Freelance

Still No Start-Up Credit for Small Businesses

Does the success of your small business hinge on securing ample credit? As big business expects to report booming second quarter earnings, the red-headed stepchild of commerce is scrambling just to survive, and banks aren’t making it easier. Neither is the Senate’s failure to enact the Obama administration’s bill to incentivize small business lending.
Banks contend [...]

Posted by: Sarah Snyder, August 2, 2010

Comments: 2

That Mystical Floating Money: When Clients are Slow to Pay

I met a self employed app designer the other day at the pub. He sounds like he’s got it made, on the cutting edge of technology and chock full of clients. But lo and behold, he’s got the same problem I have; clients not paying up or not doing so soon enough.
There are a few [...]

Posted by: Sarah Snyder, April 19, 2010

Comments: 5

Why Freelancers Should Care About the Right Brain

“The keys to the kingdom are changing hands,” author Daniel Pink starts out in A Whole New Mind (2005). He continues that those who can make ideas mean something are at a higher premium than the traditional doctors, lawyers and MBAs that used to dominate the job market. Many of these positions – artists, storytellers, [...]

Posted by: Sarah Snyder, April 12, 2010

Comments: 2

In Business, Size Doesn’t Matter Anymore

We’re portable, we can fit in airline seats, corners of pubs and hospital waiting rooms. We’re the very small business, known by our netbooks and our buzzing smart phones. You’ll never find us with paper, writing utensils or staplers; that’s so 2005. Even our products can be small, from resin jewelry to the smallest phones [...]

Posted by: Sarah Snyder, April 8, 2010

Comments: 7

Very Small Business? Microbusiness? Whatever You Call It, Don’t Call the Whole Thing Off

Microbusiness? Small business? Very small business? Whatever you call them, they are emerging as the darlings of our current-day economic crisis. From laid-off workers who turned freelancing into a business to entrepreneurs who gravitate to lean operations, these mini-corps enjoy the flexibility and simplicity that their larger counterparts simply do not have.
I always thought of [...]

Posted by: Sarah Snyder, April 6, 2010

Comments: 2

Is the Business of Freelancing Writing too Bitter and Twisted? Dispatches from SXSW

Everybody from career freelance journalists to bloggers to business writers attended the Freelancing isn't Free: The Twisted Economics of Writing Today (#freelancingisntfree on Twitter). The panel's host, Jeff Beckham, himself represents an all too common dichotomy in the freelance writing world. He's the website manager for AT&T's eCommerce Group by Day and a writer for Austinist, his [...]

Posted by: Jennifer Escalona, March 15, 2010

Comments: 4

New Report: Entrepreneurship Increasing, Early Stage Activity Up From 2007 to 2008

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) just released their 2008 annual report on the state of entrepreneurship in the United States, with interesting results. Perhaps due to the economic crisis, the instance of entrepreneurship activity (high early-stage entrepreneurship prevalence rates, high venture capital investment and significantly higher levels of high-expectation entrepreneurship), is up across the board, [...]

Posted by: Jennifer Escalona, November 24, 2009

Comments: 1

Stimulate Your Local Economy with the Contribute 2009 Pledge

As a small business owner, chances are you are very invested in the health and well-being of your local economy. If you have national competitors, you may even market your business based on the advantages that buying local hold for your community. After all, buying local keeps dollars in your community and not distributed throughout [...]

Posted by: Jennifer Escalona, September 18, 2009

Comments: 1

A Tough Economy and Tough Love Make for a Tough Small Business

A recent article on CNNMoney.com told the tale of DNA Software, an Ann Arbor based company that received a $1.5 million dollar, three-year grant from the state of Michigan. Most small business owners – DNA Software had only 8 employees – would have thought themselves set for life if they had all those advantages – [...]

Posted by: Jennifer Escalona, September 14, 2009

Comments: 2

How the credit crunch has hit small business – two examples

We recently witnessed two examples of how the credit crunch is impacting small businesses - even those who are doing very well.  First, we received a notification from Advanta about our corporate credit cards.  Two days ago (May 26), we were told that our business cards would no longer be usable - effective May 30.  [...]

Posted by: Kevin Reeth, May 28, 2009