If tax breaks for the wealthy expire, would small business suffer?

Small-business advice: Family firms have pros and cons

Dear Karen: How do I decide whether I should go into business with my mother and sister?

Small-business advice: A myth about start-ups, debunked

Dear Karen: Is it true that more businesses are founded during recessions?

U.S. gives small firms more access to microloans

More accustomed to allocating money by the million, the federal government is stepping up efforts to make loans as small as a few hundred...

Bank of America to expand services for small businesses

Responding to complaints that the nation's giant banks don't offer enough services for small businesses, Bank of America Corp. said Thursday...

Small businesses, prepare for elder-care emergencies

Small businesses are ill-prepared for the growing effect that elder-care issues will have on their workforces, not to mention their bottom...

Small businesses get a nearly $1-billion boost from U.S.

Nearly 2,000 loans worth $970 million have been approved for small-business owners across the nation, the Small Business Administration said...

Federal loan money heading to small businesses

After months of frustration and delays, small-business owners in Southern California are finally getting long-awaited loans to hire new...

Coffee-roasting brood keeps L.A. ethnic communities brewing

The coffee beans roasted, ground, packaged and shipped out of the F. Gaviña & Sons Inc. factory in Vernon are as diverse as the...

How I Made It: Scott Hauge

The job: Advocating in Sacramento for small companies. Hauge is president of Small Business California, a San Francisco...

Flying Pigeon LA peddles bike culture north of downtown

On the third Sunday of each month, a dozen or so people pedal out of Highland Park atop steel-frame bikes straight out of the Chinese...

A friend to L.A.'s best old buildings

The gig: Founder and principal of Levin & Associates Architects, a Los Angeles firm that specializes in historic building...

Inviting a Wal-Mart into Florence-Firestone

The little tortilleriatortilleria, hidden away in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood near Watts, could be mistaken for a...

Find new start-ups through entrepreneurship groups

Dear Karen: My firm helps start-ups with marketing strategies. How can we reach them early on, before our competitors do?

Time bank takes root in Echo Park

ANE CRABTREE, a costume designer and stylist, was on location in Bulgaria when a professional chef e-mailed to say she'd be happy to give...

Tote-bag firm Gigi Hill is thinking bigger

It started with a $10 tote.

Think chocolate can't get any better? These Willy Wonkas beg to differ

Meet the new Willy Wonka: Timothy Childs is a former space shuttle technologist who's building a 29,000-square-foot chocolate factory on...

A formula for expanding successfully

Gabrielle DeSantis-Cummings and Monica Hillman are on the hunt for about $250,000 to quickly expand their small company, Gigi Hill, which...

SBA wish list seeks rules reform

For many small-business owners, it can seem as though federal bureaucrats do little more than churn out reams of mind-numbing regulations...