3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: Jan. 17

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- What's happening in small business today?

1. Boost your slow season. Ever consider hosting free workshops to share your expertise or thanking your VIP customers with a small token of appreciation? How about identifying some best-sellers during your busy season and offering promotions on complementary items? These are just a few of the tactics suggested by American Express(AXP) OPEN Forum to boost your post-holiday season lull. Last week we gave some other ideas on how to make the most of a slow sales season.

2. Streamlining government agencies is good for small business. Karen Mills, administrator to the Small Business Administration, whose job has been elevated to cabinet level as a result of President Barack Obama's announcement Friday to consolidate six trade and commerce agencies, including the SBA, makes the case for why the change will be good for small business.

"For the entrepreneurs and small-business owners that SBA and other agencies serve, this is very good news. A more integrated approach would ensure that small businesses would have access to all of the federal government's programs in a more seamless, coordinated and coherent way," she writes in an SBA blog.

3. Doctors are not good small-business owners. Doctors may have gone to school to become the finest surgeons, physicians and healers in the world, but a report by CNN Money says they're not good at running their own businesses.

Some private-practice doctors are even going broke. To be fair, doctors have genuine business challenges, such as shrinking reimbursements from Medicare and private insurers and confusion over health care reform legislation, the article says, yet many are just making bad financial decisions.

Some of the biggest mistakes doctors make are taking out loans to make payroll, buying expensive but unnecessary equipment or investing in risky ventures such as radiology centers, urgent care centers or even medical devices, the article says.

"These deals are structured so that doctors are taking the financial risks and these investors reap the rewards," Dr. Jim Dahle, an emergency physician in Utah, tells CNN. "Not all of these deals are bad, but doctors should at least have an attorney review the terms so that they're protected."

-- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York.

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