We know business is done on the state and local level.  That’s why the Business Gateway program has been working with state and local governments in addition to Federal agencies to provide a complete resource center for your business on Business.gov.  Each month, the site promotes a “feature city” on the homepage and further provides [...]

You may have seen our post last week on market research performed by the government that you can leverage (for free) to build your business plans, monitor the market, and stay on top of the trends.  In that post, we focused on business data available on the market, the economy, and general information about your [...]

Last year, a regular reader and commenter told me she had been laid off while she was pregnant. Instead of wallowing in her misery, she decided to take it as an opportunity to start freelancing. In that moment I had an idea - and my gut just told me to GO WITH IT. So I [...]

Any successful business owner will tell you marketing your small business begins with research.  The experts can direct you to the best methods for performing research and provide you with successful strategies for market research, but a lot of the statistics and demographic information you desire can be obtained, for free, from the government.
The government [...]

Did you know that FORTY percent - 40% - of young people want to be their own boss someday? That’s a LOT of aspiring entrepreneurs. Millions, in fact.

Truth is, only a fraction of those people ever really start a business. Some get comfortable in a lifestyle that they can’t afford to give up. Others realize [...]

Many people know that when I founded Sparkplugging, I founded it over 2 years ago under the name eMoms at Home. Very early on I realized the name didn’t really represent the site very well. But it wasn’t until the spring of this year that I realized that not only had we outgrown our name, [...]

About 14 years ago I moved back home into my parents’ basement to have my first baby. I was single, pregnant, and my work experience entailed a varied background between being a white-water rafting guide and being a waitress. At the age of 25 I was on the express train to Nowhereville.
I have to say [...]