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What Is a Limited Liability Company (LLC)?

Limited liability companies (LLCs) have been generating a lot of buzz in the news lately — and for good reason: where the corporation fails, the LLC prevails. [more…]

How to Succeed in Your Home-Based Business

Although no one can guarantee that your home-based business will bring you the fame and fortune you hope it will, if you work hard, price your products and services right, and keep your customers satisfied [more…]

Obtaining a Liquor License for Your Bar

Every bar that serves liquor must have a license to do so. Different agencies regulate the process in different states. Make sure you start the process of getting your license early in the timeline of [more…]

Planning Your Basic Bar Drink Menu

Most bars are fully stocked bars, so patrons can order their favorite cocktails, such as a gin and tonic, Crown and Coke, or margarita. But many bar owners create specialized drink menus to steer patrons [more…]

Understanding Contracts

Business contracts are used to memorialize important agreements you (or your business) enter into with others. So what's an "important" agreement? Any agreement on which you are relying and that can affect [more…]

Developing a Personal Code of Ethics for Consulting

Ethics are important for anyone in business. They're particularly important to consultants because of the high level of trust that organizations grant them and because of the access that many consultants [more…]

Recording Your Bills with QuickBooks 2003

When a bill comes in, the first thing to do is record it. You can record bills through the Enter Bills window or the Accounts Payable register. If you plan to track bills by expense and item, you need [more…]

Avoiding Dreadful Marketing Ideas

The following marketing landmines masquerade as quick fixes. When the business chips are down, each of these worst ideas pops up to look like a good solution. Don't be fooled. Make sure every new idea [more…]

Keeping Track of Customer Payments in QuickBooks 2003

If your customers don't always pay you up-front for their purchases, you need to record another type of payment — the ones that customers make to pay off or pay down what you've invoiced them. To record [more…]

Understanding Zoning, Licensing, and Permits

No matter which governments — federal, state, or local — have jurisdiction in your particular place of business, you can bet that they all have something to say about how, when, and where you can — and [more…]

The Birth of the Limited Liability Company (LLC)

The limited liability company (LLC) didn't come out of nowhere. Business entities with the same characteristics as LLCs have been around for many years. The origin of LLCs can be traced back to the Germans [more…]

Producing Radio Ads to Promote Your Business

In 30 or 60 seconds, a good radio ad grabs attention, involves a listener, sounds believable, creates a mental picture, spins a story, calls for action, and manages to keep the product on center stage [more…]

Billing for Your Consulting Services

How you bill your clients for your consulting work depends on your consulting contract or, in the absence of a written contract, any other agreements you may have made regarding billing and payment. If [more…]

Before Filing Your Articles of Organization for Your Limited Liability Company

The articles of organization is your limited liability company's (LLC) most important document. Why? Because you can't even be an LLC until you create and file your articles of organization with your Secretary [more…]

Creating an Out-of-State Limited Liability Company

If your limited liability company (LLC) isn't a bricks-and-mortar business — maybe you're running an Internet company or a consulting or service business that isn't restricted to a particular state — and [more…]

Consulting Skill: Listening to a Potential Client

A consultant's primary responsibility is to help clients find the best solutions to their needs. This means asking questions and then listening — really [more…]

Playing the Competitive Field

Competition is the driving force in nature and it's also the core of the free enterprise system as we're lucky to know it. Competition occurs whenever winning attention is necessary for selection and survival [more…]

Problem-Solving for Consultants

In consulting, problem-solving is really where the rubber meets the road. While problem-solving, you review the data that you sliced, diced, and otherwise processed to develop a set of solutions, one or [more…]

Getting Quicken 2005 Ready for Payroll Work

Preparing the payroll? It's no problem with Quicken 2005. To prepare payroll checks and summarize the payroll information that you need to prepare quarterly and annual returns, you need to set up several [more…]

Understanding Issues in Oral Contracts

Oral contracts can be as binding as written contracts. But have fun proving what you've agreed to without a written record. If your deal goes south, you may feel like Sylvester to the other party's Tweety [more…]

Ethical Land Mines for Consultants

Consultants face ethical dilemmas every day of the week, and as a consultant, you may be tempted to stray to the wrong side of that ethical line. But remember that you have a choice: You can do business [more…]

Deciding Whether Your Really Want to Be in the Bar Business

Think of all the great times people have in bars. They meet for girls' night out, bachelor parties, reunions, birthdays, or just because it's Thursday. They come to celebrate, relax, or have fun. It's [more…]

Managing an Ethical Direct Sales Program

The Direct Marketing Association warns against the two biggest direct sales landmines: nondelivery of merchandise and misrepresentation of offers. Every year a few direct marketers hurt the reputation [more…]

How to Haggle with Willing Customers

Customers, especially customers from other cultures, love to haggle. They often revel in the negotiating process and look forward to haggling with a challenging businessperson. [more…]

Basic Bookkeeping for Your Small Business

Bookkeeping refers mainly to the record-keeping aspects of accounting. Bookkeeping is essentially the accounting process (some would say the drudgery) of recording all the information regarding the transactions [more…]

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