Post election – healthcare and credit: Small Business Reading

The election is over - but as we discussed many times prior to election day, it doesn't really settle anything for small businesses. Neither candidate offered anything really concrete in terms of proposals and about all we were left with were a host of uncertainties around healthcare and taxation. In reality neither of these will make the slightest bit of difference for the average 2-person or less small business but that doesn't mean the issues aren't important. It would have been great to hear something addressing the burden of regulation (especially at the state level) or solutions for easier access to credit. We don't have any silver bullets for you here at Yahoo! Small Business Advisor but we do have a little glimmer of hope in this week's best reading. First off - don't forget the invaluable SBA - it's always a wise first stop for any small business and is one part of government that is firmly on your side. First up - access to credit. We ran a short piece on how your personal credit affects your business credit (and what to do about it). And here's a brand new interview with the head of TD Bank about cash access strategies. We also ran a piece on good customer service strategies and a great article about the tactics of extraordinarily successful people.

Novel business idea of the week is the Soundwich - a sandwich delivery service that includes a box that plays music designed to be listened to while you eat.

If you haven't taken the plunge yet, hopefully some of these articles give you the impetus to start your own business — and if you do, we have tools to help. Besides our domain name, web hosting and ecommerce products, we also have just added an innovative marketing dashboard that you can try for free even if you don't use our other products.

Some other great small business articles from around the web this week.

Health insurance - before we even get to the new forthcoming healthcare regulations - do you even understand much about health insurance? Turns out most small businesses don't (and speaking from experience nor do most big businesses).

Back to the subject of business credit - five tips for securing a small business loan.

For those of you heavily involved in online marketing - by now you should have heard of the topic of content marketing (simple translation - writing articles that attract attention and thus business to your website). It sounds simple. It isn't. This article runs down how to do it by right by highlighting 30 things you can get wrong....

This one is for everybody - no matter who you are - share it freely - you may need it or someone you work with may need it - how to take constructive criticism like a champ.

How about free education online? Sounds like a pipedream? This article outlines how the University of the People may be changing that. The article suggests that it is most useful for young entrepreneurs starting out - sure - that's a good plan if it is the only way you can get a qualification. But think about it - you could take a straightforward bookkeeping course and really get to grips with your business' financials - at no cost. No need for the qualification necessarily - it's the knowledge that counts. Normally I'd discount this but it is being backed by some real educators and is associated lightly with Oxford, NYU and George Washington University.

Have a great week, watch the bottom line and let us know in the comments if any of this was especially useful or if you have any advice you'd like to share. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook!