GuideIt's been a couple of weeks since we last did a weekly roundup of good business reading – and there is a reason. We were taking the time to launch our new series: The Yahoo Smart and Simple Guide to Starting a Business. This is an ongoing series of articles that is going to tackle every aspect of a small startup business. We will be running it for most of the rest of the year and you should expect to see a new part come out every week or two. So far we have parts 1 and 2 live – covering everything from the original idea to refining a business concept.
Each part consists of a solid introduction to the topics to be discussed along with practical examples and advice, plus a very concrete worksheet that walks you through the issues, problems and solutions for that topic – and finally a set of resources – background reading, courses and more that you could think of as extra credit or homework.
Here are the first two parts – six articles in all.
Is it time to start up that startup business?The Yahoo Smart and Simple Guide to Starting a Business: Part 1 – Goals, values and IdeasThe Yahoo Smart and Simple Guide to Starting a Business: Part 1 – Resources for Goals, values and Ideas
Build a Winning Business Right from the StartThe Yahoo Smart and Simple Guide to Starting a Business: Part 2 – Defining your business conceptThe Yahoo Smart and Simple Guide to Starting a Business: Part 2 – Resources for Defining your business concept
And here are some of the best stories from the past week on Advisor – in no particular order.
From ironworker to entrepreneur – and a quintupled income
Tax deductions you shouldn't try
Surprising business choices: Brain surgeon or famous chef?
Three tips for getting a business loan: what you need to know.
How to get a bank loan for your small business
Strategic Office Support's Kathrine Farris with advice for startup service businesses
If you haven't taken the plunge yet, hopefully some of these articles give you the impetus to start your own business — and if you do, we have tools to help. Besides our domain name, web hosting and ecommerce products, we also have just added an innovative marketing dashboard that you can try for free even if you don't use our other products.
Some other great small business articles from around the web this week.
10 Ways to improve conversion rates for your business
The rise of small business crowdfunding – crowdfunding is a new source of finance for your business – but it has its own rules for success and failure
Why even great marketing ideas fail
Why Americans love small business
Top 10 free web conferencing tools for your small business
Have a great week, watch the bottom line and let us know in the comments if any of this was especially useful or if you have any advice you'd like to share. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
