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Things To Ask Before You Close the Deal
What advice would you give to a prospective buyer of a business who is currently managing the business and plans to buy the business from the current owner?
Limiting Your Liability
I operate a small business creating decorative garden fixtures-birdhouses, statues, signs. The items I make-mostly by hand-are completely ornamental. No one eats, stands or sits on my products. Do I need liability insurance?
Sexual Harassment Policy
I run a small home cleaning business with seven employees aside from myself. My staff gets along well, and I've never had any problems, but I keep reading about sexual harassment litigation in the newspapers and worry. Do I need a formal sexual harassment policy? And how should I go about creating one? -SJ, Manteca, CA
How to determine salary for a new emplpyee
After a couple of years running my home-based business, I can no longer handle the workload myself. I've opened my own office and now I need to hire an employee to cover clerical tasks and do some light bookkeeping. How do I determine what would be a reasonable salary for the new employee? -KF, Philipsburg, MT
Buy/Start U.S. Business, Get Visa?
I live outside the US and am not a citizen but I have family members who are citizens in the US and they want me to start a business with them. I would only feel comfortable putting up the large amount of initial capital for the business if I could oversee its day-to-day operations. Can I live in the US if I start a business there? -MS, San Jose, Costa Rica
Shipping News
I'm thinking of exporting my products to other countries. What steps should I take to make sure this happens with a minimum of difficulty?
Tired of Retirement
After nearly 25 years in the corporate harness, I took early retirement last year, yet I miss interacting with my peers and the excitement of doing something other than mowing grass and playing golf. Recently, I've been thinking about starting a business of my own, but I'm not really sure what I want to do or how to best go about doing it.
Retirement Money
Our retirement plan is tied to mutual funds, which are managed by so-called experts. Lately, though, I've gotten fed up with the big fees and trading costs that are often hidden in the fine print. I'm looking for alternatives. Any suggestions?
Losing Customers
My company has been trying to attract new customers and has been fairly successful (we sell software). The problem is, we've also lost several long-term clients-especially in the past year. I'm not sure why this is happening or what we can do to stop it. Our prices are competitive, so that doesn't seem to be a factor. Any suggestions?
Fed Market
I've been told that, in order to sell to the federal government, my company should try to qualify for the HUBZone program. What is it and how do we participate?
Need Consumer Research
I'm launching a new product line and would like to look at some consumer research beforehand. Given my limited budget, what are the best sources?
Dealing with Deadbeats
My husband and I own a public relations and marketing firm. During the past eight or nine months, several of our clients have stopped paying their bills. Individually, these amounts aren't large, but together they add up. Any suggestions on how to collect?
Money Matters
These days, everything about the economy-and the fiscal landscape for small businesses-is in flux. We asked Marc Bernstein, executive vice president of Wells Fargo & Co. (www.wells fargo.com) to tackle some of your financial questions.
Untangling the Web
My company sells customized greeting cards online. How can I convert more Web site visitors into buyers? Also, how do I improve our company's rankings on search engines?
Jim King
Custom Creations Unlimited
Wheaton, Ill.