We like the work that comes out of Score. You should go take a look at their site as they have some good tips for you to consider. The website link is at the bottom of this article.

By Christine Banning, SCORE VP Corporate Relations

• Create a brand. Spend a little money to create a professional logo, business card and stationery. Present a professional image.
• Ramp up Online. Make creating a Web site a top priority. A Web site is today’s calling card. You really shouldn’t do without one. Give people a place to go to learn about your business.
• Make Your First Sale. This is key. Get that first sale even if it’s friends or family at a discounted rate. This counts as getting started, so go for it.
• Promote Testimonials. Get testimonials from your first sales. Start building credibility for your business from day one.
• Build Buzz. Be creative. Look for a special promotion, big event, email campaign or something out of the norm for your business to get people talking about you, your product or service.

Brought to you by SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business.”
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Writing a business plan can be an overwhelming task. These feelings often translate into immobilization or confusion as to how to start the business plan. Starting a business plan begins with the first step:

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by Jeffrey Moses

Small-business owners need to be informed about every aspect of financing, from bookkeeping to cash-flow projections to securing loans from bankers. While you may not need to be an expert on each of these aspects (and, really, you can’t be unless you have an accounting degree), the more you understand about these vital components of small-business finance, the greater the chance for your company’s success.

The following checklist spotlights the main financial aspects an owner needs to be at least somewhat knowledgeable about. To learn more about any of these, consult with your business adviser, accountant or attorney––or read about them in any of the excellent accounting/business finance books available online or through retail booksellers.

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Posted By: Small Business Mole

Published by: SBA

Given the trouble some banks are now having some of the loan requirements have been tightened. So an SBA type loan might be something to consider when starting out.

The SBA offers several loan Guaranty programs here is a basic 7 program.

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Some good tips posted by Yahoo on a small business where you act as an independent contractor for others.

When you do freelance or consulting work, there are a few things you must do to stay out of trouble with the law.

Many independent contractors and service providers start earning money without really planning on it. Before they know it, their sideline projects have become legitimate businesses — which means that they have to fulfill some basic business start-up requirements. Whenever you provide services and get paid, you must comply with a few governmental rules, even if you work only a few hours per week for one or two clients.

At a minimum, do these three things when you’re first starting out as an independent contractor:

• Choose a business name (and register it, if necessary).
• Get a business license (and any vocational license required for your profession).
• Pay estimated taxes (advance payments of your income and self-employment taxes).

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The Answer

There are many errors made by inexperienced business plan writers or business owners who fail to see why their plan was not accepted. But on the other side of the table, the following mistakes are common:

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Jan B. King
Business Woman

Jan B. King currently leads a consulting practice primarily devoted to helping traditional publishers, writers, and educators with content development and curriculum design for print publications and innovative web sites. In addition she teaches small business management topics and writes and speaks extensively on employee-ownership and participative management.

There are hundreds of questions essential to running a great business. Of all of the questions, I consider these the 50 most critical. Consider making each of these questions the topic for weekly management meetings. Do we have a vision about where we are going as a company?

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A great article By: Maureen Farrell is Staff Writer at Forbes.com. She has a lot of good stuff on the Forbes site or just look her up on Google search.

Four-dollar gasoline can put anyone in a foul mood. Heap a ton of cranky customers on top of already skinny margins and you have a recipe for pain among the tens of thousands of gas stations in the U.S.

That’s precisely why, when it comes to weathering the latest economic storm, retailers of all stripes ought to pay attention to what their petrol-pumping brethren are up to.

“At the pump, it’s not about breaking even,” says Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, which represents 115,000 gas and convenience stores that sell about 80% of the petrol in the U.S. “It’s about trying to lose as little as you can.”

Gas has long been the loss leader in the gas-station business, where a majority of the profits come from selling snacks, soda and smokes. Lately, though, the economics have gotten decidedly worse.

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By: Score
http://www.score.org

A comprehensive planning document to help Non-Profit Small Businesses through the initial planning process. Look under Pages and click on forms and materials look in materials section for scorenp.pdf file and just download and read.

The Mole