Welcome to Main Street Morning, The Washington Post’s daily collection of news affecting entrepreneurs, start-ups and small businesses, with a special focus on policy and government.
Here’s what’s affecting my small business, my clients and other entrepreneurs today.
Washington
• The Federal Reserve decides to leave interest rates unchanged.
• Here’s how much you would save or lose under Obama’s new tax plan.
• Republicans are looking to unseat a congressional budget official.
The Economy
• Small businesses are starting the new year with gains in hiring and the average paycheck.
Entrepreneurs
• A popular blogger who started his own for-pay site decides to call it quits.
• A bumper crop of apples a few years ago inspired this entrepreneur to go into the cider-making business.
• An entrepreneur seizes an opportunity after spotting a gap in the cloud computing market.
• An inspiring entrepreneur shares his plan to end hunger on The Ellen Show.
Customer Service
• How eight small businesses stayed connected with their customers during winter storm Juno.
Cash Flow
• Six things you must know before selling your business.
• How to tell if that travel review is fake.
• These are five small business grants to consider.
• A new white paper offers an update on the future of payment technologies.
Opportunities
• Cheaper gas is giving small businesses big savings each month and creating expansion opportunities.
• Legal marijuana is now one of America’s fastest growing industry – and it may be No. 1 soon.
Social Media
• Facebook says 69 percent of its ad revenue now comes from mobile.
• Facebook also helped this business owner track down cash stolen from his business.
• An 81-year-old U.S. Senator is an enthusiastic tweeter.
Management
• Can you guess what makes Bill Gates feel stupid?
• These are the dates every business owner needs to know for 2015.
Online
• Amazon challenges Google and Microsoft with its own email service and adds seller-shipped marketplace items to its super saver shipping program.
• China passes the U.S. as the world’s largest source of spam.
• A platform for connecting independent businesses with their communities is rolling out new apps.
• A business owner says his website was hacked by ISIS sympathizers.
Start-up
• A mobile loyalty start-up raises $3.5 million and a Web page analytics firm raises $35 million.
• Here’s the job description for Boston’s “start-up czar.” Do you fit the bill?
• Another promising start-up is regulated out of business.
Super Bowl
• A soda company adds a deflategate-inspired drink to its offerings.
• Uber teams up with Animal Planet and the Puppy Bowl to deliver adoptable puppies to customers’ offices for 15 minutes of playtime.
• A Carl’s Jr.’s Super Bowl ad stirs controversy.
• GoDaddy decides to pull its Super Bowl ad amidst concerns that it promoted animal abuse.
• Phoenix entrepreneurs are finding that renting out their homes to Super Bowl visitors can bring big bucks.
Sales
• Personalized direct engagement is still the preferred method of contact among business buyers.
Ideas
• A brewing company considers putting beer in cardboard bottles.
Technology
• Microsoft’s OneDrive adds “super-intelligent” searching of document text and photos.
• This service wants to manage your smartphones for $3 a month, per user.
• Enterprise communications service Slack plans to add video and voice chat.
Around the Country
• The owner of a popular Philadelphia restaurant could lose his diner to a planned hotel.
• California might replace the state’s gas sales tax with a mileage tax.
• To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Deluxe Corporation is telling the stories of 100 small businesses around the country through video and photo essays.
Around the World
• How U.K.’s the queen of tech is turning London into Silicon Valley.
• A typo causes the collapse of a 124-year-old Welsh family business.
• Dubai is now the world’s busiest airport for international travel.
• British men are reclaiming hosiery.
Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. Follow Gene Marks and On Small Business on Twitter.
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