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Welcome to the Business Advantage
Small Business Community
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Running a small business is no easy feat. That’s why we’ve created a forum for small business ideas, insider tips, and the industry knowledge you need to help your small business grow.
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6 Reasons Why You Should Consider Rebranding
With the new year approaching, your small business brand might be in need of a makeover. Read the six reasons Rieva Lesonsky gives to consider rebranding in 2020.
The Small Business Guide to Dealing with Insurance Companies
Keeping your small biz safe means having insurance to protect yourself and your company. Read tips from Steve Strauss for how to choose and use the right coverage for your small biz needs.
3 Ways to Grow Your Local Community Network in 2020
Referrals from trusted connections or past customers are one of the best ways to get new business. Rieva shares how you can build a stronger business network in your local community.
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The bi-annual Small Business Owner Snapshot, conducted by Bank of America, explores the concerns, aspirations and perspectives of small business owners throughout the U.S. and across 10 major cities.… (Show moreShow less)
The bi-annual Small Business Owner Snapshot, conducted by Bank of America, explores the concerns, aspirations and perspectives of small business owners throughout the U.S. and across 10 major cities.… (Show moreShow less)in General BusinessLike (0)
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1. Problem Solving is the Key A successful business needs to solve the problem easily or provide a new solution rather compared to its existing competitors.Understand the pulse of your prospects then… (Show moreShow less)
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...as you know I have spent some time developing my business consulting practice. Our business owner clients are regularly asking for referrals to new tax professionals (CPA, Accountant’s and… (Show moreShow less)
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I work at an enterprise that produces New Year's toys. Mostly I like the work. A lot of nuances. There is still much to learn. The main thing is that I want it.
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Hey I am digital marketing executive at eventtitans. Eventtitans is the event management software company
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Hi there! I have a website, after filling it began to slow down a lot, the long response of the server and the database. I’m afraid it’ll affect the ranking. Hosting will not call, that would not be… (Show moreShow less)
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I was a full-time lawyer for over a decade and one thing that always surprised me was how often the people sitting across from me in my office should not have been there; a little legal education… (Show moreShow less)in General BusinessLike (0)
Sometimes entrepreneurial success is finely crafted—planned out years in advance. More often, it’s a matter of serendipity, of paying attention to what the universe brings you, accepting it and… (Show moreShow less)in Business StartupsLike (0)
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...as you know I have spent some time developing my business consulting practice. Our business owner clients are regularly asking for referrals to new tax professionals (CPA, Accountant’s and Enrolled Agents). So rather than my just reaching...
...as you know I have spent some time developing my business consulting practice. Our business owner clients are regularly asking for referrals to new tax professionals (CPA, Accountant’s and Enrolled Agents). So rather than my just reaching out blindly looking for someone good for them (think needle in a haystack) I’m reaching out to each of you asking for your help – who are you working with and are you happy with them? Thank you VERY much!
Larry
1. Problem Solving is the Key A successful business needs to solve the problem easily or provide a new solution rather compared to its existing competitors.Understand the pulse of your prospects then the business opportunities will become wider....
1. Problem Solving is the Key
A successful business needs to solve the problem easily or provide a new solution rather compared to its existing competitors.Understand the pulse of your prospects then the business opportunities will become wider. Suppose, you are an event management firm that arranges wedding and anniversary parties majorly and your prospects are regularly getting together on event corporate gatherings then nurturing the corporate clients will be a lucrative idea. Target that kind of firm and add that segment into your portfolio. Here your experience and knowledge on current market trends matter a lot rather than the type of business you are running now.
In case you are managing corporate events, looking to expand the scope of the prospects is a good idea. Grab new opportunities like personalized events, workshops, seminars, weddings, product launch, and more. You gain cross-promotion, first, you need to search for the chance to expand your business scope.
2. Connect to your Target Audience
Business bees attend local chamber of meetings to grow their network from distinct industries. Regular engagement with likely possible audience helps to widen business opportunities. Blog on your website frequently with the right keywords as social media and blogging help your business to stand in the top of the industry news.
Create unique hashtags on twitter to promote your business and estimate the crowd's reaction. Manage your social media accounts, nurture your audience, promote on digital media without spending money.
3. Promote Always
Stay competitive, promote your business, connect with a target audience, and execute different methods to capture people's attention. Promoting on social media platforms enables to show your capacity through stats. It's always good to hire a digital marketing team and work on the components like content marketing, organic search, social media marketing, and lead generation. If you can't afford then start at least promoting from your end. Update your blog regularly and apart from these adding a YouTube promotional video can boost your business to the next level. Invest in corporate email database to target your corporate clients, but accessing the right database is the key to this process. Send the email at the right time, change the timings after measuring the email read and converted stats, and take the full advantage of email marketing opportunity.
Windup Notes
If your small business has only a few numbers of staff then it will take time to manage everything. But, you must keep on working with the opportunities you have, and one fine day your business will take its stand and start to grow exceptionally, mean while learn the art of adoption and problem-solving ability.
Author : David Nalbandian
EventTitans Inc
Cumming,Atlanta
Hi there! I have a website, after filling it began to slow down a lot, the long response of the server and the database. I’m afraid it’ll affect the ranking. Hosting will not call, that would not be taken for advertising. Please,...
Hi there!
I have a website, after filling it began to slow down a lot, the long response of the server and the database. I’m afraid it’ll affect the ranking. Hosting will not call, that would not be taken for advertising.
Please, recommend a fast hosting for a heavy site for a reasonable price, with large images and complex functionality. The site has a complex slider, you can check here: https://www.coffee-statistics.com/
Thanks!
What are some of the sources of getting business from local community...I know about Craigslist, Pennysaver. Google seo which takes a lot of time never saw any business coming from here. what else are free ways of advertising service based business?
What are some of the sources of getting business from local community...I know about Craigslist, Pennysaver. Google seo which takes a lot of time never saw any business coming from here. what else are free ways of advertising service based business?
In today’s Internet-powered world, smart entrepreneurs and small businesses are growing faster and becoming stronger with every passing day. So, to stay on top of your business endeavor you need to master some of the great tools that will...
In today’s Internet-powered world, smart entrepreneurs and small businesses are growing faster and becoming stronger with every passing day. So, to stay on top of your business endeavor you need to master some of the great tools that will make all the difference in your small business success.
To beat the competition in your industry you need to implement the tools that will increase the productivity and efficiency of your team and provide you time to focus on the most important aspects of your business.
There are hundreds of marketing related, services related and modern technology related tools available online to help you grow your business. However, to choose the best ones you have to put a lot of time and efforts.
So, to save you from that hassle we have reviewed and listed 11 of the best business tools that are cost-effective and provide great values to your business.
#1 Hootsuite
Managing all social media accounts regularly and publishing new posts frequently can become an area of concern for small business owners and entrepreneurs simply due to lack of time and proper resources. After signing up for Hootsuite you can manage all your social media platforms with its simple and easy to use dashboard.
Features:
- Schedule post - You can schedule your upcoming social media posts in advance which will save you a lot of time and will keep you active on various social media channels.
- Analyze the performance - You can analyze your social media performance by tracking the number of followers you are getting, your most shared and liked posts by your audience.
- Find content - With Hootsuite you can find lots of attractive and compelling content and images which you can post on your social media channels to engage your visitors.
- Security - Hootsuite prevents your brand from all sorts of social media threats by providing its advanced social media security features.
Pricing:
- 3O Days free trial.
- Professional Plan - 29$ per month
- Business Plan - 599$ per month
#2 Slack
Slack is a communication and teamwork management tool. Slack lets you manage project works and conversation with your business partners or team members from a single platform across all devices. Using slack you can send emails, reply to text messages and follow up someone on Twitter without any headache.
Features:
- You can divide your team members according to their profiles, projects to properly monitor the work of your organization.
- Collaborate and share your channel with the companies and businesses you frequently work with to expand your business network.
- Make conversation over voice or video calls and share screen to track the progress of projects.
- With the help of slack, you can effortlessly share files, images, videos, PDFs with others and make an archive of feedback of your work.
Pricing:
- Free version
- Standard - 6.67$ per month
- Plus - 12.50$ per month
#3 Evernote
Evernote is a note-taking application which is very helpful for busy business owners and entrepreneurs. It lets you take notes of business-related ideas, plans, thoughts from anywhere in the world. Further, you can save the notes, audio recordings, photos, clipped web documents etc. in an organized way so that you can find them later easily.
Features:
- You can write your notes, collect web clippings and page screenshots, record audio notes, create a to-do list, highlight or comment on images.
- Sort your documents and important files by date, tag or title to arrange them properly.
- Share your notes with anyone in your business group.
- You can set permission-lock to prevent anyone from accessing your personal notes.
- You can convert your notes to a PowerPoint presentation with one click.
Pricing:
- Basic - Free version
- Premium - 7.99$ per month
- Business - 14.99$ per month
#4 Trello
Trello is one of the most popular projects management software to organize and track the progress of any project in your organization. You can create various cards, boards, set deadlines, add notes using your Trello account.
Features:
- Organize and plan collaborations with clients, colleagues, business owners.
- Customize your account with various tags, labels, cards, and categories.
- Upload various files and attachments.
- The mobile-friendly
- With its free version you can access some basic services, but for other advanced features, you have to subscribe to their premium plans.
Pricing:
- Free forever plan.
- Business class - 9.99$ per month
- Enterprise - 20.83$ per month
#5 Shopify
Shopify is an e-commerce software that helps you build an online e-commerce shop of your own. With the help of its marketing, drop shipping, shopping carts, SEO features you can manage all the functionalities of your online store from a single platform.
Features:
- You can use top quality themes for your website from its collection of more than 70 professional themes.
- With the help of its easy-to-customize templates, you can customize your online store according to your choice and build your brand online.
- Your Shopify store comes with an in-built mobile commerce shopping cart feature that lets your customers browse your products, services, and buy directly from their smartphones or other mobile devices.
- You can integrate your Shopify store with more than 100 payment gateways across the globe.
- You can offer free shipping services to your customers for a certain order size and price point.
Pricing:
- 14 Days of the free trial.
- Basic - 29$ per month
- Advanced - 299$ per month
#6 Skype
Skype is the world's one of the most used and recommended internet calling services offered by Microsoft. It provides audio and video calling services, messaging, file and screen sharing between computers and mobile devices across the world.
Features:
- Calling service - You can connect with your friends, families, business members, colleagues with the Skype calling service for absolutely free. You can even make a group-call with up to 25 people at once.
- Video service - You can chat through video calls and virtually interact with others face to face.
- Message service - You can send text messages, emojis, video messages, voice messages instantly using Skype.
- File sharing service - You can share documents, images, videos etc. of any size. At the same time, you can share your screen with others to track the progress of any task.
Pricing:
- Skype is free
- Skype for Business is not free
#7 Asana
Asana is a productivity tool to manage your works, projects, and daily tasks. This tool helps you grow your business and improve the efficiency of the team members.
Features:
- Plan your tasks and prioritize them according to the deadlines, and share them with the team members.
- With Asana you can track the project improvement in every step to achieve your certain business goals.
- As Asana connects with Google Drive, Dropbox, Onedrive you can easily share files and documents from your computer.
Pricing:
- Premium - 9.99$ per month
- Business - 19.99$ per month
- Enterprise - Contact sales team
#8 Boomerang
Boomerang for Gmail is an email-communication tool to improve the email service. It provides you with an option to schedule emails and monitor their performances.
Features:
- Using Boomerang, you can write your emails and schedule them to send at your preferred time.
- At times there are some important emails we need to send or receive. Using its reminder feature you can easily send, receive or follow up with people.
- Boomerang is also available for Android and iOS devices. This lets you stay connected over email on the go.
Pricing:
- Basic - Free
- Personal - 4.99$ per month
- Premium - 49.99$ per month
#9 Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the best analytical tools which has loads of features to improve any website’s performance. There are some of the best features available in Google Analytics which every marketer and small business owners must know to grow their businesses.
Features:
- You can track your campaigns and monitor the traffic on your website. Further, you can analyze their activities on different pages of your site.
- You can track the leads and conversions of your website by the number of requests for the product demos, email sign-ups, ebook downloading, contact form submissions, purchases etc. This will help you to target your customers according to their interests.
- You can create custom reports with the Google Analytics data according to your business goals.
Pricing: Free
#10 Hubspot
Hubspot is inbound marketing software that helps to gain more traffic to your website, generates leads and converts your website visitors to potential customers.
Features:
- Increases visitors and generates leads to your optimized landing pages.
- Follows up with the buyers through email automation system.
- Provides full customer assistance and builds relationships with your customers.
- The free version of Hubspot provides basic marketing facilities whereas the paid version gives you many other advanced marketing features.
- Hubspot is available for Windows, Mac as well as for Android and iOS devices.
Pricing:
- Free version
- Starter - 50$ per month
- Enterprise - 3,200$ per month
#11 Paypal
Paypal is one of the most used and trusted online payment service providers. Using Paypal you can make and receive payments for your business in more than 100 currencies. It is one of the fastest and safest payment options available online.
Features:
- You can make payment for any online purchases using the credit card, debit card, online banking etc. or send money to another PayPal account in 100+ different currencies.
- You can withdraw your payments from more than 200 countries using PayPal.
- You can request payments from people who don’t have a PayPal account using an email address.
Pricing:
- Free sign up.
- 3.7% of the transaction amount plus $0.30 USD
Conclusion:
Hope you have found this article helpful. Though there are plenty of tools available today, the tools we have mentioned here will fulfill most of your business requirements. Most of the aforesaid tools offer free trials, so you can include those tools in your business plan to check their effectiveness. And as your business gets bigger, you can go for the paid versions that fit your budget and resolve your business needs.
This article was brought to you by PromozSEO Web Marketing Academy, a Digital Marketing training program in Kolkata, India.
The market has been witnessing a massive shift from traditional taxi to convenient traveling solutions. The major reason for such a shift includes a rise in smart device sales coupled with next-generation millennials entering the global workforce....
The market has been witnessing a massive shift from traditional taxi to convenient traveling solutions. The major reason for such a shift includes a rise in smart device sales coupled with next-generation millennials entering the global workforce. Let's check some stats on the ride-hailing market:
- Revenue in the ride-hailing segment amounts to US$82,437M in 2019
- Revenue is expected to grow at an annual rate of 12.8%, resulting in a market volume of US$133,473M by 2023
- At 2019, user penetration is 8.1% and by 2023 is expected to hit 10.6%
- In global comparison, China generated the most revenue (US$35,589M in 2019)
This has caused a rise in global demand for taxi app development solutions by a huge margin. Have a look at these ready-made solutions in the market.
AppDupe
They are one of the leading app development companies in the market with a strong track record of designing, developing, testing and launching amazing applications in the market. They specialize in developing white label Uber clone script with a special emphasis on infusing cutting-edge features to help cater to global users with ease. They develop Uber-like app for iOS, Android and web and dedicated applications for passengers and drivers. And yes, they develop and deliver powerful admin panels and dispatcher modules to help them monitor the app's functionality seamlessly.
Taxify
They focus on managing drivers, dispatchers, and businesses with an intact taxi booking solution. The ready-made solution was built for entry-level businesses to help them compete with the already existing competitors. It contains many great features, which aids users to book their favorite ride, drivers to list their vehicle and earn revenue, moreover, businesses to streamline their operations.
Infinite Cab
It is developed with a mission to help businesses to cope with the new-age digital transformation. Similar to other software, it minimizes the cost, effort and time needed for a customized mobile app development approach, while helping businesses deploy an Uber-like taxi app easily. With several built-in features, it helps users, drivers and businesses make the best out of their effort.
Can anybody share some tips or experience? I am struggling to find a business developer as a co-founder who would help me take my project to the next level. I have some traction but the business is not growing. I have several conversations with...
Can anybody share some tips or experience? I am struggling to find a business developer as a co-founder who would help me take my project to the next level. I have some traction but the business is not growing. I have several conversations with people but it didn't end up with anything tangible. What can I offer to a co-founder to make it more attractive?
I have some green tea at home. I usually like to drink them very much. I heard that the tea leaves made with different teapots have different flavors. Is this true? Does anyone know that these teapots are suitable for making tea? chinaclayteapot.com
I have some green tea at home. I usually like to drink them very much. I heard that the tea leaves made with different teapots have different flavors. Is this true? Does anyone know that these teapots are suitable for making tea? chinaclayteapot.com
The new year comes with new Tax Compliance issue. Every firm that you preformed more than $600 of work for will be required by law to issue a 1099 -W-2 or K-1 to you and the IRS. Ignoring these forms will only cause you more...
The new year comes with new Tax Compliance issue.
Every firm that you preformed more than $600 of work for will be
required by law to issue a 1099 -W-2 or K-1 to you and the IRS.
Ignoring these forms will only cause you more money and trouble over time.
The IRS is slow when is comes to enforcement, but we are in the computer times
and with mandatory E-filing of these form finding you is almost a certainty,
and then the penalties and interest will be very severe.
Remember, the 1099 & K-1 are for reporting gross earnings. Under the laws of the IRS
you're allow to write-off any expenses incurred in producing these gross earnings.
For .e.g. if you are a Uber driver, the cost of your car, insurance, gas etc are all expenses
which can be deducted from your K-1 earnings and thereby reduce your taxes.
Saving all your expenses receipts are a good start. They can be saved in a digital form
which is now accepted by the IRS. The self-employed or freelance communities are always
seeking ways to save, but when it comes to your Tax Compliance, getting professional help
might pays for itself and save you money.
Bank of America is honoring Women's Small Business Month with your stories! We’d like to add your voice to the conversation by asking you a question. What is the most important thing you’ve learned since starting your...
Bank of America is honoring Women's Small Business Month with your stories! We’d like to add your voice to the conversation by asking you a question.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned since starting your small business?
Share your experience by clicking the “Reply” button below. If you’re not a member of the community, it only takes a few minutes to sign up. Thanks for participating in Women’s Small Business Month!
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The bi-annual Small Business Owner Snapshot, conducted by Bank of America, explores the concerns, aspirations and perspectives of small business owners throughout the U.S. and across 10 major cities. The fall report explores a range of topics...
The bi-annual Small Business Owner Snapshot, conducted by Bank of America, explores the concerns, aspirations and perspectives of small business owners throughout the U.S. and across 10 major cities. The fall report explores a range of topics important to the constantly evolving small business landscape. Some important insights from this report explore:
- Strong business growth indicators despite continued concern about economic factors
- The impact of U.S. trade tariffs on small businesses
- Both challenges and excitement linked to the Holiday and New Year seasons
For additional insights, see the Small Business Owner Snapshot infographic below. For a complete, in-depth look at the insights of the nation’s small business owners, download the Fall 2019 Bank of America Business Advantage Small Business Owner Snapshot here.
I was a full-time lawyer for over a decade and one thing that always surprised me was how often the people sitting across from me in my office should not have been there; a little legal education would have helped them greatly. There are...
I was a full-time lawyer for over a decade and one thing that always surprised me was how often the people sitting across from me in my office should not have been there; a little legal education would have helped them greatly.
There are simple legal tips and business strategies you can undertake to help yourself avoid potential legal trouble. Here are my top legal tips that can make your small business life easier:
1. Do it yourself: Yes, of course sometimes you need a lawyer – that vendor did you wrong and you need to sue or whatever. But just as often, you don’t. Indeed, there are plenty of times when you can save significant amounts of money by doing it yourself. For basic needs such as forming an LLC or creating a will, do-it-yourself sites like LegalZoom can really help.
2. A strongly worded letter can get you far: When someone owes your business money, it is understandable that you may want to sue them. “Suing the guy” can be cathartic. The bad news is that the guy can sue you back. And even if they don’t, lawsuits are usually pernicious and expensive. Often, a strongly worded letter from a lawyer can provide a result that ends up almost as satisfactory, and at a fraction of the cost.
3. Don’t settle for the fee quote a lawyer gives you: If you do actually end up needing a lawyer to sue or handle a case, there is a secret that lawyers don’t want you to know. Their fees and costs, although high, are not written in stone. You can often negotiate cheaper prices. They may not reduce their hourly rate, but you can bet that paying 50 cents per photocopy is negotiable.
4. Always put it in writing: This is one of those commonsense tips, but it’s amazing how often it is overlooked. To truly protect yourself, always make sure to put things in writing. Memories fade over time, people remember things differently, and people lie. A written record prevents all of that.
5. Protect your intellectual property: If you are a creator or inventor (and these days, many of us are creating content online), it is vital that you protect your copyrights, patents, or trademarks. Patents typically require professional legal help, but copyrights and trademarks can be registered and handled on your own at www.USPTO.gov. (Note: One good thing to know about copyrights is that they need not even be registered with the USPTO to be legal; They are created as a matter of law at the moment of creation. This sentence is being copyrighted as I write it!)
6. Stop creditor harassment: If bill collectors are harassing you, you can invoke the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act to stop the phone calls. If you say or write something along the lines of, “Pursuant to the FDCPA, you are to never call me about this debt again,” they must stop calling. Two things of special note:
- First, this statement has to be made to 3rd party bill collector and not the original creditor
- Second, once the bill collector has been given notice, while they must stop calling, they still have other remedies available, such as lawsuits
Read next: Why you got declined for business credit (and what you can do about it)
7. No contract? Maybe no problem: This is a lesser-known fact – sometimes you can enforce someone’s promise to you, even if you do not have a contract. It’s called “promissory estoppel” and happens when you rely, to your detriment, on someone’s promise. Example: Let’s say a contractor asks you, a subcontractor, for a bid on a project and you give a very low bid for whatever reason, maybe you really want the gig or whatever. The contractor then gets the project and wants you to perform, but you realize that your bid was far too low. Too bad. Even though there is no formal contract, you still may be forced to live up to the low bid because the contractor relied to his or her detriment on your promise.
8. Know when to admit blame: When you’re wrong, you’re wrong, and when that’s the case, your best bet is to lick your wounds, call it a day, and call it off. Fighting will only cost you time and money. Settling may be the best, most affordable, legal advice you can receive.
About Steve Strauss
Steven D. Strauss is one of the world's leading experts on small business and is a lawyer, writer, and speaker. The senior small business columnist for USA Today, his Ask an Expert 
column is one of the most highly-syndicated business columns in the country. He is the best-selling author of 17 books, including his latest, The Small Business Bible, now out in a completely updated third edition. You can also listen to his weekly podcast, Small Business Success.© Steven D. Strauss.
Web: www.theselfemployed.com or Twitter: @SteveStrauss
You can read more articles from Steve Strauss by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Steve Strauss to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Steve Strauss is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Steve Strauss. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2017 Bank of America Corporation
Sometimes entrepreneurial success is finely crafted—planned out years in advance. More often, it’s a matter of serendipity, of paying attention to what the universe brings you, accepting it and letting spontaneous combustion take care...
Sometimes entrepreneurial success is finely crafted—planned out years in advance. More often, it’s a matter of serendipity, of paying attention to what the universe brings you, accepting it and letting spontaneous combustion take care of the rest.
That’s what happened to Kelley McShane and Nick Carr, a young married couple who just happened to be in the right place at the right time when the universe came calling. 
This is the story of the Granny Squibb Company, a beverage business (they sell six flavors of iced tea) based in Providence, Rhode Island, with dreams of becoming a big fish in a small pond. And the story of how a small business transitioned management from family to friends without losing its soul.
Granny Sqibb’s tea is brewed for today’s health-conscious consumers—it’s organic and non-GMO, but it’s rooted in the past. In the early 1930’s Sally Squibb (yes, there was an actual Granny Squibb) took a recipe her mother-in-law gave her and brewed a cold tea (apparently, unusual in those days). Granny thought her brew was “astonishingly delicious” and shared it with the local community.
Flash forward to 2009, when Sally’s granddaughter Robin retired from the film business, moved back to Providence and decided to bottle her grandmother’s recipe, saying Granny had always encouraged her to try everything and “never say never.”
Robin tried 50 or so different formulas before settling on the one that was as “astonishingly delicious” as her grandmother’s and launched the Granny Squibb Co. with sweetened and unsweetened version of two teas—Sally’s Lemon and Mojito Lime.
The rest of the story unfolds like a Hallmark movie—except the “heroic” young couple was already married when they rented an apartment in Robin Squibb’s home.
Neither had beverage experience. Carr was a financial advisor; McShane ran her own tutoring company and worked for a local nonprofit. But in an instant, they went from being friendly renters to co-owners (managing partners) of the Granny Squibb Company.
I talked to Kelley McShane about their unlikely journey becoming beverage entrepreneurs.
Rieva Lesonsky: The st0ry about how you and Nick came to be involved is the stuff of TV movies. Was it really that straightforward?
Kelley McShane: Yes. We moved into the house two years ago—and became part of the business 18 months ago. We were friendly with Robin. One day Nick passed her in the hall and asked, “How’s it going?” She told him (half joking), it had been a terrible day and asked, “Do you want it?”
Nick came upstairs and said to me you won’t believe what happened. We went down to her apartment and asked, “Were you serious?” And she was. She’d been working on the business for nine years, had gotten the teas in local chains like Dave’s Marketplace, Whole Foods and Wegmans.
But she’d been a one-woman show. The company survived by barely marketing.
Lesonsky: What made you think you could run a beverage company? 
McShane: We had both just turned 30. We wanted a change, wanted an adventure, wanted to work together. We’d been married for five years, but never saw one another.
Robin agreed to stay on for one year to mentor us. And a year in, we were ready. We still live in the same apartment, which makes it convenient. Robin is very creative and still involved in the big-picture decisions.
Lesonsky: You came in with an existing infrastructure in place. How did that work?
McShane: It wasn’t complicated. This is her grandmother’s legacy. We knew we needed to keep the integrity of the company and the brand.
We worked full-time for two months before the papers were signed. We just sat down and agreed on everything. People warned us against doing that. But we did it, and it worked. Then we brought in the lawyers and made it legal.
We learned from Robin. Once we were in the industry and trained, we had our own ideas. We built the [new] infrastructure together. We still see her every day. There’s not a lot of opportunity to be sneaky.
Lesonsky: What are your expansion plans?
McShane: Last winter we added a third flavor, Charlie’s Cranberry, named after Robin’s dog. We made it in the same house Granny Squibb lived in. Used the same tea kettle and measuring cups and sat at the same table Granny did.
We’ve expanded to upstate New York and in New England. In 2020 we’re adding new distribution in Massachusetts. But we want to focus on growing sales in Rhode Island.
We don’t want to go nationwide. We’re a New England product. And we’d like to stay here. We source our ingredients in New England. We can drive to accounts if there’s a problem. We want to be accessible. Be local. Build a local, legendary company.
Lesonsky: What has the biggest surprise been for you?
McShane: By far how incredibly supportive other RI brands have been. Companies like Yacht Club Soda (the official soda of RI) have gone over and above to train and support us.
Everyone in RI is easy to work with. People here work with integrity and kindness. We were warned the beverage industry was cutthroat. Not in RI.
Lesonsky: What was your biggest challenge?
McShane: The first year was hard. We were working 24/7. You have to. And growth took off.
At one point Nick and I spent 72 hours within 30 feet of one another. That was tough. But we know it would be. We planned for it. We heard the people who said “don’t work with your spouse.” We knew we needed to expand so we didn’t have to work with just one another. At the beginning we’d go to a trade show and trip over each other’s words. One year in—we got the spiel down, got stronger and more confident.
Lesonsky: I know community involvement is important to you. How does Granny Squibb do that?
McShane: We participate in tons of community events, like Save the Bay. We donate a percentage of sales from the Charlie’s Cranberry to benefit them. [McShane actually swam Narragansett Bay for the event.]
We encourage our employees to pick a cause they support and get on their boards.
We just launched our first big digital campaign, If We Can, We Will. Any Rhode Islander can send an email telling us what they need, whether it’s volunteers for an event, connections, or help with collecting items for drives. If we can help them without spending any money, we will.
Lesonsky: Sales increased about 40% in your first seven months. What changes did you bring?
McShane: In 2018 we added marketing. In 2019 we focused on sales—and they more than doubled—up 250%.
Lesonsky: And you’re in this for the long haul?
McShane: We are committed to being beverage entrepreneurs. We’ve found our calling. We love iced tea. We love the story.
What we really value is the people here. We all love each other.
About Rieva Lesonsky
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO and Co-founder of GrowBiz Media, a custom content and media company focusing on small business 
and entrepreneurship, and the blog SmallBizDaily.com. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America’s entrepreneurs for more than 30 years. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was the long-time Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine. Lesonsky has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and numerous local and national television programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, The Martha Stewart Show and Oprah.
Lesonsky regularly writes about small business for numerous websites and for corporations targeting entrepreneurs. Many organizations have recognized Lesonsky for her tireless devotion to helping entrepreneurs. She served on the Small Business Administration’s National Advisory Council for six years, was honored by the SBA as a Small Business Media Advocate and a Woman in Business Advocate, and received the prestigious Lou Campanelli award from SCORE. She is a long-time member of the Business Journalists Hall of Fame.
Web: www.growbizmedia.com or Twitter: @Rieva
You can read more articles from Rieva Lesonsky by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Rieva Lesonsky to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Rieva Lesonsky is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Rieva Lesonsky. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2019 Bank of America Corporation
The new year is coming up, a year filled with new opportunities, fresh hope and exciting prospects. It’s a time to look ahead and not be held back by what you’ve done. So, before the year ends, take the time to examine your digital...
The new year is coming up, a year filled with new opportunities, fresh hope and exciting prospects. It’s a time to look ahead and not be held back by what you’ve done. So, before the year ends, take the time to examine your digital presence and clean up your old connections and your dusty, old content.
Here are 5 things you should do: 
Dump Toxic Followers
Over the years, you’ve probably picked up plenty of followers and connections across your various social media platforms. They won’t all have been positive. You might have added people you barely know to your personal Facebook page, engaged with trolls on Twitter, or attracted unpleasant comments next to your Instagram posts.
Social media shouldn’t work that way. You should have a personal Facebook page that keeps you in touch with the people you really know, and you should have a separate business page that lets you connect with people who support your business.
The people who follow you on Twitter and who you follow on the platform should be people who make your life better, not angrier. And the images and stories you see on Instagram should enrich your life, not inject it with envy.
This step is simple. Write a post on Facebook stating that your contact list has become too long to be useful. You can blame Facebook’s algorithm if you want. Tell people that you’re deleting everyone who isn’t a close friend or relative, and tell everyone else that they can follow your business page if they want. Then review your contact list and cut out anyone you don’t need.
On Twitter, you can also mute people if you think they might be offended by an unfollow, but block anyone who brings negativity to your page. Social media should push you forward. If anyone there holds you back, let them go.
Delete Old Posts
The same goes for content. If you’ve posted something on social media that you’ve regretted, you’re not alone. The press is filled now with reports exposing public officials who wrote something 20 years ago that people now find offensive. Any angry, old posts you made back at the start of social media are still online. You might have forgotten all about them but they’re available to anyone to find if motivated.
This is the time to make sure that you find them first. This will take a little longer than cleaning up your connections, especially if you’re a regular online contributor. Scroll down to the start of your social media posts, and delete anything that could give you problems.
Secure Your Email
If the media isn’t reporting about old social media posts, it’s announcing data breaches. Just recently, hackers stole the personal information of 218 million Zynga players and 4.6 million DoorDash customers. Companies should inform customers when their details have been compromised but if you missed the announcement—or ignored it—now is a good time to make sure that all your passwords are secure.
- HaveIBeenPwned.com is run by Troy Hunt, a Microsoft Regional Director. It keeps track of breached accounts. Type in your email address, and it will tell you whether it appears in any hacked database. You can then delete your email address from that account or change the password. And if you’ve used the same password on other accounts, change those passwords too.
Delete Your Unused Accounts
When you check whether your email address has been compromised, you might find that you didn’t even know your details were in that database. You’ve probably registered for all sorts of services over the years, most of which you’ve now forgotten. Those companies still have your email address, your password, and a host of other details about you, including permission to send you messages.
If you’re no longer using those accounts, delete them.
Registering at Deseat.me will give you an opportunity to unregister at lots of different sites at the same time. It will give you a list all the accounts associated with your email address. You’ll be able to delete or request removal at the click of a button.
Be Forgotten
A bigger challenge is changing how you appear in Google search results. When someone tosses your name into Google, they’ll see events from your life in an order generated by Google’s algorithm. That could mean that incidents in your past that are no longer relevant and which you might not want publicized could be at the top of the search results while your current activities are buried at the bottom.
People in the EU can apply to Google to have those old links removed by completing a form. Google doesn’t have to comply, but it must at least consider removing links to information that might be inaccurate or irrelevant.
Since 2014, the company has removed 1.3 million links from its search results, fulfilling about 45 percent of applications. Examples described in the company’s Transparency Report have included links to reports of criminal convictions, legal disputes, and the private addresses of politicians. But the law only applies in the EU.
People outside the EU should consider reputation management services. These are companies that fill the Web with rival content to push unwanted search results down the page. It’s a big move and not always worthwhile. You can always produce your own fresh content but above all, you can do your own forgetting: stop thinking about any mistakes you’ve made in the past and look forward to the opportunities coming up in the new year.
About Joel Comm
As an Internet pioneer, Joel has been creating profitable websites, software, products, and helping entrepreneurs succeed since 1995. He has 
been at the frontlines of live video online since 2008 and has a deep expertise in using tools such as Facebook Live, Periscope, Instagram or Snapchat to broadcast a clearly defined message to a receptive audience or leveraging the power of webinar and meeting technologies.
Joel is a New York Times best-selling author of 15 books, including “The AdSense Code,” “Click Here to Order: Stories from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs,” “KaChing: How to Run an Online Business that Pays and Pays and Twitter Power 3.0.” He is Co-Host of The Bad Crypto Podcast one of the top crypto-related shows in the world and has spoken before thousands of people around the world and seeks to inspire, equip and entertain.
Web: https://joelcomm.com/ or Twitter: @JoelComm
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Joel Comm to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Joel Comm is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Joel Comm. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
I’ve long been a big fan of ‘90s and ‘00s hip-hop music and I often make friends suffer through my quoting of lyrics. So small biz community, why not make you think about this hip-hop wisdom with me? I promise...
I’ve long been a big fan of ‘90s and ‘00s hip-hop music and I often make friends suffer through my quoting of lyrics. So small biz community, why not make you think about this hip-hop wisdom with me?
I promise there’s a small business nugget of great importance to you in this story. 
I Need a Doctor
In February of 2011, musician and business mogul Dr. Dre teamed up with another rap legend and protege Eminem and singer Skylar Grey to release the song “I Need a Doctor.” Now, I’m sure you played this a lot when it came out, but here’s a refresher.
The idea behind the song is that Eminem is pleading with Dr. Dre to come back to music and release the very, very, very long overdue next album he’d been promising fans for years. Here’s a little snip of lyrics I want you to read:
But you’re either getting lazy or you don't believe in you no more
Seems like your own opinions, not one you can form
Can't make a decision you keep questioning yourself
Second-guessing and it’s almost like you’re begging for my help
Like I'm your leader
You’re supposed to f---- be my mentor
I can endure no more
I demand you remember who you are
That last line: I demand you remember who you are. That’s the heart of the nugget.
Eminem is saying that when you get lost and start second-guessing yourself, go back to your roots and reset. Get your feet under you.
It’s important and useful advice. Unless it’s not.
Maybe We Didn’t Need a Doctor
At the time of this song’s release, Dre was working on other projects. Five years after “I Need a Doctor” came out (where Dre promises he’s back), he launches Beats by Dre and releases premium headphones to the world. They’re an overnight hit. He sells the company to Apple for over a billion dollars.
He thrives in a whole new direction, a “pivot” as the kids call it.
Dre released only one more album in 2015 when the movie “Straight Outta Compton” came out. It debuted at No. 2 and sold enough units. But it wasn’t exactly like the old days.
It didn’t matter. We didn’t need a doctor. Or at least, let’s say it this way: Dre knew where he was going even though no one around him was ready to accept that’s where he’s headed.
That’s the other big yellow highlighter I need you to take from this:
People won’t always see where you’re going, and they might inadvertently try to hold you back.
Your notes, then, should read like this:
- I demand you remember who you are - go back to basics any time you feel indecisive.
- People won’t always see where you’re going - your vision comes to you long before others see you at the center of it.
As a small business owner, sometimes you get thrown far off the deep end of ideas. You chase what customers need and that can muck up your business. Sometimes we add and add and add and lose sight of what our business needs to be (I demand you remember who you are).
Other times, we should accept people won’t see the next big turn in the road and that we’ll have to earn our way into people’s minds once we start executing a new vision (they won’t see where you’re headed).
This isn’t some list of five ways to get people to answer an email. It’s more than that. The risk is that you’ll just read this and take no action. But if you had even five minutes, I challenge you:
Are you back in your roots? And are you working on your vision?
About Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan is an author, keynote speaker and business advisor who helps companies update organizational interfaces to better support 
modern humans. The age of factory-sized interactions is over. We all come one to a pack. And it’s time to accept that we are all a little bit dented. Chris advises leadership teams to empower team members by sharing actionable insights on talent development. He also works with marketing and communications teams to more effectively reach people who want to be seen and understood before they buy what a company sells.
Web: https://chrisbrogan.com Twitter: @ChrisBrogan
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Chris Brogan to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. The third parties within articles are used under license from Chris Brogan. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2019 Bank of America Corporation
A recession within the coming year seems more than likely. While the economy is great today, more than a few economists believe a 2020 recession is quite possible. And that begs these questions: 1. What if you are looking to...
A recession within the coming year seems more than likely. While the economy is great today, more than a few economists believe a 2020 recession is quite possible.
And that begs these questions: 
1. What if you are looking to start a business today?
2. Are there businesses that you could start – or branch into – that are more likely than others to weather the storm?
Indeed, there are. Here are the eight industries that thrive under recession conditions:
1. Candy: Yes, you heard right. Candy and recessions go hand in hand. Both Three Musketeers and Snickers were invented during the 1930’s depression, and in the U.S., candy sales went up by billions of dollars in the last recession, in 2009. When people can’t afford larger luxuries, they turn to the smallest - and sweetest - kinds. And that means a retail business can launch, or grow, using candy as a lure.
2. Repairs: During a recession, because buying new is not always a possibility, repairing items already owned becomes far more popular. For instance, while car sales historically go down during a recession, automotive repairs go up. The same can be said for computers, furniture and the like. For those who are handy, this can be a boon.
3. Childcare: Some of the best industries during a recession are the ones people can’t live without. When people have children and jobs, they are more than likely to need childcare, especially as they tend to take whatever work (and hours) they can get. This could mean daycare, or an after-school program, or even babysitting – all of these industries remain crucial during times of recession.
4. Niche food stores: In a recession, you might expect the most expensive grocery stores would go belly-up. But this wasn’t the case in 2008. In fact, specialty food stores experienced growth throughout the recession. When someone really loves something (like candy!) buying it during a recession becomes a refuge. As such, specially made, hard to come by, or totally niche items can work.
5. Freelance and temp work: Among the first casualties of a recession is the full-time employee. Many businesses switch to hiring freelance and temp workers to fill the gaps. As such, one of the best industries during recessionary periods is the freelance market, where independent contractors provide businesses the ability to keep going, as they are more affordable than their full-time counterparts. The time to start your side-gig is now.
6. Static businesses: The boring, the mundane, or downright dirty. Some may call them these names, but others call them recession-proof. Businesses like tax preparation, junk hauling, senior care, accountants, funeral homes and so on provide services that will always be necessary, even during an economic downturn. People will always pay taxes, throw away garbage and die. While these industries aren’t sexy, they provide a sense of stability in unstable times.
7. Health and fitness: In 2008, many industries came to a screeching halt. But not this sector. Businesses that helped people remain healthy and fit maintained steady growth during that era. This was particularly true for yoga and Pilates studios.
8. “Sin” industries: When the going gets tough, people crave vices. During down times, sales of alcohol boom, casinos do well, and marijuana sells (this will especially be true as legalizing cannabis becomes more widespread.) It makes sense, no? When people are feeling down, they often turn to something to help ease their discomfort. Any of these ‘sin’ industries tend to have steady growth during a recession.
Although this is not a comprehensive list by any means, it can give you some clues as to what is and isn’t recession-proof.
Read next: 5 Financial Tips for the Side Hustler
About Steve Strauss
Steven D. Strauss is one of the world's leading experts on small business and is a lawyer, writer, and speaker. The senior small business columnist for USA Today, his Ask an Expert 
column is one of the most highly-syndicated business columns in the country. He is the best-selling author of 17 books, including his latest, The Small Business Bible, now out in a completely updated third edition. You can also listen to his weekly podcast, Small Business Success.© Steven D. Strauss.
Web: www.theselfemployed.com or Twitter: @SteveStrauss
You can read more articles from Steve Strauss by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Steve Strauss to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Steve Strauss is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Steve Strauss. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2017 Bank of America Corporation
A new year is on the horizon—along with a whole new decade. If your business brand is in need of a makeover, now could be the perfect time to shake things up. Here are six reasons you should consider rebranding your business in 2020....
A new year is on the horizon—along with a whole new decade. If your business brand is in need of a makeover, now could be the perfect time to shake things up.
Here are six reasons you should consider rebranding your business in 2020.
1. You’ve added a new product line or service to your business. Does your current brand fully convey these new additions? For instance, if your pizza restaurant is now brewing its own beer, incorporating that into the overall brand could attract new customers. Alternately, you might want to develop a separate, but related brand for the new products or services.
2. You’ve narrowed your focus. If your business originally was trying to be all things to all people, but now you’ve found your niche, rebranding to emphasize that change is a smart move. For example, if your general tutoring business now focuses on prepping high school students for the college entrance exam, you need to refocus your marketing efforts to reach that new demographic.
3. You’re expanding into a new market. If you’re expanding geographically, a brand that’s too locally or regionally oriented may limit you. You also need to make sure your brand resonates with prospective customers nationwide—or even worldwide—which probably requires some adjusting. For instance, international expansion may require a logo that conveys meaning without words.
4. Your brand is inconsistent. Due to budget issues, small businesses often update their marketing materials piecemeal, over time. Eventually, you can end up with a hodge-podge of logos, fonts or taglines that are all slightly different. If this sounds like you, either choose the most current brand identity you want to focus on or start fresh. Either way, you need to bring all your marketing materials in line.
5. Your brand is easy to confuse with a competitor. A new business copying your name, logo or brand isn’t the only thing that can confuse your customers. As you expand to new target markets or locations, you may suddenly be competing with businesses you never knew about whose brands are similar enough to yours to cause confusion.
6. Your brand is outdated. Every brand needs a refresher from time to time. If your logo was cutting-edge 10 or even five years ago, it probably looks pretty dated now. You might need a new look to fit in with current design trends or create a logo that reads well as a small online icon. If you’re too close to your brand to be impartial, try conducting customer surveys or calling in a focus group to give you their honest opinions.
How to make your rebrand work? Try these tips:
- Go slow. You don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Small changes can be more effective at freshening up your brand while still retaining its value and familiarity to customers. If you want to modernize your brand, for instance, try updating fonts or taglines while retaining basic elements like colors.
- Stay connected to your roots. If you rename your business, maintain a connection with your old name. For instance, co-working company WeWork recently announced it will be rebranding
- Build anticipation
- Involve customers in the rebrand. Give customers a stake in the rebrand by getting their input. Share potential logo designs or new business names for a vote or to get feedback. Customers can tell you if your new brand accurately conveys the message you want to send. After all, they’re the ones you need to please!
About Rieva Lesonsky
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO and Co-founder of GrowBiz Media, a custom content and media company focusing on small business and 
entrepreneurship, and the blog SmallBizDaily.com. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America’s entrepreneurs for more than 30 years. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was the long-time Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine. Lesonsky has appeared on hundreds of radio shows and numerous local and national television programs, including the Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, The Martha Stewart Show and Oprah.
Lesonsky regularly writes about small business for numerous websites and for corporations targeting entrepreneurs. Many organizations have recognized Lesonsky for her tireless devotion to helping entrepreneurs. She served on the Small Business Administration’s National Advisory Council for six years, was honored by the SBA as a Small Business Media Advocate and a Woman in Business Advocate, and received the prestigious Lou Campanelli award from SCORE. She is a long-time member of the Business Journalists Hall of Fame.
Web: www.growbizmedia.com or Twitter: @Rieva
You can read more articles from Rieva Lesonsky by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Rieva Lesonsky to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Rieva Lesonsky is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Rieva Lesonsky. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2019 Bank of America Corporation
Veteran and small business entrepreneur, Duane Topping, didn’t let PTSD get the better of him. This episode of “The Heartbeat of Main Street” with Forbes Books dives into how he conquered his challenges and went from army veteran...
Veteran and small business entrepreneur, Duane Topping, didn’t let PTSD get the better of him. This episode of “The Heartbeat of Main Street” with Forbes Books dives into how he conquered his challenges and went from army veteran to a debut at New York Fashion Week.
Narrator: Welcome to “The Heartbeat of Main Street” with ForbesBooks at ForbesBooks.com and Bank of America at BankofAmerica.com. Beginning in November 2019, US veterans are eligible for Bank of America's small business veteran's discount initiative, featuring an exclusive 25% origination fee discount for their Bank of America small business loan or line of credit. Visit bankofamerica.com/smallbusiness for more information. And here's your host, Greg Stebben.
Greg Stebben: I'm here with Duane Topping. His company is Topping Designs, his website, duanetopping.com. He's on Instagram @duanetopping. Let me spell Duane. It's D-U-A-N-E, Topping as you would expect, T-O-P-P-I-N-G, duanetopping.com and on Instagram @duanetopping. Duane, first of all, welcome. Thank you for joining us.
Duane Topping: Oh, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure, and it's always an honor to be able to really share my story.
Greg Stebben: Well, your story, actually, there's more than one story, I'm going to say. So, first of all, I want to introduce you by saying Duane is a fashion designer, and there is a story about how he got there. But before we even get to your story, Duane, I want to say, first of all, I'm not the most fashion-conscious guy in the world, but when I went to your website and your Instagram and checked out your Facebook account and your Twitter, what I saw there, the photos of the clothing you're making for women, they made me rock back and go, "Whoa." You create some very, very beautiful clothing for women.
Duane Topping: Well, thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah, I think the only one not well-dressed on the website is myself.
Greg Stebben: Well I will also, just as a tease, say that it's worth going to the website to see the clothes and also to see Duane and his t-shirts, because you have a pretty special collection of t-shirts, from what I could see.
Duane Topping: Absolutely.
Greg Stebben: So I think it's fair to say you do not have the typical fashion designer story. Do you want to tell us how you got into the world of fashion?
Duane Topping: It's certainly not a typical story. Just to start off, an overview, I retired from the army in 2012, and, as you can imagine, I did three deployments while I was enlisted. After about 11 years, I retired medically, and I struggled. I struggled reintegrating myself back into the community, back into civilian life. I really struggled with mental illness, and I really struggled with PTSD.
Duane Topping: I spent a number of years running from those demons, and I tried so many of those one-size-fits-all, out-of-the-box treatments that the VA passes off to you. None of them were really working. I went back to school. I went to try… I thought to myself, "Well, I'll be a writer." So I went back, and I went back to school. During that portion, I actually had a minor in philosophy. I took my first philosophy class. I hated it, absolutely hated it.
Greg Stebben: But still got a minor.
Duane Topping: No, actually. So here's the story. So I actually transferred over to feminist theory, and I ended up getting a degree in gender studies. During the course of that is really when I turned my own perspective around and realized, "You know what? I don't have to try all of these out-of-the-boxes things." They weren't working. So, by the last semester, I said to myself, "You know what? I really need to try something new, something different, something really out-of-the-box."
Duane Topping: I've always been an artist, and I've always had this really subdued level or love of fashion. Even when I was deployed, I would be getting the women's magazines and pouring through them and cutting them out and making collages and sending them home and critiquing the garments. So I paired up. I said, "You know what? I'm an artist. I can do fashion."
Duane Topping: So I thought I was going to teach myself to sew. I literally came home one day, and I told my wife ... I said, "Listen, I'm going to teach myself to sew." She turns around and she says, "Well, when are you going to do that?" Well, I held up my sewing machine, and I said, "Well, I'm going to do it right now." So I sat down at a TV tray, and I made a purse.
Greg Stebben: So, before you go on, did you buy the sewing machine that day, or did you already have one?
Duane Topping: I literally bought it that day. On my way home, I said to myself, "I'm going to teach myself to sew." I swung into Walmart and bought my first sewing machine.
Greg Stebben: And made a purse.
Duane Topping: And I made a purse. This was the fall of 2016. Well, I just fell in love with sewing. Yeah, 12 inches is something I could control, and I really found peace in that creative process. As I began to develop my sewing skills, I made a dress for my wife. I got tired of patterns. I started draping, and she says, "You know what? Why don't you just make a collection?"
Duane Topping: So I did. I made a little six-piece collection. I got a photographer, and there's a funny story with my first model. She was actually in my English class, and I came to her after class one day and I said, "Hey, listen, I'm going to try to do a fashion line for women, and I'd like to use you as inspiration. Do you want to model for me?" The poor young woman looked at me crazy, but you know what? She took a leap of faith, and we did that first photo shoot the next spring.
Duane Topping: In 2017, I did my first runway, and we've just exploded since then. We've done New York Fashion Week, two seasons. We've been published in Vogue, been in shows from New York to LA. We just absolutely exploded. So that's sort of the short version.
Greg Stebben: Well, and you know what's amazing is, I'm thinking back on what you said. You started in 2016.
Duane Topping: Yes.
Greg Stebben: That was only three years ago.
Duane Topping: Oh, man, and it's been a wild ride. I tell you, I've really had to learn a lot, and there's been a lot of obstacles along the way. Primarily, I don't look like a typical fashion designer.
Greg Stebben: I will vouch for that. You don't look like a typical soldier, either.
Duane Topping: Well, no, but I retired, and I protested haircuts and shaving. So you can imagine what I look like now, seven years later.
Greg Stebben: Yeah.
Duane Topping: So, yeah, I've got the long hair, the beard. I'm the typical biker. I ride every day. I don't even own a car. So when I would go to shows, even now, I'm mistaken for the maintenance man or I'm the doorman taking IDs, or I've been the janitor. I did a interview with Telemundo six months ago, and they thought I was a contractor there to fix the building.
Greg Stebben: No, you were the guy that designed all of those beautiful clothing that they had B-roll of in the background.
Duane Topping: Well, and it's funny, though, because, in the beginning, I was kind of offended by that. Then I realized, "You know what? It's that contrast that really leaves that mark, that people immediately have to question their perspective."
Duane Topping: So since then, the brand has really evolved, and now I have to remind people that I'm more than the label, just like you are. I'm more than the aesthetic you see, and you can be, too. Don't let people tell you who you are, what you can be, because it's that depth of character in all of us that really makes life beautiful.
Duane Topping: Yes, I'm a biker. Yes, I'm a veteran. Yes, I've struggled with mental illness. But you know I'm also an artist. I'm a fashion designer. I can be a diva. I can be a photographer. I can do any number of things. So there's no holding you back. You're only limited by your own imagination, really.
Greg Stebben: I actually want to read something from your website. I'm talking with Duane Topping. His company is Topping Designs. The website is duanetopping.com. He's on Instagram @duanetopping. Many, many, many beautiful photos of the beautiful ... Beautiful is not even really the right word for the clothing you're designing. What came to me as I was looking at the photos is that there's a sense of airiness and freedom to what you're designing, and I want you to comment on that.
Greg Stebben: But first, let me read something from your website. It says, "While on my path," and, as you shared with us, when you got out of the army in 2012, you struggled with PTSD. "While on my path, I found I could be more than expected, more than a veteran with PTSD. I discovered that I am not a label. I hope you can be motivated through this collection to say, 'Neither am I.'" That's really what I see when I look at the photos. So talk to us a little bit about the inspiration for the clothing. Where is that coming from, inside of you?
Duane Topping: So much of the inspiration for the designs come from my story. They come from my journey. I always take just a little snippet of it. The fall/winter collection that you see on the website now is really a representation of my struggle with PTSD and with mental illness. In the beginning, I felt trapped, locked in the dark, and it was through fashion that I was able to escape that and find a freedom and make my way out into the light.
Duane Topping: So if you look at that collection in its totality, I think you can see that story, because each piece represents a chapter, a sentence, a part of that journey. It starts out with simple lines, but the detailing is ... You've got belting and straps that look very confining, and then, as the collection progresses, it begins to open up. There's some runway pieces that really reflect that notion of freedom.
Duane Topping: For me, the inspiration always comes from some portion of my story, some notion of perspective, some way in which to reevaluate how you not only see yourself, but see the world. I tell people, "You're never going to get people to stop putting labels on you, and the trick is to not start to believe them. You've got to shut those off and start creating your own."
Duane Topping: That's what I'm about, and I think that's what the clothes are about. Each collection is a representation of a part of that journey. Then, as you add them together, at some point, it'll be a story. It'll be my life story, and I think that that drives my purpose, because, even now, while I love the artistry, I love the clothes, I love seeing faces of my customers when they're wearing them, it's still so much about that message of not being a label.
Greg Stebben: What's interesting is you came from a world that ... I've never served, but my impression of the military is it's largely about labels and rank and things like that, and probably necessary in that environment. So one of my questions is, how did your army service help you with the business part of your business, and maybe even the creative part of your business? I'm really interested in hearing if and how the army part of your life has really helped you become who you are, doing what you're doing today.
Duane Topping: Oh, certainly. The army broke me. There's no doubt, and I came out wounded. You can't see all of those wounds, but they're there. But I'm thankful to it, because, in particular, the business side is easy - the discipline, the organization, the motivation to push for a goal and not stop until you complete it. So that's really what I took from the military, in terms of the business side.
Duane Topping: It's interesting. So many people assume that that structured environment is difficult to then match with the creative side. For me, I think one of the things that that structure allows me to do is it allows me to create that purpose that I have in the creative. It allows me to start with a story and then develop the creativity from that framework. Then, that way, the clothes themselves still represent ... Like you did, you can see what I'm trying to do. So that's kind of a nuanced way to see it, but certainly purpose, because the army only tells you purpose, direction, motivation. So you still carry that.
Greg Stebben: My understanding is that being a veteran also helped you raise capital for your business. My understanding is you got a $10,000 loan from a CDFI, the Colorado Enterprise Fund, as part of Bank of America's Veteran Access Loan Opportunity Resource Program?
Duane Topping: Oh, 100%, and I think, without that, we wouldn't be where we're at now. That was very, that was very good. Particularly as a veteran, you come out of the military, and you're sort of left to fly in the wind. There's a lot of things about the civilian world that they don't tell you, because in the military, everything's structured. You know what's coming. In fact, you know what you're going to wear every single day.
Greg Stebben: Yes.
Duane Topping: You know what time you've got to be where you're going to be. Everything is structured. You know who's going to be there, and there's no deviation from that. So when you get out into the real world, the civilian world, so much out there feels like it's left to chance. But it's just because you don't have the knowledge, and it took Colorado Enterprise Fund and Bank of America to really say, "You know what? We appreciate your service, and, honestly, we believe in what you're doing. Let us help you."
Duane Topping: The money was wonderful, and we've been able to utilize that very effectively. But I think more importantly is the support, even after the loan process, because, in fact, just yesterday ... and I sit down with their financial advisors. When I have questions that nobody else will answer for you, they're there to answer that for you, and I think that that's essential for a veteran in particular, because you've come from such a unique environment that really doesn't allow you to acclimate easily to a less structured world.
Greg Stebben: I want to ask you two more questions, Duane, and one of them really builds on what you just said. That is, you came out of the service. You had the struggles that you did. You found something that really enabled you to get beyond that and create a successful business.
Greg Stebben: I'm talking with Duane Topping. The company is Topping Designs. The website is duanetopping.com, D-U-A-N-E Topping, T-O-P-P-I-N-G, dot com, duanetopping.com. You can see many photos of the beautiful clothes that he's designing on Instagram @duanetopping.
Greg Stebben: But the question I want to ask you that really builds on what you said is, when you think about the process you've been through in starting and building your business and getting it to the point where it is today, what advice would you give to fellow veterans who are in a place similar to where you were a few years ago, thinking, "Maybe I could start a business. Maybe I could fuel my passion as well"? What kinds of words of wisdom could you share with them now, knowing what you know?
Duane Topping: Well, knowing what I know now, I think one of the key elements is you have to be able to go out and get those questions answered that you need answered. Don't take that first answer you get and run with it, because, oftentimes, there's many different ways to do things, and there's many entities out there that don't necessarily want to jump right into business with you. The Colorado Enterprise Fund was literally the sixth or seventh bank entity that we had tried to develop some funding.
Duane Topping: So take that military training, that tenacity, that motivation, that purpose-driven, goal-oriented lifestyle that you came from, and carry that through to your business. Don't stop until you get those questions answered in a way that's positive and meaningful to you, because, eventually, you will find somebody who's going to reach out, because, unfortunately, you don't know what you don't know. So you've got to ask those questions, and it is. It's a lot of pride-swallowing, in terms of going into someplace and saying, "Listen, I don't know anything. Can you teach me?"
Duane Topping: I think that's with any business, because not only did I not know the business world, but I didn't know anything about fashion - absolutely nothing. I knew nothing about balance. I knew nothing about construction, the marketing plans, any of that. Then, on the business side, I didn't know retail map. So all of these things, I had to keep asking and keep asking until I was able to get the questions, and don't be afraid to take that help, because, ultimately, small businesses thrive in a community. You have to begin to build that community, and a lot of that takes courage to open up, again, to that community.
Greg Stebben: It's really perfect to hear you say that, because the last thing I want to ask you is really about the larger community. I mean, you came from a world of veterans. We know that lots of veterans start businesses because ... You talked about discipline. I think there’s sometimes it's a challenge to assimilate into the civilian world. But when you own your own business, you have control, and that feels more comfortable.
Greg Stebben: But I'm guessing that, today, you find that you're a role model for all kinds of people, whether they served or not, and I'm just wondering, when you are talking to other small business owners and aspiring small business owners in your community, do you find that there's a big difference in the kind of questions they ask, whether they are veterans or not?
Duane Topping: Actually, no. I really don't, because business ... I'm always surprised. When I got into fashion, I thought to myself, "Well, fashion is a different kind of business. There's so many different nuances, and a lot of this general business information is not going to translate," and it really is.
Duane Topping: But I don't think that there's different questions. I think the problem is that, oftentimes, veterans run into the scenario where, because they don't have experience in the civilian world, they often don't know what questions to ask. So I think that that's the struggle. I think that the problem that veterans run into is just that when they get out there, they know that there's things they don't know, but they just don't know how to ask the question.
Duane Topping: So, in that sense, I think it's different going in. Then, once they develop a fundamental knowledge of the direction they're going, some of the questions start being the same. "How do I get financing? How does that look, in terms of my business? How do I pay that back? How do I guarantee that the business is going to thrive in the future?", these kinds of things. "How do I market my product? How do I market my brand?" or whatever, those kinds of things.
Duane Topping: The questions are similar, even without a veteran. But the problem is I don't think the veteran is given the tools to know that "marketing" is the word that they need to use or things like costing sheets. They have an idea of what the end product is going to look like. They just don't know how to ask the questions, necessarily.
Duane Topping: But that's the nice thing about entities like Colorado Enterprise Fund, is that they will sit down with you and say, "Okay, these are your goals. Let me help you along the way and get you to ask the right questions to the right people."
Greg Stebben: That's really well-said, because I realized, as you were talking, that if you're in the civilian world, even when there's things you don't know, you've seen other people do them, and you've been around the language and the vocabulary and the concepts, whereas when you're coming from the military world, it's a very different world.
Greg Stebben: So, in a sense, you get some advantages, as you talked about. For instance, that's a great place to learn about discipline and things like that. But, on the other hand, there are some disadvantages, which is, in a sense, kind of playing catch-up with the civilian world and how the civilian world operates.
Duane Topping: Oh, unquestionably. I mean, especially for soldiers who've been deployed, I mean, I don't think people can imagine being completely out of the loop for a year. I remember when cell phones first started doing texting and having email integrations and things, and we had no idea what that was. We had a whole conversation about ... We saw a headline about soldiers addicted to BlackBerries. Well, we didn't know what BlackBerries were, and we argued for three weeks, "Why blackberries? Why not strawberries? Why not raspberries?" We had no idea.
Duane Topping: Then we went back to the same place where we saw the headline, and there was another soldier in front of the line. He turns around. He says, "Hey, you guys know that's a phone, right?" We're like, "Well, what's so big about the phone?" "Well, you can text." "What's text messaging?" I don't think people realize that that literally was ... So much of what you take for granted as a civilian, the world sometimes passes you by, and that is definitely a distinct disadvantage.
Greg Stebben: Well, thank you for doing what you're doing. I really do want to encourage everyone listening to go to Duane's website. Again, it's duanetopping.com. Duane is D-U-A-N-E, Topping, T-O-P-P-I-N-G, duanetopping.com. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful fashion for women. You can also find him on Instagram @duanetopping, the company Topping Designs. He's Duane Topping. Duane, thank you so much for joining us.
Duane Topping: Oh, thank you for having me. It was such a pleasure, and it's always an honor to be able to share my story. Hopefully, I can inspire somebody else to take that leap.
Greg Stebben: I know you have. Thank you.
Narrator: Beginning in November 2019, US veterans eligible for Bank of America's Small Business Veterans Discount Initiative, featuring an exclusive 25% origination fee discount for their Bank of America small business loan or line of credit.
Narrator: Visit bankofamerica.com/smallbusiness for more information, and for more great small business tips check out Bank of America’s online Small Business Community at bankofamerica.com/sbc. Thanks for listening to “The Heartbeat of Main Street” with ForbesBooks at ForbesBooks.com and Bank of America at BankofAmerica.com.
Read next: A Plethora of Resources for Women and Veteran Entrepreneurs by Steve Strauss
Ever since Facebook introduced advertising, it has been met with a mixture of enthusiasm and a hint of annoyance from those bothered by interruptions in their feed. Regardless, the advertising potential of Facebook and its entire family of apps...
Ever since Facebook introduced advertising, it has been met with a mixture of enthusiasm and a hint of annoyance from those bothered by interruptions in their feed. 
Regardless, the advertising potential of Facebook and its entire family of apps – including Instagram – remains huge for business. The opportunities and options for ads continue to grow, as do the millions of advertisers.
In fact, on the Facebook Q3 2019 Earnings Call, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg said 140 million businesses use its social platforms every month. And, of Facebook’s 7 million advertisers, 3 million already advertise across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger Stories.
This transition to expand advertising across its platforms has been developing for a while. And as it evolved, Instagram and then Facebook, copied the horizontal-scroll tap-and-swipe format of Stories from Snapchat. This short-form, ephemeral micro-content is what advertisers would do well to focus on in 2020.
Stories
There are two fantastic aspects of using Stories. First, creators can publish an abundance of content and not worry about ‘jamming up’ the feeds of their followers. Second, followers can consume as much or as little Story content as they wish. In essence, both parties are in control.
Plus, with Facebook and Instagram adding more and more fun, interactive, highly engaging features to Stories, such as polling stickers, advertisers can also capitalize on this super popular feature that has a prominent top-of-feed placement.
To create an interactive Stories ad, choose Instagram Stories as your only ad placement in Ads Manager. Then, check the “Add an interactive poll” box. It’s in the same place where you upload your creative and edit the text. Spark a conversation, run a contest, get insights from your community, and more.
If you haven’t already done so, start testing what gets the most clicks and engagement now.
The other fastest-growing areas on Facebook and Instagram for users and advertisers are Messaging, Videos, Facebook Marketplace, and Augmented Reality.
Messaging
In August, Facebook started rolling out Lead Generation in Facebook Messenger. This new template within Ads Manager enables businesses to create automated experiences to help them qualify leads. With this feature, your business can ask custom questions - and remind people to answer them a way to nurture leads - and close the loop on the unqualified leads and integrate the information with your CRM. Businesses, such as the UK-based professional services firm RIFT Tax, have already seen meaningful results. In their case, RIFT increased qualified leads by 42%.
Videos
Facebook’s continued investment in video and the Watch platform is a major indicator of what will also be important in 2020 and beyond. Not only is it valuable to create more 15-second in-stream video ads, but marketers should also be publishing more long-form video, which is over three minutes.
IGTV (Instagram Television) could also be a big player in the coming year. As the platform is still under-utilized, explore how your business can use IGTV to engage and develop your audience of consumers.
Facebook Marketplace
While Facebook Marketplace is where customers can discover and purchase items, creating a paid ad to appear when people shop is much more effective than listing an item for sale. Create ads through the Ads Manager tool. Set your budget and select your ad placement. Choose Automatic Placements for your ad to appear on Marketplace, as well as other compatible placements on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Audience Network.
New Advertising Options
With the new year comes new ads and ad placement options.
- Facebook Search. Reach people who are shopping - and therefore in the discovery mindset - with ads in Facebook Search Results. The ads, which look very similar to news feed ads and have the same control and transparency including a “Sponsored” label, appear in Marketplace or general search. If your ad is eligible, Search will appear in placement options.
- Facebook Groups. Last fall, Facebook started trying out ad placements in the Groups tab in order to evaluate whether they would be beneficial for people and businesses. It is one more option Facebook found to increase ad inventory. Given how much Facebook has been prioritizing Groups, the test ads will most likely get results.
Also of note, in Mid-2020 Facebook is expected to limit the number ads pages can run simultaneously. However, this only impacts a small percentage of businesses. Stay up to date with what’s new in Facebook Ads Manager here.
Final Thoughts
As you create your Facebook and Instagram ad strategy for the new year, go with what has been working for your business and then slowly introduce new ad features into the mix. Experiment to see what features best impact your business in a positive way.
About Mari Smith
Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is considered one of the world’s foremost experts on Facebook marketing and social 
media. She is a Forbes’ Top Social Media Power Influencer, author of The New Relationship Marketing and coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day. Forbes recently described Mari as, “… the preeminent Facebook expert. Even Facebook asks for her help.” She is a recognized Facebook Partner; Facebook headhunted and hired Mari to lead the Boost Your Business series of live events across the US. Mari is an in-demand speaker, and travels the world to keynote and train at major events.
Her digital marketing agency provides professional speaking, training and consulting services on Facebook and Instagram marketing best practices for Fortune 500 companies, brands, SMBs and direct sales organizations. Mari is also an expert webinar and live video broadcast host, and she serves as Brand Ambassador for numerous leading global companies.
Web: Mari Smith or Twitter: @MariSmith
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Mari Smith to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Mari Smith is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Mari Smith. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Right out of law school, I got a great job in a big law firm handling insurance defense. Being young and arrogant, I used to say that my job was to “deny claims.” Now, years later, that embarrasses me. Denying claims...
Right out of law school, I got a great job in a big law firm handling insurance defense. Being young and arrogant, I used to say that my job was to “deny claims.”
Now, years later, that embarrasses me.
Denying claims was not my job and not what I was expected to do. I was
expected to read the file and figure out whether the claim was legitimate and whether the company had reasonable grounds to deny the claim.
Here is what I know now: By the time a business insurance claim gets to the point that it is being litigated over, you are in trouble. Either the business bought the wrong insurance and filed a claim that wasn’t covered, or it filed a frivolous claim, or it didn’t have enough coverage, or something else went wrong.
Here is what else I know: Insurance companies do NOT want to deny claims. They are in the business of covering risk and accidents and expect to pay legitimate claims; that is what they do and that is what keeps them in business.
So, what you need is to have a “legitimate claim.” Let’s look at how that works:
Let’s say your business was injured or damaged in some way. The first thing you need of course is a policy. But not just any policy, you will need a policy that covers – and doesn’t exclude – the type of damage you have. (More on that exclusion word in a sec.)
Small business can get all sorts of different types of coverage, for example:
- Liability: Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) is a type of catch-all policy. It is “a standard insurance policy issued to business organizations to protect them against liability claims for bodily injury and property damage arising out of premises, operations, products, and operations.”
- Commercial auto
- E&O: Errors and Omissions insurance is for professionals and service businesses for claims arising out of allegations of sub-standard work, i.e., negligence and professional malpractice
- Property: Protects business property and assets
- Business interruption insurance: If a disaster or catastrophic event does occur, your operations and income may be interrupted. This covers that.
The first thing is to buy the insurance that provides the widest net for the types of foreseeable risks that your business may encounter.
As for exclusions, almost every policy will exclude certain risks/coverage. It is akin to a health insurance policy that excludes certain types of drugs, surgeries, etc. Make sure the exclusions in your business policy do not prevent the type of claim you may have.
Next, consider the amount of coverage. The amount and types of things covered are often constrained by what you can afford. Of course, you can’t insure against everything but the risk is not buying enough insurance. If you buy some cheapo policy that limits coverage of a claim to $10,000 and your damage is $100,000, you are out of luck.
Best practice: Buy as much insurance as you can afford.
Finally, consider the deductible: One common way to reduce costs is to have a high deductible. Smart, until you need to file a claim.
This is how it is supposed to work: You buy some insurance. Something happens that damages your business. You file a legitimate, covered claim. Your insurance reviews it and pays you the amount of your damage, less the deductible.
As you may gather, a lot can go wrong in that process. It could be that your deductible is too high, or your coverage is too low, or your type of claim is excluded, or that you may have waited too long (the statute of limitations has run).
There are two additional things you can do to protect yourself:
- At the start, before you buy, meet with an insurance broker. As opposed to an agent, who only represents one company, a broker can steer you to the right company and the right type of coverage.
- If your claim is denied, hire a lawyer. Period.
And hopefully, your attorney will understand insurance better than I did when I began those many years ago.
About Steve Strauss
Steven D. Strauss is one of the world's leading experts on small business and is a lawyer, writer, and speaker. The senior small business columnist for USA Today, his Ask an Expert 
column is one of the most highly-syndicated business columns in the country. He is the best-selling author of 17 books, including his latest, The Small Business Bible, now out in a completely updated third edition. You can also listen to his weekly podcast, Small Business Success.© Steven D. Strauss.
Web: www.theselfemployed.com or Twitter: @SteveStrauss
You can read more articles from Steve Strauss by clicking here
Bank of America, N.A. engages with Steve Strauss to provide informational materials for your discussion or review purposes only. Steve Strauss is a registered trademark, used pursuant to license. The third parties within articles are used under license from Steve Strauss. Consult your financial, legal and accounting advisors, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide legal, accounting and tax advice.
Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. ©2017 Bank of America Corporation
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Rieva Lesonsky is a columnist for The Small Business Community covering employment, retail trends and women in business. Before co-founding GrowBiz Media, Lesonsky was Editorial Director of Entrepreneur Magazine. A nationally known speaker and authority on entrepreneurship, Rieva has been covering America’s entrepreneurs for more than 26 years.