Eating Right

How well I remember trying to get dinner on the table when my children were young. There was something about 6 p.m. that made it "the witching hour" in our household.

Kids were cranky, I was tired and dad was arriving home from a long day at work, stressed-out and hungry.

If I managed to get something pulled together before we all fell apart, it was a minor miracle. Like Jean Shepherd's* mom from "A Christmas Story," I swear I went years without tasting hot food. And if we all managed to bolt down the calories before someone (possibly me) spilled their milk, threw a tantrum or starting racing around the dining room, it was a good night.

So I really feel for the mom who tried a noble experiment: One month of flash-frozen, takeout dinners versus then one month of "slow food" food.

Her conclusion: If eating real food is to become the goal, everyone needs to share in the task. Working women already do the vast majority of the housework. Making them feel more guilty because they don't also bake bread and make cheese is ridiculous.

Of course, now that my kids are out of the house, I have a lot more time to do things like bake, cook and garden. I've got some broccoli ready to harvest, in fact. Anybody know how to make broccoli soup that doesn't involve cream/milk, so my lactose-intolerant husband can enjoy it too?

(h/t to Paula for the link)

*If you haven't read Shepherd's books, they are fun, light and quintessentially American without being sappy. I'm a big fan.

Good Time to Sell?

If you're thinking about selling your business this year, your timing might be fortuitous.

My Smart Answers column this week talks about the prospects for mergers and acquisitions in 2010.

Tax Day

I'm working on my taxes today in advance of meeting my CPA tomorrow and filling out the dreaded FAFSA college financial aid forms this weekend.

As I begin calculating what I owe to keep our country and state running, I'm horrified to learn that Dodgers' owners Frank and Jamie McCourt paid absolutely no taxes (state or federal) on $108 million in income over five years.

In fact, I'm not sure what's worse: Their tax avoidance or the news that they did not separate their business from their personal financial accounts.

Keeping separate books is Entrepreneurship 101. Even tiny, self-employed startups are strongly advised to keep their business accounts separate from their personal accounts.

These people owned The Los Angeles Dodgers, for godssakes!

We'd never know about any of it except for the fact that they are divorcing and a lot of their messy financials are coming out in L.A. Superior Court. The tricks and traps they used to avoid paying their share of taxes are laid out in Michael Hiltzik's column, which I linked above. It's worth reading, just to get an idea of how tax avoidance is possible - and even legal. (Though Massachusetts is auditing their 2006 tax return, apparently neither California nor the IRS is after them.)

What did all that tax-free money buy? Eight houses, country club memberships, flowers from the finest florists, meals in the best restaurants, travel on the Dodgers plane and $386 a month for Jamie's makeup.

Excuse me, I've got to get back to my receipts now. My deductions are clearly not up to par.

Self-Employed Success

Are you self-employed, or hope to be shortly?

If so, you need to read the tips my expert source gives in this week's Smart Answers column.

These are common-sense, practical things you can do to increase your odds of success, but many (if not most) self-employed people probably don't do them. The tax account thing, in particular, is a bummer.

After 20 years as a freelancer, however, I can certainly appreciate these ideas. And when I think about the failed entrepreneurs I know whose homes are now in foreclosure and life savings destroyed, I'm even more enthusiastic.

They Like Us!

Good news greeted me this morning: The Bloomberg BusinessWeek Small Business Channel (yes, that's what we're calling it these days) has been named a finalist for a Neal Award in the "best website" category. My Smart Answers columns (and formerly my weekly podcast) run twice a week on the site.

What's a Neal? Let's ask American Business Media, which sponsors the awards:

Called “the Pulitzer Prize of the business press,” the Neal Awards are the industry’s most prestigious and sought-after editorial honors. Established in 1955, the Neal Awards recognize and reward editorial excellence in business-to-business publications. They are named after American Business Media's first
managing director, who remained active in promoting the business press throughout his life.

My editors will find out at a NYC luncheon on March 11 if we won. I hope they are working on their acceptance speeches.

That's Awesome

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have been studying the list of New York Times "most emailed articles" for the past six months.

The surprising result: Science articles did much better than expected; among the top most-popularly-shared items.

What researchers have concluded is that writing that sparks a sense of awe is more likely to be passed along.

Awe-inspiring stories tended to be large in scale and to require the reader to view the world in a new way. Once the reader changes her outlook in response to new information, the researchers theorized, she's more likely to send it to other people to talk about it with them or enlighten them.

I doubt that small business advice regularly inspires awe. But any writer who's looking for a popular response probably would do well to keep the awe-effect in mind.

Business Inside

Looking for the business section in today's Los Angeles Times?

It has been moved inside the A section and appears on page A14 and A15. My In Box advice column survives - yes! - on page A14. Today's column discusses women-owned businesses, establishing credit and cutting overhead.