While federal legislators continue to muse about whether there should be focused recession relief aimed at small business such as the nationwide emergency lending facility proposed by President Barack Obama last year, some states are stepping into the breach, calling small businesses together and trying to figure out how to help them.

For instance, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is holding a small business summit next month, inviting more than 20 business owners from around the state to brainstorm on how the state can make it easier to do business in the state. Planned session topics included cutting red tape, working with the state’s Small Business Regulatory Advisory Council, and better connecting small business owners with the state’s workforce agencies.

Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu (D.-La.), who heads the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, went that one better with a Small Business Outreach Conference in Thibodaux, La., last week. The event was designed to help business owners in Landrieu’s home state better access both state and federal assistance programs. Among them: Louisiana Economic Development’s small and emerging business development program. Landrieu is holding eight of these outreach fairs around her state this year.

The recession seems to have a positive effect on legislators’ relationships with small businesses–many are reaching out, asking questions, and looking for new ways to help small businesses survive.

What’s going on in your state? If you’ve seen new efforts to help small business where you live, comment and let us know. The federal government has taken some action–some $4 billion, or $1 of every $4 of stimulus-bill funds distributed so far have gone to small business, according to recent SBA reports–but the sector is still hurting, and can use all the help it can get.

If you see an opportunity to meet with legislators to talk about small business concerns, try to grab it. Once the economy improves, legislators may not be as open to new ideas as they are now.

I’m always fascinated by companies that present potentially disruptive new ways of communicating that could transform how we reach out to customers and find clients. This week, I’ve collected three interesting startups that are combining existing communication forms to create new modes for reaching out. They may not all be quite ready to use yet, but consider these concepts brain food to expand your idea of what is possible.

The U.S. Postal Service may want to watch out for Zumbox–it’s providing a way for companies (and everybody, ultimately) to send formatted PDF mail direct to customers’ computers, saving the postage stamps. The company’s technology enables them to create a computer inbox–or Zumbox–for every street address in America. So companies don’t need to know customers’ e-mail addresses–with a street address (and the customer’s permission) the company can electronically deliver their mail. Besides saving on postage, this will also allow companies to send interactive, multimedia mail with clickable links, videos, you name it.

Powerful idea, eh? Not a surprise that the company recently landed $8 million in venture capital from a high-powered array of individual investors that includes former Disney chief Michael Eisner. It’s also attracted a high-powered lawsuit from Pitney Bowes over its technology. (The story of how Zumbox put its funding deal together is slated for the January issue of Entrepreneur magazine.)

In a similar vein, web-based international phone-service provider JaJah has figured out how to link customers’ Twitter addresses to their phone numbers, so if you both have Twitter names, you can call each other on any landline or celphone. Could be handy for those who do direct marketing and cold calling. Currently in Beta, the feature allows Twitter users to tweet @call @twittername, which causes both your phones to ring. 

Since I’m always advocating for business owners to unplug and talk to live humans a bit more, I like this. After all, there’s only so much you can get across in 140 characters. On the other hand, could be a bunch of junk phone calls in my future. But that’s what my Caller ID box is for.

Finally, TwirlTV brings the create-your-own-playlist ethos to television, online. Currently in a limited Beta, TwirlTV is aimed at Gen Y TV viewers, who can browse shows and share their favorites with friends online. Their site says they’ve got over 375 shows and 4,800 episodes available. Lastly, have to mention that their corporate “About Us” page is a link to their Facebook fan page. Now that’s a company that knows where to reach its audience.

Most of us believe there’s no way to prepare for Murphy’s Law but wouldn’t it be nice if you could? Enter The Worst-Case Scenario Business Survival Guide, a guide for surviving the most dangerous business situations.

This isn’t some thick theory heavy business text. Instead, the authors David Borgenicht and Mark Joyner have teamed up to provide a step-by-step guide for dealing with five core business emergencies: finance, HR, productivity, sales and marketing and executive.

Using a reference guide format, each chapter of this survival guide
takes on several possible scenarios–the worst-case–and maps out a
plan for the best course of action. This is not a book you need to read
cover-to-cover, however, it is intended to be a quick-reference tool
for addressing common business problems and other unforeseen
emergencies. Things like avoiding “death by meeting,” fending off an
employee coup and surviving when you can’t make payroll.

While most of the time, the claim that “this book could save your
business” would certainly be eye-roll worthy, this book is all about
practical application. Even if you think your business is doing well,
you’ll want to keep this book handy. Who knows, one day you might find
yourself facing the possible demise of your business and The Worst-Case
Scenario Business Survival Guide could be just the tool you need to
ensure your business gets through the crisis without being crushed.

President Barack Obama’s small business rescue plan, which has been around for more than a year, came back into the spotlight Wednesday, when Obama announced three specific proposals aimed at funneling more loan money to small businesses.

The big questions: Can he get these initiatives passed anytime soon? And if so, would it help?

While big banks got billions in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds in the past year, little of those funds were used for small-business lending. Instead, small business has been caught in an unprecedented lending and credit crunch for two solid years. 

The new initiatives aim to change that by:

• Granting community banks with less than $1 billion in assets new power to borrow at a lower rate — 3% instead of the 5% currently offered. In return, participating banks would be required to submit a lending plan demonstrating how they will use the funds to expand their small-business lending.

• Increasing the lending limit on major SBA-guaranteed loan programs from $2 million to $5 million. SBA’s micro-loan program would also expand its limit, from $35,000 to $50,000.

• Also calls for the convening of a Treasury Dept.-SBA small business lending conference, to work on ensuring small businesses have access to credit.

The National Small Business Association weighed in immediately with its opinion that time is of the essence in passing these type of reforms, and that more needs to be done to make sure banks increase their small business lending.

Most of this we’ve heard before, and bill drafts for them have been introduced before. And were introduced again Wednesday, by Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Mary Landrieu (D-La.)

Can Obama get this done? If so, is it too little too late? Or would it help your business? Voice your opinion in the comments below.

Entrepreneurs typically have a passion for the business they’ve created. With the economy down, many business owners are facing tough decisions about how to keep their business afloat until sales improve. What would you be willing to do? For instance, would you liquidate personal assets to keep your business alive?

A recent study shows more small-business owners are contemplating doing just that — dipping into their own funds to keep their business going. The Discover Small Business Watch survey of 750 small-business owners found nearly two-thirds–61 percent–of owners thought it likely they would tap into personal assets to stay afloat within the next year.

Forty percent said it was “very likely” they would use their own cash, while another 21 percent said it was “somewhat likely.” These owners mostly don’t plan to hit up friends and family, either–67 percent said it was “not very likely,” or “not at all likely,” that they’d get more operating cash that way.

Just a month ago only 46 percent of small-business owners surveyed said they were experiencing cash-flow issues.

Reading this study made me think about the businesses I see struggling in my own town. Some are trying hard, marketing everywhere–on city-specific online forums, sponsoring events, using Val-Pak. But many others have become invisible.

Right now the main strip mall in my town is home to a large, empty former Pizza Factory space that went independent, and then shut down–which no one has wanted to lease for more than a year. Next door is a crepes shop that went bust. Across the parking lot is a large empty space that was a mom-and-pop coffeehouse. And down from that, perhaps saddest of all, is a new yogurt shop that opened at the end of summer, too late to catch its prime season in my chilly Seattle-area market. I’ve seen zip in marketing from that new store, which also doesn’t bode well.

Other local businesses I know are likely shoveling their own money in hand over fist right now to keep going. Which would you do–put in your own cash, or close your doors? Are you thinking about tapping your personal assets to survive?

That’s always a risky proposition, as you don’t know if you’re throwing good money after bad. What are you willing to do to make it through the downturn? Leave a comment and tell us your strategies for keeping your cash flowing.