Small Business Trends

Score a massive $371 discount on the Lenovo V14 G5 14-inch laptop right now at Walmart, bringing the total down to just $630. Finding a high-performance business machine with a Core i7 processor and 16GB of RAM at this price point is exceptionally rare. Best for: Small business owners, freelancers, and remote professionals who need a capable, portable work PC for daily multitasking. Watch out for: Many competing budget laptop discounts only supply 8GB of RAM, and retailer stock on this configuration can sell out without warning. Next steps to grab this offer: Check the Walmart product listing to confirm current inventory and regional availability. zurl.co/wcAfO Verify that the 16GB RAM and Intel Core i7 specifications match your workload requirements. Complete your purchase before promotional pricing or retailer stock expires. Follow for weekly small business deals + tools. Hashtags: #SmallBusiness #Deals #LaptopDeals #Lenovo #Walmart #TechDeals #BusinessTech #WorkLaptop #SMB #Productivity

A small business owner lost a $2,400 credit card chargeback dispute despite providing signed proof of delivery. The situation raises an important question for businesses that accept large credit card payments: How much protection do merchants actually have when customers dispute legitimate transactions? The owner is now reconsidering whether credit cards are worth accepting for orders over $1,000. There are several considerations here: Understanding why the issuing bank rejected the evidence Evaluating alternative payment methods for larger transactions Balancing customer convenience against potential financial losses For smaller businesses, a single $2,400 chargeback can have a meaningful impact on cash flow. Have you experienced something similar? What documentation or payment policies have helped protect your business? Would you require bank transfers for larger orders, or continue accepting credit cards? #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #Chargebacks #PaymentProcessing #BusinessFinance

Should artificial intelligence make operational decisions for you, or empower you to make better decisions yourself? In this interview clip, Leland McFarland speaks with Edgar Bello Gonzalez, who won @Zoho's From the Ground Up AI Hackathon alongside Eduardo Bello Gonzalez with their agricultural solution, Dos Ojos. Key Takeaways for Business Leaders: AI as an Advisor, Not an Authority: Dos Ojos delivers clear recommendations on irrigation timing and efficiency, but deliberately leaves all final choices in the hands of the operator. Respecting Domain Experience: Frontline workers and business operators often possess localized context that algorithms cannot fully observe. Giving users the freedom to combine AI insights with their own methods drives better outcomes. Autonomy Fosters Adoption: Solutions that attempt to override human expertise frequently encounter resistance. Positioning AI tools as supportive partners builds user trust and speeds up technology adoption across traditional industries. Whether designing internal automations in Zoho or deploying client-facing predictive tools, the most successful business applications augment human expertise rather than trying to replace it. How does your team ensure automated tools empower your staff rather than creating friction in their daily workflow? #SmallBusiness #ArtificialIntelligence #Leadership #BusinessStrategy #Zoho

Oracle NetSuite is expanding its use of artificial intelligence with new tools designed to help businesses automate financial processes, monitor operations, and make better-informed decisions. Announced at SuiteWorld 2026, the updates include industry-specific AI agents, more than 45 AI skills, and SuiteExpress, a new approach to accelerating ERP implementation. For small business owners, the potential benefits include reduced administrative work, improved financial visibility, and faster responses to operational challenges. However, adopting these technologies also raises important questions about implementation costs, data accuracy, and employee oversight. Could AI-powered ERP systems become practical tools for more small businesses? #SmallBusiness #NetSuite #ArtificialIntelligence #BusinessAutomation #ERP

Selecting the right financial platform requires knowing not only what a system can do, but also where its natural boundaries lie. In a recent interview with Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends, Josh Goodwin, Group Vice President for NetSuite QuickStart at @Oracle @NetSuite, shared key guidance on the intended fit and practical limits of the QuickStart solution. Goodwin notes that QuickStart is purpose-built for early-stage technology startups, offering tailored KPIs and core capabilities for businesses operating up to $1 million in revenue. For companies within that range, the platform easily handles standard operational workflows. When a company reaches major growth inflection points—such as expanding internationally or requiring multi-currency capabilities—those developments serve as clear indicators that it is time to transition into the broader NetSuite ecosystem. For founders, finance leaders, and business decision-makers, identifying clear revenue benchmarks and operational indicators helps ensure your back-office systems scale in lockstep with company growth. #SmallBusiness #OracleNetSuite #StartupFinance #BusinessGrowth #JoshGoodwin

Small Biz Breakdown - Twas the Friday before the Midterms... nitter.cf/i/broadcasts/1wxWjleyd…

When building technology for traditional or non-technical industries, user adoption depends on simplicity. In this interview clip, Leland McFarland speaks with Edgar Bello Gonzalez and Eduardo Bello Gonzalez, the winning team behind Dos Ojos at @Zoho's From the Ground Up AI Hackathon, about why they bypassed dashboards in favor of an SMS text interface. Key Takeaways for Business Leaders and Product Designers: Meet Users Where They Already Operate: Agricultural growers already manage crews, suppliers, and schedules through standard phone calls and texts. Forcing them into a new app creates unnecessary friction. Eliminate Technical Prerequisites: In remote or rural environments, reliable broadband and hotspots cannot be assumed. Standard cellular SMS works across virtually any mobile device without connectivity hurdles. Test in the Field Early: Pilot testing with local growers in Texas confirmed that the messaging flow was effortless; the only minor friction point was pinpointing coordinates on Google Maps. Whether you are designing customer-facing services or optimizing internal workflows with Zoho, reducing the cognitive load on your end user is the fastest path to long-term adoption. How is your organization simplifying its tools and customer touchpoints to make adoption as effortless as possible? #SmallBusiness #UserExperience #ProductStrategy #CustomerAdoption #Zoho

One of the most disruptive stages in a company's growth comes when entry-level accounting tools can no longer handle operational complexity, forcing teams into costly, time-consuming platform migrations. In a recent interview with Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends, Josh Goodwin, Group Vice President for NetSuite QuickStart at @Oracle @NetSuite, discussed how companies can scale their financial infrastructure without outgrowing their software. Goodwin notes that QuickStart provides a frictionless growth trajectory. When a business hits major scale milestones—such as entering international markets or establishing multiple subsidiaries—the upgrade to the full Oracle NetSuite suite happens seamlessly. Founders do not have to rebuild workflows or re-enter records; all historical data and system configurations carry forward automatically. For founders and business decision-makers, selecting a system that adapts from the initial startup stage all the way to global expansion ensures operational continuity and preserves critical focus for driving long-term revenue. #SmallBusiness #OracleNetSuite #BusinessGrowth #FinancialManagement #JoshGoodwin

Launching a technology company once required deep technical expertise, extensive engineering teams, and significant early capital. Today, the barriers to entry have fallen dramatically—founders no longer need to be engineers to launch a tech company, they just need a compelling idea. In a recent interview with Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends, Josh Goodwin, Group Vice President for NetSuite QuickStart at @Oracle @NetSuite, shared why early-stage tech founders were chosen as the starting point for QuickStart, and what that means for the broader business community. Goodwin outlined two core reasons for this starting focus: Deep Industry Heritage: Oracle NetSuite already supports the growth journey of most tech companies that reach an IPO, giving the team an intimate understanding of the financial milestones and challenges tech founders face. A Surge in New Ventures: With barriers to entry at historic lows, high-tech startups represent one of the fastest-growing segments in entrepreneurship, making it an ideal environment to prove out automated, founder-friendly financial tools. Crucially for leaders outside the tech sector, Goodwin highlighted that early-stage tech is only the proving ground. Oracle NetSuite plans to expand the QuickStart approach to other small business sectors once the foundation is proven, opening enterprise-caliber financial hygiene to a much broader audience of growing companies. #SmallBusiness #OracleNetSuite #TechStartups #Entrepreneurship #BusinessStrategy

How can businesses deploy artificial intelligence tools that decision-makers can actually trust? In this interview clip, Leland McFarland speaks with Edgar Bello Gonzalez, co-winner alongside Eduardo Bello Gonzalez of @Zoho's From the Ground Up AI Hackathon, about the technical architecture behind their agricultural solution, Dos Ojos. Key Takeaways for Business Decision-Makers: Guardrails Prevent Hallucinations: Rather than relying on generative language models blindly, the Dos Ojos architecture verifies every AI recommendation against quantitative soil and irrigation metrics before communicating with the user. Specialized Models for Granular Tasks: Instead of forcing a single model to do everything, the team deployed three separate neural networks to count crops, measure height, and detect comparative stress across plants. Human Context Prevents False Alarms: By allowing users to provide operational context via text—such as noting a partial field harvest—the AI avoids misinterpreting normal business operations as systemic failures. Whether implementing workflow automation inside ecosystems like Zoho or developing custom software, sustainable AI adoption depends on pairing intelligent models with rigorous ground-truth verification. How does your team validate AI outputs to ensure accuracy and user trust in your daily operations? #ArtificialIntelligence #BusinessAutomation #DataIntegrity #TechLeadership #Zoho

A central question surrounding financial automation is whether AI tools are designed to replace accountants and bookkeepers or empower them with better data. In this discussion, Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends sits down with Josh Goodwin, Group Vice President for NetSuite QuickStart at @Oracle @NetSuite, to examine the relationship between automation, founders, and financial professionals. Goodwin clarifies that NetSuite QuickStart is not meant to displace bookkeepers who are providing tangible value. In fact, accountants can easily log into the system alongside founders to collaborate using cleaner, centralized data. At the same time, for early-stage ventures operating on lean budgets where every dollar and minute counts, QuickStart assumes routine bookkeeping responsibilities. Its natural-language interface allows founders to ask questions in plain English and receive clear answers without needing to consult a bookkeeper every few days. For small business leaders and decision-makers, this model reduces back-office costs during early growth while establishing the clean foundation necessary for higher-level strategic advisory work down the road. #SmallBusiness #OracleNetSuite #FinancialManagement #Accounting #JoshGoodwin

Startups frequently manage growth by stitching together a patchwork of apps: spreadsheets for tracking, third-party payment gateways, banking portals, and entry-level accounting software. But as transaction volume climbs, fragmented systems often create blind spots. In this interview segment, Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends talks with Josh Goodwin, Group Vice President for NetSuite QuickStart at @Oracle @NetSuite, about how growing businesses should approach their financial tech stack. Goodwin shares that NetSuite QuickStart is built to support founders wherever they are on their growth journey. It integrates with widely used tools in the startup ecosystem so teams do not have to discard existing workflows overnight. At the same time, centralizing core operations—such as subscriptions, purchasing, receiving, billing, and invoicing—into a unified platform creates stronger financial hygiene. When all financial data lives in one place, leadership gains the clarity and context needed to make informed, forward-looking business decisions. #SmallBusiness #OracleNetSuite #FinancialOperations #JoshGoodwin #BusinessLeadership

Managing multiple disconnected security vendors creates operational friction that lean IT teams simply cannot afford. In this interview segment, Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends speaks with Tony Anscombe @TonyAtESET, Chief Security Evangelist at @ESET, about how small and midsize businesses can streamline their security infrastructure without compromising on defense. Tony highlights the strategic benefits of an all-encompassing, single-vendor approach: Scalable Protection: From essential endpoint protection to white-glove MDR services featuring hands-on support from dedicated analysts and threat researchers. Consolidated Capabilities: Integrating essential security controls—including Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), encryption, and MDR—under one umbrella. Simplified Framework Compliance: Partnering with a provider capable of fulfilling key requirements within recognized cybersecurity frameworks through unified, centralized management. Actionable Threat Intelligence: Accessing ongoing research and threat updates to keep teams informed about current adversary tactics. For business owners and IT leaders, security efficiency comes from reducing complexity. Unifying your tools under a single trusted partner ensures stronger posture and faster incident response. To learn more about tailored security solutions or explore current industry research, connect with the team at eset.com. How is your organization streamlining its cybersecurity stack this year? #Cybersecurity #SmallBusiness #TechLeadership #ESET #TonyAnscombe

Oracle NetSuite is going all-in on artificial intelligence, and the announcements from SuiteWorld 2026 in Las Vegas could change how small businesses manage their finances, automate operations, and grow. In this episode of Small Business Spotlight, we're breaking down five major announcements from @Oracle @NetSuite, including new AI agents, more than 45 AI-powered skills, automated financial tools, and technology that promises to reduce ERP implementation from months to just days. Here's what we're covering: 🚀 NetSuite Introduces Industry-Specific AI Agents: Meet SuiteAgents, intelligent tools designed to monitor business operations, identify cash flow risks, flag inventory shortages, and help businesses make decisions before problems escalate. 🏗️ AI Comes to Construction Accounting: NetSuite is introducing specialized tools for contractors and construction businesses to manage project budgets, track expenses, automate billing, and improve cash flow. ⚡ ERP Setup in Days Instead of Months? NetSuite's new SuiteExpress uses AI to simplify implementation, automate data migration, and help businesses get their systems running faster. 🤖 45+ New AI Skills for Business Operations: From financial analysis and inventory management to identifying unbilled services and investigating shipping delays, NetSuite is expanding what AI can do for growing businesses. 💰 Automating Financial Operations: New AI-powered workspaces, an Autonomous Close system, and enhancements to Ask Oracle aim to reduce manual accounting tasks and streamline everyday workflows. 🛍️ SMALL BUSINESS DEALS We're also checking out a Lenovo laptop deal at Walmart and a special DeWalt tool sale at Woot. walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-V14-G5… tools.woot.com/plus/happy-de… 🔥 REDDIT SMALL BUSINESS STORIES The business owner discussions are heating up this week! • A small business loses a $2,400 chargeback dispute despite providing signed documentation. • A customer wants a discount simply because the company is a small business. • An entrepreneur fires a client for the first time. Was it the right decision? We discuss these real-world situations and the lessons other business owners can take away. What do you think? Is AI becoming essential for running a small business, or are these tools getting ahead of what most owners actually need? And how would you handle these Reddit situations? Share your thoughts in the comments! Subscribe to Small Business Spotlight for the latest small business news, technology updates, business deals, and real stories from entrepreneurs. #SmallBusinessSpotlight #SmallBusiness #NetSuite #SuiteWorld2026 #OracleNetSuite #ArtificialIntelligence #BusinessAutomation #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusinessNews #ERP

How can technical innovators deliver advanced artificial intelligence to non-technical end users without creating operational friction? In this clip, Leland McFarland speaks with Edgar Bello Gonzalez and Eduardo Bello Gonzalez, winners of @Zoho's From the Ground Up AI Hackathon, about the practical design of their agricultural platform, Dos Ojos. Key Business Takeaways: Zero-Friction User Interfaces: Rather than requiring users to learn complicated software dashboards, the brothers built an SMS chatbot where farmers simply text their location, crop types, and recent watering dates. Tiered Adoption Models: Users do not need to invest in costly drones right away. They can begin with free Sentinel-2 satellite data to establish historical health baselines, adding drone-based computer vision only when ready for plant-level precision. Explainable AI Drives Trust: The platform delivers direct irrigation recommendations alongside the full reasoning and background data, allowing business operators to make informed decisions rather than relying on a black box. Whether developing custom business applications in Zoho or launching proprietary tech tools, meeting your customers where they already work is the fastest path to adoption. How is your organization simplifying complex technical workflows to make them intuitive for everyday users? #SmallBusiness #TechInnovation #UserExperience #AgTech #Zoho

When AI assistants transition from offering suggestions to taking real financial actions, governance and oversight become paramount. In a recent conversation with Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends, Josh Goodwin, Group Vice President for NetSuite QuickStart at @Oracle @NetSuite, discussed how modern financial platforms preserve executive control in an era of autonomous software. Goodwin shares that leaders should not have to sacrifice transparency for automation. To ensure total visibility, NetSuite incorporates an extensive audit log tracking every user action and AI event. The system documents the exact tools invoked, questions asked, responses generated, and actions taken, packaging them into clear summaries for review. This structure gives business owners the ability to audit operations quickly and step in whenever necessary. For founders, operators, and decision-makers, pairing automated execution with comprehensive visibility provides the efficiency of modern AI alongside the accountability required to protect company finances. #SmallBusiness #OracleNetSuite #AIinBusiness #FinancialGovernance #BusinessOperations

Connecting third-party AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude directly to company financials provides huge productivity gains, but it also raises critical questions about data security and permission boundaries. In this discussion with Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends, Josh Goodwin, Group Vice President for NetSuite QuickStart at @Oracle @NetSuite, outlines how financial records are protected when connecting external AI platforms through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Goodwin highlights two fundamental security layers: Enterprise-grade foundation: QuickStart is built upon the security architecture, compliance standards, and dedicated teams of Oracle NetSuite, ensuring business records are protected by enterprise-level governance without requiring founders to manage it themselves. Direct founder control: Using standards like OAuth or token-based authentication, business owners have complete authority over access levels—defining whether interactions are read-only or read-write and strictly regulating exposure according to their risk tolerance. For business owners and executives adopting AI workflows, maintaining granular control over sensitive financial data ensures that operational efficiency never comes at the expense of security. #SmallBusiness #OracleNetSuite #DataSecurity #FinancialManagement #BusinessLeadership

NetSuite is expanding AI controls with SuiteAgent Studio and a management workspace for configuring, monitoring, and governing custom agents. Both are planned for a future release. #SuiteWorld @NetSuite

Hiring a Managed Service Provider should never be treated as a simple procurement exercise. It is a strategic business partnership. In this interview clip, Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends speaks with Tony Anscombe @TonyAtESET, Chief Security Evangelist at @ESET, about the critical factors business owners and decision-makers must evaluate when vetting a cybersecurity vendor or MSP. Tony outlines four foundational qualities to look for in a security provider: Operational Understanding: The right partner takes the time to learn how your business functions day-to-day, ensuring their defenses are tailored to your operations rather than treating your organization as just another ticket in an MDR queue. Regulatory Alignment: They must understand your industry's compliance and legal obligations and actively help you maintain those standards. Architecture Awareness: They should understand the nuances of your specific environment, including segmented operational technology or specialized systems. Proven Crisis Performance: Don't wait for a live incident to see how your vendor responds. Involve them directly in internal tabletop exercises to test their responsiveness and communication under pressure. For business leaders, security is too critical to leave to a one-size-fits-all service contract. True resilience requires a partner invested in your operational continuity. What questions do you ask to ensure your technology partners are truly aligned with your business goals? #Cybersecurity #SmallBusiness #MSP #BusinessLeadership #TonyAnscombe

Does successful product development really start with a dramatic "aha!" moment? In this interview clip, Leland McFarland speaks with Edgar Bello Gonzalez and Eduardo Bello Gonzalez, the winning team of @Zoho's From the Ground Up AI Hackathon, about how they identified the problem behind their solution. Key Takeaways for Business Leaders: Innovation Is Continuous Observation: Rather than waiting for sudden inspiration, Eduardo points out that living between South Texas and Mexico kept regional water scarcity in constant view, highlighting the real economic exposure faced by local farmers. Problems Hide in Plain Sight: Edgar notes that noticing increasingly dry conditions over two years kept the issue in the background of their minds. When the opportunity arose through Zoho's hackathon, they already understood the pain point intimately. Market Proximity Beats Guesswork: The strongest business opportunities address friction that founders witness firsthand. Being close to the operational realities of your target audience is what turns a project into a viable solution. Whether optimizing operations in Zoho or developing a new service line, the most impactful initiatives are born from persistent observation, not theatrical light bulb moments. How does your team identify friction points and operational challenges before turning them into solutions? #SmallBusiness #Entrepreneurship #ProductStrategy #Innovation #Zoho