I’ve heard a ton of business ideas. I’ve listened to and read many business plans. And the one thing that always strikes me is how little most people think about the viability, profitability and end goals of their small business. Is the goal to become a millionaire? Is the goal to just make a living? Is the goal to just do something fun?

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Perhaps this explains why in just the past year alone, I’ve seen many brick and mortar businesses open up their doors only to close down just a short while later. Perhaps this is why I know of several acquaintances who are in limbo with their business. They don’t make much profit yet they are literally working their butts off for the equivalent of minimum wage.

Granted, a lot of this might have to do with the current economy and the …

This is a guest post written by Mike Piper. Mike is the author of Taxes Made Simple. He also blogs at The Oblivious Investor where he shares his investment knowledge online for free.

You know the old cliche “knowledge is power”? It’s hard to think of anywhere it’s more applicable than at the intersection of small business and taxation.

But who wants to learn about taxes? *Shudder*

The good news is that you don’t have to be an expert. Here are four ways that even a little tax knowledge can help save you money.
1. Make Sure You Qualify for the Home Office Deduction
The rules for claiming the home office deduction are strict, but the deduction can be huge, so you don’t want to miss out if at all possible. If you qualify, you can deduct a portion of your home repairs, homeowner’s insurance, utilities, rent, or just about any other cost related …

My wife and I try to make an effort to update our online store website with fresh content at least once a week. In addition, we constantly put up new products and take down old obsolete products as well. The upshot is that our website gets updated on a fairly regular basis.

It’s rare, but sometimes we also tweak the structure and html of the store to mix things up. And three weeks ago, I rearranged the way a few product categories were displayed which introduced a huge bug that went completely unnoticed. The funny thing is that orders continued to come in just fine and everything seemed completely normal.

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I wasn’t just being careless either. Being a paranoid person at heart, I always do a fair amount of testing every time I make even the most minor of changes. But I probably wouldn’t have …

Since the internet is a virtual marketplace, could I create an online business from outside of the US but targetting mainly the US market (or English-speaking web users anywhere else), and can I use US-based internet-business service providers (web hosts, etc.) to set up? If I am not in the US, do I still need to secure a US business license to set up the internet-based business?
If you live outside of the United states, you should not need a business license. The purpose of the business license requirement is so that the state or city can enforce that you pay the necessary sales and business taxes if your place of business resides within their locality. That being said, there may be other fees and taxes involved in shipping your products into the United States. Unfortunately, I’m not an expert here so you should …

I’ve only been writing this blog for a little over a year, but one thing is clear based on the types of questions that I receive. There are a number of people out there who are terrified of the technical aspects of starting an online business. Because they are not computer saavy, they are worried that throwing up a website is beyond their abilities.

But what if I were to tell you that you could receive 24/7 technical

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support from skilled programmers for free? Yes, you heard me right. You can get all of the help you need for absolutely no cost.

As Scott Clark of Buzz Maven pointed out in a comment on my post on How To Prevent Your Online Store From Becoming A Money Pit, most people don’t realize that there are many forums out there where technical people congregate to help you …

“I have no idea how to create and manage my own website and I have absolutely no interest in learning either. I’m just going to hire someone or pay for a service.”

Believe it or not, most people that I encounter who want to create their own online store or business have this attitude. They are reluctant to learn basic web programming because they are afraid of the technical aspects of running a website.

To me, this attitude is contradictory. You want to start an online only business yet you have no desire to learn about the web? That’s

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like saying that you want to be a real estate agent but have no desire to learn about the rules and regulations involved in buying or selling a house.

Unless you have the budget to hire a full time web developer, you are going to have to …

I can’t believe that our second child is due in just under a month! My wife is looking pretty ripe at this point and realistically speaking, the baby could arrive at any time between now and then. Incidentally, our new house also closes escrow on the day after my wife is supposed to deliver. I know it’s poor timing, but it could not be helped. When you find the right house at a good price, you need to seize the opportunity.

Speaking of seizing the opportunity, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about friends and acquaintances who have contacted me in the past about starting their own business. And as far as I’m aware, very few of them have actually decided to pull the trigger.

Every now and then, would be entrepreneurs need a little push. So I’d like to dedicate this post to my friends …

As the due date for our second child rapidly approaches, my wife and I are battening down the hatches for the impending damage to our finances, rest and well being. As I mentioned in a previous post, we are in the midst of purchasing a brand new house. In addition, we’ve also decided to go ahead and purchase a mini-van to help transport the kids around.

What! A minivan?!? I’ve been getting a lot of flack lately from my friends making fun of me for wanting to purchase a minivan, but you know what? When I’m cruising in the parking lot with an arm full of groceries in one hand, pushing a stroller and carrying a baby in a sling, I’ll have the last laugh when all I have to do is hit one button to open up all of the doors. Honestly, I can’t …

Several of my friends and acquaintances that follow MyWifeQuitHerJob.com find it hard to believe that our online wedding linens business can possibly make 100 thousand dollars a year in profits for selling to such a tiny niche. And they are correct. We don’t make 100K a year. We make much more than that now that our business has expanded and we are more established.

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While a six figure profit number might seem like a lot of money at first, getting to 100K a year is actually not an insurmountable task when you look at the number in smaller, more manageable pieces.

In fact, my wife and I initially chose 100K to be our profit goal for the first year because we felt that it was a number we could actually hit. That, and 100K per year was roughly the salary that my wife left behind when …

I don’t know why but ever since the birth of my daughter, I’ve been getting sick more often than ever before in my life. This week I was sidelined with a stomach virus so I was unable to post my usual articles for the week. In any case, after not eating for 2 straight days I’m finally well enough to answer a few questions from my readers.

But before I do, I thought I’d share a few pictures from this past Halloween. After all, what is the point of quitting your job if you can’t witness moments like these and dress up your children like animals? These costumes were kind of pricey but worth every single penny.

Ok and now onto the questions.

I am looking to start an online clothing store and wanted some advice on the best way to go about obtaining a retail business license or …

When most people think about starting a company or business, they think of the Microsofts, the Googles and the YouTubes of the world. They tend to think big because the media focuses on these multi-million dollar success stories and over glamorizes the risks and rewards.

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In fact, the media tends to portray entrepreneurs like lottery winners because that’s what makes the news. Because the chances of creating a company like You Tube or Facebook are so slim, most people shy away from starting their own business because they think it’s just way too risky with very little chance of success.

Just the other day, I had one of my readers email me that they were afraid to go out on their own because they didn’t want to risk everything for a measly 1% chance at success. A 1% chance at success? Where the hell did he …