Many small businesses won a reprieve from having to provide health insurance under the Affordable Care Act until 2015 or later. But the law is already having a lasting impact on how lots of owners choose to run their companies. Some owners have begun to weigh strategies that might help them avoid complying with the law later on, such as opting out of providing the required coverage and instead paying a federal penalty of $2,000 for each full-time worker after the first 30. Others have begun restructuring their businesses, reducing their employees’ hours, for example, or trimming their total head counts to fewer than 50 full-time workers.

As a follow-on to last month’s article about surviving an SBA loan rejection, the following from WSJ.com contributor Ami Kassar is presented for your consideration:

There will likely always be a population of businesses that are not bankable and cannot get a loan backed by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Owners of these firms are left to turn to alternative lenders, even though the funds will generally come at a much higher cost than what’s offered by an SBA lender or traditional bank.That being said, in an efficient market, alternative lenders could be a means to an end, a stepping stone for a small business to affordable and sustainable funding.

Many small-business owners who have been turned down for a Small Business Administration-backed loan from a local bank may think they’ve been disqualified from the SBA program. That is not the case.

Got a small project and a small budget? For some companies nowadays, the solution is simple: Rent a business school grad student to do the work. This jibes so perfectly with what might come from our strategic partnership with the Samford University Brock School of Business that I just had to share it.

This spring, students from Samford University’s Brock School of Business MBA program will be working with members of the Helena Business Association to explore new ways to market and promote the Association to prospective new members and add value for the Association’s current members.