Small Business

Competition for talent, capital and economic clout drives cities to build and maintain resilient urban communities.

The Marcum Commercial Construction Index for the first quarter of 2014 shows that extreme winter weather conditions suppressed nonresidential construction activity during the period, with spending declines in all three months of the period. The index predicts a return to expansion during the remainder of the year, however.

Small business optimism increased in April, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses. The group's April index rose 1.8 points to a post-recession high of 95.2. The economy continues to perform modestly and April’s index followed suit as it crossed the 95 marker for the first time since 2007. Seven Index components improved, one was unchanged and 2 fell.

Burning the candle at both ends, an Oregon couple is now experiencing the sweet smell of success. Husband-and-wife team Billy Taylor and Brook Harvey-Taylor, the founders of Portland, Ore. based company – Pacifica, have been named today this year’s National Small Business Persons of the Year at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), National Small Business Week awards ceremony in Washington, D.C.

Intuit announced late Wednesday that it has acquired Invitco. The Australia-based company is the developer of Invitbox, an online system for managing accounts payable. Intuit is the company behind QuickBooks, TurboTax, Quicken, Mint and many other small business and financial management systems.

Small businesses employ about 47% of non-government workers in the U.S., pay more than 40 percent of the private payroll, and create more than 60 percent of the new jobs added over the past 20 years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. However, not all states and cities are the same when it comes to how small businesses pay their employees, along with other benefits.

When I look back on my time in practice, some of the biggest lies I ever told myself related to shoebox clients ever getting more organized on their own. I always wanted to believe that the client wanted to have a more structured organization system for their finances.

The Small Business Administration is launching a $2.5 million competition for accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystem models to compete for monetary prizes of $50,000 each. To award the prizes, an expert panel of judges will consider each applicant’s stated mission, founding team members and business goals among other core components. The deadline for applying is August 2, 2014.