Self Employed and Home Based Businesses

In the first blog post for In the Loop, I mentioned that the Business.gov team was looking for input from the Business.gov Community on ways to expand the home-based business and self-employed business sections of the site. We asked for feedback and while we did not receive many posts in the blog article we did learn from the Business.gov Community. So here's what we have learned and how we are going to work to better serve these business owners ...

Business Owners Want Answers

While I did not receive any comments in the blog article, we certainly received feedback on what some business owners are looking for in the Self Employed & Home Based Business forum. So far we have 32 questions and answers logged into the forum ... and still counting ... and we noticed that the business owners are looking for very specific answers to not your average kind of question.

That said ... if you are new to the Business.gov community, fall into the self-employed and/or home-based business category, and are looking for answers to specific questions then we suggest you START with this forum. The Business Gateway team is working to bring in representatives from federal, state, and local government to answer questions you may have.

What's Next

By using the forums to discuss your concerns as a business owner, it helps content managers decide what topic we should address or expand resources for. For example, to answer questions we received from a few business owners on tax deductions, we collaborated with IRS to create a page on Home Office Deductions. In other words, post to the forums and more information is provided.

On that note, be on the look out for posts in our blogs ... Small Business Matters, Business Law Advisor and Loans & Grants Advisor. Every week there are new posts for small business owners on many topics. Case in point, we are currently researching and will post a blog article on Home-Based Business Licenses for the Business Law Advisor blog.

Also, if you have not already signed up for email updates, subscribe to the self-employed and home-based busines owners group to receive emails. We send the latest blog posts, government news and information, and new business.gov updates directly to you.

Therefore to recap, if you ever want to suggest a topic for the content managers to write about, please feel free to discuss it in this blog article or post a topic in the forum.