America is coming home to work. Home-based offices are becoming the wave of the future. Tens of thousands of workers are opting for this way of life, a life in which they can make their own hours, commute to work in seconds, make their own choices and become their own bosses.

For many, the home office is becoming the location for a full-time job and the primary source of income. For others it is a part-time venture. Many start on a part-time basis and grow their business into a full-time operation.

Current figures available indicate that during 1991 the percentage of self-employed working from home jumped by almost 6% to approximately 12 million. While working at home has an almost irresistible appeal to many, and many have some big misconceptions of what it is like, here is some very useful information that can help you get started successfully.

Legalities of Working at Home

Zoning

Before setting up your new business it would be advisable to check on the legal status of your business. You need to check zoning laws for your community which may dictate if you can legally operate a business from home. We realize that many businesses never check on zoning for their home-based business and chances that they ever get into difficulties with the law are probably pretty slim. Without changes in structure and you do not have customers and or employees enter your home, regulations will tend to be far easier. Laws and regulations change from community to community, but the following 5 factors will generally be regulated items:

1. Separate business and private entrances.

2. Square footage of the home which is taken up by commercial space.

3. Employees working in the home.

4. Certain occupations such as jewelry or clothing

5. Storage of commercial goods, especially any hazardous materials.

Here is an important suggestion: keep relations with your neighbors on a friendly basis. Your neighbors will soon become aware that you are working at home. Some may even be envious, and yes, unfortunately zoning authorities will generally become aware of home office zoning infractions through a “friendly neighbor”.

Business License

Most cities or counties require businesses to be licensed. Some home-operated businesses, however, are not required to have a business license. Check with your local City or County Clerks Office to obtain regulations for your locality.

D.B.A. Registration

By using your own name as your business name then it will not need to be registered, but by using any other name, or even your abbreviated name, almost all localities require that you register the name. This is called a fictitious name registration or D.B.A. “Doing Business As” registration. For example, your name is:

Randy M Jones and your name your business Randy Jones or Randy M Jones Enterprise you will not have to register it, but by calling it: RMJ Enterprises you will generally have to register the name.

Most states have a name search bureau which is a part of the state government. You will generally be able to call this office to see whether a given name has already been registered to someone else in the state. This is important to do, or it could be costly later. You do not want to give your business a name which is already registered to another company because the other company may demand, and even take legal action to make sure you comply, that you cease to use the name.

Your Company as a Legal Entity

Businesses are most commonly set-up as one of the following entities:

• The Sole Proprietorship
• Incorporation
• Partnership

Most new businesses choose the Sole Proprietorship. It is the least complicated. It requires no paperwork. The proprietor you, or you and your spouse as the owner, or owners, are taxed for all net profit from your business. You add the income of the business to other income, or deduct the business loss from other income. Your tax adviser can give you specific information.

The disadvantage of the Sole Proprietorship is that as the owner you can be held fully liable in a lawsuit. Incorporation, on the other hand, will give you some protection. In this case the “INC” rather than you is the legal business entity. Starting a business that tends to have liability exposure then corporation may be the way to go. In this and other legal questions, only your attorney can give you competent legal advice.

Partnerships are generally chosen when unrelated individuals own a business. A partnership should be set up by an attorney, or else all kinds of problems can develop later.

Designing Your Work-space

First, you must determine how much space you need. Chances are what you may initially think is quite large may be crowed or not enough space. Although many businesses are started from a corner of the bedroom or kitchen, it would be far better idea to take a spare area of the house and convert it into your office. There may be space in the basement, garage, or a spare bedroom. Having a separate space is more efficient and will make for maximum efficiency. It is also psychologically important. You do not want home activities to interfere with your business, or vice versa.

Friends and family will need to be told politely firmly that business hours mean business and dropping in or calling to chit chat is not acceptable. Psychologists suggest that you work “from” home not just in your home. There is a danger of becoming isolated. In as much as your free hours allows, participate in seminars and local business activities and organizations.

Financial Planning

It is said and also my own personal experience that owners of new businesses never have enough free hours or money. The majority of small businesses which do not succeed will fail because they are not properly financed. In your financial planning carefully review all required start-up expenses as well as on-going expenses before revenue will be generated. Estimate your profit margins and all fixed and controlled expenses. Almost all entrepreneurs will tend to be much more optimistic about their estimate of the financial performance of a business taken what is necessarily realistic. There are always unforeseen expenses.

It is a good idea to only invest in absolutely necessary expenses. This applies to furnishings, supplies and all equipment. Computer equipment in recent years has become outdated within a short period of time. So, what you acquire will serve you well for 2-3 years will be able to upgrade your equipment later on. Your emphasis should be on conserving capital. As your business develops, unexpected hurdles will come along and periods of low revenue. Your capital will make it possible to keep your business operating during these tough periods.

Why Should You Have A Business Plan?

While writing a business plan can be made into a highly sophisticated undertaking especially by large corporations, it’s easy to do when done for a new or small owner operated-business. Essentially, you will be committing your plan to paper. As you do so, your thought will become more formal and concrete and this will tremendously assist you in the development of your business. In considering obtaining financing for your new business either through a bank or the SBA, a formal business plan will be a necessity. Home-operated businesses will see difficulty in obtaining financing.

Don’t Forget Uncle Sam

As in all undertakings of life from birth to death and beyond, the IRS will be there to watch over you. Almost all small, home-based businesses will start out as “Sole Proprietorship.” This legal status is best for ease of handling and for tax benefits. Your net business income or loss becomes an addition or deduction to other income declared at the end of the year. Careful record-keeping of all business revenue and expenses is a must. Keep a separate business checking account for your business. Do not inter-mingle business and personal expenses. Other special tax benefits and regulations apply to home-operated businesses. You should obtain professional advice from your tax adviser.

Free Publications available:

“Record-Keeping for A Small Business” IRS publication 583. Call the IRS 1-800-829-3676.

“Business Use of Your Home” can also be obtained free from the IRS.

“Tax Guide for Small Business” is an annual IRS publication #334. It is also free.

Insurance

One disadvantage of being self-employed is not having health and disability insurance. You may also need liability insurance. Your homeowners insurance covers your belongings in your home, but it may not cover all business inventory and equipment. Check with your insurance agent to make sure you have the right coverage.

Factors that will Determine Your Success

Do Your Homework

The more you know about your business, the better your chances of success. Attend seminars and join trade associations. Read books and trade publications. By lacking a business background then a business introductory class at a local college for you would be advisable.

Planning is Key to Your Success

You and your family’s future and livelihood are at stake. So your decision and planning to start a business are very serious matter. Establish a long range plan which encompasses your business and financial plans. You should obtain legal or financial advice from an attorney or accountant before committing to nay long range or major financial transactions. Agreements with suppliers or customers should be put into writing.

You Must Wear Many Hats

Small business owners over time can become experts on a variety of subjects. At the start the most important aspect is the mind-set. Your communication to the rest of the world through all available means will determine your success. Here is an abbreviated marketing check list:

• Telephone equipment
• Promotional Material
• Advertising (Don’t forge the Yellow Pages)
• Stationery
• Direct Mail
• Membership in Organizations
• Direct Sales

Invest in Good Equipment

The right equipment will make your work easier and your business more efficient. To conserve cash used equipment should also be considered.

So What Are Your Chances

The better you think they are the better they generally are, and don’t forget that among thousands of others:

Apple Computer, Domino’s Pizza, and Walt Disney all started as home-based businesses.

Resources/Associations

There is a great deal of expert advice and resource material available to you. Much of it is free of charge. A variety of literature is available, both excellent books on all business subjects and various magazines. Your local Chamber of Commerce often sponsors classes. Banks can give you advice, or can be used as a sounding board. Local schools offer a variety of classes of interest to business owners. Don’t forget the Public Library. Last, but not least, don’t forget the U.S. Government.

SBA (Small Business Administration) offers a range of services such as loans, financial consulting, computer and technical consulting services and a variety of publications.

Check your local telephone pages, or contact:

Small Business Administration
1441 L Street NW
Washington, DC 20416
(202) 659-6000

United States Chamber of Commerce provides literature, telephone referrals and other services to small businesses. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce or:

United States Chambers of Commerce
1615 H Street NW
Washington, DC 20062
(202) 659-6000

Internal Revenue Service offers a variety of services which includes workshops, films and publications to clarify tax matters for small businesses. Contact your local IRS office or:

Education Branch, Taxpayer Service Division
IRS, Department of the Treasury
1111 Constitution Ave.,NW
Washington, DC 20274
1-800-424-1040

Better Business Bureau (BBB) The BBB can be an important ally in checking on potential suppliers and other businesses. Check for telephone listing in the city where the company you are checking on is located.

Disclaimer: The above article has been edited for grammar & spelling mistakes by Abasster. The original author of this article is unfortunately unknown & untraceable nonetheless is given due credit here. I hereby declare that this article was not written by me. However, I may have modified the sentences, expressions, structure, & etc to suit my writing style. ]]> http://money.aimvotal.com/homebiz-startup/feed/ 3 http://money.aimvotal.com/gold-recover/ http://money.aimvotal.com/gold-recover/#comments Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:00:49 +0000 http://money.aimvotal.com/?p=1091 Gold is a precious metal that according to its past performance – will continue to appreciate in price. As you can see in the five year chart below, the price of gold has continued to risen from about $400 an ounce to slightly more than double that today. What you don’t see is that the price of gold prior to this chart was about $250 an ounce.

Price re-trace also know as ‘Pullbacks’ are normal in any money markets. The obvious difference is that you don’t see any price re-trace on the Gold chart that precedes a major price downturn a.k.a. “Bubble burst” like what happens in the stock markets.

Gold price always manages to recover & probably will continue rising some more in the long run. Thus, gold is a popular investment for people who want to retain the value of their money. Nations need real gold like gold bars to back their currencies. Otherwise, the currency will devaluate. Real gold is what really counts.

The key word here is ‘probably’ because Helium does get a lot of traffic & the monetization of the Helium site seems to be paying off. Otherwise, how can a company like Helium afford to pay a single cent to its writers & covers service costs as well, you know – keeping afloat? Sure, Helium sells articles to interested parties & make money out of that too which makes me resent now even more for even thinking of contributing to Helium. Ok, perhaps I am being a little bit judgmental about the situation. Perhaps I should just write for Helium for the pure pleasure of writing. PhhbbBbtttT!

Forget about writing for AC (Associated Content) as they don’t pay ‘up front’ to non Americans & possibly non Canadians too since years ago. It is possible that I will die of old age before AC starts leveling the playing field for others like me. Perhaps I’ll just let Helium take advantage of my writing abilities & start living in denial that I’m just writing there for pure pleasure. I tell myself, it is just jealousy & probably pride that makes me resent Helium.

I reckon writing for Helium won’t be too bad, at best, $2.50 per article added together after a few months will help to pay a bill or two for me. Also, Helium offers a few other ways for writers to earn more money like Marketplace, Stock Content, Invite-a-writer, Contests, & by Rating. Now I’m thinking a hundred & one. ]]> http://money.aimvotal.com/writing-helium/feed/ 0 http://money.aimvotal.com/sleep-pillows/ http://money.aimvotal.com/sleep-pillows/#comments Thu, 09 Apr 2009 08:03:15 +0000 http://money.aimvotal.com/?p=1076 Sleep is important to anybody. An employee that gets better sleep at night will feel fresh & ready for work the next day. Show your concern to your employees by presenting them with a foam wedge pillow corporate gift for better sleeping. The pillows does not have to be pricey ones as long as they work fine is good enough. Better yet try some wedge pillows yourself before buying & handing them out to your employees. The cheapest ones are contoured foam donut ring pillows that cost $8.95 at AllegroMedical.com. Employees that do get better sleep equals better work performance which also equals better productivity & in turn better profits for your company.

ONLIVE servers provide everything. One can even use a computer that does not have any graphics capability to start playing like an extreme gamer on ONLIVE. These must be some really powerful servers. Interactive video compression makes playing streaming games feel like one is playing on a console or on an extreme gaming pc. ONLIVE is revolutionary. ONLIVE will change how gamers buy & play games! Yes, the best & newest games will be available for rent or purchase. It is ironic how the intro video takes so long to load from their ‘Super’ ultra-fast Cyberdyne systems-type servers. I just hope this blog post does not end up as mere hype because I for one would really like to see ONLIVE be on-live for real! Until then the saying “Too Good to be True” will still echo in my mind.

1. Automatic Mode: A setting that sets the focus, exposure and white-balance automatically.
2. Burst Mode or Continuous Capture Mode: a series of pictures taken one after another at quickly timed intervals with one press of the shutter button.
3. Compression: The process of compacting digital data, images and text by deleting selected information.
4. Digital Zoom: Cropping and magnifying the center part of an image.
5. JPEG: The predominant format used for image compression in digital cameras
6. Lag Time: The pause between the time the shutter button is pressed and when the camera actually captures the image
7. LCD: (Liquid-Crystal Display) is a small screen on a digital camera for viewing images.
8. Lens: A circular and transparent glass or plastic piece that has the function of collecting light and focusing it on the sensor to capture the image.
9. Megabyte: (MB) Measures 1024 Kilobytes, and refers to the amount of information in a file, or how much information can be contained on a Memory Card, Hard Drive or Disk.
10. Pixels: Tiny units of color that make up digital pictures. Pixels also measure digital resolution. One million pixels add up to one mega-pixel.
11. RGB: Refers to Red, Green, Blue colors used on computers to create all other colors.
12. Resolution: Camera resolution describes the number of pixels used to create the image, which determines the amount of detail a camera can capture. The more pixels a camera has then the more detail it can register and the larger the picture can be printed.
13. Storage Card: The removable storage device which holds images taken with the camera, comparable to film, but much smaller also called a digital camera memory card.
14. Viewfinder: The optical “window” to look through to compose the scene.
15. White Balance: White balancing adjusts the camera to compensate for the type of light (daylight, fluorescent, incandescent, etc.) or lighting conditions in the scene so it will look normal to the human eye.

1. Share a car: Do you really need to buy a car when you can just chip-in for gas to work?
2. Share a room: Do you need all the privacy or you can make do with a room mate just like back in the college days?
3. Quit smoking or at least cut down: Anyway, tobacco feels horrible in large doses.
4. Resist sales temptation: Stores holding closing down sales or amazing slashed prices could alter your perception about spending money on unnecessary items.
5. Resist financing offers: The 42” HDTV offer mentions you pay nothing for the first year? Well, the question you should ask yourself is whether your financial situation will be any better after a year?
6. Turn off TV & PC: Switch them off when nobody is using them.
7. Don’t subscribe to cable or internet: Do you really need cable TV or the internet?
8. A gym is not necessary: Why can’t you exercise at home? Buy a workout bench & start improvising.
9. Commuting alternatives: Riding a bike, using the train, or bus is cheaper? How do they stack up when the gas price goes up or down?
10. Tracking expenses: Monitoring your expenses closely is good practice so that you can easily find the problem & fix it. ]]> http://money.aimvotal.com/save-daily/feed/ 0 http://money.aimvotal.com/otoscope-ears/ http://money.aimvotal.com/otoscope-ears/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:33:53 +0000 http://money.aimvotal.com/?p=948 How is your hearing lately? Since I mentioned about hearing, do you know the name of the device that is used to look into one’s ear? The device is called an otoscope. It looks like a wand with a cone protruding on the side of the head. Otoscopes look a bit like the hearing aids used by old men in the yesteryears. However, an otoscope is not a hearing aid device.

An otoscope is one of the tools that health practitioners use for performing medical check-ups on patients, peering into the ear for any signs of infection. Otoscopes are among the many medical & health related items one can find at AllegroMedical.com. Shopping online is easy at AllegroMedical.com. Currently the site is offering free shipping for purchases over $25.

First factor: You need to make sure that you place everything in an order that makes sense. You will want to have the presentation move forwards with transistors so that the events plans make sense. You need to make sure that you don’t rush when it comes to the event itinerary. Everything needs to be related and mesh well together. By truly want something that seems a little bit of an odd ball; then make an announcement of why it was so important to you to include the bit. That way everyone understands the program and event.

Second factor: You need to think about the show period. You need to have enough minutes for the presenters to make a point, but not where they steal the show. Usually, you can give a speaker 10-15 minutes. Don’t over load the program either. People do want a break. By having this event be over dinner, let the people eat a little before you start. This way they are ready for the rest of the events.

Third factor: Besides overloading, you need to look at the itinerary to see whether you have enough things going on the roll. You may need to add some speakers to the event to take up some void pockets. You need to make sure that your program is not packed full or missing something. You don’t want to give the audience a lot of momentous pause, but two or so minutes here and there is a great idea.

Fourth factor: You need to be prepared when people go over their given minutes. What will you do when someone takes 20 minutes instead of 15? Well, keep things flowing by shorting your parts and find other ways to take care of the schedule. Five minutes may not be a lot, but what when everyone does extra minutes? You will have to think about these things.

Fifth factor: You should also consider taking people out of the program or introduce them to the program. Do not place them in the itinerary, but give them a big and warm introduction and tell the audience that they are a guest speaker. This way you can use up the extra pockets of void moments, but only when necessary or else you don’t have to request them.

Sixth factor: You should get someone to review the itinerary before printing. Make sure that everything is spelled correctly and verify names. You need to make it look very professional without any errors. Then you can have them printed out for all the guests. You should make sure that it goes punctually to the printer as well so that you don’t panic in the end.

The itinerary will substitute for the program and it can be just a list of events. You don’t have to get fancy with the itinerary. In fact, this is the cheap way to give out a program. You should stick with the itinerary during the event so that everyone knows that the program is going forward. Also, it can be a relief to see how much longer it is to some folks. Make sure that you have a perfect itinerary before sending them out to the speakers and guests because you don’t want anyone to become offended.

Disclaimer: The above article has been edited for grammar & spelling mistakes by Abasster. The original author of this article is unfortunately unknown & untraceable nonetheless is given due credit here. I hereby declare that this article was not written by me. However, I may have modified the sentences, expressions, structure, & etc to suit my writing style. ]]> http://money.aimvotal.com/itinerary-planning/feed/ 0 http://money.aimvotal.com/warren-principles/ http://money.aimvotal.com/warren-principles/#comments Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:23:21 +0000 http://money.aimvotal.com/?p=935 Warren Buffet’s ten adhered principles for financial health are as below which he claims to use & advises to people. Happy Making Money!

1. Hard work: All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.
2. Laziness: A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current.
3. Earnings: Never depend on a single source of income. (At least make your Investments get you second earning)
4. Spending: By buying things you don’t need, you’ll soon sell things you need.
5. Savings: Don’t save what is left after spending; spend what is left after saving.
6. Borrowings: The borrower becomes the lender’s slave.
7. Accounting: It’s no use carrying an umbrella, unless you are sure your shoes are not leaking.
8. Auditing: Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship.
9. Risk-taking: Never test the depth of the river with both feet. (Have an alternate plan ready)
10. Investment: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. ]]> http://money.aimvotal.com/warren-principles/feed/ 1