Many of the Self-Employed Are Simply on Their Own - New York Times

Not Only the Lonely Become Entrepreneurs
Health improvements

The small businesses that struggle the most with health insurance may be the smallest of all: those with only one employee.

In 11 states, self-employed people have some of the same legal rights as small companies when it comes to dealing with insurers: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Vermont.

But elsewhere, in dealing with insurance companies, the nation’s estimated 20 million self-employed are on their own.

In Virginia, a state with relatively few controls on insurance rates, Clay Williams, a 59-year-old self-employed real estate agent in Falls Church, said the cost of health insurance for himself, his wife and two sons, had tripled in six years. After it ballooned last year to $1,956 a month, he angrily refused to renew.

When he shopped for a new insurer, one company rejected his 20-year-old son, a student, because six months earlier he had had mononucleosis, a common disease on college campuses.

Another company would have set limits on the coverage Mr. Williams could buy. And it planned to raise the annual deductible because of his age and his noncancerous prostate problem.

Mr. Williams finally decided last May to go with an Aetna plan with a deductible of $8,250 and monthly premiums of $680. Last December, he said, he was notified that the monthly rate would jump 27 percent, to $864, on Feb. 1.

Then, a few weeks ago, he said, the company told him it had incorrectly recorded his wife’s application and was again raising the monthly premium, to $1,020.

Aetna confirmed Mr. Williams’s version of events.

“As an individual,” Mr. Williams said, “I have absolutely no clout. What’s my payment going to be in six years — $4,000 a month?” MILT FREUDENHEIM

Source: Many of the Self-Employed Are Simply on Their Own - New York Times

Tips And Secrets In Diets
EBay Bids For Younger Crowd

How To Become A Productive Enterpreneur

Why You Should Knock Yourself Off.
http://eat-healthy-every-day.blogspot.com/

A very important topic to talk about is how to organize your time when working on your blog or web site. Many readers ask me how I structure my day and it has taken me a couple of months to get to a point where I can function at my peak levels. I will share a few suggestions with you that can really help you be more productive.

Keep A To-Do List.

Each day when you wake up, write down the top 5-10 things you have to accomplish that day. It is best to not do any other web based activities until you can cross off each item on your list because it is too easy to get caught up reading other blogs and forums before getting your own work done. Before you know it, you have spent 3 hours reading and getting none of your work done. If you did not finish an item from your list, carry it over to the next day.

Assign A Certain Amount Of Time For Important Items.

Tell yourself the first thing you will do each morning is check and respond to email for 30 minutes. I know some people think email should not be the first thing you do in the morning, but I prefer to get it out of the way first. You also never know who sent you a pressing item that can help you monetize your site. If you read an email but do not respond immediately, mark it “un-read” so you do not forget that you have to respond later.

Figure Out What You Like Least And Make Yourself Spend Time Doing It.

Sometimes I struggle to write ReviewMe posts and the only way I can get myself to do it is if I sit down and tell myself that for the next 2-3 hours, the only thing I will do is research and review the web site. I force myself to write a review and I go back and proof read it later. Whatever your weak points are, be sure to take the time to do them anyways. They could be valuable to your readers and your blog’s value.

Do Not Check Stats More Than Twice Per Day.

This is a big one. So many people waiste time hitting refresh on their visitor stats and affiliate sales all day. I used to do the same, only to realize that my productivity is so much better now that I only check stats once in the morning and once in the evening. There is nothing you can do to increase your statistics that much by hitting refresh every 10 minutes that you cannot do by checking stats in the beginning and end of the day. Try this for a few days and you will be happy you did.

[Via JohnChow.com] 

Raising “Patient Capital” for Your Business
Using Social Networks
Entrepreneurship Booming in Emerging Economies