What do you think are the main reasons why small businesses fail? -

three questions to answer please thankshow does the government help entrepreneur?what problems do entrepreneurs face when running their own business?

Mainly they are 1. under capitalized 2. Under educated as to business 3. a must to know how to market a given. There are so many reasons I cannot list them all. Q. 1 Look in the phone book under Gov. listings and call The Small Business Org. make an appointment and they will explain all. Q. 2 I have listed several reasons if one does not have a B A in Business then go to work for somebody under who s tutoring you can learn how to operate a business. Remember there is no such thing as opening the door and waiting for people to find you. It does not happen.

The only survey I have seen on this topic stated that the following three reasons were responsible for 89% of all business failures: Inadequate sales 50% Competitive weakness 25% Excessive operating expenses 13%The Small Business Administration, the IRS and the Department of Commerce all have programs of value to small business as well as large enterprises.Lack of management experienceUnrealistic goals and timeframesLack of business, legal, and/or financial knowledgeThere are enough others to fill a book.Hope this helpsJerry-the-bookkeeper

1. People not understanding all that is involved.2. Do not look to the government for help.3. They try to do everything

I have an idea for a website that provides a certain service. What do I need to do? -

I was just wondering how the system works. Do I need to patent my idea? Where? How? Where can I set up the website? Thank you!

The question of whether or not to patent depends upon the site. If it is a very unique type of site it could be patented, however the large business sites would more likely trademark their name, See the USPTO website for details. I think the price is around $450 for a US trademark. I don t think it s necessary unless you are going to be fairly well-known. A lawyer or someone with patents/tradmarks of their own would help more. I know more about building websites. This will also depend on what the site will need to be and your experience with web design. Can you tell us anything about your site? First: check out godaddy.com to find out a name for your site. (Domain, which appears in the address bar)Second: Decide what functionality your site will need. If you have a log-in, or sales, you will need databases to store the data. You will probably need PHP, or some other higher-programming code.Third: Decide on a website host, who can provide what you need from step 2. (I am in charge of the website hosting available through ?????? http://bluedirk.com/ ????? and can set you up with everything you need for your site.Fourth: Find someone to build the site. If you want to upload your own site, I provide that ability as well. You may contact me through my site if you would like information about designing or hosting your new website. Good luck with your new idea!

First I m not sure on how to patent the idea but here probably may help or gave you some ideas on how to make it happen:1. Buy a domain2. Search for a very good web hosting / dedicated server3. Make sure to spend some money for advertising, the more money you spend the more people will see your site advertisement.4. Hire a lawyer and patent your idea.

What is the best small business phone system with voice recognition? -

I m looking for a phone system that has voice recognition features to have installed in my accounting office. We ll need about 9 phones and it needs to be relatively easy to set up.Thank you!

From my personal experience, I have found the system manufactured by Schmooze to be rather solid. Their web site is http://www.schmoozecom.com and they sold me a system a year ago with voice recognition. It was all for under $5K for my office and their support is pretty good. They seem like an up and coming company, so time will tell. Give them a call though.

I m guessing you mean voice recognition as in an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) automated answer system.There are quite a few to choose from I m sure. One significant deciding factor will likely be the budget available. Another decision is whether to use a hosted service vs. having it in-house. For an in-house system I ve seen that it can cost into the thousands per port and that a hosted system is a lower cost, at least for start-up. This is based on a commercial system where software license cost comes into play along with up-front hardware, etc. As for the long term cost comparison, in-house may win out in the end but this depends on lots of variables.If low cost is a concern, one option that may be worth considering is Asterisk which is an open source (free software) PBX/VOIP system that can support IVR features. If you want to keep full control of your phone system, have a limited budget, and have an old PC around that can be dedicated to the phone system this may be an avenue to look into.With most phone systems you usually want to have someone capable of supporting the system. This may be more important with something like Asterisk than maybe some other systems.

A business is acting illegally in several ways, who should I report it to? -

I used to work for a restaurant as a Waitress. The Manager/Owner cuts a lot of corners with her business. The following are just some of the things she does:*She has illegal immigrants working in the kitchen. (Anytime a cop car would pull into the restaurant parking lot, all the cooks would go running out the back door)*In the state of Texas waitresses only get paid $2.13 an hour (becuase we get to keep all of our tips). The manager would make us work 72 hours a week, and wouldn t pay us overtime even though she is required to. *Also, in the state of Texas, for every hour that a waitress is not waiting tables we are supposed to be paid minimum wage (Instead of the usual $2.13 and hour). For example the restaurant opens at 11am, but we would get there at 10am to set up and open the restaurant. For that hour we are supposed to be paid minimum wage, but the manager/owner refused to pay us anything except $2.13 an hour.*When confronting an employee that has done something wrong, she uses curse words and vulgar language instead of acting professionally.*She doesn t keep up with bookeeping, such as the start dates and end dates of employees.*After I quit she didn t send me my last check. I called several times and she refused to come to the phone. I left my address and phone number so she could send me my check and she still hasn t. I quit June 15th 2009 and I still haven t gotten my last paycheck.*I had a torn rotator cuff and couldn t lift trays, so I called her to let her know that. I offered to com in a host, seat tables, clean tables, etc., I just couldn t lift the trays. Her exact words to me were you are useless to me unless you can lift followed by a lot of vulgar language. At that point I quit.*She refuses to create a safe working environment. In the kitchen there are slick floors. When they get wet the employees have fallen several times. When I askd her to order some mats to make the floor less slippery for the employees, she said we jsut just be more careful.These are just some of the issues within her business. Who can I report these issues to so that her current and future employees will not have to deal with all this?

http://www.twc.state.tx.us/customers/jse��Texas Workforce Commission - Department Of Labor for most of these things complaints can and should be filed.Pay issues should be reported to the entity above AND the IRS.

Very simply, just make a call to your local Labor and Industries. Might be called the labor board in your State. It is totally illegal to withhold you check among these other issues you wrote about.

Violations of fair pay and unacceptable labor practices are generally reported to the Department of Labor or the Labor Board for the state in which you live.See their online website for further details.

From which state do I need to obtain a Business License? -

If doing business in NY but forming an LLC in Nevada, from which state do you need to obtain a business license?

Aye Carumba!!! - New York will consider you re doing business in NY. Therefore, you will need to register your LLC in NY as well (and pay whatever taxes and fees are required).

You will need a sales tax permit in the states you do business in, not the one where the company is formed (incorporated) in. Business permits may or may not be required by NY law, but if you are doing business there you will need one if required.

I know you need it in California. :-)

My dad is gonna open a chocolate store, any good names? he wants to call it Eclipse but i dont like it :/? -

Yes, I agree the name Eclipse for a candy store is most dreadful, definetley.You could try names like the Moon Chocolates, Chocolate Shrine, Chocolate Shine, or something along the lines of Lunar.But thinking of a name that fits... it couldn t be any sooner.

Eclipse has NOTHING to do with chocolate as far as I can see. You should call it something that is in some way related with what the business sells. Regardless of whatever name you settle on, I d look to make sure that the .com version of the domain name is available and reserve that too. In case you ever want to start an online store as well.

the million calorie store

How about The Great Chocolate Escape?

What are the differences between the following US postal Services? -

1) Priority Mail1 - 3 days 2) First-Class Mail 1 - 3 days

My experience is that there is no difference other than priority costs moreI ve used both