In many areas of the country there is a program, administered by the Small Business Administration, called SCORE. The Service Core Of Retired Executives helps new or beginning small business operators to get on track with their management and business operation practices. In some areas they do a great job, others are not helpful at all. You may want to check them out in your area. In some cases they will assign your business to a retired executive who will mentor you during the beginning phase. It would be very rare to find one that knows anything about the particulars of what you are wanting to do, but you should find volunteers that will guide you through much of the legal and operational parts of doing business. To find out more about their organization take a look at the site mentioned below. You and others may find it interesting. Here is a link that might be useful: SCORE

This was linked in my friendly reminder email. Sorry - the numbers didn't copy! It's the sixth rule down. Users of GardenWeb agree to abide by the following: Users are expected to behave in a friendly manner towards others. Differences of opinions are fine, condescending attitudes and sarcasm are not. Advertising in any form is not allowed. If you have a business, please read: Businesses Using the Forums Postings using profanity or that we feel reflect badly on another user, or any class of users, are not allowed. Once posted, you will not be able to edit or delete messages. Messages addressed to or meant for particular users should be sent via email and are not allowed in the forums. Please avoid topics relating to politics and religion where opinions vary widely and feelings can be strong. Postings using all capital letters, excessive punctuation or simplistic subject lines such as "HELP" may be deleted. Shouting above others is not polite. Any posting our staff feels is unduly argumentative will be deleted. Users are not allowed to make solicitations, for themselves or others, nor may they run contests or surveys in the forums. While it is fine to link to a Web site you are not associated with in the context of a discussion, using this site as an announcement service for, or to promote, Web sites or other media is not allowed. Please do not use our forums as a means of publicizing competing forums. Some businesses that have abused our site have been blocked. If you encounter such a block, you must not attempt to circumvent the block. If you do, it will be interpreted as part of a pattern of abuse and appropriate action will be taken to defend this site. Please be sensitive to the fact that this is a business and it would be unfair to use our site to promote a competitor's. Posting merely to manipulate the position of a message is forbidden. Please do not post the same message to multiple forums. We reserve the right to edit or delete material posted to the forums at our sole discretion. Users are expected to use a single identity in the forums. Using a nickname or pseudonym is fine, but it should be used consistently. Likewise, memberships and passwords cannot be shared between individuals. The use of copyrighted material within postings is unlawful and we are obligated to identify any user doing so. If you are copying something verbatim from somewhere else, be sure it isn't copyrighted. Use of this site in order to conduct illegal activity, including but not limited to, the sale or transfer of illegal substances, is strictly prohibited. Users are not allowed to trade or exchange, nor even discuss the growing of any plants or other material listed as a controlled substance by the U.S. government or which is otherwise known to be a narcotic. This site is under no obligation to explain or defend any decision made in regard to the handling of any forum message. Any forum, or forum area, which is inactive for thirty days or more is liable to be closed. No posted material will be permitted to be reprinted elsewhere without the permission of those who posted the material originally. Any messages felt by our staff to be out of place in a particular forum, or the site as a whole, will be deleted at our discretion and without explanation, regardless of whether or not it is in violation of any rule or guideline set forth here or elsewhere. Users breaking the rules repeatedly, or egregiously, will be banned from participating in the forums. Users disagreeing with these rules or wanting clarification of their meaning, or have other questions about the administration of the forums, should address their concerns directly to our staff. Anyone who wishes to make a public display of their unwillingness, or perceived inability, to follow the rules, or who wishes to use our site as a platform to protest any aspect of the site's administration, will be immediately banned from our forums. Users objecting to another user's posting should likewise address their concerns directly to our staff. While everyone is welcome to their opinion, using this site to deride the site itself, our staff or our business, will not be tolerated. Nor will we allow our staff to be subjected to abusive or disrespectful correspondence.

I think it's all depending on whether that male friend found the woman to be attractive or not. Also, it's depending on the level of their closeness & mental intimacy. If a man found a woman who's his soul mate on email exchange, and irl she's physical/sexually attractive, it's probably difficult for him to not falling for her (whether he wants it or not). I have a lot of male friends, but they aren't my soul mates and I'm not attracted to them. I'm there to help then anytime they need me, we are very good friends since we were 18 (met in college) but because we don't have physical attraction for each other, nothing ever happened. They are all married w/ kids. However, I'm very cautious a/b entering a level where a male friend became my soul mate . If I found a man who is my soul mate (understand me, sharing my common passions, etc.) and we are both physically attracted to each other, then it would be tough to keep my marriage intact. I do not want to be tempted, you know, so I don't even go there. Yes, I can be friends, but I don't let any man enter the inner sanctum of my heart :-). Once (before DH) I knew this man from the internet who was my soulmate in every way. We often compared ourselves to Sabine & Griffith who live on parallel universe. Well, we met irl & while he was very physical attracted to me, I am not attracted to him. He ended up being hurt by my refusal & that broke our friendship. If I was remotely attracted to him, we are probably married now. :-) A lot of marital affairs started out as friendship, you know. :-)

Soooooo happy I found this post. I just got off the phone with my mother after a heated argument about my long-standing decision not to have children. Actually, it was just a repeat of the same argument we've been having for *years*. I'm confident in my decision, but I often feel like I'm the only 31-year-old woman in my area code who does not want children. I know there are others out there, but they are completely absent from my current sphere of influence. It gives me such peace to hear that many of my opinions/positions/frustrations/etc on the matter are shared by other reasonable, conscientious, and (seemingly :)) well-adjusted people. For me, the CBC decision sprang from deeply rooted environmental concerns. That angle never works with anyone I know, so I usually defend myself by employing the standard "we're not thinking about that right now", "we might adopt at some point in the future" and/or "we don't think we'd make good parents" non-committal-type responses. This post has armed me with so many great arguing points, I'm tempted to call my mother back. She, too, loves the "childless people are selfish" argument. I always counter with the notion that, if all childless people possess that character flaw, perhaps their reluctance to bear offspring serves a greater societal purpose. Selfish people would most likely be crappy parents. I don't feel as though I'm selfish, nor do I think my friends and family regard me as such. I imagine if I *had* to raise a child I would be at best, an average parent. If Mom's postulate is true, and I am innately selfish, I thinks it comes from the belief that I would be a far more creative, useful person without children in my life-- as would most people, if they were really honest with themselves.