Good starter book for prospective small business owners

I love the Dummies series of books. When I first started forming my businesses, I read and absorbed a lot from Small Business Kit for Dummies (http://www.amazon.com/Small-Business-Kit-For-Dummies/dp/0764559842%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIAA4MWUJXHBYFRNQ%26tag%3DSquid692641-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0764559842)

Try it out.....if you're about to start a business I bet it can help you too.

Minimize your administrative work with liability insurance (this post is not legal advice :) )

Many small business owners have lots of great ideas that would work for completely different market segments. As a sole proprietor, one might be tempted to enhance liability protection by not only forming a limited liability company (LLC), but forming multiple LLCs, each of which caters to the different market segments. The rationale here could be something like the following: "I can focus more specifically on each customer base with separate businesses, for example by providing a separate customer website for each business. I can also protect my assets better this way, because if I am sued, the limit of my liability should be restricted to this one business, while the other LLCs would survive. Forming a single member LLC is not very expensive, and neither are annual reports, so this should be a great strategy". Now, while this strategy does have its merits, the administrative hassle may be too much of a burden to bear. For example, good practice would be to write an operating agreement for each business and open a separate bank account for each business. All activities should be tracked with documentation, again, separately for each business. In addition, you will have to file a separate annual report for each business, and keep profit and loss statements for each to report to the IRS. Furthermore, deductions must be strictly tracked for each separate business. Is this beginning to sound like a headache yet?
A better strategy to protect your assets and minimize hassle may be to keep all of these ideas within one business and simply purchase liability insurance. Liability insurance is not expensive (about $400 to $500 per year), which is around the same amount in fees you would pay to register 2 or 3 new businesses with a state (depends on the state). If you have multiple ideas for separate segments of the population, you might be better off having a website developed for each major idea instead of forming a separate LLC for each major idea!

National Motor Club of America: Great Travel Services at a Great Price

   I have recently had the pleasure of learning about National Motor Club of America Inc. (NMC) from Mr. Anthony Barfield, a sales representative of the company. On his recommendation that his company's services are both of the highest quality and very affordable, I browsed through his company's website (http://nmc.com/repnumber/55025). Needless to say, I was impressed.
   The list of services offered by NMC span both travel safety information services and financial security products. From emergency roadside assistance to trip planning, vehicle rental discounts, and even a healthcare savings plan, it seems that any frequent driver would benefit greatly from this service. At a price of only $20 a month for a slew of services (see website for the full list), it's easy to see why a frequent driver would choose NMC for not only quality and variety of services, but peace of mind when making roadtrips! 

Try these open source programs instead of paying for software

Here are some open source software packages you might want to try before paying hefty sums for commercial software.

1. Accounting - GnuCash (http://www.gnucash.org)
2. Accounting - TurboCash (http://www.turbocash.net/)
3. Enterprise Resource Planning - Compiere (http://www.compiere.com/products/download/index.php)
4. Enterprise Resource Planning - SQL Ledger (http://www.sql-ledger.com/)
5. Open Office - http://www.openoffice.org/index4-passthru.html?utm_expid=57643286-7&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F
6. Other Accounting Software - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_accounting_software#Free_and_open_source_software
7. Website Design Editor - KompoZer (http://www.kompozer.net/)

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AEI Learning Center: A Small Business Offering Great Tutoring Deals

I have recently become aware of the Advanced Education Institute (AEI), a small learning center at 186 Boundary Road in Marlboro NJ. They offer students preparatory courses for the SAT and other standardized exams and also work with tutors to provide students with individualized tutoring. Their pricing is excellent and so are their instructors. If your student is looking to prepare for a standardized test like the SAT, you will get great value here. To contact them, call 732-845-4786.

Great art gallery and excellent customer service at Evalyn Dunn Gallery

I recently went to Evalyn Dunn Gallery (549 South Avenue West, Westfield, NJ) to get some custom framing done on a painting. I had never been there before, but as soon as I stepped in the gallery I was made to feel like I was working with professionals. The owners were very attentive and answered all of my questions. The price they gave me for the frame was very reasonable in my opinion, and they even promised to finish my frame earlier to meet the date I needed it by. I was very impressed by the service and the gallery, where they have lots of great art for sale. Check out there website at http://evalyndunnsgallery.com/.