Small Business News

There are more than 11.6 million businesses in the United States that are women-owned. Out of businesses that generate $1 million or more, 1 in 5 is owned by women. Being a female entrepreneur is looking better each and every day. But, with all of the progress that’s been made, there are still looming disparities.

The number one challenge women face is a significant disadvantage in securing access to venture capital funding compared to their male peers. In 2017, just 2.2% of all venture capital in the US went to companies founded solely by women. According to Entrepreneur, “Women are also raising smaller rounds than men — averages of $5 million and $12 million, respectively. Last year, the largest VC deal cut by a team of female founders was Moda Operandi’s $165 million Series G, contrasting starkly with the largest round of their male counterparts: WeWork’s Series G at $3 billion.”

Get a Mentor– find yourself someone who has successf

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Before today’s digital ecosystem, local small businesses had a hard time growing their brand. Word of mouth and traditional advertising was the only way to go. And the high cost of advertising meant they did very little of it.

However, a small business can now let everyone (including a global audience) know who and where they are with digital technology. And one of the tools which makes this possible is Google My Business (GMB).

So how effective is GMB in allowing small local businesses to increase their presence? According to a new report from BrightLocal, a typical business receives 59 actions from their GMB listing each month. Google identifies an action as a website click, call or direction request from users.

The goal of the research is to help businesses who use GMB understand how their results stack up through Google My Business Insights. And use the outcome of the study to find areas of improvement to get better results from their marketing efforts. This is necessary because as BrightLocal puts it, there is “…little out there to guide local marketers on what Google My Business success looks like.”

Additionally, making sense of the data from Google My Business Insights is also a c

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If you’re interested in starting an agricultural business, you need to choose a crop or crops to focus on. There’s a seemingly endless list of choices out there, from small herbs and spices to large trees and landscaping products.

According to the USDA, there are plenty of specialty crops that can be sold at a significant profit. But there are also some basic crops that can be profitable crops for small farms. Recently, we shared 20 of the most profitable crops. Here are 12 more profitable crops for small farms to consider adding to the mix.

In most cases, you need a fair amount of space to grow vegetables. And they’re not especially profitable. But microgreens are smaller vegetable plants that have just started to sprout. So you can sell them quicker and they require much less space.

Witch hazel is popular in skin care and medicinal products. It’s grown on a flowering shrub that is very hardy and easy to care for.

Eucalyptus is a species of flowering trees and shrubs that produces an oil popular in health and body care. You can sell the actual flowering stems with cut flowers or decor. Or you can offer them t

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There are several shopping days on the calendar businesses should be aware of. While Black Friday and the holiday season are a no brainer, back to school should also be on that list.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), total spending on K-12 schools and college is projected at $80.7B in 2019. The data from the NRF collaborates a new infographic from RetailMeNot which says consumers will spend $40 more this year.

Overall parents will spend an average of $507 in 2019, compared to $465 in 2018. And they will spend more across the board for clothes, electronics, and shoes.

Not surprisingly price is the biggest determining factor when parents purchase an item for back-to-school. This was the case for 69% of the respondents from the RetailMeNot survey. And an almost equal number or 71% say they will wait to make a purchase until they find a deal.

Parents are going to spend $212 on clothes, $209 on electronics and $104 on shoes. This doesn’t include incidentals throughout the year which are also part of the school expense. And all of this expenditure is stressing parents.

The survey says 48% of

Read more: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/SmallBusinessTrends/~3/fNJx7_lYWvA/2019-back-to-school-statistics.html