In 1999 I started doing small paid projects and teaching classes on business, but I was still working part-time as a paramedic in Oakland, California. I went full time self-employed, finally, in 2001. This month marks Heart of Business' 10th anniversary.

Ten years of paying the mortgage, making the bills,...

At 1:10 p.m. I'm standing in line at the post office. I know it's 1:10 p.m. because my iPhone prayer app lets loose with a resounding call announcing the time for the midday prayer. The three other people in the post office avoid looking at me. Or maybe it doesn't...

A conversation that has cropped up recently in our online community, The Business Oasis, is the perennial problem of: "I've got this fantastic offer, and no one is responding to it. No one is even asking about it!"

This is particularly painful in the current economy, when people are...

It was a fantasy-land wish to see the election victory Obama and a more progressive agenda fill the global economy with enough confidence to stop the downward spiral. Alas, no dice.

Day after day we're being treated to more news of the global financial markets being flushed further and further...

This past Monday my wife Holly, myself, and our assistant Kate had a long meeting. And why? So we can put a bunch of absolutely amazing and wonderful ideas on the back burner, and do nothing about them.

It's probably not such a surprising idea for you, that you're supposed...

Bad economy or no, the time has come. You've been waiting for it and dreading it at the same time. The time when you must, absolutely must, can't avoid it.

You've got to raise your prices in your business. You're sure about it, 100%, and it feels good when you...

It's no joke, many small businesses end at a young age. Their owners, burnt out, broke, or simply preoccupied, give them up for good.

It can be a long, winding, rough path to get a business going. I've heard the same stories you have about the overnight sensations. But, for...

It's Wednesday morning, and a stack of to-do's in your business await you. You need to get on your marketing, you need to deal with the bookkeeping, and those pesky clients keep needing things from you.

And you don't feel like doing any of it. Instead, you want to just...

When you own a small business, maybe even it's just you solo, then you don't have a whole marketing department to chase down new leads. You really depend on the good word of your clients, and the referrals they are willing to send you.

This is even more true in...

When you're exhausted from working, overwhelmed and burnt-out, little visions come visiting. Visions of distant beaches, cabin hide-aways, foreign adventures. Especially now that summer has arrived, even here in Oregon where I'm writing, it's easy to start dreaming of that far-away land.

Vacation-land.

And so, off you go, on vacation....

You know the price you want to charge for your service or product. But, you worry. You worry that some people won't be able to pay.

More than that, you worry about issues of social and economic justice. You worry whether the price that feels good to your heart is...

When you run a small business, there are a lot of competing demands and needs in front of you. And what looms the biggest are your clients. As one of our own clients calls them: "My 800lb gorilla clients."

And when they need help, you jump. Because you need them,...

I've heard that there are approximately 20 million people in the US who have what is called a 'personal-sized' business. And that number is expected to go to 32 million within the next decade.

That's a lot of people solo in business. And if you're in that position, as...