The Shark Tank is back this Fall on ABC and if you have a small business, startup or an idea there may be a lot you can learn about building your business and securing financing. The Business Insider ran a profile on the “23 Year Old Who Turned Down Mark Cuban” on Shark Tank. So, why exactly did Derek Pacque turn down Cuban’s $200,000 investment offer for 33% equity? Pacque explained, “At this early stage I just can’t give that much equity to someone who’s not going to be there day-to-day to test this thing with me. Cuban has places I can put CoatChex, but my problem isn’t finding opportunities for the service, it’s scaling the business.”

Four out of the eleven Shark Tank success stories profiled by Entrepreneur magazine in their article The Shark Tank Effect: Top Success Stories from the First 3 Seasons” are owned by women which isn’t so surprising considering women owned business have grown over 54% over the last 15 years , employ 7.7 million people, and generate over $1.3 trillion in revenues according to Mashable’s article “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Women Owned Businesses”. Although many women owned businesses are thriving, they are receiving 80% less capital than men. Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming and North Dakota are the top states for women owned businesses.

Looking for another way to take your company to the next level? Consider “Starting a LinkedIn Group to Grow Your Network,” advises Ted Prodromou. “LinkedIn Groups are an easy way for you to start an online community for your company. If you already have a lot of customers and prospects who are LinkedIn members, starting a LinkedIn Group for them is a smart thing to do,” says Promromou.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Finds 386,000 Jobs, Really

The last month has shown promising economic news with MarketWatch reporting “median prices for new homes in August climbed the fastest monthly percentage ever, an 11.2% surge.” September also saw the Federal Reserve Board bumped up its forecast for U.S. economic growth “real 2013 GDP growth to 2.5-3.0 percent from 2.2-2.8 percent.  For 2014, the Fed raised growth estimates to 3.0-3.8 percent from 3.0-3.5 percent,” Business Insider reported.  More good news from the Bureau of Labor Statistics who found that they had under reported their private job creation numbers and that “ 386,000 jobs were created during the 12-month period, a 20 percent jump over its previous estimate that employment increased by about 1.94 million jobs.” And in other encouraging economic news, Equifax’s quarterly Small Business Bankruptcy Report found that “small business bankruptcies shrank by nearly 17% in the past three months.”

Should Your Company Drop “Dropbox”, Switching Phone Carriers

Along with the rise in mobile devices and cloud based file sharing also comes the danger of leaking sensitive or confidential information. According to the Ponemon Institute, 90% of businesses “experienced leakage or loss of sensitive or confidential documents over the past 12-month period.” So, the question is should your company drop “Dropbox” and other services like it? Not necessarily, however “organizations need to give their employees a secure way of sharing files or every mobile device will continue to be a potential sieve for confidential data,” explained Yorgen Edholm, CEO of Accellion. Speaking of security issues, All Things Digital reported that smartphone owners outside of the U.S. are far more likely to have their phones infected with malware.

With all the iPhone 5 chatter, if you haven’t taken the plunge with a smart phone yet and are getting interested you might check out “How to Switch Cell Phone Carriers Without Paying a Fortune” and Smart Money’s “Picking the Right iPhone 5 Plan.”

How to Stop Facebook from Tracking You

Business Insider recently pointed out, “Most people don’t realize that Facebook can continue to monitor their internet activity, even if they are no longer logged into the site.” If you don’t want to be one of Facebook’s statistics check out “How to Stop Facebook from Tracking You”. While you are at it you should also read Kashmir Hill’s article for Forbes “10 Incredibly Simple Things You Should Be Doing to Protect Your Privacy.”

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