DBA Doing Business As Registration

January 28th, 2010

If you are thinking of staring your own small business anywhere in Los Angeles County, you will be required to get a fictitious business name. To register your business name, you will need to download the DBA form, complete the application, and submit it to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office in Norwalk.

When you think you came up with a unique business name for your future company, make sure to do an internet name check here and find out if that particular name has been registered or not. You would not want to register a similar or same business name of another existing company as they will come after you through legal means and cease your new registered name. You also want to make sure to check whether your desired business name has an existing trademark. For example, you wouldn’t want to name your electronic retail business as “Best Buy Electronics” because the name Best Buy is a registered trademark.

Once you come up with a unique business name and has not been registered by anybody, complete the form and mail it in with a personal check. You may also decide to drive down to the Norwalk Registrar office to get it processed the same business day. After the form is submitted, you will get a receipt in return. You must then get the DBA name published with any local newspaper which is a required procedure. Almost all commercial newspaper have a section that displays columns of new DBAs that were registered within that months. Your registered DBA name is required to be published too for a total of four weeks. If you contact the newspaper company, they will instruct you and collect all the necessary information. After you pay the fees, the newspaper company will send you a receipt confirming the 4-week publication.

If you visited the Norwalk Registrar office before, you have probably seen several people front of the office shouting “DBA, get your DBA here.” They are employees of newspaper companies trying to your DBA forms processed and published on their newspaper. They will help you complete and submit your DBA application and immediately get your DBA published on their newspaper at a reasonable fee (haven’t checked their rates). Of course this service is optional and you can also do the DBA registration yourself.

The final step is to mail or submit the newspaper receipt in the office to finalize the registration of your DBA.

Cerritos College Student Discounts on Microsoft Office and Windows 7

January 26th, 2010

All colleges and universities assign their current students a personal school e-mail address. Students can use and access their school email anywhere and anytime. But Cerritos College decided to stop providing their cerritos.edu email address to the students, perhaps it is to cut IT costs.

One disadvantage for Cerritos College students not having a college email address is that they can not take advantage of a highly discounted price for Microsoft Office 2007 and the new Microsoft Windows 7 software. If you visit the official Microsoft deal website at http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx , the Microsoft Office 2007 suite costs only a fraction of the retail price at only $59.99. The Microsoft Windows 7 software costs only $64.95. Both of these prices are for college students only with a valid .edu email address and be enrolled at least 0.5 units.

College students use Microsoft Office 2007 (or 2003 edition) on a daily basis for word processing, checking emails using Outlook, and working on spreadsheets using Excel. Most if not all works are done using the Office software and most likely you want to buy and install Office at your home computer too. Rather than spending couple hundreds of dollars for the Microsoft Office license, students can purchase through the Ultimate Steal promotion and take advantage of the more affordable pricing. And best of all, the license does not expire after you finish school. But you can not transfer or sell the license to anyone else.

You will need to obtain a college email address somehow to make a purchase through the Microsoft Ultimate Steal promotion. Unfortunately Cerritos College students are out of luck and will need to purchase the softwares through the campus bookstore at a higher price (lower than retail price).

Three Norwalk Cities in the U.S.

January 24th, 2010

Did you know there are three cities named Norwalk in the United States. One in Southern California, the other one in Fairfield County in state of Connecticut, and Norwalk in the state of Iowa.

Norwalk, Iowa has the smallest population out of the three at an estimated number of 9,000 residents as of late 2009. Next is Norwalk, Connecticut with an estimated number of 90,000 residents, and Norwalk California with around 108,000. The upcoming 2010 U.S. Census will give us all a more accurate and detailed information like the demographics, income level, education level, and interesting dates.

The demographic differences between the three cities are apparent because of its location and city’s history. The cities are unique in their own, starting with the history of how the city was born, the population growth trend, economical differences, and demographic differences.

Electronic Waste Collection Event

January 5th, 2010

City of Norwalk Electronic Waste Collection Event & Shred-A-Thon

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Norwalk City Hall – 12700 Norwalk Blvd

Social Services CenterĀ  – 11929 Alondra Blvd*
*Off-site shredding truck only – materials will be transported to the City Hall location after the event for shredding.

Dispose of your unwanted electronics (ewaste) and shred important documents for free! Shredding only: Limit 5 boxes per vehicle, additional boxes will be charged $5.00 per box

9AM-2PM
(On a first come, first served basis)

Recycle your computer desktops, lcd and crt monitors, television sets, vcr and dvd players, stereo equipment, video game system, fax machines, printers, toners and cartridges, and cell phones.

Computers and Electronics Recycling Centers

December 22nd, 2009

Check out http://www.norwalkcity.com/2010/01/electronic-waste-collection-event/ for the next electronics recycling event in the City of Norwalk.

Recycling has been a huge topic in the past few years due to the green initiatives and influential films and books by former Vice President Al Gore. Most residents of Norwalk city gets three trash bins per household – black bin for general trash, blue bin for recyclables, and a green bin for plant composts. The blue recyclable bin can be used to recycle paper items (newspapers,junk mails and flyers, magazines, catalogs, telephone books, and etc.), cardboard boxes, metals (aluminum, tin, wire hangers, aerosol cans, etc.), and plastics (even your plastic bags).

But did you know that you can not dump your computer desktops, CRT and LCD monitors, hard drives, ink toners, printers, and old television sets in your black or blue trash bins? These electronic equipments contains hazardous components that is unwanted in a land fill. So what exactly do you do with it if you can’t trash it?

AllGreenRecycling firm has many drop off locations in Southern California for electronics recycling. The website is http://www.allgreenrecycling.com/dropoff/california/ . I called the main number to see if the Norwalk branch is still operating but the operator told me that it might closed now and I was unable to reach them via phone. The Cerritos branch is open and is inside a Verizon retail store. Their address is 13315 South Street, Cerritos 90703. The store has long operating hours and the process of dropping off your electronics are simple and fast.