Our weekly roundup of the most relevant articles this week in the small business world.

Bay Area Business Trends That Can Benefit Small Businesses Everywhere

Regardless of what type of company you run or where you’re located, small businesses can learn from and get inspired by local and regional trends. This is especially true of San Francisco’s bustling startup scene, which has spawned many Silicon Valley success stories in the last two decades.

Without a trusted advisor, small businesses miss out

unning a small business is like climbing Mount Everest: it’s challenging, sometimes conviction is the only thing creating upward momentum and the reward of reaching your goal is the ultimate payoff. Oh, and the right partner guiding your journey makes all the difference to success.

Why More Small Businesses Fail To Franchise

According to the SBA, there are 30.2 million small businesses in the United States employing 58.9 million people. Small businesses account for 99.9% of United States businesses and there are 287,835 small business exporters. Despite these numbers, approximately 300 businesses franchise their business each year.

The 25 Best Free Shopify Apps for Small Business Owners

Shopify is the place to be for small business owners and solo sellers looking to make sales online. With close to 400,000 active customer stores and $29 million generated during 2016 alone, the renowned e-commerce platform has only increased in popularity among small businesses and their customers.

How one family turned its small business into a US$1.8 billion multinational

Mohan Vaswani’s father, who started selling textiles in 1948 from a shop the size of a shipping container in a small town in Indonesia, once told him “One day you will operate across the world.”

The Biggest Tax Law Changes for Small Business Owners

The Internal Revenue Service is reminding business owners that tax reform legislation passed last December affects nearly every business. With just a few months left in the year, the IRS is highlighting important information for small businesses and self-employed individuals to help them understand and meet their tax obligations.

Video or podcast — which is best for your small business?

These tools allow you to leverage technology and be much more effective against the competition — and to generate more sales at a lower cost.

What to Do if Your Small Business is Robbed

So you’ve managed to grow your business with consistent revenue, a good name in the community, and a trustworthy, friendly staff. All of this is helping to bring more customers in the door, and everything is going great. But then one day, some deadbeat looking for a fast track to cash decides they are going to rob your business, putting not just yourself, but potentially your employees and customers in harm’s way.

The best accounting software for your small business

Being a small business owner can be rewarding in many ways, but tasks like maintaining budgets, ensuring invoices are tracked and get paid, and managing accounts payable can be difficult. And without the proper software to get the job done, it’s entirely possible companies could fall into disarray.

Facebook Makes Stories Ads Available to All Users – Including Small Businesses

After testing ads on Facebook Stories in May of this year, the company just announced the feature is now available to all advertisers around the world — and that includes small businesses. Facebook Stories and Messenger Stories have grown to 300 million daily users each. The availability of the two platforms for advertising means new ad placement options for businesses looking to reach this audience.