Welcome back to another episode of This Week in Small Business. This is a weekly series in which I dissect the big news of the week for small business owners and more.
On the show this week, I’m joined by a good friend of mine, Jeff Brathwaite, CEO of 2 The Next Level.
To kick off the conversation, we talked about small business resources and where small business owners — like you — can get these invaluable and important tools. Last week, Annie Pilon looked to our small business community for a comprehensive listing of those tools and resources.
We then carried on to talk about those of us who are in business for ourselves — mostly. Being alone in business is sometimes tough and it’s hard to stay motivated all the time. Jeff and I found this week’s article from Due was spot on with its advice.
Finally, we gawked at the specs of Microsoft’s new Surface Hub 2 device. This is a device you truly need to see to believe and we’re both excited about its release — even if it’s out of our budget range right now.
For more stories that crossed the wire this week at Small Business Trends, check out the weekly roundup below:
Economy
Women Entrepreneurs More Likely to Launch Healthcare or Education Businesses
Women are more likely than men to launch businesses in healthcare and education related industries, the third in SCORE’s”The Megaphone of Main Street” report series reveals.
Finance
Kabbage Sees More Mobile Lending, Women and Minority Owned Businesses Seeking Funds
Online lending platform Kabbage says it sees more mobile lending, more women and minority owned businesses seeking loans and more businesses from rural and lower to middle income communities too. Small Business Trends connected with Kathryn Petralia, president of Kabbage, to learn more about its core offering and other steps it’s taken to add value to entrepreneurs.
Small Business Operations
83% of B2B Procurement Officers Now Prefer Ecommerce Options, Report Says
Providing a robust ecommerce experience will encourage 83% of procurement officers to spend more when purchasing the supplies they need. This according to the 2018 Avionos Procurement Officer Study. The move to a more ecommerce centric purchasing behavior is going to lead away from the traditional in-person relationships previously seen in B2B.
Technology Trends
Apply These 6 Techniques to Improve Mobile Loading Speed of Your Business Site
While there undoubtedly are several factors impacting revenue, most experts say that business sites loading within 5 seconds earn almost double those doing it in 19, the average site loading time. The study has further found that sites loading within 5 seconds have: 25% higher ad visibility, 35% lower bounce rate, and 70% longer user sessions.
RED Hydrogen One Holographic Phone Could Aid Small Business Video Creation
Potential customers caught a sneak peak at the new RED Hydrogen One phone at an event in Los Angeles, and AT&T and Verizon say they’ll be the first carriers for the phones come this summer in the US. The phone could aid small businesses in creating video.
Las Vegas, Memphis and Charlotte Least Cyber Secure Cities for Small Business, Report Says
The inaugural Coronet “Cybersecurity in the City: Ranking America’s Most Insecure Metros” report has named Las Vegas, Memphis, and Charlotte as the least cyber secure cities in the US for small and medium-sized businesses. The report goes on to say businesses in these cities are at an increased risk of cyber attacks because they have fewer cybersecurity resources available to them.