Could your business use a genie to grant a special wish? Intuit could be your answer. All you have to do is make a wish between now and May 12 as part of the Love Your Local Business Contest. You can submit your wish via the website, then share your wish with your friends and […]
True confession — I’m a social media junkie. Kred, an organization that measures social media influence, recently placed me in the top one percent of influencers on the Internet. Many small businesses are using social media as a part of their overall marketing strategy, but keeping up with the rapidly changing social media market can be overwhelming. For example, just recently new statistics showed that Google +, the new kid on the block, is now number two behind Facebook, overtaking Twitter, in the social media world. One popular tool Google+ offers is called Google + Hangouts, and savvy small business owners are finding it as useful tool to help them grow their businesses.
A recent ruling by the National Labor Relations Board may have significant consequences for businesses of all sizes. In a ground-breaking case, the NLRB accused a company of illegally firing an employee for comments she made about her supervisor on Facebook. The Board considered her criticisms of the company and her bosses as being “protected activity” under the National Labor Relations Act. The Act provides for a number of protections, among them it gives workers a federally protected right to form unions, and it also prohibits employers from punishing workers — whether union or nonunion — for discussing working conditions or unionization.
What were you doing eight years ago? On the campus of Harvard University a few students huddled in a dorm room to create a social media platform site which became known as Facebook. From those humble beginnings the site has soared to success making founder Mark Zuckerberg possibly the youngest billionaire in the country. And that’s just the beginning of the story. Recently, Facebook filed for an initial public offering that could put the value of the social media site between $75 and $100 billion –one the biggest U.S. stock-market debuts in history.
Millions of Americans are dreaming about starting their own small business. However, because starting a business is risky, a lot of people choose to play it safe and follow a traditional career path. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be all or nothing. Consider starting your business on a part-time basis to test the water before you jump.