NASE IN THE NEWS

The novel coronavirus pandemic has left the American small business community struggling and put many businesses on life support. A resounding 93 percent of small businesses have reported disruptions brought on by COVID-19. The small business community is resilient but Main Streets across the country need our support now more than ever.

With a new tax law fully in effect for the first time this income tax filing season, most Americans – including the small business community – are understandably apprehensive about how the revised tax code will impact their returns this year. Despite this anxiety, the overwhelming majority of small businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs can expect to benefit from key changes and updates to the tax code that will help save both time and money.

The nasty secret of being a new entrepreneur is that your tax bill might be way higher than you'd imagine. When you're driving for Uber, delivering for Amazon, picking up freelance jobs or otherwise participating in the gig economy, you aren't working for a boss who is required to withhold taxes from a regular paycheck. As a result, you're subject to some fairly complex tax rules.

Listen to Keith Hall talk with Kevin Price about tax season, tax reform and the NASE on his radio show, the Price of Business.

The GOP’s proposed tax overhaul is getting a mixed reaction from small business advocates, with some saying they hope the plan will be revised as it makes its way through Congress.

One business group called the survival of a proposed retirement investment rule “disastrous” this week, blasting the Trump administration. A consumer group says just the opposite — that it keeps alive the hope investment advisers and companies won’t be allowed to put their “profits ahead of your retirement security.”

Despite early opposition from the Trump administration, an Obama-era retirement rule is going forward. The so-called fiduciary rule will roll out on June 9, Labor Department Secretary Alexander Acosta wrote in an opinion article in The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration’s proposal to slash the tax rate on partnerships and limited liability companies could set off a stampede of individual taxpayers trying to reclassify themselves as so-called pass-through businesses in order to take advantage of the savings, according to tax experts.

President Trump’s tax proposal for individuals would give California taxpayers some tax breaks but take away others. Without more details, it’s impossible to say what the net effect would be, but here are a few things we can surmise from the bare-bones plan released Wednesday.

Main Street sentiment has soared in the wake of the election of Donald Trump on hopes that the Washington outsider will usher in an era of business-friendly policies to bolster the economy.

According to data collected from CB Insights, 29% of startups fail because of a cash flow crunch. It ranked as number two on the list of reasons why businesses fail, right below “lack of market need for a product or service.”

As the Tuesday, April 18th tax-filing deadline looms ahead, you probably have already started to gather all of your necessary tax documents and are likely spending your afternoons organizing them into neat piles of paperwork. This may include business receipts to W-2 forms, investment statements, student loan documents and other important, personalized financial documents necessary for filing a complete and accurate 2016 tax return.

House Republicans released a plan Monday evening to replace the Affordable Care Act, which eliminates a key provision in that law: The employer mandate. The mandate requires businesses with at least 50 or more full-time employees to offer workers insurance or face penalties for failing to comply. The GOP plan, called the American Health Care Act, eliminates a similar rule for individuals that requires them to seek coverage or face fines.

With two daughters heading to college, Suzanne Boyd was ready to take her fledgling business to the next level and make it her full-time career. Boyd had run a special-events business for years on a part-time schedule that fit around her other responsibilities — driving the kids to and from school, helping them with homework, preparing meals and keeping up the family home in Cooper City.

I respectfully disagree with your Feb. 12 editorial “Retirement Advice in the Trump Era,” because the fiduciary rule is not a “common-sense safeguard”; rather, it’s a complex and burdensome regulation that imposes an unfair cost onto America’s smallest businesses.

Members of a House committee tangled over the effect of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on small businesses and what the best solutions could be, although there were a few hints of areas for agreement. "The fact that there are people who couldn't get insurance before because of a preexisting condition -- I think the ACA did well in that area," said Keith Hall, president and CEO of the National Association for the Self-Employed

Stay in business for yourself or go back to working for someone else? That's the choice some small business owners and freelancers are worried they may have to make, depending on what changes Congress makes in the health care law.

This was an uncertain year for small business owners, much of it centered around the presidential election. Since then, the NFIB Small Business Optimism is up and Donald Trump has nominated WWE co-founder Linda McMahon to be the new SBA chief. We talk to Dennis Bradford with the Trump/Pence Small Business Advisory Council and Katie Vlietstra with the National Association for the Self-Employed about the state of small business in 2017.

McMahon, 68, a co-founder and former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, was one of Trump’s early backers and contributed more than $6.5 million to support his campaign. She and Trump have had business ties for decades, dating to the late 1980s when WWE, then known as the World Wrestling Federation, held WrestleMania, an annual pay-per-view event, at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City.

A federal judge in Texas on Tuesday blocked a U.S. Department of Labor rule extending overtime pay to roughly 5 million workers nationwide. The President Barack Obama-backed rule had been scheduled to take effect Dec. 1, and many employers nationwide, including many in the Triad, had changed or made plans to change the way they pay workers to meet the rule's requirements.

Tony Albano works as a comedy magician in South Florida, but he’s not finding much to laugh about as his Obamacare health plan pulls a disappearing act for 2017. His current plan goes away in two months because insurer Coventry and parent Aetna Inc. are fleeing public exchanges, claiming losses are too high. That leaves him scrambling to figure out what to do next as open enrollment begins Nov. 1.

Surging costs for health insurance have gotten the attention of the National Association for the Self Employed (NASE). The group added its voice Tuesday to the chorus criticizing the Obama administration and the Affordable Care Act. The new wave of criticism comes as the administration announced that premiums for mid-range-silver plans would rise by an average of 25 percent. Those on the act’s exchange program will also have less options than in the past as some companies have dropped out of the program.

A few months ago, we had the opportunity to meet with Colorado women who own successful small businesses in El Paso County. Small businesses, the drivers of our economy, make up almost 98 percent of employers in Colorado. One study ranked Colorado Springs as the best city for women-owned business in the state. Another study placed Boulder, Fort Collins and Denver on a top ten list of cities in the country for business owners. We are proud of Colorado's status as an ideal place to start and grow a small business, but we also heard first-hand from these women and entrepreneurs across the state about the challenges they face. While they are working to create jobs and build our innovation economy, it's Congress's job to make sure that both owners and their employees have access to the resources they need to succeed.

The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), the nation’s leading advocate and resource for self-employed and micro-businesses, today voiced its strong support for a set of new small business tax proposals released by the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Specifically, the small business standard business deduction will go a long way in reducing the complexities small businesses face in completing their tax returns.

With the Department of Labor Overtime Rule scheduled to go in effect December 1, 2016, a new bill was recently introduced in Congress to slow down the ruling announced in May. Four House Democrats - Reps. Kurt Schrader, Oregon; Jim Cooper, Tennessee; Henry Cuellar, Texas; and Collin Peterson, Minnesota - introduced The Overtime Reform and Enhancement Act, which gives small businesses, non profits and universities more time to comply with the final overtime rule.

Many don't see themselves as small business owners and aren't ready to deal with one of the great two certainties in life: taxes. In the “gig economy,” millions of people provide services and resources using online platforms. Get on the right software, pay the going rate, and you can find a bed in Tuscaloosa, get a ride in Piedmont, have your screen door repaired in Scranton, and wait for dinner to be delivered to your door in Walla Walla.

The IRS has been so slow to adapt to the rapidly emerging peer-to-peer economy that billions of dollars in taxable income a year are probably going unreported every year, according to a study being delivered to Congress this week.

For even the most diligent bootstrappers, the costs associated with starting a business can be intimidating. But there's at least one simple way to cut down on costs: by running your business from home. The majority of business owners (69 percent) start their businesses at home, according to a 2012 report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report.

This tax season, self-employed business owners and contract workers have a slew of potential deductions that could put a significant dent in their tax bill. But oftentimes these substantial write-offs are overlooked.

George Banyas is self-employed, having run a successful optometry business in Richland for the past 15 years. He and his wife have two children, both in their early 20s and attending college. ​While his business has afforded his family a stable living, it also has left him ineligible for a health insurance subsidy under the Affordable Care Act. And Mr. Banyas is increasingly worried about the rising cost of insuring his family of four. The Affordable Care Act, he said, is looking increasingly unaffordable for him.

Employee retention is perhaps one of the biggest challenges many businesses face today, and often keeping your best employees is about more than just paying them well. Many people are also looking to their employers for affordable healthcare coverage, but for small business owners the cost of offering group health insurance can be crippling. Rather than risk losing your employees to competitors who offer benefits, many companies allow employees to go out and shop for individual insurance plans, then provide reimbursement to help cover the monthly premiums and other health care costs.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Two years ago Carl Baldesare was sitting on a patio outside of a relatively quiet local bakery in Cleveland Heights, watching a steady flow of foot traffic at a nearby national chain bagel shop. Impulsively, he walked down the street and started asking customers why they didn't check out the local bakery and café instead.

After seven years at the same job, Alka Pateriya had begun to think about striking out on her own as an independent consultant. But it wasn’t until late 2013—by which point she’d been working at the research company Westat for nearly nine years—that she began making moves.

Freelancers say they are making more money than their office-job counterparts, according to a new report. The survey results may only tell part of the story, but even if freelancers who work from home are making less than their full-time counterparts, they appear to be getting something else that full-time workers don't: Freelancers are more positive and they say they're more likely to vote.

As vice president for government relations and public affairs at the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), Katie Wonnenberg leads the association’s federal advocacy and communication strategy in representing the 23 million self-employed and micro-businesses across the country. In today’s Q&A, she discusses key advocacy strategies she’s employed at NASE, including how best to keep members motivated when it seems like nothing is happening on Capitol Hill.

NASE's President and Chief Executive Officer Keith Hall sat down with C-SPAN to talk about policy issues affecting self-employed workers in the U.S.

NASE's Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs Katie Vlietstra featured on C-SPAN.

The April 15th tax filing deadline is around the corner, but small business owners and self-employed workers still have some time to read up on last minute tax tips and learn about the most forgotten deductions for the self-employed community. Today, TNJ.com spoke to Keith Hall, president and CEO of the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), to bring you advice on filing for your micro-business.

Every tax paying American knows April 15 is the deadline to file your federal income tax return, but do you know about this year’s tax code changes that can have a big effect on your 2014 tax return and your wallet?

In the latest in a long string of delays in enforcing the rules under the health care overhaul, the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that they will wait until summer to start enforcing financial penalties on small businesses that provide so-called Health Reimbursement Arrangements to their employees.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would delay enforcement of an Affordable Care Act prohibition relating to standalone health reimbursement arrangements until July 1. A standalone HRA is an employer-provided benefit that offers participants a spending account to reimburse them for qualified medical expenses. However, in light of the ACA’s ban against health plans with an annual dollar limit on essential benefits, standalone HRAs have been deemed impermissible.

Tax reform is the Holy Grail of Capitol Hill. It's practically unattainable, but that doesn't keep a lot of people from searching for it. Politicians are talking about tax reform again this year in Washington. That talk, however, largely has been past each other. President Barack Obama suggested some changes that were immediately derided, while Congressional leaders offered other reform possibilities that the president's team disdains.

The majority of small business owners responding to a new survey by the National Association for the Self-Employed ranked “decreasing monthly premiums” as the major thing they would change about their current health care plan.

Many Democrats and Republicans, including new House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, agree that they will try to reduce the 35 percent corporate tax rate and curb business tax breaks to help pay for it. They’ll leave individual rates alone to avoid a politically charged fight.

The self-employed are finding it easier to buy health insurance on their own because of the Affordable Care Act, as are workers looking to leave corporate life. But as the 2015 enrollment season ramps up, many of them must weigh new trade-offs between cost and coverage.

Ahead of this week’s Small Business Saturday – a national day established to support small businesses across the country – the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), the nation’s leading advocate and resource for the self-employed and micro-business community, unveiled five top member benefits to help entrepreneurs start and grown their businesses.

The midterm elections mean a Republican majority with a vastly different congressional agenda. As many anticipate this new set of legislative priorities, there’s much discussion around the potential for a “grand bargain.” Polls have consistently shown Republican and Democratic voters overwhelmingly united on one key issue — growing America’s economy.

The American healthcare system has undergone so many changes in the past few years, it can leave a small business owner’s head spinning. Most of that confusion revolves around the new Affordable Care Act, now in its second year.

Launching a business—whether it's a side hustle or second career—is on the minds of many people these days, especially baby boomers. As they get ready to retire, or are laid off, more and more baby boomers are feeling the entrepreneurial spirit.

Women business owners are looking for candidates with a pro-business agenda, and that starts with reforming the individual income tax code. That's according to an online survey conducted Oct. 15-24 by the National Association for the Self-Employed. Most of the 153 women business owners surveyed are self-employed, and more than 70 percent have owned their business for more than six years. More than 40 percent started their businesses when they were 41 or older, but 35 percent were in their 30s. More than 39 percent own professional services firms; consumer goods and health care were the next two most popular industries.

The Obamacare repeal effort is dead. But the Obamacare reform effort is just beginning. One of the most interesting examples of the reform effort are the "copper plans" being proposed in the Expanded Consumer Choice Act, which is being pushed by seven moderate Senate Democrats: Mark Begich, Mark Warner, Heidi Heitkamp, Tim Kaine, Mary Landrieu, Angus King, and Joe Manchin.

The small business community, including self-employed and micro-businesses, welcomed a major benefit this tax year: a new, streamlined IRS home office standardized deduction. The new, standardized deduction is available to small business owners and the self-employed as an option for the 2013 tax year (returns filed in 2014).

We’ve seen lots of headlines recently about women small business owners, including two senators seeking to boost opportunities, and women’s superior efforts in crowdfunding. Here’s a look at those developments.

From Yahoo's Marissa Mayer to Ursula Burns at Xerox and PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi, women capture an ever-growing number of top spots at leading corporations -- internationally and in the United States. Compared to the 1960's when women were barred from certain jobs, we have made great strides in earning management positions at various levels to running the show. But despite the gains over the last fifty years, women still only account for 24 of the Fortune 500's Chief Executive Officer positions.

The Women's Business Center of North Alabama is asking leaders to support a new bill that would improve funding and contracting opportunities for women-owned businesses in the U.S.

By now, we've all heard about the challenges and the ups-and-downs of the new health care law. From cancelled plans to delayed programs and technical glitches in online applications, the Affordable Care Act has had its share of problems. However, in the end, the Affordable Care Act -- or ACA -- has turned out to help millions of Americans young and old. Far from perfect, the Department of Health and Human Services declared success with over eight million people enrolled, and over 30 percent being young Americans aged 18-34.

According to government documents obtained by the Associated Press, the accounts of more than 2 million people who signed up for Obamacare have "data discrepancies," some of which could affect their subsidy eligibility. The discrepancies include "important details on income, citizenship and immigration status," according to the AP. The biggest concern is that some people may have received too high a subsidy, meaning they'd be asked to repay the excess or lose their coverage.

It could be your local cupcake shop, neighborhood deli or even your friendly accountant -- all local entrepreneurs fueling not only their local economies, but our national economy as well. One of the things they all have in common is that they are part of a growing movement in America called the small business community. With every dollar you invest in a local, small business, the true entrepreneurial spirit of America continues to thrive. According to the Small Business Administration, more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and they create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.

The National Association for the Self-Employed saluted America’s 23 million smallest businesses for their contributions to our national and local economies during this week’s National Small Business Week. NASE is a partner of The Small Business Administration, who is holding events around the country to showcase the power and influence of America’s small business community.

The hashtag #SmallBiz is buzzing around the Twittersphere for National Small Business Week. May 12 through May 16 is dedicated to saluting the 23 million super-small businesses around the country. Supporting America’s entrepreneurial spirit, The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), an advocate for small business owners, is launching a series of #SmallBiz events in four major cities!

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is our nation's direct link between the administration and America's small business community. The agency provides benefits such as advocacy and support, loans and access to capital and entrepreneurial development to ensure the small business community continues to move our economy forward.

Charlie Arnold of Lewes accepts the fact that President Obama's Affordable Care Act is law, and he's going to abide by it. The problem he has now is that the law is confusing to understand, difficult to implement, and there seems to be a bias

Keith Hall, the President of the National Association for the Self-Employed explains the tax changes small business owners need to be aware of.

As the California public, including thousands of small business owners in the state, prepare to file their 2013 tax returns, the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), a leading advocate and resource for the self-employed and micro-businesses, today released important tax tips, resources and updates to the tax code for filing accurate returns.

The Affordable Care Act’s impact on self-employed business owners was the topic of a House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce hearing last week. Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), the chairman of the subcommittee, said self-employed business owners have faced higher insurance costs, smaller provider networks and coverage confusion since implementation of the ACA.

With tax season under way, you're scratching your head, trying to figure out how to cope with higher levies facing taxpayers on 2013 returns and how to plan for 2014. One key to tackling this problem is to think of the new rules as different aspects of the same challenge. The taxes differ from one another, and higher tax rates kick in at various income thresholds. But the solution is the same for several of them.

Chairman Hanna, Ranking Member Meng, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity today to offer the self-employed's perspective on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to share with you its impact on those of us trying each and every day to keep our businesses afloat so that we can leave a lasting legacy for future generations.

The IRS says it is making it easier this year to file the home-office deduction. Instead of filling out the long and complicated form 8829 as in the past, taxpayers can now take a standard deduction, according to the IRS. The standard deduction is equal to the square footage of the home office multiplied by $5 for a maximum deduction of $1,500.

It's no picnic being a small business owner this time of the year. Yes, it's tax season for small firms, too - time to gather up those receipts and bank statements to make sure you get all the deductions you are entitled to. Here are five things small business owners need to know:

It's not often that something in the tax code gets easier, which makes the new simplified home office deduction noteworthy. Starting with 2013 tax returns, people who work from home have the option of deducting up to $1,500 worth of housing-related expenses in one line on their tax return. Or they can use the old option, which involves filling a complex 43-line form (8829, Expenses for Business Use of Your Home).

Small businesses will have more time to comply with the employer mandate requirements of the federal health care overhaul, the Obama administration announced Monday. Under final regulations issued by the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, businesses that employ between 50 and 99 full-time workers will have until January 2016 to comply with the employer mandate to provide health insurance, Accounting Today reported.

Katie Vlietstra, NASE's Vice President for Government Relations and Public Affairs goes on Fox Business to discuss the CBO report and what it means for small business owners and entrepreneurs.

We’re at the point where we’ll soon need a spreadsheet to keep track of all the changes to Obamacare. This afternoon the Obama Administration once again delayed a provision of the Affordable Care Act.

In 2013, my husband and I were both employed and had company-provided health insurance. In 2014, we are both unemployed and starting our own business. We’re not sure what kind of income we’ll bring in this year so we’re not sure how to figure out if we qualify for Obamacare subsidies. Our 2013 income will be too high to use as an estimate. Also, if we qualify for large subsidies, can we take them now and then reduce them later if our business takes off and we make more than expected? This seems like an obvious concern for many self-employed people.

Maria Contreras-Sweet, are you listening? Now that President Barack Obama has nominated you to run the Small Business Administration, owners have a to-do list for you.

It had been nearly a year since the White House started searching for a new leader for the Small Business Administration, and more than four months since the former top executive gave up the wait and departed, leaving the agency in the hands of a more-than-capable but not-quite-official interim leader.

After more than six months without a leader, the Small Business Administration may finally have a new chief. President Barack Obama is set to nominate Maria Contreras-Sweet, the founder of ProAmerica Bank, as the new leader of the SBA later today, according a senior administration official.

The vast majority of small businesses in the U.S. took a financial hit during the Great Recession. For years, as the recession gripped the economy, the outlook for small business growth remained grim. But today, some five years later, small firms with fewer than 100 employees are finally feeling optimistic about the future, according to a recent American Express OPEN Small Business Monitor survey.

Question: Thank you for your article on how the self-employed can calculate eligibility for Obamacare subsidies. I now understand it is line 37 instead of line 22 on my 1040 tax return. This is a relief, as I will be qualified. Since my MAGI [modified adjusted gross income] varies year from year, depending on the level of business contracts and projects I receive, does that mean I will be paying different premiums or rates and receiving different subsidies every year?

Covered California, the state-run health insurance exchange, said it has launched online self-enrollment for small businesses. But the federal government announced Wednesday that healthcare .gov, the exchange it runs for 36 other states, will delay that capability for one year.

Americans aren’t very good at saving money. The self-employed are even worse. Asurvey published this week by TD Ameritrade (AMTD) shows that 40 percent of America’s 10 million self-employed workers aren’t saving regularly for retirement and 28 percent aren’t saving at all. That compares with about 10 percent of traditionally employed workers who aren’t saving for retirement, according to the survey, which 2,000 U.S. residents completed online.

With shoppers standing in line for door-buster deals Thursday and Friday at some of the nation’s top big-box retails, many central Wisconsin businesses were taking advantage of an increasing trend to focus the day after Black Friday.

The beleaguered and defeated Obamacare has taken another punch, and Main Street is feeling the pain. Just as most of the country was heading full throttle toward the tryptophan-induced haze that is Thanksgiving, the White House announced yet another delay in the rollout of Obamacare – one that affects small businesses.

National attention to and support for Small Business Saturday, held on Nov. 30, has been especially important this year. The recent government shutdown showed the enormity of the economic repercussions that can result– especially for small businesses—when Congress puts politics before its responsibility to govern. By one estimate, $500 million was lost when tourists were unable to visit national parks and sportsmen were locked out of wildlife refuges and other areas at the onset of hunting season. Lesson learned: America’s parks and public lands matter to local economies and small businesses. Protecting our national heritage is important to our economic sustainability, and our legacy to future generations.

Small businesses won’t be able to enroll online for SHOP plans on the federal Affordable Care Act exchange for another year, the Obama Administration announced Wednesday, news reports said, the latest in a series of delays for his signature health reform law.

More than 60 percent of small business owners aren't confident they'll be able to get health insurance that's both affordable and comprehensive in 2014, according to a survey by the National Association for the Self-Employed.

President Obama ran into fresh criticism on Thursday as he bowed to pressure and attempted to throw a lifeline to consumers whose insurance policies are being canceled because they don't provide the robust coverage that the health care law requires.

Thanks to federal subsidies created by the Affordable Care Act, as many as 7 million Americans may be eligible to get coverage through health exchanges without paying a dime, according to new research (PDF) from McKinsey. That’s great for the people who qualify, though it’s worth clarifying that zero-premium doesn’t equal zero-cost—patients are responsible for co-payments for services delivered. Subsidies are unlikely to create large savings for one group you might think would benefit from the individual marketplaces: the self-employed.

Warmup acts often get a hostile reception, but maybe Marilyn Tavenner's rocky experience on Capitol Hill Tuesday can help Kathleen Sebelius -- Obamacare's main act -- get ready for her performance on Wednesday.

After years of choosing between sky-high premiums and going without any health coverage, millions of freelancers will benefit from the Affordable Care Act because of expanded eligibility requirements, new public insurance exchanges and improvements to cheaper plans.

NASE Director of Government Affairs, Katie Vlietstra goes on MSNBC's Your Business with JJ Ramberg

Tweet, Vine, Pin, Post. Update a blog. Like a Facebook status. Network via LinkedIn. There are myriad options for small business owners to connect with customers, peers and others via digital media.

FIRST LOOK: SMALLEST BUSINESSES UNDECIDED ON OBAMACARE — Per release out later this morning: “The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE), the nation’s leading advocate and resource for the self-employed and micro-businesses, today released new data from a national survey of its membership showing that more than half (54 percent) of the 476 respondents haven’t decided if they will purchase health care on the Exchanges.

A day before the Obamacare health exchanges go online, more than half of those who work for themselves aren’t sure whether they’ll use them to purchase medical coverage, according to a survey from the National Association of the Self-Employed.

Question: In signing up for insurance on an Obamacare exchange, what happens if I underestimate my self-employed income for 2014? I make between negative and $50,000 per year, so my income varies widely. Will there be a fine? What if I overestimate—will I take the subsidies off my tax amount?

There is no single recipe for how to create a financially sound small business. Some founders make their money off a few big clients. Some have many customers. There are those who use credit cards and personal savings for working capital. Others seek investor money through crowdfunding websites.

Finding a full-time job in the current anemic job market still remains a challenge, so many are creating their own positions and becoming their own boss. A new report finds 17 million Americans now identify themselves as self-employed, freelancers, temps and other “independent workers.”

Neil Crosby, director of sales for Warner Pacific Insurance Services, had surpassed 500 when he lost track of the number of presentations he has given on the new federal health care law.

With enrollment in our nation's new health care system quickly approaching, 3,432,359 small businesses across the state of California are preparing and educating themselves about the impact of the sweeping new health care reform law enacted by Congress last year.

As the Oct. 1 open enrollment date looms for the Small Business Health Options Program under the Affordable Care Act, most small business owners in Arizona have no idea what to expect.

In another setback for President Obama's health care initiative, the administration has delayed until 2015 a provision in the law that limits how much people may have to spend on their own health care, The New York Times reported.

This week: Small Business Competitions There are no easy roads for entrepreneurs. All victories are won through sweat equity, long nights, and from cutting-edge ideas executed with perfect timing. While this is true, there is help for small businesses who are intent on using technology to innovate within their industry.

In health policy circles, they are called the young invincible – healthy adults under the age of 30 who don't feel they need to buy health insurance. Even when they're offered coverage at work, a new ADP study found only half of young adults opt to take their company plan, compared with 70 percent of workers over age 40.

The Affordable Care Act requires Americans to have health insurance beginning next year or pay a penalty, and health exchanges will begin open enrollment on Oct. 1. With those dates fast approaching, government officials have stepped up efforts to squelch fears and clear up confusion regarding the health reform law. After meeting with Obama administration officials last week, Kristie Arslan, chief executive officer of the National Association for the Self-Employed, talked to me about how Obamacare is likely to affect independent workers. An edited transcript of our conversation follows.

Question: I am 60 years old and was laid off from a job four years ago. I have since been self-employed. I receive a monthly pension and sometimes withdraw funds from my 401(k). Will those two sources of income count when I’m calculating income to determine if I’ll be eligible for a subsidy to purchase health insurance?

NASE President & CEO Kristie Arslan was featured in a Phoenix Business Blog story on the impact of the Affordable Care Act on the self-employed. Of the 22 million self-employed Americans, 380,000 reside in Arizona.