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Now that interest and enthusiasm for daily deals sites, such as Groupon, LivingSocial, and Google Offers have begun to wane, a new wave of social media of platforms lies in their wake. Location-based services, such as Yelp and Foursquare are being heavily targeted to small businesses as a way to increase sales and customer engagement.

But location-based social media is far from the holy grail model of small business success. To make it work, you need to approach it all with a solid strategy. Here are some tips to make location-based social media work for your business and not against it:

Know your business. Many small business owners learned the hard way that offering daily deals just wasn’t good for them and their business model. The same can be said of using location-based services to entice customers to patron your business. If you are constantly having to cut into your profit margins with discounts that don’t bring repeat business or you are unfamiliar with these platforms and are having a hard time eliciting user engagement and interest, then it may not be for you.

The bottom line here is that you need to be realistic regarding how well these kinds of services will fit into your business, how adept you can expect to be with them, and what kinds of offers and enticements you can comfortably support to drum up interest and sales.

Know your customers. Even if you know that you can comfortably carry out a savvy marketing campaign on Foursquare and the like, you have to make sure that your customers are the kinds of people who would use such services. If most of your customers aren’t there already, then don’t bother spending inordinate amounts of time and money trying to drag them there.

If they are on the network, then first spend some time learning how they use it and what is important to them.

Make it simple. Give customers who check-in a small reward for doing so, such as a discount or coupon, and maybe offer a different reward for customers who leave a recommendation for your business on the network. You can use this service like a loyalty program. Make sure your rewards are clear, meaning customers know what they are getting when they perform certain actions, and that you follow through.

Make it worth their while. This is extremely important… While you don’t want to break the bank with offers that are too costly, you still want to make sure that the reward is connected to the level of effort required to access it. And building on the last point above, make sure that you acknowledge and reward active users. These are the people who take the time to leave recommendations, upload photos of the business, or leave other “tips” to future customers. Having such people on board is extremely valuable to your business because they are helping you promote your products and services. Woo them!!! The worst thing you can do is totally ignore their efforts.

In short, using location-based social media platforms in your marketing mix, may or may not be right for your business. If you consider the points above, you can save yourself a whole lot of headache later on and money, too, and which small business owner doesn’t want that?

With the new year underway, you may have an urge to just put your head down and plow forward- especially if 2012 didn’t treat you or your business so kindly. But, one of the biggest mistakes that we on a societal level tend to make is that we fail to apply the lessons of the past (even the recent past) to our present and future. The result is that we can make fatal errors in judgment and behavior that could have easily been prevented. Our desire to move on only trips us up later on.

That said, here are ten defining moments in business that occurred in 2012. Each event represents an important transition or trend that will no doubt shape 2013, and as such, should be kept in mind as we head into the new year.

1. Big banks settle on mortgage falsification reports. In February of 2012, 17 of the biggest banks in the US, including Bank of America, HSBC, and Morgan Stanley, collectively agreed to pay $25 billion to settle allegations by state and federal officials that they used falsified documents to evict homeowners facing foreclosure. Many critics of the deal pointed out, however, that the real perpetrators of the mortgage meltdown were basically getting off scot free, paving the way for some other, future financial crisis.

2. The fateful Facebook IPO fail. One of the most ballyhooed tech IPO’s of the decade, ended in a colossal fail. The stock’s May offering was marred by technical glitches and chaotic trading, but that was just the start of the stock’s woes in 2012. The company’s share prices plummeted after its $38 debut, trading below $20 in August. The stock has remained well below its IPO throughout the year. Industry analysts claim that the stock’s poor performance, coupled with a string of high profile tech let-downs (think Groupon, Zynga, etc) has spooked VC investors, making it more difficult for Silicon Valley startups to get financial backing.

3. Global economic slowdown. With all the turmoil among the European Union and a tepid U.S. economic recovery, strong growth among developing countries had been a persistent bright spot. But that began to change as emerging markets like China faced a manufacturing slowdown and India began its battle with inflation. In July, the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecasts for global growth further fueling fears of a word-wide economic slowdown.

4. Natural disasters. The U.S. saw a one-two punch of natural disasters this year. In the hot summer months, drought gripped the Corn Belt and more than half the United States, reaching proportions not seen in more than 50 years. Rising crop prices and a drop in farm inventories have cost the economy an estimated $50 billion. Later this past year, Hurricane Sandy whipped through the eastern seaboard, devastating coastal New Jersey and submerging lower Manhattan in several feet of water. Both disasters have raised serious issues about climate change and emergency preparations.

5. Quantitative easing continues. The Federal Reserve announced a third round of quantitative easing in September to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment. For the first time, it made a definitive promise that it would keep interest rates ultra-low even if the economy starts to recover. Critics of the plan claim that the move only helps the big corporations and banks pad their coffers- since they can borrow money for next to no cost. Consumers, however, get little return on their savings (unless they invest in the volatile stock market), and the majority of small business owners, still struggling with sluggish sales, have little need for cheap financing. In short, the plan is hurting the economy, not helping it.

6. Standing at the edge of the Fiscal Cliff. Right after President Obama was reelected, the nation turned its attention to the series of year-end tax hikes and automatic spending cuts known as the “fiscal cliff.” Though a last minute bipartisan “solution” was reached shortly after the close of 2012, the legislation effectively postpones our free fall of the fiscal cliff and makes it a de facto issue in 2013.

7. Black Thursday. This year, retailers broke with the tradition of giving thanks and eating turkey to offer bargain hunters a head start on their holiday shopping. Walmart, Target and other stores had shoppers lining up on Thanksgiving night to take advantage of Black Friday sales. Though workers staged protests, and many consumer finance experts pointed out that most of these Black Friday sales would be available later in the shopping season, the shopping continued in spite of it.

8. Same day delivery. The past year also saw the push (and execution) of same day delivery services by mega-retailers, Amazon, Walmart, and even eBay. The move, puts greater pressure on small local retailers and other small businesses to offer their customers a reason to shop at their establishments.

 

 

9. Small business owner pessimism. The whole past year has been characterized by a declining small business optimism. With issues like the fiscal cliff, health care reform, increasing competition from big businesses, and a weak economy, it’s little wonder why.

 

 

10. U.S unemployment rate finally drops. The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to its lowest point in nearly four years in September, reaching 7.8 percent. This year also saw a modest growth in wages earned. So far, the employment numbers have held steady through the year’s end.

 

The new year hasn’t even arrived, yet many small business owners may be wishing the clocks would go backwards. With big issues such as the Fiscal Cliff and the early stages of health care reform slated to go into effect on January 1^st, there’s little wonder why.

But even if 2013 looks a bit rough from the outside, it doesn’t mean small business owners should be sticking their heads in the sand. If you are running a small business heading into the new year, here are five resolutions that you can make to keep your business on course:

1. Work on focus. If there is one thing that small business owners should have learned from the 2012, it’s that bigger businesses are pulling out all the stops when it comes to acting like a small business. This is evinced by the push for personalized service and same day delivery. To survive, small businesses have to be hyper-focused on their niche market, only providing the products and services they can truly deliver with quality.

2. Work those networks. Another big resolution for 2013, is to work on partnering with other businesses and professionals. Now more than ever, small businesses need to pool their resources in order to be more competitive, more relevant, and more profitable. This goes for businesses based both online and off-line. Even if you are not a natural when it comes to networking, in the new year the success of your business may depend on how well you can reach out to other business owners.

3. Work your customer service. One of the biggest assets a small business can have these days is also one of its most elusive: customer loyalty. I just saw an article at Business Insider about a Zappos customer service representative who spent a mind boggling 9 hours and 37 minutes (!) with a customer on the phone (they weren’t talking business the whole time… but, still…). Now, obviously you can’t afford to go that extreme with your customer service, but you can make a commitment to revamp some of your customer loyalty programs in 2013, and try to improve your overall customer service experience.

4. Work your online reputation. In these heady days of social media, a business’ reputation can literally be made or broken in an instant. The range and speed with which information is exchanged today is unprecedented. Another commitment for 2013, is to improve your online reputation. This includes: staying in touch with what people are saying about you online, ensuring that you business’ profile information is accurate, up-to-date, and complete, and in short, ensuring that your business is being properly represented.

5. Work your cash flow. Last, but certainly not least, is to re-evaluate how you manage your cash flow. If you haven’t yet learned your lesson from the chronic economic difficulty or any of the natural disasters that have happened in 2012, then make a commitment to incorporate strategies, such as creating an emergency fund, and using financing tools, such as a business cash advance or accounts receivables financing, to help you be prepared for emergency expenses and ultimately smooth out the flow of working capital in your business.

In short, as a small business owner, if you make it a point to truly focus on any of the areas mentioned above, then it may be just what you need to get your head out of the sand and paint a brighter picture in 2013.

Is it just me, or does it seem like the pace of business is increasing exponentially with every passing year? Each year has certainly brought its own game-changing technological advances and platforms that have affected the way businesses communicate with their customers and market their products and services. 2013 promises to be no different.

But if you start looking into the matter, you’ll quickly see that there are several distinct business patterns to look out at for in the new year, and each one of them is big enough to cause an avoidable splash.

As a time strapped, cash strapped small business owner, how do you choose which ones to pay attention to? For starters, here are five, over-ridding trends that you, as a small business owner, simply cannot afford to ignore:

Trend #1: The big squeeze. In order to maximize their reach, many big box corporations and Internet-based companies have begun offering an unprecedented range of really convenient services including enhanced personalization, same day delivery, and product customizations, and they are doing all of this at a competitively low price range. Because of this, small businesses will literally be force to adapt one or more of the following strategies in 2013: offering a highly specialized product or service, focusing on an ultra-specific niche, building an engaged community of customers around the business, and banding together with other local businesses to save expenses and cross-promote.

Trend #2: A matter of reputation. With online product reviews, social media and viral video, consumers will be more empowered than ever in 2013 to share their experiences, both positive ones and negative ones, about the products and services they use. Small businesses will need to double their efforts to keeps tabs on their reputation online, make sure their products and services deliver what was promised.

Trend #3: Mobile business monopoly. Small business owners need to respond to the growing proliferation of mobile devices. This actually includes several trends: mobile marketing, mobile payments, and web presence optimization for mobile devices. Over the past couple of years mobile optimization meant smart phones, but with the emergence of affordable mini tablets, like the popular Kindle Fire series from Amazon, we are going to see a lot more people connecting to the Internet and to each other through these devices. (And this also includes new items, like Microsoft’s smartly designed Surface- that will bridge the gap between PC and tablet computing). This means some of you have got to start thinking about optimizing your sites for both a smartphone and a tablet experience.

Trend #4: Run on talent. If your company is in the tech industry or you are in need of tech support positions, then you’ve probably noticed how hard it has become to attract talented, experienced employees. This will likely only get tougher in 2013. Many of the best employees are already employed, or are getting grabbed by big companies that can offer super attractive packages. These employees may be reticent to jump to something new. Finding the right combination of hard and soft skills will continue to be a major challenge for small business employers next year.

Trend #5: Keep it simple. When it comes to web-based design two words define the current trend: keep it simple and visual. That sites, such as Pinterest, have taken off is further proof that people are looking for visual content with instant appeal- from either a ascetic of informational standpoint. Moreover, sophisticated data visualization, specifically the art of turning complex data sets into a visual so that immediate patterns and/or fundamental principles become instantly apparent, is also gaining in popularity.

In short, there are many trends and movements that will shape the business world in the coming year, some may apply to your business, others not. But the previous five are definitely ones to watch out for. If you ignore them, then you risk being left in the dust.

As countless small business owners wonder what the new year will bring to their profit margins- a year already colored by the looming specters of the fiscal cliff and healthcare reform- it seems several big businesses are sitting quite cozy, indeed. In September of this year, a congressional report put a spotlight on maneuverings that allowed two tech giants, Microsoft and Hewllet-Packard, to avoid paying taxes on billions of dollars in offshore profits.

These companies are certainly not alone. The corporate annuls are filled to the brim with sophisticated tax dodging that often goes hand-in-hand with enormous outlays of money dedicated to political lobbying.

How bad is it?

Here are stats on ten of the most profitable companies in the US: how much they made last year; how much they actually paid in US taxes (keep in mind that the official corporate tax rate is 35%); how much they spent on political lobbying.

Judge for yourself…

1. Exxon Mobil

Pre-tax earnings 2011: $73.3 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $1.5 Billion (2%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $9,870,000

 

2. Chevron

Pre-tax earnings 2011: $47.6 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $1.9 Billion (4%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $7,080,000

 

 

 

3. Apple

Pre-tax earnings: $34.2 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $3.9 Billion (11%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $1,430,000

 

 

 

4. Microsoft

Pre-tax earnings: $28.1 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $3.1 Billion (11%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $5,656,000

 

 

5. JPMorgan Chase

Pre-tax earnings: $26.7 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid:$3.7 Billion (14%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures:  $4,900,000

 

6. Wal-Mart

Pre-tax earnings: $24.4 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $4.6 Billion (19%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $4,650,000

 

7. Wells Fargo

Pre-tax earnings: $23.7 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $3.4 Billion (14%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $5,290,000

 

8. ConocoPhillips

Pre-tax earnings: $23.0 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $1.9 Billion (8%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $2,359,000

 

9. IBM

Pre-tax earnings: $21.0 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $0.268 Billion (1%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $3,560,000

 

10. General Electric

Pre-tax earnings: $20.1 Billion

Actual Federal US Taxes Paid: $1.0 Billion (5%)

Total Lobbying Expenditures: $15,550,000

Sources:

• http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/markets/2012/corporate-taxes-only-9-percent/
• http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57516934-75/congressional-report-dings-microsoft-hp-for-avoiding-taxes/
• http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/index.php

Small business owners who recognize the value of creating informative and engaging content online will no doubt include infographics in their content creation portfolio. By presenting information in a compact and creative format, infographics are able to quickly convey knowledge and engage its viewers.

But, if you are just now getting started with infographics you may be wondering where to begin- especially if you are not so creative by nature and you don’t have so much money to spend paying someone else to create them for you.

The good news is that there are many tools online, several of them for free or for a reasonable price, that can help even the most novice infographics creator produce a stunning, graphical image. Below is a collection of some of the best ones out there:

1. Piktochart– Easy to use infographics creator. Produce customized infographics using pre-set themes.

2. Infogr.am– is an easy to use online service that lets you create, share, and find infographics and online charts

3. Hohli– An online chart builder

4. Google Charts– Powerful, simple to use interactive charts and data tools

5. Pixlr– A powerful online photo and image editor

6. Many Eyes– Access data sets and create graphs and other visualizations with this free online service by IBM

7. Creately– Create beautiful, intuitive diagrams with this feature-rich tool. Allows for collaboration among several users.

8. Cacoo– Create diagrams online with real-time collaboration

9. Chartle.net– Create simple and interactive charts online

10. ChartsBin– A collection of interactive, user-generated charts and graphs and tools to create your own.

11. Gliffy– Online diagram software. Create professional-quality flowcharts, diagrams, floor plans, and technical drawings.

12. Chart Tool– Create online graphs and charts.

13. Google Public Data– Google’s Public Data Explorer provides public data and forecasts from a range of international organizations and academic institutions

14. Easel.ly– Create and share infographics online

15. iCharts– Charts made simple. Create and share data-driven ideas.

 

Now that Thanksgiving has passed us by, we have officially entered the end of the year holiday season. That means it’s time to start seriously thinking about what to give to your employees as recognition for all the hard work they have put in to the business throughout the year.

Just a word of caution, though. Regardless of your gift budget, make sure that your giving is appropriate. Your employees will quickly build up resentment, lose their moral, and harbor an assortment of other negative feelings if they deem your gift to be insensitive, condescending, or grossly in adequate.

What exactly do I mean by “insensitive, condescending, or grossly in adequate”? Take a look at the examples below of some of the worst holiday gifts to employees given by their bosses collected from around the web:

Real-Life Examples of Horrible Business “Gifts” to Their Employees

• “One year my sister worked at a major theme park and was required to work on Christmas Day. In acknowledgment of this, her boss gave all of the hourly employees a present: A gift certificate for one of the in-park vendor stands for a medium soda OR a banana. (Yes, those were the two choices.) When she cashed hers in for a banana, she was told that the gift certificate did not cover sales tax and had to pay that out of pocket.”

• “Last year at Christmas each employee at my husband’s firm received an envelope containing $100 cash. Presuming this was a holiday bonus, we spent it on groceries, some things for our two kids, a dinner out, etc. Like a lot of grown-ups, our paychecks are deposited electronically and we have many bills drafted out the same way, such as our utilities, car insurance, etc. A week later, on payday, we discovered in the worst possible way that the $100 was not a gift, but was simply deducted from my husband’s salary and presented as cash. Because his week’s pay was now $100 less, suddenly all the drafts of our bills began coming out of an account that was $100 smaller than it was supposed to be, until finally, a check bounced and the bank charged us $36.

• “At the annual Christmas luncheon my boss presented me with a Christmas present….which was a coffee mug. When I got back to the office, I had a bill on my chair for the cost of the Christmas luncheon and the mug.”

• “At one of my first jobs, Management brought a caterer in with 50 or so frozen turkeys at the start of my shift a few days before Thanksgiving. We were all given one. Not a gift certificate FOR a frozen turkey, but an actual frozen turkey. Unfortunately, as you might imagine we did not have room in the break room refrigerator for 50 frozen turkeys. And we were not allowed to go home to drop them off…”

• “I once received a Harry and David tower of treats. Gourmet, yes. But the package had my boss’ address pasted on it. He had regifted it to me.”

• “Years ago, I worked for a boss who took us all out to a very expensive restaurant in New York City one December evening. Throughout the night, he encouraged us all to eat, drink and be merry. He urged us all to order the choicest and most expensive items on the menu. So we did. At the end of the meal, he asked for separate checks.”

• “A boss gave me a high five. Two years in a row.”

• “Worst gift I can ever remember receiving was a pack of sanitary napkins. The wrapping was nice, mind you, with ribbons and all. And even with a card that says, “Something useful, from:” And when we all opened it there in the office afterward, imagine our shock when we found all the women in the department received the same gift. Our boss (a guy) was known to be a chauvinist, but until that day, we did not know how bad it was. He came over after seeing us opening the presents and even smirked, ‘I hope I got your preferred brands correctly.’ Needless to say, we resigned one after the other in quick succession in less than two weeks.”

• “The first year at my current company they called everyone down by team and gave them grocery store gift cards for $7.58. And they made you sign for them. “

• “One large retail company in Michigan I used to work for gave all of their employees a coupon for a free doughnut in the bakery… At another company we had an employee gift exchange and my boss gave a picture of himself and a few roles of toilet paper in a nicely wrapped box. Thank goodness, I didn’t fall for the pretty wrapping and had selected another gift.”

• “My boss pressured us to chip in $100 each to give the CEO a remote car starter for his Cadillac, and in the process, we grew to believe that our boss expected a gift, too… This put us in the awkward position of feeling it was expected that we buy a gift for our immediate boss. Which we did. I gave him a $40 bottle of his favorite liquor… Imagine my shock to open my Christmas bonus of $70 which is half of what I spent on them.”

• “As a supervisor in a manufacturing plant, one year I was required to give out these chintzy watches that looked too cheap to have even come from a 25 cent machine or the claw game. What made it better is that we had been working 7 days a week for the last month (with nearly a month left of this schedule to go) and it felt like a slap in the face to the people that had been working so hard to give them such an obvious piece of garbage.”

• “We used to have a workers’ Christmas party, paid for by the company, that we could take a guest to. Then we had to pay for a guest. Then we had to pay for ourselves and any guest. Then we discovered that the fee we were paying paid for management to continue to attend for free.”

• “A dog leash. From the president of the company. I was his personal assistant. I quit after a year.”

• “I once received x-rated shot glasses from my supervisor. Not pictures that were x-rated, but the actual shot glass formed in a naughty body part. Gross. “

• “Each year we get turkeys just waiting for the cut to make it a Cornish game hen.”

• A copy of the children’s book, The Little Engine That Could from a VP who “…pile[s] as much work on employees as they can possibly take. He seems to relish pushing people straight to the edge of their capabilities—and their sanity. (Perhaps he has delusions of being Jack Welch?) In any case, at least one employee was pushed too far and had to take a stress-related leave of absence this past fall. Others are fleeing the company.”

• “A Mars Bar for the anniversary of working with the organization. It made me feel unappreciated”

• “Microwave popcorn and one bottle of sparkling to share amongst 10 people to celebrate major account resigning”

• “For my five years of service – a choice of a wallet, a $5 bottle of wine, a plastic picture frame, playing cards and 2 other pieces of garbage – what an insult”

• “A Taco Bell watch for 5 years of service and a letter misspelling my name”

• “A pen that didn’t work”

• “$5 iTunes Gift Card for Christmas”

• “Herb sachets from a Channel promotion”

• Rancid food, dead or bug infested plants

• Nice gifts, such as watches, necklaces, with the message that the item would be listed on the employee’s W-2 as income related item.

• Stock options in a struggling company

• A Bic pen, a rock that says “You rock!,” a plastic key chain, used coffee coasters

• A wooden hairbrush sent to a bald male employee

• A donation made to a charity that the employee doesn’t like

What are your holiday employee gift nightmares?

Sources:

http://www.slideshare.net/NutsOnClark/the-11-worst-corporate-gifts2

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57341175/9-worst-holiday-gifts-from-bosses/

http://blogs.cio.com/careers/16721/holiday-gifts-bad-bosses#disqus_thread

http://couponing.about.com/od/bargainshoppingtips/tp/worstgifts.htm

http://www.cfodailynews.com/the-25-worst-business-gifts-of-all-time/

http://naomisimson.com/2009/12/07/employer-worst-gifts-ever/

 

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 enough time, money, nor attention to optimizing it, and this is likely costing them a lot of business.

Here is a rundown of the most telling omissions:

• 78% of small business websites do not provide an email address on their homepage. Even if the business technically has a contact email account, visitors to the site have to search to find it.

• 90% do not provide either a map or directions on their homepage. Interested customers either have to search for the information elsewhere on the site, or they have to make the effort to access a third party service, such as Google Maps, where they can be exposed to local competing businesses.

• 94.5% of websites provide no means of conducting a transaction online. There is no way to make and pay for an order. This can turn away people who would otherwise do business online.

• 76% of websites do not have a privacy policy. Visitors to these sites have no way of knowing what data is being collected from them and how that data is being used.

• 98% of small commercial websites have no spam protection. There are no captcha fields included in the site’s web forms.

• 92% of websites do not have a blog. This means there is very little new content being uploaded on to the site. This can affect how the site gets ranked in the search engines.

• 98% of websites are not optimized for the mobile web. This fact alone can be cutting off many potential customers. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 35% of American adults own a smartphone and 44% of them use their phones to serf the web.

• 74% have no location in their meta-title. Putting location data into a website’s meta-title improves website visibility among potential customers looking for locally based businesses.

 

As 2012 comes to a close and the new year looms ahead, small business owners have a got a lot on their minds, and it isn’t just their holiday sales. According to the Bank of America Small Business Owner Report put out last Thursday, the majority of the nation’s small business owners are wary about the economic outlook in 2013.

Which issues were the most pressing according to the report? Here is a rundown:

1. The Effectiveness of the U.S. Government Leadership. A total of 68% of respondents reported that the ability of our leadership to, well… lead!, is a major concern heading into 2013. With all the posturing and finger pointing that we have witnessed over the past two years in particular, this is not surprising. It underscores a rising tide of apathy and a collective vote of no confidence that many Americans are holding, even across party lines.

2. The Cost of Commodities. Another major concern that affects businesses of all stripes is an impending rise of commodity prices. The commodity price charts, for products such as oil, wheat, and corn, h like a roller coaster ride this whole year. A current business owner who was in business in 2008, when the cost of commodities skyrocketed upward, would understandably be uneasy. Indeed, 66% of small business owners listed in as a primary concern in 2013.

3. The Cost of Healthcare. Even with the Making Healthcare Affordable Act set to go into affect in 2014, many owners of small companies ( a full 65% of those surveyed) are still very worried about the rising cost of healthcare, and it’s little wonder why. The cost of healthcare continues to outpace wages and inflation going into 2013.

4. Consumer Spending. Whether we like it or not, in America consumer spending drives the nation’s economic growth. So when consumers start restraining their spending it doesn’t bode well for the businesses they frequent, nor the economy at large. According to the NFIB Small Business Optimism Survey, weak sales is still the reported as the number one business problem for 22% of owners surveyed. According to the Bank of America survey, 64% of small business owners are concerned about consumer spending, and it’s a trend that will likely continue well into 2013.

5. The Strength of the Dollar. The fallout of doing business in a global economy is that profits are strongly tied to international currency exchange rates. The strength of the U.S. dollar rounds out the top five small business concerns at 63%. This is likely do to the fact that all the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. economy as well as other major global economies, such as the European Union, create volatility. For some, a weak dollar means more expensive global purchasing and outsourcing relationships. For a few businesses, a strong dollar may be a problem- especially if they rely on foreign customers ave looked.

Now that the presidential election is over, and the dust has settled a bit, we are left to speculate about what the next four years will bring. Whether or not you supported President Obama, it is hard to deny the uncertainty that still reigns supreme. There is much ado about fiscal policy, about staggering national debt, about income inequality, about homeland security, about natural disasters, about the world economy, and our ability as a individuals and as a nation to cope with it all.

For the owners of America’s smallest businesses, this chronic uncertainty has been bleeding into daily operations and management mindset, making an indelible impression on overall optimism and economic outlook, and in short, has changed the way small business owners do business.

Has anything changed now that the presidency has been set? Here is a rundown of some of the key issues affecting small business owners:

• Obama’s re-election took away the uncertainty over The Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare” as it’s called, the President’s auspicious healthcare overhaul which is set to go into effect in 2014. It’s a legislative reality that business owners with 50 or more employees are going to have to deal with. (Businesses with fewer than 50 employees are exempt.) But, how all these changes will affect the healthcare industry “at the ground level” is still unclear, and even with all the checks in place, healthcare could still end up costing small business owners more.

• The election process only deepened the partisan divide over taxes and fiscal policy. At issue is the imposing fiscal cliff, which is slated to go into effect in January 2013, barring any Congressional action. Going over the cliff will mean some $7 trillion worth of hard to swallow tax increases and spending cuts over the next decade. Here’s a brief summary of some of the key changes:

-Several Bush-era tax breaks are set to expire resulting in a 3 percent increase on individual income tax rates in 2013. Those making more than $388,350 a year, will see a 4.6 percent increase.

-Payroll taxes will increase to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent. This will be particularly hard for small business owners who are both owners and employees of their businesses.

-The tax break for capital purchases will end. Under Section 179, if you purchased equipment for your business this year, you can deduct half the cost on your taxes right away and it counts as depreciation. In 2013, the depreciation rules will revert to their normal setup allowing you to only deduct the cost of equipment gradually, over the life of the asset.

-The Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) may tax many middle class Americans, including small businesses. The intention of the AMT is to prevent wealthy individuals from using numerous deductions to significantly drive down their tax obligations so that they are effectively paying too little. But the threshold for those who are subject to the AMT is currently set at $150,000, an amount that will likely affect many middle class workers and small business owners. AMT also affects LLCs, partnerships, and S Corporations.

• Obama’s re-election also ensures a continuation of quantitative easing- the Federal Reserve’s attempt at reviving the economy by artificially keeping interest rates exceptionally low. Why is this important to small business owners? The critics of quantitative easing, which are not surprisingly significantly Republican, point out that these policies have not helped the economy. Which ever way you hold, the Fed’s moves have an impact on inflation and the overall strength of the dollar- and that is something that can affect many small businesses, especially those who are involved in global purchasing or sales.

In short, though the question of who the next president will be has been answered, there still remain enough questions to keep small business owners” busy” for a while to come.