Small Business

Karen Mills: The big push for small business is jobs

The SBA's chief lays out the steps Washington is taking to create jobs on Main Street.

FORTUNE -- Small Business Administrator Karen Mills' Washington D.C. office overlooks a railroad where trains whiz by hauling freight. It's a reminder, she says, that American industry is still working. These days we could use that reminder. American manufacturing is in the tank, and small business lending -- a much-cited economic driver -- fell again MORE

Meet the small biz loan matchmakers

The climate for small business lending over the past few years has been dark to say the least, opening a door to entrepreneurs who pair business owners with interested lenders. By Elaine Pofeldt

Small business lessons from an open source art exhibit

A unique approach to an art exhibit in Grand Rapids provides important lessons for business owners: "Dive into something small and see what you get." By Vickie Elmer

Should you start a business right out of college?

Most new grads have no money and little, if any, real-world experience. Even so, launching a startup may be less crazy than it sounds. By Anne Fisher

Small companies are fertile ground for job seekers

Hiring is starting to pick up again at firms with fewer than 500 employees. If you have only big-company experience, here's how to sell yourself.

By Anne Fisher, contributor

FORTUNE -- Dear Annie: Because of a career change my husband made, we recently moved to a new city hundreds of miles from where we used to live, and I'm now trying to find a job here. I've spent my whole 19-year marketing MORE

Expanding management: The delicate art of sharing control

While the thought of sharing control of your company can be nerve-wracking, those who have been through the transition swear by having a second set of hands. As long as they're the right hands.

By Katherine Reynolds Lewis, contributor

Since founding Secure Enterprise Computing in 1998, chairman Randall Bennett has seen business boom -- and bust. But when the demand for security technology began to crest a couple years ago, he knew MORE

3 scrappy little businesses

Stylish eyewear, full-service publicity, and specialized home goods: The entrepreneurs behind these three ventures deliver where the big guys don't.

By Jessica Shambora, reporter

Kayos Productions vs. Rogers and Cowan

The challenge: Can a boutique music-publicity firm upstage larger agencies with offices around the world?

What they did: Carol Kaye had tallied 10 years as a music industry publicist when she started her own gig, Kayos, in 1988. Today she still can't match MORE