Small Biz Scene
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Owners Wary of Healthcare Changes
Continue reading… 0 CommentsIt's déjà vu time, with the healthcare debate waking up after hibernating for years. This time around, it's not alive just in Washington, D.C., but Sacramento and Boston are getting into the game by trying to create state measures that address how to provide insurance for their citizens.
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Lobbyists Like Bush's Healthcare Approach
Continue reading… 0 CommentsPresident Bush's State of the Union address tackled everything from the war in Iraq to education at home. But small-business groups weren't paying attention to his shout-out to Dikembe Mutombo. Instead, they were closely watching how he weighed in on the ongoing debate about how to lower healthcare costs.
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Spurring Diversity Among Franchisees
Continue reading… 0 CommentsFranchises can be a great idea for budding entrepreneurs who want to break free from corporate chains but don't want the risk of a start-up. That's the message that Miriam Brewer of the International Franchise Association wants to send women and minorities. As the new head of the group's diversity initiative, she's in charge of spreading the gospel of franchising and figuring out ways to make owning a franchise possible for a wide range of people.
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The Minimum Wage Faces Maximum Flak
Continue reading… 0 CommentsThe No. 1 rule in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is "Don't Panic." That's the message small business might want to take to heart now as the House of Representatives embarks on passing promised legislation during its first 100 hours. Yesterday the House kept one of its pledges by approving a bill that would increase the federal minimum wage to $7.25 from $5.15 over two years, the first such increase in almost a decade.
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Correction
Continue reading… 0 CommentsAn earlier post, Tech Solutions for Small Firms, incorrectly identified StoreVault's parent company. StoreVault's parent company is Network Appliance.
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Schwarzenegger Health Plan Raises Doubts
Continue reading… 0 CommentsHealthcare routinely ranks No. 1 in polls that gauge the concerns of small-business owners. But there has been some head-scratching this week after California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled his plan to ensure that everyone in the state has health insurance. The impact on small business is far from clear, and the fallout will depend largely on a company's makeup.
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Who Says the French Don't Work Hard?
Continue reading… 0 CommentsAmericans may have the reputation of working through lunch and being chained to their BlackBerrys. But it turns out that small-business owners in the United States actually work fewer hours than their global counterparts. U.S. owners of companies with under 100 employees worked 52 hours a week on average. Business owners in the United Kingdom, Mexico, France, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, and Australia averaged 54 hours a week, according to a MasterCard survey of 4,000 small businesses around the world.
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Finding the Keys to Being an Entrepreneur
Continue reading… 0 CommentsI recently talked with Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation, about his new book, The Entrepreneurial Imperative. Here are excerpts of our conversation.
Who are entrepreneurs?
That goes to the question of are they born or made? It's very hard from a personality perspective to identify them. You can't tell from shaking hands with someone whether [he or she is] an entrepreneur. They believe they can tell who's the entrepreneur in the room. They think they have certain special traits such as being gregarious, or they radiate risk-taking readiness. It's a nice thing to want to believe.
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Firms Plan to Hire and Invest in Tech
Continue reading… 0 CommentsWhile cutting back tops the list of many New Year's resolutions, many small businesses plan to beef up a bit in 2007. Overall, companies don't expect spending that's off the charts, but they say they will staff up, add space, buy equipment, and invest in technology, according to several recent small-business surveys.
Renuka Rayasam covers small business, biotechnology, and other business news for U.S. News. Her stories have included a piece on the latest trends in corporate dining, as well as regular small-business profiles. She has written for the Austin-American Statesman, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bloomberg News, and tech magazine Ziff Davis Smart Business. She has a bachelor of arts in political economy and German from the University of California – Berkeley and a master of international affairs from Columbia University.