On August 11, 1994, a compact disc exchanged hands during the first ever online sale. This transaction would mark an important shift in the way we shop and do business. It was the birth of ecommerce, the buying and selling of goods and services online.

As a small business owner, you naturally strive to meet customers where they are, whether that’s stocking the right merchandise or offering convenient payment options. Mobile payments processing is fairly simple for a merchant, but it requires a bit of upfront effort. That includes investing in a point-of-sale system that can handle contactless payments and digital wallet transactions.

Every day, YouTube users watch over a billion (yes, with a b) hours of YouTube videos, and yet only 9% of small businesses have bothered to start their own channel. As YouTube usage continues to soar, it becomes mission critical for businesses without a YouTube presence to jump in.

Being your own boss starts with the decision to make the big leap. If you’ve found us here, you’ve already taken that crucial first step. Congratulations! Now you’re ready to learn how to start a business from scratch. But where do you begin?

Heidi Zak spent the past decade thinking about bras so millions of women and bra wearers don’t have to. That’s the idea behind ThirdLove, the San Francisco–based lingerie brand Heidi started in 2012 with co-founders Ra’el Cohen and David Spector.

It’s easy for them to forget why they came to a store in the first place, and for them to quickly get distracted in favor of the newest, shiniest thing. It happens to the best of us. Because of this, brands are tasked with winning back shoppers who have shown interest in their products in the past—and remarketing is a successful way to do this.