Today, 3C and The New Bronx Chamber of Commerce (@thenewbxcc) brought together Bronx small business owners and New York lawmakers to discuss the One Fair Price Act and how businesses use digital tools to reach customers, offer discounts, and grow. We were grateful to welcome Assemblymembers Emérita Torres (@EmeritaTorresNY) and Landon C. Dais (@Dais77NY), as well as representatives from Assemblymember George Alvarez's office. From abandoned-cart discounts to customer loyalty programs, business owners shared firsthand examples of how technology helps them compete and asked how proposed pricing rules might affect these tools. A big thank you to the participating small businesses, our legislative guests, and Lisa Sorin and the Bronx Chamber team for helping make this conversation possible.

A great night with Chicago’s small business community in the West Loop 🏙️ At our Chicago Small Biz Connect, 3C brought together small business owners at Bunker for an AI workshop and a conversation about something we care deeply about: ensuring the people who actually run businesses have a voice in the policies that affect them. A big thank you to Michael Salvatore for hosting us, to Amanda Kezios of Mojo Spa and Anthony Qaiyum of Merz Apothecary for sharing what they’ve learned from taking their small business stories directly to policymakers, and to Illinois State Rep. Jawaharial Williams for joining us. We met great business owners, had a lot of good conversations, and left excited about what’s next for Chicago’s small business community!

Last Friday's roundtable in the Bronx raised some important questions about how New York's One Fair Price Act could affect small businesses and the discounts they offer their customers. While protecting consumers from unfair pricing is important, the legislation also needs to account for the everyday tools small businesses use to compete, including automated discounts and special offers that help attract new customers and bring existing ones back. We're grateful to Assemblymembers Torres and Dais for hearing directly from business owners, and we're looking forward to continuing the discussion. Read our press release, including comments from two of the small business owners who joined us ⤵️ connectedcouncil.org/bronx-s…

9.6 million jobs. $1.2 trillion in economic activity. That’s the impact of Shopify-powered businesses over the past year, according to new Shopify research. The bigger story: technology and AI are lowering barriers to starting and growing a business, helping more entrepreneurs reach customers, create jobs, and strengthen their communities. Read Shopify’s new Entrepreneur Effect report ⤵️ shopify.com/news/the-entrepr…

In today's @TimesUnion, Anthony Gaddy of the Upstate New York Black Chamber of Commerce raises concerns that New York's One Fair Price Act could restrict personalized discounts and promotions that help #smallbiz attract customers, grow, and compete. Read his op-ed ⤵️ timesunion.com/opinion/artic…

Cybersecurity for small businesses isn’t just about passwords. 🔐 This Cybersecurity Awareness Month, here are a few protections that are easy to overlook: • Verify payment changes another way. If a vendor emails new banking instructions, confirm them by phone using a number you already trust. Business email compromise often starts with a convincing fake invoice or payment request. • Audit who still has access. Former employees, contractors, and outside vendors should not keep access they no longer need. • Protect your backups from your own network. CISA recommends keeping critical backups separate from the systems they protect, so an attack cannot take out both at once. • Review third-party access. Your IT provider, bookkeeper, marketing agency, or other vendors may have access to important business systems. Make sure that access is limited to what they actually need. A good cybersecurity checkup is often less about buying new technology and more about closing the doors you forgot were open. staysafeonline.org/cybersecu…

Small businesses use digital tools every day to offer discounts, reach customers, and compete. A new RealClearMarkets op-ed looks at how broad rules around AI-driven pricing could unintentionally make some of those everyday promotions harder to offer. Worth a read: realclearmarkets.com/article…

71% of regular AI users are more likely to choose an independent brand this year than last. That’s one of the standout findings from Shopify’s 2026 Global Holiday Retail Report 🎁 AI is changing how consumers discover products and giving small businesses new ways to reach customers and compete. For small businesses heading into the holiday season, that could mean a meaningful new path to discovery and growth. Worth a read from Shopify: shopifyholidayretail.com/

BIG win for Texas small businesses. After nearly two years of sellers speaking out, Texas Comptroller Don Huffines is ending the state’s tax on online marketplace fees. Small businesses made the case. They were heard. And now the policy is changing. See what changed, and hear from the Texas sellers who helped make the case. connectedcouncil.org/texas-s…

If you sell online, some of the biggest decisions affecting your business are being made far outside your storefront. In the next edition of Kristin Rae’s Seller Policy Insider, she’ll break down the policy fights shaping online selling, from pricing and marketplace rules to the growing push to regulate the digital tools sellers rely on every day. The goal is simple: help sellers understand what’s changing, why it matters, and where their voices can make a difference. Sign up to get the next edition coming out tomorrow, Sep. 30: forms.gle/YfUjRAgu1ggg7mE27

Digital pricing and promotional tools help small businesses reach customers, offer discounts, and compete. But could new enforcement guidance unintentionally make those tools harder to use? 3C submitted comments to the FTC urging a clear distinction between harmful personalized price increases and everyday practices like loyalty rewards, targeted promotions, and market-based pricing. Our message: Protect consumers while preserving the digital tools small businesses use to compete and grow. Read our full comments: connectedcouncil.org/3c-urge…

When small business owners get a seat at the table, policymakers hear how decisions in Austin actually affect businesses on the ground. Texas entrepreneur Mohamad Sam of Purifyou recently met with Comptroller @DonHuffines to explain how the current tax treatment of online marketplace fees affects his business. Now, he’s sharing that story in @TexasDispatch and making the case for a fresh look at the issue. Read the op-ed to learn more: thetexasdispatch.com/huffine…

Reaching the right customers is essential for small businesses trying to compete and grow. In a new Boston Herald op-ed, Massachusetts small business owner Carlos Vargas explains how proposed restrictions in the Massachusetts Data Privacy Act could make it harder for his family-owned agency to reach the right customers, compete with larger companies, and connect people with the insurance products that best fit their needs. Privacy protections matter, but they shouldn’t come at the expense of the local businesses that rely on responsible data use to grow and compete. Read Carlos’s op-ed: bostonherald.com/2026/09/16/…

Digital advertising gives small businesses something they rarely have: the ability to reach the right customers without needing a massive marketing budget. What’s less obvious is how changes to the technology behind those ads can affect their cost, performance, and effectiveness. In Business Insider, 3C Executive Director Rob Retzlaff explains why careful implementation of the remedies in the Google ad tech case matters for small businesses and publishers that leverage these tools every day.

Creators are entrepreneurs, employers, and an increasingly important part of America’s small business economy. 3C welcomes the launch of the bipartisan Senate Creators Caucus, led by Sens. Cory Booker and John Kennedy, building on the work of House Creator Caucus co-chairs Reps. Yvette Clarke and Beth Van Duyne. This week, 3C is proud to help bring creators from across the country to Washington through Creators Mean Business, giving policymakers the opportunity to hear directly from the people building businesses, creating jobs, and shaping the future of the creator economy. kennedy.senate.gov/public/20… #CreatorsMeanBusiness

Smart AI policy starts by differentiating real risk from everyday use. Policymakers can address legitimate concerns without making the AI tools small businesses rely on more expensive, less effective, or harder to access. The goal should be simple: focus on real harms without burdening small businesses with ineffective regulations. 3C’s AI Policy Playbook lays out how to achieve this ⤵️ ai.connectedcouncil.org/

California small businesses can breathe a sigh of relief. A proposal that could have made it harder to offer discounts and promotions failed to pass the Legislature. For small businesses, that means avoiding new restrictions on the everyday digital tools they use to attract customers, reward loyalty, and drive sales. Read more about what California small business owners had to say: connectedcouncil.org/califor…

For more than a year, small businesses in Texas have been fighting a tax that raises the cost of selling through online marketplaces. Last week, 3C brought five business owners to Austin to make their case directly to Comptroller Don Huffines. He listened and committed to working with small businesses to address the issue. That’s an important step toward getting this tax policy right. Read more about what happened in Austin: connectedcouncil.org/texas-c…

Seven years ago, Tari Cash left finance to open one indoor golf studio in Washington, D.C. Today, CitySwing has two locations, a mobile operation bringing golf to hotels and offices, and a nonprofit that has introduced thousands of young people to the game. And Tari is just getting started. AI is helping fuel CitySwing’s next chapter. Tari built her own AI-powered lead-generation tool that has saved hundreds of hours, cut thousands of dollars in costs, brought in new business, and boosted the company’s bottom line. Now, CitySwing is using AI to go head-to-head with national golf chains. That’s what it looks like when a small business gets powerful tools to compete. See how CitySwing is using AI to play a bigger game: connectedcouncil.org/cityswi…