3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: September 7

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

1. Small businesses created "essentially zero" new jobs last month. Are small businesses truly creating jobs? Contrary to the political rhetoric from both sides, small companies lost jobs last month, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

"Essentially zero. That is the amount of job growth the small-business sector saw last month. The reported net change in employment per firm (seasonally adjusted) was actually -.05, which is a slight drop from July. Any serious job creation this year will have to come from large firms or new small firms created to meet the needs of millions of new consumers due to population growth. But existing small businesses are unlikely to expand before the election," NFIB's chief economist William Dunkelberg said in a statement.

Dunkelberg noted a slight glimmer of hope: 18% of those surveyed said that they were having trouble filling job openings.

"Unfortunately for this administration, small-business job growth will most likely still be hovering around zero for the coming months -- not a good place to be when seeking re-election," he said.

2. What happens when a Kickstarter campaign fails? Crowdfunding portal Kickstarter likes to tout the 30,000 successful campaigns that have been funding through its website, but what happens when a campaign fails?

Mashable reports that only one-fourth of Kickstarter projects are delivering products and goals to backers on time. Some have questioned the accountability of investing in risky ideas, the article says.

After laying out policies and practices, Kickstarter, of course, explained that they are simply a middle man and are not responsible for lost money or unfinished projects. If problems do arise, it's the project creators' responsibility to post updates and, if serious enough, decide whether to offer refunds.

In the end, it's one more "buyer beware" market. Contributors should do their homework before investing in any crowdfunding campaign, but like any investment, there is always the risk of failure.

3. You're e-commerce traffic is probably not coming from social media. Despite hype about the importance of social media for small businesses, a survey suggests that traffic to your website, specifically for purchases, is more likely coming from e-marketing and search engine optimization, GrowSmartBiz's Rieva Lesonsky writes, citing a report published by Monetate.

-- Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York.

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