The Wall Street Journal reports, “Despite the economic slowdown, downsized small businesses are offering rewards to remaining employees to boost morale and compensate them for doing additional work. Employers are sponsoring office sports teams, hosting postwork social hours and permitting flexible work schedules. In return, some are seeing savings on overhead costs or increases in revenue.”

Therefore if you have noticed that your employees are on edge, why not help boost their moral by sponsoring team activities outside of the workplace and put their minds at ease. And with them not having to worry that they are the next to go, they will work hard and help increase your revenues.

Are you running low on your liquid capital but you still need to update your business? Have you considering Bartering? “Even in modern times, bartering remains a practical choice for small businesses. It’s a cash preservation tool, something that’s especially useful in a tough economy. It can also help move unsold inventory or put idled staff to work. Done right, bartering can even drive new cash business.” stats Justin Martin from CNN Money.

For starter register with the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA) and become one of the 250,000 small business who formally exchange their goods and services.

So the next time you need to fix equipment for your small business, instead of calling a service that will require cash, why not think of someone who is will to fix it in exchange for something you already have.

Are you running low on your liquid capital but you still need to update your business? Have you considering Bartering? “Even in modern times, bartering remains a practical choice for small businesses. It’s a cash preservation tool, something that’s especially useful in a tough economy. It can also help move unsold inventory or put idled staff to work. Done right, bartering can even drive new cash business.” stats Justin Martin from CNN Money.

For starter register with the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA) and become one of the 250,000 small business who formally exchange their goods and services.

So the next time you need to fix equipment for your small business, instead of calling a service that will require cash, why not think of someone who is will to fix it in exchange for something you already have.

If you have a small business loan from CITI Bank, you are likely to see that loan show up on your PERSONAL credit report. But not to worry, according to Sharon O’Connor Clarke, a principal consultant with FICO, “Business owners generally won’t see their credit hurt if they’re current on payments. Borrowers with strong repayment histories could even see scores improve” This doesn’t mean for the sake of improving your personal credit you start taking out business loans but it does mean even though banks are changing the rules of the game, for now, you don’t have to worry.

Looking to grow a specific part of your business but you can’t afford to hire an agency that specializes in that industry or bring that department in-house and staff it? Not to worry, “A new generation of online service marketplaces is giving small companies more opportunities than ever to find specialized expertise and affordable labor.” Websites such as Guru, Elance, and oDesk to name a few are “‘leveling the playing field between small and large businesses,’ said Thomas W. Malone, a professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In some cases, the cost savings can be substantial: the hourly rates of programmers in Russia, India or Pakistan are a fraction of those in the United States. These freelance marketplaces also allow companies to assemble teams quickly, find specialized expertise, begin new initiatives and drop everything when it’s no longer needed. Organizations can remain flat and focus on their core missions.”

Every year 23% of all Federal contracts are suppose to be awarded to “small businesses”. But according to Eagle Eye, a Virginia research firm that tracks federal spending, “at least 16 companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenues were among the top 100 small business contractors in 2008″.Recently Republican Hank Johnson has introduced The Fairness and Transparency in Contracting Act of 2009, “which prohibits publicly traded and foreign-owned companies (or their subsidiaries) from being classified as U.S. small businesses for government contracting purposes.”

With the large companies out of the running for the federal contracts, start contacting your local, county, state, and federal agencies to see what type of contracts they have coming up and most importantly find out how you can qualify to bid for the contract.