Americans are creating more new businesses now than they have in the past 15 years. But half of those start-ups will fail within their first five years, according to the Small Business Administration. Of those that make it that far, only a third will see their tenth anniversary. In 2009, for instance, 552,600 new businesses were created while 721,737 small firms closed or went bankrupt, estimates the SBA, according to the most recent data available.

Source: SmartMoney.com

Source: Small Business Trends

Source: Buzz Small Business Magazine

Here’s a book that can help people on either side of the fence. Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha’s The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. It begins with the premise that there actually are not two sides of the fence, that all humans are entrepreneurs. Each of us have the will to create and survive.



Source: 800 CEO Read

Creating your own small business is perhaps the only way up.

Source: USA Today

Why After Three Years I Dropped Mailchimp as My Newsletter Service for Aweber
I’m willing to give up a free service and pay for another because saying Mailchimp performs the same function as Aweber is like saying your Ford Escort performs the save function as my Maserati…
RyanHanley.com

Small Business Share of Economy, Job Growth Shrinks
It’s no secret that the years since the financial crisis have been tough on small business. What’s more surprising, though, is that their role in the US economy had already been diminishing for years before the Great Recession.
BusinessWeek

T-Mobile Caters to Small Business with New Services
Bouncing back after its proposed acquisition by AT&T crumbled, T-Mobile is aggressively courting small business customers with a variety of services.
PCWorld

Small Business Majority Opinion Poll: Small Business Owners Say Access to …
Opinion polling released today by the Small Business Majority shows 90 percent of small business owners believe access to credit is a problem and that loans are harder to get now than four years ago.
San Francisco Chronicle

Being candid with employees is essential to performance
Managers have a responsibility to be candid. Judith Glaser joins Jim Blasingame to talk about the power of candor when dealing with employees and why it is a management responsibility.
The Small Business Advocate (audio)

Five small business technology trends for the year ahead
Dr. Hugh Bradlow, Telstra’s chief technology officer, delivers his five predictions for the 2012 small business technology landscape.
Dynamic Business

The Nightmare of Sales Tax for Everyone
An Internet sales tax has long been a hot-button issue in Congress and industry. But as more businesses embrace e-commerce to sell their goods, states struggle to bring in revenue in a struggling economy and political candidates talk tax reform, it’s a button that keeps getting pushed.
The Street

How Success Cost a Small Business Owner His Health Insurance
Small business is iconic in America. For years, big business has cleverly used small businesses to be messengers for campaigns financed by corporate America.
Huffington Post (blog)

Entrepreneurial Tightrope: Outsourcing, interns can be handy
What’s a small business to do regarding finding and holding on to help? This has been a challenge for small business owners for a long time. Outsourcing and hiring interns can be helpful.
USA TODAY

Small business hours can be hard on customers…
In a day and age, when more families have multiple incomes, it gets harder and harder to find time to eat and shop. When people do somehow manage to find the time, it can often be later in the day, or on Sundays.
Buffalo Rising

Small Business Accounting: Tips, Tricks and Advice from TaxMama
From day one, small businesses should get their accounting act together and apply crucial tips and tricks, said tax expert Eva Rosenberg
International Business Times

Obama wants small business tax, investment breaks
The legislative package, which will be part of Obama’s 2013 budget proposal later this month, also would include a new 10 percent tax credit for small business that add jobs or increase wages in 2012.
Boston.com

Identifying prospects for your global business strategy
What do you know about your global prospects? Jim Blasingame reveals information about global prospects for developing a strategy to grow your business outside of the U.S.
The Small Business Advocate (audio)

Demand for Small Business Loans Most Since 2005
Banks reported the greatest increase in demand for loans from small companies since 2005, the according to the Federal Reserve’s survey of senior loan officers out today. That may be good news for job growth later in the year.
BusinessWeek

5 Tips For Managing Overwhelm and Overload
Just like we have power strips that absorb energy surges to protect our computers, we need to install acircuit breaker on our brains to absorb some of the overwhelming data coming in all the time.
The International Association of Self-Employed Communication Professionals

Big Banks’ Small Business Lending: Do The Numbers Really Add Up?
So it’s no surprise that Bank of America, Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo were eager to release seemingly impressive small-business lending figures for 2011. Problem is, many of those loans may be going to businesses that aren’t that small.
Huffington Post

Can a brand be genuine on Twitter?
Self-promotion is just plain tacky in the age of social media.  You just can’t tell people how awesome you are, you need to show them.
The Washington Post

Why You Need to Compartmentalize Your Life when Building a Business
When you start a business, you will likely wear many different hats, and in many cases wear all of the hats. You might be in charge of marketing, sales, legal, HR, operations, finance, accounting, IT etc. And you might add on top of all that a personal life of some degree.
Youngentrepreneur.com

Japan Small Business Confidence Rises In January
Confidence among Japanese small scale businesses rose for the first time in four months in January, a survey conducted by the Shoko Chukin Bank showed Tuesday.
NASDAQ

Branding for the small business
Far too many business owners feel that they are too small to worry about branding, don’t understand it entirely or they think they don’t have the time or resources to invest in it.
Crain’s Chicago Business

JPL to Host High-Tech Small Business Conference
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will host the 24th annual High-Tech Conference for Small Business on Tuesday, March 6, and Wednesday, March 7, at the Westin Los Angeles Airport Hotel.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Managing a Small Business: How to Inspire Employee Loyalty
A big part of successfully managing a small business is inspiring loyalty and getting the most out of employees.
International Business Times

27 Small Business PR Ideas For February
Here are 27 ways entrepreneurs can seek out small business PR opportunities during the month of February.
Understanding Marketing

How To Raise Money To Start Your Small Business
There are many ways you can raise the money you need to start your small business. Don’t give up until you’ve exhausted every single opportunity in existence, and you’ll be happy you did.
Noobpreneur.com

India offers opportunities, but there are pitfalls to avoid
As the second-fastest growing market in Asia, with more than one billion people, India is considered by many small business owners fertile ground offering a variety of opportunities.
Washington Post

Postal service offering classes for marketers, small business owners
The United States Postal Service recently announced it will host Grow Your Business Day, designed to help small and medium-sized businesses create affordable direct mail pieces for integrated marketing campaigns.
123Print.com

5 Simple Steps for Promoting Your Blog
Here are five steps that will help you promote your blog, differentiating it and creating awareness. With the steps here, you’ll be able to maximize the daily traffic that comes to your website.
Earningdiary.com

Thinking of closing down your business? Read this before you quit
Recently, I have repeatedly found myself in the company of veteran self employed professionals or business owners who feel they have come to the end of their entrepreneurial journey.
awovi

Business Rx: What to watch this year for small business
The fortunes of small business are not solely tied to the local markets in which they operate, but are also affected by national and global events. Keeping a watchful eye on the big picture is key to remaining nimble in such uncertain economic times.
Washington Post

How Many Customers Did You Lose Today?
But genuinely, one of the most vexing dilemmas for senior executives is being plugged in to what is actually going on in the front lines of their business.
Harvard Business Review

Weight Watchers For Small Business: Silver Lining Helps You Set Financial Goals
The majority don’t raise any kind of venture money or angel investment — most small business owners probably don’t even know any venture capitalists. Owning a small business is tough.
TechCrunch

Make Sure Your Tweets Are Being Seen!
Getting information and ideas out to the masses is what social media and networking is all about, particularly if you are in business, but is anyone reading what you have to say?
FamousBloggers.net

Do Small Businesses Really Need the SBA’s Help?
I’ve sometimes heard from business owners that “nobody” uses the SBA’s 900 field offices known as small business development centers or SBDCs. Turns out that’s just not true.
Entrepreneur.com

Entrepreneur Relationships With Technology Can Damage Productivity And Personal Lives
Business expert says that small changes in the use of common technologies can make entrepreneurs more productive and sane.
Gaebler.com

Ask an Expert: Content is king, entrepreneurs
Oh, how some small business owners long for the days when all they had to do was run their business and not worry about their computers, systems, mobile technology and Internet presence.
USA TODAY

Sick Days as a Home Business Owner
It’s really hard to take a sick day when you own a business. Sometimes, though, you have no choice.
PlantingMoneySeeds.com

BUSINESS TIPS: Don’t quit amid fear on plans of success
This seems to happen often in a small business. It’s easier and feels better to deal with the urgent tasks that can be done today, rather than the bigger important issues that don’t give us immediate gratification.
San Angelo Standard Times

10 Tips For Starting a Service Business
You can see the request here on the right, posted to me on Twitter. I decided it’s a good subject for a blog post here, and I went on my own first as a service business and survived that way for 12 years before Palo Alto Software finally established itself as a product company.
Bplans.com

How To Embed YouTube Videos and Podcasts To Keep Readers on Your Blog
Using multimedia like video, audio and presentations are a fantastic way to promote products and get your point across to your audience.
Basic Blog Tips

3 reasons SMBs should care about Internet censorship
Summary: There is a lot more at stake than ‘just’ freedom of expression, so the small business community — especially those with a technology bent — need to stay abreast of this issue.
ZDNet (blog)

Five Profitable Businesses You’ve Never Thought Of
How are you going about making money? What if you could make money with some of your craziest ideas? Here are five of my favorite off-the-wall businesses.
Business Opportunities Weblog

Building a Business is Worth the Time
Make no mistake. Creating your own small business is hard work. But as you’ll see, there are rewards. Here are some tips, tools and trends to think about while taking the time you need to build your small business.
Small Business Trends

Why You Need Google Rating Stars and How to Set Them Up
There are WordPress plugins that will make ratings widgets appear on your posts and pages and allow  users to rate or vote on your content.  This shows engagement on your site, and if you’re lucky, those ratings will get picked up by Google and other search engines.
DDIY.com

No easy road: Running a small business takes time, time, time
Running a small business can be a tough proposition in a good economy, much less a difficult one. Three local, successful small business owners give their views on what it takes.
MyWebTimes.com

The Hidden Costs of Social Media
Marketing tactics including networking are an important part of marketing your brand. However in one way or another you need to ask the question of what is the return you are getting for your efforts.
M4B Marketing

Four tax-related New Year’s resolutions for a small business owner
Many small business owners are looking over their yearly ledgers and see a substantial tax liability. Spending money on new equipment, massive upgrades and employee bonuses might not be feasible for small businesses.
Redlands Daily Facts

Tips to help get cash for your small business
Around half of small companies can’t persuade their bank to cough up the cash they need to start up or expand. Many are refused because the banks are cautious, even though they should be helping kick-start the economy.
Mirror.co.uk

The Big List: The Best and Worst Startup Stuff In 2011
It’s time to review the past year, so without apology for personal taste, here’s my list of the best (and a few of the worst) of 2011.
OnStartups.com

3 Things You Should Know About Small Business
Streamlining government agencies is good for small business.
TheStreet.com

Managing Finances for Business Success
According to the US Small Business Administration, only one out of every two new start-ups survives after the first five years of business. That means that half fail, many times due to financial missteps.
Sacramento Bee

Women Professionals Rate 6 Biggest Mistakes Made When Marketing to Women
Women small business professionals from three countries were polled to find the top 6 mistakes made by businesses when marketing to women.
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)

Ralph Lauren, Danny Meyer and Whole Foods Offer Business Advice at NRF
Standing out from big business presents a large challenge to many small-business owners, but those who are able to do so can experience large returns.
BusinessNewsDaily

3 Successful Small Business Cause Marketing Campaigns
When a large business rolls out a cause marketing campaign the consumer can’t escape it–there is a barrage of print, TV and web ads, but how is a small business to get the word out?
American Express OPEN Forum

Small Business Group Launches Campaign Opposing Obama’s Plan To Wind Down Federal Small Business Programs
Today the American Small Business League (ASBL) is launching a national campaign to educate the media, the public and members of Congress about the negative ramifications of President Obama’s plan to combine the Small Business Administration with the Department of Commerce, which will ultimately lead to the elimination of federal small business programs.
SunHerald.com

Emerging Social Media Sites to Attract Users
If you think social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are sticky, today’s emerging sites might as well be liquid cement.
Entrepreneur

U.K. small business confidence plummets
Small business confidence in the UK plummeted in the final quarter of 2011 amid anaemic consumer spending and growing concerns over the economy, a survey showed Monday.
MarketWatch

Small Business’ Remain in Limbo over “Obamacare”
Until the US Supreme Court rules on the constitutionality of the healthcare reform law, small businesses are left wondering what they need to do about their employees’ healthcare…
Helicopter Association International

What You Need to Know About Google Apps for Business
Google is serious about small business apps. Last year, the company renamed its Google Apps Premier office product suite Google Apps for Business.
Entrepreneur

5 Content Ideas for Small Business Online Press Releases
In the latest featured article on PR Newswire’s small business resource center, the PR Toolkit, guest author Chris Sturk, managing editor of Mequoda, offers five easy content ideas for online press releases that will make audiences – and potential customers – take notice.
MarketWatch (press release)

Will Obama move help small businesses?
Small business is not to be trifled with. President Barack Obama’s announcement last week of a proposal to temporarily elevate the Small Business Administration to Cabinet rank is a move in the right direction.
CNN

Need money? Small-business borrowing is finally up
According to the Thomson Reuters/PayNet Small Business Lending Index, the overall level of lending to small businesses late last year hit its highest level in four years.
Crain’s Chicago Business (blog)

How much should you pay yourself?
Like most small business owners, Mr. Quinn’s approach to paying himself has become more sophisticated over time.
Globe and Mail

Infographic: Start a Home Business – Where Home Businesses Go for Startup Dough
39% of business owners with no employees started their business with less than $5000 in startup capital, according to the US Small Business Administration.
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)

5 Merchant Processing Services for Small Business Owners
The use of credit cards is a great way to increase your customer base. Credit cards are easily one of the most common forms of payment methods today.
Forbes

What does SBA’s elevation to Cabinet mean for small business?
Last week, the President announced details of a proposed federal reorganization of agencies involved in trade and business, including the Commerce Department and the Small Business Administration.
FederalNewsRadio.com

Ten simple ways to generate leads on Twitter
People are pushing out information 24/7 on Twitter for everyone to read so why not take advantage of these 140 character ‘announcements’ to generate leads for your small business?
Globe and Mail

How Small Businesses Keep New Year’s Resolutions
Everyone is familiar with the difficulty of keeping New Year’s resolutions, and small-business owners are no exception.
NuWire Investor