Today in Small Business: Paper or Plastic?

What’s affecting me, my clients and other small-business owners today.

The Economy

• Macy’s holiday hiring hits a 14-year high.
• Personal income and spending increased in August but pending home sales fell.
• Manufacturing in the Texas region strengthened.
• Economists see steady growth but remain mixed on their outlooks for various segments of the economy.

Employees

• Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to sign an executive order expanding New York City’s living wage law, covering thousands of previously exempt workers and raising the hourly wage to $13.13.
• This is how to build a restaurant team.

The Environment

• California Gov. Jerry Brown is expected to sign a bill imposing the nation’s first statewide ban on single-use plastic bags.

Start-Up

• A start-up has created a device that captures mileage data to determine how much a person should pay for car insurance.
• Peter Thiel explains why you should run your start-up like a cult (and why he doesn’t believe there’s a tech bubble).
• It’s better to start a business while you’re still employed elsewhere.
• Here are five industries that entrepreneurs shouldn’t overlook.
• Some software start-ups are losing $1 million a month.

Social Media

• Here are three techniques that will double your social media content with half the effort.

Management

• Google’s ex-chief executive and another longtime company executive say the “new style of managing” they developed should be widely copied.

The Mid-Term Elections

• Marijuana entrepreneurs are pouring money into politics to support cannabis-friendly candidates.

Washington

• The government aims at almost a half-billion dollars of grants to community colleges working with employers on job training.
• The United States Department of Agriculture will put $52 million toward local and organic farming through farmers markets and organic research.

Marketing

• National Coffee Day is proving to be more expensive each year.
• Here are the coolest ways drones have been used in advertising.
• A clever marketing campaign reversed Coca-Cola’s 11-year decline in soda sales.

Around the Country

• Mt. St. Helens could be getting ready to erupt.
• A poll in Maine favors an increase in the minimum wage.
• Bill Gates is still the richest person in America.
• A Las Vegas pot dealer is arrested after posting weekly grow reports on YouTube.

Around the World

• A lost Mozart sonata is discovered in Budapest.
• Canada’s small-business owners are looking for a big 2015.
• South Africa may spend $270 million to aid small businesses.
• Here are a few reasons to attend Britain’s 2014 Festival of Female Entrepreneurs.

Cash Flow

• Here is how accountants can pick up some cash on the side.
• ATM fees keep climbing.

Health Care

• A growing number of small-business owners are forgoing health coverage altogether and paying employees more to compensate for the lost benefits.

Energy

• Solar energy could be the world’s largest source of electricity by 2050.

Retail

• Dunkin’ Donuts has plans to jolt slowing sales.
• The Nightclub and Bar Convention and Trade Show has established an awards program to honor emerging small businesses.

Ideas

• Economists think that both Uber and Lyft are good for consumers.
• A Kenyan teenager’s simple device could stop elephant poaching.
• A start-up that is developing technology centered on biometrics, has raised $14 million in financing from a group of investors that includes MasterCard.

Technology

• Microsoft hopes to repair its image with corporate America when it previews Windows 9 today.
• Apple faces new wave of complaints over its iOS 8 upgrade.

Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.