Why Co-Working Communities are Good for Small Businesses

One of the positive fallouts of the recent economic crisis has been the insurgence of entrepreneurism among those who would have otherwise worked for others. Along side this trend has been the emergence of a new phenomenon called “co-working.” For those who are unfamiliar with the term, co-working refers to an arrangement where budding entrepreneurs and current small business owners share a common workplace in exchange for a monthly fee.

 

 

What are the benefits of co-working for entrepreneurs? According to co-working small businessmen, the advantages are many. Here are several benefits to consider:

 

  • Save on overhead expenses. Co-working members pay a monthly membership fee and work in a communal office space. The deal includes the work space as well as all the equipment required to run a business- from wireless Internet and faxes, to conference rooms. Savings on rent and other overhead costs are significant.

 

  • Collaboration and partnerships. Many small business owners are forced to spend a lot of time on areas in their business that may not be their expertise, such as web site development or marketing. The co-


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Your Take: Do You Use Online Personal Finance Tools?

There are a lot of online personal finance tools out there that will help make your personal finance life a little more efficient. You have, of course, the headliner in Mint.com, now owned by Intuit, to help track all of your spending. You have a litany of budgeting tools, like You Need a Budget, and they’ve all been popular because the idea of online privacy has been flipped on its head with the popularity of Facebook.

I have been asked, on occasion, which tools I use. I don’t use any of them.

I trust all the services to do the right thing and to protect my information and privacy, but I know that sometimes mistakes are made and things can happen. Maybe I’m a little too old school, I’m about the age where I am comfortable telling people where I am via Twitter but not comfortable telling a third party my banking credentials. Mint and the like will treat it with the sensitivity it deserves but… you never know. Consider the innocuous leak by Blippy a few months back in the strangest of ways (Blippy has leaked credit card numbers) or the way Citi’s app revealed sensitive information (again, in a strange way).

For me, the alternative isn’t that expensive, from a time or dollar perspective. I can use Qui


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Who is the next Branson? 

As great as Richard Branson has been for championing entrepreneurship in the UK, it can’t be right that he still remains this country’s epitome of the successful, independent businessman.

There were over 260 responses to SmallBusiness.co.uk’s latest poll on the most inspirational success stories from the world of business. Branson’s Virgin came top with 43 per cent, followed by Steve Job’s Apple (17 per cent), while Alan Sugar’s Amstrad mustered 4 per cent.

In the UK, we’re still lacking that next generation of mega successful entrepreneurs. Julie and Steve Pankhurst became millionaires through their website Friends Reunited, but across the pond Mark Zuckerberg took social networking to the next level with Facebook. He’s a billionaire at the age 26.

At a conference not so long ago, the chairman of an online business from China told the audience: ‘Where are your new, successful entrepreneurs? Whenever you talk about entrepreneurs in the UK, all I hear is Richard Branson. Who is the next Branson?’

It’s a fair point. Perhaps it’s a cultural, British thing. Over the past couple of decades, there has been a huge amount of risk or even a stigma associated with starting your own business. Why put yourself on t


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Where to Spend $1 Coins

The US Mint’s $1 Direct Ship program is back with several options (Native American, Golden Dollars with Sacagawea, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, George Washington and Andrew Jackson), meaning you can bust through some of those cash back tiers by purchasing money. These are regular circulation coins available in increments of $250.

In addition to killing cashback tiers, I recommended buying dollar coins to help kill the penny because it reduces our use of paper currency, which has a much shorter lifespan. I bought some of these dollar coins because of the small environmental impact, none of our cards have cashback tiers.

We didn’t want to go the route of depositing it at the bank because it’s against the spirit of the program and because we want to see them go into general circulation. It doesn’t bother me that people are instantly depositing the coins but that wasn’t my goal. Our goal was to get them into the world so we use fewer dollar bills.

The tricky part is that they come in $250 increments. You have


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Midterm Elections: What’s at Stake for Small Businesses?

Political pundits are predicting heated congressional elections this November. Republican supporters are determined to retake both the Senate and the House on the coattails of growing skepticism and discontent among voters with the current administration. If the Republicans succeed in increasing their number of seats, small business owners can expect to see changes in major legislative issues that affect them.

 

Healthcare reform is a central target of Republican law makers. They have pledged to change the plan President Obama implemented. Small business owners who have been opposed to new requirements to offer healthcare coverage to employees may feel vindicated if the Republicans manage to repeal the healthcare bill.

Also at stake in the $30 billion proposal by President Obama to encourage lending to small businesses. The Small business Lending Fund Act was passed by the House of Representatives without any Republican support. Republicans are strongly opposed to the plan, which they say resembles the $700 billion Wall Street bailout.


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