FastUpFront Small Business Blog

Now that 2011 has passed (and what a wild and crazy year it was!) and 2012 is well under way, it’s time to look at some trends that will shape the upcoming year for small business owners. Taken as a whole, in 2012 you can expect to see a lot of maturing and fine tuning [...]

Thinking of selling your business? Hold on, and wipe those dollar signs out of your eyes. There are several factors that can affect the value of a business, and if your company isn’t up to snuff then it can look to potential buyers like the leftovers in a Walmart clearance bin. So before you offer [...]

Here is a collection of the biggest blunders, bloopers, and dumbest business moves of the past decade: 1. The Bigger They Are, the Harder They Fall Immersed in obscure accounting practices that concealed loses worth billions of dollars, Enron’s downfall at the end of 2001, will certainly be remembered as one of the most notorious scandals in [...]

The spate of foreclosures in the U.S. might be coming to a halt. Homeowners have long been complaining that banks use improper documentation to seize their homes. Their clamoring became so loud that lawmakers and banks have finally taken notice. Now, several of the big guns in banking have declared a nation-wide moratorium on foreclosure [...]

Earlier this week, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection financial reform bill into law initiating a sweeping reform of financial regulation. While the new legislation is meant to target big banks, it turns out that many small businesses may also be affected.   The bill’s provisions attempt to protect consumers [...]

Political pundits are predicting heated congressional elections this November. Republican supporters are determined to retake both the Senate and the House on the coattails of growing skepticism and discontent among voters with the current administration. If the Republicans succeed in increasing their number of seats, small business owners can expect to see changes in major [...]

 According to the Discover Small Business Watch, small business owners are experiencing cash flow problems, leading to reduced economic confidence. Business owners’ economic confidence decreased in June. Previously, it had risen for two consecutive months.   More than half of all small business owners said they feel the economy is getting worse. Reflecting this sentiment, [...]

Chase has apparently decided to do its part to jumpstart the still sluggish American economy by promoting an interesting offer: The bank promises to reduce the interest rate for each new employee that a small business hires.   Last week Chase announced that the new program is being offered to business owners willing to undertake [...]

The passage of the healthcare reform bill in March may have been welcomed news for many small business owners struggling to provide coverage for their employees. But small business owners should be aware that many of the health initiative’s main provisions will mostly benefit businesses with 50 or fewer employees and many of these provisions [...]

Bad debts and recessions go hand in hand. This kind of debt can take the form of a credit purchase gone sour, or a vendor loan that never gets repaid.   There are also bad debt expenses, defined as any expense the company incurs when it is trying to collect on receivables that are long [...]