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With the effects of the global economic meltdown still being felt, budding entrepreneurs could be excused for thinking now is not the time to launch a new business initiative. But this isn’t necessarily the case — it all depends on the type of business that you’re launching.

A quick look across different industry sectors reveals that not everyone has suffered as a result of the recession. Chocolate sales are doing particularly well, for example, and video games are also enjoying an increase in sales. Greggs — a mass-market fresh bakery chain based in Europe — has been doing exceptionally well during the recession, as people are looking for cheap eats at lunch time rather than going for an expensive sit-down meal.

The point is, the state of the industry you plan to enter should dictate whether you actually set up shop there or not. So before starting your business, take a look at the main industries you’ll be working in or with: How are they doing? Have sales been going from strength to strength? By putting in this initial groundwork, you can help minimize the chances of failing; market research should underpin all your decision-making.

The important thing to remember in the early days is that your startup funds are precious, so don’t throw money at any old scheme in a vain attempt to drum up business. In fact, try and do as much as you can for free. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to save money by thinking just a little creatively.

Innocent Drinks is a UK-based company that specializes in smoothies. They have almost 75% of the UK smoothie market cornered and have a turnover of almost $200 million USD. So it’s safe to say they’re a big company now, but in 1999 they were just three guys with an idea to start a smoothie company. They hired a small stall at Glastonbury music festival in England and sold low-cost smoothies. All they asked from their customers was this: If you think we should start this up as a full-time business, throw your cup in the left bin, if you think we’re wasting our time, throw it in the right-hand bin.

Needless to say, the left bin was full to the brim and the rest, as they say, is history. The beauty of this scheme was that they spent very little money and got valuable feedback from the very same people who would form their future client base. Any budding entrepreneur can learn a lot from this exercise. You need to engage with your potential customers before you spend a lot of money on a business.

Pay as you go

It’s also important that you start small and follow a carefully-managed growth model. (Many businesses fail because they try to grow too much too quickly.) This may mean taking on a lot of the administrative tasks yourself in the early days, but that’s a good thing as it means you learn a lot about what it takes to run a business and you can understand the inner workings of your own company.

Of course, …

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Owing Up To Your Tax Responsibility

Owning money to the federal government is like no other debt you are responsible for paying. The IRS has some pretty big guns when it comes to collection practices. They can literally freeze your finances and your life until your debt is satisfied. If the debt goes unpaid, your wages could be garnished, liens could be placed on your home and property all in pursuit of the debt. The worse thing you can do is not file taxes if you are afraid you cannot pay them.

Communication when you owe taxes is instrumental to staying out of trouble with the federal tax office. If the IRS is made aware of your inability to pay due to medical reasons, job loss, or the other legitimate cause of financial stress, they will open plenty of doors for you to get help. The IRS understands that people have a variety of issues and there is no one-size-fits-all solution to helping people pays their back taxes. But they can not help you with your tax issues if they don’t know what problems you are having that prevent you from settling your debt.

If you do not contact and stay in communication with the tax office, you are subjecting yourself to a lot of legal and financial hassles. Not only will you still be responsible for the original debt, you’ll also amass plenty of fees and penalties for ignoring your debts.

Handling Your Tax Debts

The IRS has set up several options for helping people take care of their tax debts. They realize there are different circumstances among different people necessitating a variety of options to get rid of tax debts. The following is a list of IRS offerings people can utilize for resolving their debts.

Installment Agreements

There are several installment agreements that can be used which allow payments to be made over a period …

Photo by Andres Rueda via Flickr

Not so long ago, credit card holders got the shock of their financial lives when they discovered how their credit card companies jacked up their interest rates and tried to capitalize on the time they had left before the new federal regulations went into effect. These changes put card holders deeper in debt and made it much harder to find the light at the end of the tunnel. Finally the federal government stepped in and called for an end to the many unfair credit card practices that had been taking place at an increasingly alarming rate.

For those finally getting back on track financially and are getting serious about ridding their lives of credit card debt, those new regulations will make things easier — saving you time and money. Here are four changes that will help you get a grip on your credit debts and help you take back your good credit:

Old Debts Don’t Incur Higher Interest Rates

The amount of credit debt you racked up before the regulations went into effect (as of February 22, 2010) can not be subjected to higher interest rates by the credit card company. As long as you pay on time each month, you don’t have to fear rate hikes tacking on more debt to your balance due.

Payments Go Toward Highest Rates When Different Interest Rates Apply

In the past, credit card companies applied your payments however they saw fit. This was not always helpful to those whose payments were applied to the lower interest rate balance. Now, if you have a 15% interest rate for existing purchase balance and a 3% rate for balance transfers, the credit card company must apply the payments to the highest rate balance first. The perk for you is that you’ll end up saving a lot of money the more you pay off in a faster period of time, allowing you to rebuild your credit.

No More Over-the-Limit Fees

You can no longer be subjected to over-the-limit fees because you are no longer able to go …

The idea of dumpster-diving seems to push the limits of even the most frugal among us. Visions come to mind of foraging in muck, half-disguised out of fear being spotted by a neighbor, only to rush home for a shower worthy of Silkwood when it’s all over. But the reality is far more reasonable, clean, and civilized than you might imagine.

Dumpster-diving (an unfortunate misnomer in most cases, as I’ve never seen anyone actually get in a dumpster) is a spectrum activity; you can go as far as your comfort level allows and there are great finds to be had at each point.

Let’s face it, the recession has uprooted a lot people — folks are on the move as they return to college, downsize, look for work, and consolidate households. Objects are the albatrosses in times of change and all that upheaval creates opportunity. After 20 years ‘diving,’ in large cities and small towns, I’ve developed a six-point strategy on how to dumpster-dive safely and effectively. This guide can serve as a primer for newbies and push the more experienced toward even better finds.

1. Determine Your Territory

Selection varies widely between residential and commercial dumpsters. If you focus on commercial areas, look for businesses that sell what you might be interested in and have high product turnover. Because most businesses consider diving a threat to customer privacy and future profits, commercial dumpsters are often secured and items in them damaged or destroyed to prevent reselling. Tread carefully in these areas. I’ve found residential diving to be best around large apartment buildings in established neighborhoods where tenant turnover is consistent and moving budgets modest. Usually apartment dwellers don’t have much storage space or areas to host yard sales, so excess items end up on the street or in the dumpster.

Timing Is Everything

When I lived in Chicago, October and May were always the prime picking months. Old apartment leases ending and new ones beginning create a glut of items weeded out in the transition. During these months, the alleyways in Chicago were veritable shopping aisles full of chairs, air conditioners, lamps, dishes, books, and clothes just waiting for an open trunk. In other neighborhoods, look for estate sales and yard sales — the evening after one of these events usually finds most …