But it looks like small businesses are slowly starting to warm up to their banks, with 20 percent of small businesses increasing their level of trust in banks over the past nine months. That’s up 3 percent compared to last year.

Well, you could say the situation is like moving from 10 degrees below zero to 9 or 8 degrees below zero. It isn’t anywhere near sunny, but it’s an improvement.

This is largely because smaller, community banks have stepped up the effort to lend to small businesses in their communities. This has taken place largely because the bigger banks have retreated from small and medium business; opening the field up for the underdogs to come up and grab hold of fresh territory.

And let’s face it, many of the big banks have serious problems with loan quality and capital resources. It’s pretty easy for the bigger banks to get away with more fine print and red tape than smaller banks.

This makes it look small banks are tuning themselves to meet the needs of small businesses.

The benefits here are numerous: you pay less for people to work for you, you obtain workers who are motivated to learn from your practice and you help out your community by giving young hotshots a chance at running an actual business. You could even find a gem in the rough for your business’ financial, administrative and executive positions.

Internship does, of course, have a few kinks that you need to iron out. Legal issues are your biggest concern. Interns are distinct from regular and contractual employees, especially when it comes to wages, terms and conditions. Another bit to remember is that interns need a lot of guidance. It helps if you have established or plan to establish a well-defined training program.

All things considered, choosing bright young interns could be just the thing you need to fill up your vacant positions. The “feel-good” vibes doesn’t hurt, too.

American Express is spearheading this initiative, and has even pledged $25 to AmEx cardholders who choose to support small businesses.

But free money is not the way by which AmEx is supporting the small business industry. 2010 saw around 100,000 businesses download the marketing package provided by AmEx for the first-ever Small Business Saturday.

If you’ve got a business tucked under your belt, then you had best exploit this initiative as best you can. Making other people aware of the existence of Small Business Saturday is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways you can promote your own business. Simply put up a poster on your store or make a quick shout-out on your Facebook or Twitter page, and you’ll have done your part to both promote both your own business and the Small Business Saturday initiative at the same time.

Take this opportunity to show people around your area what you’ve got to offer, too. Make the most of Small Business Saturday, and you could find yourself with a few regulars that can make life a whole lot easier for your business.

If you own a business near these movements, then you know first-hand what this entails. Customers are either too scared or too inconvenienced by a mob on the streets. Even the relatively peaceful campers can unnerve people enough to avoid their usual hangouts.

But there is some way for these businesses to salvage their operations: appeal to both protestors and local media.

A simple article in the San Francisco Chronicle plus a highlight on local news brought back some of the more loyal customers of the B Restaurant and Bar – which is a mere two blocks from the Occupy Oakland site.

You’d be surprised how many customers would be willing to “brave the hordes” after seeing the plight of local businesses. And whether you agree with the Occupy movement or not, the organizers of these movements are more or less sympathetic of the businesses they hurt.

“We feel terrible if any of these small shops are hurting. We want to know what we can do to help,” says one media team member from Occupy Oakland.

For starters, why not take action directed at the big, bad banks instead of local players?

• Effective management structures, hiring qualified help and good working relationships can make managing a business much easier and less stressful for the owner.
• Outside help and guidance can provide a lot of benefits for the burned-out entrepreneur: new business decisions, a fresh outlook, revitalized objectives and even a total redefinition of the business are some of these benefits.
• Finding trained workers and supplementing their knowledge with established training protocols will have clear financial and stress-reducing benefits.
• Finding inspiration from success stories can help entrepreneurs revitalize their business efforts after going through a series of failures and setbacks.
• Defining a solid pricing formula with tweaks and refinements over time will help keep a business afloat and improve cost accounting.
• Knowing both priorities and limitations will help an entrepreneur set realistic expectations for growth; avoiding a “growth trap” where expansion ends up becoming unsustainable.
• Taking the initiative to improve morale at the workplace can be made possible by simply allowing employees to do what they do best, be given the opportunity for career growth and “connect” with management in one way or another.

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Emphasis on vision is the first thing Abrams notes; citing the importance of those who create jobs, wealth, products and knowledge. A vision to finance lasting businesses and effect changes in the world that drive these “builders” – not just profits alone. This includes assigning most equity to founders instead of investors.

Excellent education laid the foundations for Jobs’ creativity. He graduated from Homestead High School in Cupertino, California in 1972 – just six years before California undermined financing for public schools. His experiences in liberal arts (courtesy of a calligraphy class he attended in college) also contributed to his decision to include different and beautiful font types in his computers.

Accepting failure is something that must be tolerated and even accepted in all business. Great entrepreneurs fail, says Abrams, and societies that embrace failures enables successes.

Abrams wraps up her discussion by saying that “there are plenty of other great budding entrepreneurs, and it takes the right environment to enable talents and skills like those of Jobs to flower.”

According to FIELD’s website, “This pilot is designed to test the effectiveness of a secured credit card, paired with financial education and counseling, to help low-income entrepreneurs build credit.”

“FIELD has selected five microenterprise programs to market a secured credit card to appropriate clients. The programs will work with microentrepreneurs to analyze their current credit profiles and business development goals, and identify steps toward building their credit profiles.”

“Pilot sites also will provide financial education geared specifically toward use of a secured card, will work with approved cardholders to monitor their use of the card and address any issues that may arise with the card.”

FIELD will be granting five organizations via the pilot program: Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, Inc. (CVOEO) with Central Vermont Community Action Council (CVCAC), Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC), Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA), Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment (PACE) and Women’s Brooklyn Enterprise Center (WBEC).

These organizations have been selected because of the financial education services they provide to their respective clients and communities, like credit building services, asset building services, credit coaching and individual counseling.

But will these “deal sites” improve long-term profits for your business or will it cost you an arm and a leg?

“Your success with daily deal sites all depends on how, when, and why you use them,” says Rhonda Adams, publisher and president of The Planning Shop.

Adams goes on to give ten (10) tips for prospective business owners that are considering joining up with deal sites:

1. Offer services instead of products to minimize costs.
2. Create offers that encourage consumers to repeatedly come back.
3. Avoid cannibalizing existing customers and aim to move inventory or pick up new customers.
4. Test different offers and sites to see what works for the business.
5. Limit the number of deals being sold and start small.
6. Include fine print/limitations like “only one per customer.”
7. Avoid deal sites that force you to not join or test other sites.
8. Understand all fees and terms involved.
9. Build a marketing list from any successful deals.
10. Negotiate hard with the deal sites.

The complete article can be found here.

• 47 percent say that Facebook drives traffic to their website.
• 48 percent say that a Facebook page increased sales.
• 73 percent say that they will increase usage of Facebook in the next six months.
• 25.4 percent say that they will retain their current usage of Facebook in the next six months.
• 1.6 percent say that they will decrease their usage of Facebook in the next six months.

Of the businesses that have yet to establish a Facebook page for business:

• 32.7 percent say that they lack time.
• 18 percent say that they do not understand how Facebook can benefit business.
• 60 percent say that they will create a Facebook page within 12 months.
• 47 percent say that they will create a Facebook page within 6 months or sooner.

Haroon Mokhtarzada is the CEO of Webs, Inc., which in turn is the parent company of Pagemodo, and says that “small business owners in particular see Facebook – and a professional website – as easy-to-develop business tools that can capture new customers and help them interact with current ones.”

This $1.4 billion federal aid was pushed through by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which saw mixed results ten years after the tragedy of 9/11.

Data shows that the fund helped 11,000 businesses, but only half of those businesses were able to pay up while another 2,000 companies had defaulted and then dropped out of business.

The remaining 4,000 businesses either continue paying to this day or have decided not to repay the loans but have not yet defaulted on their loans.

These businesses that have trouble paying the loans are those that were hardest hit by the attacks, as professional photographer Wayne Eastap shares.

“Projects got cancelled. Projects got put on hold. Discussions about new projects didn’t happen. For a year there was virtually nothing.”

Eastap went on to borrow $35,700 to stay afloat, but the downturn and recession never got him back to pre-9/11 levels.

Businesses in the travel and tourism industry were also affected in the same way; with the consumer’s fear of terrorism virtually paralyzing these industries long enough to bankrupt many associated businesses.