Weekly Report 3-5

What Every Small Business Owner Should Know Today

By Stacy M. Brown

NNPA Newswire Senior

Given how much has changed about the way people do business over the last few years, experts say it may be time for entrepreneurs to rethink how they store and protect company data, and collaborate with their teams.

According to Brian Mallari, a marketing director in Western Digital’s hard drive business unit, a shared storage or network attached storage (NAS) solution can help, and here’s why:

• Cost: As every owner of a small- or mid-sized business (SMB) knows, cutting costs without cutting corners is key to protecting the bottom line. While cloud storage fees can incur ongoing costs, adopting a NAS solution is a great way to pay once while keeping sensitive data local to the office or home.

• Capacity: Before selecting a storage solution, consider your needs. From wedding photographers to graphic designers, many businesses need a storage solution that can grow over time. Popular NAS storage drives for small and medium businesses, such as the WD Red family of products from Western Digital, range in capacity from 1 terabyte (TB) to 18TBs, making them a good solution for those who work with large amounts of data.

• A shifting workplace: With hybrid and remote workplaces becoming the norm for businesses of all sizes, this has added new challenges for business owners and their staff wishing to easily collaborate, edit files and work with shared files and databases.

With a NAS storage system, all users’ PCs and laptops can be assigned permission to access the storage solution, giving them the ability to load files and data wirelessly or via connected ports. What’s more, such a system can help protect your team’s work and data against loss from a network outage or potential cyberattacks, as remote/home data can be backed up to the storage device itself at the office. Because NAS solutions use several hard drives, they can provide protection of data via redundancy, also referred to as RAID. In other words, should one drive fail, the data lives on.

• Getting set up: Getting set up with a SMB NAS storage system is easy. The solutions are available at consumer electronics stores and online, and you can choose from a NAS system that includes from two to 24 slots or “bays” for hard drives to make sure all your data is covered. Most NAS solutions, especially two- and four-bay solutions, can simply plug into an internet router via Ethernet.

To learn more about NAS-ready data storage options, visit westerndigital.com.

Source: StatePoint

“In today’s world, small- and mid-sized businesses need both reliable, affordable data storage solutions, as well as tools that allow for collaboration among workers near and far,” says Mallari. “Rethinking how data is stored can help entrepreneurs achieve both these goals.”

The Breakfast Klub Makes Yelp’s List

By d-mars.com News Provider

favorite for foodies known around Houston and nationally, The Breakfast Klub is one of the highest-ranked Black-owned restaurants on Yelp and has been included on Yelp's "Ones to Watch" list, just in time for Black History Month.

The Breakfast Klub celebrates its 20-year anniversary this year, and during a time when restaurants close as quickly as they open, owner Marcus Davis continues to implement sage wisdom and experience for sustainability and success in business.

The spirit and entrepreneurial mastermind behind The Breakfast Klub and Reggae Hut Café, Davis is best known for his charismatic personality, authentic customer appreciation, and his tireless commitment to the communities he serves.

Applying “kommunity” as his guiding principle in his business and personal life, he has created one of the most phenomenal restaurant success stories in the country. The koncept for The Breakfast Klub was born after Davis, a native Houstonian, recognized a void in the market for a unique breakfast restaurant serving signature items in a soulful, relaxed community environment. He chose two of his favorite dishes from opposite ends of the country – “Katfish & Grits” from the East Coast and “Wings & Waffles” from the West Coast, and the rest is history.

Since opening in September of 2001, The Breakfast Klub has become a top tourist attraction, as well as the local favorite breakfast spot, lining up droves of cheerful patrons on a daily basis. It consistently receives rave reviews, including recognition as the best breakfast in the country by “Good Morning America,” USA Today, Esquire Magazine, and Forbes Magazine. Locally, The

Breakfast Klub is touted by the Houston Press as the 2011 Readers Choice for best breakfast, winner of the 2011 My Table Culinary Award for favorite breakfast, and Best Of Citysearch 2011 winner in the breakfast category.

About the Yelp designation, Marcus says:

"The people have spoken, and they have spoken for over two decades. This acknowledgement shows a continued interest of the community in empowering us as we empower the community. We are very grateful for this recognition."

According to Yelp:

To determine the list of Black-owned businesses to watch, our data science team started by identifying businesses that have self-identified with the Black-owned attribute on Yelp in food, beauty, or home categories. From the candidate businesses in each category, we limited the list to three businesses per state and narrowed it down by weighing a variety of factors, including national online presence, average rating, and review counts. Businesses featured are listed alphabetically.

For the complete list, visit this link.

COMMENTARY: 2022 Will Be a Great Year for Blacks and People of Color in America

By Roger Caldwell NNPA Newswire Contributor

With the election of President Biden and Vice President Harris, they have quickly delivered for the American people, while helping our country recover from a pandemic, and an economic crisis. It is very easy for the Republicans to talk about what the Biden team has done wrong, but with the passing of the American Rescue Plan, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, their first year in office has been extremely successful.

These two pieces of legislation will rebuild the economy and put money in the pockets of hard-working American families. Many businesses received stipends from the government, and many Americans were able to keep their businesses in the black and afloat. The American Rescue Plan was passed in March 2021, and it provided stimulus aid for families, state, local areas, and Tribal nations.

Many have forgotten the $1,400 stimulus check every family got for each family member and the expanded tax credit for each child. President Biden and the Democrats delivered big for America, but everyone has appeared to have for-

gotten, especially the Republicans.

The economy under President Biden is doing extremely well, and the Democrats must blow their horn loud and clear.

opportunity and progressive ideas for Black people. Whether you’re looking forward to them, or dreading them, the midterm elections will take place in November 2022. There will be more Blacks and people of color running for office than ever before in the history of America, and there will be more millions in circulation than ever before.

operate nationally and internationally.

As Blacks in America build major corporations, they will start to invest their money in Africa –The motherland. 2022 will be an exceptional year for Blacks and Africans on many different levels, and the opportunities will expand and grow exponentially.

Buying Black in 2022 will become a grassroots campaign for Blacks in America, and the fight for social, racial, and economic equity will bring Black organizations and communities together.

When Americans look at the president’s cabinet there is a diversity of people of color, which is an accurate representation of the country. This is the first reason that in 2022 Blacks and people of color will operate and grow successfully: because the economic track record is the strongest in 50 years.

When leadership reflects people of color, America is in a better place for

In Florida, Val Deming’s campaign will raise over $60 million dollars and other races of color will raise between 10 to 50 million dollars. The opportunity for Black public relations companies, campaign jobs, the Black Media, will be tremendous, with an opportunity to make millions of dollars.

In entertainment Black companies will be given more opportunities to grow their companies and make millions of dollars in 2022. Black professional sports figures, which are making millions of dollars already, will start investing their money with other Black sports and entertainment millionaires and build major corporations, which will

Young Black college students will take leadership roles in political campaigns and will create change.

2022 will be a transformational year for Blacks and people of color, and we will create a new order with the national protection of voting rights, and labor reforms. Vice President Harris, as the first woman and the first woman of color in that office, will create new political power, and empower workers to take collective action in the workplace.

Finally, the Black Family will come together, because we are only as great as the Black family is together. So now pick up the phone, resolve family issues, and remember to Love…

Source: (NNPA)

“Today, America is the only leading economy in the world where household incomes and the economy as a whole are stronger than they were before the pandemic, even accounting for price increases,” says President Biden.