Start your own business, and soon enough, you find yourself in a situation where there are many things you want to say, all of them unprintable.

It happens to every entrepreneur – a moment of extreme challenge that causes you to wonder why you started the (expletive) business in the first place. I’ve had my share of those moments since starting our public relations firm in March 2002.

But while trading notes with a fellow entrepreneur recently, I started to think about all the moments of extreme challenge I left behind when I decided I no longer wanted to be somebody else’s employee.

That got me thinking about what really matters to me as an entrepreneur. As I shared my thoughts with my friend, a new list developed – the “F” words I believe every entrepreneur should know. They’ve done the job for me so far, keeping me rooted, married and talking to my kids while we build a successful business. I hope they have the same effect for you.

1. Faith: I’m not a street corner preacher, but I have a deep and abiding faith that starting my business is what I was meant to do in life. I also have a strong faith that I’ve been given the tools to do the job – even in a moment of extreme challenge. Without faith in yourself, in your business and in your purpose, how can you succeed as an entrepreneur?

2. Family: My wife and daughters are the most important people in my life. Starting my business has enabled me to put them at the center of my life, where they belong. Oh yes, I work long and hard, but today, it’s with a clear purpose. The generations of entrepreneurs who built this country understood this principle. Their businesses often bore the family name, and generations of people who were born, lived and died together managed to build great businesses together.

3. Friends: Fortune 500 companies have boards of directors. Entrepreneurs have friends. When no one else will listen, friends will. When others fail to see the beauty of the product or solution, friends will. And when no one else will talk straight to you about a dumb business move, friends will. And they won’t send you a bill.

4. Focus: It’s nice to say you’re an entrepreneur, that you are your own boss. But do you have the commitment to turn that idea into true success? The ultimate measure is your ability not only to set a goal, but stick with it, despite those moments of extreme challenge. You may have to change course along the way, but like a good sailor, you focus, keeping your business pointed to the right shore.

5. Finances: Let’s face it – most of us strike out as entrepreneurs because we believe we can improve our financial situation. I know I have not missed the constraining limits and miniscule salary increases of corporate America. How much do I want to make this year? There is only one answer: How hard am I willing to work? And there is only one reason to ask that question: to make good on my commitment to all the “F” words that rank ahead of money on my list.

6. Freedom: This may be the greatest gift of entrepreneurship. But it is the one that comes only after you can act on all the other “F” words in your entrepreneurial vocabulary. So many entrepreneurs strike out to find success, which they define as freedom from all the things they hated about working for someone else. Unfortunately for these folks, they lack a true entrepreneurial vision – they’re merely running away from something. True entrepreneurial freedom comes from a vision that encompasses what’s really important to you.

Are these the only “F” words an entrepreneur needs to know? Obviously not. But in moments of extreme challenge, remembering these “F” words may help you weather a moment of extreme challenge without resorting to the unprintable variety. And if you’re like me, they may also help you remember why you started the business in the first place.

So you are a young entrepreneur with a hot idea that you are sure that will be the next big thing. You are gung ho to start your own business but you don’t know what any of that entails.

Before you begin to spend your last dollar you need to visualize, as much you can, the steps you will need to take to get you where you would like to be. Doing this will help you understand what you want and what you don’t want and where you really need to spend your money.

Some of the questions that you will ask yourself are: What am I selling? Who is my most likely customer? How will my customer find me? How will I get my product to my customer? Which method of selling will it entail? Post card and direct mail? Stores? Wholesale? Face to face contact? Phone sales? Flyer delivery? Push Cart? What do you feel most comfortable with? What is the part of the business that you most like to do? If you are a chef and you are too shy to talk to your customers and just prefer to work your magic in the kitchen, then you will need to hire someone who a) likes people, b) genuinely likes selling and c) may even have a professional background in selling. At the very least it should be your partner or your friend who has a gift of the gab and is thrilled with your product. Once again determine how much it will cost you, before you begin.

If you write a business plan most of these questions will be answered. This is a good thing to do because it keeps your goals and your plan immediately in front of you, and it show your target spending goals and earning goals. You also have to do some homework to find out if there is a similar product being marketed and how is that product being marketed and at what cost? They would be your direct competition. But just because they are competition that doesn’t mean that you can’t also succeed with your product or services. The exact opposite is most often true. If you are in the right place at the right time, and your price is right, that could be you. That is one of the keys to succeed in business.

The other is consistency. If you begin to develop a customer base, they have to be able to find you consistently; and you have to be able to deliver consistently what you promise, and you need to stay in touch with them on a consistent basis.

If you have the push-cart first on Second Ave and then on Tenth and then back on Lemoine, your customer will give up trying to find you to buy the sandwich or tostada from you. Day in and day out you have to be at that designated spot, and you have to be there in the rain, in the snow, in the hot sun and with ample product. If you get your product from some other source, you have to have a reliable distributor, if not you have to find one who is reliable and who takes your account or business as seriously as you do even if you are only placing relatively small orders. If you are consistent at delivering, and keeping in touch with your customers, and consistent at ordering pretty soon you will be placing larger and more frequent orders.

But probably in the beginning everything will be small. So act accordingly. Do not make monster orders without knowing that you will be able to sell all of the order. You don’t want to have a huge inventory in the beginning so that you can keep your cost down. Sell out most of what you got and get orders coming in before you invest in thousands of dollars of merchandise. Test everything; the products with your customers or potential customers, test ads that you run to see how many orders it pulls in, test location, test method of marketing, test small changes in wording, logos, designs etc…

According to the Small Business Administration, most small business fail because they are undercapitalized. That means they don’t have the money to jump on an opportunity for growth, or to keep their products well stocked, or spend money when it is imperative for their business. Instead of jumping head first into a new business, and losing your shirt, it might be better to plan it and put away some money for a period of time, such as six months, one year or two years for the eventually launching of your business.

You should decide upon a brand or logo and signage for your business so that you can build product recognition. Make it clear for your customer to read, get in touch with you and order or reorder.

You would be surprised at how careless people are with their signage. I have seen signs with misspelled words, incomplete phone numbers, disconnected or no phone number at all. I have seen signs with the words crammed together, or with scratch-outs, to make it unreadable, and confusing. You don’t want your potential customer walking past you because he/ or she doesn’t know what you offer. If you’re marketing, keep it simple. For an example at a quick read, “TASTY CHICKEN TOSTADAS” is more effective than Marguarita’s and Dave’s tasty extraordinary, famous, Mexican Tostadas in chicken with a fine sauce or meat in a cream sauce. You have about ten to thirty seconds to make an impact and consequently a sale with your customer.

All this planning prior to your launching is not to intimidate you but for you to know how much it will cost you, to clearly target your customer, and what marketing method will work best in getting them, and keeping them, what products do you need on hand immediately, and to plan an effective campaign that will take you to your goals of starting and of course succeeding in your business. Even though you have to do the work prior to, during, and on an on-going basis; don’t let this stop you from fulfilling your dreams of your own business.

Take some time today to envision yourself and where you want to be in one year, three years, five years or ten. If you don’t like the outcome, now is the only time you have to change your future. You can make it happen!! Take action and do it now!!!! At least start!! There is really no perfect time to start. You will not have all the elements perfectly in place but if you don’t start to take steps to accomplish your goals now, the years will come and go swiftly whether you are fulfilled or not.

Many people wrongly believe that buying a business is a big risk to take. Personally, I think that putting your fate in someone else’s hands is way more risky. While there is some inherent risk buying a business, much, if not all, can be eliminated simply by doing your due diligence beforehand and research thoroughly any business you consider purchasing.

Before, redundant workers simply adopted the strategy of looking for another job. Unfortunately, jobs are not plentiful today. If you’ve spent any time looking for one, you know how frustrating, humiliating and time-consuming the process can be, often with no results.

If you have the desire to be your own boss, it’s something that is within your reach, and can easily be achieved. If you plan carefully, and have your marketing strategy in place, there is no reason why you couldn’t achieve your goal in six months or sooner.

I know many people who have said, “enough is enough!” Most people hate their jobs. They are terribly uncertain about the future. They’re tired of giving their best with little or no thanks and a salary that hardly keep your head above water and they’ve finally realized that controlling their own destiny is what they truly want from their career.

If you still employed, instead of waiting around for your company to let you go because they had one bad quarter and now want to save costs at your expense, take control of your future and fire your boss! This is going to be YOUR year, because the market for entrepreneurs is exploding, regardless of what the so-called “experts” may say about the economy.

So what kind of business should you go for?

If you do a search on Google, you will be surprised to see how many businesses are available. You need to do your due diligence so that you know the books are correct, speak to the customers and see if they will be happy with new management, and look over the business plan to see the various strategies the previous owner was using.

You can also look at buying a franchise, which many say is a safer option, because often a franchise comes with a guarantee. Also, the franchise has undeniable proof of success.

Another business model you can look at is Network Marketing. This is not as expensive to start up and run as a business and franchise, so it minimises the risk. You also have systems in place that you can use just like a franchise, and you have help ready when you need it.

Whatever you choose, the fact is that buying yourself a business is the best gift you can ever give yourself as you will be in charge of your future from then on. If you have any desire to be in business for yourself, then now’s the time to do it! So this year, get yourself the greatest gift of all - a business of your own!

You may not be interested in learning How to start an Errand Business right now but that is likely because you are not familiar with just how easy this business is to start up and operate. Simple things like grocery and gift shopping, waiting around for the cable guy, and even taking back movies are all things that we have to do anyway, so why not get paid for it? With more and more people busy with their careers and complaining about having more time than money, there is a growing market for people looking to learn how to start a errand business and real money to be made.

Estimated start up costs:
So long as you have reliable transportation, a cell phone, and some basic office supplies to fill out and create invoices for customers, you have all the essential supplies needed to own an errand business. There are starter kits available to you for less than $50 that can set you up with all the materials you will need to prepare professional looking invoices and keep track of your expenses. Other than that, learning how to start an errand business might involve some “seed money” in the beginning to cover miscellaneous expenses required to complete errands.

Pricing Guidelines:
Pricing guidelines are only limited by what your market can bear for the services you offer. Many professional errand services charge by the hour for their time while some prefer to set up monthly or even annual packages so that they get more money up front. On average and depending upon the service, someone learning how to start an errand business can expect anywhere from $15-35 per hour for their services for most residential customers. But, if you can break into the office support services market, then learning how to start an errand business can really turn into a profitable endeavor.

Recommended experience, skills, training:
Having the ability to prioritize tasks and organize your time are probably the most essential skills to this job. As with any business owner, however, you will need to market yourself and your company to people so any kind of sales or marketing background will be very useful. Some general business and accounting courses will prove handy when dealing with the financial and administrative tasks inherent to any business.

Marketing tips:
Success tends to breed more success and that is precisely the way your errand service will grow. As you network and build your reputation, so too will your ability to charge more. In the beginning, word-of-mouth advertising will be what makes or breaks your business. But, you may find it useful to advertise your services and company in the classified ads and be sure to print and distribute business cards every place you go.

Financing sources:
With relatively no start up costs to really speak of, securing financing is not really necessary when learning how to start an errand business. However, you may want to try starting out on a part-time basis as the going will be slow in the beginning and you may still need the income from another job to pay the bills until you get things rolling.

Income Potential:
The income potential for those owning an errand service really goes up if you can manage to break into the office support services market. There are people looking for workers with office skills to just come in and help them once a week or even once a month and they are willing to pay top dollar for this limited time. For people just looking to help others with their groceries and errands around the house, it is nothing for someone learning how to start an errand business to make $35-40,000 a year doing the things that they would normally do for free anyway!

What’s your job profitability? I meet with business owners every day that are unsure of their profitability at a company or job level. They “think” they are making money because they have a few dollars in their checking account. Having money in your checking account doesn’t mean you are profitable. It might mean you haven’t paid all the bills yet, so you have a little cash. Cash and profit are two different concepts. If you aren’t profitable, you won’t have longevity in your business.

It doesn’t matter the size of your business or the industry. Profitability is something you should be monitoring on a regular monthly basis. No business is too small or too large to do job costing. Such an excuse is your way of not holding yourself accountable to managing your business wisely. Failing to plan is a plan for failure.

So what do I mean by job costing? You should know how much you make and spend on each job. Expenditures should be tracked for those direct labor and material costs to each job. In addition, you should also be tracking overhead costs and allocating them to your various jobs as applicable. There is always going to be some overhead that is considered general overhead. Though often times too many dollars are thrown into general overhead, when they could easily be tracked to specific jobs. If you don’t know your exact income and expenses for each job and your overall business, then how can you know you are making a profit?

QuickBooks® has easy-to-use features that allow you to do job costing for time and materials. So don’t worry about having to track it all manually. Rely on tools to help you run your business more efficiently and effectively.

Are you curious how you are doing with job costing measurements? Here are some quick and easy questions to gauge your job costing performance:

1. Do I track each customer’s revenue information through a detailed invoice?

2. Do I have a way of breaking down my direct job materials cost by customer?

3. Do I associate all time spent to each job accurately with actual dollar amounts?

4. Do I have access to reports to monitor profitability on each job in a timely manner?

5. Do I have a way to trend the fluctuations in job profitability from job to job, month to month, etc?

If you answered “NO” to any of these, then it’s time for you to take an objective look at your financial goals. It’s time for you to implement a job costing mechanism to help you answer “YES” to these questions. How can you track your profitability and long-term growth plans if you don’t have detail at a job level?

Here are some quick and easy ways to utilize QuickBooks® effectively to help you with your job costing process:

1. Set up the QuickBooks® Item list so that you’ll have both an expense and an income aspect to each of the items. This will allow you to track your costs and your income; therefore, providing you profit by item.

2. Record your sales through the invoicing or sales receipt process. This will record the income aspects of the items.

3. As you purchase the product or service items, make sure that you utilize the Items tab so that it will record to the cost to the appropriate item. In addition, make sure to assign your customer/job information to each line item so that you’ll have the costs associated to the appropriate customer/job for job costing.

4. Utilize the time tracking mechanism in QuickBooks® so that you and your employees can track their time by item and customer/job. No dollar value is associated with this time until you actually pay the employees within QuickBooks®.

5. QuickBooks® has preformatted reports that you can access to have job costing information right at your fingertips. These are found under the Reporting menu and the Jobs/Time/Mileage option.

6. QuickBooks® has the ability to provide reports for any time period you select. This will allow you to have a variety of detail over the growth of your business and to produce trending reports. You can modify the report as needed to meet your needs.

One additional important aspect is that you have a good accounting professional on your team of resources. They will be able to help you understand what these reports are telling you in terms that you can use. Reports alone don’t provide value if you don’t understand them. So it is key that you understand the reporting information and how you can utilize that information to assist you in decision-making as you grow your business profitably.

It’s all about how you set-up your accounting/bookkeeping software package and how you use it! What justification can you give for not knowing job costs within your business? None! Challenge yourself today to become more adept at running a financially savvy business through job costing.

When we are first starting out we have a tendency to overspend and we quickly begin to run through our limited funds in record time and create an enormous amount of debt and even more so if it’s not our money. What would you spend your money on if you knew it was your last one hundred dollars? That you were not going to get more money for a long time? You would focus only your most pressing needs. You would be forced to assess each area to find out if you are getting the results that would justify spending your last bit of funds.

You would try to find or create ways to promote your business that didn’t require a lot of expense. Labor intensive rather than spending any more money. What could you do?

You could barter for ad space; you could carry the flyers yourself instead of paying a kid to do it. You could cold call rather than spend it on advertising, you could place cheap ads in e-zines or on-line newsletters, you could collect e-mail and send out a free newsletter every month, you could target your advertising to your local area, you could team up with other local businesses for referral business, you could cross promote, you could make presentations for the chamber of commerce for free and see if they will pick up the cost of the event, you could call the local library and see if you can make a presentation or speak on a topic that could be noteworthy or of interest to the general public, you could write articles or a column in your local paper with consumer tips, or post articles on-line about your specialty.

Of course we live in the real world of everyday expenses and you have to spend money when you are in business on delivery charges, utilities, phone services, monthly services, classes or seminars, emergencies that unexpectedly happen, business trips, and car service to the airport sometimes.

But by budgeting those things into your calculations and keeping money on hand in case of an emergency it will conserve your funds and force you to think more creatively. Now when you are thinking of taking a risk with that last $100 you will have a pretty good idea if it will fly. What you have to do is picture where you want to go and what you want to achieve. With the last of your dollars will you achieve a big windfall or pull in an expanded income?

Even if you have thousands of dollars coming in per month it is a good idea to assess each area of your business to see if you can improve the processes to make it more efficient, that you can save money by implementing a new feature, or that you are making the kind of money you envisioned, with the new improvements.

In the end when you are making money remember to replace your emergency funds, pay down your debt and continue to improve your services and also keeping your costs budgeted, and keeping a check on your credit card spending. Paying high credit cards is not where you want to spend your last one hundred dollars.

When we are making a little more money is also the time that we are tempted to overspend. We justify this by saying I have a lot of money coming in now. Be warned that everything can be fleeting if you don’t set up a budget, manage your expenses, and keep a good eye on your results.

Do any of the online schemes for earning income online really work? Can an ordinary person who would like to make some extra income really succeed?

There is no doubt about it that some people do earn good income online. But what percentage of those who join up with online affiliate schemes actually succeed in earning anything?

The short answer would seem to be that those with good mailing lists make money and those without mailing lists don’t.

The mailing list and the way it is used are the real secret. Without a list it would appear to be almost impossible to succeed. This point is borne out by the fact that those with good lists are lothe to share them, Neither will they tell anyone else how they managed to build them.

The other great secret is the ability to write good, selling copy. If you can write good selling copy you can entice people to give you their name to add to your mailing list.

Then, of course, your only challenge is to attract people to your web site. Not as easy as you might think, but there are ways to do this if you have the time and dedication to make them work for you.

The alternative is to spend money on Google ads or pay-per-click visitors.

It would seem that there is a lot of preparation work necessary before you can start to earn the extra income.

So, why do people with good products bother to offer partnerships and affiliate programs? The answer is to attract people who have good mailing lists. If they can do that then they can convert those visitors to join their own mailing list.

So there is probably a whole host of web “junkies” out there who have their names on a lot of different mailing lists.

Can you become one of those who earns extra income on the Internet. Certainly you can but you have to go about it in the right way. It is much harder work than many would have you believe.

So is it worthwhile investing the time and energy in trying to earn extra income on the Internet? Yes, I you are prepared to invest in learning and buying the tools you need to make a success of it. This is not a game where many become wealthy by accident.

There are three basic types of business entity from a taxation point of view. These are proprietorships, partnerships and corporations. For the greater part, it is local law that determines the type (sometimes called the form) of business enterprise.

A business entity that has only one owner and has not incorporated is called a proprietorship. A business with two or more owners that has not incorporated is a partnership. Any business can incorporate and thus become a corporation under local law, regardless of the number of owners.

The type of business entity you select for your business will have significant federal income tax consequences. Proprietorships and partnerships that have not incorporated will not pay any separate income taxes on business profits. Their profits or losses will pass through to the owners, who must declare these income / loss items on their personal income tax returns and pay tax accordingly. In general, the owners of an unincorporated business can transfer property to or from the business without this being recognized as a taxable transaction. Unincorporated businesses may have two significant disadvantages that are not directly related to taxation.

One drawback with being an unincorporated business entity is that when significant capital needs to be raised, willing outside investors could be difficult to find. The other disadvantage concerns liability. There is simply no way to escape unlimited liability; the owner of a proprietorship becomes personally liable for all the debts and liabilities of the business. If there is more than one owner, it would be preferable to have at least one of them with the personal capability to absorb unlimited liability for all claims against the business.

In an increasingly litigious society, it is best to protect oneself by placing some limitation on personal liability. This is the attraction offered by incorporation, since it provides investors limited liability from claims. The corporation has thus become a popular form of business entity. For a widely held business enterprise, incorporation will make it easier to obtain financing, because it is easier for investors to put money into the corporation through buying debt and equity securities that the corporation is authorized to issue.

However, if the business entity is a corporation, its earnings- including dividends - will be subject to federal income tax. Once the shareholders receive the dividends, they also have to pay personal income tax. In other words, the income gets taxed twice. If the corporation incurs losses, the tax benefit will remain with the corporation, but cannot be used to reduce the personal tax liabilities of the owners.

The newer form of business entity is the limited liability company (LLC). A LLC is in essence a partnership in which there is no general partner. Its owners have no personal liability for the debts of the business. Federal tax laws do not recognize the LLC as a separate type of tax entity and most are treated as partnerships for federal taxation purposes. In terms of flexibility, the LLC has an advantage over the S corporation, because their ownership requirements are less rigid and they have more flexibility in allocating profits and losses among the owners.

The S corporation, however, has several advantages over the LLC. It will be easier to convert an existing C corporation to an S corporation than to a limited liability company. As a business entity, the S corporation provides a greater level of certainty in jurisprudence than the LLC does.

Before starting that great new website for your small business, consider your expectations carefully. Most entrepreneurs with their first website lack the experience to know what is truly required to be successful online. Website failure may be defined as anything from total catastrophe to simply results less than expectations. Each can occur even if you have a gorgeous well-designed site.

Don’t expect search engine success with high traffic and added revenue instantly. It is rare.

Here’s the short list of what you need if your goal is website traffic and new customers. These facts have been overlooked or misunderstood by many of my small business clients, and in most cases the errors of omission are due to inexperience.

1. You need a trusted site with name, address and phone number, not just a PO Box.
2. You need to be online 6-12 months or longer to achieve search engine ranking.
3. You need a large site with 10-20 or more pages of quality content for credibility.

Discuss your needs with your site designer. It should not be a cousin, uncle, or friend who happens to have software to make websites. A truly successful site takes more… much more. Professional help may be more cost effective than you realize. Some service providers will try to take advantage just because you are in business. I regularly save clients more than they pay me for designs by helping them shop for economical service providers for their domain and hosting.

Realistic expectations up front will help you avoid disappointment. Be prepared with an ongoing annual budget to add fresh content and features to your site. A smaller site is okay to get started. If you cannot meet the goals in the above list, your traffic and new customers must be pointed to your site with direct marketing efforts. If presenting your company online achieves a positive first impression that may be enough to begin. As your budget increases you can revise expectations as you continue to grow your online presence.

To compete online, compare your plan to what your competition is already doing. If they have full disclosure of their physical address, phone number, and contact names you need to do the same. A prospective customer comparing one site to another with trusted information will usually rule out the one with a PO Box number, or less than adequate contact information. Real and complete details provide better ranking with search engines, also. Listing your city, state or province, and country will allow search engines to localize search results.

Bonus Tip: If you work from home and offer a product or service sold without a showroom, there are options to avoid strangers disrupting your family life. Some clients get box numbers from service companies, and use that company’s address as theirs except instead of box number, they call it unit number. In the USA, you cannot use a US Post Office street address and box number for your return address, even if it is revised to unit number. You will need a private company, however, the peace of mind and the benefits in credibility may be worth the modest cost.

Aging of your site is likewise important. Too many sites are here today, and gone within a year. To maintain credibility the search engines need to serve up relevant results. Until you prove to them your long term intent they will select older and more established sites for page one. Quality content added often can expedite the waiting period.

Do you renew your www domain every year? Stop. Register your website for 2-5 years to prove you are there to stay.

Finally, you need to create an authority site that adds value to the internet community. Establishing your expertise begins with valuable advice and content for your visitors. The size of your website will grow as you continue adding content. This improves the customer experience and provides a reason for them to return, or buy. Quality content added often will bring the search engines back more often, also.

Success online is more than just having a website. Realistic expectations require knowledge of how the internet and search engines work. Some people have contacted me after buying a turnkey site thinking money would roll in, and years later the website made zero revenue. You must be unique, so looking like 1000 other sites with identical content is not a solution.

In conclusion, what I have described for your ideal website is similar to what you might look for in a consultant. People are usually more comfortable when they take advice from an older and trusted authority. Provide that slant in the design of your online home, and visitors can sense you have dependable solutions. Define your niche. Set your new website goals. Get help or advice and avoid joining the long list of small business website failures.

When working on your own business from home, you might notice that you don’t have the same software tools that you might if you were working for a big company. You don’t want to have to spend all of that money to have the same software though, and you shouldn’t have to. Here is a list of tools that can help you with your business, and they are all free.

If you want to be able to keep track of tasks you need to work on, a great tool is Vitalist. Here you can set up projects, or tasks that you need to complete. You can create multiple lists, which is great if you are working on more than one project at a time. There is also an inbox, which allows you to put other tasks that need to be done, but are not associated with a project. Here are two other sites that will allow you to track lists, and are also good. Both Ta Da List and Remember the Milk have to-do lists that will help you keep track of everything you want to get done.

If you are looking for more of a project management tool, you can try Basecamp. You will be able to create lists, track schedules and keep track of milestones.

If you want to easily keep track of appointments, or things you need to get done on certain days, Google Calendar is a helpful tool. Since you set it up online, you can access it anywhere. You can also keep it personal and just for yourself, or share it with others so they know when you are free and busy.

If you want to be able to use word processing and spreadsheet tools, but don’t want to pay for Microsoft Office, you can use Google Docs & Spreadsheets. It will let you do many of the same things as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, but is a free application.

To help with budgeting and keeping track of your business expenses, you can use Pear Budget. It can help you keep track of your spending, to make sure you aren’t spending more on your business than you are earning.

There are many software applications out there that can help you with your business. If you come up with a need that is not mentioned in this article, you should first search online for a free version, before spending money. If you can find a free piece of software that takes care of your needs, it is great as you can save that money for something else.