Need help with setting up an accounting system, taxation issues, lending, or marketing with Pinterest? Check out these free seminars for small businesses at Wake Tech.

Setting up your Small Business Accounting System FREE (No pre-registration required.)

Nov 27 6:45-9pm Western Wake Campus Room 118 

Nov 29 6:45-9pm North Campus – D 310

Taxation issues for Small Business – FREE (No pre-registration required.)

Dec 4 6:45-9pm Western Wake Campus – Room 118

Dec 6 6:45-9pm North Campus – D 310

SBA Small Business Lending is Back! – FREE (No pre-registration required).

Dec 4 6:45-9pm North Campus – D 120

Dec 6 6:45-9pm Western Wake Campus – Room 118

Marketing with Pinterest for Small Business – FREE (to register- email caroix@waketech.edu )

Dec 6 – 8:35am - 10:15am Western Wake Campus – Room 118

For more information about these classes, contact Kandy Griffis at kcgriffis@waketech.edu.

It’s almost time for small businesses to face the holiday rush.  The U.S. Small Business Administration blogger Caron Beesley shared these tips earlier this week on making sure your business is prepared for the holiday shopping season.

Ensure customers feel welcome by having someone greet them with a smile when they walk in the door.  Offer festive treats, such as a cookie, warm cider, or product samples.

Utilize social media to advertise your deals, but also listen to and interact with your fans.

Non-retail small businesses can participate in Small Business Saturday by connecting with valued customers and let them know they are participating, possibly through a time-sensitive deal that can be redeemed after the event.

Ideas to capitalize on the increased traffic in a retail store include offering to make a small donation to charity for every email captured at the point of sale, hand out free samples in exchange for a customer’s information, or hold a raffle or competition.  Follow up with all the customers within a week to advertise special deals.

Suggestions for marketing online businesses include making sure your website is festive with holiday graphics, create a dedicated holiday Pinterest board to highlight deals, use Facebook to highlight products, use banner art to highlight specials, and utilize shipping deadlines as a motivator.

For more of Beesley’s tips, view the entire web chat here.

It's time to nominate your favorite small business owner for the National Small Business Week Awards.

And the Small Business Administration has created a website that offers an easy way to recognize and follow the contest candidates.

According to the SBA, the online portal, "will make it easier to submit and track submissions." The awards include the National Small Business Person of the Year and the Women's Business Center of Excellence Award.

You can also go here for complete rules and to download and application. Entry deadline is Jan. 3.

National winners will be chosen from the state winners.

The U.S. Small Business Administration is providing advice to small businesses on marketing and preparing for the holiday shopping season.

Small business owners can participate in a 1 p.m. Monday web chat, “Holiday Marketing Tips & Ideas,” with Caron Beesley, an SBA marketing communications consultant and a small business owner.  For more information on the web chat go here.

Beasley also offered six tips to maximize returns on sponsoring and hosting a holiday event.

The National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.3 in October to 93.1; the slight uptick in the reading did not seem to indicate a dramatic shift in owner sentiment over the course of the month. The survey, conducted before the presidential election, found that the percent of owners uncertain about whether business conditions will be better or worse in six months, was at a record high (23 percent). This eclipsed the pre-recession record of 15 percent reached during the Carter Administration. NFIB’s forward labor market indicators weakened last month, and owner views of the future do not foresee much improvement in economic growth.

“While four of ten survey components rose, the Index still remains in solidly pessimistic—and recessionary territory,” said NFIB chief economist William Dunkelberg. “In the 40 months since the alleged ‘recovery’ started in July 2009, the Index has never exceeded a reading of 95; the pre-recession average for the Index is 100. The election is over and Washington looks much like it did on November 5th. The fear of stalemate among the small-business community is palpable, as the looming fiscal cliff and the threat of higher costs and more taxes are very real possibilities come January. Until then, not knowing the direction of the economy will always have a dampening impact on spending and hiring.”

Download the complete report here.

Triangle Entrepreneurship Week, which extends through Friday, is connecting local startups to investors. 

The five-day event seeks to connect local entrepreneurs to resources, capital and collaborators, according to co-founder Jon Leonardo.  Monday marked the start of the event’s second year in the Triangle.  The schedule includes four morning pitch sessions, along with other discussions such as “Government role in startups” or “How to raise money in the Triangle.” Individuals pay about $15 to attend one session or $199 for a week long pass.

About four of the 12 companies that pitched in the Triangle last year received funding, Leonardo said.

So far, at least two local companies that have pitched to angel and other investors have set up follow-up meetings with investors, Leonardo said.  On Thursday morning three companies pitched to Grant Allen, vice president of ABB Technology Ventures Ltd.

ABB is a large engineering conglomerate based in Zurich, Switzerland.  

“What we do as a corporate venture capital outfit is take balance sheet money from ABB and deploy it into early stage technology companies of strategic interest to ABB,” said Allen, a Duke University graduate whose office is in Washington D.C..  “Those investments are typically two to 10 million dollars, even though we can write checks up to 20.”

Allen is also involved with NextGen Partners.

“We are a group of 40 under 40 angels,” he said. “We are looking to write checks anywhere really from $50,000 to $200,000.”

After the presentations, Allen said he was interested in connecting one of Thursday’s presenters to some Washington D.C.. investors and talking with his NextGen Partners about another.

The fourth and final pitch session will be held Friday morning. For more information about that and Triangle Entrepreneurship Week go here. 

The National Federation of Independent Business wants to lend a hand and put small businesses front and center by helping get the word out online about their Small Business Saturday deals. Small business owners can visit www.NFIB.com/smallbizsat to submit information about their business and why shoppers should visit on Nov. 24. The federation will promote the submissions on NFIB.com and in front of NFIB’s 150,000 Facebook fans and 30,000 Twitter followers.

Supporting small businesses at the holidays pays dividends throughout the year, said Gregg Thompson, state director of federation.

“Small and independent business owners are among the most generous supporters of civic groups, local charities, youth sports, schools and virtually every other form of community activity,” he said. “Shopping locally is a great way for people to help their friends and neighbors and create jobs and opportunities in the places where they live."

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Quail Ridge Books & Music, Raleigh's 28-year-old independent book store, is on the market.

Owner Nancy Olson, who founded the shop in 1984, is retiring, and looking for a buyer "who can keep the printed word going in the age of Amazon and Kindle." The bookstore stocks about 70,000 titles and more than 17,000 households are loyalty program members. Quail Ridge is also a hotspot for book signings.

Read Josh Shaffer's story here.

Coffee lovers looking for a great cup of Joe don't have to wait much longer. With the help of an online funding platform, Aly and Beth Khalifa believe they've brewed the perfect cup.