Business expansion loan

Magnolia Bakery and Urban Betty, a hair salon, share the same challenge: their teams are short on time. The commonalities don’t end there. Unlike the 41 percent of small businesses that think marketing automation is out of reach, both businesses use marketing technology to run more efficient and effective companies. advertisement advertisement An appearance on HBO’s “Sex and the City” helped Magnolia Bakery start an international cupcake craze, but its real expansion began after 2006, when it was sold to new owners. It has since opened additional locations in New York City, as well as stores in Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C, Dubai, Mexico City, Manila, and other locations. Today, it operates 25 locations worldwide–with a marketing team of three people. Urban Betty founder Chelle Neff has handled marketing herself since opening the Austin-based business in 2005. This got more challenging when she opened a second … [Read more...] about These small businesses use marketing technology to do a lot with a little

“At no time in this office should you ever be intoxicated on any substance.” advertisement advertisement That’s not typically part of the opening spiel when welcoming a roomful of budding entrepreneurs to your business boot camp, but then Micah Tapman is not running your typical startup session. “I know the parties can be a little lively,” Tapman, a partner in the new-business accelerator Canopy Boulder, continued. “But you’re a founder in funding mode.” Some of the founders in the room were dressed the part in business casual, while others went for the ultra-casual look: ripped jeans and printed T-shirts. Boot camps where aspiring moguls can hone their business plans, work with mentors, and eventually pitch investors have become a regular phase of startup development. Canopy Boulder, which welcomed its inaugural class of 10 companies in late March, is unique in that all of the nascent companies operate within the legal cannabis … [Read more...] about Meet The First Potrepreneurs At This Startup Boot Camp For The Billion-Dollar Weed Biz

The Jemez Mountains are a rust-colored cluster of volcanic peaks in New Mexico. Across centuries, they’ve spewed hot ash onto the land below—the perfect material to be combined with wet, natural clay. This sediment-based concoction has been used by the region’s six native Tewa communities—the Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Ohkay Owingeh, Santa Clara, Tesuque, and Nambé—to make pottery used for everything from grain storage to water transport. In the early 20th century, collector George Gustav Heye amassed the largest private collection of Native American artifacts in the world, including many from the Jemez Mountains. His work ultimately became the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; some 1 million indigenous items are housed in its collection. advertisement advertisement Now 100 of the pots Heye acquired from the Tewa pueblos of New Mexico have been returned—albeit temporarily—to their rightful owners … [Read more...] about This indigenous design is being returned after a century away

The Hub L.os Angeles, the social enterprise-focused coworking space we first told you about last October, has just celebrated its first year of existence. As part of its celebration, it published a digital “yearbook” (complete with the videos above), chronicling a year in the life of the membership community. advertisement advertisement If that word yearbook is more reminiscent of school than of business, that’s probably no mistake. Cofounder Elizabeth Stewart still recalls the reawakening she felt upon returning to graduate school in 2006. She had spent five years working in the nonprofit world, becoming disillusioned by the lack of innovation in the space and the sense that it was characterized by zero-sum battles among various players who really ought to have been collaborating. She matriculated at UCLA to study urban planning and felt her world opening up again (even though she was rooted, for the first time in a while, in one place). “People in … [Read more...] about The Hub L.A. Reveals Lessons About Nurturing A Happier Work Life

The holidays are upon us, and let’s face it: you’re probably spending like a sieve right now. Come January, you’ll vow that it’s finally time to get a handle on things. Why not start now? A preemptive strike, if you will. Here are some great apps and services that can make managing your money far less difficult than it needs to be. advertisement advertisement 1. Bills to blast, money to burn If you sense that you’re spending too much but you’re not really sure where it’s all going, then PocketGuard (Android, Apple) is a good place to start. You feed your various accounts into it—banking, credit cards, loans, savings—and it’ll crunch all the numbers for you. Once the dust settles, you’ll be presented with your “In My Pocket” number: a straightforward figure representing how much you have left to spend on stuff. The app can also look for potential savings across your recurring bills, even going as far … [Read more...] about Check out these 5 brilliant apps for better budgeting