Essential Resources for Small Businesses


Articles

  • What to Do When Someone Steals Your Work - At some point in your freelance career, you may find yourself successful at what you do. Chances are, if you’re reading this, that you have or that you’re on your way. Unfortunately, one common indicator of success is the proportion of individuals who attempt to copy, borrow or steal original content from you.
  • Understanding the Google Local Business Center - One of the more difficult concepts to come to terms with for local businesses in recent times has been the addition of Google's Local Business Results, often referred to as the Google 10 Pack. This seemingly innocent feature has business owners confused and frustrated more often than not.

Websites

  • FreelanceSwitch - An online community of freelancers of all varieties. The site offers freelance job listings, a directory of freelancers, resources for freelancers, over a thousand articles on freelancing and many other resources for contract workers.
  • SCORE - A resource for America’s small business owners. SCORE is a national association dedicated to helping small business owners form and grow their businesses and is a partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).
  • U.S. Small Business Administration - Helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. The SBA is an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy.
  • Filing in Oregon - Legal information for businesses provided by the State of Oregon Corporation Division, including business registration, notary public, Uniform Commercial Code services and the laws & rules for operating a business in the State of Oregon.
  • Tax Information for Businesses - IRS legal information for Corporations, International Businesses, Partnerships, Small Business and the Self-Employed, including how to start and operate a business, dealing with employee and employment taxes and taxpayer advocate services.
  • Taxes, Laws & Regulations - Helps small businesses understand their legal requirements and locate government services from federal, state and local agencies. Business.gov is an official site of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
  • Trademarks - Provides the major documentation, tools, applications, links, and useful information for all your trademark needs. Federal registration of trademarks is not required although registration does: Provide notice to others of marks in use in commerce in the U.S.; Provide access to the federal courts; Provide prima-facie evidence of ownership; Provide access to anti-counterfeiting statutes; Permit enforcement of rights; and Provide a basis for foreign filing.

Books

  • What Color Is Your Parachute? - There is no book that is more vital to job-hunting in this economy. It has been honored and celebrated for nearly 40 years, but in our current global recession, the reason why it is so popular becomes painfully apparent: It works! People buy the book because it really, really works! Every year it has more timely and more helpful information than the year before, because it is updated, and often dramatically rewritten, for the current job market. But it always brings with it decades of experience and a worldwide network of contacts.
  • How to Work a Room - Learn how to improve your communicating and socializing skills in business and life. How To Work A Room lays down the fundamentals for savvy socializing, whether at a party, a conference, or even communicating online. RoAne clearly shows how to overcome the five roadblocks that keep most people from making new contacts; mix chutzpah and charm to start and end conversations smoothly; know when to use humor––and when not to; and follow simple rules of etiquette. Incorporating years of feedback from hundreds of presentations, as well as anecdotes from around the globe, RoAne keeps How To Work A Room fresh and on target. New chapters include: strategies starting, maintaining, and exiting conservations; and advice on commutating effectively in today's tech driven world.
  • The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth - Starting a small business and making it a success isn’t easy. In fact, most small business owners don’t get rich and many fail. This book presents the straight truth on small business success. It doesn’t offer cure-alls for every small business. Instead, it outlines real, effective principles for continued small business growth and success.
  • Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords - Never before in the history of advertising has it been possible to spend five bucks, write a couple of ads and get instant access to more than 100 million people in 10 minutes. But that's exactly what Google AdWords does. It's an awesome concept-but you can lose a bundle if you don't know how it works.
  • The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More - In the most important business book since The Tipping Point, Chris Anderson shows how the future of commerce and culture isn't in hits, the high-volume head of a traditional demand curve, but in what used to be regarded as misses--the endlessly long tail of that same curve.
  • All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World - This is a book about doing what consumers demand-painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe. Every organization-from nonprofits to car companies, from political campaigns to wineglass blowers-must understand that the rules have changed (again). In an economy where the richest have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories.
  • My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire - Tired of clocking in and losing out? Want to pursue creative, fulfilling work on your own time and also make a living in the process? My So-Called Freelance Life is a how-to guidebook for women who want to avoid the daily grind and turn their freelance dreams into reality. Whether you’re a freelance first-timer or a seasoned creative professional, copyediting queen or web guru, My So-Called Freelance Life is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in freelancing.