners might stay closed for weeks or months longer than they need to. Yet opponents of a complete liability waiver are also correct to worry that it would create the wrong incentives for businesses, allowing them to ignore even the most basic life-saving safety measures. Most workers shouldn’t be thought of as willingly assuming the risk of infection by coming to work. Most aren’t truly free to decide whether to come back to work; they’re constrained by the threat of losing their jobs, not to mention the imperative to feed their families. And anyway, modern tort law imposes a duty of reasonable care on employers when workers come to work even under ordinary, non-pandemic conditions. The solution in this situation is to specify the content of reasonable care — in advance. The way to do that is not state by state (as tort law typically operates) but nationally, with a single standard that will apply everywhere. That way businesses won’t have to guess what reasonable precautions are. They will know the rules. So long as they follow the rules, they will be safe from liability. If they break the rules, they will have to pay. Congress probably shouldn’t lay out the exact prevention rules itself, since members of Congress don’t have any special expertise in viral transmission. Congress should therefore do what it typically does when it needs expert judgment to become part of a law: delegate that part of the decision to an expert agency like the CDC. The CDC protocol would have to have some specifics for what is safe in different kinds of workplaces, from factories to restaurants to offices to construction sites. Once in place, however, the protocols could all be made to work the same way by a congressional mandate specifying that the new federal rules preempt state tort law. Congress could also specify what the damages would be for breaking the rules. They might not have to include all the costs of sickness and death; although the damages should certainly be high enough to deter rule breaking. You might wonder why all tort law isn’t nationalized in this way. The answer is complicated, and involves structural conflict between management and labor, plaintiffs’ attorneys and business interests. But one simplified answer is to say that there are so many different life situations where accidents can arise that it may not be practicable to create bright-line rules for all of them. COVID-19 isn’t like that. The CDC can make rough and ready judgments about prevention standards that could be followed with clarity and confidence. This isn’t an argument for upending our tort system in general — just for meeting its most basic objectives in a crisis. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. Or that of CMS, http://www.ChaChingBiz.com or its Owners. To contact the author of this story: Noah Feldman at nfeldman7@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sarah Green Carmichael at sgreencarmic@bloomberg.net ESPN reported on Monday that the Lakers had returned a loan they received through a federal aid program for small businesses hard hit by the coronavirus. The Los Angeles Lakers said in a statement on Friday that they had returned their loan through the Paycheck Protection Program.MARK J. TERRILL/AP HE LOS ANGELES LAKERS received – and subsequently returned – more than $4 million in financial support from a federal program designed to facilitate loans to small businesses to help keep them afloat in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement issued to ESPN on Monday, the basketball team said it "qualified for and received a loan under the Paycheck Protection Program" for roughly $4.6 million. The team clarified that "once we found out the funds from the program had been depleted, we repaid the loan so that financial support would be directed to those most in need." Photos: Coronavirus Prompts Sports Delays, Suspensions That the National Basketball Association's second-most valuable franchise by market value and third-highest revenue generator – with league-high annual operating income of $178 million, according to Forbes – received funds intended for small businesses adds to a growing perception on Capitol Hill that the Paycheck Protection Program's loan disbursement mechanisms are broken and that, more broadly, President Donald Trump's administration's response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak has been slow, insufficient and inequitable. Big banks have been sued in recent days for allegedly prioritizing larger, more profitable clients in distributing loans. The Trump administration has been criticized for declining to provide greater oversight over the program and for initially failing to communicate certain specifics of the loans to large financial institutions. "Failure to ensure the funds will be delivered swiftly and equitably to the Main Street small businesses that need help the most is a huge oversight that must be corrected immediately," Frank Knapp Jr., co-chairman of Businesses for Responsible Tax Reform and CEO of the South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement on Friday. "This money should not go to large companies with access to other forms of capital that can help them weather the crisis." Earnings,Data Reports This Week to Reveal ‘Mounting Economic Tolls’ of Coronavirus With a somewhat loose federal definition of what qualifies as a "small business concern" that would make a company eligible for aid, large chain restaurants such as Ruth's Chris and Potbelly have in recent days been pressured into returning tens of billions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program loans, with many smaller establishments saying their requests either weren't approved or weren't finalized before the program's $350 billion in initial funding ran out in mid-April. There are some stipulations, but most businesses that receive loans and put the funds toward paying employee wages could see some or all of their outstanding loan forgiven through the Small Business Administration. Lawmakers last week signed off on funneling more than $300 billion in additional funding into the program, with Small Business Administration Administrator Jovita Carranza on Monday announcing that more than $2 billion in funding would be added to the program from loans that were "either declined or returned and will be made available during the current application period." That window for new applications opened on Monday morning. CBO: Unemployment Above 10% in 2021 The Congressional Budget Office believes it will be years before the country fully recovers from the coronavirus outbreak’s economic turmoil.Andrew Soergel April 24, 2020 But perceived flaws in the program's distribution of loans were left unpatched. Lawmakers were praised by members of the small business community last week for opening up additional funding but were warned that, without the implementation of more specific guidelines, there's no reason to think this round of Paycheck Protection Program funding will play out any differently than the last one. "Only true legislative and regulatory reform will address this issue and guarantee the money goes to those entrepreneurs who actually need their government to support them during this crisis," Knapp said. "Failing to get money to real small business owners will have dire consequences for the country." Andrew Soergel, Senior Writer, Economics Andrew Soergel is a senior writer covering economics for U.S. News & World Report. He joined ... READ MORE Tags: coronavirus, loans, small business, Small Business Administration, NBA, economy, employment Find out how to let the world know what you're doing with these easy-to-follow tips.Rick Terrien VIP CONTRIBUTOR  Image credit: Sarinya Pinngam/EyeEm | Getty Images The following excerpt is from Rick Terrien’s Ageless Startup. Buy it now from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound.
It’s vital that you learn how to market and sell in your niche. Remember: Marketing isn’t sales. Marketing is making everything you do in your business a clear window on the value you offer to your customer and then telling the world about it. Marketing is education. Teach people how your work makes their lives better. Here’s how:
Finally, remember that closing sales means making yourself easy to understand, find and do business with. Most small startups will be selling directly to people in another organization rather than to consumers. What tools should you use to reach them? Email? Social media? Phone calls? Define each channel you’ll use and then make a plan for each channel. Because you’re launching your startup in the second half of life, you have the time and patience to do things right. You’re not on a sprint to placate investors — you’re on a journey to create delighted customers. Make your age into a business advantage. You don’t need the latest whiz-bang business tools and techniques — you have time and wisdom on your side. Help your customers understand that your know-how, knowledge and networks are meant to serve them and their goals, not yours. That’s how you create loyal, repeat customers. Tracking Your Data Sales and marketing don’t mean much unless you can quantify them and analyze your results. Capturing data is a vital piece of your ageless startup’s success puzzle so that you can turn those numbers into cold, hard commerce. You can protect your most valuable asset — your time — by organizing your enterprise data effectively:
Always accurately capture the most important information for business contacts you meet. You can get these from their business card. Transfer them into your own searchable system quickly. A searchable system is any tool or protocol you’re comfortable using that stores information in ways that you can quickly retrieve it on demand in the future. Databases are especially valuable in that they let you easily store not only full contact information and information about proposals and orders, but also complete conversations and relevant links to information about every person or business you deem important. This is your business’s intellectual property, so treat it wisely. For every contact, you should have easy access to the following information:
Keep a summary (including the dates) of each contact you have with the sales prospects in your database. Create, in advance, multiple tools in various forms of media — both print and digital (such as email templates, postcards, sales letter templates, brochures, etc.) — for contacting these prospects. Finally, build an outreach campaign; greet them with a light touch from your array of sales media. Once you do all of that, turn your focus to creating and managing quotes, orders and vendor data. Keeping Track of Client and Vendor Data Create and store searchable, comprehensive files of all quotes you generate for your product or service. It will both help and protect you down the road. Identify every formal quote with a distinct quote number, what’s included, the date issued and date “valid until” information. Make an orders file where you can keep track of sales. Each order in your file should contain the following information (if applicable):
You should also maintain files on all your vendors. Each vendor file should contain the following information (if applicable):
While it may seem overwhelming at first, setting up data capture and management isn’t complicated — it just takes time. As an ageless entrepreneur, you can make time a business asset. While storing customer contact information seems obvious, maintaining deep record-keeping practices that include retaining all past proposals and orders makes future interactions much more valuable to the customer as well as more efficient for you. Having every detail of past transactions readily available makes future sales more likely. Keeping information about all your vendors and how each one has supported specific projects makes future sales capture easy when the opportunity arises. As a businessperson, it also helps you keep a handle on changing products, services and costs that you need to stay ahead of to maintain profitability. Your business data is your key intellectual property. Grow it, protect it and continuously get better at utilizing it. Ageless entrepreneurs need to be knowledge hubs. Make your underlying business practices as smart and valuable as you are. Read more from Entrepreneur Many great ideas are never brought to creation because the creator worried that she didn’t have enough experience. It makes sense - businesses require a significant investment of time and money, which makes any hopeful entrepreneur first think that they need considerable business experience or a business education. And yet, we hear many stories about founders who did not have a lick of business acumen, and still built successful companies: founders like Sara Blakely, Mark Zuckerberg, and Michael Dell. No Business Experience? You Can Still Start a Successful Company | Stephanie Burns DEPOSIT PHOTOS Perhaps all that’s separating us from them is the courage to go after it, but to cultivate this courage, a few steps can be taken. If you’re feeling self-conscious about your lack of experience but you do want to go after an idea that you think could be worthwhile, consider the following. You’re closer than you think to a solid launchpad to make your dream business soar. 1. Give Weight To Your Role As A Frustrated Consumer Many entrepreneurs who do have a considerable amount of business experience start a business not because they see a company doing something they want to imitate, because they believe they can do it better. It’s actually better to not have experience in this case, because you’re likely leading from a place of customer dissatisfaction. You can’t find what you’re looking for in the market, so you want to make your own solution. This is what Sara Blakely did with Spanx - she was a fax machine salesperson who was frustrated with options on the market for pantyhose. So she sought to solve her own problem, and created Spanx. Richard Branson got at the same theme in a blog post on how he started Virgin Airlines: "Think about changes you’d like to see as a customer – even if you’ve just noticed little details that need tweaking. Those little changes may add up to a big idea that leads to a new and truly disruptive product or service.” Branson had no experience in the airline industry, but he knew he could create a great product from his perspective as a consumer. Rather than worrying about all the experience you don’t have, think about your unique perspective. You want to develop your idea because there’s nothing else like it. That’s a great starting point. 2. Choose Your Belief In Your Company Over The Reasons You’re Scared
Next, realize that it’s no accident that you’ve continued to believe in your company idea. Self-belief is radical. Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, believed so ardently in the Nike idea that nothing - not even all the people who told him to his face that he wouldn’t make it - derailed him from creating the world’s top shoe company. As he shared with CNBC, “We knew we could fail, we just didn’t think we would,” Knight said. “We loved doing what we were doing.” These same themes are part of what makes his book Shoe Dog so popular. It isn’t necessarily those who have plenty of experience that succeed in business - it’s those who aren’t fazed by anyone saying “no.” A similar line of thought and radical self-belief propelled Zara Harutyunyan, founder of CRMC Aesthetics, when she was starting her business - the first business she had ever started. “I didn’t know the first thing about creating a company or entrepreneurship, and I had just moved to America, but I had a gut feeling that my idea would work,” she shared with me. “My belief in the vision of the company and how it would help people kept me going, even though I was learning as I went along and raising a family.” Harutyunyan’s company is now ranked 50th in the nation. 3. Take Advantage Of Recommended Resources Finally, we live in an age of unbridled access to resources. If there’s a gap in your experience that you feel is holding you back, take to the Internet to find the answers. Ask entrepreneurs of all backgrounds and experiences for their best recommendations on online courses, books, and masterclasses. And for everything that you can’t learn online, seek to learn in a conversation. Call up entrepreneurs in your industry, or people who have done what you’re seeking to do before. Ask them for advice and what they wish they had known before they got started. They can easily be found on social media, and many of them are more than willing to talk with a budding entrepreneur. Or, they may have other resources they can point you to, such as podcast episodes where they shared their full story. Once you start digging into the plethora of content, solidifying your idea, and leaning into your belief that the idea is worth it, you’ll learn that you have far more going for you than you thought. Everyone has to start somewhere, so don’t let a lack of experience hold you back. Read more from Forbes Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website or some of my other work here. Stephanie Burns is the founder of Chic CEO, a resource for female entrepreneurs starting businesses. Download a free business plan template and follow Chic CEO on Twitter and Instagram That's what we learned when we surveyed 1,200 Americans about their entrepreneurial goals.Clay Routledge and John Bitzan Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth  Image credit: Ben Roberts Photography | Getty Images Are you trying to find the inner drive and inspiration to be become an entrepreneur? We surveyed over 1,200 American adults from diverse backgrounds all over the country, seeking to understand the factors that lead people to pursue their entrepreneurial goals. Our big takeaway? It isn't all about money, or success, or even business. It’s this: If someone feels that their life has meaning, they’re more likely to become an entrepreneur. And it goes even deeper than that. When we looked at the people who said they want to start a business, we saw a pattern: The most energized, confident, and goal-focused of them all also believe they have the ability to live meaningful lives. In fact, regardless of whether or not they have plans to start a business, survey respondents who believe strongly in their ability to live meaningful lives also had the most positive views about entrepreneurs. In short, meaning in life inspires the entrepreneurial spirit—as well as the public opinions needed to make our society supportive of entrepreneurship. So, what exactly is meaning in life? When we say “meaning in life,” we mean that you feel that you play a significant role in the world. It’s a sense that you have a purpose. To feel meaningful is to believe that you matter, that you can make important contributions to your family, friends, communities, and broader society. It has powerful implications for physical and mental wellbeing, for confidence and motivation, and for optimism about the future. Decades of research in psychology has shown the importance of this feeling of meaning in making people resilient and focused in difficult times. And here’s why this is so important to understand now: If we can take advantage of the power of meaning, then aspiring entrepreneurs can rise up, and provide the resiliency and focus necessary to help us all navigate these difficult times. How entrepreneurs can harness this power No matter where you are in your entrepreneurial journey, start by taking the time to focus on what currently gives your life meaning. Then, think about how your entrepreneurial ambitions build on that. For most of us, meaning is found in close relationships, by connecting with and serving the ones we love. Therefore, it may be helpful when developing a business plan to think about how it will not only help you pursue your own ambitions, but can also benefit those you care about most. For example, are you building a business that can provide opportunities for family and friends? Will your business give you the ability to spend more time with loved ones? Or might it offer new ways for you to be better able to be there for them? More broadly, think about how your future business can help make significant contributions to your community, and perhaps even the broader world. Focusing on the meaningful role you can play may not only help give you inspiration, it may also help you generate novel ideas and innovation solutions to challenges you and your community face. You may be the one that helps make important breakthroughs, the one who finds a way to help vulnerable populations in the community, or the one who finds a new way to deliver goods to meet people’s needs during social distancing. Eventually, when our global challenges have passed, an economic recovery will depend on the entrepreneurial spirit and business innovations to help our society flourish. As people continue, at least in the short term, to reduce their travel, limit their retail shopping and dining out, avoid attending large events and meetings, and continue other social distancing behaviors, businesses will need to continue to explore new ways of delivering and producing goods and services. New opportunities will arise for those that are able to innovate in this environment. In addition, individuals will need to support entrepreneurs and their businesses in order for them to rebuild and thrive. Believing that your life is meaningful, that you have a significant role to play in the world, can help you cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit and innovate in ways that not only help you fulfill your need for meaning but also help shape a flourishing world where others can do the same. Our study was conducted at the The Sheila and Robert Challey Institute for Global Innovation and Growth. Read more from Entrepreneur Don't think short-term fixes. Think long-term solutions.
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Many entrepreneurs have pivoted online, offering new digital services in order to keep their business afloat. Now they’re wondering: Is this really sustainable? Small-business expert Amanda Brinkman offers a surprising answer: Not only is it sustainable — it might be better for your business! “I think this is something you can sustain well past when this crisis is behind us,” she says. To dig into the details, we arranged a coaching session between Amanda and an entrepreneur who’s been wrestling with this exact question — and we filmed it so you can watch. The entrepreneur is Leigh Ann Cannady, founder of the Forsyth Academy of Performing Arts, a children’s performing arts school in Cumming, Ga. Cannady’s team has developed a wide range of digital classes and programs, but she’s worried about how long they’ll keep customers engaged. That’s the question we brought to Brinkman, Deluxe's chief brand officer, who’s also the host of its Small Business Revolution show on Hulu. Here are three big takeaways from Brinkman: 1. Use this time to focus on solutions. As entrepreneurs scramble today, many are looking for short-term solutions — just something to keep some revenue coming in. Brinkman says that’s the wrong way to look at it. Instead, see this as a time to develop new ideas, lean heavily into them and build an infrastructure that can sustain them going forward. “I really feel like in times of great need, and times of pressure on the business, you're forced to pivot quickly — and sometimes we almost need these outside forces to drive us into solutions,” she says. She encourages entrepreneurs to focus on what their business does well, where areas of growth are and what consumers might want long after this crisis is over. In other words, don’t think of your solutions as short-term. Think of them as new opportunities that you’re developing for the future. 2. You’re a digital company now, so act like it! Brinkman is seeing a pattern: Many local businesses are now offering services online but still think of themselves as a local business. That’s a missed opportunity — because online services can reach customers globally. To reach these new customers, however, a business will need to think its online strategy. “Your findability online comes down to a couple of different sources that search engines use to triangulate the data,” Brinkman says. Every entrepreneur, even a local one, should start investing in improving findability. For example, is the business set up on Google My Business? On Yelp? Are these pages robust — full of photos and up-to-date information? Is someone from the business quickly replying to all comments? And are you categorized properly — not just as a local business, but as a global one offering a wide range of services? Cannady did some of this well, but not everything. She wasn’t on Yelp, for example. “When I think about Yelp, I think about what restaurant I want to have dinner at,” she admits. 3. Change the conversation with your consumer. Language matters — and businesses should pick the right words for the right time. At this moment, for example, people may be on tight budgets, but they also likely want or need the services a business has to offer. So how can the business ask for payment without seeming inattentive to people’s needs? “Start using terminology like donate,” Brinkman says. “You could say, ‘We want people to attend [our online services], we don't want price to be a barrier, but if you're able to, we want to be able to compensate our staff for the great work they're doing.’” This way, she says, people feel good about helping the business. It can be the beginning of a new kind of relationship — one that evolves once the world opens back up. For more great advice, watch the video above! What some who don’t live in Georgia may not realize is that Gov. Brian Kemp’s original shelter-in-place order was not a total lockdown. Undeterred by his critics, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is moving forward with the bold decision to begin to reopen his state’s businesses and launch our return to normal life. According to an order Kemp promulgated Monday, nail salons, massage therapists, tattoo parlors, bowling alleys, gyms, and other businesses may reopen on Friday. In-person church services can reopen. On Monday, restaurants and movie theaters may reopen. Dentists’ and doctors’ offices and all other health care-related practices and services that have ceased to treat patients should begin treating patients as soon as practicable. To be sure, this won’t be a reopening that goes back to the way things were – all businesses will be required to follow social distancing guidelines and implement measures to mitigate the exposure and spread of COVID-19 – but it is a start, and a well-timed one.
Why did Kemp make this decision now? In consulting the White House’s guidelines, Kemp’s public health advisors told him Georgia was ready. Georgia Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey declared that across the state, fewer flu-like sicknesses were showing up in Georgia’s hospital emergency rooms. “We definitely have a plateauing and what appears to be a decline,” she said. That puts Georgia in line with the national guidelines for reopening President Trump issued last week. As to why he’s reopening these particular types of businesses, Kemp explained on FOX News Tuesday evening, “Well, those are the ones that are closed.” What some who don’t live in Georgia may not realize is that Kemp’s original shelter-in-place order was not a total lockdown. With the exception of the businesses in this week’s order, even so-called “non-essential” businesses (even though all businesses are essential to those who own them, work there, or use their services) were allowed to stay open for basic operations as long as they followed a list of 20 different requirements to mitigate the spread. Contrary to what some critiques have said, Kemp is following Trump’s “Opening Up America Again” guidelines. The first gating criteria are based on basic criteria before moving into Phase One, which can be tailored for a regional or statewide approach: Symptoms: downward trajectory of influenza-like illnesses (ILI) reported within a 14-day period and downward trajectory of covid-like syndromic cases reported within a 14-day period. Cases: downward trajectory of documented cases with a 14-day period OR downward trajectory of positive tests as a percent of total tests within a 14-day period (flat or increasing volume of tests) Georgia meets the requirements for symptoms and cases. At his April 20, 2020 press conference, Kemp said, “According to the Georgia Department of Health, reports of cases of flu-like illness are declining and documented COVID-19 have flattened and appear to be declining, and we have seen declining emergency room visits in general.” The daily status report for tracking COVID-19 in Georgia tracks the decrease in the number of individual cases, as well as the number of deaths, and daily tracking of the average number of cases and deaths over a seven day period shows that all have decreased. The day of peak individual cases was April 14 (842 cases), while the day of peak deaths was April 6 (41 deaths). Hospitals: treat all patients without crisis care and robust testing program in place for at-risk healthcare workers, including emerging antibody testing. Georgia also meets the requirements for hospitals and testing. At his April 20 press conference, Kemp continued, “By expanding our hospital bed capacity, including the temporary facility at the Georgia World Congress Center, we have the ability to treat patients without crisis care in hospital settings. Our proactive actions have reduced stress and strain on our area hospitals, as well as the communities and families they serve.” On Monday, Kemp announced a plan to double the testing capacity and meet the White House guidelines. Augusta University, the state’s only public academic medical center, in concert with the experts at the Medical College of Georgia, designed an app to help determine who needs testing. Through the app, physicians will be available 24 hours a day for screening symptoms, coordinating where to have the testing, and coordinating with academic institutions across the state to have results in about 72 hours and have a physician contact a patient with results. Among other criteria, the “Opening Up American Guidelines” for “Phase One” for employers encourage a continuation of teleworking, wherever feasible, and if possible a return to work in phases. “In phases” is noteworthy as this week Kemp began enacting a “phased” return to work. Kemp’s executive order issued on April 2, 2020 issued a shelter-in-place order, set a list of 20 requirements for “critical infrastructure” and “not critical infrastructure” to follow, mandated certain businesses to close, and addressed nursing homes. Sheltering in place was required unless conducting or participating in essential services, performing necessary travel, engaging in the performance of minimum basic operations for a business, establishment, corporation non-profit or organization not classified as critical infrastructure, or as part of a workforce for critical infrastructure. Under Kemp’s April 2 executive order, retail businesses and other not critical infrastructure businesses have been open for online and phone orders, delivery, and curbside pickup. But the same order mandated all gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, theaters, live performance venues, operators of amusement rides, body art studios, estheticians, hair designers, massage therapy practices, and bars close. Those were the only businesses specifically mandated to close. Business owners could otherwise choose to continue “Basic Minimum Operations” while meeting the 20 requirements to slow the spread. Using these guidelines, along with medical facilities voluntarily ending elective medical procedures, Georgians flattened the curve. The sheltering-in-place mandates from April 2 will continue until April 30. Kemp said medical facilities may begin seeing patients again. The latest executive order lifted the ban on operating all gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, theaters, live performance venues, operators of amusement rides, body art studios, estheticians, hair designers, massage therapy practices, and restaurants. Those businesses will gradually be able to begin Basic Minimum Operations while meeting the 20 requirements to slow the spread. This is a step toward reopening. All businesses, with the exception of bars, may choose to open or may remain closed. If they open, they must meet the 20 requirements, and are only functioning with Basic Minimum Operations. In Georgia,no other business categories are allowed to reopen because other “not Critical Infrastructure” businesses were already given the ability to remain open for basic minimum operations. Businesses in Georgia are still not going back to businesses as usual. This is a phased approach. The shelter-in-place mandate, which the White House guidelines allow to be lifted, continues to remain in effect in Georgia under the same conditions until April 30. Kemp and Georgia’s public health officials will continue to monitor the data to determine if Georgians are able to take this first step toward reopening Georgia without creating a surge of COVID-19 cases. At that point, Kemp will make the next set of decisions. Reopening Doesn’t Have to Be Partisan As we look around the country, it appears that a new fault line has developed in American politics. It’s not necessarily a partisan split, and it’s not necessarily an ideological split, either – it’s the split between those who want to begin reopening the economy now, versus those who want to remain shut down for a longer period of time. There is no reason this split should be either partisan or ideological. Believing we can take steps to reopen the economy, or believing we should remain in full shutdown mode, should have nothing to do with one’s personal politics. Yet for some reason, it seems that it does – according to the data in a NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released earlier this week, there is a huge partisan split on the issue, with 77 percent of Democrats saying they were concerned about reopening too quickly, while only 39 percent of Republicans share that fear. Meanwhile, only 19 percent of the Democrats surveyed in that poll said they were more worried about the economic impact of the shutdown, against 48 percent of Republicans who were. Oddly for those who think there should be a partisan split on the question, Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis is also taking significant steps to begin reopening his state’s economy, and taking flak for it. For Kemp, the decision on when to reopen the economy has nothing to do with partisan politics. It was a decision based on a number of factors: the science, the economics, the hardships endured by communities whose residents have lost their jobs, the loss of civil liberties taken from a citizenry that opposes such orders, among other things. Kemp doesn’t seem to mind what his opponents think about his reopening decision. In making the decision he did, he has chosen to rise above partisan politics, and do for his state what he thinks is best – the mark of a statesman, rather than a politician. Jenny Beth Martin is honorary chairman of Tea Party Patriots Action, and Georgia resident. Photo Official governor photos Read more from the Federalist 
These days, it is more important than ever for a business to do whatever they can to attract new customers into their store. However, that's gotten harder than ever before as customers find their attention drawn in a million different directions. Thankfully, there are also more ways to connect with customers than ever before. Here's a look at a series of tactics that can help you attract more customers to your business. Use the InternetSimply put, a small business cannot be successful today without having a presence on the internet. According to Forbes, this may mean a small website, social media profile, and/or an e-commerce portal. Whatever path you take, it is vitally important that your business uses the internet in a way that will provide information about the various products and services that you offer. Also, create incentives to encourage new customers to explore your business. Fortunately, you don't have to create your own website, although it isn't terribly difficult to do today. There is no shortage of businesses out there that can help you do just that. Offer Something UniqueThe simple fact of the manner is that if a customer is looking for something that they can buy anywhere, they're going to buy it at the lowest price possible and with the maximum amount of convenience. In other words, they're probably going to use Amazon or a big box store. In order to survive, a small business has to offer something unique. That may mean special customer service or a product that cannot be found anywhere else or purchased on the internet. Whatever it is, remember that small businesses that offer standard services simply cannot survive in today's business climate. Get to Know Your CustomerOne of the biggest benefits that a small business has over a large chain or Amazon is that they can truly get to know their customer. This almost certainly doesn't mean that you need to engage in some comprehensive survey and pay for confusing customer algorithms. Indeed, these tactics are most decidedly low-tech. When it comes to your customers, do what you can to get to know them on a regular basis. Ask them their names. Ask how you can be of further assistance. Find them on social media, and get to know them better. Remember, someone is much more likely to do business with you if they know, like and trust you. Build a Personalized ExperienceThis tip is intimately related to the one above. Podium advises that when it comes to products and services, 90% of customers expect a personalized experience. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to get a fancy website that can predict what shoes they want to buy. Indeed, it may mean the complete opposite. If you get to know your customers, you can get a better idea of their specific needs and wants. From there, you can make specific recommendations that are customized to their desires. This personalized experience will keep customers returning to your store. Get Involved in the CommunityAs you know, customers won't magically come to you. In order to attract them to your business, you have to actively become a member of your community. This can mean many things, like picking a non-profit to assist or as Webster suggests, getting involved in your local chamber of commerce. Whatever you decide to do, pick an activity that will benefit you and help you get more exposure in your local community. Create a Marketing BudgetMarketing can be expensive, but without putting dollars into marketing, you're going to struggle to attract new customers. Entrepreneur.com says that a successful marketing strategy for a small business requires many steps, including determining your overall goals, identifying your ideal customers and finding out where you can reach them. However, this is money that is well worth the investment. It doesn't have to be a huge influx of cash — indeed, it may be something as simple as a placemat advertising in a diner that will do the trick — but you have to spend to get your business in front of new customers. Partner With Other BusinessesThese days, no business can make it on their own. To that end, identify other businesses that work in complementary areas to you, and see if there aren't joint promotions in which you can engage together. Promote each other on social media. Leave fliers and come up with joint deals, discounts or coupons. This will enable you to each take advantage of the other's services and customer bases, creating an ideal opportunity for you to expand together. Growing a small business and attracting new customers is hard, and there's a reason that so many small businesses are struggling today. Making money requires more creativity and effort than it ever has before, but it is very, very possible. Follow these tips, and you will give yourself an excellent opportunity to succeed. Read more great advice in this article: The Reopening Challenge: 5 Tips for Getting Back to Business There are reasons major companies got massive loans from the Senate's 'small business' bailout while thousands of small businesses that applied immediately were told there was no money left. There are reasons major companies got massive loans from the Senate’s “small business” bailout while thousands of small businesses that applied the first day funds were available were told there was no money left. Who is to blame, however, is more complicated.
Imagine bankers who won’t deliver you taxpayer assistance unless you already owe them money. Imagine bankers who will put you at the back of the line so that franchises worth hundreds of millions or even a billion dollars can get the aid first. Imagine a law our leaders passed allowing it. Now understand that what you’ve just imagined appears to be exactly what has happened. The federal coronavirus bailout has first-come-first-serve rules that kick in once a bank sends a loan application to the government’s Small Business Administration (SBA), but in the interest of speed amid a crumbling economy and under an intense lobbying campaign from corporate interests, the end text of the law was vague at best on how banks are required to treat applicants before sending their requests to the SBA. Because of this, banks that wish to are able to pick winners and losers based on their own incentives, such as previous relationships, existing debts, or simply the potential to earn a profit. A series of class-action lawsuits filed Sunday in Los Angeles allege that four banks — Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and US Bancorp — rushed loans to the biggest businesses to maximize their earnings. “In the last three days of [the Paycheck Protection Program],” or just when funds began to run low, the lawsuits notes, “banks processed loan applications for $150,000 and under at twice the rate of larger loans.” According to the plaintiffs, this indicates that the larger loans had been pushed to the front of the line. But why would it matter? The answer is not all loans are equal. Banks, the suits explain, earned “5 percent on loans of up to $350,000; 3 percent on loans between 350,000 and $2 million; and 1 percent on loans between $2 million and $10 million” — or up to $17,500 for the smallest set, and up to $100,000 for the larger set. The bankers claim they’re innocent, and that the appearance of different treatment is simply the result of different divisions working at different speeds with different client loads. The end results, however, don’t look pretty at a time Americans are struggling and businesses are shutting their doors forever. As The Washington Post reports, Ruth’s Chris, a $250 million company, received $20 million in loans ($10 million to each of its two divisions), the $89 million Potbelly Chain received $10 million, and the $1.6 billion colossus Shake Shack received $10 million as well, which it has since returned. Forbes reports that $300 million went to companies that are traded on the stock exchange — not exactly mom and pop. The banks are in trouble here: There’s a good chance the Senate decides to open up their books and play in their guts when it comes time to account for money spent. The whole problem, though, begins with Congress, which chose the banks as the avenue for the unprecedented government bailout and then, either under pressure from time, lobbyists, or both, failed to set strict parameters, and who so far have not allowed small businesses any legal recourse for how their fates are dealt out. An Imperfect Avenue The banks were never an ideal avenue to deliver the Paycheck Protection Program, if there is such a thing as an ideal avenue, but Congress chose them because they are already in the business of making loans. And not all banks are the same: Smaller community banks, which have been lauded for their response to the crisis, have relationships with friends and neighbors and a strong interest in the economic health of the communities they operate in. Larger banks, however, aren’t subject to the same pushes and incentives as their smaller partners, and could be more tempted to serve themselves to the detriment of American interests. Some bankers, for example, are incentivized to send low-interest loans to endangered clients who owe them a large debt, to funnel taxpayer money toward clients who have large reserves to pay them back with, and to send relief to clients who will generate greater profits for less work. This isn’t completely unnatural, but when employed in the very unnatural system of picking whose business lives and whose dies, it is deeply unsettling. With the money running out, one corporate analyst told The Federalist small business owners suddenly found themselves “in a ‘Hunger Games’ death match without anyone even telling them.” Bankers prefer to help those who already bank with them first, and in the interest of speed and efficiency, and under pressure from lobbyists, Congress agreed. Some larger companies like Bank of America took this a step further, requiring that businesses seeking loans have a history of owing them money — checking, savings, and employee retirement accounts would not suffice. On the subject of debtors, banks have an incentive to loan to at-risk firms that currently owe them debts to reduce the bank’s exposure to loss. Although Bank of America reversed its loan-history policy under public pressure, compounding computer and process errors at large banks ended up leaving some of the neediest as well as the most responsible small businesses in the cold. And as with any business, banks have an incentive to earn a profit. Why write 1,000 loans to small businesses when you can write 10 large loans to firms you already know and earn more money for it? The paperwork alone is less costly . The final twist is that aggrieved business owners might not have any available recourse. Businesses don’t have standing to sue banks administering the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal judge in Baltimore ruled on April 13, writing that while the “plantiffs’ experiences demonstrate a significant flaw … in the implementation of the massive and complex PPP program,” holding banks liable for how they order loan recipients would frighten banks from participating, thereby undermining “Congress’s goal to maximize relief for American small businesses.” “It really boiled down to how fast can you get money out the door,” a Senate Republican familiar with the law’s negotiations told The Federalist. “If you had all the time in the world, there is probably a better system,” the Republican conceded, while defending the banks as the best of the limited options: “Insurance companies have never done anything like this, and if Treasury were to take applications for the aid, it would have to develop a process to do so. It would face the same challenges as SBA, but in addition it would not have the muscle memory of loan approvals. Remember, SBA approved 14 years worth of loans in less than two weeks.” In the end, those who relied on the major banks appear to have lost out when compared with their peers who worked with smaller banks. “The vast majority [of small businesses that received loans] got theirs from a small regional bank,” Yahoo! Finance reported. A statement from the American Bankers Association agreed, saying, “Approximately 60 percent of… loans were made by community banks.” But large banks are large for a reason, so their responsibility in this time of crisis is large as well. “Congress is better positioned to remedy any defects in the CARES Act,” the Baltimore federal court ruled. And that is a fact. The House and Senate owe a duty to our country to reel in the guilty banks and ensure that our debt, and the debt we are saddling our children with, serves those Americans who need it most — no matter what the bankers think or say. If not with the carrot, then with the stick. Christopher Bedford is a senior editor at The Federalist, the vice chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, a board member at the National Journalism Center, and the author of The Art of the Donald. Follow him on Twitter. Read more from the Federalist 
Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee are the latest states to restart their economies and ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
The governor of Georgia said some businesses will be allowed to reopen as early as Friday and Tennessee says businesses can open again next week. South Carolina permitted some stores - including sporting goods shops and department stores - to reopen at 5pm yesterday with social-distancing measures in place and beaches are due to open today. Texas was the first state to begin reopening Monday. It comes after President Donald Trump last week gave the nation's governors his road map for how the US can reopen businesses and schools shut down by the coronavirus. The new three-phase guidelines are aimed at easing restrictions in areas with low transmission of the coronavirus, while holding the line in harder-hit locations like New York.
Some states, like hard-hit New York, had already committed this week to extending lockdown measures into at least mid-May prior to Trump's recommendations.
About 95 percent of the country currently remains on some form of lockdown in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus. Seven states - Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming - still have no stay-at-home orders in place for its residents. Trump's guidelines to reopen the country largely reinforce plans already in the works by governors who have primary responsibility for public health in their states. Here's where each state is with current lockdown measures and plans moving forward:
Georgia
Georgia's governor says gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors can reopen on April 24 as long as owners follow strict social-distancing and hygiene requirements. Elective medical procedures can also resume. By April 27, movie theaters may resume selling tickets and restaurants limited to takeout orders can return to limited dine-in service. The state's shelter-in-place order remains in effect until April 30 but at-risk people are urged to remain home until May 13. Bars, live performance venues and amusement parks will remain closed. Religious institutions are still urged to hold drive-thru or online services for now. South Carolina Department stores, sporting goods stores and flea markets are among the businesses allowed to reopen in parts of the state from April 20. Other stores selling furniture, books, music, flowers, clothing and accessories can also reopen. The businesses are allowed to open at 20 percent capacity, or five people per 1,000 square feet. Beaches were also allowed to reopen at noon on Tuesday. Bars and restaurants are limited to take-out only and nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. The state's order closing all nonessential businesses expires April 27. Tennessee Stay-at-home order will not be extended past April 30 and a phased reopening will begin next week. There is currently a 10 person limit on gatherings. Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. Bars and restaurants are currently limited to take-out only. Texas State parks reopened on April 20 but people must wear face coverings and masks and adhere to social distancing. People also cannot visit in groups of five or more. Hospitals can start resuming surgeries on April 22 that had been postponed by coronavirus but only if they do not take away from the hospital's capacity to treat COVID-19 and if the hospital reserves 25 percent of its beds for COVID-19 patients. From April 24, retailers can reopen but only if they can deliver their goods or services to people at home or in their cars to minimize contact. Schools and universities will remain closed for the rest of the year. State's stay-at-home order still exists through April 30 and there is a 10 person limit on gatherings. Air travelers flying to Texas from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, Louisiana or Washington - or Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Miami - must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants are currently still limited to take-out only. Alabama Stay-at-home order through April 30 10 person limit on gatherings Non-essential businesses closed to the public Restaurants and bars limited to take-out only Alaska Indefinite stay-at-home order. 10 person limit on gatherings. Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work. Restaurants and bars limited to take-out only. Travelers from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days. Arizona Stay-at-home order through April 30 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work Restaurants and bars limited to take-out only
Trump on Thursday gave governors a road map for recovering from the economic pain of the coronavirus pandemic, laying out 'a phased and deliberate approach' to restoring normal activity in places that have strong testing and are seeing a decrease in COVID-19 cases
Arkansas
No state-wide stay-at-home order 10 person limit on gatherings - doesn't apply to unenclosed outdoor spaces or places of worship Gym and entertainment venues closed, hotels and vacation rentals restricted to authorized guests Restaurants and bars limited to take-out only California Indefinite stay-at-home order Gatherings in a single room or place prohibited Nonessential businesses are limited to minimum operations or remote work Restaurants and bars limited to take-out only Colorado Stay-at-home order through April 26 Public and private gatherings of any number prohibited with limited exceptions Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Restaurants and bars limited to takeout only Connecticut Stay-at-home order through May 20 Five person limit on social gatherings, 50-person limit for religious services Non-essential businesses must suspend all in-person operations Out-of-state visitors strongly urged to self-quarantine Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Delaware Stay-at-home order through May 15 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state who aren’t just passing through must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Florida Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gave the all-clear for some beaches and parks to reopen from April 17 if it could be done safely Stay-at-home order through April 30 No social gatherings public spaces - with religious exemptions Nonessential services closed to the public - but gun stores remain open Visitors from COVID-19 hot spots such as New York must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Hawaii Stay-at-home order at least through April 30 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Idaho Stay-at-home order through April 30 Non-essential gatherings prohibited Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Illinois Stay-at-home order through at least April 30 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Indiana Stay-at-home order through April 20, but likely to be extended 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Iowa No stay-at-home order Nonessential businesses ordered to close until April 30 10 person limit on gatherings Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Kansas Stay-at-home order until May 3 10 person limit on gatherings - exempting funerals and religious services with social distancing Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Residents who traveled to California, Florida, New York or Washington state after March 14, or visited Illinois or New Jersey after March 22, must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Kentucky No stay-at-home order Mass gatherings prohibited, smaller gatherings allowed with social distancing Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only 
The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has released a new map projection that reveals when each US state could potentially start relaxing measures
Louisiana
Stay-at-home order through April 30 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Maine 'Stay healthy at home' executive order through April 30 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Maryland Indefinite stay-at-home order 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Massachusetts Non-essential businesses closed through May 4 10 person limit on gatherings Visitors from out of state advised to self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Michigan Stay-at-home order through April 30 Public gatherings prohibited - with religious exemptions Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Minnesota Stay-at-home order through May 3 Entertainment and performance venues closed Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Mississippi Stay at home order through April 20 Schools closed through the end of the semester 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Missouri Stay Home Missouri' order through April 24 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses must enforce social distancing Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Montana Stay-at-home order through April 24 Nonessential social and recreational gatherings prohibited Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Nebraska No stay-at-home order Hair salons, tattoo parlors and strip clubs closed through May 31 10 person limit on gatherings Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only 
ReadNevada Stay-at-home order through April 30. 10 person limit on gatherings Recreational, entertainment and personal-care businesses closed, including casinos Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only New Hampshire Stay-at-home order through May 4 Nine person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only New Jersey Indefinite stay-at-home order 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential retail businesses must close bricks-and-mortar premises. Recreational and entertainment businesses also closed Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only New Mexico Stay-at-home order through April 30 Five person limit on gatherings in a single room Nonessential businesses must suspend all in-person operations Arriving air travelers must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only New York Stay-at-home order through May 15 Nonessential gatherings prohibited Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Masks must be worn in situations where social distancing is not possible North Carolina Stay-at-home order through April 29 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only North Dakota No stay-at-home order Schools, restaurants, fitness centers, movie theaters and salons closed No state-wide directive on gatherings Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Ohio Stay-at-home order through May 1 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Oklahoma 'Safer at Home' order until April 30 for people over the age of 65 and other vulnerable residents 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses must suspend services Visitors arriving from New York, California, Louisiana and Washington must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Oregon Indefinite stay-at-home order 25 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Pennsylvania Stay-at-home order through April 30 Gatherings prohibited Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Rhode Island Stay-at-home order through May 8 Five person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only South Dakota No stay-at-home order Unnecessary gatherings of 10 or more prohibited Utah No stay-at-home order 10 person limit on gatherings Businesses must minimize face-to-face contact with high-risk employees Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Vermont Stay-at-home order through May 15 10 person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from out of state must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Virginia Stay-at-home order through June 10 Recreation and entertainment businesses closed through May 8 10 person limit on gatherings Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Washington Stay-at-home order through May 4 All gatherings for social, spiritual and recreational purposes are prohibited Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only West Virginia Indefinite stay-at-home order Five-person limit on gatherings Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Visitors from coronavirus hotspots must self-quarantine for 14 days Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Wisconsin 'Safer at Home' order prohibits all nonessential travel until May 26 All public and private gatherings are prohibited with limited exceptions. Nonessential businesses limited to minimum operations or remote work Self-quarantine recommended for out-of-state visitors Bars and restaurants limited to take-out only Wyoming No stay-at-home order - but social distancing restrictions through April 30 10 person limit on gatherings in a confined space Restaurants and bars limited to take-out only Anyone entering the state except for essential work must quarantine for 14 days Images: DailyMail.co.uk Read more from DailyMail Business as usual may look very different after the coronavirus pandemic. Here's what you need to do before reopening. Companies that are preparing to reopen in the coming weeks still need to be in "survival mode" if they want to outlast the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
That's according to Marilyn Landis, CEO of Basic Business Concepts, which provides CFO services to small companies. Landis spoke at the National Small Business Town Hall, a live webinar hosted by Inc. and the Chamber of Commerce, on Friday, April 17. While emergency relief funding is on the way for many companies and some regions of the U.S. are expected to reopen in a matter of weeks, business owners must focus on keeping their companies afloat in a new environment, says Landis. See more clips, the full webinar and detailed coverage."We've got to start thinking about how we start planning for the spotty, sporadic opening and how we reach across to our vendors, our customers, and our employees to begin to function again," she says. Here are five things to incorporate into your plans for how to resume business. 1. Cut costs wisely. While businesses in a cash crunch often start making cuts to reduce costs, doing so can be detrimental in the long term, according to panelist Manny Cosme, president and CEO of CFO Services, which provides CFO and bookkeeping services to small businesses. "Before you make cuts, run that through your financial projections," Cosme says, adding that companies ultimately need to think about growing their way out of this crisis. "Every cut that you make is going to cut your ability to generate revenue or keep your business going, which is not something you want to be doing right now." 2. Bring employees back. Recently laid-off employees are now collecting unemployment benefits, and some are receiving an additional $600 per week through July as a part of the federal government's recent stimulus package. Inc. editor-at-large Kimberly Weisul, who moderated the panel, noted that convincing some of those employees to return to work could be a tough sell, either because of health concerns or other reasons. "I think the answer there is health insurance," said panelist David Barron, a member of law firm Cozen O'Connor. "Being able to say, 'Look if you don't come back to work, we're going to have to let you go and you may lose your health insurance.' I think that's driving a lot of the decisions." Barron added that employers should keep in mind that some employees could come back to work and immediately take advantage of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which requires some employers to provide paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for reasons related to Covid-19. 3. Revisit your business model. Switching up your business model may be the last thing you want to do when you reopen, but it could be what keeps you in business. Landis advises asking yourself the following questions:
For Cosme, diversifying revenue comes down to changing one or more of the three following aspects of your business model:
4. Consider new vendors.Even if your business reopens, the vendors in your supply chain may not. That could require finding new vendors altogether, according to Landis, including companies that might require cash-on-delivery. "That's a whole new cash need," she warns. Another issue is having to ship your products to customers who may not be able to come to you. "You may have to incur costs for shipping or warehouse fulfillment if you want to continue to keep those customers," Landis says. 5. Tap into local programs. While many business owners have been focused on the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, additional resources are available at the state and local levels, such as local economic development groups and community development financial institutions, Landis notes. "[Business owners] need to look into their community," she says. "Many landlord groups are coming together to try to provide some ease for their tenants because they want those buildings occupied again when it's over." On Thursday, the Chamber of Commerce launched the Save Small Business Fund, which provides up to $5,000 for businesses that employ between three and 30 people, are located in a "vulnerable area," and have been affected by the coronavirus. For more resources, check out Inc.'s financial assistance and grant program trackers. Registration is now open for the fifth National Small Business Town Hall, at 12 p.m. Eastern, Friday, April 24. Read more from INC Rohit Arora Senior Contributor Small Business Strategy I write about small business lending and growth. We knew it wouldn’t last forever, but the speed at which the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding dried up is stunning. Ruth's Chris Steak House (Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images) LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES The $350 billion funding pool established for small businesses struggling to meet their bills because of the coronavirus, ran out of money in less than two weeks, and politicians in Washington are battling over the next round of funding and how much it will be.
According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), more than 1.62 million applications were approved by about 5,000 lending partners. Just how much of that money is already in the bank accounts of small business owners is yet to be determined. Small business owners are not only competing against their peers, they also are competing against corporations, such as Ruth Chris Steakhouse, a corporation with 5,000 employees that reported revenues of $135 million in the fourth quarter of 2019. Ruth Chris obtained $20 million in PPP funding, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. Earlier, the newspaper reported that most of the government-backed loans approved have been for amounts less than $350,000, while approximately 5% are for amounts greater than $1 million, according to SBA figures. COVID LoanTracker.com, a website established by group of small business owners concerned about the timeline for receiving loans from the government, found through its online survey that only 574 of the 10,500 businesses (about 5.5%) that applied for PPP loans have received them. Additionally, only 546 of 9,729 applications – a less than 6% success rate – have obtained SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) money related to the coronavirus pandemic so far. Read more from Forbes Abdo Riani Senior Contributor Entrepreneurs I write about bootstrapping startups and small businesses. Today, there are probably thousands of teams in the world who can help you build your app idea and a few hundred of them can work with your budget. How do you choose the right team? A decade of hiring will teach you that agreeing on the budget is important, but if you don’t pay close attention to these five partner-fit signals, no small or significant amount of money will make the partnership successful. Today, there are probably thousands of teams in the world who can help you build your app idea. How ... [+] GETTY 1. Are You Their Ideal Partner?
Your technical team or partner have businesses of their own and one of the first rules of business is to identify and focus on an ideal buyer. Out of your narrowed pool of potential partners, chances are only a small percentage specializes in your business model and technology. And a smaller percentage, picked early-stage startups as their ideal segment. Ideally, you want to work with someone who has already accounted for your startup as part of their business journey. Besides their experience in the field, they tend to be more committed to helping you build a successful startup. Therefore, one of the important things you should keep in mind in your hiring, starting with your job description, is attracting talents from your space, who have worked with entrepreneurs at your stage. 2. Are You Their Priority? If you want to increase the probability of success of your startup, you need a committed partner. When it comes to building startups, commitment isn’t just about focusing on executing the defined scope. More important than execution is openness and willingness to change directions quickly based on customer and market insights. If the team is busy with other projects, doesn’t consider you an ideal partner, or their return doesn’t justify the needed commitment, the misalignment of interests will most likely lead to failure of the partnership and probably the startup. 3. Why Did They Discount Their Services? When I started my first venture, one of my biggest challenges was finding a passionate entrepreneur with a complementary background to help me build my startup. After meeting with several candidates, I thought I found the right team member. The only problem was, I couldn’t afford his services. I thought that if I sold the vision and revenue potential of the business, he would agree to delay a portion of his compensation until we meet certain milestones. A few meetings later, he agreed and we were off to a great start but it didn’t take long until it got harder and harder to get ahold of him and the partnership was quickly terminated. Long story short, it’s important to differentiate between reducing costs by reducing the scope of work and discounting services by reducing their compensation. If you found someone that you really want to work with, the best way to come up with a fair agreement is by discussing the scope. Most of the time, it’s not going to be equity or your sales skills of the company’s vision. If you ever see yourself trying to convince a service provider like a technical partner, it’s a sign that things will most likely not work out over the long-run. 4. Are They Trying To Fill A Gap With Your Startup? It’s not because you don’t fall into your technical partner’s target group that they won’t try to sell you their involvement in your startup. In general, if a business is growing and has reached capacity, it will hire to maintain the growth momentum unless they’re satisfied with their performance. But if it’s not, it will go above and beyond to find work that can keep the business afloat. If you like the team but feel that you don’t fall into their target segment, the question you want to ask is, are they trying to fill a gap with my startup? It’s not hard to find this answer by simply asking them about their previous and current projects. 5. What Will Happen After The First Phase? The first product launch phase is one small milestone in the startup journey. Ideally, your technical partner will work with you for many years to come and possibly become a co-founder. If this is how you also envision your partnership, it’s important to ask about it early on. Simply ask how they see things moving forward post-launch. In conclusion, it’s not just about the money. Use this 5-question checklist to evaluate your potential technical partners. Picking the right team to launch your startup idea is the first key decision you will make as a founder. Choose wisely. Read more from Forbes Preparing for relaunchChaChingBiz Staff 
Reducing your legal liability related to coronavirus in the workplace will be an ongoing task. GETTY IMAGES In the last six weeks, attorney Travis Vance estimates he's advised between 300 and 400 businesses on their coronavirus response strategies. "I've never seen anything like it," says Vance, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based partner and the chair of the Covid-19 task force at the labor and employment law firm Fisher & Phillips. On everyone's minds: how to protect their businesses, not only from the virus but also from any legal liabilities stemming from the pandemic. "Most employers are going to get a confirmed case sooner or later, so the question is how to respond," he says. That question is even more pressing as news broke Monday that Walmart has become the target of a wrongful death lawsuit after two of its employees at an Evergreen Park, Illinois, store died from coronavirus complications in late March. The suit alleges that management failed to sanitize the store properly, provide protective equipment to workers, and advise them of the risks of being infected. Walmart has said that it stepped up sanitation procedures, offered protective gear to employees, implemented social distancing measures inside stores early on in the pandemic, and passed inspections. "We take this issue seriously and will respond with the court once we have been served with the complaint," the company told Inc. in a statement. For smaller businesses with fewer resources, staying on top of the fast-changing guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Occupational Safety and Health Administration--not to mention local public health departments--can be overwhelming. It's particularly challenging given that very little guidance about stopping the spread of the virus specifically relates to businesses, notes Alka Ramchandani-Raj, a Walnut Creek, California-based employment lawyer at Littler Mendelson, and also a member of the law firm's Covid-19 task force. That puts employers in the position of making a best-faith effort to follow the prescriptive advice for the public in a way that makes the most sense for their business. The good news is, you might not be at as big a risk as you fear. If an employee contracts the virus, you're likely covered by your workers' compensation insurance. "Assuming there are a lot of workers compensation claims, insurance companies are likely to deny most of them, because employees will have to prove they got the virus at work--and that's going to be very difficult to prove" in a pandemic situation, Vance says. Still, that doesn't mean your business is free from liability. Employees can report workplace safety concerns, such as inadequate sanitation practices or lack of personal protective equipment, to OSHA. The complaints can trigger an OSHA inspection and reckless conduct penalties of up to $134,000 per citation. One thing business owners can do now is to prepare for when your workers eventually do return to the office. While most employers already have coronavirus response plans in place, they haven't yet thought about what comes next, Ramchandani-Raj says. "What you should be doing now is thinking and processing what work will look like after Covid-19." Even if no one has been in your office for weeks or months, your facilities will need to be sanitized, especially to give employees peace of mind about returning. You should continue to monitor employees for symptoms and look for places in the office to reinforce the use of hand sanitizer and good hand-washing practices. One thing you should consider not doing: taking employees' temperatures. While doing so is legally permissible, Ramchandani-Raj says, most employers quickly discover it introduces too many logistical challenges, such as keeping the data private and ensuring proper social-distancing measures. A better option is to encourage employees to take their own temperatures before they come into work. A potentially bigger change to think about now has nothing to do with health and safety. Vance says he's already fielding a flood of inquiries from companies about what work-from-home policies ought to look like post-pandemic. "It's going to be much harder as an employer to say, 'It's essential that you're in the office,'" Vance says. "The employee will say, 'I just spent 12 weeks at home, so it's not that essential.'" From a legal standpoint, it will become more challenging to argue that you can't accommodate certain employees, especially those protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. So if you haven't already, start thinking through your remote work policies and how they might change. "We're at a tipping point for a whole generation. The pandemic just proved we don't need to be in the office every day," Vance says. "If employers are not smart enough to recognize that, they will lose a significant competitive advantage when this is over." Ask Mark Cuban anything in a live Inc. Q&A this Wednesday, April 22nd, at 1PM ET. Register here. Space is limited. Cut your overhead now!
Here's what small businesses and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration recommend when planning to reopen your business as safely as possible. COURTESY COMPANY Business owners everywhere--at least those fortunate enough to survive the shutdown--are looking for the safest way to get back to business.
Brick and mortar retailers that have remained open during the pandemic are keeping customers safe by taking precautions such as limiting the number of shoppers allowed in the store, designating aisles for one-way traffic and placing partitions between customers and workers. As other businesses prepare to reopen, most will seek ways to ensure the safety of another crucial group: their employees. Monitoring Employees' HealthKeeping sick workers at home is the first line of defense. At Chicago-based Tiesta Tea, which sells its tea both in grocery stores and online, managers take employees' temperatures before they begin their shifts. Healthy employees are given cleaning supplies for sanitizing their individual work stations, which have been separated to give each employee more space. Workers wear gowns, gloves and masks throughout the day. Co-founders Patrick Tannous and Dan Klein told the staff early on that they should stay home if they have any reason to suspect they've contracted the virus--and that they'll still be paid. "People need to feel like they're supported," says Klein. "They need to know it's okay to stay home, they're going to get paid, and we're going make do without them. The last thing anyone wants is people to feel pressure to come to work sick, because that's when we're going to have issues." Goodbye Doorknobs and Other Office Adjustments Indow, a window manufacturer based in Portland, OR, has replaced doorknobs with hooks at its facility so workers can open doors with their forearms. The staff also placed colorful stickers next to often-touched areas such as light switches and buttons, to heighten awareness of those places; workers are each assigned shifts when they're responsible for cleaning those surfaces. Bigger companies have had to implement even more safety precautions. Amazon eliminated stand-up meetings, moved important information that would normally be delivered in person to bulletin boards, staggered break times, and spread out chairs in its break rooms. OSHA Guidelines While there is no company rulebook for a pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has issued several sets of recommendations for dealing with Covid-19 in recent weeks. Among them:
Ask Mark Cuban anything in a live Inc. Q&A this Wednesday, April 22nd, at 1PM ET. Register here. Space is limited. https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BD6Y0UDvTy-pOvMUPQqr5w Read more from INC Will the Fitness Industry Survive the COVID-19 Pandemic? Some Important Things to Consider4/22/2020  (Image by Ichigo121212 from Pixabay) The most astonishing development in American history has occurred over the past few weeks: COVID-19 emerged from the People's Republic of China, and because people were told to be afraid of getting sick, they welcomed governments at the state, county, and local levels to divide all businesses into two categories: essential and non-essential, and close all the non-essential businesses. Because of this unprecedented response to this year's contagious disease, the economy of the entire United States almost overnight suffered a blow unlike anything in its history, and, as of now, we have absolutely no idea what will happen to it. I have been in the fitness industry since 1978, so I'm pretty familiar with the way it operates – and the circumstances under which it cannot operate. The most obvious problem with a fitness facility is that if you lock the doors, people cannot come in. Quite simply, the industry is predicated on membership fees: you buy a membership to the club that allows you to use equipment that you would not normally own yourself, because of the expense and the space requirements. The fewer the hours the gym is in operation, the more restricted your access to the stuff you're paying to use, so many gyms offer extended access to the gym to make the membership more valuable and therefore both easier to sell and worth more money. Access is the product we sell. If the government takes control of your hours of operation, or your absolute availability, the government is taking control of the very essence of the thing you are selling. A hamburger stand may be severely impacted by closing the front doors in favor of the drive-thru, but there's no such thing as a drive-thru gym. The idea seems to be that a gym places people in sufficient proximity to each other that disease transmission is unavoidable. This has never been studied or proven; it was just assumed to be the case. And, of course, people are incapable of calculating the risk of going to the gym for themselves, and mitigating that risk by distancing, hand-washing, etc., although they were “allowed” to do so in all previous epidemics. And despite the fact that the subway system in New York City, an obviously analogous disease vector in the hotbed of COVID-19 in the U.S., has not yet been shut down, every gym in NYC and New York State (where you can wash your hands) is closed until further notice. In other words, until the government decides to “allow” their owners to use their property as they see fit, they are closed, along with bars, restaurants, and all other retail that must be conducted in a building – except for some businesses that must be conducted in a building, like Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe's. (As of now, I am aware of no plans to alter the taxes on these properties that are obviously affected by a government taking.) Two things must immediately be considered, not just by the fitness industry but by all businesses having the misfortune to be labeled “non-essential”: 1. What happens next time a novel disease makes the rounds? One of the facts about life on this planet is that we share it with other life forms, some of which are contagious diseases. It has always been this way, and always will. Some of us will die of contagious disease, and the poorer our health, the greater the likelihood of this happening. Use of the gym makes us healthier and stronger – that's why we do it. But the government has just shown us exactly what will happen next time such a disease comes along. They have removed all doubt about who decides whether gyms and other “non-essential” businesses are “allowed” to operate. Their owners and the market for their services have been declared irrelevant in favor of the wisdom of mayors, county judges, and governors. In the absence of the passage of very strong laws preventing this very action – perhaps as unlikely an event as the explosion of the sun – these businesses will face periodic arbitrary closure from now on. Power once taken is not returned voluntarily. 2. In consideration of this, how likely is a bank or an investor to lend money to anybody contemplating the silly idea of opening a “non-essential” business? How likely is a commercial landlord to lease to a business that cannot afford to pay its rent every other winter? Is a nice sit-down restaurant or any bar a viable business under these circumstances? Will all food be take-out from now on, or will Walmart and Home Depot, with their now-incalculably-valuable “essential” status, move into the food-service sector, with restaurants inside their essential stores? The questions boggle the mind. As far as the fitness industry is concerned, we're all in trouble. Places like mine, which are paid for and debt-free, can hunker down for a while. Bigger commercial gyms, with a lot of floor and a lot of rent, and an equipment note and a big payroll, have a lot harder time. Gold's has already permanently closed some locations, 24 Hour Fitness is looking at a reorganization, and all the other big chains are being forced to reevaluate their very existence under the threat of periodic closure by the mayor. They can compete with each other, but they can't compete against the police. As I see it, the future of the industry lies along two paths. First, small gyms that concentrate on low overhead (aided by lots of empty retail space and perhaps newly-cooperative landlords), running debt-free, and offering exceptional service at a higher price point will be able to withstand periodic closures if they're not too long. If closure is built into the cash flow management model, small gyms might be able to survive, and large companies may decide to move into this niche. But I don't see the possibility of a viable new 30,000 square foot commercial gym in the future. Some areas, with a proven predisposition to government control of private business, will be gym-free very shortly.
The other path is the home gym. Depending on how you train, and your ability to make training independent of the social exposure that is an important part of the activity for some people, a gym in the house is the best way to go. At this time, lots of people have already decided on this, and there may not be a single 45-pound plate for sale in the country, new or used. This very fact opens up business opportunities for people, and I know several who have responded. This is a catastrophe of our own making. We have responded to a bad situation in a shameful way. Some of us have given up liberty for perceived safety, and some of us have seized power in this undeniably rich opportunity to abuse cowardice. It will be interesting to see how the market responds to such an insult. And it will – it always does. Editor's Note: Want to support PJ Media so we can keep telling the truth about China and the virus they unleashed on the world? Join PJ Media VIP and use the promo code WUHAN to get 25% off your VIP membership. Read more from PJ Media  GETTY IMAGES In a historic collapse, U.S. oil prices plummeted over 300% on Monday as traders unloaded their positions ahead of the May contract expiration Tuesday. Of all the unpredictable economic swings in financial markets that have occurred since the onset of the global pandemic, Monday’s oil wipeout is without a doubt the most jaw-dropping. At its lowest, the price for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell to an unbelievable - $37.63 a barrel, validating concerns that there is truly no floor to how low oil prices can go amid the Covid-driven demand collapse. Some analysts, including this author, predicated the possibly of negative oil prices for several days and weeks.  US oil futures fall into negative territory for the first time in History BLOOMBERG/NYMEX How do prices go negative? A combination of the COVID crisis, a global supply glut, domestic oil storage shortages, an inadequate OPEC deal, and speculators looking to sell off their May contracts created the perfect storm for WTI. The global oil benchmark Brent crude, which closed the day down 8% at $25.95 per barrel, does not share WTI’s vulnerability to storage issues and was thus spared from total disaster. This is because Brent-denominated oil can easily be put on ships and sent to areas with higher demand, while the storage tanks in Cushing, Oklahoma, and in Texas and Louisiana, will be filled by May. This is the most serious decoupling of WTI and Brent benchmarks in history. And herein lies the problem for WTI. Oil traders and speculators rarely have the physical capacity to hold the crude they buy, despite being legally bound to take it by their contract. Under normal circumstances, these contracts (typically 10,000 barrels in size) can be sold to other speculators, or wound down over time. But in this instance, there was no one willing to buy May’s expiring contact, so speculators were left scrambling looking for buyers. Failure to physically take the purchased deliveries would result in exorbitant storage fees from the seller, so the investors holding these contracts were desperate. The only buyers left to take this land-locked crude are domestic storage companies who are already inundated with supply. These buyers hold all the negotiating power, waiting to take contracts for pennies on the dollar – or in some cases taking payment from sellers of offload the commodity. What’s next? “The May crude oil contract is going out not with a whimper, but a primal scream,” said Daniel Yergin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning oil historian and vice chairman of IHS Markit Ltd. Analysts almost universally agree that this situation is a horror show and it’s looking more and more like the market has no bottom. Despite the 20 million barrel per day cuts to oil, agreed on by April 12 by the OPEC+ negotiators, it is clear that global demand has plunged far beyond what that cut could offset. As we said in this space, this was “too little too late”.  GETTY IMAGES The June contract was trading lower by 18% at $20.43 a barrel, but there’s a good chance that drops further over the course of the week, as investors take stock of today’s US oil market wipeout. The Dow Jones did not respond positively to today’s events either, closing down a whopping 600 points. The oil market has taken its hardest hit in decades in the first four months of 2020. Monday’s news is the culmination of the worst health crisis since the Spanish flu, months of unsuccessful talks between OPEC+ members, an ultimately unsuccessful interventions by the White House to stabilize the market – and the economic collapse of the Great Depression proportions,. With Assistance from David Pasmanik and James Grant
Follow me on Twitter. Ariel CohenI am a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and the Founding Principal of International Market Analysis, a Washington, D.C.-based global risk advisory boutique. I advise… Read More  GETTY Your questions about stimulus checks keep coming! Last month, I wrote a primer on stimulus checks to answer some of your basic questions - and I've been updating it. I added another piece to tackle some of the most commonly asked questions in a follow-up article. I'm still fielding questions about ITINs, children, child support, direct deposit, and more. Here's what you've been asking - along with my answers - regarding those tax stimulus checks.
How big will my check be? Checks will be $1,200 per adult - or $2,400 for married couples filing jointly - and an additional $500 per child. Are there income limits on checks? Checks begin to phaseout for those earning more than $75,000 ($150,000 for joint returns and $112,500 for heads of household) and are subject to phaseouts (more on those here). This is adjusted gross income (AGI), not taxable income - so, before your standard or itemized deductions. Today In: TaxesCan I get a check for my kids if I'm over the limits? Yes, but those amounts are also subject to the phaseout. For every $100 of income above those thresholds, your check will drop by $5. That means that the threshold amounts increase by $10,000 for each additional qualifying child ($500/5 = $100 and $100 x 100 = $10,000). For example, if you have one qualifying child, your payment will phase out completely (meaning that you'll get nothing) once you hit $109,000 as a single/MFS filer, $208,000 as a married couple filing jointly, or $146,500 for heads of household. Are there limits on the number of kids? There are no limits on the number of children that qualify. The definition of a child will be the same as for the child tax credit (you'll find the age and other requirements at that link). Does that include foster children and adopted children? Absolutely. However, if your newly adopted child doesn't have a Social Security Number (SSN), you will need to have an Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number (ATIN). I had a kid in 2020. Will I get a check for my child in 2020? Not in 2020 since the IRS doesn't know about your new delivery. But you will be able to adjust to account for the new baby when you file your 2020 return in 2021. I know that I have to have a valid SSN to get a check. But what if my spouse only has an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)? Am I left out? If you file together, yes: both spouses must have valid SSNs (meaning valid for employment) to get a check. If, however, one of you is a member of the military, the rule doesn't apply: only one spouse needs to have a valid SSN. If my spouse has an ITIN, does that mean that I can't get my check if I file separately from my spouse? No. If you have an SSN and file separately, you may qualify for a check. If I have a valid SSN, but I live in another country, can I get a check? Yes. What if I live in Puerto Rico or another U.S. territory? Maybe. Special rules may apply to folks in those territories. Contact your local tax authority for more information. You wrote that I couldn't get a check for my child who is in college because of his age, even though I claimed him as a dependent. He works. Can he get his own check? Not if your child is a dependent (you can read more here). There is a suggested fix in the works to change this, but I don't know if it's going to happen in time. Do I have to pay it back? I read that somewhere that it's an advance and I do have to pay it back? Or that it will reduce my refund? You will not have to pay it back. It is an advance, but it's an advance of a new, temporary credit for 2020. It will not affect your "normal" refund in 2020. You can read more about how it works - with an example - here. Are you sure? What if I got a check for my child who will be over the age of 16 next year? Math error in your favor. You don't have to pay it back. My income is going to be higher in 2020, but I got my check based on my 2019 income, which was lower. Do I have to pay it back? Again, there is no clawback provision in the law, so it should be treated as a math error in your favor. You don't have to pay it back. I know that you said offsets only apply to child support, but will my check be seized because of my spouse's child support arrears? Maybe. However, if you file jointly and you usually file an injured spouse claim and did so with your 2018 or 2019 tax return, your share of the check should be sent to you (your spouse's payment will still be offset). What about if I am on an installment plan? Same result: the law says no offsets for existing federal tax debts (other than child support). But the IRS will not send checks to accounts used to make an installment payment to the IRS. You'll need to update your information with the Get My Payment tool. How can I change my bank account information? You'll find more on that here. How can I change my mailing address? If you haven't filed your 2019 tax return, just update your new address on your tax return when you file. Otherwise, try updating through the United States Postal Service (USPS). As a senior citizen, my only source of income is Social Security benefits, so I haven't filed taxes for 2018 or 2019. I read that to receive the stimulus money, I must file 2019 taxes. Is that true? No. You can find more details here. What about SSDI, SSI, or VA benefits? According to the IRS, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipients don't need to take additional action: your check will be direct deposited (or you'll get a paper check) just as you'd typically get your benefits. Ditto for SSI recipients can now receive checks automatically and vets. What about Social Security, Railroad retirees, SSI, SSDI or VA beneficiaries who have qualifying children? Those folks need to take one more step - and a deadline may affect your payment (more here). Is my check taxable? No. This is not taxable income. Are you sure it's not taxable? What about messing up my benefits? Or my FAFSA? Yep, sure it's not taxable. It won't boost your income and won't affect your benefits. I've read that some checks won't be available until September. How is that possible? Taxpayers who have direct deposit information on file will receive their checks first. Of course, not all taxpayers have current direct deposit information on file, so the IRS plans to develop a web-based portal for those individuals to provide their banking information online - but that portal is not up and running yet. If the IRS mails out paper checks, those take longer to process. You can read more here. Can I get my check faster if I pay for it? No, that's a scam. You can find out more about scams and hoaxes related to stimulus checks here. Can I call the IRS and ask questions? The IRS asks that you not call. I have more questions. How can I ask? I'm happy to answer your questions: here's how to ask. I've also written a bunch of pieces addressing some of the most commonly asked questions. If you have questions, check out some of these articles. Full coverage and live updates on the Coronavirus Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website. Kelly Phillips ErbYears ago, I found myself sitting in law school in Moot Court wearing an oversized itchy blue suit. It was a horrible experience. In a desperate attempt to avoid anything … Read More Here's how to avoid falling into the trap of a startup that tries to become too many things to too many people. GETTY IMAGES Attracting the right customers is the key to success in business, whether you have a startup or you've been in business for years.
In my role as an adviser to entrepreneurs, I often see businesses make the mistake of trying to be too many things for too many people. For example, Xerox tried to broaden the use of "xerox" as the standard term for "photocopying" to extend the company's existing customer segment into office automation and all kinds of computing. As Xerox watched its market share dwindle instead, it realized too late that these segments were already defined, and the company needed a new focused brand to attract customers from other segments. These days, branding is less about products or solutions, and more about the overall customer experience and expectations. If the shopping process, delivery, and support level does not match customer expectations, no innovative product features will compensate. And the result will be less visibility and slower growth, with fewer delighted customers and little word-of-mouth marketing. In my experience, it's best to start by selecting your desired customer segment first and match it with a branding model that best fits those customers. After that, you're ready to design your product, marketing, shopping environment, delivery model, and support around that model. Don't know which branding model is for you? Here are eight common models for you to start considering, ideally before you design your product or launch your service. 1. Premium or exclusive solution The audience for this business model is limited, so make sure you can deliver to their expectations. Existing brands such as Tesla, Virgin Atlantic, Rolex, and Harvard University seek to appeal to this elite customer segment, implying prestige, exclusivity, and high customer personalization. 2. Lowest-cost solution with minimal customization At the other end of the spectrum, many startups and big companies, including Amazon and Walmart, expand their customer segment by being the most cost efficient, with low overhead and little customization. Don't attempt this model without high automation and a big investment up front. 3. Family or hometown business everyone can trust Many customers are highly attracted to these local businesses, where they may know the owner and always enjoy the warmth and intimacy of a personal customer experience. This is by far the most common brand out there, but without rebranding, it has very limited potential for growth and scaling. 4. Tech-focused service that solves complex problems Companies in this realm typically are thought of as a service business, even though they may offer product components as well. The customer experience is a function of satisfaction with the service, support, and usability of complex products. Examples would include ADT Security Services and IBM. 5. Service business to find the best solution Examples of this business model and brand would include companies like Airbnb for finding places to stay, and Expedia for the best airline reservations. To be successful in this type of business, you need to satisfy two customer segments: the solution provider and the end-user customer. 6. Recognized expert and specialist in one domain Depth of focus is both the strength and the weakness of this model. The message is easy to communicate, but there is always the temptation to move to a mass market for growth. You can find specialists in almost every industry, and their success is gated to customer experience and reviews. 7. Driven by purpose more than profits For some market segments, there is no greater attraction than a worthy cause, where business success is a byproduct of the company focus, rather than the primary objective. Examples include Patagonia's commitment to sustainability while selling clothing, and Whole Foods, the organic grocer. 8. Public utility required by all customer segments Becoming a recognized brand as a public utility may be difficult and costly, since most of these positions are already occupied by large companies with long histories. You may be able to provide cheaper electrical power via solar, but bureaucratic regulations and credibility can be expensive. In my experience with startups, brand positioning is often done last, after all the cost and quality tradeoffs, options, packaging, and support process are set. For example, technologists will try to build the best high-tech product, and then somehow expect to become the low-cost, high-volume provider for the nontech market segment. It's a recipe for disaster. Other companies try to change their branding later, like when growth stalls, without any changes to product or process, trying to attract an additional market segment for growth. This approach is equally fraught with peril. My message is to make branding an integral part of your solution design process, and keep it there. Read more from INC  Leader Videoconferencing With Team GETTY The coronavirus pandemic will test every startup leader, and their performance will be graded by those they lead. Should the leader falter, that judgment is likely to be unsparingly harsh.
The test couldn’t be harder: the future is unknowable and the crisis is double-edged. You must keep the business afloat and keep your people safe. You are also likely doing it remotely. And as the knowns and unknowns change—rapidly and unpredictably—your people will suffer great anxiety, especially if they don’t know what their leader is trying to accomplish. You can help allay that anxiety and set a steady course, despite the unknowns, by creating and communicating a UMO—an Ultimate Minimum Objective. In the case of today’s dual crisis, that’s two UMOs, one for the business and one for the health of your people. A UMO is the lowest set of objectives the team must accomplish. It does not change for the duration of the crisis. The team’s mission is to achieve the objective; otherwise, they have failed. A UMO is also a rallying point for the team, inviting buy-in and creating alignment in action, which is critical for maximizing productivity and minimizing anxiety. The business UMO should fit the company’s specific circumstances. For a startup that has lost a great deal of business and is bleeding cash, the baseline is understanding that rebuilding revenues, once society returns to normal, could take many months. The company’s business UMO may be something along the lines of “we will do whatever it takes to maintain a positive bank balance over the next twelve months.” For a retailer, the UMO might be “we will do whatever it takes to preserve our inventory in excellent shape so it can be sold at a profit once the crisis is over.” Such business UMOs are objective, measurable and easy for the team to comprehend. Every subsequent decision can be set in the context of getting the team closer to achieving the UMO. As new information arrives, new decisions can be made on how to respond in the context of the UMO. The leader won’t appear to flip-flop or behave inconsistently, actions that would cause staff to question their leadership. If, in the case of the company bleeding money, the projections of cash flow show that the UMO cannot be met without furloughs, nobody will question the leader doing what has to be done. Read more from Forbes By JOAN PEPIN Many companies have a business continuity plan (BCP) in place that covers loss of facilities during things like floods and earthquakes. But it’s primarily only the really big companies (or those providing critical services for healthcare) that have done more than download a pandemic plan template off the internet and call it good. According to a recent survey by AvidXchange, only 62% of 500 U.S. companies surveyed at the beginning of March had business continuity plans in place. Nearly half said they covered contingencies for only two to three weeks — and 10% have no plan at all. We’ve had a BCP in place for years at my company, but COVID-19 prompted an immediate review. And because we believe it can help other companies, I wanted to take this opportunity to share our approach. 1. Ask yourselves how do you ‘degrade gracefully’? The first time I heard of a “pandemic plan” was during the bird flu outbreak in 1997, while working for a large security company. Unlike our current situation with COVID-19, that plan remained largely theoretical. If your pandemic response plan is more theoretical than actionable, or is completely non-existent, then now is the time to make it real. In computer science, systems are ideally designed to deal with failures — of hardware, networks, or of their own ability to scale to certain demands or conditions. That process of how the machine or system ideally behaves under these conditions is called “graceful degradation.” In a pandemic where your people could be out due to illness, potentially indefinitely, you can apply the same question to your business: How do you degrade gracefully? How do you keep doing the most essential things and allow less critical functions to degrade (and also repair themselves) throughout the course of this extended event? 2. Identify critical business functions You’re going to start by assessing the most critical functions that need to continue to happen for you to remain in business — what is the absolute last thing that gets shut off? Then you’re going to work backwards to find the most critical business processes: What are the things that are required to make sure that thing keeps working? In our case, maintaining service for our existing customers is our most critical function. (Yes, it’s going to be important to add new customers, but if we’re just talking about the absolute most critical function, that’s it.) If you’re a consulting company, you’ll end up in a different critical place — you need to keep shipping deliverables to your clients, so the ability to email or transfer files will be a critical function. This process isn’t going to be easy for everyone, but it is an opportunity to think about the bigger picture and what’s best for the whole company and your customers. Try to set any ego aside. It’s not an insult if your department is not a business-critical function. Just because something isn’t “mission-critical” doesn’t mean it’s something the company will stop doing, even in a pandemic. Our entire executive leadership team worked closely to define a set of business-critical priorities for their teams to work from when fleshing out the remainder of the BCP update. Since human beings have egos and may disagree about what your most essential business processes are, this is an exercise that the most senior level of leadership should do and agree on. It should not be up to the C-level to put the plan together, but it is their responsibility to have a unified voice when it comes to defining business-critical functions. We broke our functions into four categories: 1. Mission critical: Loss of these functions would result in widespread loss of reputation, damage to the business, as well as potential damage to the general public. 2. Business essential: Loss of these functions would make it difficult, but not impossible, to continue the business. Examples include generating revenue, customers, following compliance regulations, and maintaining an external help desk. 3. Business core: Loss of these functions would have an indirect revenue impact. A good example for the COVID-era is in-person conferences; not attending these impacts both leads and, indirectly, customer satisfaction. 4. Business supporting: These functions impact employees, not employee productivity. Examples include employee reviews, internal help desk services, and business support functions. 3. Update regularly, more in crisis We took five working days to review our plan and put this streamlined approach in place. Compared to other pandemic plans I’ve seen, our plan is super-actionable thanks to:
We intend to update our plan quite regularly through the evolution of this pandemic, likely on a monthly basis. Once we’re through the pandemic, we’ll dial the review frequency back to twice a year. Your plan will make you stronger. It doesn’t have to take weeks, even if you’re starting with no plan at all. You’ll discover things you didn’t realize about your business like:
In the time of COVID-19, the act of business continuity planning is actually not too different from the 40 pounds of pasta I have stored in my garage. Even if I don’t get to all of it before the pandemic ends, the pasta won’t go to waste — it will get eaten. Even if our current pandemic were to end abruptly with limited impact (unlikely, of course), we’ll be that much more ready to weather the next global crisis. Joan Pepin is Chief Security Officer of Auth0. Read more from Venture Beat By Daniel Lewis Daniel Lewis is an MBA accredited investment professional who wants to assist small business owners to gain access to finance. After going through many channels for funding, Lewis has found that getting the first loan right is vitally important for future success. Starting a small business is no easy feat. And it is best made easier by understanding every single step you have to take, in the order you have to take it. The good news is that the process of registration and formation is actually quite straightforward. This step by step guide will help you to do it correctly, without omitting any key details. 1. Understand Your Goals and Ambitions Before you do anything at all, you will have to make sure that you love what you do, and that you are willing to stick with it to the end. You will need to make a list of short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. While it won’t pan out exactly as you expect, it is still always useful to make a template and to visualize where you want to go. If you do not have the necessary passion to succeed over the long-term, then there is no point in entering the business! You can’t enter it purely for profit, either. It could take years to make a serious profit, and you want the process to be enjoyable. Have a clear plan of your goals and expectations, and where you intend to take the business in the future. 2. Choose a Business Name Before you do anything, you need to choose a business name, once you have an idea. This is pretty straightforward, but you need to ensure that the name is available and that the business name is an accurate description of what you are supplying. To check business name availability, go to your department of state website. When you are on the website, just check the business name availability. Make the search as broad as possible, and leave out any punctuation. For example, you might want to type in ‘Johns Electrical’ instead of “Johns Electrical Services Limited”. Leave the query broad so you can see all the similar business names. You don’t want duplicates and want your name as original as possible. Make sure the name is unique and that it describes your business activities. It’s also helpful at this stage to make sure that there is a domain name available, but don’t get hung up on this. The business name is more important and you can get creative with domain names later on. If you want to do business in another state, then you need to apply for a DBA or fictitious name. This will follow a similar process, but you will need to pay a fee to do business in a different state. You will need to make sure the business name is available in that state too. You don’t need to concern yourself with this starting off, but it’s something to keep in mind. 3. Market Research Undertaking market research is largely overblown. There are tonnes of online articles stipulating how important it is. But market demand is created by good small businesses where this demand does not exist before creation. A town without a pizzeria might not have a high market demand for this place if the population was surveyed. Yet if the pizza outlet is established, then the food type would be brought to the customers’ attention. High quality of service will often generate demand. Of course, market research has its place, especially in certain industries. But don’t let it prevent you from opening up your small business and don’t get too hung up on the figures. If you are passionate about your model and stick with it over the long term, then the demand will be created and the customers will respond to the quality of your goods/services. At the same time, there is no need to open up a business in an industry that is completely saturated, unless you are doing something completely different. 4. Selecting a Business Structure Selecting a business structure (i.e. legal entity type) will have a profound effect on the control you have over the business, what taxes you can pay, and on the day-to-day running of your organization. There are numerous types to choose from, but small businesses will generally fall into three main categories – the Sole Proprietorship (‘SP’), the Limited Liability Company (‘LLC), and the General Partnership (‘GP’). One of the most common paths is to start off as a Sole Proprietor initially. Down the line, you can form an LLC for tax and/or sales purposes. But you can also start off as an LLC if you wish – there are many single-member LLCs with one business owner. It is a very popular model. A corporation is never really referred to as a ‘small business’. If you run a small freelance business without registration, then you are automatically classified as a Sole Proprietorship by the IRS, and need to pay taxes accordingly. The same can be said of a General Partnership, though this will invariably have a partnership agreement to outline the roles and responsibilities of each partner. links to each type on this chart below  5. Registering and Forming The Business Once you already have a business name and you know the legal entity structure, it’s time to register the business in the state where you will be operating. This is easy, but there are different processes depending on whether you are starting a Sole Proprietorship, General Partnership, LLC, or Corporation.
6. EIN Number and Bank Account A Sole Proprietorship does not need to apply for an EIN number unless it has employees. But it is good practice to do so anyway. Getting an EIN number is easy. Just go to the IRS website and you will receive an EIN number immediately after application. LLCs and Corporations are required to have an EIN number. Like the EIN number, a business bank account is also necessary for day-to-day functioning and for tax/legal reasons. A Sole Proprietor will need to show an EIN and SSN number, similar to the General partnership. A Corporate account will need to provide the Certificate of Incorporation and an LLC account will need to provide the Articles of Organization, in addition to the EIN number. 7. Make a Business Plan The business plan is very important for a small business. If you are pitching for a loan or venture capital, then you need to have a business plan. But even if you are not looking for this type of capital, it is best practice to have a professional business plan. It will outline the ethos and goals of the company, as well as what the company hopes to achieve. If you are new to the world of business, writing a business plan is a great way to understand some of the mechanics of the industry. The plan does not have to be huge, and you are wasting your time with a 40-page business plan. 10 pages should be more than enough, where you cover the market need, budget, expansion, business goals, and other essential details. Nearly all business plans will incorporate:
8. Finance & Loan Options There are many ways to finance a new business venture. Family and friends are still one of the most popular ways to finance a small business, and starting small is an excellent way to limit risk. You can also offer investors pieces of equity on your company or try out venture capital options. Yet in most instances, a small business loan from a good lender is mandatory. One turn of the market can ruin an excellent business that does not have capital at hand to weather the storm. There is little point in starting a business if it cannot be sustained with money over the long-term. Which is why small business owners need to give serious consideration with regard to how they will be funding their operations. Below, some of the major loan options are explored  Line of Credit Online Term Loan SBA Term Loan Equipment Financing Invoice Financing 9. Find a Good Online Lender Once you have decided what kind of loan you want, the next step is to find the right lending platform. For the vast majority of small businesses, startups, and freelance enterprises, an online lender is superior to banks and other financial institutions. This is because the application process is far quicker and the eligibility requirements are lower. If your credit score is less than 680, you will have a hard time getting an SBA loan without an excellent business record and/or providing collateral for the loan. Due to this, most new businesses will need to avail of online platforms. The best online lenders are compared below.  10. Attain the Relevant Licenses, Permits & Insurance Depending on the nature of your business activity, you will need to attain the relevant licenses and permits. Professional services such as legal, accountancy, finance, and medicine are tightly regulated and you will need to get the appropriate certificates and permits. Different states will have different requirements. You also want to consider licenses and permits in relation to your business office, as well as the relevant insurance for employees. Insurance is a huge area that can turn a profitable business into an unprofitable one. The main forms of insurance will include:
11. Select the Right Payroll & Accounting Software In the digital age, it certainly helps to streamline as many routines as possible with useful third-party applications. Taxes and payroll can be largely automated. We have compiled a table below of different accountancy software with their advantages and disadvantages. Wave Accounting and Quickbooks are particularly useful.  12. Establish a Web Presence
Establishing a web presence is vitally important, in the digital age of smartphones, voice search, virtual reality products, and other innovations. Most customers are going to find your products/services online. In terms of capitalizing on this, remember that social proofs are one of the best ways to improve business reputation. Sites such as TrustPilot and Sitejabber can really help (or hurt) your business. Building an online presence is not something that is done in a day or even a year. It has to grow and expand with your business. It is part of your business, not something ‘additional’ or ‘separate’ Regardless of what you are selling, make sure that you have a website that looks very well, is easy to navigate, and that has an optimized conversion rate. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but you do need to be persistent in all areas. 13. Scale, Automate, and Expand Once you have the basics mastered, then you can look toward scaling, automating, and expanding. To do this, you will need to hire more people and network extensively. Hiring the right employees is an art of itself and beyond the scope of this post. But hiring the wrong people can be very costly. If in doubt, wait it out. Many businesses, especially startups, fail due to scaling too early and making the wrong hires, deals, and partnerships. Don’t be too quick to expand unless you know what you are doing. Taking a business from small to medium is a huge step that can lead to disaster if it is not executed correctly. Every part of the business needs to scale at roughly the same rate, to prevent an overextension in certain departments. Automation tools and third-party applications can greatly assist in managing legal and financial duties. For instance, applications such as TurboTax can make paying taxes a whole lot easier. It’s important to research the full list of online tools to help small businesses grow and expand. They can reduce your workload extensively at little or no additional cost. Recap To start a small business, all you need to do is:
Growing a business should be an enjoyable endeavor and there is always room for growth and expansion. If you know the basics and focus on making your business profitable, then there is no reason you won’t succeed. Small business owners in the USA are still indicating huge levels of job satisfaction, despite many regulatory and business-related hurdles. It is easier than ever to start a business and join the ranks of happy US business owners. |
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