Small Business Round-up – Week of April 22th

This week’s small business news review found a multi-million dollar fashion icon emerging from her garage, Google is dropping its affiliate network, the economy is stalling new businesses, companies may increase part-time workers, and companies that avoid I-9 requirements are hurting small biz owners.

• Improving Economy Stalling Startups
  The recently released Index of Entrepreneurial Activity revealed fewer startups last year. The Kauffman Foundation, which conducted the study, believes the improving economy is suppressing small biz openings because of a greater number of available jobs.
• Bikinis Go From Vulgar to Elegant
  From “scraps of used cloth and sliced cow bones” to 30,000 bikinis per month, a Brazilian entrepreneur has taken fashion swimwear by storm. Stars from Nicole Kidman to Lady Gaga have worn her. One-time landscape architect Lenny Niemeyer is now the name to know in Brazilian fashion.
• Is Obamacare Creating a Hiring Dilemma?
  With the new rules expected to hit companies with 50 or more ‘full-time’ employees next year, some near-threshold businesses are considering a shift to hiring more part-time employees. But the consequences associated with part-time work are creating a dilemma for those companies that want to hire this year.
• Google Shuts Down Affiliate Network – Again
  The search engine announced it will be closing its Google Affiliate Network “over the next few months”.  The move has surprised some but not all digital advertising experts. The company prefers to work directly with merchants as the digital advertising market changes.
• I-9 Cheaters Get an Edge When Hiring
  Companies hiring illegal immigrants are finding it easier to survive than those that follow the rules. “Unless we fix the immigration system, small businesses are going to continue to operate at a disadvantage with companies that aren’t following the law,” says one small biz advocate.