Sage Advice

Starting a business

Latest articles for Starting a business

Your four-step checklist for refining your business plan

After you’ve been in business for a while, your business plan may need a refresher. Here are the areas you should re-exa...

September 15, 2020

Why now is a good time to start a business: Advice from our experts

According to our panel of entrepreneurs and business experts, now is a good time to start a business, as 2020 presents s...

September 8, 2020

Ready to be your own boss? Resources to help you start, manage, and move your business forward

Are you ready to be your own boss? We have assembled guides and expert advice to help you start, manage, and move your b...

September 4, 2020

Seven characteristics of an effective mentor

Mentorship is a good way to bring more youth into the industry, retain more employees, and advance individual careers. R...

August 26, 2020

How to start a business in 2020

Have a great business idea but not sure where to start? Our free small business toolkit will guide you through the steps...

August 9, 2020

Plan for business growth during and after a recession

How you can plan for business growth during and after a recession? Steps include leveraging IT, including small business...

July 15, 2020

5 KPIs to measure small business growth

Here's a look at 5 KPIs that every small business should measure to ensure their thriving business is also a growing bus...

March 4, 2020

How to get a payment gateway and accept online payments

A payment gateway is the virtual gateway your customers' bank accounts that securely transmits transactional data about ...

October 22, 2019

Woman with glasses looking at computer screen

How to recover a past due invoice

Recovering a past due invoice is frustrating and time-consuming. Learn how to ensure you get paid on time with this deta...

September 3, 2019

How to use business intelligence to get paid and improve cash flow

For small and growing businesses, there are few tasks more important than ensuring you’re paid on time and managing your...

July 8, 2019

How to choose a cloud product and move to it successfully

15 of the best admin hacks for small businesses

Businesses report that 71% of their admin time is taken up with accounting and payments processing tasks. Here are 15 wa...

June 27, 2019

5 Business growth lessons entrepreneurs can learn from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Discover how harnessing the lessons from Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. can help you scale your business for growth in the m...

January 18, 2019

Our top 12 survival tips for small businesses

Business success is a tricky thing, with a lot of influential factors involved. Small businesses feel threatened by all ...

November 30, 2018

Tips to consider when launching a virtual business

Two virtual business veterans share their advice on how to start and grow your business in a virtual world.

November 7, 2018

How to create a business budget

Budgets are living tools that can help you run your business better, save time at tax season, and make better decisions ...

August 6, 2018

Understanding return on investment

Calculating the Return on Investment (ROI) for your business is an important piece to understand how profitable your bus...

July 18, 2018

Late paying customers? Try these tips from the experts

A recent Sage survey found that 11% of all invoices issued by SMEs are paid late. Invoice management is an important par...

June 19, 2018

How to create a pain-free payment process for your customers

In order to ensure proper payment, you need to make the payment process easy for customers to pay. In an increasingly mo...

June 11, 2018

10 steps to grow your customer base

Tips on how to grow your customer base, generate leads and maintain your existing customer relationships.

June 8, 2018

small business owner working on invoices

How to get paid faster with e-invoicing and automation

Late payments is an issue that most small and medium U.S. businesses have to deal with. But by using automation and e-in...

April 27, 2018

The cure to your admin headaches

US small business owners reportedly spend a third of their day doing accounting related administrative tasks. Are you fe...

April 16, 2018

9 business funding opportunities for women, by women

Research shows that female entrepreneurs are faced with discrimination. In honor of International Women's Day, we've res...

March 8, 2018

Key components of a successful employee onboarding experience

Onboarding is so much more than regular orientation, and an effective onboarding strategy is an integral factor in compa...

February 16, 2018

An American millionaire: What to learn from Madam CJ Walker

Madam CJ Walker was first self-made female American millionaire. Here are 5 lessons today’s entrepreneurs can learn from...

February 15, 2018