Here is a very short compilation of online blogs and other Internet venues for small business that we put together for a client a few weeks ago.   Here is how the counselor put the request to us, "Please search and compile a list of message boards, forums, communities, blogs, and similar internet venues that are ‘business/entrepreneurship’ oriented."   
We felt it would be a good thing to share with the SBDC network as a whole.  Thus, here is a list of what we found after a quick search.  The format will be familiar to counselors who use our research services.

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I. Industry Trends and Overview
Excerpt: 

Entrepreneur Blogs: 10 You NEED To Be Following This is a blog review from Standout Blogger as of January 2009 that outlines 10 blogs that are leading the pack in content and delivery in the entrepreneurial niche. A brief description of each blog is also included as a quick reference.  

Source:  http://www.standoutblogger.com/blog-reviews/entrepreneur-blogs-10-you-need-to-be-following-in-2009/
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Excerpt: 

Entrepreneurship Blogs – The Top Blogs for Entrepreneurs Here are some of the best blogs with information to help entrepreneurs succeed. These cover a wide range of topics and were selected for their relevance, quality, timeliness and consistency (very important in a blog). If you are only going to read a few blogs about entrepreneurship, this is where to start.

Source:  http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/blogs/Entrepreneurship_Blogs_The_Top_Blogs_for_Entrepreneurs.htm#b
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Excerpt: Top 150 Blogs for Entrepreneurs 

This is a list of blogs useful to entrepreneurs, with a touch of social entrepreneurship and high tech bias. Future updates will be published on this page on Entrepreneur Commons website. 

Source:  http://entrepreneurcommons.googlepages.com/top150blogsforentrepreneurs
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Excerpt:  Top 10 Most Practical Blogs for Entrepreneurs  

With more and more people jumping on the business blogging bandwagon, it’s getting to the point that there is far more out there than you could ever hope to read on a regular basis. To help you filter that infoglut down to a more manageable level, here is my list of the ten most practical blogs for entrepreneurs. 

Source:  http://entrepreneurs.about.com/b/2005/10/24/top-10-most-practical-blogs-for-entrepreneurs.htm
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Excerpt:  10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs

Social networking is obviously very popular online today. Unlike general networking sites like MySpace and Facebook, there are a number of smaller networks that focus on professionals and businesses. These sites can be an excellent place to gain some exposure and to communicate with other entrepreneurs. Here is a quick look at 10 networking sites that should be considered by entrepreneurs.

Source:  http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/2008/05/13/10-social-networks-for-entrepreneurs/
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Excerpt: Ten Online Tools Your Business Should Be Using 

There are new and exciting business tools being developed every day. These can help you improve your productivity and open up entirely new channels for your business to thrive online. 

Source: http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/index.php?s=message+boards
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Excerpt: Search Marketing 101  

SEO encompasses the strategies for earning top rankings in free search engines. These are called "organic" or "natural" listings. You can actually direct the way your site’s listed–and improve your ranking–by giving the search engines what they’re looking for. 

Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/ebusinesscolumnist/article176398.html
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Excerpt: HubSpot Announces Link Grader Inbound Link Tool for Its Internet Marketing Software 

HubSpot offers an Internet marketing system that integrates SEO, social media and marketing analytics to help customers increase website traffic and convert a greater percentage of visitors into customers. 

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29427719/
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Excerpt: Recap: Top Trends Shaping Social Entrepreneurship in 2009 

For the last week, I’ve been counting down the top trends I expect to shape the field of social entrepreneurship in 2009. Overall, I expect that the language of "social entrepreneurship" will become an increasingly large part of the social change lexicon. The combination of a new administration, an economic crisis highlighting systemic failures in our approaches to business, and a growing frustration with promises to change the world and come up short, the idea of new, pragmatic approaches to tackling our toughest problems will continue to captivate. 

Source:  http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org/blog/view/recap_top_trends_shaping_social_entrepreneurship_in_2009
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II. Message boards

Entrepreneur Meetup Message Board
http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/boards/
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Yahoo! Message Boards – Small Business
http://messages.yahoo.com/Business_&_Finance/forumview?bn=17929261
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Young Entrepreneur Message Board
http://www.youngentrepreneur.com/forum/f14-young-entrepreneur-lounge/message-boards-1743.html
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III. Forums

About.com: Entrepreneurs
http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?nav=messages&webtag=ab-entrepreneur
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Entrepreneur Connect
http://econnect.entrepreneur.com/
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Business Nation
http://www.businessnation.com/forums/
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IV. Trade Associations

National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE)
http://selfemployed.nase.org/
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National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB)
http://www.nfib.com/page/home
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Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO)
http://www.eonetwork.org/Pages/default.aspx
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Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FEW)
http://www.fwe.org/
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SOHO of America – Small Office Home Office
http://www.soho.org/
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The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE)
http://www.tie.org/
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Association for Professional Consultants
http://www.consultapc.org/index.htm
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International Directory of Professional Consultants and Coaches
http://www.igpc.org/
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V. Other Useful Links

SCORE Small Business Resource Links
http://www.score.org/small_biz_power_links.html#a_1
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Google Alerts
http://www.google.com/alerts
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Boost Your Blog Traffic Today
http://www.blogtrepreneur.com/2009/02/02/boost-your-blog-traffic-today/
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Below is the Sageworks Rankings of the most profitable industries in 2008. Companies in these industries had the highest profit margins of all privately held companies over the period of January 2008-December 2008. You may notice that 9 of the 10 industries are service providers. These industries are well positioned to withstand the economic downturn due to their profitability as well as the continued public demand for many of the services.

Jimmie Wilkins

Consider these three simple areas that can make a tremendous difference in your tax liability exposure.

Failure to keep books.

If you do things correctly, your bookkeeping records will clearly reflect the earnings and expenses of your business. This makes for easy and accurate tax preparation as well as appropriate support in the event of a tax audit.

If this isn’t motive enough, think about this. In the case of an IRS audit, if your business does not have adequate financial records, they are in their right to “approximate” your income based on industry standards and are under no obligation to assume any legitimate expenses to offset your revenue — thus all profit, all taxable.

If you don’t know how to keep records for your business, go to the IRS Web site for small business recordkeeping publications. You can outsource your recordkeeping to a bookkeeping service or take a class and learn how to manage the financial records of your business. There is no time like the present.

Falling behind on tax payments.

Self-employed individuals do not have the benefit of someone else being responsible for tax withholdings. You are your employer.

As an employee, your employer makes these “deposits” for you. Each pay period, taxes are taken from you check and remitted by your employer, including their portion.

As both the employer and the employee (so to speak), you make these deposits. Estimated payments are required to be calculated and paid four times a year. Failure to make these deposits is subject to fines and interest.

Mixing personal and business funds.

Failure to separate business and personal funds can draw extreme scrutiny upon IRS examination (if you are one of the chosen ones for an audit).

In fact, in the case of a corporation, a commingling of personal and business funds can allow the IRS to “pierce the corporate veil” which, in essence, removes all protection of a corporation.

It makes sense to separate them out but I am still amazed at the number of people who keep one checking account and think they will/can keep track and separate the two tracks.

Set up two separate and distinct accounts. If you need personal money for the business or business money to pay personal expenses, make a loan and leave a paper audit trail. Keep them separate, including credit card purchases.

Jimmie Wilkins is the director of the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center. The Small-Business Adviser column is produced by the center. Questions can be faxed to (503) 581-6017, e-mailed to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or phoned in to (503) 399-5088.

WWW.Census.gov is the most comprehensive site for demographics. Almost all of the pay services for demographics use census information that is open to the public on their website, www.census.gov/. It would be beneficial for any and all business counselors to learn the site and learn it well. Their American Factfinder page is an amazing tool that can give you demographics from the national level all the way down to an individual zip code and most everything in between. Today they released the latest in a series of Demographic profiles of older workers in individual states. This release is for Oregon click the links at the bottom of this post to view the pdf and to see a list of all the states that they have completed so far.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, SEPT. 23, 2008

Profiles of Older Workers: 2004 — Oregon — The Census Bureau, in partnership with 31 states, has launched a series of reports on workers 55 and older. The New Mexico report is expected to be released in late September. Previously released reports are available at http://lehd.did.census.gov/led/library/profiles_2007.html http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/ledow04or.pdf.