Entrepreneurs need inspiration. Because building a business is about having a vision and the will to succeed. The businesses in this series of articles have all started small and have since become icons of the business world. In this article we feature Eddie Bauer Holding Inc.

Deciding on what type of legal form you want your business to take is important. There are many questions to consider when choosing. One of those questions is whether you want to be taxed once or twice? If you own a corporation you may have to pay twice. Or do you?

If you run your own small business then you are subject to the self employment tax. But why exactly are you paying it and where does your money go?

All businesses whether large or small usually rely on some form of credit to help get things done. In today's business environment establishing your credit is more important than ever. What you may not know is the financial risk you may be personally taking when you sign on the dotted line.

Most small businesses rely upon a few key employees to get the job done. Most other employees are fairly easy to replace but a select few can put the company in serious jeopardy if something were to happen to them. This is where key man insurance can help.

The one thing that you learn about early on when running a small business is that your employees are like family. You spend a great deal of time with them and will get to know a lot about them. And the success of your business will depend on them.

If you're an aspiring entrepreneur looking to start a business or have already done so you had to decide what legal form it would take. A sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation. When you were deciding this did you take the time to research what a Limited Liability Company or LLC is?

Learning is an ongoing process and so is your education in business. Taking the time to improve your knowledge and education in business is important if you want to continue to push your business forward. Not doing so could be holding you back.

Branding your small business will be one of the most important steps that you will take to make your business successful and your name known to potential customers. Brand building begins before you even open your doors and is an ongoing process that is used to become a known leader in your industry.

Building a successful business partnership is not an easy thing. Often they can end on very bad terms. But you can build one if you put some thought and effort into it before you become partners with someone.

You work hard to establish credit lines with your suppliers. Often you will have to trust your employees to use those credit lines on your behalf. But is your trust well placed or not? You might be surprised with the answer.

In today's new media world getting your message out is more important than ever. But how do you go about spreading the word? Have you ever thought about building your own Blog Empire?

Now that your small business has finally started to gain some traction does it seem like everybody has their hand out?

It was about ten years ago, a few months after I'd first begun my career in small business that my father said to me that small business is the greatest game there is! To this day I still believe that to be true. And just like a ballplayer loving the game he plays. You gotta love the game of small business to want to play it too. I'm glad to once again have found my love for the game!

The only way to get better at something is to do it. Taking a speech or business communication class will force you to make presentations to audiences of people you don't know.

Depending on your product or service you might want to consider approaching businesses that have multiple locations otherwise known as chain stores.

Affiliate programs aren't for every website. But for some it's a great easy way to sell some ad space. Here are the bare basics of being an affiliate.

Hiring the right employees is a hard enough task as it is. Once you do hire them is when you might need to start watching your back.

Yellow page advertising can cost thousands of dollars depending on the ad. So you need to get it right the first time. Here are some tips on how to do that.

Are you thinking of starting your own business but don't have mucn entreprenurial experience? Maybe you should consider buying a franchised business.

Developing a solid marketing plan is something most business owners neglect to do but it is essential to the success of your business. Without it time, resources, and money will be wasted on marketing efforts that will never bring true results.

Effective management of your companies accounts receivables is crucial to maintaining positive cash flow for your business. Failure to manage your accounts receivables could cost you everything!

As your business grows so too will the projects that you will take on. Your customers will push to the limit your ability to complete a project successfully. And more and more each of these jobs will have to be managed individually by trusted project managers.

Your small business is growing up. Now you think it's time to expand your product line. A word to the wise it could cost you everything if you're not careful. Diversifying your product line can be expensive and time consuming. So much so that you once you've begun you might not realize what kind of affect it's having on the rest of your business until it's too late.