Is the Federal Government Limiting Growth Opportunities for Genuine Small Businesses?

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Small businesses are used to competing against larger companies. They do it every day. But they should not have to compete against those same companies for contracts specifically intended for small businesses.

That could happen under a new rule proposed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The proposal would significantly change the standards used to determine which companies qualify as small businesses. In many industries, companies considered mid-sized today would become small businesses tomorrow.

Is the federal government inadvertently limiting growth opportunities for genuine small businesses?

SMBs Are Trapped in a Pressure Gap

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Bookipi study finds that SMBs are feeling the squeeze from rising supplier costs, late payments, reduced demand, and fear of climbing prices.

Small businesses worldwide are facing a widening financial "pressure gap" due to global instability, according to a new global survey from Bookipi, a global platform offering a comprehensive suite of AI-powered business management tools tailored for small businesses (SMBs) and solopreneurs. 

Tariffs, inflation, geopolitical instability, and trade tensions are driving costs higher, making customers more cautious, delaying payments, and prompting small business owners to hesitate before raising prices to protect profits.

EXIM Bank's Key Priorities: U.S. Small Businesses and Exporters

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EXIM equips American exporters with the financing tools necessary to compete for global sales. Whether you need protection from commercial or political risks, access to cash flow, or help with credit terms, EXIM has you covered.

Are you ready to begin your export journey?  Then explore EXIM's offerings.

How Small Businesses Will Build, Adapt, and Grow in 2026

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Rieva Lesonsky writes “2026 Predictions and Insights:  How Small Businesses Will Build, Adapt, and Grow.”  She also includes a section I [Laurel Delaney] wrote titled, “Global Trade: Powering the New Global Economic Reality."  Access the article here.

Speaking of trends ... register for Laurel Delaney's Global Trade Trends Report 2026 – a wegginar® taking place free of charge tomorrow, 1/7 at 11 AM CT.

Today in Global Small Business: 2026 Word of the Year Ideas

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• These words can offer ideas for finding language to describe the journey ahead in 2026. 
• New Year's resolutions to inspire you in 2026.
• Quote of the week:  "And now we welcome a new year.  Full of things that have never been." – Rainer Maria Rilke
• Focus on these 4 impact areas if you are thinking of starting a business in 2026.
• Upgrade your game in 2026.
• Predictions and insights:  How small businesses will build, adapt and grow in 2026 (including growing global).

The Global Small Business Blog Averages 1.3 Million Views Over the Past 3 Months!

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There is a reason The Global Small Business Blog is ranked #1 in the world for entrepreneurs and small businesses interested in going global. 

We are averaging more than 300K views per month – sometimes pushing near the half a million mark.

So I want to thank you, dear reader, for letting me know when I am hitting the mark and when I missed.

It's a pleasure writing, curating and producing material specifically for all of you who have an interest in going global. 

Let's keep the engagement going! 

Tariffs: Burdening Even Tiny Businesses With Expensive, Arduous Compliance

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Mark Cuban has warned that Trump's plan to impose sweeping tariffs on US imports would burden even tiny businesses with expensive, arduous compliance.

"I think one major point the discussion of tariffs is missing is the time and cost to businesses, even the smallest single person company," the tech billionaire said in an X post on Monday.

He goes on to say, "It's a lot of work. It's a lot of bureaucracy. It almost always required hiring a broker to deal with all of it. And of course there is the ongoing record keeping that each business is responsible for."

Global Expansion Is the Future for Small Businesses

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According to Courtney Kincaid, President and CEO of the Indiana CPA Society, global expansion is now easier than ever. She says studies show businesses are more successful in the long term when they spread their reach to new countries and markets. 

As the world becomes more connected, small business owners should look for ways to expand their reach overseas to find new customers, follow this blog, access resources like this one and Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global®.

You have one shot at life. Give it your best.  Reach for the stars.  Go for global growth.

The Local Economy Is Going Global

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Small businesses and solopreneurs have access to tools that enable them to “punch above their weight” like never before. We are in an era of massive growth in creation tools and services—not to mention a booming distribution ecosystem. The creator economy has increased by 119% since 2020, with creators making up 23% of people worldwide.

Find out how global small businesses can reach global audiences.  

Announcing 2023 Export Lender Award Winners by the SBA

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The Export Lender of the Year Awards recognize excellence in export financing. These awards highlight the accomplishments of lenders in delivering SBA’s international finance programs to small businesses, designed to help small businesses develop new markets, finance export transactions, and expand capacity to meet overseas demand.

This year, the SBA’s Office of International Trade selected Regions Bank and Amerant Bank as the 2023 Export Lenders of the Year, and Berkshire Bank as the 2023 International Trade Lender of the Year.

Read more here.

Building Resilience in Emerging Market Economies By Supporting Small Businesses

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Small businesses create up to 80% of jobs and generate up to 70% of GDP in Africa alone and are essential drivers of growth, employment and livelihoods in emerging markets.

In emerging market economies, however, there are intractable structural barriers to raising finance that most of these businesses face. The yawning gap in financing runs into the trillions of dollars.

Organizations can work collectively to move money at scale if the motivation is strong enough. It makes economic sense for governments and private markets to do just that in order to build resilient economies.

Experience in Africa shows that digitally-based information and services can be effective tools for empowering farmers and local businesses.

Small Businesses Play An Outsized Role in the Global Economy

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Small businesses play an outsized role in the global economy. In fact, they represent 90% of all businesses and employ roughly 70% of all workers globally. 

Governments can and must play a part in helping global small businesses stay competitive in an increasingly global economy.

Read about four ways governments can help small businesses flourish in a post-COVID-world.

England Also Wants to Build Back Better Following the Global Pandemic

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The government in England recently announced a package of measures to help businesses in England build back better following the pandemic.

The plan includes a £38 million Internationalisation Fund for small businesses, which will help up to 7,600 SMEs in England grow their overseas trading and strengthen their business.

Review the full list of measures here.

How Small Businesses Are Adjusting to COVID-19

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How are America’s small businesses navigating the economic disruptions resulting from COVID-19, and how will the CARES Act affect their decisions and future prospects?

To explore these questions, we [the National Bureau of Economic Research] conducted a survey of more than 5,800 small businesses that were members of the Alignable business network. The survey focused on assessing (1) the current level of financial fragility among small businesses, (2) the extent to which small businesses have already temporarily closed and laid off employees, (3) expectations about how long the crisis will last - and how this is affecting business decisions, and (4) decisions about whether to seek funding through the CARES Act, and how this will impact layoff and closure decisions.

Discover the survey results and themes that emerge.

How Does a Company Grow 700% During the Global Pandemic?

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As the article below states, it’s rare for a start-up to glide silently under the media’s radar. “We never decided not to go to the media, we just never decided we would, and now seems like the right time to tell our story, before someone else writes about our financial technology start-up, Melio Payments, without asking us," says Melio CEO Matan Bar.

Just so you know:  Melio is Venmo for mom-and-pop stores. The Israeli startup thinks its tech can save America's small businesses.

See what you think.  Pretty impressive.

Collectively, Seattle SMEs Need a Lot More Than $5 Million to Survive During the COVID-19 Outbreak

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Small businesses operating in Amazon's neighborhood will be awarded $5 million as a fund to support their businesses around Amazon's Seattle headquarters.  The SMEs are struggling with a dramatic slowdown since the Amazon instructed its employees – 50,000 – to work from home if they could.

These businesses support tens of thousands of local jobs that are a critical part of the Seattle and Puget Sound economy,” [John] Schoettler [Amazon vice president of global real estate and facilities] said. “They’re our friends and neighbors, and we believe it’s important to try to help them confront the economic challenges that are likely to come from the COVID-19 outbreak.”

Note:  If you are operating a business near Amazon's HQ and apply for the grant, expect Amazon to ask for information including the amount of revenue each applicant expects to lose in March.

Bottom line:  Amazon wants to make the process easy so that businesses facing cash-flow problems can be stabilized quickly, the spokesman said.

Read more here.

Small Businesses in the United States Are Driving Ad Spend Growth Globally

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Small businesses in the United States are driving ad spend growth globally.  How or why is that?  A lot has to do with self-serve and cost-efficient ad buying tools from the duopoly between Facebook and Google.

While small businesses haven’t yet begun advertising heavily on social media outside of the United States, Zenith [from Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at Zenith] expects the same dynamic to take off in other markets soon.

Learn more about how small business drives global ad spend growth and why the duopoly between Facebook and Google reaps the rewards.

Got Two Minutes to Listen to Some Trade Talk? (Podcast)

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Got two minutes?  Then listen to Sandler, Travis and Rosenberg, P.A.'s Two Minutes in Trade:  How Are the New Tariffs Impacting Small Businesses?

There are only seven days left [from 9/23/19] to request tariff exclusions from List 3. As of today, there are sixteen thousand, six hundred and thirty-eight petitions filed, and only few dozen exclusions granted. We cannot tell exactly how many of these petitions are from small businesses but based on my [?] experience that number is going to be large.  

For more information listen to today's Two Minutes in Trade.

Small Businesses Around the World are Feeling Optimistic About the Future

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Covering small businesses in 110 countries, the Veem report, highlighting small business trends, found that companies spent the second quarter of 2019 building inventory and increasing both the number of orders and the dollar value of each order.

The average small business payments increased by 15% in the second quarter of 2019, according to the study, and the dollar value per order went to 6% in the second quarter. 

When it comes to trade, particularly with China:

However, small businesses continued to express concerns regarding trade negotiations with China, consistent with other studies reported on by Banking Exchange. More than three quarters of the small businesses polled showed concerns surrounding tariffs on Chinese products. However, this includes all 110 countries polled. It is not clear if American companies are particularly concerned. More than half of the small businesses said that that their businesses have already been impacted by tariffs. 

The findings in the report do show that the tariff talk, and the threat of a trade war are in fact effecting how businesses are looking to the future yet they are still optimistic about future growth and have a strong desire to expand.

A Global String of Possibilities

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Small businesses can make a major impact. Thanks to the Internet, small business owners have far-reaching opportunities to change both their immediate surroundings and places that are worlds away.  Head coach Rhett Power frames it as "individual connections on a global string of possibilities."

He offers ways to rev up your differentiation and satisfy your desire to give back, by adopting these three strategies.

1. Work toward fair wages.
2. Source materials responsibly.
3. Weave your social mission into your story.

Read the entire article about how small businesses can make a big difference.