We are happy to announce the opening of our “Free Tools” section of the Small Business CEO website. Together we have gathered a group of helpful websites that offer free management tools and resources for your small business. Feel free to peruse the selection of freebies available.

There are lots of free ebooks, eguides, templates, business forms, checklists, worksheets, free pdf files, podcasts and white papers to choose from. Our goal is to provide you, our readers, with the most informative tools and resources available to assist you in being strong, effective managers and leaders.

According to the Fox Business article posted this week, “12 States Push Laws to Require Paid Sick Time“, some 46 million U.S. workers lack paid sick time.  Lawmakers in 12 states are trying to change those statistics.  States such as California, West Virginia, Minnesota and Connecticut have proposed legislation that would require businesses to provide paid sick leave.

On one hand, I can see how this will become another hurdle for a small business to overcome.  “How will I afford to offer the paid sick time?”  “Will my employees abuse the system?”  “How will my staff cover the workload when employees are absent?”  “Will they give me enough notice?”  The proposed federal legislation would provide 7 days of paid sick time to employees who work 30 hours or more a week.

But on the other hand, I feel that full time employees deserve the paid sick time.  The majority of U.S. families have two working parents.  If our children or ourselves become sick, we should have the opportunity to take a couple days off without worrying about how it will affect our paychecks.   

So I ask, which side of the fence do you stand on?  For those of you with small businesses, how would this law affect you if it become mandatory in your state?

We all know that being an entrepreneur, whether male or female, has it’s many ups and downs with countless daily obstacles to overcome.  I know I may ruffle some feathers here, but as a female myself, I think we encounter more challenges than men.  I am merely speaking from my own personal experience and observations so please don’t hurt me too badly.

You may ask, “What would make you think that?”  Well let me explain; most women entrepreneurs are not only responsible for the success of their small businesses but the majority of household duties fall on their shoulders as well.  They take care of the finances and bill paying, the household cleaning, grocery shopping, washing laundry, cooking dinner and so on.  To the mom entrepreneurs, aka mompreneurs, bless your hearts - I honestly don’t know how you do it.  Makes you wish life had a pause button, doesn’t it?

Believe me, I am aware that some men take on some of these household burdens.  Their wives are very lucky ladies, sadly I am not one of those women.  I am in no way complaining, I actually enjoy taking care of my home and my husband.  I simply wanted to acknowledge the growing number of women entrepreneurs and how hard they work on an ongoing basis.

Fellow female entrepreneurs and mompreneurs can try finding balance with better planning by reading “Moms Can Have It All - They Just Can’t Do It All” by Lisa Druxman.  Lisa is the CEO and founder of the fitness franchise, Stroller Strides.  You can also hear Lisa’s inspiring personal story of how she created her franchise business on the Small Business Trends Radio show titled “How A Mompreneur Created A Franchise From Home“. 

About The Author:  Amanda Stillwagon started her career as an office manager for a 4 doctor veterinary practice but her love of candles and her entrepreneurial spirit led her to launch her own business, Kiski Valley Kandles.  That business introduced her to the online world where she now appears as the assistant editor here at smbceo.com and author of her own blog myfindsonline.com. 

Lately I have been trying to make a conscious effort to make smarter decisions to save energy and live a greener life. We have switched to energy saving light bulbs and unplugged electronics and appliances when they are not being used. My latest purchase of recycled office printer paper got me wondering how small businesses can make their office spaces more eco-friendly.

Low Impact Living has come up with “10 Ways To Green Your Office“. I was surprised to learn from this list that laptop computers use up to 90% less energy than desktops. That is amazing. It definitely will make me double think buying a new desktop when the time comes up again. I may just have to switch to using a laptop computer everyday.

So now I’m curious. Have any of our Small Business CEO readers started making greener choices in their office spaces? I’d love to hear your ideas and implement them into my own office.

Last week I wrote the post, “Candle Wax + Rising Fuel Cost = Zero Profit” and was amazed at the responses I got almost immediately.  I want to thank everyone who took the time out to read and respond to my article.  I took all of your comments into careful consideration.

In response to my article; reader Mark Riffey wrote “Quitting For The Wrong Reasons“ on his blog, Business Is Personal.  I really enjoyed reading Mark’s post written from his point of view and the quality comments it produced. 

I realize from the business side that shutting down my candle shop was probably not the best or smartest choice.  However, I had to make that decision because it worked best for me at the time.  Not to worry though, your comments have given me new focus and the courage I need to move forward. 

About The Author:  Amanda Stillwagon started her career as an office manager for a 4 doctor veterinary practice but her love of candles and her entrepreneurial spirit led her to launch her own business, Kiski Valley Kandles.  That business introduced her to the online world where she now appears as the assistant editor here at smbceo.com and author of her own blog myfindsonline.com. 

We here at smbceo.com proudly thank Caroline Melberg at Small Business Mavericks for recognizing our efforts with this weblog award.  We are honored to accept your kind gesture.

We would like to return the favor by nominating 7 blogs that we enjoy visiting. 

Management-Issues - “Musings on the World of Work” written by a team of four authors.

Bob Poole’s Water Cooler Hangout - Bob Poole discusses the ins and outs of marketing and sales.

Management Craft -  Lisa Haneberg thinks of management and leadership as a craft and explores her passion for it.

Slacker Manager - David Zinger and Phil Gerbyshak come together to discuss all aspects of small business.

Leading Answers - Mike Griffiths shares his ideas on leadership and project management.

The Journal Blog - Dawn Rivers Baker talks about what is involved in running micro-businesses.

Frank Fullard - Concentrating on entrepreneurs and the businesses they start.

To everyone nominated, please feel free to grab your award above and post it to your own site.  It is suggested that you keep the award circulating by nominating your own group of 7 award worthy weblogs.

For the past 4 years, I have had the pleasure of turning my hobby of candle making into a full time business.  Kiski Valley Kandles was born from my own desire and need for highly scented candles that not only smelled great but looked great also.  Let me tell you, it is not a cheap hobby to have.  However, after many trials and tribulations, I was able to begin offering my candles to customers locally and online.  I prided myself in being able to offer great candles at reasonable prices. 

Everyone is aware that when it comes to your supplies, price increases are bound to happen at least yearly.  That, unfortunately, is an expected aspect of business we cannot change.  For my business, the most expensive part of candle making is the wax.  Within the past year, the rising cost of raw materials combined with the gasoline prices for truckers to provide us with these supplies has caused wax prices to skyrocket.  Combine that with increases in glassware and scent oils and my profits quickly dwindled to nearly nothing.  Forced with the decision of either raising my candle prices sky high or temporarily closing, I chose the latter of the two.

I’m not going to complain too much because I actually got away cheaper than a lot of my fellow candle makers.  The wax I prefer to use is a soy & paraffin blend.  Being that my wax is made with a smaller portion of petroleum based paraffin, my prices didn’t increase as much as my competitors who use straight paraffin.  Those using straight petroleum based paraffin saw their cases of wax increase 25% - 30% compared to my 10% - 15% increase. 

Small home based businesses like mine really don’t stand a chance in the current market.  Besides the rising costs of supplies, consumer spending is down; “June Inflation Drags on Shoppers“. Hopefully within the next year or two, things will turn around and I can continue using my creativity to make great smelling candles.  But one thing’s for sure - I’ve learned a valuable lesson here; always expect the unexpected.

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About The Author:  Amanda Stillwagon started her career as an office manager for a 4 doctor veterinary practice but her love of candles and her entrepreneurial spirit led her to launch her own business, Kiski Valley Kandles.  That business introduced her to the online world where she now appears as the assistant editor here at smbceo.com and author of her own blog myfindsonline.com. 

Computers have increasingly become our lifeline to the outside world.  If you use your computer daily for business or work, then you know exactly how important it is that it run properly everyday.  Even simple performance problems can easily result in losing hours of valuable work time or even worse, losing data. 

If you don’t know how to keep your computer in tip top shape; read Celine Roque’s article, “Giving Your Digital Workspace a Tune Up” .  Celine outlines some basic steps you can take to make your computer run at peak performance.  

Posting videos about yourself and your small business has become wildly popular with the growing success of such sites as You Tube, MySpace and Facebook.  From an amateur standpoint, how do you begin to produce a professional video on a tight budget?  Afterall, you want potential customers to see your business in a positive light.

Lou Bortone, guest author on the Get Entrepreneurial blog, offers some helpful advice.  His simple steps to better quality video are outlined in the article, “Five Quick Tips For Way Better Video“. 

One tip I would like to add is, speak clearly and at a slow but steady pace.  Nothing bothers me more than not being able to understand someone because their words are all jumbled together.  Are there any tips or ideas that you can share from your experiences with online videos?   

Working from home, especially with children, can be quite challenging.  Organizing a productive work space and schedule is a definite must.  All Business touches on this subject in their article titled, “Ten Tips for Setting Family Ground Rules for Your Home-Based Business“.

I definitely can relate to the need for an established routine and sticking to it.  Without my daily routine, I find myself neglecting my family and household duties.  It’s important for me to step away from my computer, at dinner time, and not return until morning.  How do you manage to balance your time between family and work?