By All Accounts

It’s January! And for many of us, that means it’s time to set some business goals and make resolutions about how we will improve our business processes to be more efficient. This fresh start gives us all a little extra bounce in our step as we consider the possibilities the future holds.

While some people are cheerfully preparing for the holidays, small business owners around the country are fighting back the anxiety brewing in the back of their minds about tax season. And much of the cheer they muster quickly fizzles as the new year and that other season approaches. The problem stems from thinking about the tax man coming once a year — like a warped version of Santa Claus.

It’s easy to click and buy something online from a major retailer or go to a big box store where you can get everything you need in one place. Doing so, however, may be counterintuitive to the health of our economy.

It’s October! And, as usual, my kids are getting excited about costumes and candy while I mentally map out our Halloween route through the neighborhood (only places we trust, of course).

The fall business season is upon us once again. The kids are back in school, graduates have recently launched into adult lifestyles (aka working fulltime and paying their own bills), and small business owners are planning for what’s next.

Building a world-class fintech or bank today, especially one serving small businesses, can be like playing a game of Tetris. You have to visualize how to manipulate each digital puzzle piece to fit correctly into your platform in a way that ensures future, currently unknown pieces will also work.

One might reasonably believe that business finances are more complex for large businesses than for small ones. And in some ways, that’s true. But given the limitations of resources small businesses have, managing their finances today can also be exceptionally complex.

There’s a wide gap between the small business solutions traditional banks offer and what today’s small businesses actually need. There may even be a misunderstanding around what defines a small business in 2022.

It's April, and millions of people in the U.S. — independent workers and gig workers in particular, and self-employed small business owners in general — are still paralyzed by the daunting task of filing their taxes.