Archives: August 2009

Entrepreneurs and Risk

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 31

How do entrepreneurs feel about risk? I've been thinking about this a bit in light of recent evidence that suggests people who work for themselves feel more secure than those...

Demystifying Legalese in Contracts, Part III: Non-Disclosure Provisions

Posted by: Stacy Perman on August 28

This is a post by guest blogger Jonathan I. Ezor. The first blog in this series discussed how while some words do have legal weight, agreements should still be written...

Entrepreneurship as a Safety Net

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 27

Is entrepreneurship the new safety net? In a viewpoint column this week, Chris Farrell suggests that corporate careers have become more uncertain than ever, and young people are looking to...

ARC Loans: How the States Stack Up

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 24

As the NY Times noted last week, a big portion of the ARC loans made so far has been concentrated in a handful of Midwestern states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa,...

One Entrepreneur’s Approach to Recession Relief: Sir Richard Branson Says: Give

Posted by: Stacy Perman on August 24

Laid-off? 401(k) flattened? House Foreclosed? That’s no reason not to have a day of fun especially if it’s on Sir Richard Branson. The mogul behind the global Virgin Group is...

One-Third of Credit Card Holders' Limits Cut

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 21

Don't miss this AP story about how credit card companies have reduced the limits for 58 million cardholders with little regard to their credit scores. The conclusion is based on...

Who To Follow On Twitter

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 21

For the last week or so, I've been reaching out to our Twitter followers with a question: What one person should every entrepreneur on Twitter be following? The response has...

A Fix for ARC Loans: Microlenders

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 20

By now difficulties with the Small Business Administration's ARC Loan program are well known. These are small loans up to $35,000, 100% guaranteed by the government, and interest-free to the...

Are Freelancers Workers or Small Business Owners?

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 20

This is a guest post by Richard Greenwald. America doesn't know what to make of the rise of the freelancer. Today there are about 25 million freelancers in the U.S.,...

Demystifying Legalese in Contracts: Warranties, Part II

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 19

This is a post by guest blogger Jonathan I. Ezor. The first blog in this series discussed how while some words do have legal weight, agreements should still be written...

Demystifying Legalese in Contracts, Part I

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 17

This is a post by guest blogger Jonathan I. Ezor. One of the complaints frequently leveled against attorneys is that they speak, and write, a language foreign to all other...

Is the Small Business Credit Crunch at a Turning Point?

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 17

Is the credit crunch for small businesses approaching an end? There's a hopeful sign in the survey of senior loan officers out from the Fed today (PDF): One of the...

Bank Lending: Still Held Back By Bad Assets

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 14

Today we feature a story from the new issue of BW Small Biz magazine about how banks are still reluctant to make loans to small businesses. BW's Jeremy Quittner reports:...

A Lawyer Explains How to Open Lawyer Roadblock

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 13

This is a post by guest blogger Jonathan I. Ezor. Matt Blumberg, CEO of e-mail marketing firm ReturnPath, recently wrote a blog entitled "Stuck in Legal", where he bemoaned how...

The Self-Employment Tax: Into the Swamp

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 13

When reporters try to make stories short and clear, we sometimes sacrifice valuable detail and nuance. That's easy to do when we write about taxes, because we also try not...

Reporter's Notebook: How Newspapers in China Portray Entrepreneurs

Posted by: Stacy Perman on August 13

I'm on a two-week fellowship in China and am taking advantage of it to report on entrepreneurship here in a series of blog posts. Check out my previous posts in...

Reporter's Notebook: How Hospitable Is China to Small Business?

Posted by: Stacy Perman on August 13

I'm on a two-week fellowship in China and am taking advantage of it to report on entrepreneurship here in a series of blog posts. Check out my previous posts in...

Reporter's Notebook: How Entrepreneurs Innovate in China

Posted by: Stacy Perman on August 13

I'm on a two-week fellowship in China and am taking advantage of it to report on entrepreneurship here in a series of blog posts. Check out my previous posts in...

Why Your Web Site's Privacy Policy Matters More Than You Think

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 12

This is a post by guest blogger Jonathan I. Ezor. One of the biggest concerns among visitors to Web sites is how their personal information is going to be used....

PayPal's Reserve Policy Can Disrupt Cash-Flow

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 11

Consumerist reports that PayPal has started holding back portions of some merchants' receipts as large as 20% in a rolling reserve to cover charge backs or refunds. It's not just...

Franchise Owners Join Fight Against Mandatory Arbitration

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 11

This is a post by guest blogger Janet Sparks. The American Arbitration Association (AAA) is considering potential changes to its Commercial Arbitration Rules and has put out a notice asking...

When Twitter Ain't Running, Ain't Nobody Running: Business Lessons

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 07

This is a post by guest blogger Jonathan Ezor. On Thursday, August 6, 2009, the microblogging service Twitter was hit with a dedicated denial of service (DDOS) attack, an Internet-based...

Reporter's Notebook: Returnee Entrepreneurs in China, Part I

Posted by: Stacy Perman on August 07

I'm on a two-week fellowship in China and am taking advantage of it to report on entrepreneurship here in a series of blog posts. Check back for more in the...

Cousin Vinny's Expensive Franchise Lesson

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 06

This is a post by guest blogger Don Sniegowski, the founding editor of the daily franchise news site BlueMauMau. Poor, dear Cousin Vinny, aka Anthony "Vinny" Agnello of New York...

Credit Card Debt Hurts Startups

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 06

Startups that lean too much on credit cards are more likely to fail, according to a new report (PDF) from the Kauffman Foundation. The study found that every $1,000 of...

Are Discounts and Freebies Doing Franchise Owners More Harm Than Good?

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 04

This is a post by guest blogger Don Sniegowski, the founding editor of the daily franchise news site BlueMauMau. McDonald’s just wrapped up its weeks-long campaign of offering free mocha...

How Risky Are Healthy Small Businesses?

Posted by: John Tozzi on August 03

Have healthy small businesses been unfairly denied access to credit? A new study from credit bureau Experian suggests that companies that were in good financial shape two years ago are...

What do Venture Capitalists Want?

Posted by: Amy Barrett on August 03

In talking to several entrepreneurs over the last few weeks I heard major frustration over the lack of vc funding available in the marketplace. But it made me wonder: Do...

Weigh in on the Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Small Jobs

Posted by: Nick Leiber on August 02

This is a guest post by BusinessWeek contributor Vivek Wadhwa. Outsourcing has become such a toxic issue in the U.S. that even the President has rallied against it. The assumption...