There was a front page article in the LA Times the other day about a beautiful resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs called SCORE. SCORE is a non-profit association affiliated with the SBA that employs an army of volunteer purveyors of information eager to share years wisdom and experiences as corporate executives and industry leaders to rookies like us, all at no cost. NO COST, as in, it's entirely FREE (of course you'll have to pay for the workshops and seminars, but it's still cheap, about $65 for full-day events). I recommend checking out their website and contacting your local rep. office to learn about ways to take your small business -- or even simply your idea if you haven't started a business -- to the next level.

I'm already doing it; DressMonkey is now the beneficiary of advisory emails from trade professionals and "how-to" article downlads that talk about the necessary steps for setting up import operations. All extremely helpful, and like I said before, all extremely free.