#small-business

#small-business

"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.

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

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,"

Every creative person has had that moment where they look at something beautifully personalized-a monogrammed cutting board, a customized metal tumbler, a sleek engraved leather wallet-and think, "I could totally make that." Once upon a time, that idea would've required a workshop full of industrial tools and a level of skill that bordered on wizardry. Today? Thanks to modern laser engraving technology, that same idea can turn into a real business with surprising ease.

Port Washington: Review five popular social media networks and the benefits of each, how other businesses use social media, what to create, how to tell if it works and more, 7 p.m., Port Washington Public Library, 1 Library Dr., free, pwpl.org, 516-883-4400. BUSINESS MENTORING Rockville Centre: SCORE volunteers provide guidance on starting, managing and growing your small business, 10 a.m.-1 p.m., Lakeview Public Library, 1120 Woodfield Rd., free, call to register for an appointment, lakeviewlibrary.org, 516-536-3071.

A provision in last year's delayed Budget lowered the threshold at which micro-enterprises had to start collecting and paying VAT to €25,000 in annual turnover, rather than the current €37,500 for services and €85,000 for commercial activities. The micro-enterprise status is most commonly used by freelancers, contractors, sole traders and small businesses - it has a maximum earning threshold so most of those on the status are low to medium earners.

Just over a month after a Waymo autonomous car hit and killed KitKat, the beloved Mission bodega cat, Randa's Market welcomed a new feline to its store late last week: Coco, a six-month-old white kitty with blue eyes, who is already winning over dozens of customers daily. "There won't be another KitKat, but she's bringing a spark back to the neighborhood," said a man named AJ as he left the 16th and Valencia store after petting Coco on his way out.

The Black Friday through Cyber Monday stretch known as Cyber Week is known as the best time of year to take advantage of crazy discounts at retail giants like Amazon and big box stores like Best Buy and Target. But it's also a great opportunity to stock up on gifts and essentials from small businesses, many of which only run a handful of sales each year.

"You hungry?" Lydia Lee asks me, beaming in her bright pink Hello Kitty apron. "You look skinny." She stands in front of a steaming vat of fish stock, ready to scoop me a fresh bowl of udon. It's not even 11 a.m., but I can't turn her down. At Yo Yo's, which offers one of the most affordable lunches in all of San Francisco's Financial District, an order of udon noodle soup is just $9, and a six-piece tray of sushi is just $3.25.

I met my wife while working at Target, marking the beginning of what became a decadeslong career in retail. Over the years, I moved into leadership roles at several major brands before eventually joining a senior living company in a senior role. Then, in August 2019, I got a call that changed everything: I was being let go. At the time, my wife, Danielle - who'd also built a successful career - was home full-time with our four kids.