The Wild WE understands that as small business owners, your time is precious. So we are launching a new feature, the “Friday Five”: the top five stories and blog posts we find to help you start a business or grow your existing one, or that you just may find as interesting as we do. Check out our list below and let us know what you think. Have any to add? Leave us a comment!

The Death of the Phone Number: Do you Skype or use GoogleVoice? Then you will enjoy Nilay Patel’s editorial on how the phone number is an outmoded means of communication and why it’s about time it goes the way of rotary dial phones.

5 Content Marketing Strategies for Small Business: From Mashable, tips on creating solid content to help market your small business, whether through blogs or social media platforms.

5 Productivity Tools to Boost Creativity: Who says being productive and being creative have to be mutually exclusive? With this list of small business tools, you can be both.

What is Hybrid Entrepreneurship? (And why you should consider it!): Starting a business can be a struggle. One way to keep a steady income while you plan and grow your business is to not quit your full-time job. Read this inspiring interview by Black Enterprise with one successful woman entrepreneur to see how she did it–and learn how you can do it, too!

401(K) Retirement Plans for One-Person Small Business: The last thing on many small business owners’ minds is setting up a retirement fund for themselves. It’s one of those details that often gets put off for “someday”. This explanation and advice from the SBA will help get you started in setting up your own “Uni-K”, or One-Participant 401(K) Plan.

As much as women have made strides in starting and owning their own small businesses (some 29% of small businesses are owned or partly owned by women), there is still an undercurrent of sexism that pervades in this culture. Recently, the Wall Street Journal touched on the “subtle sexism” found in the tech industry, for example. But perhaps most distressingly is the sexism that exists among venture capitalists, a potential source of funding for entrepreneurs. With so much competition for venture capital, it’s a real problem that women entrepreneurs come to the table with a biological disadvantage. One proposal is to encourage venture capitalists, who are primarily men, to bring more women partners on-board. Another idea is for women entrepreneurs to skip the traditional route of VC, and seek out women-specific grants or small business micro-loans. The key is to be creative in the pursuit of funding for your small business.

Have you experienced any form of sexism while running your small business? How did you handle it? Share with us your stories!

Like most small business owners, you probably have a credit card issued in your business name that you use solely for business-related expenses. You shopped around, found a great interest rate or rewards program, and you use it sparingly. Used wisely, a small business credit card can help your business operate successfully. But there is something about that card that you may not know: it is exempt from the consumer protection provisions written into the 2009 CARD Act. While the consumer protections include prohibitions on arbitrarily raising the interest rate, double-cycle billing, and charging over-limit fees, no such protections exist for small business cardholders. In fact, banks may still arbitrarily change the terms of your credit agreement at any time and have no restriction on the ridiculous penalties and fees they can charge.

While some banks have voluntarily instituted some protections for small business owners, there are still many out there ready, able, and willing to gouge an unsuspecting entrepreneur. Your best protection is to understand how your credit card works and what your liabilities are. Read through the boring fine print and scrutinize each statement you receive. If you think you might be in a vulnerable situation, it might be time to change credit card issuers. Services such as Card Hub can help you select the best card for your business.

How do you use credit in your small business–a little, a lot, or not at all? Share your thoughts with us below!

In this uncertain economic climate, it’s not unusual to find your business in a slump. Slower business and hiccups in your cash-flow can leave any small business owner feeling discouraged. But before you throw in the towel, check out these 3 strategies from Entrepreneur.com to help your small business stage a comeback. We’d also like to add one more: faith. Keep faith in yourself and in your business, and watch things improve!

Have you been in a business slump lately? What are your strategies for handling turbulent times? Share with us in the comments below.

For many small business owners, the fees charged by credit card companies to process transactions are the bane of their existence. The fees can vary depending on the processor you use, the type of card submitted, and the type of transaction. Currently, legislation is being debated that could lower these interchange fees, however, when that will happen–if at all–is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, here are 3 ways that small business merchants can cut their transaction costs, courtesy of Entrepreneur.com.

Do you accept credit cards at your place of business? If you don’t, do you find it hampers business? How do you feel about the processing fees and pending legislation? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Usually, April 15th marks Tax Day, the last day to file your U.S. taxes. Due to a holiday, we get a three-day reprieve. If you are like many of your fellow entrepreneurs, this weekend won’t be spent enjoying the warmer spring weather, but rather playing catch-up with your tax filings! Here are 5 last minute small business tax tips:

• Stuart Robertson at Forbes has some advice on moving money into an IRA or using your 401(K) plan to its maximum potential to lower your tax burden.
• Don’t forget about your health insurance premiums! Businesses employing less than 25 people and earning less than $50K annually may qualify for up to a 35% credit for premiums paid. Small Business CEO has more surprising health insurance tax tips on their site, check it out.
• Don’t forget about any Section 179 expenses you might have. Section 179 refers to certain property that is used to conduct your business–printers, computers, vehicles, etc. The limit for deductions has been increased to $500K for non-vehicular property for 2010 and 2011 tax years. For vehicles used 100% for business purposes, the deduction limit is $3060 (2010) and $3160 (2011). There’s an entire website dedicated to Section 179 expenses that may help.
• Write off those travel and entertainment expenses. Sarah Kessler at Inc.com has a quick and dirty guide on how best to do this. So dig out those receipts from your client luncheon and don’t forget to itemize them!
• If all else fails, file an extension. All taxpayers are entitled to a six-month extension in filing their taxes. But be forewarned: an extension on filing doesn’t equal an extension on paying. If you owe taxes, you will still end up paying interest and penalities dating back to April 18th.

While it may never seem like a good time to become an entrepreneur starting a business, the study from the White House that shows that there is still an income gap between the sexes may be the incentive some women need to become an entrepreneur.  While the pay scale is still unfair in business organizations, many women are taking it upon themselves to start their own business and create their own salaries.  With the report finding that women’s incomes account for nearly 1/3 of their family’s take-home pay, the pay gap is not only unfair but hurting society as a whole. Now just may be the time to strike out on your own, and there are a variety of programs that can help. Check out these links and get started!

• SBA Women’s Business Center Grant Opportunities
• Department of Defense Women-Owned Small Business
• Canadian Women in Business Guide
• KeyBank Women-Owned Business Program
• National Association of Women’s Business Owners
• How to Start Your Business with $100
• Start-Up Nation
• eWomen Network

Please add your own in the comments below; we can all learn from one another!

For women starting a business, here is an interesting piece of news.  In the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, only 25 of the 145 competitors were women.  So we have to ask, just where are all the women? If women entrepreneurs are outpacing men in small business, then why aren’t they competing more for funding? An article on Female Venture Capital does its best to understand where all the women are when it comes to starting up businesses.   Another article from Business Week wonders the same question, and hopes that groups are trying to increase female participation in competition for promising ventures.

So ladies, tell us–what’s holding you back?

Uh-oh. It’s an entrepreneur’s nightmare. You filed your taxes, but now the IRS has found a problem with your return. Instead of that refund you had already spent in your head, you owe the government taxes and penalties. What do you do now? Bonnie Lee at Fox Business offers you 7 Tips for Negotiating with the IRS. Follow her lead and dealing with the IRS may not end up as painful as you think.

Meanwhile, find an accountant to help you file next year!

For many women entrepreneurs and small business owners, money isn’t power.  Rather, money is mental anguish and a loss of control.  The relationship you have with your money can make a tremendous difference in your spending habits and your financial stress.

You’ve heard the expression, “more money, more problems” before.  This is absolutely true for most people because they have a negative relationship with money.  No matter how much money you have, people who have a poor relationship with money always feel poor.  They have a scarcity mentality and constantly feel that they must earn more money because their expenses keep increasing.  They feel powerless, caught in a cycle of spending and earning that leaves them stressed out and drained.

Here are three steps you can follow to start feeling empowered as the owner of your money:

• Identify Your Relationship with Money: When you heard the words “money” what thoughts come to mind?  Does money mean power, control, joy, happiness, freedom, or is it just a way of keeping score?  How do these thoughts and feelings affect the way you currently act with your money?

• Determine if These Beliefs are Supportive: Supportive beliefs provide encouragement, empowerment and positive feelings.  Non-supporting beliefs are disempowering, bringing feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and panic.  Which beliefs you have are determined by the answers to the questions from the previous step.  Do you feel as though you will never have enough money no matter how much you make?  Do you feel like you do not deserve to have a lot of money?  These are made-up scripts you have been telling yourself over a life-time that eventually became your unconscious thoughts.

• Make a Conscious Change in Your Beliefs: Even if you don’t have total control over your finances, you still have complete control over your personal beliefs.  If you have negative beliefs about money, you can start changing them today by letting go of your non-supportive beliefs and making a decision to “own your money.”

Wealth and abundance are not determined by dollars, they are a state of mind.  You now have the power to attain the truly rich life you deserve by changing negative beliefs into empowering positive beliefs.  You might find that a positive attitude towards money actually makes a positive impact on your finances as well.

What are your current beliefs about money?  Are they supportive or non-supportive?  How did you come to have such beliefs and what can you start doing today to change them?