Advice: For start-ups, hiring a lawyer is often optional

Tax officials — not you — may have miscalculated

Dear Karen: My business received a notice saying that we owe more in taxes. How do we respond?

A big fish in a small desert pond

The Budweiser truck is there waiting when Yousuf Khawaldeh pulls up in his beat-up '94 Lexus.

Triathlon firms catering to growing field of female competitors

Triathletes and next-door neighbors Stephanie Swanson and Kebby Holden used to hate shopping for racing clothes. Too often they could only...

Does a small firm need a chief financial officer?

Dear Karen: I have an accountant who keeps good financial records for my company. Do I need a chief financial officer?

Advice: Should marketing emails have graphics?

Dear Karen: I see marketing emails using pictures and graphics, which I had been warned against. Are visuals effective with today's...

Money flowing into California's small-business loan programs

Money from the federal government is flowing into California's small-business loan programs.

Tax rule that would've hurt small business is repealed

Congress has repealed a tax provision that small businesses said would have buried them in paperwork and forced them to pay for hours of...

Extra tax liability for self-employed workers

Dear Karen: I'm self-employed and make $20,000 a year. The tax lady calculated that I owe $1,600. Can this be right?

More small businesses are offering health benefits to workers

Major insurers around the country are reporting that a growing number of small businesses are signing up to give their workers health...

How I Made It: Scott Hauge

The job: Advocating in Sacramento for small companies. Hauge is president of Small Business California, a San Francisco...

Coffee-roasting brood keeps L.A. ethnic communities brewing

The coffee beans roasted, ground, packaged and shipped out of the F. Gaviña & Sons Inc. factory in Vernon are as diverse as the...

Flying Pigeon LA peddles bike culture north of downtown

On the third Sunday of each month, a dozen or so people pedal out of Highland Park atop steel-frame bikes straight out of the Chinese...

A friend to L.A.'s best old buildings

The gig: Founder and principal of Levin & Associates Architects, a Los Angeles firm that specializes in historic building...

Find new start-ups through entrepreneurship groups

Dear Karen: My firm helps start-ups with marketing strategies. How can we reach them early on, before our competitors do?

Inviting a Wal-Mart into Florence-Firestone

The little tortilleriatortilleria, hidden away in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood near Watts, could be mistaken for a...

Time bank takes root in Echo Park

ANE CRABTREE, a costume designer and stylist, was on location in Bulgaria when a professional chef e-mailed to say she'd be happy to give...

Think chocolate can't get any better? These Willy Wonkas beg to differ

Meet the new Willy Wonka: Timothy Childs is a former space shuttle technologist who's building a 29,000-square-foot chocolate factory on...

Tote-bag firm Gigi Hill is thinking bigger

It started with a $10 tote.

A formula for expanding successfully

Gabrielle DeSantis-Cummings and Monica Hillman are on the hunt for about $250,000 to quickly expand their small company, Gigi Hill, which...

SBA wish list seeks rules reform

For many small-business owners, it can seem as though federal bureaucrats do little more than churn out reams of mind-numbing regulations...