If you're like most people (me included, until I changed my ways), you use the same few (or one) "favorite" passwords for all your password-protected accounts, from low-security stuff like on-line newsletter subscriptions to high-security stuff like your bank or credit card accounts. And to make matters worse, your favorite passwords are likely something you can easily remember because they somehow relate to you (all the usual suspects...birth dates, middle names, pets, and so on).... Read Full Story

You may ask "Why do I even need a business credit card? After all, I can just use my personal cards and keep track of the receipts (which I have to do anyway)." This is true, but the fact is there are a lot of advantages to having dedicated cards for your business, most at little to no cost to you. I should point out here that, with few if any exceptions, it will be your personal credit backing up your "business" cards. Which may lead you to repeat your first question, wi... Read Full Story

Yes, in every entrepreneur's life, there will be times when you'll want to chuck something across the room in anger (or at least in frustration). But in my experience, that won't get you very far, and is certainly not a path to success (unless your business somehow involves thrown projectiles). Luckily, the "chunking" I'm referring to here is a path to success, and one that I have found to be more powerful than the simple concept of chunking would suggest. I was first introduced to... Read Full Story

It probably goes without saying, but most businesses today rely on computers. Even if you don't consider your business to be a "high tech" business, technology basics like email, contacts, word processing, spreadsheets, and so on have become critical elements of even the lowest-tech businesses. And if you are a higher-tech business, your dependency on computers obviously runs even deeper. But really, it's not so much the computers themselves that make up your "digital assets&q... Read Full Story

Along with all the federal, state, and local government filings on the "starting a new business" checklist, don't forget to apply for a DUNS number. What's a DUNS number you ask? DUNS, or more accurately "D-U-N-S", stands for "Data Universal Numbering System". It's a unique nine-digit number assigned by Dun and Bradstreet, Inc. ("D&B") that identifies your business in their database. It has nothing to do with any government entity and is not requir... Read Full Story

I've been spending a lot of time lately doing on-line research for one of my new startups--a lot of Google searches and the like, plus often following interesting links I find serendipitously. One thing I've found a lot of is blatant and obvious scams, promising to "generate fast, easy money with little or no effort". What is it in human nature that allows people to fall for this kind of crap? Seriously? To me, the saddest thing about these scams is that somebody must be buying int... Read Full Story

Naturally, if you are starting a retail business or otherwise need office or warehouse space, your mailing address will likely be the same as your physical location. I'll talk more about that in another post (and there are lots of options to consider when choosing a physical location), so this post is mainly intended for "virtual companies" that don't have or require physical space. But even if you aren't virtual, unless you already have that space under lease, read on... There are... Read Full Story

Back in the day, it was typical to open a bank account at the same local bank where you had your personal accounts, and thus, a history and at least a passing relationship with (or the ability to form a relationship with) the bank President or owner. These days, that's more of a rarity. With all the bank consolidations in recent years, even banks that used to be "locally owned" have been merged into the various national brands, the highest ranking official in the branch is the bran... Read Full Story

In short, a Limited Liability Company or "LLC" is most likely what you want. Just about every attorney I've talked to about this says that LLCs are preferred in almost all cases. There are only two reasons I can think of that you wouldn't want to use this structure (and only one of them is a good reason). The first (and not so good reason) is that it does cost a bit to set one up, as compared to the negligible cost of setting up a sole proprietorship, which is usually just limited ... Read Full Story

If you're in the software business, you'll instantly recognize "Hello World!" as the output of most developer's first program when they are learning a new programming language. Here, it's the output of my first blog posting. As a lifelong entrepreneur (I started my first company when I was 8 and my first technology company when I was 15), my idea for this blog is to share my experiences, ideas, and other musings as it relates to all things entrepreneurial--which I've often been quo... Read Full Story