Congratulations! This week marks the 50th anniversary of National Small Business Week. The U.S. Small Business Administration will be hosting workshops and mentoring match-ups today in Dallas/Ft. Worth and later this week in St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., and events (featuring entrepreneurs like Jack Dorsey of Square and Twitter and Angie Hicks of Angie’s List) will stream live here.
Growing confidence: In the UK small business confidence is at a three-year high, and in the U.S., six out of ten small business owners say they expect their businesses to be “thriving” in five years.
Tough environment: Most UK small business owners still report a “very poor” credit market, and the majority of small business owners in the U.S. say it’s harder to run their business now than it was five years ago.
Slowing sales? Over at The New York Times, Paul Downs is running a four-part series on his decision to hire a sales consultant. You can read yesterday’s introductory post here, and today’s post on how his sales process broke down here.
“Speed dating for businesses” in New Zealand: Innovest Auckland 2013 is matching 59 pre-approved small-to-medium businesses seeking growth capital with 112 investors.