Marketing consultant Paige Arnof-Fenn writes about her experiences of Tai Chi and Qigong on Entrepreneur.com - Eastern Arts that help strengthen the mind and body.

The principles of these martial arts can be applied to the daily life of an entrepreneur.

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It's that taxing time of year again.

Many small business owners find themselves asking this question.

"My new business did well last year. The only unpleasant result is that I just had my tax return prepared and I owe a good deal. What can I do this year to avoid paying a hefty bill next time around?"

BusinessWeek has the answers.

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From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: This might seem like a bad time for the owner of a small or midsize business to try to get top dollar selling their company.

With the national economy faltering, plenty of potential buyers are uncertain of what's ahead, and that's likely to factor into their offering prices. Meanwhile, credit markets have tightened up over the last year, increasing the costs to finance a purchase.

But three local investment bankers — whose companies make money helping owners sell businesses — see reasons why deals still might go through. And they have advice for business owners thinking about how to do it.

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From Businessweek: A restaurant's nationwide expansion offers entrepreneurs in other industries lessons on how to determine the right place for their own businesses.

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Business Link in London has just launched a programme of events for April to June.

Events in April include:

'Win Win Negotiation': a course aimed at honing your negotiating skills. When? 22 April. Where? Central London.

'Marketing on a Small Budget': understand how to improve your marketing activity and get more mileage from your small marketing budget. When? 24 April. Where? North London.

'Understanding Finance and Funding for Your Business': This workshop will introduce financial planning, where to find finance and funding and how to access it. When? 29 April. Where? Central London.

'Networking Plus': When? 30 April. Where? Central London.

There are 14 marketing trends that you should be aware of.

That’s the gist of a new book by Seth Godin, marketing guru and best-selling author.

In Meatball Sundae, Seth explains what to do about the increasing power of stories as opposed to facts, how attention spans are becoming ever shorter, and about how five thousand people who want to hear your message are more valuable than five million who don’t.

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Tony Wright talks to BusinessWeek and provides some tips on running a successful web business in addition to your day job.

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From Timesonline: Your personality type can define the character and direction of your business, for better or worse, according to Matthew Bayfield, partner of consumer psychology and market research firm Tree.

Identifying what type you are can help you structure your business to play to your strengths and mitigate your weaknesses.

Tree has identified nine personality types, and while they can all be entrepreneurs, some will flourish more than others.

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Michael Dell is to the computer world what fast-food is to lunch — except higher quality.

He makes darn good PCs and sells them like hot cakes, with whatever toppings you want, pronto.

One of the business world’s most straightforward thinkers, Michael Saul Dell, born 23 February 1965 in Houston, Texas, began selling PCs in 1984 from his university dorm in the ‘go get ‘em’ style typical of the decade.

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Prepare for new regulations, says Business Link.

6 April 2008 is the first Common Commencement Date of 2008, a twice yearly event when Government introduces new regulations and makes amendments to existing ones.

Business Link, the free business advisory service, encourages people running a business to visit www.businesslink.gov.uk/ccd regularly in order to keep on top of changes.

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Businessweek's finance columnist offers a what-not-to-do list for small business owners facing tough times.

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From The Times: Businesses face an extra £600 million in tax from today's Budget, accountants calculate, despite decreases in the corporation tax rate and moves to encourage investment in start-up companies.

The Chancellor said that the corporation tax rate would fall from 30 per cent to 28 per cent, making it the lowest rate in the G7 group of nations, from April. This follows cuts to the tax, which is paid on all companies' profits, in 1997 and 1999.

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From the Telegraph: Women and the over-50s are being targeted in a new government drive to increase the number of people starting up and growing their own businesses.

The Treasury is investing £12.5m in a venture capital fund that will back women-owned businesses and provide support.

It is also piloting new women-only business advice based in children's centres and is planning a national mentoring network for women.

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Small business owners in the US are going to delay retirement thanks to the current financial squeeze, according to the results of the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index survey.

The results showed that only 11 percent of small-business owners say they want to retire at all. Nine in 10 say they are happy with what they do - with 58 percent saying they are very or extremely satisfied with their work.

"In other words, small-business owners overwhelmingly like what they do," Gallup said.

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Entrepreneurs need to take time to research their options before investing in a franchise, says Michael Roberts, who heads franchise services at public accounting firm Horne LLP.

In the Wall Street Journal he advises prospective franchisees to review the documents of competing franchises, look for the percentage of franchise turnover in the past three years, examine any lawsuits against the franchiser and compare fees charged to franchisees.

Click here to read the full article. 

The Manchester Evening News has an interesting piece today exploring whether the budget is likely to be good for business.

They've canvassed the views of a range of solicitors, accountants and prominent business people on this issue.

Click here to read the article.

From The Baltimore Sun: When creating a new business, some budding entrepreneurs look to established franchises as a way to get started.

Consider McDonald's, Jenny Craig, Blockbuster. These are just a few of the well-known franchise brands. But gaining access to sell for such big names will cost you: Initial franchise fees in the tens of thousands and annual royalties are just a few of the things you'll pay in exchange for tested business plans, marketing muscle and the right to sell already recognized products.

So how do you know if franchising is right for you and if it will appeal to your entrepreneurial creativity?

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Personality can be more important in leaders than technical ability, according to one leadership expert.

John Fay MBE, who founded change management firm SFL in 2003, said softer skills will become key in future years as employers focus on people skills alongside paper qualifications.

"You only have to look at national positions to see how social abilities can reign over intellectual skills,” says Fay.

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From the BBC: Two million e-mails are sent every minute in the UK. That is almost three billion each day. But what is the real cost of this information overload?

We can spend up to half our working day going through our inbox, leaving us tired, frustrated and unproductive.

A recent study found one-third of office workers suffer from e-mail stress.

And it is expensive, too. One FTSE firm estimated that dealing with pointless e-mails cost it £39m a year.

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