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In honor of Small Business Week (May 20-26), we’re offering Small Biz Daily Deals. Each day from the @UPS Twitter account, we’ll highlight a UPS small business customer.

Online shoppers can take advantage of deals on the food you’ll need for the grill, outdoor gear and flowers delivered right to your front door. Many of the customers are also offering free shipping with special promo codes.

White Flower Farm has a special on Casa Blanca Lily bulbs: order 1 dozen and get the 2^nd dozen half price.

White Flower Farm is a small business in Connecticut that has flowers and plants from all over the world.  They count on UPS to transport their delicate deliveries. 

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For sports fans it’s a great week – from March Madness to the tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club.  Kentucky won the Madness and now the world will be watching as Tiger Woods chases Jack Nicklaus’ record and battles with newcomer Rory McIlroy for that prestigious green jacket.  

It’s also been a great week for UPS.  Every year, The Business Journals conducts a very special survey to determine the brands that best meet the needs of small- and mid-sized businesses.  More than 2,000 leaders in that arena were surveyed this year regarding almost 300 brands and UPS came out a double-winner.  UPS was named the best brand in the Business Services category, and The UPS Store was named the best brand in the Retail category — 2012 American Brand Excellence Awards.

UPS pays a great deal of attention to its small- and mid-sized customers because they’re the backbone of the U.S. economy . . .  and we know we can help small companies become big companies.  Take BudgetGolf.com, where you can find great deals on clubs, clothes and bags.  Todd Messineo started out in a small Illinois store in 1999 with just five employees.  Since then, he’s grown the business into a multi-million dollar company and with UPS on his side, is able to deliver on the store’s promise of rapid, top-of-the-line service with same-day shipping.

Like many other small business owners, Messineo prepared for big losses during the 2009 recession.  But he also worked closely with UPS Business Solutions and devised a strategy to bolster e-commerce sales.  His bottom line – he grew 205%!  He also followed mobile commerce trends and enabled golfers to shop right from their phones.  Today, about 10% of the company’s sales are administered with a mobile device.   

Messineo is working hard to stay current with retail trends by offering free shipping.  He’s also looking to UPS to automate his delivery systems and identify a reasonable flat rate on international shipping that will increase sales in Canada.  Another goal is to increase efficiency even more without sacrificing the customer service that is the cornerstone of his business.

Helping Messineo and other entrepreneurs with the tools needed to make shipping, visibility and easy returns more efficient represents the power of logistics.  And it’s doubly nice when it helps small companies grow.

That UPS commitment to small business also is why The UPS Store is sponsoring “Entrepreneur” magazine’s “Entrepreneur of 2012” contest.  For the fifth consecutive year, the magazine is searching nationwide for exceptionally inspired entrepreneurs to share their story of how they have revolutionized their industry, employees and community.  Entrepreneurs can submit their entries at http://entrepreneur.com/e2012.

Starting a small business takes a lot of work. From developing a business plan, raising capital, inventing new technologies, applying for loans, searching for office space, negotiating with suppliers to finding potential customers – it can all be overwhelming.

Small business accelerators can help.  One such program is MassChallenge, a nonprofit organization assisting budding entrepreneurs gain access to resources and financing. The program starts with an annual competition; the top 125 finalists enter a 3-month accelerator program in Boston, where they have access to free office space, mentors, educational programs and legal support. Following the accelerator stage, the top 10 finalists share $1 million in cash awards to keep their businesses growing.

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Tis’ the season to give – receive – and now return. The National Retail Federation estimates shoppers will return more than $46 billion in merchandise this year – that’s up almost 10 percent from two years ago.

Returns season is in full swing at UPS. Today consumers will return more than 500,000 packages!  It’s so many, we’re calling it National Returns Day. Just like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we now have a self-proclaimed, unofficial holiday.

With the rise in online shopping this year more people are returning those gifts they couldn’t try on or touch before Christmas. The math is easy: more online shopping = more returns. Many retailers now offer free return shipping, making it even easier for consumers to swap wrong sizes and colors. Today’s deluge of returns will keep our drivers busy delivering just as many packages back to retailers on January 6, 2012.

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Santa’s been working overtime this month getting ready to make his rounds. Just in case you’re reading this Santa… I’ve been really good and I’m emailing my list to your personal account. And because I know Ole’ St. Nick has been working so diligently – and perhaps to offer a small bribe – I’m not going to leave him just cookies.  He’s getting praline layer cake and pretzels dipped in chocolate and covered with Georgia pecans from Savannah’s Candy Kitchen. I’m just saying – I really want Santa to take my list seriously. 

The man behind the candy is Stan Strickland. He’s so sure you’ll enjoy his treats he offers a full money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied. The inspiration to open his small business came from his mother who worked in a candy factory. At home, she made everything from scratch – even measuring with the “cup” of her hand. After spending hours working beside his mother, Strickland developed a similar passion for sweets and continues the family tradition of using only local and all-natural ingredients to make candies and cakes. A local sugar company uses trailer to deliver about 60,000 pounds a month!

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14 days and counting ‘til Christmas!  It’s the time of year filled with sweet treats and those infamous popcorn tins. You know the ones with Frosty the Snowman on the side and filled with different flavors – usually super cheesy, salty and caramel.  If you’re looking for a gift that’s not filled with all those holiday calories that you promise yourself you’ll start working off right after the New Year – a resolution I fail to keep every year – try popcorn! The Popcorn Palace offers a unique selection of tasty holiday treats: Cinnamon Spice, Coconut Cloud Nine, Chocolate Drizzle Caramel Corn, Macadamia Butter Crunch and Berry Your Blues.

Small businesses pop up every day, but only some of them succeed and grow large enough to pop up on national television and find a spot on Inc. 500’s prominent list. Tim Heitmann started with just a small retail store in Chicago 15 years ago and continues to grow ever year. Today he sells and ships 29 varieties of gourmet popcorn to customers all over the country and has been featured on shows with Al Roker and Rachel Ray on the Food Network.

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When your name is Dancing Deer Baking Company, the holidays are a critical time of year and it’s important to have the right business partner pulling your sleigh… or in this case – your trailer.

Dancing Deer started small using a former pizza parlor and a few convection ovens to bake cakes from scratch. The small business quickly morphed into a retail operation and earned recognition for making “the best cake in America.” The cakes are still baked from scratch, along with cookies and brownies that can be ordered online at DancingDeer.com.  You also can find items made with all-natural ingredients at natural food stores, specialty grocers and supermarkets around the country.

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Lisa King found the recipe for success in the kitchen of her small apartment in 1987. She was a school teacher in Cleveland, Ohio, during the day, but at night she loved to bake fudgy brownies.  King eventually turned her hobby and passion into a thriving small business – Brownie Points, Inc.

The online retailer specializes in more than 25 different flavors of gourmet brownies, popcorn and chocolate confections. King and 14 full-time employees are busy producing delicious treats year-round, but from September through December she adds about 25 seasonal workers to handle the 30,000 orders she ships each week during the holidays.

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The holidays can be a hectic for everyone. But nothing compares to the stress a small business owner feels when he moves an entire year’s worth of inventory in just two months.

Greenberg Smoked Turkeys, a family-operated business based in the small town Tyler, Texas, ships its hickory smoked turkeys to customers all over the country. It all started when Sam Greenberg would smoke turkeys for family and friends in a corner of his dairy barn in the 1940s. Now, his grandson, also named Sam, runs the business and enjoys national recognition from celebrity customers like Oprah Winfrey.

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Tis’ the season to support our small business customers. We’re helping more than 30 small business owners spread the word about their upcoming holiday promotions with the Twitter campaign Small Biz Daily Deals. Every day through December 21, from the @UPS twitter account, we’ll highlight a UPS small business customer.

Consumers can take advantage of deals on gourmet brownies, cookies and candy, children’s clothing and toys and fresh cut Christmas trees delivered right to your front door. Many of the customers are also offering free shipping with special UPS codes just for the holidays.

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