Advice: Ask questions about cloud hosting providers

Electric-powered radio control planes are taking off

When Greg Stone flies his model airplanes in Irvine at Orange County Great Park — fittingly on the site of the former El Toro Marine...

Advice: How work-at-home parents can keep kids at bay

Dear Karen: My kids are signed up for day camps this summer. How else can I keep them busy while working at home?

Small-business advice: Don't face IRS auditors alone

Dear Karen: You answered a question about getting an IRS notice. What if you're being audited?

Operations menu can help eatery's sales heat up

Kevin Reynolds is hoping for a long, hot summer.

Advice: For start-ups, hiring a lawyer is often optional

Dear Karen: I'm starting a business. What can I do myself and when do I need a lawyer?

Small firms learn size doesn't matter to hackers

It took all of three minutes for the hacker to break into the small accounting firm's computer system.

More small businesses are offering health benefits to workers

Major insurers around the country are reporting that a growing number of small businesses are signing up to give their workers health...

Coffee-roasting brood keeps L.A. ethnic communities brewing

The coffee beans roasted, ground, packaged and shipped out of the F. Gaviña & Sons Inc. factory in Vernon are as diverse as the...

How I Made It: Scott Hauge

The job: Advocating in Sacramento for small companies. Hauge is president of Small Business California, a San Francisco...

Flying Pigeon LA peddles bike culture north of downtown

On the third Sunday of each month, a dozen or so people pedal out of Highland Park atop steel-frame bikes straight out of the Chinese...

A friend to L.A.'s best old buildings

The gig: Founder and principal of Levin & Associates Architects, a Los Angeles firm that specializes in historic building...

Find new start-ups through entrepreneurship groups

Dear Karen: My firm helps start-ups with marketing strategies. How can we reach them early on, before our competitors do?

Inviting a Wal-Mart into Florence-Firestone

The little tortilleriatortilleria, hidden away in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood near Watts, could be mistaken for a...

Time bank takes root in Echo Park

ANE CRABTREE, a costume designer and stylist, was on location in Bulgaria when a professional chef e-mailed to say she'd be happy to give...

Tote-bag firm Gigi Hill is thinking bigger

It started with a $10 tote.

Think chocolate can't get any better? These Willy Wonkas beg to differ

Meet the new Willy Wonka: Timothy Childs is a former space shuttle technologist who's building a 29,000-square-foot chocolate factory on...

SBA wish list seeks rules reform

For many small-business owners, it can seem as though federal bureaucrats do little more than churn out reams of mind-numbing regulations...

A formula for expanding successfully

Gabrielle DeSantis-Cummings and Monica Hillman are on the hunt for about $250,000 to quickly expand their small company, Gigi Hill, which...