January starts what I hope to be another great year, 2010. I say another great year, because every year is a great year if I’m alive and have the possibility to do some great things. So a lot has happened since my last post; I started a new job (which gave me a week and half notice, but thankfully my former boss was really understanding of the opportunity it held for me). The con: the restrictions on other projects that I can do to earn extra money, like bookkeeping. The pro: I get the chance to be trained in a... Continue reading

So I’m harping again. I recently talked about entrepreneurs needing to have additional streams of income. The importance of that article was how to go about developing your business without going broke. So as an extra source income, I finally took my own advice (I do that sometimes). To tell the truth, I became one for a different reason. I’m a single parent so regardless of how much I would like to become independent, I can’t afford to say “bye-bye” to my job (besides I actually like my job). However, I can now offer notary services in my spare time.... Continue reading

In a previous post, I discussed how helpful LinkedIn has been to me. I don’t think I would have gotten this far in thinking about having a bookkeeping business without it and I'm thankful to have such a great resource and researching tool. Since I'm researching what it takes to start a bookkeeping business in South Florida, I joined a professional network of bookkeepers on Linked who use Intuit products (QuickBooks) in their businesses. So far some of the top tips that I've learned from the group and will be using include the following: Get a website; you need an... Continue reading

Every once in a while, you need a break from the daily business grind and here in South Florida, there are many hidden delights to discover. One such is the Fruit and Spice Park located in Homestead and maintained by Miami-Dade County. The park is a “37-acre subtropical botanical paradise” with over 500 varieties of rare fruits, herbs, spices and nuts. It also has an assortment of exotic fruits including bananas, bamboo, grapes, mangoes, and jackfruit trees. During the peak summer season, visitors are allowed to savor in-season fruits provided by the staff while roving through the park. The park... Continue reading

Usually if you are an entrepreneur, start-up funds come from many different sources: savings, credit cards, home equity lines, small-business loans, family, or friends. However with the banking industry in trouble, the credit market drying up, and recent news that CIT, a major small business funding source is now facing sourcing problems itself (New York Times), you can imagine what that says about funding for new entrepreneurs. That’s why I think it’s important for entrepreneurs to have more than one streams of income. Going into business for yourself shouldn’t have to mean breaking the bank. This SBA article lists some... Continue reading

I want a portal. My son’s playing Disney’s Toontown online and he’s using a portal to jump back and forth of where he needs to go in the game. I wish I had one at home because that would surely save me time and money on transit costs. Considering all the useful business inventions (A/C, answering machine, email, QuickBooks, and the Apple itouch) that we’ve had throughout the decades, is it asking too much just to have sufficiently worthwhile transportation? As any entrepreneur knows, getting and keeping clients requires you to be available. This means getting around and going to... Continue reading

I got home today to see the package for my renter’s insurance in my mailbox and my first thought on seeing it was about the potential loss facing home-based business on uninsured property. The reason I bought renter’s insurance was to give myself peace of mind in knowing that should anything happen to my personal property, then at least I would have a back-up plan in financing its replacement. South Florida is home to many sole proprietors and entrepreneurs who are home-based. Until they can do better, their homes and apartments become their storage facilities. Unfortunately, some people do without... Continue reading

I’ve been researching online, looking at websites and blogs to get an idea for something I’ve been wanting to do for some time now (starting my own bookkeeping business). And I must say even with all the free resources out there, you still need money, even if it’s just enough to cover a website registration to a simple fictitious name registration. Yes there are a lot of services and sites out there to help you along the way but I figured since I don’t have a budget as yet (cause I surely have nothing, nada, zilch), I wanted to know... Continue reading

I’ve been researching online, looking at websites and blogs to get an idea for something I’ve been wanting to do for some time now (starting my own bookkeeping business). And I must say even with all the free resources out there, you still need money, even if it’s just enough to cover a website registration to a simple fictitious name registration. Yes there are a lot of services and sites out there to help you along the way but I figured since I don’t have a budget as yet (cause I surely have nothing, nada, zilch), I wanted to know... Continue reading