Contractors will soon have to get cyber certified to do business with the Defense Department. But there's early concern that the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification framework would block DOD's efforts to leverage startups.

Read the article on  Federal News Network

Data breaches hurt small business, reports Tech Republic. A new survey finds that 30% of those surveyed would not use a business that had been affected by a breach. 

Data breaches can affect any type of business – large, medium, and small. Larger enterprises usually have the money, resources, expertise, and customer base to help them recover from a breach.

Read the article on Tech Republic

New York based MyPayrollHR has been accused of diverting small business employee direct deposits into its own bank account, reports Fox News.

The FBI and the New York State Department of Labor confirmed this week they are investigating allegations that a widely-used payroll company diverted nearly $35 million in employee pay to its own bank account before abruptly closing up shop, leaving more than 250,000 employees across the country without paychecks.

Read the article on Fox News

Surf Accounts is a cloud-based bookkeeping solution built by CPAs and bookkeepers to automate 90 percent of their bookkeeping tasks. The subscription-based platform (as low as $5.95 a month) offers a wide range of features as standard including unlimited transactions, Bank Statement OCR, 1099s, Inventory, CRM & much more. Surf Accounts recently opened offices in both New York and Los Angeles and will be exhibiting at Accountex 2019 to officially launch into the U.S. market. The solution will help CPAs and bookkeepers experience the same benefits that has seen firms in Ireland and the UK thrive with the adoption of Surf Accounts.

“We are excited to be attending Accountex in Boston with our new U.S. team. We have been working on our U.S. solution for a number of years and we have everything in place to expand into the market,” said Surf Accounts CEO Ray Rogers. “We work closely with CPAs and bookkeepers to increase efficiencies and reduce time and costs for their clients — we are beyond excited to set up business across the Atlantic.”

In an extremely competitive market, Surf Accounts has experienced growth of over 340 percent in 2019, as they aim to help streamline processes for firms around the globe. With over 25,000 users, serviced by over 120 staff on three continents, the company's mission is to help CPAs and bookkeepers automate their data entry so that they can save significant time and increase profitability.

“Surf Accounts is another example of an innovative Irish company delivering leading edge technology to the global accounting services industry," said Paul Burfield, SVP, Head of Western United States, Enterprise Ireland. "The industry is rapidly migrating towards the cloud and Surf Accounts platform is ideally positioned to capitalize on this trend. We are delighted to support Surf Accounts as they expand into the US market."

Following a hugely successful period of growth, Surf Accounts have recently agreed a deal on a new 10,000+ square-foot headquarters facility in Dublin, Ireland. The new space will enable Surf Accounts to successfully service all their growing markets.

It’s no secret that over half of small businesses close their doors within the first five years. One of the critical problems that often occur has little to do with the innovation, ingenuity, or work ethic of the small business owners themselves, but rather the lack of access to sufficient capital to cover the ebbs and flows of their operation and its associated costs. Scaling any idea or enterprise, to me, is less often about “entrepreneurship” —and other catchy terms we can print on a business card— and more about meeting the demands of others, like payroll and customer expectations. Simply put: small business owners need capital resources— they need cash.

Historically, small businesses have had limited options to access capital: savings, friends and family, credit cards, traditional bank loans, or the occasional SBA loan. Enter the financial crisis of 2008-2009, which ushered in a new regulatory environment that contracted these historic capital resources, thereby creating the market-driven need and demand for non-traditional banking options.

Consequently, we find ourselves operating in a new era, one in which enterprising nonbank funders have brought novel and different capital products to the small business market. This has been largely accomplished through an ambitious mix of fintech and financial innovation. These previously unavailable financing options give small businesses more resources to consider than ever before. Now their next step is to explore them and consider how their small business might decide on the best option for their specific needs.

As we contemplate these innovations, here’s a quick list of some of the best financing options available to small businesses in 2019:

1 Business Term Loans: Best for businesses looking for working capital, equipment purchases, or to purchase inventory or other fixed assets. For short-term loans, it can often be matched to a specific project and repaid to coincide with the completion of that project in 6 to 12 months. For longer-term loans, the repayment can be stretched out to 3 to 10 years, but these often require higher levels of collateral coverage or a personal guaranty by the business owner.

Pros: Great product for larger one-time investments with targeted cash flow that payments can be matched. 

Cons: Larger dollar amounts and a longer payback term will require increased time, energy (think: bank meetings and interviews), and documentation.

2 Equipment Financing: Best for one-off purchases like restaurant equipment and machinery.

Pros: no upfront spend; if the business owner has impaired credit the fact an asset is involved as collateral can make it easier vs. purchasing the equipment; and tax-deductible. 

Cons: Overall cost is usually more expensive in the long-run; cost inclusive of fees if the lease is terminated early can be substantial; and must take into account all terms and conditions that can be complicated (who handles and addresses a break-down in the equipment? etc).

3 Small Business Administration (SBA) Loan: Best for business owners who need capital for a variety of longer-term business expenses. It is government guaranteed so the process can be daunting and is processed through a bank that has an SBA loan program.

Pros: Cost and longer-term repayment; great product for owner-occupied real estate.  

Cons: Requirements are strict; process is time-consuming (60 to 180 days); high upfront fees; and requires strong personal credit scores.

4 Business Line of Credit (“LoC”): Best for businesses with more volatile sales and cash flow. Flexibility to drawdown and repay based on the needs of your business.  Often secured by accounts receivable and inventory. Some LoC’s offered by FinTech operators do not require business collateral but do require a personal guaranty. 

Pros: Can access quickly (assuming facility is in place) to solve urgent issues or expenses; and great for managing working capital needs and the business’ short-term cash flow needs. 

Cons: Reporting can be much more intensive vs. other products available; upfront and ongoing fees can be expensive, especially if the LOC is rarely drawn down. 

5 Revenue-Based Financing: This is a financing option where the repayment schedule is tied to the future revenue of the business. The genesis of the product is that the funder operates as more of a partner and is taking some level of “equity-risk”. If the revenue decreases or the business fails, the repayment is either stretched out or in the case the business fails the funder has no recourse. Small businesses can utilize this product for project financing, working capital, growth investments, or short-term needs.

Pros: Quick access; repayment risk mirrors the revenue; no business or personal recourse except in the case of fraud.  

Cons: Products are generally 12 months or less; more expensive given level of risk with limited recourse; reporting can be intensive as changes to payment schedules requires bank and financial verification.

6 Invoice Factoring: The business can turn its unpaid invoices into immediate cash. The invoice factoring company collects directly from the customers and distributes capital to the business, net of its fee.

Pros: good for managing cash flow; typically a short-term financing product (30 to 90 days).  

Cons: cost can be expensive, especially if repaid much quicker than anticipated; can be disruptive notifying customers to change their payment instructions to the factoring company; requires technology integration or higher level of reporting and the business’ customers will be dealing directly with your funder if they delay payment - not you as the business owner.

7 Angel Investors/ Venture Capital: Best for small businesses who want to scale quickly.

Pros: entrepreneurial background provides increased insights and foresight vs. dealing with alternative finance providers, banks, or the government; larger investor network to leverage for additional funds or additional business; and capital remains in the business (vs. interest costs). 

Cons: Higher rates of returns expected (typically at least 5x their investment); requires giving up equity in the business; process will be intensive; typically reserved for high visibility, disruptive companies pursuing large addressable markets on a national or global scale; and will require operating agreement additions to governance to protect their investment in the case of underperformance.

8 Bootstrapping: Best for businesses with principals that have savings or expendable income who want to preserve equity ownership and cash in the business.

Pros: maintain ownership position and keeps all cash generated either in the business or available for dividends. 

Cons: Growth limited to the owner’s cash position; risk missing market opportunity because thinly capitalized; challenging if a short-term need requires more cash than available.

While the pros and cons of this list provide a guide to financing in 2019, any financing decision should ultimately come down to your assessment of the cash flows of the business (today and in the near term), demonstrated capacity to handle credit, costs versus profit opportunity (positive ROI), and repayment thresholds.

The good news is, enabling technology allows small business owners to access various forms of capital quickly and efficiently. There is no day like today to explore options to fund entrepreneurial dreams.

Vincent Ney is a founder and CEO of Expansion Capital Group, a business dedicated to serving American small businesses by providing access to capital and other resources so they can grow and achieve their definition of success. Since inception, ECG has connected over 12,000 small businesses nationwide to approximately $350 million in capital

Whether your fiscal year matches the calendar year or ends in the middle of September, at some point, you must close the books on this year and open them on next year. What’s the best way to prepare for the transition from last fiscal to the next fiscal year? That depends on the goals for your business.

Maximizing Profits

When shareholders or investors are involved, then maximize your profits for this fiscal year by pulling sales forward. Work with your customers; ask them to take the first week of next month’s sales a little early. Be transparent with them and flexible when it’s their fiscal year end to help them out as well. If you have a good relationship with them, there’s a good chance that you’ll bolster your numbers a bit.

Conversely, push payments out with suppliers. Let them know that you’re going to pay late. Delaying accounts payable by a week or two makes your final numbers look a little healthier, even if your balance sheet doesn’t change (AP is still listed as a liability there). Your income statement and cash flow don’t show those payments.

If you’re on track to hit or exceed the numbers already, then let the dice roll. Care should be taken to avoid pulling too much cash forward or pushing too many liabilities because you could adversely affect next year’s numbers.

When To Minimize Profits

There are also times as you approach the end of your fiscal year when you don’t want to show stellar numbers. Some businesses want to show minimal profits at the end of the year. In this case, you can pull payments forward (ask for a discount for paying early!) to reduce your cash flow a bit.

While you should never delay orders or stockpile inventory, you can write off defective, excess, and obsolete inventory. Scrapping defective goods or obsolete parts is a loss that takes away from your bottom line. If it’s taking up space and is no good, then using it to balance things out at FY end is as good a use as any.

Watch Out For Inventory

Managing your inventory levels is something you should do all year long, but it becomes more important in the run-up to fiscal year end. It’s not something that can be done last minute. Several months in advance of year-end, pay attention to any work-in-progress, finished goods, and spare parts. Inventory ties up a surprising amount of money that you could affect your final numbers either up or down.

Follow The Rules

Even though it’s acceptable to make adjustments, never operate outside the guidelines of financial reporting rules. There are many acceptable methods to either maximize or minimize your reported profits or loss for a fiscal year without risking fraud or worse. Also, it is important not to overdo anything that could affect your business in the next fiscal year, so your finance team or financial advisor should be looking ahead at the same time that they’re closing out the year.

 In business lending, a personal guarantee is a very crucial element. It is a legal promise by the owner or owners of a business that in case a business fails to repay a loan, they will personally repay the outstanding debt. Although a loan can help to fund your business, in most cases, personal finances can end up being dragged into the picture in the form of personal guarantee. The banking institutions or other parties that lend money often demand a personal guarantee from the borrower to ascertain that the loan will be repaid even if the company does not have assets that assure repayment on its own.  

A personal guarantee protects a lender in cases where businesses are unable to pay back their debts. It is therefore imperative that you understand what a personal guarantee is before committing to it by signing.

Business loans and personal guarantees

Every business-minded person hopes that he/she can get a loan that can propel their businesses to the next level. It is the hope of each one of them that they will repay their debts on time to avoid penalties. However, some misfortunes do occur, and some businesses end up failing to settle their loans on time. Because of this, lenders have devised mechanisms that ensure that they get their money back regardless of what happens. This is where personal guarantees come into play. This is basically a promise that the loan will be repaid even if the business does not have enough money to make payments. These guarantees are usually signed during the loan application process and come in different types.

Types of personal guarantees

There are two main types of personal guarantees:

1. Unlimited personal guarantees 
2. Limited personal guarantees

Unlimited personal guarantees

With this kind of personal guarantee, you agree through signing to allow the lender to recover 100% (all the amount you owe the lender) of the loan amount inclusive of any legal fees that are associated with the loan you borrowed for your business. In case you fail to honor the agreement, the lender has a right to go after your savings, your kids' college funds, and your personal assets such as a car among others to repay the loan, interest and legal fees. For example, if you borrowed $100,000 and default on it, and your lender incurs $10,000 legal fees to get a judgment on the loans you will owe the lender $110,000 that can be recovered from anything valuable under your possession. They are called unlimited since they offer a borrower zero financial protection if you or your business fails to pay.

Limited personal guarantees

As suggested by the name, limited personal guarantees set a limit on what can be recovered and what cannot in case your business defaults on the loan. These types of personal guarantees are used in instances where multiple business partners jointly take a loan for a single company or business. According to the SBA standards, a person who has 20% and more of the stake in the business should be among the guarantors. It sets a piece of debt that each individual is required to pay in case the business fails to repay the debt. As easy and sweet as limited personal guarantees may seem, it has its downsides. As such, you should check the terms carefully before signing. For example, you should be sure of whether you are either signing several or joint and several guarantee. A several guarantee gives each party a specific percentage of liability while a joint and several guarantee makes each party liable for the full debt amount.

Having known what personal guarantee is and the types of personal guarantees that exist, you should comfortably be in a position to choose the right one next time your business is in need of a loan.

Well-established companies generally provide their Sales and Executive team with corporate credit cards to use for travel expenses and networking activities such as dinners and Happy Hours. Company-issued credit cards allow employees to expense work-related expenditures without having to rely on their personal credit card alleviating the stress of incurring late fees. If you are looking into the benefits of a corporate credit card, there are a few things you should know before making a decision.

Not all businesses will be approved for a corporate credit card. There are standards that needs to be met. For instance, an organization will have to meet a certain revenue threshold to be considered for a corporate credit card and aren’t free. Just like a credit card with an annual fee, a company issued credit card has a fee per employee that goes towards maintenance and exclusive customer service for your business.

Assuming the criteria is met, it’s important to create a credit card agreement that appeases both organization and employees. These guidelines will inform an employee what instances and situations they’re allowed to use their corporate credit card versus their personal card.  This agreement will hold your employees accountable incase an issue arises and not hold the business liable for any misuse.

It is important that the agreement between the organization and the employee is clear and concise when it comes to do’s and don’ts. It’s wise to have a per diem amount on travel expenses to ensure employees are not spending the company’s money frivolously. Best practice would be to require itemized receipts for charges over a certain amount and clarify who, if anyone can fly business or first class when traveling. What happens if an employee doesn’t follow those guidelines? It is important to state consequences in the agreement if an employee fails to abide by the agreement.By ensuring the company issued credit card agreement is clear, fewer mistakes will be made, and fewer exceptions if any will have to be given.

Most corporations require their employees to submit expense reports. The agreement should detail what is expected to be submitted in the expense report. This can include the date where the event took place; the names of any clients that attended a dinner; which hotel an employee stayed at and Deadlines are also important to note in the guidelines, so employees understand when they need to submit their expense reports by.

Last but not least, it’s important to get the agreement approved by your legal department. Legal advice is extremely helpful when creating agreements. At this stage the legal department will be able to let you know if there are any issues with your agreement. They will be able to notify you if anything in the document is offensive, unclear, or could be construed a certain way. Legal will also be able to read through the document and give advice on what (if any) changes need to be made.

Having a solid credit card agreement between the business and the employees ensures that mistakes don’t happen and everyone is on the same page regarding expectations. There will always be issues that aren’t accounted for, but by providing as much information as possible in the agreement and getting approval by legal ensures that those scenarios will be minimal.  By taking these precautions, you are well on your way to decide if a corporate business card is right for you.

In business, it’s the major leaps that people notice and remember. Apple introduced the iPhone and the methods in which we communicate and gather information were changed forever. LEGO took some audacious steps over the last couple of decades and expanded its toy franchise into video games, TV and movies.

Big steps. Big results.

But not every move you make with your business or in your personal life needs to be of earth-shattering significance, says Shawn Burcham (www.shawnburcham.com), founder and CEO of PFSbrands and author of Keeping Score with GRITT: Straight Talk Strategies for Success.

Sometimes, it’s the small steps that eventually lead to big rewards.

“One example with my own company is that there was a time when I didn’t believe in meetings,” Burcham says. “I thought they were a waste of time, probably because most of the meetings I had been in had indeed been a waste.”

But as his business grew, Burcham realized meetings are a necessity for communicating within a large organization. So, PFSbrands took the “small step” of instituting regularly scheduled meetings, which he says have been critical to accomplishing personal, departmental, and company-wide goals.

Burcham offers a few more examples of small steps that can pay big dividends for you and your business:

• Make a habit of setting goals. “It may seem like a basic thing, but setting goals is crucial to success both personally and professionally,” Burcham says. “Everyone in your company should be setting goals, and regularly reviewing those goals and checking their progress.” Sounds easy enough, but this is one small step that many people don’t take. “That’s why just the act of setting goals already gives you a competitive advantage,” he says.
• Write down those goals. Setting goals is a good first step, but don’t just memorize them, Burcham says. Write them down because studies have shown that people who do that are more likely to achieve what they are after than people without written goals.
• Build an accountability system. One of the best ways to make sure you follow through on your goals is to create a network of people who will hold you accountable, Burcham says. If no one knows you set a goal, it’s easy to let it slide. But if there are people who know about your goal, and better yet are depending on you to accomplish it, then you are more likely to follow through. In a business, it’s good for everyone to know everyone else’s goals and every department’s goals. That way, Burcham says, you can all hold each other accountable.
• Stop trying to do everything. Burcham suggests asking yourself what duties you can pass on to others because those activities are not a productive use of time and energy for you or for the company. “I’ve often made the mistake of hanging onto responsibilities far longer than necessary; everything from accounting, to email management, to sales management,” he says. As a company grows, Burcham says, that small step of finding things you can stop doing will be crucial to success.

“While each of these individually may be a small step, they are all important for personal growth and your business’ success,” Burcham says. “If you don’t set goals, write them down, and work to improve, you’ll likely be the exact same person 12 months from now. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. Being who you are is okay, but the question is: Are you content with being the same? Or do you want to be better?”

About 

Shawn Burcham (www.shawnburcham.com), author of Keeping Score with GRITT: Straight Talk Strategies for Success, is the founder & CEO of PFSbrands, which he and his wife, Julie, started out of their home in 1998. The company has over 1,500 branded foodservice locations across 40 states and is best known for their Champs Chicken franchise brand which was started in 1999. Prior to starting PFSbrands, Burcham spent five years with a Fortune 100 company, Mid-America Dairymen (now Dairy Farmers of America). He also worked for three years as a Regional Sales Manager for a midwest Chester’s Fried chicken distributor.

How can you make sure your board member expertise is put to use, without overloading each individual? Nonprofit board committees make it easy. Committees allow the work that needs to be done to be distributed evenly throughout your board. Clearly, committees can be highly beneficial to a nonprofit board. However, that’s just the beginning of our committee journey. Because they operate somewhat independently from the main board, committees are especially vulnerable to the “5 Dysfunctions of a Team,” as written about by Patrick Lencioni in his book by the same name. Here are the dysfunctions and what your committees should NOT include.

Lack of Trust

Trust is the foundation of any relationship, and team members must have a certain level of trust with each other to be able to work towards strategic goals and initiatives. It’s this trust that allows board members to get in constructive debates with each other or hold each other accountable. Committees need to feel comfortable presenting difficult information to the main board, as well.

Conflict

Nonprofit committees are in place to help make strategic decisions and support a nonprofit as it grows and succeeds. This means that sometimes hard conversations and decisions must be made. Board and committee members need to feel safe enough that they can engage in occasionally heated communications with their peers, or else they won’t speak up at all. This is a big reason why some members become disengaged. They simply would rather passively agree than engage in debate.

Lack of Commitment

A lack of commitment from committee members often results from one of two causes. First, it could be that the commitments were not clearly outlined and that members simply don’t realize what their input should be. On the other hand, the stakes of being involved just aren’t high enough. If there is no personal “skin in the game,” it can cause board members to become ambivalent and simply not care about the decisions that are being made.

Not Enough Accountability

The accountability factor comes down to showing up and taking responsibility for moving a nonprofit forward. Committee members should be able to trust each other to get things done, follow up on conversations, and do what they said they would do. This is what turns a nonprofit committee into a team: when people hold each other accountable and call it out respectfully if something doesn’t get done.

Insufficient Results

In my years working with nonprofits, I’ve seen this last dysfunction come up more often than you can imagine. Many times there is a single dominant committee member who takes over a conversation and turns what should be a dialogue into more of a dissertation. Board members become more focused on personal success and what their position on a board can do for them professionally than the results of the nonprofit itself.

By safeguarding your committees from these dysfunctions, you ensure a healthy and productive environment. Keep communication open and trust strong, and your organization will continue to thrive.

About Kim Donahue:

Kim Donahue is the resident governance resource at Boardable. Kim has over 30 years of experience as a nonprofit employee, volunteer, and board member. Over her long career in the nonprofit sector, Kim has facilitated more than 1,000 workshops and planning sessions for nonprofit organizations. In December 2017, Kim was named one of the “100 Community Heroes” in celebration of United Way of Central Indiana’s 100th Anniversary. Kim received nominations from 43 nonprofit leaders for her work with dozens of agencies.

About Boardable:

Boardable is an online board management portal that centralizes communication, document storage, meeting planning, and everything else that goes into running a board of directors. Founded in 2017 by nonprofit leaders and founders, Boardable has a mission to improve board engagement for nonprofits. Boardable is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The traditional board book is a long-standing tradition in the nonprofit board meeting. Of course, your board members need a certain amount of information to prepare for the meeting, including the meeting agenda, previous meeting minutes, budget documents, and so on. But is a paper board book still the best way to keep everyone informed?

The era of the traditional board book is over. Using digital solutions such as dynamic meeting agendas and online document storage is a much more elegant option. Here are just some of the reasons a paper board book is the wrong tool for your nonprofit board.

Board members don’t have time to read board books.

Nonprofit board members are typically engaged, upstanding members of the community. With jobs and lives of their own, sometimes they don’t even have time to attend the board meetings in person, let alone read pages and pages of pre-work. Often, board books go unread and are only brought up at the meeting as a reference to a statistic or number. Additionally, the contents can quickly become outdated.

Creating a board book consumes valuable staff time.

If the responsibility of creating the board book falls on your shoulders personally, you know firsthand how many hours go into collecting the information, typing it up in the appropriate fashion, and actually printing out multiple copies of the book. This takes up critical time that could be spent on other duties that your nonprofit requires.

Printing is a waste of financial and physical resources.

Cloud computing has ushered in a new, paperless world, and printing multiple board book copies doesn’t fit into the modern era. Dozens of pages, printed dozens of times, are wasteful and expensive, drawbacks that are unacceptable for nonprofits dedicated to helping charitable causes.

Paper board books make your nonprofit seem old-fashioned.

More and more, nonprofits are competing for the best and brightest new board members. Naturally, passion for the mission is the most important factor in board member matching, but it is crucial to present a modern, progressive organization to prospects. Many tech-savvy board member candidates will be turned off by a board that seems antiquated and out-of-touch, and nothing screams “old fashioned” like a fifty page paper board book.

These are just a few reasons your nonprofit board should consider getting rid of the traditional board book. At your next board retreat or executive committee, start a discussion of what materials your board members truly need to be prepared for meetings, and what the best method for sharing that information might be. With some careful consideration, you can find an alternative to the board book that saves you time, money, and effort, all while increasing board engagement.

About Jeb Banner:

Jeb is the founder and CEO of Boardable, a nonprofit board management software provider. He is also the founder of two nonprofits, The Speak Easy and Musical Family Tree, as well as a board member of United Way of Central Indiana and ProAct. Jeb is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About Boardable:

Boardable is an online board management portal that centralizes communication, document storage, meeting planning, and everything else that goes into running a board of directors. Founded in 2017 by nonprofit leaders and founders, Boardable has a mission to improve board engagement for nonprofits. Boardable is based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Nearly every business in the United States is a small or mid-size company. According to the latest Census Bureau data, more than 99% of American businesses have 500 employees or fewer. In order to assess the opportunities and challenges for the national economy, it’s essential to understand the pain points and motivational factors at the heart of the small and mid-size business community. Unlocking those insights was the impetus behind First Citizens Bank’s Small Business Forecast, and the majority of small businesses that took part in the survey see a bright future ahead. As part of the Small Business Forecast, we conducted an online survey of 330 business owners across five U.S. states, each of which employed less than 500 people.

One of the biggest takeaways is that the “American Dream” is still very much alive. Among the Millennial and Gen-X business owners who participated, the top motivational factor for starting a business was to realize their dreams. (In our survey, the Millennial generation represented business owners born between 1981 and 1997, while Gen-Xers represented business owners born between 1965 and 1980.)

Just as importantly, small-business owners across all age categories are riding a wave of positive momentum from year to year. More than three-quarters of our survey respondents across all demographics rated their business performance as “Very Successful” or “Successful” in 2018. They also have plans to build upon that success in the coming years.

Namely, 77% of all survey respondents said they were either “Very Confident” or “Confident” that their business would grow or expand in 2019. Across all demographics, the percentage of respondents planning to grow their business increased 12% as compared to 2018.

What’s more, 68% of all participants are confident about the overall economic conditions in the U.S. The latter number represents an 8% growth in economic confidence among survey participants as compared to 2018.

However, while more than half of respondents stated they benefitted from tax reforms in 2018, significantly fewer respondents believe that the tax reforms benefit small business owners in general: That number dipped from 55% of respondents in 2018 to 47% of small-business owners in 2019.

All of these metrics point to the fact that American small businesses are thriving, and they’re confident that this positive momentum will continue in the coming years. So, beyond new job opportunities due to growth and expansion plans, how might that growth look to the outside world?

It will likely be a boon to consumers, marketing professionals, and social media specialists. More than half of small-business owners plan to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty programs, and a high percentage of small businesses will focus on serving new customer segments and creating new products. Along with hiring new employees, many of the business owners surveyed also plan to increase their marketing and advertising budgets – with an emphasis on social-media campaigns.

At First Citizens Bank, we strive to equip business owners with the insights they’ll need to help them follow their passions and navigate shifting market trends to achieve an even stronger business performance in 2020.

All in all, the results of our Small Business Forecast show that America’s small-business growth engine is revved up and ready for the road ahead. Especially in younger generations of business owners, optimism and momentum are on the rise – and those factors have long been key predictors of economic growth. 

Kate Stackhouse is director of sales strategy at First Citizens Bank. Founded in 1898 and headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., First Citizens Bank is one of the largest family-controlled banks in the U.S., with offices in 19 states. Drawing from over a century of experience serving the needs of business customers, First Citizens focuses on developing long-term relationships and offers a comprehensive array of products and services to help small businesses manage their finances and grow. For more information visit firstcitizens.com/smallbizstudy. First Citizens Bank. Forever First®.

People are living longer, and as wonderful as that news is to many, there’s a possible downside: outliving your money in retirement. “It’s a very large fear many people have,” says Alexander Joyce, president/CEO of ReJoyce Financial LLC (www.ReJoyceFinancial.com) and author ofReJoyce In Your Retirement: Everything You Need To Know To Get Everything You Want.

“Most retirement plans have not incorporated the longevity risk. And without mitigating that, many middle-class retirees could exhaust their 401(k)s and be left with only Social Security and a little equity in their homes.”

The financial worries about retirement and the planning options can be overwhelming. One of the concerns people have is getting appropriate advice and finding a financial advisor who puts the client’s interests above his or her own. That type of retirement planner is defined as a fiduciary, and according to a survey by Financial Engines, 93 percent of Americans think financial advisors who provide retirement advice should be fiduciaries — legally required to put their clients’ best interest first.

On the other hand, 53 percent of those respondents mistakenly believe that all financial advisors are fiduciaries.

“Trust is imperative, especially where a client’s retirement is concerned,” Joyce says. “An advisor working as a fiduciary is held to a high standard of honesty and full disclosure to the client. And there are three critical aspects of retirement planning in which a fiduciary can help guide the client to both protect their retirement assets and prosper.”

Those three areas are:

Reduce sequence-of-return risks. This refers to the order of annual investment returns, and it becomes a concern for retirees who are living off the income and capital of their investments. “The danger comes when an investor receives lower or negative returns due to withdrawals made from their investment,” Joyce says. “The timing of taking those returns impacts wealth. A planner who’s a fiduciary has multiple ways to reduce sequence-of-returns risk by allowing the portfolio to stay ahead of inflation. You utilize other income-producing vehicles in the portfolio.”

Prioritize a tax plan. “Understand that in retirement you’re creating your own income from qualified money — money that’s never been taxed before,” Joyce says. “It’s vital to have a tax plan that can fit into your portfolio. For example, the Required Minimum Distribution at age 70½  is something many people are not prepared for in terms of tax impact. The RMDs have never been such a concern in our economy than they are now, because such a large percentage of baby boomers are over 70½. Having a reallocation plan or a Roth conversion conversation is important to avoid higher tax burdens.”

Create an estate plan. Procrastination is an obstacle for many when it comes to estate planning, Joyce says, and it’s important to differentiate between a will, which goes through probate, and a trust. “Understand how those things fit in the portfolio, and the difference between live-on money and leave-behind money,” he says. “You need to establish goals for the assets. A lot of people want to leave a legacy, but they don’t know how large, or how, or when. A fiduciary can help you leverage technology and look at a realistic rate of return, based on your  projected longevity.”

“Having all these planning tools under a full-service fiduciary roof is powerful,” Joyce says, “because the baby boomer generation doesn’t like change. They need a sense of security before reaching retirement; solid options to make their financial fears and uncertainty go away.”

Alexander Joyce is CEO and president of ReJoyce Financial LLC (www.ReJoyceFinancial.com), a full-service retirement income planning firm in Indianapolis, Ind. He’s the author of ReJoyce In Your Retirement: Everything You Need To Know To Get Everything You Want. Joyce holds the NSSA (National Social Security Advisor) and CRPC (Charted Retirement Planning Counselor) designations. He hosts informational and educational seminars as well as the radio show Retirement Halftime Show. He can be seen monthly on Money Monday as well as Your Money on the IndyStyle program, broadcast by WISH-TV, myINDY-TV and WTHR in Indianapolis.

It’s been a common occurrence in recent years: Company downsizing or restructuring has left skilled professionals looking for a job. Or, feeling constrained, they jump to a better growth opportunity.

But, with the era of lifetime jobs at a single firm or company long gone, many doctors, dentists, lawyers and other professionals also are opting to work for themselves, becoming entrepreneurs and launching their own start-ups.   

Some who already started small practices have expanded into several locations. As dentists and business partners Dr. Seth Newman and Dr. Efstathios Giannoutsos can attest, the learning curve of running and growing a business in multiple offices — while still practicing their profession — can be challenging but also rewarding.

“It was never my plan to run a practice, or even co-run one,” says Giannoutsos,  (www.asktheorthos.com), an orthodontist and co-author, with Newman of Giving It To You Straight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Orthodontics But Were Afraid To Ask. “But then the financial crisis of 2008 happened, and a lot of the opportunities that had been available before were now gone.

“But we were able to flip those circumstances on their heads and use them to our advantage.”

“The biggest challenge initially was finding clients,” Newman says. “But we learned to use different resources and educate ourselves in the business side as we did in our chosen career.”  

Newman and Giannoutsos offer five tips for professionals transitioning to running their own business:

• Be passionate. Entrepreneurs tend to be extremely passionate about their work. They need to incorporate the same passion for running a business. “Think about how running your own business could transform your career, send it soaring,” Newman says. “That kind of spirit energizes you and all those around you.”

• Be bothered by inefficiency. Entrepreneurs don’t have a high tolerance for inefficiency, and the bonus is they don’t have corporate red tape to cut through. “You can fix problems that come up quickly because of your expertise and the freedom of not running into typical corporate obstacles,” Giannoutsos says. “If  you or your business partner are mired in work processes that are too slow, analyze the inefficiencies and consider the places you could implement solutions.”
• Don’t be afraid to take on more risk. One thing that sets many entrepreneurs apart from the average professional is their appetite for risk. “A business owner knows the risk-reward possibilities, and by taking well-calculated shots, bigger rewards can come,” Newman says. “Set aside time to strategize, and listen to the best-qualified people working for you to develop a precise plan.”
• Brainstorm more. Constant innovation is crucial to a business’ long-term success, so entrepreneurs have to take time to let their minds be loose and creative. “Set aside time each week for brainstorming sessions with your staff — and remember to have fun doing it,” Giannoutsos says.
• Don’t limit your dreams. “The most important aspect of the entrepreneurial spirit is being limitless – the sky’s the limit,” Newman says. “Many people are conditioned in the workforce to be realistic and practical, but dreaming big sets the mission for your company, and it’s why you became a business owner.”

“It can be daunting at first, performing the myriad tasks of a business owner,” Giannoutsos says, “but if you believe in what you do and those you’ve hired around you, it’s so worth the effort.”

Dr. Seth Newman (www.asktheorthos.com) is an orthodontist and co-author, with Dr. Steve Giannoutsos, of Giving It To You Straight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Orthodontics But Were Afraid To Ask. He owns orthodontic practices in the New York City area. Dr. Newman completed his dental training at Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine, where he was a member of the National Dental Honor Society. He was a clinical instructor of the Invisalign system at the NYU School of Dentistry.

Dr. Efstathios Giannoutsos, or “Dr. G.” as he is commonly called, was born in Astoria, Queens, just outside of New York City. He graduated from St. John’s University in Jamaica, Queens, with high honors and a BS in Biology.  He is also the co-author with  Dr. Seth Newman of Giving It To You Straight: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Orthodontics But Were Afraid to Ask (AskTheOrthos.com). He completed his dental training at NYU, where he graduated with a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree. He was also accepted into NYU’s highly competitive orthodontic residency program. During that time, he also discovered a passion for treating children and adults with facial deformities. Coinciding his passion, his research thesis to attain specialty certification involved children with cleft deformities.

If you’ve ever gone on vacation and returned feeling renewed, then you’ll understand the popularity of a small business retreat. The concept of leaving the office behind and bringing the team to an off-site, special destination follows the same vein as a vacation. A retreat offers the chance for a team to refresh and return to work in a better state of mind.

Unlike a 1:1 in your office or a conference center townhall, informal retreat meetings break the mold and give the team a chance work outside the confines of roles and titles. The more relaxed atmosphere of a retreat promotes better communication and team bonding, allowing your employees to let go of office politics and embrace a shared experience. Even with nothing in common at the workplace, everyone on the retreat can find common ground through the experience of the get-away.

Reap the Benefits of a Small Business Retreat

The benefits of a retreat appear in employees’ increased productivity. Like the advantage of a vacation, retreats are a break that lets employees relax so that they can come back with more energy. Also, taking their work to a new environment brings fresh perspective to the job and can inspire more contributions back at the office. Finally, retreats improve communication by opening channels between management and employees and developing informal networking between teams in ways that just aren’t possible at the office. The more relaxed retreat atmosphere fosters connections, even between those who may not normally interact, and improves communication overall.

Not Your Traditional Retreat

Though beneficial, there is a cautionary tale from the 2000s to be told about using retreats as rewards without value. Tradition saw executives splurge on retreats while employees watched from the sidelines as these lavish paid vacations catered to the top tier management. Back then, a retreat was a sign of executive largesse, excessive and reserved only for the C-Suite & Friends.

Value-Added Experience

Today, a retreat offers much more meaningful value to the business and pertains to all levels of employees. The ability to remove the team from distractions of the workplace is an opportunity to really focus on an initiative. If you do it right, you can use the time to focus on training, brainstorming, and team building in ways that the office just doesn’t allow; you have the space and atmosphere to shake employees from the routine and explore new ground.

Investment With Returns

There are costs to a retreat, but more than just the price of doing business, this expense is an investment. Spending the money to develop your employees only comes back to you in droves when the work gets done better and more efficiently by employees who feel valued and more committed.

March is the perfect time of year to schedule a retreat since you can take advantage of the quarter’s end and Spring Break season. Use the time to evaluate the years’ progress thus far and set goals as well as minimize the bite from budget with seasonal travel discounts and packages available.

No matter what industry you’re in, there’s always an unknown element when it comes to job security. The economy, who happens to be President, natural disasters, and a host of other life events could take a stable job and turn it on its head, or you may be one of the lucky few who enjoys a 30+ year run at the same organization. Yet with as much innovation as there is in today’s job market, it’s tough to say with certainty that we won’t all end up getting replaced by robots at some point in the future.

On a more serious note, however, it can be difficult to plan ahead if the foundation of your career is uncertain. While there are steps that people can take to help secure their future, it seems that the roadmap to success is always changing. According to a recent article in USA Today, it is possible to create your own destiny in the career world, and it’s as easy as taking two little steps.

Evaluate Your Employer

All too often, we think about changing jobs because of our dissatisfaction with our own position. Perhaps we want more money, different responsibilities, or our coworkers are flat out terrible to be around. But how regularly do people take a hard look at who’s running the show and try to predict where things are going? Probably not as often as is needed.

Whether you work for a small corporation or a multi-national group, try taking an objective look at the future. Are the people in charge innovative? Do they have the foresight to adapt to a changing marketplace? Will they survive and thrive, or will they fall by the wayside as other newer brands make them irrelevant? While you may not be able to control any of the factors that help to answer these questions, you can watch for red flags that may indicate it’s time to look for other opportunities.

Put Yourself First

Time and time again we hear that making yourself valuable is incredibly important in the workplace, but many people don’t really take this message to heart. No matter the industry, you should create a personal mission of always continuing your education. Being someone who is on the forefront of upcoming changes, new ways of doing things, and contributing to the vision of your organization puts you on the short list of getting a raise, promotion, and at the very least, not being the first one to get laid off.

Even more important is the time and energy you put into building your own reputation separate from your company. Online review platforms often associate you with the place you work, making it hard to create a name for yourself within your given industry. However, at Completed.com, you can put all of your networking skills to good use and develop a profile that demonstrates how valuable you really are.

If and when it comes time to make a change and you’re looking for another job opportunity, you can consider your Completed.com profile as an extended resume, highlighting qualities that will help you to stand out from the rest of the crowd. At the very least, it’s a tool that every career-minded individual can benefit from, even if their current corporation is on the path to success.