IASourceLink Blog

“Business Concierge” – An information specialist who assists small business owners in finding solutions to their most pressing questions by facilitating connections to the right people, data, and resources. Reach out to the Business Concierge team to get answers to your questions -- at no cost to you!

From corner to corner across Iowa, businesses are seeking workers to fill available jobs. Many of the positions require a specific skillset which makes it more difficult for employers to find the help they need. Fortunately, the state of Iowa offers a variety of programs businesses may be able to utilize to help train new and existing workers with necessary skills.

“...but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” - Benjamin Franklin Paying taxes is no one’s reason for going into business; but as Benjamin Franklin says, it is a part of life. We at IASourcelink make it a goal to help you get the education you need to help the the tax process go as smoothly as possible.

As a business owner, you have a lot of taxable obligations and even smaller ones can add up pretty quickly so hopefully, you are taking advantage of all of the business tax incentives you can to help reduce those obligations. Many state and federal departments offer business tax credits and incentives but IASourceLink has compiled a list of the most common ones here in Iowa.

What do Arby’s, Verizon and Uber all have in common? They were each victims of a recent data breach that affected thousands of customers. Reports of cyber-attacks on large firms regularly hit the news, but what is rarely mentioned are the cyber-crimes being waged against shops down the street. While Uber had cash on hand to pay off their hackers, would that be true for the businesses in your region?

In 2016, the Iowa Rural Development Council (IRDC) hosted the first-ever Iowa Rural Summit, bringing together 300 individuals from more than 60 rural communities.  That event sparked a resurgence in interest among rural advocates and convinced IRDC partners, who include federal and state agencies, Regents’ institutions and community colleges, utilities, non-profits and statewide associations, to revitalize the Council’s ability to support rural development.  Building on the foundation of the initial Summit, a second Summit is planned for April 5th & 6th in Grinnell.

Leading up to the holiday season, I’m sure most of us were busy finding that perfect gift. Many consumer’s buying habits include purchasing from online retailers and taking advantage of Cyber-Monday and other web-based deals. However, if you are like me, you may have found yourself making more of your purchases at hometown stores and participating in opportunities such as Shop Local Saturday and other regional shopping events.

Iowa has become home to many new and remodeled breweries, distilleries, and coffee shops in the past few years. In my experience, these business founders want to bring more than a place for grabbing a your favorite drink, they want to be a gathering space for good conversations, art shows, and live music. They bring more opportunity to us to integrate more diversity and creativity in our daily lives. Whether they know it or not, these local shops become the personality that identifies a street, neighborhood, or city to the locals and visitors alike.

In 2015, The Iowa Wine and Beer Promotion Board published a report estimating that craft beer production in Iowa was going to grow 500% by the year 2019. While this has the potential for a great economic impact in the state, brewing beer is a very resource intensive and wasteful process that has the potential for significant negative environmental impacts. The Iowa Waste Reduction Center (IWRC) at the University of Northern Iowa, with 30 years of experience working with Iowa small businesses, developed a new program to combat these potential issues head-on by creating the Iowa Green Brewery Certification.

I respect the desire to have family involved in a business. That said, you can’t put your blinders on either.