Holiday season is approaching and now is the time that many of you business owners dread: to give or not to give?

I know that it should not be a dreadful decision because holiday season should be about joy and cheer. However, the economy has made it harder to spread joy and cheer around because it means less resources for you to use.

Since holiday gifts means that you have to spend more, it seems that most of you small business owners are coming down to a hard choice of whom to give to.

Small business owners have elected to use their small resources in order to give customer gifts instead of employee bonuses.

The Small Business Administration has proposed to revise its size standards for small businesses.

If the revisions are put into place, more than 120,000 additional companies would be counted as small businesses. These businesses would become eligible for SBA loans and government incentives granted to small businesses.

The Washington Bureau reports that: "The SBA is reviewing size standards for all industries in order to accommodate changes in industry structure, market conditions and business models. The agency's last comprehensive review of size standards occurred more than 25 years ago.

In this economic downturn, charities have increasingly attempted to find alternative ways to help fund themselves. Sometimes these charities have thought outside the box. They have spun off into for-profit organizations that help fund their charitable ventures. But what is so special about these small businesses? They are small businesses that are embracing green initiatives.

As we mentioned in our previous post in Social Media 101, it is crucial to monitor your small business' online presence. But what can you do about what is being said about your business? What can you do to boost online reputation and traffic?

Well we have your primer on exactly what to do:

As we discussed in a previous Free Enterprise post, managing your small business' online presence is pretty important.

According to an avid blogger and marketing guru quoted by Inc.: "Blogging is a cheap and scalable way to talk to interested people."

Small business owners need to be vigilant about what they post on their blogs. If they are not, it could end up in a lawsuit worth millions of dollars.

That is exactly what happened to Leslie Richard; she owns a small business called Oko Box which sells clothing made out of organic hemp, bamboo and cotton.

Sure, there is the 501(c)3 organization structure a non-profit can file as.  But, it turns out there are 30 other types of 501 organizations.  Surprised and intrigued?  Take a look at the list below, as detailed in IRS publication 557. 

Once you've made it through the options, check out the Related Resources for more information on each.  Nobody said the IRS doesn't give non-profits a few filing choices.

With the popularity of terms like social entrepreneurship, social innovation, and non-profit entrepreneurship it is clear that the non-profit sector identifies itself squarely in the realm of business enterprise.  And it's a good baseline to start from because the law views non-profit organizations as businesses too.  And whether a business is powered by revenue or social change, it must complete the needful to hold itself out as a legal entity.  Here are 5 steps to start a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Planned giving, bequests, deferred giving, legacy gifts.  They are all terms to describe the mode of donating through estate-planning vehicles such as trusts and wills.  And during the current economic slowdown when a non-profit organization's donors may be reluctant to submit regular donations, instead of closing shop a charitable organization may want to establish a planned giving program to allow donors to leave a legacy of supporting a cause. 

Here are some things your non-profit organization should know about planned giving:

In the excitement of driving a new business off the lot, many entrepreneurs gloss over the different business organization types available.  This is especially true for individuals looking to start a small business or home-based venture who turn to sole proprietorship as a way to get started quickly and avoid the expense of incorporation, legal fees, and other filing considerations.

And for many sole proprietorships, the combination of insurance coverage, keeping overhead costs low, and generating consistent revenue is enough to survive and even flourish.  However, when the economic forecast delivers storms, small businesses may find making ends meet to be an insurmountable challenge.  And many sole proprietors do not realize that, when it comes to bankruptcy for small business, their personal assets can be seized.

Here are some important facts about sole proprietorship and sole proprietorship bankruptcy that you should know: