John Arensmeyer
Blog Post List
August 25, 2011
Heidi Kallet had to sign away her life, so to speak, to achieve the American Dream. Despite the dismal economy, the Virginia small business owner was ready to open her second stationery store and hire some new staff. Although Heidi’s business was booming, credit for small businesses had dried up and she couldn't get a loan…until she gave the bank that agreed to help her everything she owned and signed her and her husband’s life insurance over as collateral. This is not the only story of small business owners going to extreme lengths to get a loan. Many will take out second mortgages, run up...
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April 15, 2011
by John Arensmeyer, Founder and CEO: Small Business Majority For months it seemed the new 1099 reporting rules in the health care law were destined to bounce from one chamber of Congress to the other without lawmakers finding a solution to the requirement that would mire small businesses in mountains of paperwork - if it went into effect in 2012. Fortunately, lawmakers were able to come together and break the seemingly endless volley after both bodies passed legislation fixing the onerous measure. The Senate’s vote on April 5, sent the bill to the president for his signature, which will put...
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April 8, 2011
The big news of the day is the government shutdown. Although most of the focus is on what this means for the country and the political gamesmanship involved, the little guys often get lost in the shuffle. It's those people who often times pay the biggest price. Our national policy director, Terry Gardiner, knows personally how a shutdown is affecting small businesses and ordinary folks. Read his story below, as it illustrates my point: While Congress and the White House go down to the wire over budget negotiations, I received an email yesterday that made the potential government shutdown hit...
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March 21, 2011
It’s hard to keep up with what’s happening with healthcare reform these days. The new law is complicated. The debate is heated. And entrepreneurs are busy running their businesses, making it hard to stay on top of it all. We’re here to shine some light on the situation. The fact is that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—signed into law on March 23, 2010—has a lot to offer small business owners. There are tax credits available now—as in today!—for more than 4 million small business owners who offer their employees health insurance. Self-employed people who couldn’t get insurance...
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March 8, 2011
The countdown to tax day is on and it’s safe to assume you’re either gathering receipts and scrambling to fill out forms or putting off the inevitable for yet another day. Either way, when you do sit down to scrutinize every last detail in your attempt to keep as much of your profits this year as possible, it’s important to keep in mind a nice new development: you may qualify for the new federal healthcare tax credit. The prospect of getting some money back from the government may even be an incentive to tackle those forms sooner than later. If your small business has fewer than 25 full-time...
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