Small business, entrepreneurs and start-ups are all an extremely critical part of the American economy. No, it’s much bigger than that. They’re all a big part of the global economy. It’s estimated that small business represents more than half of the American workforce. Clearly, small businesses provide an enormous amount of jobs for people who then go out and spend a portion of their paycheck on other goods and services.

But being a small business owner is no easy task. Along with the opportunities come a bevy of challenges that come at an entrepreneur from all directions. Dozens of issues, like funding, hiring, accounting, legal, tax, marketing/PR, sales, IT and customer service are all issues for small business owners every day. In summary, if you want to have success in starting your own small business, you better have some knowledge in ALL of these areas.

That’s where #smbiz Twitter chat comes in.

Hosted each Tuesday from 8-9 p.m. (Eastern time zone) on Twitter.com, #smbiz is an open chat session where small businesses can get answers from expert panel members and other small business owners. Tthe thought is that we’re now able to meet virtually and help each other out with issues we face on a daily basis. If you’re new to Twitter, using a hashtag code (#) is a way to group all tweets for a specific chat. In this case, make sure you include “#smbiz” at the end of each tweet so that your thoughts are included in the chat session for everyone to see.

The hosts are John Sternal (@sternalpr on Twitter) and Chrisanne Sternal (@sternalmrktg on Twitter). John is a PR professional of nearly 20 years and Chrisanne is a marketing expert for almost as long. John and Chrisanne are also the creators of UnderstandingMarketing.com and The PR Toolkit.

Please join #smbiz on Tuesdays. Attendees get a chance to ask any questions they want in the area of running a small business - Accounting, Legal, HR, Sales, Marketing, PR, etc. (other marketers and PR pros are welcome to contribute as well). Check it out here http://tweetgrid.com/search?q=smbiz

If you have a question ahead of time, though, please feel free to email me at jsternal@understandingmarketing.com.

Check out some recaps of past #smbiz chats:

Search Engine Marketing - #smbiz Chat Recap - 6/16/09

Do’s & Don’ts of Twitter - #smbiz chat recap - 6/9/09

Do-It-Yourself Marketing Tips - #smbiz recap chat - 6/2/09

Copywriting Tips & Best Practices - #smbiz chat recap - 5/26/09

How to Create a Webinar - #smbiz chat recap - 5/5/09

Linkedin Answers for Small Business - #smbiz chat recap - 4/21/09

Small Business Funding - #smbiz chat recap - 4/14/09

Networking Offline - #smbiz chat recap - 4/7/09

Blogging for Small Business - #smbiz chat recap - 3/31/09

Online & Affiliate Marketing - #smbiz chat recap - 3/24/09

Small Business Taxes - #smbiz chat recap - 3/17/09

Twitter for Small Business - #smbiz chat recap - 3/10/09

Other#smbiz chat topics:

• HR - Hiring and Small Business Health Insurance
• The Importance of Trademarks to Small Business