#small-business

#small-business

The building where the retail-rental costume store in San Jose is located has been sold, and owner Kathy Bell has until the end of February to liquidate everything. While the eviction came as a shock, Bell said she's been dealing with personal health issues, making it nearly impossible to relocate the business again. The closure will force her into retirement. "I knew the building was up for sale and we were preparing for it, but we thought it would take a long time," the business' 71-year-old owner told San José Spotlight. "I can't do another move."

"I went to Wordstock in 2005 when it was still Wordstock, and I felt like I had walked into the world I should have been in my whole life," Emmerling said, referring to what is now called the Portland Book Festival. It wasn't long after that Emmerling and her husband, John, a blacksmith, were delivering a fireplace he'd crafted. When they drove by a bookstore, Emmerling recalled, "I said, 'You know, when we retire, it would be fun to open a bookstore.'"

"They just said, 'If you stay calm and corporate, this will be over really quickly,'" said Cawdrey. "And they were out in a minute."

ExploreMedia has been working with businesses and people throughout the River Region since 2006. They work to help businesses reach their targeted audiences and promote their brand through digital media. The anniversary party brought many of their clients out to have food and refreshments, celebrating their partnership. However, it was also to celebrate the official launch of their new business magazine '26 Things in 2026,' which highlights upcoming events and business operations going on in the area throughout the year.

January is typically a slow month for retailers - a time for restocking, chores, and tax prep. This year, small businesses in the Minneapolis area have thrown that out the window. They're offering aid during heightened ICE activity; some will close for Friday's economic blackout. January is typically a quiet month at Mischief Toys in St. Paul, Minnesota. Owner Dan Marshall said he usually spends it cleaning up after Christmas, painting the walls,

For several years, my brother, Mike, and I talked about wanting to go into business together. We considered a few ideas but hadn't settled on one. In February 2022, we rented an Escalade from Turo for a family trip. Almost exactly a year later, we launched our own Turo business, JDM Whipz. By 2024, JDM Whipz was making six figures in profit.

From greater flexibility to a sense of ownership and the hope of financial gain, solopreneurship feels like the new American dream. However, there's a hidden cost to that dream that has nothing to do with the unending hustle that comes with being both a business owner and that business's sole employee. It's the undeniable cost to the planet. In 2025, about 41 million businesses in the U.S. were run by a sole individual who is both its owner and only employee.

"This coffee's quite special. It's grown in Yunnan, China, and it's processed with a special yeast to give it a peachy, kind of osmanthus-y flavor," he says.

We've had an amazing time but we're going to close (for now)!

In an era obsessed with social feeds, algorithms, and the next new channel, email marketing is often treated as yesterday's news. Yet every day, hundreds of millions of messages quietly power relationships between businesses and the people they serve. Few leaders have a clearer view of that reality than Frank Vella, CEO of Constant Contact. Vella oversees a platform that sends staggering volumes of email, but his perspective isn't rooted in scale alone.

Acuity is a platform that allows you to sell and manage services like virtual consultations, in-person appointments, or classes-you could use it to manage a yoga studio, salon, personal training practice, or landscaping business. It also helps in taking some of the more annoying responsibilities off the business owner's plate, with automatic appointment updates for the client, and letting clients book, reschedule, or cancel appointments through the platform, rather than, say, by texting the owner a bunch of times.

When Mike Moretti opened "The Art of Picture Framing", a friend of his, who owned a demolition business and just finished a job, approached him and asked if he wanted a pinball machine for his breakroom. "I was like, 'oh man, no, they're really heavy,'" Moretti said. "My crew just needs to focus on getting work done." Moretti would later hire his friend's son, and when his friend, John, passed away a few years later, Moretti was again asked about the pinball machine.

"I have been breaking my back doing my job - bringing art and culture to this neighborhood. It's time you showed some support,"

When the Legislature passed its new digital advertising tax ( ESSB 5814), the message was that Google, Meta and Amazon would finally pay their fair share. But as of Oct. 1, these companies are not paying a dime. They simply updated their billing software, added the tax as a separate line item on every invoice and passed the entire cost directly to us - the advertisers.

A Trump administration official credited the president with making small business owners excited to pay their taxes thanks to tax cuts and less regulation. Kelly Loeffler, administrator of the Small Business Administration, told Fox News's Sunday Morning Futures that small business optimism is above its 52-year average. Loeffler said a lot of the optimism is due to the Working Families Tax Cut in Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill.

When I turned 15, like all my friends, I wanted to get a job at a café to earn money. But my father pushed me to start my company young, and it's the reason I'm now financially independent at 20. I started selling origami butterfly artwork, a skill I picked up from a school trip to Japan and honed during the COVID-19 lockdown. I started selling them at markets in Melbourne when I was 16.

LIT Boutique, a women's designer clothing and accessories shop that has been a fixture on Newbury Street for 25 years, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, signaling a likely end for the longtime retailer. Once a small local chain with four locations across Boston; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Newport, Rhode Island, the woman-owned boutique has steadily shrunk and now operates only its original store at 223 Newbury St.

A provision in the 2025 budget that would have lowered the threshold below which micro-enterprises are exempt from VAT to €25,000 in annual turnover was suspended until 2026 following protests from small business owners. This provision was expected to generate around €780 million per year in tax revenue. Almost as soon as the budget was passed, that provision was 'paused' following an outcry from small business owners. It was later formally suspended until 2026.

It took one bite into the massive fried chicken leg from Jonas Koh's food stall to know that he is doing it right. The leg -the biggest I've ever seen in my years of eating Singapore's hawker fare- was crispy on the outside, juicy and tender on the inside, and coated in spices without being overpowering. The onion and chili sambal paste on the side, Koh's pride and joy, added spice and sweetness to the dish.

Think about how you currently handle waste. Are your team members spending valuable work hours making multiple trips to the local dump? Are they bagging up endless amounts of waste, or worse, dealing with overflowing bins? Every minute they spend on these tasks is a minute they aren't spending on revenue-generating activities, serving customers, or doing the specialised work you hired them for.

Managing payroll takes a lot of time and effort. No matter your company's pay period, you need to calculate wages, payroll taxes, and deductions accurately. Even a small mistake can cause payment delays, result in penalties, and leave employees unhappy. Thankfully, a payroll app can help you avoid these problems. Payroll software simplifies everything. It calculates wages, generates pay stubs, and helps with tax form filing.

Pension auto-enrolment and increased minimum wage will add to financial burden of rising food and energy prices, says One Society owner William Monaghan

Cash shortages can disrupt even well-managed companies, often at moments when stability matters most. A delayed client payment, a sudden drop in seasonal revenue or an unexpected opportunity requiring immediate capital can place pressure on operations long before traditional funding becomes available. For UK businesses trying to maintain continuity in challenging periods, strengthening cash flow management for small businesses becomes essential for avoiding disruption and preserving momentum.

As a quasi-successful artist and small business owner, I am asked all the time: "Why don't you open a shop in Portland? People here love your stuff!" Here's why: commercial rent is insane and untethered from economic reality. There is simply no foot traffic in this relatively small city to justify these asking prices. After paying a landlord his sky-high rent, there'd be no margin left at the end of the month to pay myself, hire workers, or even buy toilet paper for the bathroom.

"Each person's contribution is $100. Please Venmo me when you have a chance," the email read. It was sent to 17 managers, totaling a $1,700 contribution to cover a luxury fish subscription for the company owner. The message came from the president, who also happens to be the owner's nephew and is reportedly being groomed to take over the business.

"We've worked so hard for this. We've been doing this for 20 years. We have to fight to keep this place open - it's what we love to do,"