In a 2008 National Small Business Association survey of small business owners, 44% use credit cards to finance their operations. Since credit is harder to secure than it used to be, small business owners will be forced to use more credit card financing for their small businesses. On top of this, credit card companies are lowering credit limits and raising interest rates. Keep an eye open for those little paper pamphlets that come with your credit card statements that change your credit terms. Continuously shop around for a better business credit card and better credit card terms. The Federal Reserve has finally taken action. As of July 1, 2010, credit card companies can no longer arbitrarily change interest rates and two-cycle billing will be eliminated, but that's more than a year away.

Most small business owners think that it takes a lot of initial capital to "green up" their businesses. Not so! A recent article gives you ideas on how to go green for very little or no money and actually stay cost-competitive. You can go green by using leftovers from your business and actually save money, even during a recession.

One restaurant owner started using leftover vegetable oil to power his vehicles after it was converted to fuel. The converter cost $8,000, but the owner saves $400 per week in diesel fuel and $100 per week in grease removal, so he will make that up fast. I bet you can come up with inventive green ideas for your business!

President-elect Obama will be inaugurated in less than a week and it looks like he's going to be a friend to small business. He put in a call to President George W. Bush on January 13 and asked that he put in a request to Congress for them to release the remaining funds from the financial bailout (TARP) so they would be available to him if he needs them, according to an article posted by Bloomberg.com. Obama wants to direct more of the TARP funds to community banks and small businesses. Obama feels that there has been too little transparency and financial oversight regarding the bailout program. Too little money has flowed into community banks and small businesses and the President-elect wants to fix that. Good news for small businesses!

A recent article was interesting as it talked about creative ways for businesses to cut their costs that didn't affect their basic business, layoff employees, cancel their health insurance, or other drastic measures. These are little measures that you can find by looking at your checkbook register or your online bill payment record and finding expenses you can cut. For example, you may be able to cut the interest rate on your business credit card with one phone call to your credit card company. If you have a high interest rate and good credit, the company may prefer to lower your interest rate rather than risk default. Make that phone call! Another cost saving tip is to really look at your shipping costs. Compare shipping carriers and you may find ways to reduce shipping costs that will save you real money. Take a look at the article!