Business articles from blogs, journals and magazines are great resources for entrepreneurs. Here’s a roundup of 18 must-reads to give your company a winning edge.
Why These Business Articles Are Must-Reads
Business articles can serve as a powerful tool to help small business owners and entrepreneurs succeed. Reading business articles can help you:
- Learn best practices that can improve your company’s performance
- Avoid common mistakes that can cripple your business
- Discover new marketing tactics to grow your customer base and increase retention rates
- Get up-to-date on the latest technology to boost your efficiency
- Keep up with what leading companies in your industry are doing
- Gain an edge on competitors who aren’t staying informed
The following articles represent some of the most important topics affecting business today. Browse through this list to find the issues most relevant to you. Then read the individual articles you find appealing and dig into the details.
Business News Articles
1. The Highlights of Tax Reform for Businesses
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act put dozens of tax law changes into effect in 2018, affecting returns filed in 2019. Read the Internal Revenue Service’s official fact sheet summarizing these changes and how they impact your business. Changes include:
- Calculating quarterly estimated tax payments
- Deductions
- Depreciation
- Tax credits
- Small business accounting methods
Check out the IRS newsroom for other updates that may affect your taxes.
2. What You Need to Know About ACA Compliance and Reporting for Your Business in 2019
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts also affected the Affordable Care Act individual mandate – but how does this affect small business employers? Good question.
Anthem healthcare writer Louise Norris has the answers in her readable overview of ACA compliance requirements for 2019. Norris sums up what you need to know about:
- Tax reporting deadlines and extensions
- Affordability thresholds for premiums
- Adjusted employer mandate penalties
If your business has employees, you’ll definitely want to read this article to make sure you’re in ACA compliance.
Business Ethics Articles
3. Including the 6 Pillars of Character in Your Company’s Ethics Code
Most people would agree that ethics is important in business, but precisely what are the principles of business ethics? The Josephson Institute has distilled the essence of business ethics into 6 pillars, laid out in this article. The 6 pillars of business ethics include:
- Trustworthiness
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Fairness
- Caring
- Citizenship
Read the article to learn more about what each of these principles means and how to incorporate them into your business practice.
4. Creating a Code of Ethics
A step towards putting business ethics principles into practice is writing an ethics statement down on paper. The Network for Business Innovation and Sustainability lays out exactly how to create a code of ethics for your business, following guidelines recommended by the Institute for Business Ethics. This handy guide covers:
- What a code of ethics is
- Why you need one
- How to implement one
- How to develop one step-by-step
Also included is a template you can use to design your code of ethics, along with industry-specific tips and additional resources.
Articles About Business Management
5. Managing Oneself
Management consultant Peter Drucker was one of the pioneers of modern business management theory. His book, Managing Oneself, lays down the keys to successfully managing yourself to lay a foundation for effectively managing your business. Drucker’s commentary on his book is available on Harvard Business Review’s website as a subscription-only article. Fortunately, even if you don’t have a subscription, Tomas Laurinavicius has created a user-friendly summary of Drucker’s book, covering the principles of:
- Concentrating on your strengths
- Avoiding wasted effort on areas you’re not good at
- Knowing which learning style works best for you
- Taking responsibility for your relationships
Read this article to improve your self-management so you can be a better business leader.
6. The Culture Code
What are the management secrets of highly successful groups? Daniel Coyle posed and answered that question in his recent bestseller, The Culture Code, which identifies three key elements at the heart of great teamwork. Niklas Goeke provides a convenient breakdown of Coyle’s 3 core principles of effective management:
- Building a safe environment, so everyone feels comfortable cooperating
- Sharing vulnerability, so no one feels compelled to cover up mistakes
- Motivating purposeful teamwork through a shared goal and simple strategy to achieve it
Read Goeke’s elaboration to learn how you can start using these principles to improve your management style.
Small Business Articles
7. Good Advice: Tips From Successful Small Business Owners
What do successful small business owners do differently? The Hartford interviewed high-performing entrepreneurs and collected their advice into a list of 7 top tips. Some of their top recommendations include:
- Creating a support network
- Narrowing down specific goals
- Delegating duties
- Minimizing overhead
Read the whole piece for more expert tips and details on putting them into practice.
8. 16 Tips for Business Owners’ 2019 ‘To Do’ Lists
What does today’s business owner need to do to succeed? Forbes asked its council of top business coaches, and they came up with a 16-item to-do list. Some of their recommendations include:
- Mapping out your goals
- Defining “big win” benchmarks
- Getting input from your staff about priorities and needs
- Improving your customers’ experience
The full list provides plenty of actionable items to propel your business forward.
Business Communication Articles
9. 15 Communication Tips to Help You Conquer the Corporate World
How can business leaders communicate effectively? Rasmussen College enlisted some experts and came up with a list of 15 tips professionals need to know. The list includes:
- Silencing cellphones during conversations
- Attending to nonverbal communication cues
- Speaking simply to the point without using jargon
- Proofreading emails
Mastering the tips offered in this article will go a long way towards improving your business communication skills.
10. 10+ Amazing Tools for Business Communication in 2019
To communicate effectively in the digital world, you need to know about business communications technology. Vartika Kashyap provides an informative overview of the different categories of today’s business communication tools, including:
- Project management tools
- Chat tools
- Voice and video conferencing tools
- Document collaboration tools
Learn about how these and other tools can optimize your communications efficiency and productivity.
Business Leadership Articles
11. You’re an Effective Business Leader If You Have These 8 Traits
What does it take to be a successful business leader? Experienced CEO Bill Green says there are 8 qualities which go into the recipe for business leadership success, including:
- Self-awareness of your strengths and weaknesses
- Decision-making decisiveness
- Fairness in dealing with others
- Enthusiasm to motivate your workers
Cultivating Green’s leadership qualities will help you lead your company in the right direction.
12. The Top 5 Leadership Mistakes to Avoid as a Business Owner
All business owners make mistakes, but you can avoid some of the most common ones by listening to advice from experienced entrepreneurs. Kelley Katsanos cautions how to avoid 5 of the most common leadership mistakes business owners make, like:
- Trying to do everything yourself instead of outsourcing
- Overwhelming your team by understaffing
- Lacking a clear vision for your business
Save yourself from unforced errors by learning more about what pitfalls to avoid.
Business Marketing Articles
13. Jay Abraham: The Only 3 Ways To Grow Any Business
Jay Abraham is one of today’s top marketing consultants. In this short article, he provides an introduction to the 3 main strategies for increasing your marketing and sales performance:
- Increasing your number of clients
- Increasing the value of your average transaction per client
- Increasing the frequency of repeat business per client
Applying these simple but powerful strategies can dramatically improve your marketing results. For more details, see the library of resources on Abraham’s website, such as his PowerPoint presentation on the 3 ways to grow your business.
14. The 61 Best Marketing Tools for Every Business & Budget [2019 Guide]
In today’s digital world, your marketing success depends heavily on your ability to use technology tools. HubSpot marketer Bethany Cartwright has assembled a comprehensive overview of 61 of today’s most important marketing tools, including:
- Marketing automation tools
- Data reporting tools
- Customer relationship management systems
- Collaboration apps
- Content creation software
- Video marketing tools
If you’re looking for ways to attract more customers or save time on marketing tasks, this is an essential article.
Business Finance Articles
15. Write Your Business Plan
A well-designed business plan lays a foundation for financial success. The Small Business Administration has put together an invaluable guide to writing your business plan, covering:
- The right format for a business plan
- The components of your business plan
- Traditional versus lean startup business plans
Related resources cover topics such as market research, and tools to help you create your business plan are also provided.
16. Financial Statements
A winning business plan depends on a well-planned financing strategy. To develop a successful financial strategy, you need to know how to develop your key financial statements. Investopedia provides a readable introduction to the 3 main financial statements every business needs:
- Income statement
- Balance sheet
- Cash flow statement
Understanding these financial statements and how they relate to each other will help you develop a sound financial plan.
Business Opinion Articles
17. The Year Ahead: What Every Executive Needs to Know for 2019
Every year, the Wall Street Journal puts together a report analyzing where the economy is, where it’s headed and what it means for business leaders. This year’s report collects articles on a range of important topics, including:
- How the policies of the Federal Reserve and trade policy will impact business access to capital
- The impact of the recent tax overhaul on business
- Ways employers are curbing health-care costs
- Why every company must pay attention to technology
Browsing this report will help orient you to today’s top economic issues and prepare you to keep up with news updates as they emerge. Follow the WSJ’s business opinion column to keep abreast of the expert analysis of ongoing news.
18. 5 Small Business Statistics for 2019
How do today’s business trends affect the small business owner? Salesforce has put together a report on small and medium business trends, and this article highlights 5 key trends from the report. Some of the findings focus on:
- The rise of side hustling among entrepreneurs
- The importance of self-discipline for entrepreneurial success
- Why usability and vendor trust can outweigh price when it comes to business technology
- How customer relationship management software has become a priority for small business
- Why artificial intelligence is increasingly critical for entrepreneurial success
The article includes a link to download the full report for more details.
Read Business Articles to Keep Your Company on Top
Reading the latest business articles provides you with the up-to-date information you need to succeed and to stay ahead of your competition. Check out the blogs in our resources section for more informative articles.
