Read all post…

Gary Levitt is not your typical CEO. One look at his past work experiences will tell you that. He has worked as a busboy, a self-described “kick-butt” bass player, a professional skateboarder and commercial musician for “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”  Today, he is the chief executive officer of Mad Mimi, an email marketing tool that lets users create customer email marketing campaigns and track their results. Levitt’s journey is a lesson on how the road to becoming an entrepreneur is often a long one that has many unexpected detours. “I grew up in a remote farm area of South Africa, and when I was 18 years old I went to study music in Boston at Berklee Music School,” said Levitt. “From there, I went to New York City to play jazz as a bassist. Si

Read all post…

INTERNATIONAL. US Dollar prices to buy gold rose to US$1,676 an ounce Tuesday morning London time – a 9% gain on yesterday’s spot market low – as stocks and commodities also rallied and government bonds fell as reports circulated that European officials were drawing up new plans to battle the ongoing debt crisis.

The price to buy gold has now recovered all of yesterday’s losses.

“Housewives are queuing up outside jewelry shops to buy gold after the dip,” says one gold bullion dealer in Hong Kong, citing local press reports.

“At the current level people are buying,” confirms another Hong Kong dealer, Ronald Leung at Lee Cheong Gold Dealers.

“They believed what happened in the past few days was only a correction.”

“We continue to believe that gold will push higher into 2012,” says Walter de Wet, commodities strategist at Standard Bank.

“However, until short-term funding, especially in Europe has been resolved, we remain neutral on gold.”

Silver prices climbed to US$33.54 per ounce – 28.2% up on Monday’s low.

Overnight deposits made by Eurozone banks with the European Central Bank – rather than with each other – rose to a two-week high of €165.12 billion yesterday, a 9.6% jump from Friday’s figure. Overnight E

Read all post…

US Federal Contractor Registration recommends small businesses take steps to stay competitive in light of recent news reports. A report released by the Government Accountability Office in June 2011 found that seven agencies were not in compliance with federal laws mandating that each agency’s Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization report directly to that agency’s head. At

Read all post…

The question of “how will I afford to make the change?” arises with every person considering self-employment and starting up a business.

Research shows that people who move easily and successfully into self employment and being a business owner have plans in place to guarantee some form of positive cash flow or income stream during their initial start-up period. A general rule of thumb is that people feel they need a guaranteed lump sum that covers six months of living expenses.

An essential part of start-up planning has to be an analysis of your financial situation. Outlined below are the three key steps you should take:

Step 1. Calculate the personal expenses you need to cover

A good idea when starting up on your own is to reduce your monthly living expenses as much as you reasonably can. This has to be an accurate calculation. You ca

Read all post…