This expansion makes sense given that there are already thousands of businesses that run on Apple products, the company has now focused on consumer and niche markets such as media firms and design. Apple wants to use the iPhone and iPad as selling points to leverage more expensive products like Macintosh computers and servers. It is using its 300 retail stores to reach out to local businesses. Apple is also recruiting from within the sales staff so as to form a specialized team to negotiate leasing and pricing terms for customers.

It is unlikely that Apple would be facing more competition from competitors like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. But Apple is eyeing the $310.8 billion that North American businesses are expected to spend on information technology this year. The figure will rise to $328.3 billion in the coming year. By capturing the sales, the annual revenue of Apple can grow up to 46% amounting to $62.6 billion in the current year. Brian Marshall, analyst in Gleacher & Co., says, “They’re well aware of the opportunities in business. This is something they’re focusing on even if they’re not talking about it publicly.”

A Virginia-based MacPro Solutions owner, Allen Cleaton, says, “Almost half of our new customers come from the Apple Store.” Cleaton can find local business as Apple’s general staff do not have the expertise to handle set up and maintenance of business computer networks. Apple just maintains an expert team for government agencies and big companies. As far as small and mid-sized businesses are concerned, it currently hands over responsibility to its retail stores. But now, Apple is updating its retail stores with conference rooms meant for meetings between sales team and higher echelons of business executives in order to equip their expansion plans.

Just 3.7 percent of high-level job seekers exiting the program were starting new businesses down from 7.6 percent in the first half of 2009 and 9.6 percent in the second half of last year, according to a survey conducted by the company on July 19.

Experts suggest that an improving job market and the difficulty getting small business loans may be steering people away from entrepreneurship, said Business Week.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said last week that small businesses, and especially startups, are crucial to job growth and economic recovery. Bernanke once again called on banks to loosen credit to small businesses.

Some see the lower startup rate as a sign that the economy is improving. The unemployment rate is still high, but the private sector added 593,000 jobs in the first half of 2010, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Startup activity typically increases as the economy improves, Challenger CEO John Challenger said in a statement.

Bernanke urged banks to loosen lending to smaller companies at a Fed conference Monday, saying that small businesses employ about half of all Americans and account for 60 percent of job creation.

Startups are especially vital, Bernanke said. Over the past 20 years, startup businesses accounted for about a quarter of all job creation.

Meanwhile, big companies are building up their cash reserves and are expected to report strong earnings in the coming week, said the Associated Press.

According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, roughly one-third of small businesses seeking credit have had trouble getting it. Banks counter that the demand for credit remains weak.

Several big banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup, have pledged to increase small business lending this year. Total lending to small businesses has continued to decline, however, dropping from around $710 billion in the second quarter 2008 to less than $670 billion in the first quarter of this year, said the AP.

A number of small business owners say they are relying on personal credit cards or dipping into their own savings to stay afloat.

1. Don’t take on too much debt. It’s expected that most entrepreneurs will have to take on some debt, but Strauss says to keep it to a minimum and have a plan to pay it back. It’s easy for a business to go under as debt accrues interest and cash flow shrinks.

2. Not having a marketing plan. The only way to get your name out there is through marketing and advertising. Social networking is a great way to do it on the cheap, says Strauss. On his web site www.MrAllBiz.com , he offers a webinar called Marketing on a Shoestring.

3. Don’t jump into decisions without carefully consideration. Before entering a partnership, for example, work on a project together to find out if your styles and goals are compatible. Strauss also says to beware of bad vendors and lousy locations.

4. Not having a great team. The problem with being too independent is that there is not another person around to give you feedback and share the work, says Strauss. How do you build a great team? The Small Business Administration and its Related Small Business Development Centers offer no-cost and low-cost counseling and training seminars. Find interns at local business schools, or consider hiring part-time employees. Tap business associates and fellow entrepreneurs to serve as informal advisors.

The Portfolio study analyzed the nation’s 100 largest metro areas, looking for the places that are most conducive to the creation and development of small businesses.

The highest scores in the study went to areas that have prosperous economies, are expanding rapidly, and are densely packed with small businesses. A small business is defined in the survey as any private-sector employer with 99 or fewer employees.

Despite the recession, Austin experienced impressive population, job and small business growth. The number of small businesses in the Texas capital increased 5.6 percent between 2006 and 2007, the latest period covered by official statistics. The typical metro area experienced small-business growth of 1.4 percent, said Portfolio.

The most promising region for entrepreneurs is the South, which is home to 12 of the 20 best metros for small businesses, according to Portfolio.

Rounding out the top five cities are Baton Rouge, La.; last year’s top city, Raleigh, N.C., came in third; Charleston, S.C. was fourth; and Portland, Maine was fifth.

Detroit came in last in the small-business rating, along with Youngstown, Dayton, and Toledo, Ohio, and Milwaukee.

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, which measures new startups, shows a slight rise in the creation of small businesses even since the recession began, and that is expected to continue through 2009, according to Entrepreneur.com. About 1 million people a year become self-employed, and enrollment in entrepreneurship programs at universities is up.

But how does this square with the hits small businesses have taken in the past two years?

Many experts say that the recession is actually the perfect time to begin planning a small business startup. Office space and supplies are cheaper; with larger companies closing or downsizing, there are service gaps in many areas; and with the high unemployment rate there are plenty of talented people looking for work and ready to hustle.

While entrepreneurs may not see an immediate payoff, smaller, more flexible and creative companies are the business model of the future. And new technology will be the key to creating this new entrepreneurial society.

“Suddenly, you don’t have to have a large physical plant to start a company,” Michael S. Malone, author of “The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What It Means for You,” told Entrepreneur.com. “The cost of entry is getting close to zero — now the little guys can build a business without the overhead. The best strategy is to get small and adaptable, strip things to a solid core and hire from the cloud of talent out there — then blow up like a puffer fish when you encounter a potential market.”

New York City’s Magnolia Bakery, which was featured in an episode of “Sex and the City” and a popular “Saturday Night Live” video, seems to have started the cupcake craze which is quickly spreading to other parts of the country. Traffic to cupcake blogs is on the rise, and the Food Network will debut a new series called “Cupcake Wars.”

The market research firm Mintel predicts cupcake sales nationwide will grow by 20 percent in the next five years, the Times reported.

The Times outlines four cupcake business models:
— The Chain: You need a great product, brand and location to get a chain off the ground.
— Web-Only Store: One blogger decided to start selling cupcakes through her Web site, but has yet to make enough money to quit her day job.
— The Cupcakes and More Store: A number of bakeries make cupcakes their signature product but also sell coffee, lunch fare and other baked goods to draw more customers.
— The Cupcake Bakery: This means making enough cupcakes to sell to other bakeries and stores. One business owner stressed the importance of branding and marketing in making this kind of operation successful. For example, she lets customers know her cupcakes are made with organic, local and natural ingredients.

Growing economies, affordable workers, stable housing markets and low crime are the factors entrepreneurs should consider when starting a small business, said the CNN report.

CNN used 2007 U.S. Census data to compare a city’s population and the number of small businesses employing up to 50 people. They determined the top 10 small-business-friendly cities are:

1. Oklahoma City
2. Pittsburgh
3. Raleigh
4. Houston
5. Hartford
6. Washington, D.C.
7. Charlotte
8. Austin
9. New York City
10. Baltimore

At places like Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio, students are making their own Earth-friendly biodiesel fuel by converting used cooking oil from the dining hall, said a Jan. 22 article by The Associated Press .

“It ends up as a product that is more friendly to the environment. And we’re teaching with it,” Woody Woodruff, director of facilities at Sinclair, told the AP.

The college is one of many making biodiesel, an alternative fuel produced from renewable oilseed crops, such as canola or soybean, or from used vegetable oil and other fats, the AP said.

Others include the State University of New York, which uses biodiesel for about 8 percent of the fuel used on campus, and Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., which produces 50 to 150 gallons of biodiesel each week to power campus lawn mowers, a garbage truck and farm equipment, the AP said. In Kansas, the University of Kansas uses biodiesel for lawn mowers, backhoes, front-end loaders and other construction equipment.

The AP interviewed Neil Steiner, a 22-year-old architectural engineering student from Oklahoma. “I’m really into green buildings, and it was the greenest thing I could get my hands on,” he said.

Most colleges make biodiesel by chemically converting used cooking oil from campus dining halls, the report said.

Estimated U.S. sales of biodiesel have jumped from 75 million gallons in 2005 to 700 million gallons last year, according to the AP. The cost of making biodiesel $1 a gallon, the report said.

The new rules, outlined in a March 16 Associated Press story, have those banks reporting monthly on how much they lend to small businesses. All others are being called upon to make an “extra effort” to boost small business lending.

The announcements came March 16 as part of a broad package aimed at small business that was being unveiled by President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the AP said. The package also includes reduced small business lending fees and an increase on the guarantee to some Small Business Administration loans.

“We know that small businesses are the engine of growth in the economy, and we absolutely want to do things to help them,” Christina Romer, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told the wire service. “There are already a lot of things to help them in the recovery package, and some of what will be coming out are the things that were in the recovery package: increasing the SBA loan guarantees, lowering fees.”

Republicans appeared to embrace the efforts, but with some qualifications.

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor of Georgia said: “We’ve got to do something to help these small-business people. We know that they’re the job creators in this economy. And the problem … I think we’re seeing out of the Obama administration is a lack of focus on how to get things going again.”

The new measures have the government stepping in to buy loans, temporarily eliminate upfront fees of up to 3.75 percent and some processing charges on certain SBA loans typically passed along to borrowers, the AP said. It also increases the government guarantees on certain loans to 90 percent, up from 85 percent for loans below $150,000 and 75 percent for larger loans.