Stacker-Small Business

When the holiday season arrives, corporate gifting can oftentimes feel impersonal: a basic water bottle with the company logo splashed on it or the twisty pen that sometimes works. What many folks in HR don’t know is that intentional gifting is the most overlooked retention tool in businesses. Here’s why. According to a Holiday gifting

The annual holiday shopping season typically gives retailers an opportunity to increase sales. Or for some businesses, earn the majority of their annual revenue. But the end-of-year shopping months also come with more risks for any business, including crowded stores, increased deliveries, technology bottlenecks and small teams stretched thin. Is your retail business or online

It’s mid-October. Holiday orders are in with a dozen suppliers, each with different payment terms. The first invoices are arriving, with more in November, but most of the holiday revenue won’t come in until December. That’s an accounts payable squeeze: You owe suppliers for goods that haven’t sold yet. For most retailers, that means inventory

Many businesses are approaching automation exactly like most people approach a new hobby: a lot of enthusiasm but shaky planning. And it’s happening at scale. The majority of SMBs (76%) have adopted some form of automation, ranging from simple rule-based workflows (38%) to AI that makes decisions across multiple systems with limited human input (30%). Unlike hobbies,

A customer opens your returns page. The jacket didn’t fit. They’re disappointed, a little impatient, and one bad experience away from never buying from you again. What happens next could determine whether they become a repeat customer—or move on to a competitor. That’s because a return isn’t just the end of a sale. It’s another

Choosing the right domain name sets the tone for your website. It’s your web address, your first impression and a key part of your brand. A good domain should be easy to remember, reflect your business and help people find you online. “Changing domains down the road can be costly and confusing, so it pays

With data from more than 200,000 active accounts, Bluevine has a unique view into small-business momentum across America. Combining that proprietary perspective with government data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, and other sources, Bluevine ranked the 100 U.S. metros with the most Bluevine customers and identified the top 15 cities for small

The holiday rush can bring in more customers and work than your regular staff can handle. Seasonal employees can help you meet this demand, but that extra help comes with additional expenses, tasks and risks. If you’re hiring for the winter months, maximize your investment. ERGO NEXT looks at how to determine how much extra help you

For most small business owners, tax season does not start in April. It’s year-round, and doesn’t begin until the last weeks of December, when the window closes on many of the moves that shape what they will owe. That window matters more than many owners realize. In the 2026 Small Business Tax Confidence Report from 1-800Accountant, a

Have you ever driven past an empty lot one day, only to find a car wash the next time you pass it? It isn’t surprising, knowing that the car wash market size was estimated at $16.3 billion in 2025 by Grandview Research, and that number is just going to keep on climbing. It’s expected to reach $20.7

The business is growing and it’s finally time to hire someone to help keep things running. When an owner sits down to budget for that first employee, the natural starting point is the salary. The offer letter says $50,000, so that’s what goes into the plan. The real cost is higher, but it’s predictable if

Choosing a domain name can feel like a small decision next to building a new product. But domain registration is an important part of starting a business. Yes, you can change your domain later, but doing so after you’ve already acquired an audience can create more work for your already-busy team and cause confusion among your

Google Ads conversion adjustments let you correct a conversion after Google has already recorded it, retracting one that should no longer count or restating its value when better information changes what that conversion is worth. They’re especially useful when that first recorded conversion does not reflect the outcome you want Smart Bidding to learn from. A

There was a time when you heard the word subscription and all that came to mind was Netflix and that monthly gym membership you used twice and then never went back to. Cut to 2026, and monthly memberships and subscriptions are ubiquitous. Your car’s remote start needs a subscription, and so does your printer’s ink

For many small business owners, cybersecurity sits somewhere below invoices, payroll, and the customer waiting at the counter. With so much going into running a business, investment in cybersecurity often falls to the back burner. But cybersecurity can often be cheaper and easier than owners think. Below, Xero explores how the highest-return cybersecurity controls are

When starting a business, every dollar counts. So, when you’re asked, “how much are you willing to pay for a domain?” you might be tempted to answer, “as little as possible.” But a domain name might be worth more than you’d think. First, a quick primer: A domain name is the address people type into their

If you’re spending hours chasing down receipts, categorizing expenses, reviewing purchases, and reconciling transactions at month-end, adopting another platform or feature may feel like more hassle than it’s worth. But today’s AI-powered spend-management software is designed to reduce manual effort, and it can help streamline your company’s spend management processes. In this article, Mercury, a

Visit any retail store on a Saturday in November. Between the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping, you’ll see employees ringing up customers, heading to the backroom to grab requested items, and keeping everyday essentials stocked — all while they’re trying to keep the checkout line moving. On top of that, they’re answering the same

Peak sales season is one of the year’s biggest challenges and opportunities. A wave of demand can help e-commerce businesses increase sales, attract new customers, and strengthen existing relationships. But the same surge can push otherwise manageable weaknesses to the point of collapse. Beyond preparing to process higher order volumes, teams can align forecasting, inventory,

Shipping big packages can create big challenges for companies of all sizes. What starts as a simple parcel can quickly trigger oversized package fees or dimensional weight charges. Other shipments may be better suited for less-than-truckload (LTL) freight, but knowing when to make the switch isn’t always obvious. Choosing between parcel vs. LTL freight isn’t

Midterm elections are approaching, and political discussions at work become harder to avoid. Employees start discussing their thoughts about candidates, ballot issues, news stories, or public policies during breaks, in group chats, or sometimes in front of customers. These discussions do not mean small business owners need to ban them. It does, however, mean it

What’s the number one regret small business owners have in their first year of business? According to an ERGO NEXT survey of 501 business owners nationwide, not understanding what business insurance they need to protect their business is the top concern cited by 50% of them. Understanding improves slightly in years two through five of

New business owners often face the same dilemma: spend time writing a business plan, or spend a week finding their first customers. So which one actually matters? Xero’s guide to writing an executive summary covers the how. But often, business owners ask a different question: Why? Does the planning itself really impact what happens next?

Nearly two-thirds of American adults have had an idea for a business they never launched. More than 60% have seen someone else succeed with the idea they had first, and for nearly 1 in 4, that experience hurt. Those are some of the eye-opening results from Founder Reports’ survey of 1,014 U.S. adults about the

Most retail businesses run two shipping operations. One is integrated into their software, automated, and refined over time. The other is simply managed. For many merchants, parcel receives the most attention. Those businesses often use rate shopping, automation, real-time tracking, returns management, and other tools that connect parcel shipping to the rest of the business.

Chasing a late invoice is one of the more awkward parts of running a small business. The work has been done and the invoice has been sent, yet the money still hasn’t landed. According to Xero Small Business Insights, U.S. small businesses were paid an average of 8.5 days late and waited about 29.3 days

Small business ownership means sacrificing time, predictable income, and sometimes even your own paycheck to build a business. Those sacrifices can become permanent if you’re not careful. Becoming your own boss often comes with a trade-off or two. Starting a business can mean leaving behind a steady paycheck and paid time off, only to find

Many employees are also caregivers. They may be caring for children, aging parents, spouses, or other family members while also managing their jobs. For a small business, where one unexpected absence can affect the entire team, employees’ responsibilities can quickly become a scheduling and management issue. Small businesses typically don’t need a complicated, lengthy caregiver

Price indices work off a basket: Pick a fixed list of goods, then track what that list costs over time. The Consumer Price Index does this for a whole economy. To create a similar index for the first 90 days of a company’s life, Brex examined internal data to determine what startups purchase using their

Among primary-residence buyers who applied to multiple lenders and ultimately closed, 21.4% of respondents reporting self-employment said an earlier application had been turned down, compared with 14.5% of wage-employed respondents, according to a new analysis from Griffin Funding. Separately, Polygon Research estimates non-qualified mortgage (non-QM) origination volume rose 31.6% in 2025 to $239.3 billion. Self-employed

Beauty is one of the most resilient industries in the U.S. Even while going through some difficult economic years, Americans still spend around $280 a year on cosmetics. Globally, the beauty and personal care market is a more-than-half-a-trillion-dollar industry. But behind all this strength and resilience stand social media and content creators. With 71% of

A California law written in 1967 to stop wiretapping on telephone lines has become the basis for thousands of lawsuits arguing that everyday website tools, chat widgets, tracking pixels and analytics scripts amount to illegal interception of a visitor’s communications. The suits aren’t limited to major technology companies. They’ve been filed against retailers, insurers, hospitals,

The economic contribution of Latinos living in the U.S. is estimated at $4.4 trillion, equivalent to having the fourth-largest gross domestic product in the world, according to a joint report from California Lutheran University and the UCLA Health Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture. For the fourth year in a row, the GDP

Setting up a payroll system can feel like a steep climb if accounting isn’t your strong suit, but it’s the backbone of your business’s health. In fact, when asked what one job they would trust AI to do perfectly, 17% of small business owners ranked bookkeeping and taxes as the top tasks they would outsource,

For years, payroll had one primary job: Pay employees accurately and on time. That expectation hasn’t changed. But employees increasingly expect something more. They want to understand how they’re paid, why deductions changed, how overtime was calculated, where benefits are reflected, and how compensation decisions connect to the bigger picture. In other words, payroll is

Accessibility landed on your desk. Maybe it came from a customer complaint, or maybe your legal team forwarded a demand letter. Or your manager just said, “Can you own this?” and moved on with their day. Every guide you found assumed a dedicated accessibility team, a governance committee, and an engineering queue that exists to

In an ever-changing world, more Americans are opting out of the challenging job market and transitioning into the driver’s seat in their careers. Many have chosen to control their success by being their own boss, and an increasing number filed business applications in 2026, as Thimble outlines below. According to the United States Census, business

Build it, and they will come doesn’t always hold true for businesses, especially small businesses like auto repair shops. You can hire the best techs, purchase the best equipment money can buy, keep your repair shop clean and organized, and still, when it comes to getting those customers in the door? Crickets. Why? Because no

Investing in a leading user-friendly CRM should see your sales and marketing teams save most (if not all) the hours they would have dedicated to training. The trick is to use the time saved to your advantage. But what does “user-friendly” really mean? A user-friendly CRM is a customer relationship management platform built to make

  The compliance challenge for businesses has fundamentally changed. The challenge is not just about understanding, interpreting, and applying regulations: it is also about managing the speed and volume of regulatory change. So far this year through mid-summer, over 200 HR-related compliance laws have been enacted in the U.S., including several governing the use of

  The median annual wage for an auditor or accountant in the U.S. is $81,680. However, this doesn’t include office overhead, benefits, software, or the financial and time costs of finding the right candidate. The gap between perceived and actual costs may shape whether you’re making a smart financial decision or an unexpectedly expensive one.

  Whether it’s skipping coverage until it’s too late or underestimating their financial risk, many first-year business owners share some of the same regrets around business insurance coverage for their new venture. ERGO NEXT conducted research with 501 small business owners this year, and the findings reveal some common insurance mistakes and the wisdom many

  You replaced your heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system last year, upgraded to modern LED lighting throughout your shop, and maybe even added solar panels to the roof to improve efficiency. What you might not realize is that the federal government set aside real money to reward exactly those decisions, and small businesses are

  A business line of credit gives you flexible access to funding exactly when you need it. Unlike a traditional loan, you don’t receive a lump sum up front. Instead, you draw only what you need and pay interest on the amount you use. It can help you handle seasonal dips and jump on growth

  Yelp advertising costs start at $150 per month, or roughly $5 per day, though your total can include up to three components. A Yelp Ads budget covers clicks, the optional Upgrade Package runs $180 per month on its own, and management costs whatever you pay an internal team or an agency to run it.

  Running a small business is thrilling, but navigating sales tax means crunching numbers and understanding regulations. You must calculate and charge sales tax for each purchase when your business sells something. The sales tax rates vary by state and by location within the state. While some states only have sales tax at a state

  You’re the finance leader at a scaling company with 50-500 employees, and your CFO wants a number that justifies the accounts payable automation return on investment (ROI). The figure has to be defensible and grounded in the current accounts payable (AP) process cost. The problem is that your current AP process is a patchwork

  How to get return on investment (ROI) from Yelp Ads comes down to tracking what happens after the click. Yelp reports the clicks, calls, and directions your page generates, and your own attribution has to show which of those became paying customers and whether the profit covered what you spent. That gap is why

  For many skilled tradespeople, business can run smoothly day after day until one single accident changes everything. All it takes is one slip, one dropped tool, or one big spill to trigger a lawsuit large enough to wipe out years of hard work. An established business can vanish with just one claim. Most small

  Controllers can calculate the accounts payable (AP) formula quickly, but applying it to a real ledger takes judgment. At close, invoices sit in multiple states, and ERP sync gaps can leave the balance sheet showing one figure and the aging report another. Getting the number right is what makes it defensible to your CFO

  For e-commerce brands, peak season is no longer a single, isolated surge centered around Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the weeks leading up to New Year’s. In 2026, that Q4-focused approach is becoming less reliable. Economic pressures, consumer expectations, trade regulations, AI, and supply chain challenges are all evolving faster than historical trends can

  American manufacturing is growing, but the labor needed to keep that growth running is getting harder to find. New facilities, more complex equipment, and tighter production expectations are all colliding with a shortage of skilled maintenance workers. MaintainX surveyed 211 maintenance and operations leaders to find out how that collision is impacting industrial companies.

  Excel was released in 1985. Forty-one years later, here you are, still using it to run your shop. Spreadsheets are wonderful. Your schedule is on there. Your techs’ repair orders (RO) and updates for the day are found on it. Your service advisors use it to track customers. It’s going well, until it isn’t.

  Access to cash and credit is a small business’s lifeline. Your business’s credit rating shows lenders, suppliers, and other vendors how financially stable your business is, as well as how well you’ve been able to manage your cash and pay your business debts on time. Establishing a strong business credit score is the first

  Running a business cost more than planned for most founders this year. A recent survey of 1,500 early-stage founders and builders from Mercury, a fintech platform that offers business and personal banking services*, found that 75% of respondents said their costs came in higher than expected — up from 66% last year. Exactly zero

  If you lead finance in a growing company, your current card may have been picked when travel was your biggest expense. Today, most of the spending runs through software subscriptions, online ads, cloud hosting, and contractor payments, and travel is just one line among many. Comparison sites usually rank cards by their sign-up bonuses

  As a controller at a growing company, you spend a disproportionate share of your close week on invoice coding. You assign general ledger (GL) accounts, cost centers, and dimensions to vendor bills that move through accounts payable (AP). The work is mechanical, but it carries real consequences for the ledger and the close. Invoice

  Today’s founders have learned to build without waiting for perfect conditions. Rather than sweating ever-present uncertainty, they’ve built an adaptation muscle: finding leverage in new technologies, making disciplined decisions about where their money goes (and comes from), and adjusting quickly as economic conditions evolve. For all the tools and resources at a founder’s disposal,

  For controllers at mid-market companies, accounts payable goals usually become urgent when the chief financial officer (CFO) asks for evidence. Invoice cycle times and exception rates are measured inconsistently, so you may have only anecdotal evidence when leadership asks whether the function is improving. Without a standard to measure against, many process changes can

  Managing spending can feel like a breeze when you run a small business with only a handful of monthly transactions. But as your business begins to grow, you’ll likely find yourself searching for the best spend management software to help you keep things running smoothly. In a scaling company, hands-on processes — like emailing

  Every shipment has one job: get to the customer. It doesn’t matter how it gets there—whatever mode gets the job done is the right one. Most business owners aren’t trying to become shipping experts. They just want shipping to work because a shipment that doesn’t reach the customer isn’t just a logistics problem; it’s

  Reputable legal practices don’t just offer legal protection, guidance and support to their clients. They also offer a place to store privileged communications, financial data and extremely sensitive information. However, with cybercriminals targeting law firms to gain access to this data, organizations face a difficult challenge in finding the right methods of online protection.

  Nearly 9 out of 10 (87%) human resources professionals agree that organizations have a responsibility to support the workforce’s mental health needs, according to SHRM’s 2026 Mental Health Snapshot. But confidence in the ability to actually meet those needs is slipping. Currently, 62% of HR pros feel prepared to support employees’ mental health needs,

  Many sales and marketing teams sign up for customer relationship management (CRM) software with the intention of using it, but barely do. A CRM allows teams to unify contact information and view the status of each deal across their organization. Teams also have the power to automate repetitive tasks and boost selling time with

  The global cosmetics market alone is expected to reach nearly $140 billion by 2030. Whether a business is able to capitalize on this growth depends on how they respond to changing client demands. Artificial intelligence diagnostic tools and on-demand custom services are changing the way that beauty brands approach their clients. Personalization in the

  Coming from multiple layers of government and diverse agencies, startup compliance costs vary so much with industry and location that it’s hard to find comprehensive guidance, leaving entrepreneurs without legal counsel at risk of cash flow shortages before they even make their first sale. A business license ranges from $50 to $400, sometimes more

  Ask financial advisors whether their clients have noticed the AI assistant sitting in on their planning meetings, and the honest answer is no — but clients are noticing the benefits. Emotionally intelligent advisors drive nearly two times the sentiment lift of their peers (17.5% vs. 9%), according to Jump‘s 2026 Financial Advisor Insights Report.

  Customers are drowning in advertising—on phones, social media, streets, storefronts—everywhere. Standard campaigns blur together, and brands that rely on rational messaging and price alone lose in the noise. Sensory marketing changes this equation, TEAM Concept reports. By engaging sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste, brands can trigger emotional responses that drive purchasing decisions far

  Switching from an LLC to S corporation status marks an important milestone in the life cycle of a business. Most comparisons focus on one number: how much self-employment tax is saved by an S corp election. That number is real, but it is only half the equation. Based on proprietary data, this report from

  Manufacturers aren’t the only business entity that could get sued over a defective product. If you sell products in a store, shop or online, or even if you just vend occasionally at flea markets, craft fairs or pop-ups, your business could be found liable if a product you make or sell injures someone or

  While long-term planning is important year-round, August is National Make a Will Month, a vital reminder for small business owners to reflect on the future of their company and loved ones. If the unexpected happens to a business owner and there is no plan in place, the result can be chaotic. Families may disagree,

  Choosing the right loader for your construction operation isn’t just about horsepower or bucket capacity. It’s about matching the machine to your terrain, tasks, and budget. Compact track loaders (CTLs) and skid steer loaders (SSLs) may look similar, but their design differences can significantly impact your jobsite’s productivity and profitability. Whether it’s an SSL’s

  Michael Burry launched a paid newsletter, Cassandra Unchained, in late 2025. Within months, it was the No. 8 most-subscribed publication across all Brex customers, racing ahead of writers who spent a decade building their base. Burry’s two-decade-old reputation for contrarian calls made his newsletter a line item on startup corporate cards within months. That’s

  For years, accessibility has been filed under the wrong heading. It shows up in budget meetings as a compliance cost, a legal checkbox, a line item to minimize. So leaders ask how little they can spend to stay out of trouble, and the conversation usually ends there. But the businesses that actually measure it

  Opening a business bank account is one of the first real steps in building a legitimate company. It’s also one of the easiest to delay if you don’t prepare. Banks care about three things: identity, legality, and compliance. Bring the right documents, and you can open an account in as little as a day

  New data from the Intuit QuickBooks 2026 Business Owner Report shows Black entrepreneurs defining success in a way that reaches beyond their own bottom line, even as bias in access to capital and pressure to prove themselves persist. The traditional business narrative often centers on the “exit”—scaling rapidly to sell for a life-changing sum.

  Small business hurricane preparedness is more than protecting property. It requires financial readiness, operational planning, fraud awareness and trusted partnerships to ensure business continuity and long-term resilience. Hurricane season is officially underway, and while forecasts vary from year to year, one thing stays constant: Preparation matters. For small business owners across Florida and the

  Many advertisers understand value-based bidding in theory. Far fewer have the signal quality to make it work, and the difference comes down to conversion data. That matters more than it used to. In automated PPC bidding, spam does not just waste budget; it becomes training data. Imperva recently reported that 53% of internet traffic is

  Small businesses founded in the past year are more likely to have insurance than those that have been operating longer, according to a new survey of small business owners by ERGO NEXT. Today’s entrepreneurs are thinking about protection earlier, but buying insurance and being adequately protected aren’t always the same thing. The survey also

  For most of the year, ChatGPT Ads have only really made sense for massive companies with large budgets. They could run the ads and learn the ins and outs of the platform, but there was almost no way to know if any of it actually led to conversions. The ads may have gotten a

  The U.S. small-business landscape is locked in a striking paradox: Despite severe headwinds from rising inflation and dampened market optimism, entrepreneurship remains remarkably durable as new business applications continue to surge. This ongoing wave of formation, coupled with the fact that nearly 40% of microbusiness owners maintain a highly positive outlook, underscores an economic

  Delayed invoice payments are choking small business cash flow in 2026, according to research from Xero Small Business Insights. According to a 2025 survey, late payments cost businesses nearly $40,000 per year on average, and about 10% of businesses report losses of up to $100,000. Another 2025 survey indicates more than 9 out of

  Digital marketing looks very different from the polished advertising that filled social feeds only a few years ago. People now pass those ads within seconds, while recommendations and videos showing how a product works in everyday use are far more likely to hold their attention. Goldman Sachs placed the creator economy at $250 billion,

  As a startup founder, you probably never intended to create a messy finance stack. But you might find yourself drowning in tool sprawl after even just a few months of operation. Maybe you started with a business bank account. Then, new finance needs made you realize that you also need corporate cards and expense

  The accounts receivable (AR) process is the step-by-step workflow you use to invoice customers, track payments, and collect the money owed for goods or services sold on credit. When your AR process runs well, cash comes in on schedule and your business can cover payroll, pay suppliers, and reinvest in growth without scrambling for

  It’s easier than ever to start a business: Often all you need is a laptop and a business plan. But today’s business environment tests owners’ resilience in new ways. The familiar challenges of securing financing, managing expenses and building a loyal customer base now exist alongside emerging cyber and legal risks. With sustained economic

  The car care industry is reaping the benefits of long-term planning focused on automation, efficient capital usage, and migrating its business to subscription models. Americans are keeping their cars longer. According to Mobility Global, the average age of a passenger car in the U.S. is 14.5 years old. This should come as no surprise,

  Imagine walking into an independent grocery store at 7 a.m. Employees are stocking shelves, receiving deliveries, rotating produce, checking dates, and making final preparations for the morning’s customers. Doing all of this while juggling an early rush can make those morning hours a particularly hectic time for store operators. While other types of retail

  Getting your first customers is one of the hardest parts of building a business. Since your business is new and you’re still figuring things out, there’s no momentum yet — no word of mouth, no testimonials. So where do you even start? In this guide, Mercury, a fintech platform that offers business and personal

  AI agents have moved beyond simply researching products for your business to buying them for you. Whether it’s cloud storage, renewing a SaaS license, paying a vendor, or ordering coffee for the office, autonomous software increasingly needs a way to pay. Virtual cards for AI agents make that possible. These programmable payment credentials give

  Small business owners may be experts in their field, but they’re not always experts on bookkeeping. A new survey from Bluevine of 864 small and medium-sized business owners reveals that many have gaps in their business financial knowledge, making it more difficult for them to be approved for loans. More than 1 in 3

  Summer weather can mean more time outdoors, more events, hot weather and holidays. And for many small business owners, it can also mean more customers ready to spend. If you’re a contractor, food truck owner, event vendor or mobile service provider, May through September might be your busiest season. And also a time of