As a small business owner, you may have auto insurance questions or you might be wondering how to go about finding answers to ins FAQS. You can use the Internet to get the insurance answers and information you want for your small business or personal needs.

Once really nice thing about doing business research online, whether for insurance answers or anything else, is that rather than visit separate websites for companies such as Progressive, Unitrin or 21st Century, you can quickly and easily view side-by-side comparisons of available insurance rates for these and other providers.

You can also discover what the small business and individual insurance requirements, policies and laws are for your specific state. For instance, Pennsylvania’s car policy guide outlines Pennsylvania’s coverage requirements, what’s optional and what’s mandatory, how specific insurance rates are set, how teenage or mature drivers are affected by insurances rates, and even available options for drivers without insurance.

As a small business owner, it’s important to realize that automobile insurance is a contract between a driver and an insurance company. The contract protects you from financial loss in case of a car accident. The insurance premium is set based upon the coverage you choose and the variety of coverage available in the different insurance policies. That coverage, in turn, determines what is covered in the event of an accident. The more coverage you choose, the higher your premium, for the most part, which is only natural.

While mandatory insurance requirements may be a hassle and may seem to be an expense small business owners shouldn’t have to incur, that same insurance coverage may save you huge amounts of money. Insurance coverage will protect you and your business from financial damage and even potential lawsuits should you, or an employee, be involved in a wreck.

I’ve said this before on many forums and to many people, but because new Internet users continually come online, I’m sure I’ll say it again… if your link is not clickable in your signature (sig) file, you’re losing traffic needlessly.

I am too busy (and sometimes just too lazy!) to copy and paste a link to a website to “drop by” when I know that if you will add http:// before the www.sitename.com it becomes clickable to me. If I won’t visit your site because of this minor detail, there are others who won’t do so either and you’re missing out on traffic.

And before you say it, I know that for many email programs the http:// isn’t needed to make a link clickable. But I use Outlook or Outlook Express (depending on which computer I’m on). These are two of the most popular email programs, and my versions DO require this. So, why take gamble. Make your link clickable, even if it gets you only 1-2 added click-troughs a week.

Valerie Vauthey and Buzzy Gordon, in their article, Effective Time Management for Busy People, state that “Just as the fundamental key to becoming wealthy is proper money management (managing your earning, saving, investing and spending), the key to succeeding in accomplishing all the goals you have set for yourself is effective time management.” I agree wholeheartedly!

And I need to learn to practice what I preach. }

Time management is key to getting everything done every day that must be done, not to mention what I want to do.

My number rule of time management? Keep a to-do list. Write down chores and tasks that, should they go undone, will leave me kicking myself later.

I’ve learned, however to not write down what I want to do on the same list. Somehow, when I do that, I tend to look at my list and think, “Well, it’s on my to-do list, I guess I could do that.” All the while the must-dos don’t get done!

Effective time management is important to our business – and personal – success. Effective is the key word.

Okay, so the title of today’s tip is slightly misleading… it doesn’t mean you won’t receive spam… only that you don’t have to read it. At least not if you use Outlook or Outlook Express to manage your email accounts!

If you turn off the “Preview Pane” in either of these programs, you’ll save yourself some grief in your inbox. Why? Because many spammers design their HTML to know when you have opened their message. By not previewing each message, you can delete it unread then empty your trash and get rid of it. The spammer will never know that if the message reached your inbox and you’ll potentially eliminate at least a few of the unsolicited emails you receive every day. )

To disable your Preview Pane…

In OUTLOOK EXPRESS:

Click on the View menu, then click on Layout and remove the check mark beside “Show Preview Pane.” (Outlook Express 6.0 will let you set an option to “Read all messages as plain text.” This works well if you don’t want to disable your preview pane.)

In OUTLOOK:

Click View then click on the Preview Pane icon and it will remove the preview from the current folder. You can set it for just your inbox or other folders, too, if you manage your mail with folders (as I do).

Hope this helps a little in the ongoing war against too many messages in your inbox!

Are you using your domain name in your signature files and forum posts? Are you SURE?! Be sure to proofread your domain to ensure it’s YOUR domain and not someone else’s! ;o) I see a lot of typos in email addresses and website URLs in my email groups on and forums.

And be SURE to include the http://www. whenever you type your domain name in an email. It makes the link clickable to the majority of viewers and can draw added traffic to your website when people may not take the time to cut and paste the URL.

Happy Tuesday!

Whether you work outside the home or walk to the spare bedroom to run your business, mornings can be hectic. Establishing a few simple routines will eliminate some of the morning madness that plagues every work-at-home mom or dad.

• Have each child select the next day’s clothes before going to bed at night.

• Plan breakfast menus in advance and do as much preparation the night before as you can to give you a jumpstart on your day.

• Set the alarm ten minutes earlier to give yourself some quiet time before waking the kids.

• If your children are schooled outside the home, create a central location for items that go with them such as homework, school books, lunch boxes, etc. so everything is easy to find when it’s time to leave.

• Set the kitchen timer to remind your children when it’s time to catch the bus, or if your kids are home all day, to let them know it’s time to make their beds and clean their rooms and time for you to go to work.

With routines in place, you’ll find it’s much easier to get yourself on track each day and your typical morning madness will virtually disappear!

Since so many of us – especially home-based business owners – work online more than offline today, it’s easy to neglect a very important business management system that can be a lifesaver come tax season or should we face an audit.

Keep a physical copy of all important information!

• Print customer invoices that you send via email.

• Print orders and payment information.

• Print customer address and contact information.

• Print emails that contain contractual data.

• Print login IDs and passwords you might forget.

• Print financial data from sites such as PayPal or online banks.

In short, it’s not enough to rely on electronic data. Keep a printed copy of everything relating to your business.

As a wise computer technician once told me, “It’s not a matter of if your computer will crash, but when!”

1. Leave a business card on a restaurant table, in a phone booth, in the restroom, at the dentist’s office, at your hairstylists, etc… everywhere you go.

2. Include a discount on the back of your card.

3. Send 4-5 cards to everyone you know and ask them to share them with their friends and family.

4. Write a personal note on the back and offer a free gift to the recipient.

5. Include a map to your store or a link to your website on the back of your card.

6. Ad a magnet to the back and include one with every envelope you mail – bills, personal letters, surveys, etc.

7. Pay the toll for the person behind you on the freeway. Ask the attendant when paying to give your business card (with a personal note on the back!) to the person who’s toll you paid.

You know, there are two ways to take that statement. Both are important!

One, don’t get so caught up in running and growing your business that you neglect your children, your husband, your extended family, or your friends. Relationships are what matter most. And we all know they require nurturing and attention.

The other aspect to this, is to not forget your family and friends when looking for new customers or referrals.

If yours is a direct sales company, ask the people you know to hold classes or shows, take up catalog orders and give you the names of people they know you could contact. If you teach classes, ask them to attend – free – and to bring a friend. If you provide services such as I do freelance writing and creative design, ask them to refer you to their friends and co-workers.

There’s a philosophy that within any group of 10 people, you could theoretically “touch” every single person in the world. It goes something like this…

Say I want to find someone who knows the President of the US. I tell 10 people of my desire. Of those 10 people at least one would have some kind of connection to the President. Maybe your third cousin twice-removed would be the person who grooms the President’s dog. Or your sister’s brother-in-law once spoke to the President’s wife on the phone. Or something. The theory is that there would be a connection somewhere – even in a group of only 10 people!

And if you attend church, have kids in school, participate in the PTA, attend scrapbooking crops, etc. your circle of friends is much larger than only 10 people. Make the most of it! Talk to your family and friends about your business and enlist their help to make it grow… and don’t forget to tell them how much they mean to you while you’re there.

Are you a morning person? Do you find yourself most creative after a good night’s sleep and a cup of coffee? Or are you just getting revved up when everyone else is slowing down? Find you can get more accomplished in the evenings?

Whatever your personal energy level, use it to your advantage and gain “Peak Productivity”!

Save your most creative work, the work that needs your thought processes in full working order, for those times when you are at your mental peak.

Use the rest of your day to accomplish the routine, mindless tasks that still need to be done, but that don’t require a lot of thought on your part.

You’ll find that by making the most of your personal chemistry for peak performance, your business will flourish and you’ll accomplish more than you had dreamed!