3 Things You Should Know About Small Business: May 22

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- What's happening in small business today?

1. Gas station franchisees experiencing pain at the pump. It's a difficult time for gas station franchisees due to big oil company shifts in strategy as well as margin pressure, according to Blue Maumau, a franchising blog.

Apparently, even in a depressed real estate market some petroleum franchisors say land has more value as a development site than as a retail operation. However, companies selling those properties normally attach restrictions making it difficult to sell the property to the highest bidder, the article says.

Another issue for gas station franchisees is a move toward a so-called jobber distribution system, which inserts a middleman between the petroleum company and franchisee. A host of potential conflicts seem to be cropping up as a result of this type of distribution, the article says.

2. Small businesses unlikely to use crowdfunding to raise money. Even with all the hype about the new crowdfunding laws, small business owners don't plan to go to their so-called peers to finance their business.

According to a survey by Pepperdine University and Dun & Bradstreet Credibility, just 3% of business owners said they plan to raise money through crowdfunding following the passing of the JOBS Act bill in March, the Associated Press reports.

The survey, which will be released Wednesday, found that 53% of business owners don't expect the passage of the JOBS act to make it more likely that business owners will raise money through crowdfunding. Another 45% said they were unsure.