Small Business Saturday has received national attention in recent years, particularly last year when President Obama promoted it and did his own small business shopping with cameras at hand to get the word out. This day of celebrating small businesses around the country falls during the pre-Christmas shopping season along with Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

While you should still take advantage of the hype that Small Business Saturday provides, there are a lesser-known, but longer-standing celebration of entrepreneurship that falls in the middle of Summer which can help small business owners promote local buying in perhaps an even better way.

If the retail industry were an ocean, the corporations would be the sharks and the small businesses would be the minnows.

Chain stores like Walmart, Costco, etc. are towering figures, but as small business owners, let this not dishearten you. We can discuss how by making small changes to the way you do business and by learning from the best practices of other businesses you can actually push your own to be ready for the future.

And future small business trends look pretty wacky.

Funding a new business or expanding an existing one used to consist of an application or two to banks and supplying your business plan or profit and loss statements for the suit-wearing loan officers to mull over with their underwriters.

Ever since the economic downturn in 2008 however, and in some cases even before, banks have been leery, if not unwilling, to release funds for small business use.

The only ally which seems to be trying to help small business is the SBA, and even these loans – which are usually backed 75% by the SBA against losses – require jumping through numerous hoops.

You’re one of the brave ones. You started your own business, and if you’re like 88% of small businesses owners,  you do your own marketing too.

One of your biggest challenges is to get yourself on the watch lists of your target audience, whether you are opening a new store, trying to stay afloat or reach higher goals.

Sure, social media is a common answer to the question of “cheap marketing” and it obviously does have answers to that conundrum, but with so many networking options out there on the web, how do you zero in on the best solution without having to maintain an account in everything?

The weather’s warmer and the kids are out of school; everybody is looking for fun in the sun and some refreshing good times. They’ll head to their local diners, delis, bars, and bistros to catch up with old friends, new menus, and family favorites.

If you offer al fresco dining, then your patio is probably already packed!

OpenTable, the online restaurant reservation service, has just released their 2013 Diners’ Choice Award winners for the Top 100 Outdoor Dining Restaurants in the United States based on five million restaurant reviews over the last year.

Pair programming is a software development practice that reduces risk and uncertainty by putting two minds at work in concert on the same problem. Recently, Swipely’s engineering team has been pairing on a product feature to help local merchants manage their online reputation. And when we spontaneously decided to pair on the RI Rhode Races half marathon, we realized that a lot of the benefits are the same for running as they are for programming.

Last week we talked about how loyal employees create loyal customers. Now I want to get into how to create those loyal employees, the rockstars that are invaluable to your bottom line.

Entrepreneur.com has an excellent article on this very thing, but I would like to build on their suggestions just a bit. With people switching jobs like they are changing clothes these days, attracting and retaining talent should be one of the most important goals of your business. The rest will come if the foundation is solid.