Today in Small Business: Suppose Your Company Name Is Isis

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

The Economy

• Automakers report strong sales, but Ford’s truck sales decline.
• Profit at home builder Toll Brothers more than doubles.
• Small companies seem poised to spend more on plants and equipment as many businesses shift away from cost-cutting.

Finance

•  The birth rate of new businesses first fell below the death rate in 2008, according to Gallup, which blames a lack of available credit.
• JPMorgan Chase re-launches its Mission Main Street grant program which will award $150,000 to each of 20 small businesses.
• Here’s an interview with Kickstarter’s “potato salad king.”

Marketing

• Here’s how to market-test an idea.
• So, you run a company named Isis …

Employees

• Fast-food workers are arrested during sit-ins.
• Here’s a free vacation-request form that you can use in your business.
• Employers in nearly all of the dozen Federal Reserve districts report difficulties finding skilled workers.
• Walmart has a new dress code and some employees are furious.

Start-Up

• Here’s how to start a business with a friend (and stay friends).
• A start-up offers an alternative way to evaluate teachers that does not rely on test scores.

Internet Security

• The path of stolen credit cards leads back to Home Depot.

Restaurants

• The issue of cellphones in restaurants — to ban or not to ban — has chefs stewing.

Washington

• Here’s a progress report on the 2012 JOBS Act.

Around the Country

• These are the best and worst places to retire.
• A Virginia business owner is hoping that a proposed pipeline won’t damage the value of his property.
• The head of the Small Business Administration encourages California business owners to take advantage of the agency’s programs.

Around the World

• American competitiveness among global economies has risen to No. 3, behind Switzerland and Singapore, according the World Economic Forum.
• Uber sign-ups in Germany jump by as much as 590 percent following a court’s move to curb the service.
• Why you should worry about Europe.
• American companies fear growing protectionism in China.

Health Care

• Small businesses in five states will get early access to the new Healthcare.gov portal.

Mobile

• There are now at least 25 billion-dollar mobile Internet companies.

Technology

• Xero and QuickBooks are battling to do your small-business accounting.
• Google Analytics is still the most widely used web analytics tool.
• Typewriters make a triumphant return in Tom Hanks’ new iPad app.

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.