Blogs

With more than 6.7 million young Americans out of school and unemployed, it’s safe to say that youth unemployment is no small matter. With so many eager and talented young workers ripe for the picking, it’s a waste to turn our backs on our nation’s youth when creating jobs and opportunities for them will bolster our economy.

In particular, small businesses are at a unique advantage in mentoring and training the young workers of today to become the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, and small business owner Zach Davis is dedicated to doing just that.

There are many complex policy issues that have a major impact on the small business community. Each week, we’re going to help break one of those issues down so small business owners can stay in the know and remain aware of their stake in these national issues. This week’s Issue Q&A is on extreme weather.

Q: Why is extreme weather a small business concern?

Office furniture is often just a boring afterthought for many. But Sumner Furniture sets out to put the fun in functional when it comes to adorning offices with top-notch furniture.

Jeff Thorner, the self-proclaimed Furniture Guy, is the founder and CEO of Sumner Furniture in Washington, D.C., and he’s on a mission to help make your office stand out.

There are many complex policy issues that have a major impact on the small business community. Each week, we’re going to help break one of those issues down so small business owners can stay in the know and remain aware of their stake in these national issues. This week’s Issue Q&A is on the United States Export-Import Bank.

Q: What is the Ex-Im Bank?

Lorenzo Harris, CEO of Janico Building Services

Lorenzo Harris makes a living sweeping away the dirt. But he certainly is not swept away by the state of our nation’s current immigration system.

As the CEO and principal of Janico Building Services, a full-service building maintenance and cleaning contractor with 40 employees in Sacramento, Harris understands first-hand how undocumented immigrants affect the cleaning industry, particularly when it comes to the hiring process.

If you want to learn how some people do the voodoo they do so well, just visit Conjured Cardea, a full-service online voodoo and hoodoo supply shop.

Anita Brightman was always a creative at heart. But it wasn’t until her very own light bulb moment working as a government public affairs contractor that A. Bright Idea was born.

A. Bright Idea, a full-service creative advertising and public relations agency with locations in Bel Air, MD and Sonoma, CA was exactly that – Brightman’s epiphany.

What began as a grad school assignment has blossomed into a successful small business that Seattleites are eating up… literally.

Stockbox Neighborhood Grocery went from an idea to a thriving small business thanks to Carrie Ferrence. As part of one of her classes at Bainbridge Graduate Institute, Ferrence was tasked with designing a business that responded to a social need, and focused on developing a retail response to urban food access.

As a successful woman small business owner in Colorado, Lisa Goodbee knows first-hand the hardships that go into starting a business from scratch.

With blood, sweat and tears, Goodbee has turned her small business, Goodbee & Associates, into a standout woman-owned engineering firm since its founding in 1994.

It’s this experience and the opportunities that were available to her that shape Goodbee’s stance on immigration reform, something she strongly believes in.

It’s not often that consumers gets to fully immerse themselves in, and become a part of, the product that’s sold to them. But MEND, an interactive story, is both an ambitious product and small business that seeks to combine fiction with reality.