Startup Missouri Information to fuel Missouri business startups

Small business owners have received some upbeat news on the economy this month. Retail sales figures released Friday showed that consumers were inspired by unseasonably warm weather to spend on their homes in January, but that overall sales growth was modest. The Commerce Department reported a 0.3% gain last month following a 0.2% gain in December. Although economists called the ...

Renting clothes could be the future of fashion — or it could just be a fad. But traditional retailers can no longer afford to wait on the sidelines to find out. That’s why a growing number are now offering customers the option to rent clothes for a monthly fee instead of buying them. Bloomingdale’s, Banana Republic and Urban Outfitters are ...

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The market for small businesses rebounded in the last three months of 2019 after four straight quarterly declines caused in part by uncertainty about U.S. trade policy. That’s the finding of a report analyzing business sales released by BizBuySell.com, an online marketplace for companies. BizBuySell.com counted 2,340 small businesses sold during October-December, up nearly 2.3% from 2,288 sold in the ...

A new law expanding retirement plan options for small businesses may encourage more companies to offer the benefits to their workers. The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act, known as the SECURE Act, won final congressional approval in the Senate last month and was signed into law by President Donald Trump. One of the bill’s features makes it ...

If you own a successful small business that you’ve nurtured over the years, you may want to leave the legacy of its value to your heirs. To do this, you need a sound, well-thought-out succession plan. One of the greatest values of a successful small business lies in its continued operation after you’re gone, producing perennial profits for your family. ...

While many small manufacturers and retailers believe Amazon is the place to be, Lyris Autran is forgoing the opportunity. Autran wants to keep the prices on her leashes, bowls and other products for dogs competitive. It costs money to sell on Amazon.com — a 15% fee on each sale and additional charges for shipping — and that would force her ...

Zachariah Mohammed’s living room is filled with stuff he doesn’t own. He pays $200 a month for the sofa, side table, bar cart, dining table and four chairs in his living room. It’s worth it, the 27-year-old New Yorker says. If he needs to move, which he’s done twice in the last 12 months, he won’t need to lug a ...

Small business owners have plenty of changes to deal with as 2020 begins — higher labor costs for many companies, and some owners will discover that they have to comply with new laws that aren’t on the books in their own states. As of Jan. 1, there are higher minimum wages in a quarter of the states, and new federal ...

The new year brings new overtime rules for employers including small businesses and in turn, a pay raise for an estimated 1.3 million workers. The Labor Department rules that go into effect Jan. 1 raise to $684 per week, or $35,568 a year, the threshold at which employees are exempt from being paid overtime. That’s a 50.3 percent increase from the ...

The email looked legitimate, so Danielle Radin clicked on the link it contained, expecting to have her products included in a holiday gift guide. “I instantly regretted it,” says Radin, owner of Mantra Magnets, a website that sells wellness products. “It took me to some random website that looked like those pop-ups telling you that you’ve won the lottery.” Within ...