Dell has announced an exciting opportunity to win a brand new XPS 15z laptop with their Treasure Hunt Contest. One lucky winner will receive an XPS 15z laptop computer and ten others will win a $499 Dell gift certificate good toward any Dell purchase of $500 or more.

To win the laptop, simply be the first one to find the right landing page on Dell.com and then Tweet or blog the location. All others who Tweet, blog, or publicly share the correct location on Google+ will be entered into a sweepstakes to win one of ten coupons worth $499 from Dell.

You can also enter the sweepstakes for the gift certificates by sharing the news about the Treasure Hunt itself on your Twitter account, public Google+ profile, or blog.

The first clue for the laptop can be found right now on Dell’s laptop page. There will be seven clues in all.

Happy treasure hunting!

The following is a guest post by Gary Lightman, an attorney at law in Pennsylvania that works with small businesses. 

Picture this: a business world in which all parties always meet their obligations—customers always pay on time, your product always functions exactly as it should, people remember every verbal agreement word-for-word, and no one ever has a difference of opinion when it comes to the status of a job. If this sounds like pure fantasy, it is—in the real business world, customers don’t always pay on time, your product may break down occasionally, people forget about verbal agreements, and people do have differences of opinion. With this swirl of confusion around you, how can you possibly expect your small business to get off the ground? How can you protect yourself from unforeseen issues that threaten to undermine the success of your start-up? In this case, your knight in shining armor is documentation, and lots of it.

The documents you keep as a business owner are your legal safety net. They constitute demonstrable proof that events actually happened, that services were actually performed, and that all parties willingly entered into the exchange. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak—and despite your best efforts, you won’t be able to remember clearly every factual detail of every interaction you’ve ever had with a customer. Not that it would have a legal bearing, anyway; the laws of the land require documents, and if a disagreement ever arises between you and one of your clients, you won’t have much of a leg to stand on if you don’t have any proof.

Some of the most important items that you as a small business owner should be documenting along the way are leases, rental agreements, storage agreements, purchase orders and invoices, contracts for services, return policies, and store policies. As you’re creating these documents (or paying someone else to do it for you), you can’t draft each policy with the expectation that everything in your business will always go smoothly. You’ve got to think about every contingency—every random or unforeseen circumstance that could potentially land you in legal trouble. Think about equipment failures, natural disasters, human errors, and other factors outside of your control that could have an adverse effect on the customer’s experience. Make sure that all your bases are covered, and then put it in writing. By requiring your customers to agree to the terms you’ve set forth, you’re protecting yourself in the event that something should go wrong down the road. If a customer isn’t willing to agree to the terms, they’re perfectly welcome to walk away—which is just fine. It’s better to lose out on one sale now rather than get into a messy legal dispute later, especially if the dispute arose because you didn’t think everything through.

So while getting into the habit of keeping good records can be a bit of a hassle up front, you’ll be ever-so-grateful you did in the event that something goes wrong—and it will.

I’ve recently started watching Shark Tank, a show on ABC on Friday nights. It’s a show where small business owners present their business in front of some pretty big names, including Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks and billionaire), Daymond John (fashion and branding expert, and founder of clothing company FUBU), and Kevin O’Leary (former president of The Learning Company).  The business owners range anywhere from having an idea and no product/business to those who have successful businesses but are looking to take it to the next step with some help from the Sharks. The owners present their business, and then make an offer to the Sharks, usually a percentage of the company in return for cash. The Sharks use their own money to invest if they choose, so the decisions are based on their personal belief in the product, idea, and/or business owner.

What started as a fun show, turned into some free business advice. The Sharks will analyze the offer, and then accept, counter with another offer, or decline to make an offer–and in the process they offer some good general advice to the business owners. Every small business owner could learn a few things from a group of highly successful business men and women.  Whether you watch for the entertainment or to pick out some great business tips it’s been a fun and helpful show to watch. It’s a great Friday evening show for those that like to stay in.

And for now, you can check out a few business tips from the Sharks here.

With the economy in such a downward spiral for so long many people have been looking for ways to make money from home.  Whether they want to stay with their children, avoid the cost of daycare, need a little extra money each month, or are trying to just make ANY amount of money while searching for another job there are plenty of opportunities at home.

While staying at home, some common ways are to make money with online surveys, through multi level marketing (MLM) companies, focus groups, mystery shopping, content writing, EBay sales, Etsy sales, etc.  The list can go on forever and ever.  There is really no end to the types of work you can do from home.  The key is to pick something that fits your personality and work style.

There are thousands of MLM companies in the market.  These companies promote at least one product and then sign people up as members to purchase it.  They get members to buy and consultants to build the business.  They keep adding people underneath them.  Generally there is a requirement that a certain amount of money be spent each month in order for the consultant to make money off of any sales or people that they sign up.  Compensation plans are different with each company and some companies are fraudulent, so each company must be researched.  On the other hand there are many companies that are really well respected, but get a bad name, because people make bad investments into them.  Network marketing is not easy for everyone, but some people really have a gift for it.

Paid surveys are a really easy way to make money from home.  When you find a legitimate company to work for you can build up a good resume through each survey that you do.  Every time you do a survey you’ll build your resume and get more and more opportunities to take then.  Once you do this you start to get higher paying options as well.

Along the same lines of paid surveys comes different types of surveys – these include focus groups and mystery shopping.  With mystery shopping you get paid to go purchase a product or service and ask specific questions of the employees, which are lined out for you.  You then return home and fill out a survey about your experience.  Whether you want to do this for a permanent job or not mystery shopping is a great way to get certain items free or extremely discounted – such as eyeglasses.  Focus groups pay more and you are able to go sit with a group of people and discuss a specific topic, product, or brand for a couple of hours and then you get paid.

If you are a decent writer with good grammatical skills you can do content writing.  You write articles for companies who in turn help other companies to get more hits on their websites through internet search engines.  This is called search engine optimization.  As with other at home work options you have good and bad eggs.  Some companies will send you assignments for good, ethical companies, while others will send you assignments for unethical companies that have a bad relationship with the BBB.

EBay and Etsy are great websites that you can sell used goods or homemade items on.  Customers can rate you and build your clientele respect through good ratings.  Often people will go garage sale shopping and sell items through either of these sites or their local Craigslist or Classified sections of their newspapers.

With all of the many ways to make money from home you should be able to accomplish one or several of these.  Whatever your reasons for needing extra money you will definitely be able to earn some through one or more of these venues.

Starting a home-based business is not for everyone, but if you can make it work for you it can be very rewarding.  Whether you’re looking to earn extra income on the side of your day job or start working full-time from home, there are some things you should keep in mind to help you succeed.

First, set a daily schedule and stick to it! 

When you work from home, you won’t have anyone to look over your shoulder and make sure you’re getting things done.  By establishing a schedule and daily and weekly goals, you can make the progress you need, while enjoying the flexibility of your home office.

Second, set up a dedicated work space.

It’s tough to stay focused when you’re sitting on the couch in the family room or setup at the kitchen table.  If you can have a dedicated office, that would be ideal, but if you don’t have enough rooms in the house, just setup a specific corner of the house with a desk that you can keep all your business affairs in order.

Third, stay on top of your financials. 

There are tax implications when you go into business for yourself.  Consult a tax specialist for details, but keep an eye out for estimated tax payments to avoid a big tax bill at the end of the year.  Keep track of your expenses that may be deductible to the business as well to maximize your write-offs.

You can get some additional ideas from the National Association for the Self-Employed.