As a sole proprietor, have you considered incorporating your small business or self-employment activity?

If so, maybe you've been wondering, "Does it matter what time of year I form a corporation or limited liability company?"

From a legal standpoint, any time is the best time. The sooner you incorporate, the sooner you make the move from the world of unlimited liability to the world of limited liability.

Right now is a good time to be getting into the copywriting market, both as a buyer and as a seller. Am I serious, seeing as how we're in the worst recession since the 1930s?

Yes, I am. I'm deadly serious, because right now people need good copywriters more than ever. But as ever, there are a few caveats. The first is don't deceive anyone, least of all yourself, you can perform miracles.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the nature of publicity and how to go about getting it. Here are 7 myths that may keep you from getting the free publicity you deserve.

Myth 1. Publicity and advertising are the same. Advertising is exposure that you pay for. You control the exact message and, if you're willing to pay extra, the placement of the ad.

For far too many years in my business, I struggled with narrowing my specialty and choosing a niche. I believed that fine tuning my niche would keep away much needed business and clients.

I have found the opposite to be true. Now my niche has become more like a beacon that attracts just the right clients without as much effort on my part.

What is a niche? My definition of a niche is a target market plus a specialty.

We hear a lot these days about think tanks. Ever consider one for your own business?

No business is too small to benefit from having its own sounding board . . . call it an Advisory Board, a Mastermind Group or a Success Team. Call it whatever you wish but understand that this concept can be a tremendous catalyst for growth.

Think about the last time you met with other business people and had an open discussion sharing your ideas and concerns about business challenges.

If you are a service provider charging by the hour for your services, you may be trapped in a cycle of under-earning. Charging an hourly or even monthly rate for your time puts a ceiling on the amount of income you can earn.

Your profits are limited to how much time you have available to actively work with your clients. And that time is restricted because of all the other activities you are doing to run your business: marketing, sales calls, speaking, networking, writing a newsletter.

Home-based secretaries are also known as virtual assistants or personal assistants. The function of secretarial services is similar to that of personal assistants. Secretarial services have been around many years before the Internet created the terms virtual assistants and virtual assisting.

Secretarial services and virtual assistants are independent contractors doing contract work.

Many small business owners feel overwhelmed when they face the daunting prospect of getting their online presence going. Everywhere you turn there's an "expert" trying to tell you what you ought to do.

As a coach and consultant to entrepreneurs, I've watched too many of you go astray, so I've assembled my Top Ten List of Mistakes so you can avoid them!

1.