Leslie Ann Martin of Cleveland, Ohio was enjoying a successful career as an investment analyst in a bank. When she got married and had a baby, she planned to return to work following a short maternity leave. She hadn’t prepared for a 360-degrees turn-around of her life. “Suddenly, nobody is good enough, trustworthy enough and caring enough to take care of my child,” Leslie Ann said. She decided to quit her job to personally care for her baby. To generate additional income for their growing family, she started a financial consulting business from her home. “It was the best decision

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Starting a website, and starting one that is primed for success are two different things. Anyone can start a web site, but not everyone can succeed. The process of web site creation entails a number of decision points that need to be made, with each one impacting on the eventual outcome of the online business. To create a successful web site, it is important that every single step is done with the conscious thought of achieving your goals. Nach Maravilla and Steve Ma. Reyna in the article “7 Steps to Successful Web Site Development” prepared a complete methodology for developing

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A new search engine service goes beyond what the big three of search — Google, Yahoo and MSN — has so far failed to do: provide answers right there on the screen. Search engines currently provide only a set of links, ranked by a particular combination of algorithms, to web sites that may (or may not have) the information to what you are searching for. Answers.com, a new service launched by the Israeli company GuruNet, provide direct answers to search queries. It eliminates the process of clicking from one search result site to another, as the answer to your question

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Small businesses have different technology needs from big businesses. While they operate their businesses on a much smaller scale than the big boys, small businesses also need power, reliability, premium features and good price from their technology products. Thankfully, technology vendors are responding to meet those needs. To find out what technology products small businesses use and trust, the Small Business Computing Excellence in Technology Awards has awarded vendors considered by small businesses as the best in various technology categories. Given by SmallBusinessComputing.com, the awards were handed to vendors in three categories: hardware, software and e-commerce. Not surprisingly, some of

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Small businesses who have employees on military leave should be aware of a new federal signed by President Bush on December 10, 2004. The law amends the existing Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), and significantly increases workplace protections for employees on military leave and places new burdens on employers. The new revisions create new compliance obligations to all employers, including small businesses, foremost of which is the protection it provides to employees serving the military. The employment protection it gives to employees serving the military implies that businesses cannot hire new employees to replace those in military

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Ebay has become an important marketplace of anything and everything — from the weird (buy ad space on my forehead!) to the unexplained (image of the Virgin Mary on a half eaten sandwich) to the charitable endeavors (beat “Frank” the cancer sticker). Well, with all the available items on eBay, can the spammers be far behind? A search of “email lists” yield several listings of email lists containing anywhere from 60 million to 350 million addresses, with bidding starting anywhere from as low as $7.99 to $69.99. The claim, of course, is that these email lists are 100% opt-in, no

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A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project entitled “Search Engine Users” has a number of interesting findings: 1. Majority of search engine users (62%) are not aware of the distinction between paid ads and natural search engine results. It is not really surprising that many people do not understand that the phrase “Sponsored Links” is actually advertisement. Many think that the listings below sponsored links are endorsements of some sort, not paid advertising. Plus, some engines do a better job in separating the paid placements from the natural search results like Google, while others like Yahoo

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One of the tax changes made for 2005 is the demise of the bonus depreciation option. Instead, as a small business owner, you can increase your depreciation rate by as much as 50% of cost on top of the depreciation you could otherwise take in the first year of use. This rule covers new properties such as equipment bought and put in service in 2004, computer software and leasehold improvements. According to the publishers of the must-have tax time book series J.K. Lasser’s Guides, this new rule can affect you as a small business owner in three ways: First off,

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