By Deanna Parmenter

As I sit at my desk to begin writing this blog, I look around and see the various post it note reminders, papers to file, and a lot of junk mail that should be tossed out.  Stacks of envelopes, pens, magazines, and labels finish out the décor.  And I began to think about all the desks I’ve seen at offices all around the country.  Some are very messy.  Some have not one piece of paper on them.  Some face outward, and some face away from people.  Ever wonder what your desk says about you? 

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By Deanna Parmenter

The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of activity for me personally.  My son announces he is getting married.  I suddenly have three more grandchildren born earlier than expected.  My other son will likely deploy to Afghanistan or some other “very friendly” place in the near future.  Aside from the usual emotions one feels at the happy, and sometimes not so happy, events that occur in our lives, we should also prepare for that time when we won’t be around to help our children.

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By Deanna Parmenter Thanks to all who responded to the quiz. Some of the questions were answered correctly by everyone and others were a bit harder. Erin Torres was the winner of the restaurant gift certificate - Congratulations! Let’s find out how you did... Knowing my credit score is not important unless I need to buy a house or car. Everyone got this one right. read more

By Deanna Parmenter I’ve been writing this blog for several months now and I enjoy it very much. But now it’s time to hear from you. This week’s blog is all about you. More specifically, about how much you know about personal finance. Listed below are 12 questions about very common situations that we all run into. But many of us may not know the answers or even how to find out more read more

By Deanna Parmenter Tax time. That dreaded time of year when you anxiously await all those confusing tax forms in the mail and try to figure out how much you owe. Yep. It’s that time of year again. Seems like it never really goes away, especially if you file an extension. I can hear it now. Is it a tax credit or a tax deduction? Can I claim child care expenses this year? What changed read more

By Deanna Parmenter This blog is the final in a series talking about basic accounting concepts that I frequently get asked about. You finally get the call you were waiting for…someone wants to hire you to do a job for them. You agree on a rate and when the job will be completed. Ready to start? Not so fast. Employers do not like to hire employees unless they have to because this read more

By Deanna Parmenter This blog is the third of four in a series talking about basic accounting concepts that I frequently get asked about. By knowing how to reconcile your bank account, you may be able to reduce bounced check fees and reduce your risk of identity theft. Why reconcile your bank accounts? This is how you know what happened to your money. By reconciling your bank account read more

By Deanna Parmenter This blog is the second of four in a series talking about basic accounting concepts that I frequently get asked about. By understanding these concepts, you may be able to reduce your taxes and eliminate some of the work (and fees) done by your CPA at tax time. The scope of this article focuses on retail establishments, but many of the ideas will apply to other read more

By Deanna Parmenter This blog is the first of four in a series talking about basic accounting concepts that I frequently get asked about. By understanding these concepts, you may be able to reduce your taxes and eliminate some of the work (and fees) done by your CPA at tax time. You are excited about your business idea, all of the preliminary planning work is done, and pretty soon read more

By Deanna Parmenter   When I wanted to start my first business, I didn’t have a clue how to market it or get financing or even what rules I had to comply with. Unfortunately, I am not alone. Many great ideas die before they even get off the ground because of lack of knowledge on where to start. The federal government offers a wonderful resource known as the Small Business read more

By Deanna Parmenter Okay, so you’ve decided to start a business. You’ve identified your specialty, have the start up funds (hopefully), and have even picked out a name. Congratulations! Your next step is to decide how your business will be structured. Should it be a corporation? Are you going into business with a partner? Do you want to have total control of the business? And what the read more

By Angela Bickford Originally guest posted on The Work at Home Woman You love being social. You love networking. You’ve got the communication part down, but the media part? Using the various channels? Being tech savvy enough to figure it all out – that’s got you stuck… What can you do? Well, first, give yourself a break. The forms of media and the technology used to deliver your read more

By Angela Bickford Originally guest posted on The Work at Home Woman During my last post, I talked about the importance of social networking. In this post, I'm going to talk about the top 10 mistakes people make in social networking. These will focus mainly on Twitter, Facebook, and blogging, because if you remember, they are my ‘holy trinity’ of social media. As a reminder from my read more

By Angela Bickford Originally guest posted on The Work at Home Woman I’ve been talking to a lot of wonderful women I’ve met on Twitter about social networking, and there’s one thing we all tend to agree on. It’s not about the numbers; it’s about the relationships you build. The best definition I have come across to define social networking is from the site WhatIs?: “Social read more

By Angela Bickford On Friday, I spent the day at the Chick-fil-A LeaderCast. It was an all day event simulcast live to over 80,000 people from Atlanta, GA. I participated here in Cypress, but the event was still amazing. I still haven't fully processed all of the information I learned. The topic was 'Voice of Change' and covered how a new style of leadership is emerging, and how you can be read more