It comes with risks: A car accident or cancer case can leave small businesses on the hook for big medical bills.

WSJ: One Strategy for Health-Law Costs: Self Insure

So a group of small businesses organized a collaborative fundraising effort, ReStore Red Hook, that will provide small grants quickly.

FORBES: 6 Lessons Red Hook's Small Businesses Learned About Recovery from Sandy

Instead of developing games in-house, Microsoft prefers to hook up with small companies based on early versions of their games or the reputations of their designers.

FORBES: Bill's sandbox

Small businesses kept their doors open by hook or by crook.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

There were three other mirrors in the house: the mirror over the sink in the upstairs bathroom, the mirror over the sink in the downstairs half bath, and the small circular mirror with a wooden handle that hung on a hook beside the upstairs-bathroom window.

NEWYORKER: Miracle Polish

And yet, to the disgust of the commission and a handful of indignant small countries, the French and the Germans have persuaded their fellows to let them off the hook.

ECONOMIST: Europe's fiscal follies

Now you can take that person to court, to civil court or small claims court, to try to get your money, but you're still on the hook for that debt.

NPR: Avoiding the Financial Headaches of Divorce

But that didn't stop him hitting a hook shot 40 yards right, the ball rising 15 feet above the ground to sail through a small opening in the trees.

CNN: Watson savors emotional Masters win