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Koble Helps to Solve Your Biggest Business Challenge: Discovering the Right Companies to Do Business With!

April 23, 2019
By Koble –

As we continue to spotlight the best resources and tools for entrepreneurs and businesses, we want to highlight the opportunity to gain unrivaled visibility for your company on Koble, a trusted community made up of 11 million B2B companies — including Fortune 500 corporations like General Electric, Oracle and Harley Davidson — looking to do business with a SMB like yours!

Koble, which was an official ambassador for the America’s SBDC 3rd Annual SBDC Day on March 20th, helps SMB companies with a focus on selling and buying from other businesses solve their number one business challenge — discovering the right new companies to do business with!

In fact, Koble’s 2018 SMB Sales and Growth Confidence Survey discovered that nearly three times as many SMB owners say finding new customers is a more significant challenge for their company than hiring new employees or accessing capital. (more…)

What Is My Business Worth?

April 16, 2019
By Shawn Hyde, International Society of Business Appraisers (ISBA) –

Hand-held calculatorAccording to the 2018 Small Business Profile by the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are about 30.2 million small businesses in the USA. Every so often, one of these businesses runs into a situation where the owner asks the question, “What is my business worth?”

A variant of that question might also be, “What is a specific percentage of my business worth?”

These questions get asked in situations such as the following:

• When a partner wants to buy another partner’s ownership interest
• When an owner wants to bring in a new partner
• When the business is located in a community property state, and the owner is getting divorced
• When an owner receives an unanticipated offer to purchase the business
• When the owner wants to sell the business
• When an ownership interest is being gifted to children, and a gift tax return is needed (more…)

St. Johnsbury, Vermont Child-Care Center Expands

April 10, 2019
By Amanda Kuhnert –

ABC & LOL Child Care CenterHeather Hudson had been running a successful child-care business in St. Johnsbury, Vermont for five years when she saw an opportunity to expand. A competing child-care center became available for purchase, and she wanted to buy it.

But was it a good idea? Hudson needed to determine whether the purchase was a sound financial move.

For help assessing the viability of the venture, Heather’s bank referred her to business advisor Ross Hart at the Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC). Hart specializes in finance and business planning.

“Heather had a high degree of expertise in her industry and had been successful with her existing business,” Ross explained. “But she understood that there was a degree of complexity with purchasing another business that she didn’t fully understand. So she connected with me to help her review and assess the financials of the business she was interested in and develop some financial projections to complete her loan application package.” (more…)

From $7.25 to More than $15: Understand the Changing Dynamics of Minimum Wage Legislation

April 2, 2019
By ComplyRight –

Minimum Wage Monitor mapMinimum wage workers doing the same job are paid drastically different wages and it all depends on where they work.

States, cities, counties – and even corporations – are setting their own minimum wages for workers. This year alone, rates will go up in 20 states as well as numerous cities and counties. These are just the latest round of increases due to inaction at the federal level.

The national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour hasn’t changed in a decade – despite many lawmakers pressing for an increase. However, it just might happen. A bill to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour has recently been introduced. And the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the issue in the coming weeks. (more…)

Making a Business Vision Clear

March 25, 2019
Success Story: Idaho –

Little Wood Vision Clinic, IdahoMatt Kent became interested in optometry as a 19-year-old, while serving as a volunteer at eye camps for under-served populations in India.

In 2015, he and his wife Becky started working with the Twin Falls CSI Small Business Development Center on a business plan for his own practice, closer to home. Since many grants and loan forgiveness programs available for rural areas are not offered to optometrists, support from the Idaho SBDC was important to Dr. Kent’s efforts to provide local eye care and employment in his small community. (more…)