Running a Business


Recent Running a Business Articles

How to Create a Pre-Incorporation Agreement

Oct 21, 1999

This article describes a pre-incorporation form designed for people who plan to incorporate a small business owned by a handful of shareholders, each of w...  Read more

Borrowing Money for Your Business

Oct 21, 1999

If you run a small business--or would like to start one--you'll probably need to raise money at one time or another. You may want to expand on your succes...  Read more

How Planned Development Rules (CCRs) Affect Home-Based Businesses

Oct 21, 1999

In subdivisions, condos and planned-unit developments, rules pertaining to home-based businesses are often significantly stricter than those found in city or...  Read more

Pros Cons of the Independent Contractor's Life

Oct 21, 1999

An independent contractor--IC--is a person who contracts to perform services for others without having the legal status of an employee. Most people who qu...  Read more

Age Discrimination

Oct 21, 1999

America's workforce is aging. And as workers stay on the job longer, they generally move up the compensation ladder, acquiring more benefits and higher sa...  Read more

Definitions Behind Business Name Jargon

Oct 21, 1999

One reason the law of business names often seems confusing is that the subject is riddled with lots of arcane and often overlapping legal jargon. For exam...  Read more

Home-Based Businesses Aren't Legally Different from Other Businesses

Oct 21, 1999

The basic legal issues, such as picking a name for your business and deciding whether to operate as a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability ...  Read more

Religious Discrimination: Keeping the Faith at Work

By Barbara Kate Repa |  Oct 21, 1999

In the last few years, there has been a notable increase in the number of religious-discrimination lawsuits. Theologians hail this burst in litigation as ...  Read more

Equal Pay for Equal Work

By Barbara Kate Repa |  Oct 21, 1999

A federal law, the Equal Pay Act (29 U.S.C. § 206), requires employers to pay all employees equally for equal work, regardless of their gender. It was pa...  Read more

Disability Discrimination

Oct 21, 1999

Many individuals fortunate enough to be healthy in mind and body--and to be employed--lament the difficulties a workplace can impose. But for those with p...  Read more

Dismissal: What Is the Meaning of This?

Oct 21, 1999

Heaven knows what mysteriousness lurks behind your question. The best explanation I can apply to your barebones request can be gleaned from Nolo's own Leg...  Read more

Keeping Your Contracts Simple--and Enforceable

Oct 21, 1999

For most contracts, legalese is not essential or even helpful. On the contrary, contractual agreements are best expressed in simple, everyday English.  Read more

Negotiating a Good Lease

Oct 20, 1999

Almost all small businesses start out in leased premises; many use leased space throughout the life of the business. By leasing rather than owning, you av...  Read more

Origins of the 500: Globe-Trotters

By John Grossmann |  Oct 15, 1999

Where do America's fastest growing private companies get all those great ideas? Here's how powerful forces propelled three Inc. 500 CEOs to venture overseas.  Read more

Origins of the 500: On the Road

By Susan Hansen |  Oct 15, 1999

Where do America's fastest growing private companies get all those great ideas? Here's why deciding to base Solutech Inc. in his sleepy hometown has paid off...  Read more

Origins of the 500: Names

By Jennifer McFarland |  Oct 15, 1999

Where do America's fastest growing private companies get all those great ideas? A look at some of the unlikely ways Inc. 500 CEOs came up with the names for ...  Read more

Solemates

By Phaedra Hise |  Oct 15, 1999

Here's how Mandy Cabot, cofounder of footwear distributor Dansko, has controlled her company's growth while tiptoeing between hungry retailers and a balky su...  Read more

So Near...And Yet So Far

By Susan Greco |  Oct 15, 1999

Going public is a big deal. So is almost going public. Three Inc. 500 CEOs discuss how the lessons they learned from their aborted IPOs were almost as valuab...  Read more

Rare Commodity

By Samuel Fromartz |  Oct 15, 1999

Selling an undifferentiated product in a crowded niche to price-conscious customers isn't an ideal business. But Edy Bedoya, founder of EBC Computers, has sp...  Read more

Good Training Strategy Helps Avoid Discrimination

By Robert Hoffman |  Oct 15, 1999

QUESTION: What training strategies should an employer use to avoid harassment and discrimination inthe workplace? ANSWER: ...  Read more

Capitalizing on Tomorrow's Europe

Oct 13, 1999

The surging number of cross-border mergers and acquisitions within Europe's $6.5 trillion economy is revolutionizing the way business is conducted in this...  Read more

Hot Links

By Christopher Caggiano |  Oct 1, 1999

Sarah Gerdes, CEO of Business Marketing Group, is among a new breed of corporate matchmaker who is helping small companies get into the right strategic allia...  Read more

Hot Tip: ADA Scope Limited

By Christopher Caggiano |  Oct 1, 1999

Is the Americans with Disabilities Act driving you crazy? Take heart. Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have considerably narrowed the ADA's coverage, s...  Read more

The Diva of Retail

By Edward O. Welles |  Oct 1, 1999

Why did Starbucks, Blockbuster, and Nike come calling on little-known consultant J'Amy Owens? Because this president of the Retail Group knows how to make th...  Read more

A Company of Their Own

By Mike Hofman |  Oct 1, 1999

Software provider Shipco Logistics offers employees a special perk: help starting their own companies and becoming SAP certified.  Read more

Which Customers Do I Want to Keep?

By Hendrix F.C. Niemann |  Sep 28, 1999

Gustavo "Gus" Bessalel was working as a management consultant in Washington, D.C., when a colleague mentioned that his uncle's company was looking for som...  Read more

How Can I Dominate My Competitors?

By Emily Esterson |  Sep 28, 1999

A milk company builds a brand around organic dairy products.  Read more

Sharing Their Toys

Sep 22, 1999

When Judy Cockerton, co-owner of two Massachusetts toy stores (No Kidding!, in Brookline and Mattapoisett), runs out of stock, she goes to any lengths to ...  Read more

Hot Tip: Training the Technophobic

Sep 22, 1999

Gary Mandelbaum of Karman, a clothing manufacturer in Denver, knew he had to install an electronic-ordering system. His sales staff was shipping handwritt...  Read more

Instant Maps Speed Deliveries

Sep 22, 1999

If your customers' ardor has cooled so much between the time they order and the time you can deliver that they refuse to accept your product, shouldn't yo...  Read more

Second Time's the Harm

By Mike Hofman |  Sep 1, 1999

One CEO learned that expanding to a second city can have many pitfalls. The marketplace is different, and many of your needs are different, too.  Read more

In a Foreign Market? Watch Out for Your Bank

By Ilan Mochari |  Sep 1, 1999

Picking a reliable bank can be a key step to making exports run smoothly.  Read more

Arbitration Can Be a Cheap, Quick Alternative to Lawsuits

Aug 15, 1999

Arbitration is an agreement to resolve a dispute outside court through presentation to a neutral arbitrator. After evidence is presented the arbitrator re...  Read more

Hot Tip: Trademark Registration

By Mike Hofman |  Aug 1, 1999

International companies can sometimes offer good prices on services. Case in point: Rider McDowell of Knight-McDowell Labs, in Carmel, Calif., wanted to t...  Read more

Hot Tip: Outsource to Go Global

By Donna Fenn |  Aug 1, 1999

Even back in 1992, when Liz Elting and Phil Shawe started TransPerfect Translations Inc., their goal was as ambitious as it was clear-cut. They wanted to ...  Read more