The recent Tax Cuts and Jobs Act purported to simplify tax structures, rates and exemptions, but accountants say small businesses face plenty of nuances depending on their size, structure and profits. “One thing I have noticed, people thought they were going to be left with simpler tax laws and to some extent, some have,” said Sally Steffes, CPA and one of the partners at H&S Companies PC. “There are many variables to contend with.” 

Mandi Brower’s first job with the family business was working in college as a cashier at the Quality Car Wash store on Eighth Street in Holland. 

GRAND RAPIDS — When  realized it needed to add vehicles to its fleet to grow the business, founder Rich Flowers ran into some roadblocks familiar to many African American and minority entrepreneurs. 

GRAND RAPIDS — EPS Security has made its second acquisition of 2018.

GRAND RAPIDS — A niche law firm plans to relocate its Michigan headquarters to downtown, MiBiz has learned. 

The Michigan Strategic Fund steered additional money into two capital funds that support high-tech startups and growing small businesses in the state.

The Invest Michigan Pre-Seed Fund II received $3 million to invest in startups through loans or equity. Grow Michigan LLC will receive $9.6 million for a second mezzanine-style fund that will provide loans to growing small businesses.

A recent kerfuffle between Grand Rapids economic development officials and executives at Start Garden Inc. highlights the challenges cities face when they try to encourage more entrepreneurial investments. 

One West Michigan adviser hopes to channel the cultural shift toward localism into corporate succession planning by helping business owners preserve local ownership of their companies after an exit.

A $150,000 federal grant will enable Grand Rapids Opportunities for Women to expand virtual entrepreneurial training into new areas of Michigan.

Family-owned businesses have a few new items to sort through after the passage last year of the federal Tax Cuts & Jobs Act. Here is a look at some of the key considerations. 

In the middle of an extended construction industry expansion across West Michigan, most contractors are focused on running their businesses, rather than transitioning them to new ownership. 

A continued robust economy provides the right timing for business owners to consider selling their companies throughout the remainder of the year.

When Alan Hartline purchased Kingma’s Market four years ago, he pivoted away from a corporate world in which he was at the “mercy of quarterly earnings and Wall Street.”

More than 130 startups sought capital this year from a state-backed fund, far exceeding expectations and serving as another example of the need for funding at the earliest stages of the capital continuum.

Beyond angel funds and venture capital, entrepreneurs behind startup companies today have an assortment of business plan and pitch competitions to test their ideas and win funding.

Until last year, state law barred alcoholic beverage makers and wholesalers from using social media to promote their products at the retailer level, even though many of them did anyway.

GRAND RAPIDS — Accounting, law and marketing firms are hosting more educational and social gatherings than they were just three years ago.

HOLLAND — When Randy Boileau started his Holland-based communications company 14 years ago, he never intended to hand it off to the next generation in his family.

When two former executives of Pitsch Holding Company Inc. filed a lawsuit against three of their siblings in 2007, they probably didn’t know they’d be starting a 10-year war.

Running any business is challenging, but when you add the dynamics of family ownership into the mix, it creates an entirely different set of hurdles.

Family-owned companies often do what they can to keep their businesses in the family, but at times, that’s not always prudent

When Mark Lindquist purchased Rapid-Line Inc. in 1989, he completed the transaction with a strategy for exiting the business already in mind.

The new head of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Michigan office believes lending should continue to grow, even as volumes for the agency’s federally backed loans keep moving upward.

As Neil Brown and Wade Thompson considered acquiring Central Interconnect Inc. late last year, they found themselves interested in the opportunity the company presented.

Over the past decade, many small business owners put off expansions or capital equipment purchases for as long as they could.

The Small Business Association of Michigan wants to find a route to further improve the state’s entrepreneurial climate.