Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages. - H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956) I recently became bit despondent about the state of my business. I felt like I was taking one step forwards, and one step back: every time I earned a little bit more, I was taxed a little bit more. I wondered how the government thought I could ever make it if I just worked to fill thier coffers, leaving little for me and my family to get by on. So I went to discuss this issue with my accountant. I explained the situation, and asked him what he ...

Last night I attended my first speed networking event. It was organized by Digital Eve, who has held two such events in Tel Aviv, and last night's was the first one in Jerusalem. Where? The venue, the Pera e Mela (Apple and Pear) restaurant in Safra Square, was great – good Italian-style food, nice ambience, and an opera-singing owner who did a short piece for us (I'm not kidding!). The women in attendance were of all types and professions, and it was inspiring to meet such a talented, varied and creative group. About 20 women attended, including a handful that schlepped from Tel Aviv. ...

When I began blogging at the end of November, I asked a few questions about whether all the blogging evangelicals were right, and blogging really is good for business. I asked the following questions: Would I be able to keep up with the demands of blogging? Would I find that results from my site will have improved? Is blogging in Israel as effective as in other parts of the world? Here's what I've found in the almost three months that I've been blogging: I started off blogging much more frequently than I do now, but that is not because my motivation levels have dropped. The reason is that I have recently had a ...

A recent conversation on the Digital Eve Israel mailing list brought up the topic of pregnancy and the workplace. While the law in Israel states that employers cannot fire pregnant women, this is apparently not enforced and many stories were related by women on the list who were fired when pregnant or upon return from maternity leave. Many didn't sue their former employers because they didn't have the energy, resources, or hope that it would help the situation. Suing, however, can be effective. An article from Haaretz was cited that reported on a case in September where the court ruled that a company ...

In Part 1 of my series on Self Employment and Maternity Leave, I discussed the technical aspects of getting compensation from social security for maternity leave. In Part 2, I discussed whether it is realistic for a business owner to disappear for three months and hope that the business will still be there when she gets back from her maternity leave. My conclusion is that it is not. Having said that, I promised that I would explain how it is possible to get any work done while on maternity leave. There are two main "environmental" supports that I found play a significant role in ...

In Part 1 of this series, I wrote about self-employed women and the issues facing them when trying to get proper compensation from Bituach Leumi/Social Insurance. However, a self-employed mommy faces another significant dilemma after giving birth: how can you just stop your business for three months? Can you afford to lose clients? Running a business involves more than just getting the work done – it means being there for your clients. Loyal clients are very valuable, and part of what makes them happy is that they know that you are there for them all the time. This is particularly true if your clients are other ...

Our eyes play a significant role in our decisions to buy. There is a big difference between a written description of a product and the product itself in all its 3D glory. Salespeople who play to our senses may be more successful than those that rely on descriptions or texts to make their sales. No one wanted dessert until he showed up with the tray of goodies No one wanted dessert. We had eaten our fill of fine café food, and were ready to ask for the bill. But then our waiter arrived with a tray laden with delicate, tempting cakes and sweets, and asked us if we wanted dessert. When my eyes fell upon ...

Business plans are considered standard fare for the budding entrepreneur. Business mentors and guides will tell you that you must have a business plan in order to succeed. Even if you aren't looking for funding or loans, and even if your business already exists, they will tell you that you must put together a business plan in order to create structure and discipline for your business. But do you really need a business plan? An excellent article on Wall Street Journal's "Startup Journal" looks at some recent studies on the effectiveness of business plans. According to a study recently released by Babson College, businesses that began ...

First of all, I'd like to apologize for the growing gaps between blog posts. Babies are great fun and too cute, and along with this privilege comes a lack of sleep, and a sharp drop in available time for activities other than holding and feeding said baby. Bloggers in the blogosphere all espouse the importance of blogging regularly, but I have yet to find tips on how to blog frequently with a week old baby. So blogging frequency here at illumine blog is expected to drop for the next few months, but I will try to make sure that fresh content is published on a semi-regular ...

I am a big fan of the bootstrapping business approach. I am also a big-talker, since I was forced into bootstrapping by circumstances - investors weren't knocking down my door, and banks weren't handing me cash. I was a bootstrapper before I even realized that this approach had a name. At the beginning of my journey to business-dom, I took the MATI Small Business Course. This is a comprehensive course that covers the basics of running a small business, such as banking, financing, marketing, sales, and more. The teacher at that time placed a lot of emphasis on what were considered accepted business practices: writing a comprehensive business ...