shopping bagsCyber Monday and related retail events around the Thanksgiving holiday weekend have so far produced decent gains that should make retailers very thankful.

Here's a quick roundup of the numbers:

* On Cyber Monday (the Monday after Thanksgiving), online sales rose 33% over last year, according to IBM Benchmark. The final tally was $1.25 billion spent online, a 22% increase from last year, according to comScore.

* Overall Black Friday sales rose 6.6% over last year, according to retail data and consulting firm ShopperTrak, but online sales grew 24.3%, according to IBM's data unit Coremetrics.

* Online sales completed on Thanksgiving Day rose 39.3%, showing that the holiday itself is a huge retail opportunity, much to the chagrin of traditionalists and store employees who prefer to keep the day unsullied by commerce.

Some small businesses see major sales boost

Nick Palmisciano, CEO of online apparel company Ranger Up, said that his company's sales were up 153% during his company's "best

This week the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear several cases that challenge the Obama administration's health-care law, and one of the cases comes from a powerful advocacy group representing small businesses.

That National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) filed suit over the individual mandate in the health-care law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The constitutional question of the law focuses on the commerce clause and the ability to compel consumers to buy a product they don't want. The NFIB believes the mandate puts a costly burden on self-employed and small-business workers that is also hurting their ability to create more jobs.

"The health-care law has not lived up to its promises of reducing costs, allowing citizens to keep their coverage or improving a cumbersome system that has long been a burden to small-business owners and employees, alike," said Dan Danner, NFIB president and CEO. "The small-business community can now have hope; their

Boomer entrepreneurBaby boomers aren't just swelling the ranks of the retired; they're also starting businesses in large numbers.

Roughly 8% of entrepreneurs in early-stage startups are older than 65, and 18% are over the age of 55. That data was released in November in the study "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2010 National Entrepreneurial Assessment for the USA," conducted by Babson College and Baruch College.

Another survey released in November suggests that 1 in 4 Americans aged 44-70 are interested in starting businesses or nonprofit ventures in the next 5-10 years.

Of those potential business owners, 58% say the current economic crisis makes them more likely to create their own venture, despite doubts about startup funding. Nearly as many (47%) said they expect to tap into personal savings to launch their ventures.

The data comes from Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. The findings support earlier research by the Kauffman Foundation that Americans between the

In doing research for my article, "Veterans Show Force as Business Owners," I received many more quotes and tips than I could use. Since all small business owners could definitely benefit from the veterans' words of wisdom to help with starting a business, attracting clients, and managing priorities, I collected some for this blog post.

Here are 5 business owners who are also U.S. military veterans answering the question, "What was your biggest challenge in the first year of business?"

Alice Guilford, Age Advantage Home Care Services (FL): The biggest problem the first year, honestly, was to stay motivated. That's where the discipline comes in to play. I knew, that in order to get where I wanted to be, I needed to "beat the streets", so to speak. Clients weren't going to just automatically appear. But, once we got our first client, that's when the light bulb went off. I was absolutely amazed to receive that first payment and was thrilled at how the whole process works.

Carlos Vasquez,

Check out the results of this recent poll (Oct. 31) on Yahoo! Small Business Advisor:

poll result
I am a little surprised that "sales" ranked last, but may be because it was linked with "marketing." I've heard anecdotally from small business owners that revenues are really the biggest challenge right now. But you can't get to the point of generating revenue from sales if you can't get funding to start a business in the first place.

While seeking comment for an upcoming article, I noticed many business owners who are also U.S. military veterans say that getting a small business loan was the biggest challenge they had in the first year of business.

Dan Petery of Accessible Homecare Solutions LLC in Cleveland summed it up pretty well: "I can't stress how important getting business funding and establishing business credit are, it can be frustrating, non rewarding and energy depleting, but you have to be persistent."

Here are a few more ideas for getting startup funding:

• New Fund Spurs Young

political fightWhoa. Jared Bernstein, the former top economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, just threw cold water on what many politicians want you to believe about small businesses.

They aren't the "engine of job growth," he said.

"In what may be the most misunderstood fact about the job market, although most companies are small — according to 2008 census data, 61 percent are small businesses with fewer than four workers — more than two-thirds of the American work force is employed by companies with more than 100 workers," he wrote yesterday in an op-ed for the New York Times.

Even with the federal government's definition of 500 employees as a "small business," you still get more than half of the workforce employed by large companies, he said.

The issue is incredibly timely, as nearly every politician running for office is touting the importance of small businesses and their impact on job creation.

While Bernstein doesn't advocate ignoring small businesses in policymaking, he does fault the

signpostsWhile annual strategic planning is common in the corporate world, many small businesses neglect this important step in preparing for the coming year. If you haven't started yet, there's still time -- and the tips below might help you.

I recently attended a presentation on small-business planning by Pat Mayfield, author of several books and the current executive director of the Golden Gate Business Association, and she outlined several steps that can help:

Establish a clear mission. Always start with your company mission, and align your goals to it.

Work backwards. Start with where you would like to wind up at the end of the year, in terms of sales or other relevant targets.

Be realistic, then try stretching. Write down what you think is reasonable to accomplish. Then challenge yourself a little to  extend the goal a little further.

Keep in mind the worst-case scenario. "I often hear of small businesses failing because they didn't have enough reserves -- many times it's because they

solar panelsU.S. small businesses hold a significant share of patents and influence in green energy and technology, according to a report released today by the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy.

While small businesses account for 8% of total U.S. patents, they hold 14% of patents in green technology. Small firms' green technology patents are also cited 2.5 times as often as large firms in other patent applications -- a signifier of their originality and influence, the SBA said in a press release.

Released at the World Green Energy Symposium in Philadelphia, the government report comes at a time when green energy is suffering from a black eye. The collapse of Solyndra, a solar energy company that received a $535 million loan guarantee from the government yet filed for bankruptcy last month, has become fodder for critics of clean energy and its support from the Obama administration.

"Small businesses are leading the way in green technology innovation as they have with innovation