Businesses surface when entrepreneurs solve problems. Tiny start-up ventures are built by creative souls who tangle with a bit of chaos to devise solutions. If those solutions attract paying customers and the problem solver can profit, then a business might emerge.

Owning a business is touted as one of the best ways to become financially independent and gain control over your life. Most of those who have achieved financial comfort have done so by owning a business or two.

There is a workplace defrag in progress, and it can be bad news for aging workers who have put off the learning of useful computer skills.

The workplace is always changing, but the most pervasive shift over the past couple of decades has certainly been an increase in the use of technology. As an employer, this means I need computer literate workers in order to survive in the marketplace.

A reliable bookkeeping system is critical to the success of any business. Bookkeeping is too important to be put in the hands of anything less than a professional.

Inexperienced entrepreneurs tend to avoid or overlook the importance of bookkeeping until disaster strikes. Too many new owners hand bookkeeping off to an unskilled buddy or try to do it themselves. This is almost always done to save a few dollars, but by the time the owner digs himself out of the resulting mess, it ends up costing a fortune.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media networking options, and it's laced with benefits and opportunity for small business owners.

A few weeks ago, I was inspired to launch into the world of Twitter. Now, only a few weeks later I have over 1,400 followers tweeting an astounding number of messages 24/7.

Are your prices high enough to keep you in business?

If you're self-employed and providing services at prices anywhere near the rates you earned as an employee, you might be missing some of the deadliest hidden costs.