Small Business

Somerville’s Main Street on June 2. A sign posted to the lamp post from the Downtown Somerville Alliance advertises curbside pickup and takeout. Downtown Somerville Alliance The pandemic is still raging on in the U.S., yet 64% of small business owners on Main Street are confident that they can survive for more than a year

Virginia Ali, co-owner of Ben’s Chili Bowl, one of the many Black-owned businesses on Avenue U in Washington D.C., sits near photos of her and her husband Ben, on June 15, 2020. Numerous studies have shown that African-American entrepreneurs, particularly in the service sector such as restaurants, have suffered most severely from the economic and

US President Donald Trump signs executive orders extending coronavirus economic relief, during a news conference in Bedminster, New Jersey, on August 8, 2020. JIM WATSON | AFP | Getty Images Self-employed people shouldn’t count on the payroll tax break President Donald Trump has issued via an executive order — at least not yet, tax experts

Only 4.3% of America’s 22.2 million business owners are Black, according to numbers reported in February by the Brookings Institute. And Black-owned businesses launch with about “a third less capital than their white peers and have difficulties raising private investments from mainstream investment systems,” reported Brookings. While 7% of white business owners get a loan

Popular summer vacation spot Provincetown, Massachusetts, is taking Covid-19 seriously, mandating mask-wearing and limiting the number of customers in stores, but consumers are still out. (Photo by Zach D Roberts/NurPhoto via Getty Images) NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty Images Small businesses are feeling somewhat more optimistic, adapting operations to the new economic and public health

In the days following the death of George Floyd, Brooklyn-based entrepreneur Aurora James was skeptical of the deluge of corporate support for the Black community. “As a Black woman, and also as a business owner, I was reading it, but I wasn’t necessarily feeling it to be true,” said James, who runs Brother Vellies, a company

Agatha Kulaga, co-founder and CEO of Ovenly Source: Agatha Kulaga The past few months certainly haven’t been easy for small businesses. Many had to shut their doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. While some may never reopen, others are ramping up their business — and hoping they don’t have to shut down again. Retail and

Spencer Platt | Getty Images Desy’s is one of the last bars left standing in Morrisville, North Carolina.  Owner Desislava Nikolova made her American dream come true by opening Desy’s and another bar in nearby Cary after immigrating to America from Bulgaria 11 years ago. While the coronavirus pandemic forced the majority of her counterparts in the local

A pool under construction in Washington, DC. Pat Pugliese | CNBC There is a lot of activity in Justin Sullivan’s backyard, as workers hammer out his new deck, and jackhammers pound through the basement. Concrete for the new pool has already been poured. The Sullivans had planned a renovation before the pandemic hit, but then

US President Donald Trump answers question during a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 5, 2020. Olivie Douliery | AFP | Getty Images Even if President Donald Trump were to push out a payroll tax holiday via executive order, there’s no guarantee workers will pocket

Paychex CEO Martin Mucci told CNBC on Tuesday that small business employment is falling again and is becoming as precarious as during the beginning of the U.S. coronavirus crisis. “We saw the July jobs index drop,” Mucci said on “Squawk Box.” ”That puts us back to about April, so we’re flat over the last three months.” Paychex, a

Jovita Carranza, administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, speaks as Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, listens at a House Small Business Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. Erin Scott | Getty Images The federal government is about to turn off the tap on its supply of forgivable loans for small businesses. Saturday, Aug. 8 is

Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, on Tuesday urged Congress to provide additional financial support to small businesses, saying that the now-iconic coffee chain would have struggled to weather the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic in its early years.  In 1987, Starbucks had just 11 stores and about 100 employees, Schultz said on CNBC’s “Squawk

President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on July 31. Yuri Gripas | Abaca | Bloomberg | Getty Images President Donald Trump might not have to wait for Congress to pass his payroll tax cut. He may be able to do it on

Glenn Every’s lot is loaded with buses sitting idle. “We’re devastated,” said Every, the owner and operator of Tonche Transit, a small bus company in Mount Tremper, New York. ”It’s like someone turned a switch off on March 13, and with the exception of one trip, we have not turned a wheel since.” Every took over

LeoPatrizi There may be a financial storm brewing at a key intersection on Main Street. Roughly 35% of small-business owners in a survey said they’ve needed to tap their own funds — via a personal credit card and/or savings, for example — to help prop up their business in the months since the coronavirus whacked

The coronavirus shutdown can be the perfect opportunity for you to to become an entrepreneur, according to best-selling author Patrice Washington.  Washington lost her real estate business in 2008 and spent the next decade building a new career helping others with their finances. She is also the host of “The Redefining Wealth Podcast.” The 39-year-old

Cash-strapped entrepreneurs who took a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan and are running out of funding may get a second infusion of liquidity. The Senate’s HEALS Act,  the Republican proposal for another round of coronavirus relief funding, includes a measure that would permit certain small-business owners to borrow from the program a second time. Sens.

Kemal Yildirim | E+ | Getty Images The Senate HEALS Act would allow business owners to take a temporary 100% tax deduction on business meals. The GOP’s $1 trillion proposal, which was released on Monday, calls for a range of relief measures to help buoy Americans during the coronavirus pandemic. Aside from offering another round

Ryan German has kept 40 employees working at his restaurant, Caffe Gelato, in Newark, Delaware. The Paycheck Protection Program provided a lifeline to help him through an unprecedented spring as the coronavirus pandemic tore through the country. The loan, now exhausted, covered seven weeks of payroll. But the restaurant is facing down an unknown future with