FastUpFront Small Business Blog

According to research by SMB Digital Scape, the majority of small business owners are still fumbling when it comes to their online presence, and we’re not just talking about maintaining social media accounts. Many small business websites are missing the basics. It seems that though many businesses have an online presence, they still aren’t investing [...]

Many small business owners these days have been smarting from a health care headache as they try to offset the rising cost of care in the midst of a sluggish economy that has eaten away at profit margins and stymied growth. Now, a recent study conducted by PwC Health Research Institute suggests that the headache [...]

One of the positive fallouts of the recent economic crisis has been the insurgence of entrepreneurism among those who would have otherwise worked for others. Along side this trend has been the emergence of a new phenomenon called “co-working.” For those who are unfamiliar with the term, co-working refers to an arrangement where budding entrepreneurs [...]

It’s well known that small retail businesses often struggle against their big corporate competitors. And with the rise of Internet-based retail, the economies of scale are tipping even more in favor of the mega firms that have the resources to invest and can offer a wide range of merchandise at cut-rate prices. But a new [...]

According to recent research, retail sales have fallen over the last month even as the back-to-school shopping season gets into high gear, and industry forecasters claim that this does not bode well for the upcoming holiday season either.   (Image Credit) So the looming question for retailers big and small continues to be how to [...]

There is a lot of difficult news out there these days. With all the talk about pension cuts, pay freezes, layoffs, bankruptcies, and government bailouts, the fact that some industries are not only surviving the recession, but thriving in it, may seem hard to believe. But the truth is that in the midst of all [...]

This is the final post in a four-part series on employee theft. If you suspect that theft or fraud has occurred in your business, then you should promptly follow up with a thorough investigation. When done properly, an investigation can help you limit your loses and quickly resolve the situation. First you need to determine [...]

This is the third post in a four-part series on employee theft. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) in its Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud & Abuse recently estimated that the typical business will lose an average of six percent of revenues from employee theft, and according to the U.S. Chamber of [...]

This is the second post in a four-part series on employee theft. As the economic recession churns on and countless Americans struggle to get some control over their mounting debt, incidents of employee theft and fraud are becoming more and more common. The FBI even calls employee theft “the fastest growing crime in America,” and [...]

This is the first article in a four-part series on employee theft. In this series I will cover some of the major causes of theft among workers as well as the extensive and often disastrous effects these occurrences bring to smaller businesses and their customers. Finally, I will end this series with some tips for [...]