3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: August 21

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

1. Frugal start-up tips from millionaires. Even the most successful entrepreneurs had to pinch pennies in the early days of launching their businesses.

Entrepreneur.com shares some of the best cost-cutting tips from multimillionaires including simple strategies like cashing in your credit card rewards, skipping the fancy furniture, recycling and reusing shipping supplies, and being creative about the work space, among other tips.

The article also suggests cross-training employees since there is no place in a startup for a "that's not my job" attitude.

2. Now is the ideal time to snap up financial services talent. Big banks may still be cutting staff but at least one boutique investment firm is hiring. CastleOak Securities has 60 employees and is looking to hire more from the ranks of displaced financial services employees.

"We're not just hiring," CastleOak co-founder and CEO David Jones tells Crain's. "We're upgrading our talent."

The company was founded in 2006 and focuses on fixed-income strategies and now has offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Portland, Ore., and Columbus, Ohio. New hires seem to be attracted to the bank because it doesn't have layers of management, there is opportunity for advancement and the investment bank still pays bonuses in cash, the article says.

3. Drink and do some good? The country's first non-profit pub opens. The Oregon Public House will be just like any other brewery in Portland, by serving its own beer and food and creating an environment in which to spend time with friends and family, but it will have one major difference from most pubs -- its proceeds will go to charity, reports Huffington Post.

Co-owner Ryan Saari says the Oregon Public House didn't want to form just one more nonprofit that might get lost in a sea of organizations in the community. Instead, the pub is partnering with local charities to raise funds lost in donations due to the downturn in the economy.

Renovation of the pub's location has yet to be completed. Saari says they want to ensure that 100% of profits go to charities and have chosen to complete the process while remaining debt-free.

"This allows us to actually give back from day one," says Saari in the HuffPo article. "As soon as we start operating as a pub, we're able to generate money for these local charities."

-- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York. Follow @LKulikowski

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