Basic Accounting for the Small Business : Simple, Foolproof Techniques for Keeping Your Books Straight and Staying Out of Trouble

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Excellent book!

If you want to become a virtual assistant, buy this book !!!

The perfect book for new VRA's

If you only read one, make this it

Help to set up new VA Business

The 2-Second Commute: Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants
Christine Durst , and Michael Haaren
Manufacturer: Career Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Virtual Assistant, The Series: Become a Highly Successful, Sought After VA (Virtual Assistant)

The Virtual Assistant's Guide to Marketing

The Virtual Assistant's Start-Up Manual: A 30-day plan to build your VA business

Getting business to come to you

Professional Office Procedures (4th Edition)

ASIN: 1564147924

Book Description

Virtual Assistants work from home, providing everything from administrative support to high-end consulting via email, phone and fax. Predicted to be a $130 billion industry by 2008, they don't commute, they set their own hours, and they get to spend time with their kids.

Wouldn't you like to be a VA, too?

Christine Durst founded the Virtual Assistant industry in 1995 from a basement office in rural Connecticut. Michael Haaren, an ex-Wall Street attorney (who grew up in a log cabin), was one of her clients. Together they launched Staffcentrix, a leading VA training company, and the International Virtual Assistants Association, built the first Portable Career/Virtual Assistant Training Program for the Armed Forces, presented at the United Nations, and transformed the Virtual Assistant movement into a global phenomenon.

Drawing on years of experience training and mentoring Virtual Assistants around the world, Chris and Mike take the mystery out of home-based virtual careers, and help you avoid the common pitfalls, too.

In The 2-Second Commute, you'll learn how to:
* Market the skills you already have
* Overcome shyness to get the work you want
* Launch your VA business on a shoestring
* Use the business to strengthen your family
* And much more!

The 2-Second Commute's self-assessment exercises will help you decide whether the VA path is a good fit for you, or if you need to acquire new skills before setting out. Interviews with successful VAs, VA clients, and telework industry experts will help you find good clients and projects ASAP (and avoid bad ones), and leverage your first assignment toward a foundation of consistent cashflow that meets your financial and work-life goals.

Along the way, you'll meet people who will support and inspire you to do what you, too, may have often longed to do--bid farewell to the rat race, earn a respectable income, and spend more time with your family.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent book!.......2007-07-03

If you could only buy one book about owning your own VA business, I would highly recommend this one! As there are multiple books on the subject in the marketplace right now, I would still highly recommend this one. This is the ONLY book you will ever need - well, maybe one on accounting principles if you don't know any & have no money to hire an accountant! But this book tells you EVERYTHING you need to know, & the questions it asks (or asks you to ask yourself) & the skills assessment it has gets you THINKING about the actual undertaking of starting your own business. Even if you just read it cover to cover (which I also highly recommend) and never do anything else, you will forever think more concretely about owning a business. It's a true eye-opener.

If you want to become a virtual assistant, buy this book !!!.......2007-06-22

I've found a lot of information over the last several months while browsing VA sites, even shelling out a few dollars for information I thought would be helpful. While some of it was ok, I still didn't feel ready to start a VA business based on what I had learned. Nor have I ever felt that paying $$$$ for certification and training was necessary for me.

I decided to buy "The 2-Second Commute" from Amazon. This book fills in ALL of the missing pieces and then some.

Don't spend a penny on anything else related to preparing to become a virtual assistant until after you buy and read this book. After you're done with it, you'll know exactly what you will need to do and/or learn to set up and launch a profitable VA practice that you'll enjoy. This book might just be the only training you need to get started.

Thanks to "The 2-Second Commute", I'll be launching my business before the end of this year. If I had read it earlier this year, I'd be in a profitable practice by now.

Highly recommended - worth much more than the $10.00 Amazon cost.

The perfect book for new VRA's.......2007-04-20

As a new VRA this book helped me the understand the community what virtual assisting is all about. This book can be truly read in just a few hours.

If you only read one, make this it.......2006-08-10

When I had my son, I decided to leave my job as a marketing executive with a "major" marketing firm. After several months at home, I realized that as much as I love my son, I also loved my work and I wondered if there might be a way to balance the two.

My research turned up Virtual Assistance and, even though it didn't appear to be an exact fit for my skills, I thought it was worth looking into. The name Chris Durst showed up in nearly every article written on the industry, so I figured her book was the best place to start.

I was delighted to find that The 2-Second Commute - Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants was not just for professionals with an administrative background. The information was written so that any person with knowledge-based skills can find a path to success in his or her own business.

As a wife and mother, I truly appreciated the Reality Checks & Self-Assessments section. And the Spouse With a Mouse (love that name) exercises are priceless! Durst and Haaren lay out all of the information you will need to start your business, establish a service menu, set your fees (and collect them), target your market, and sell your services effectively.

The resources they provide are fabulous, and the strategic marketing plan template is a God send.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who is working, or would like to work, from home as a service provider of any kind.

Help to set up new VA Business.......2006-07-31

I found the book very helpful in walking me through the process.

Book Description

The Canadian Charter of Rights is composed of words that describe the foundations of a just society: equality, freedom, and democracy. These words of justice have inspired struggles for civil rights, self-determination, trade unionism, the right to vote, and social welfare. Why is it, then, that fifteen years after the entrenchment of the Charter, social injustice remains pervasive in Canada?

Joel Bakan explains why the Charter has failed to promote social justice, and why it may even impede it. He argues that the Charter's fine-sounding words of justice are 'just words.' Freedom, equality and democracy are fundamental principles of social justice. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms entrenches them in Canada's highest law, the constitution. Yet the Charter has failed to promote social justice in Canada. In Just Words, Joel Bakan explains why.

Sophisticated in its analyses but clearly written and accessible, Just Words is cutting-edge commentary by one of Canada's rising intellectuals.

Amazon.com

In this companion volume to the two-part NOVA television special by the same title, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and astronomy writer Donald Goldsmith attempt to cram 14 billion years of history into 300 pages. The result of this audacious exercise is a surprising and engrossing book, one that far surpasses the droning tone of so many astronomy texts. Starting (of course) with the Big Bang and ending with the search for extraterrestrial life, the authors synthesize the results of several scientific fields to present a sort of cosmological consilience. They also emphasize the scientific method and its inherent skepticism as the only way to understand such mysteries as dark matter, stellar formation, and the origin of life on Earth. Although several books are published each year that provide overviews of various branches of science, what's different about this one is the accessible tone of the writing. The authors use mild humor throughout to keep readers going in difficult sections; for instance, when assessing the question of why we live during the rare time when the amounts of dark and not-dark energy are roughly equal in the universe, they relate that cosmologist Michael Turner calls the situation the "'Nancy Kerrigan problem,' in honor of the Olympic figure skater, who asked... 'Why me? Why now?'" Combining 21st-century astronomy, astrobiology, astrochemistry, and other disciplines, Origins is a fine guidebook with which to journey "back to the beginning of everything." --Therese Littleton

Book Description

"Distills complex science in clear and lively prose."—Scientific American Book Club

Origins explores cosmic science's stunning new insights into the formation and evolution of our universe—of the cosmos, of galaxies and galaxy clusters, of stars within galaxies, of planets that orbit those stars, and of different forms of life that take us back to the first three seconds and forward through three billion years of life on Earth to today's search for life on other planets.

Drawing on the current cross-pollination of geology, biology, and astrophysics, Origins explains the thrilling daily breakthroughs in our knowledge of the universe from dark energy to life on Mars to the mysteries of space and time and makes "the astonishing astronomical discoveries of recent years come alive" (Michael D. Lemonick).

Distilling complex science in clear and lively prose, co-authors Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith conduct a galvanizing tour of the cosmos revealing what the universe has been up to while turning part of itself into us. "The most informative, congenial and accessible general look at cosmology to come along since Carl Sagan's Cosmos 27 years ago," says Publishers Weekly. "The tone is informational, aimed at high clarity, and laced with giddy humor…general readers of every stripe will benefit from the authors' sophisticated, deeply knowledgeable presentation. If the casual book buyer purchases one science book this year, this should be the one." 32 pages of color illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Good Overview.......2007-08-23

This is the best summary of our cosmic history, written for the intelligent laymen. Dr. Tyson is a master at bringing things down to a intellectually respectable level without resorting to baby talk.

Origins Review.......2007-07-03

Highly recommend. Prof. Tyson is good teacher, and despite his position and impressive curriculum vitae, personally responded to some questions that arose from reading the book. Inspirational topic and author.

A science masterpiece! Breaks new ground in presentation of material........2007-05-06

Here it is about 10 years since Carl Sagan passed away, and we are now being treated to works by Neil deGrasse Tyson. I believe that Tyson can be mentioned in the same breathe as Sagan without suffering by the comparison.

If you are a science fan, you owe it to yourself to read this one. There is an economy, style and comprehensiveness here that appear flawless. The Hundred Greatest Stars Reading the Mind of God Cosmos Horizons: Exploring the Universe (with TheSky CD-ROM, AceAstronomy?, and Virtual Astronomy Labs)

How it all began.......2007-04-22

Imagine a time in the future when space travel is perfected: you can zip between the stars in a day, rather than the millennia it would currently take. You decide to go on a "road" trip and tour the Milky Way. Even with super fast travel, if you visited only one star per day, it would still take you millions of years to complete your tour. And that's just the Milky Way; if you wanted to see the whole universe, a trillion years wouldn't be enough. The universe is that big and has that much stuff in it; more stunning is that all the stars and planets take up only a very small fraction of the total space. The cosmos is an awesome place and Origins by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith discusses how it all began and what our place is in this vastness.

Logically enough, the book pretty much starts at the beginning, namely at the Big Bang. Actually, it starts slightly later, when the universe was 10 to the minus 43 seconds old; before that, things are shrouded in mystery. From there, we see how the universe evolved, from a haze of pure energy and subatomic particles to one where matter, well...mattered. We then read of the formation of galaxies, then of stars and planets, and finally of life itself.

Are all the answers known? No, of course not, but certain theories have been dismantled (such as the steady state theory of the origin of the universe), others are still sketchy (like how the Earth and other planets formed and a few are really speculative (like how much intelligent life there is beyond the Earth). Somehow, though, the fact that there are still mysteries out there is more pleasantly tantalizing than frustrating.

There can be alternate explanations involving supernatural entities which may provide simpler answers but are not really theories as they cannot pass scientific scrutiny. Tyson and Goldsmith touch on these alternatives, but mainly just on their inadequacy from a scientific standpoint. That is to say, if you believe in "creation science", this is probably not the book for you.

If you have read a lot about astronomy and cosmology already, such as Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, then Origins will not offer much that you don't already know. This book is designed more for the layperson whose knowledge of these fields is more limited. On the other hand, the authors write with a lot of wit and clarity, so even if you know most of the information within, it is presented in a refreshing enough manner to still make it worth your while.

Excellent Book.......2007-03-14

I am a recently graduated high school student, going on to university in September. I am by no means a physicist or astronomer.

This book has done an incredible job of describing the known universe in the simplest way possible to me. It is full of information, lucidly written and definitely a starting point for anyone interested in the subject. Both quantum theory and physics of space are excellently dealt with in this book, and I strongly recommend it, for anyone mildly interested.

Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution

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Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution
Donald Goldsmith , and Neil deGrasse Tyson
Manufacturer: W. W. & Company, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0681106875

Product Description

Origins explores cosmic science's stunning new insights into the formation and evolution of our universeof the cosmos, of galaxies and galaxy clusters, of stars within galaxies, of planets that orbit those stars, and of different forms of life that take us back to the first three seconds and forward through three billion years of life on Earth to today's search for life on other planets. Drawing on the current cross-pollination of geology, biology, and astrophysics, Origins explains the thrilling daily breakthroughs in our knowledge of the universe from dark energy to life on Mars to the mysteries of space and time. Distilling complex science in clear and lively prose, co-authors Neil deGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith conduct a galvanizing tour of the cosmos revealing what the universe has been up to while turning part of itself into us. 32 pages of color illustrations.

Average customer rating:
Absorption Spectroscopy of Organic Molecules (Addison-Wesley series in chemistry)
V.M. Parikh
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley Longman Publishing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General & Reference | Chemistry | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0201057085

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Absorption Spectroscopy of Organic Molecules
V.M. Parikh
Manufacturer: Mehta Publishing House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 8177663151

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Absorption Spectroscopy of Organic Molecules
V.M. Parikh
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley Longman Publishing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLF6CM

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Extinction coefficients of triplet-triplet absorption spectra of organic molecules in condensed phases, a least-squares analysis (Reprint no. 322 from Journal of physical and chemical reference data)
Ian Carmichael
Manufacturer: American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Physics for the National Bureau of Standards
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B000716H7M

Average customer rating:
Reprint no. 288 from Journal of physical and chemical reference data
Ian Carmichael
Manufacturer: American Chemical Society and the American Institute of Physics for the National Bureau of Standards
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00070ONKG

Book Description

"A remarkable achievement by any measure…. [Gould] is a writer of great natural wit, and his sophistication and learning range far beyond…biology."—Chicago Tribune

Ever Since Darwin, Stephen Jay Gould's first book, has sold more than a quarter of a million copies. Like all of Gould's succeeding collections, it brings the art of the scientific essay to unparalleled heights. Its genius? Gould's ability to use his knowledge of the world, including popular culture, to illuminate science. 15 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

His first essays were his best.......2004-05-25

This book offers a dazzling tour of Darwiniana, often as straight history but always in the form of essays for (Natural History Magazine) that are digestible in one sitting. Gould's writing is so masterful and clear that it is simply stunning to read. Gould comes across as a great humanist, respectful of the points of view of others - even the Creationists - and erudite in only the way a lover of knowledge can be. I have studied his writing style for years: it is elegant, spare yet sensual, and continually reformulates ideas is new ways, that is, rarely repetitive. Unlike his later essays, which covered quirkier details in increasingly lugubrious attempts to get at the broader notions he cherished, these essays are fresh and light, in my view amoung the best of the entire series.

As an introducer of popular notions and as a scientist, I believe that Gould will be remembered as a genius. I think he was one of the great essayists of the 20C. Warmly recommended.

Trying to make the ineffable understandable.......2002-09-28

Jill had been trying to get me to read Gould for over a year. She subscribes to Natural History and so had a fresh dose every month to tackle me with. And I'm not sure of my reluctance. Jill would say that it's because I'm reluctant to do anything that she wants me to do--I'm not ready to admit that (I certainly hope that that's not true!). I think it may have been that I didn't want to add Natural History to my voluminous stack of stuff yet to read-- cleverly forgetting, if I had ever truly realized it, that Gould's column was collected, and continuously being collected, in a series of volumes, of which this one is the first. Maybe I just wanted to start from the beginning.

It's a good thing that Jill had introduced me to some later Gould, because this, while genuinely entertaining, and definately intellectually stimulating, is a rougher mix. Gould has grown as a writer (and probably as a scientist) since originally starting his column.

This isn't a book to try to read at one sitting (I think it's been at my bedside for the last year) because it is thick and meaty. While Gould attempts to write at a level that a layman can understand, he doesn't simplify things. It's a tough slog through some of these essays, but always worth the effort. I've got the next volume by the bedside now, and I look forward to growing with Gould.

Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History.......2002-06-19

Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould is a collection of essays, his first, that brings together his knowledge, wit and intellectual musings to the art of writing a scientific essay as no other can.

There are 33 essays in the tome that are unparalleled and are far beyond any of his contemporaries, but brought to us by his unmatched ability, so the common man can understand his intrinsic intuitive profundity.

Gould brings us essays on Darwiniana, Human Evoution, Odd Organisms and Evolutionary Exemplars, Patterns and Punctuation in the History of Life, Theories of the Earth, Size and Shape, from Churches to Brains to Planets, Science in Society-- a Historical View, The Scince and Politics of Human Nature. All of these are thought provoking with a sophistication unmatched in the realm of science today.

As we read on in the book, we see the knowledge brought to us. Can we who read this comprehend both the lessons and the limits of scientific understanding here? Gould brings us his thoughts, as we read, I can only wonder and learn. This is a remarkable achievement.

Stephen Jay Gould's First Great Natural History Essay Tome.......2001-12-25

All of Stephen Jay Gould's admirable traits as a splendid scientist, fine historian of science and gifted writer are prominently on display in this elegant collection of essays; the first of many he published from his celebrated essay column "This View Of Life", which was published for over twenty five years in Natural History, the popular journal of the American Museum of Natural History. Gould brilliantly illustrates the explanatory power of Darwin's theory of evolution via natural selection, discusses some of the most fascinating discoveries from a fresh, more mathematically rigorous, approach to paleontology to which he, himself, contributed, and ruminates on the sociology of science in one exceptional essay after another. He does this in engaging, often lyrical, prose, in which he draws analogies from literature, film and baseball to make his cogent points. Anyone who enjoys great writing, especially on science, won't be disappointed with this tome nor the rest in Gould's essay collection series.

The intriguing essays about science and social values.......2001-11-22

One can argue that no scientific theory has caused more controversies than Darwin's theory. Not to mention the history of the conflicts between religious beliefs and the evolutionary theory, many people today still have trouble accepting it, no matter how all the evidences appear to favor the theory.

Ever Since Darwin by Stephen Jay Gould, however, is not a mere collection of praise songs for the triumph of science. In his essays, Darwinian interpretations of evolutionary biology are illuminated in light of the (enjoyable, at least for us) struggles of those thinkers of conflicting theories. Through citing rich evidences in the history of evolutionary biology, Gould emphasizes the inevitability of having human bias in scientific process.

This is a kind of book that I strongly recommend to students who tend to develop a misconception that science exists only to make their academic experience at school painful. Textbooks do not teach science as much as Gould's essays do. Why?

Science often tends to be seen as the culmination of the infallible facts and evidences deriving from perfectly logical thinking by a few great minds. Gould provides numerous examples to show this is not really the case. In fact, you learn that scientists, who are supposed to thrive for objectivity, suffer quite often from their own agenda and intellectual bias. It is as much a creative, human activity as art and literature, and Gould's excellent essays illuminate that endeavor, not just the bits of accepted facts to regurgitate. All this is done via the discussions of various interesting topics from a baby fly eating its own mother to the dubious attempts to link biological findings to justify racial inequality.

The only thing I fear about this great work is that it will inevitably be dated, having written during 1970s. Nevertheless, the essence of Gould's writing should not be tarnished by newer discoveries. After all, Gould's point is to illuminate science as a dynamic activity.

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Ever since Darwin : reflections in natural history
Stephen Jay Gould
Manufacturer: London; Andre Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0233970525

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wonderfully interesting

Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History
Stephen Jay Gould
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RUNGT0

Customer Reviews:

wonderfully interesting.......2007-10-03

I read this book while traveling around the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador where Darwin made his collections to support On the Origin of Species. I found this group of essays to be very provocative in its applications of darwin's ideas on natural phenomena, written by one of evolutions greatest advocates.

Ever since Darwin : reflections in natural history

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Ever since Darwin : reflections in natural history
Stephen Jay Gould
Manufacturer: London; Andre Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ3S2W

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Ever Since Darwin. Reflections in Natural History.
Stephen Jay. GOULD
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OFVIFM

Book Description

Skulking in the caves along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the world's most wanted terrorist passes his days playing Monopoly, watching The Simpsons and Sex in the City, safeguarding his tub of yoghurt from a thieving comrade, phoning Mummy in Saudi Arabia, planning his Memorial Library, and fantasizing about having a passionate affair with either Laura Bush (with whom he is totally besotted), Cherie Blair or, should all else fail, the wife of his best friend.

Bin Laden also has to cope with the stress of being hunted by US Special Forces, preventing his deputy from taking over as leader of al-Qaeda, fearing that he looks Jewish, and filming new video releases for his enemies. When he's not popping Valium, he spends time wondering if his arch enemy in the White House is as stupid as he seems—and deciding that he is.

This book—a fascinating mix of fact and fiction—shows bin Laden obsessing about internet pornography (using such sites to send encrypted messages), watching the Athens Olympics (which he doesn't bomb because he's desperate to see Ian Thorpe and the synchronized swimming), and even dreaming of one day eating at the Carnegie Deli and shopping at Neiman-Marcus.

Customer Reviews:

He who laughs last..........2006-04-13

If the man himself ever gets to read this book, it's going to upset him far more than any of the comments about him from the likes of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice. Because no one likes to be laughed at, and this book laughs at him long and loud. Fact is, if you want revenge on all the terrorists around the world, especially bin Laden and his overworked 'palm tree', then buy this book. It makes the whole lot of them look ridiculous - and that's no bad thing!

Diary farce.......2006-04-12

Great read. The diary really proves the power of comedy to undermine extremist views and dogmatism.

Satire at its best.......2006-04-12

This diary is an dexterous satire on Osama bin Laden with a great sense of absurdist humor. It does for bin Laden what the film THE LIFE OF BRIAN did for the legend of Jesus. I read it in one sitting, and am still chuckling when I recall scenes: bin Laden's obsession with Laura Bush; his fixation with pornography; his narcissism; his fascination with American TV series such as SEX IN THE CITY and the SIMPSONS.
A wickedly funny read!

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