Small Business Blog

An astounding one-third of all employees who quit work recently plan to start a small business. If you’re one of them, are you ready for the challenge of small business ownership?

In this season 3 episode of Back of the Napkin, sibling second generation small business owners Licia Accardo and Tony Spatara of Café L’Appetito talk about honoring and evolving the family legacy to achieve greater success in the Chicago restaurant scene. Listen to the episode.

In this episode of the SurePayroll Mainstream Minute, Holly Wade, Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business, suggests tax season may be more complicated for some small business owners due to COVID-19 relief programs, and offers tips on how to get started early.

Regardless of age, income, or financial goals, it’s critical every small business owner (and employee) has a clearly defined plan to maximize retirement and tax savings.

A long-time “check sweetener” in food service, cross-selling and upselling offers small business owners across all industries a chance to build or deepen the customer relationship and increase the bottom line.

In this season 3 episode of Back of the Napkin, Mika Altidor and Victor Munoz, owners of Victor & Mika’s Bakery,  discuss owning and operating the first and only vegan establishment in Polk County, FL, and how they balance being partners in business and life. Plus, they explain why 98% of their customers aren’t even vegan. Listen to the episode.

In this episode of SurePayroll’s Mainstreet Minute, Holly Wade, Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business, discusses the PPP loan forgiveness program. Listen to the Back of the Napkin episode featuring this Mainstreet Minute segment.

Cash-strapped consumers may not always have spare change to donate to the social causes they believe in, but the trend to align spend with businesses they morally support is on the rise. Corporate social responsibility-even for small businesses-is simply becoming part of the cost of doing business.

It’s difficult—if not impossible—to avoid a future misfire without a clear understanding for the reasons behind previous failures. Check out these tips for how to use failure to help grow your business. Then, check out what other small business owners have to say about how failure shaped future success in the Back of the Napkin podcast Friday Fails series.  

Editor’s note: These announcements by the SBA of changes to the PPP loan forgiveness process potentially impact lenders and borrowers. SurePayroll is sharing the information but is not involved with the lending process Businesses that borrowed $150,000 or less from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the COVID-19 pandemic could see a reprieve in the time it takes to apply for forgiveness. The Small Business Administration (SBA) notified banks of its plan to open a portal through lending institutions that opt-in to use it, so if your PPP loan lender opts-in then you can take advantage. The SBA anticipates the entire loan forgiveness application process could take applicants only a few minutes. The SBA released this information and additional details about its new COVID Revenue Reduction Score on July 28, 2021 in its Interim Final Rule on PPP loan forgiveness. The score impacts second-draw PPP loan recipients.  

A clear, consistent brand voice helps your business stand out from the competition, create connections with new customers, and deepen relationships with existing customers. Check out these DIY tips on how to establish a unique brand voice, and take the What Is Your Brand Voice? assessment.

Back of the Napkin welcomes Holly Wade, Executive Director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) to the SurePayroll Mainstreet Minute. In this season 3 BOTN episode, Holly explains the Employee Retention Tax Credit. Check out the SurePayroll Blog post on the Employee Retention Tax Credit to learn more.