Let’s get the bad news over with: To say that the U.S. economy is facing the most challenging economic time since the Great Depression is not an overstatement. Last week, employers shed almost 600,000 jobs. Today, 11.6 million Americans are out of work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate has officially risen to 7.6%.

“This is the largest 13-month job loss since the payroll employment series began in 1939,” Christina Romer, the head of President Obama’s White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in a statement on February 6, 2009. “These numbers, and the very real suffering of American workers they represent, reinforce the need for bold fiscal action. If we fail to act, we are likely to lose millions more jobs and the unemployment rate could reach double digits.” Read article…

Small business owners such as myself are always on the lookout for ways to promote their business. With over 150 million users and still growing, Facebook can be a great way to do that.

My business is almost entirely dependent on word-of-mouth referrals, so making sure that as many my friends and contacts as possible know about Addicott Web is crucial. The vast majority of my social network is on Facebook already, so it’s the perfect way for me to reach a broad audience. Read article…

By Susan Ward, About.com

Business promotion is to running a successful business as practicing scales is to playing the piano well; it may not be a thrilling activity in itself, but you just have to do it! You should spend at least an hour a day on business promotion or planning how to promote your business (and more is better, if you can fit the time in)!

You promote your business by getting the word out. The first axiom of business promotion is that you have to do this consciously. You can’t rely on other people to do it for you, no matter how great your product or service is.

The second axiom of business promotion is that like every other aspect of your business, it’s a budgeted activity. But business promotion doesn’t have to be expensive. Here are ten inexpensive ways to promote your business; all most of these will cost you is some time. Read article…