Ah, fall. There is something refreshing about fall. For students it signals the beginning of a new school year, and for new college freshman, one of the most significant moments of your growing up: Buying stuff on your own.

Yes, gone are the days of a furnished home courtesy of your parents. And fresh fruit and a full pantry at a moment’s notice? No more. Need laundry done? I hope you have some quarters.

Speaking of quarters, going to college without knowing how to handle your money is a disaster waiting to happen. Before you charge that new $2,000 laptop read my 7 rules of money for new college students...

1. Have ONE credit card.

Yes, just one. You don't need any more than one to build your credit.

2. Get a cushion. No, not a beanbag!

Overdraft fees can kill your spirit faster than any sorority girl rejection. Always keep a minimum of $500 in your checking account. This takes mental discipline. Once you've got that $500 in there, forget about. It's like if you've got $650, you really only have $150. Start doing this now.

3. ABU - Always Buy Used

Craigslist and eBay are your friends. Need I say more?

4. Take Daddy's Money, but Remember This...

If your parents are helping you with college, that's great. They've worked hard to help with your schooling, and you should without a doubt accept their help. Just remember that someday (i.e. graduation) the financial help likely should and will end.

Nothing makes you feel more grown up than stopping assistance from your parents and being financially independent.

5. Always be Cheap. You Can be Frugal Later!

Not only is it socially OK to be a cheapskate during your college years, it's often the only way to get by. Embrace your inner cheapskate. Your future, smarter self will thank you for not racking up the credit card balance.

6. Remember, Money Can't Buy Friends

Sure, having a killer car is nice. Always picking up the tab will surely please people. However, once you max out your credit card or your trust fund runs out, will you still have your entourage?

Don't use money to impress anyone in college. You'll just look stupid pretending you somehow "earned" enough at your unpaid internship to buy that 50-inch plasma TV.

7. Set Up a Simple Budget

It doesn't need to be fancy. You can even do it on a napkin in the cafeteria. List your bills each month, and budget out your other expenses. Look at your spending each month and stick to your limits!

Now, I'm off to have a Cup o' Noodles. All this college nostalgia is getting to me...

Last week I wrote about the 7 things I did wrong with my start-up. This week, I hash out what I think I got right.

1. I Hired Two C's - College Students and Contractors

If your business is near a college (whose isn't?) and you're not hiring college students, you are throwing money and good talent down the drain.

For four years in their lives college students are willing to work for the sake of experience, at little or no pay. Give students real work to do, manage them well, and you've just discovered a gold mine of talent that truly wants real-life business experience.

Do you need a designer on staff? For most businesses the answer is no. Post a few small projects on guru.com, getafreelancer.com or crowdspring.com (for design work) to find good contractors. Good relationships with reliable contractors allow you to expand your business quickly on demand.

2. I Worked My Butt Off

Starting a new company takes hard work. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If you're not willing to sacrifice during the early stages of your company, being an entrepreneur probably isn't for you.

One word of caution on working your butt off: Do it with the intention of someday not working like a madman. At some point you'll want to enjoy the fruits of your hard work, don't ever forget that.

3. I Taught Myself to Love Sales

As the leader of your company if you don't love selling your product or service, you're in trouble.

If you have a sales team, challenge them to a sales day. See who can make the most sales in a day or week. Being able to sell your service also keeps you in touch with the most important aspect of your business: your customers.

4. I Got a Mentor

Early on in my business I found an older, more experience entrepreneur to mentor me. Especially if you are starting your first company, I cannot stress enough the importance of having the help of an outsider to give you straight talk about your business.

5. Craigslist Furnished My Office

Bottom line: Don't buy new office furniture. Craigslist has loads of smokin' deals on office furniture, and equipment. With all the mortgage companies going out of business, there is a lot of nice office equipment available right now.

6. I Learned Basic HTML, PHP and SEO

With the ability of the web to make or break many businesses today you need to understand basic HTML, PHP and search engine optimization. This doesn't mean you need to handle the design or programming aspects of your business. You probably shouldn't be doing this, but understanding what is going on is key to making budget and hiring decisions for your business in these areas.

7. I Didn't Stick to My Original Business Plan

Things change. Partners leave. Customers go out of business. Industries can vanish overnight. You must remain flexible with your business. Sticking line by line to the business plan you wrote 6 months ago is called tunnel vision! You must be willing to respond to market conditions and adapt your business accordingly.

Keep your business plan updated and stick it in your bathroom or somewhere you'll constantly be able to look at it and mark it up.

Just missed the list:

I made sure that I was in love with our logo before settling on it. I pasted variations of it all over our office for weeks before finalizing it. To this day and now years later, I still think it was one of the best investments I made.

What have you done right with your start-up?

Like many new young entrepreneurs, three years ago I thought I was pretty hot stuff. I had a few employees, raised some angel money... and then proceeded to make huge mistake after huge mistake.

Of all my business blunders, these 7 are the ones that still make me gnash my teeth.

1) I Managed People like Michael Scott from “The Office”.

Many entrepreneurs are terrible bosses. Some of us simply cannot manage people well. We get stuck thinking that our “one great idea” will carry our business into "multi-millionairedom". While that may be the case on rare occasions, the majority of successful businesses are built by a smart, efficient and motivated group of employees, not just one person.

Growing a business beyond your own skills is vital if you ever wish to sell your company. You can only make so many sales calls in a day! If you want your business to hit the next level, you need other workers and you need to know how to lead and inspire them.

The good news is that this skill can be developed. If you've never had an employee before, try hiring a local college student on a part-time basis to get your feet wet.

Oh, and don't hide out in your office all day. It doesn't work.

2) I Hired My Friends.

Do not hire your friends. Especially in a start-up situation, you do not want to be your friend's employer. Having to lay off a friend of mine was one of the worst experiences I've had as an entrepreneur.

Also, you should almost never be the “boss” from 9-5 and “friend” again outside of work. It's too hard and really an inappropriate burden to put on yourself and your friend (no matter how many times they beg you to hire them!) I wouldn't even recommend going into business with a friend.

3) I Budgeted Like Britney Spears: Terribly.

You don't even have $100,000 in sales yet, so why did you just hire that fancy-pants PR firm? One critical mistake many new entrepreneurs make is thinking that just owning a business makes them a success. Wrong! Fail! Try Again!

An ergonomic chair that costs a thousand dollars does not make your business successful. That big office with a plasma TV and PS3 for your one employee does not make you a success.

Profits and positive cash flow are the marks of a truly successful business. Spending just to look successful or “big time” is what wanna-be entrepreneurs think is success.

4) I Leased A Fancy Office While My Large Basement Went Unused.

I thought I had to have a nice office for my business, even though we never had clients visit. It was a complete waste of cash, my most precious resource.

When you are first starting out, there is no better office than your basement or living room. Your parent's basement is even better: cheap rent, good food, and if you're lucky your Mom might still do your laundry.

Honestly though, for most software or web start-ups there is no need for an office in the early stages. The longer you can go without an office, the better. Investors love frugal founders, so if you plan on raising money for your business, stick to the home office as long as possible.

5) I Raised Money Before I Had Customers.

Raising money with just a “business plan” is not the best idea.

Do whatever you can to launch your business without raising money from outside investors. I don't care if you have to live on rice and beans for a year. Do it. A year down the line when you have a sick cash flow positive business that you own 100% of, you'll thank me.

If you do need to raise money, do so after you've already proven your business even if only on a very small scale. You'll get a much better valuation for your business as well as give investors more confidence in your business acumen.

6) I Mixed Business with Pleasure.

Have a separate checking account for your business. Never, ever, mix your business expenses with your personal life. It's a recipe for disaster.

7) I Assumed Everything Would Go According to Plan.

For the entrepreneur, realistic optimism can be good, but having optimism just to make things feel better can be deadly. If you are unable to see potential flaws or downfalls in your business, you must recognize and plan for them.

Bring in a partner or trusted mentor who can keep your optimism in check. I've seen too many entrepreneurs (myself included) get absolutely crushed when their business doesn't pan out the way they had hoped.

A few other mistakes I made:
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• Not utilizing open source software. Don't pay a web designer to build your site from scratch. Have them install a content management system like WordPress and then have them design a custom theme. You'll save thousands.

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• I “over-planned” my business. It's good to have a business plan, but it’s better to have a plan that you actually take action on and can then translate into actual results and sales.

Next week I'll share the top 7 things I did right as an entrepreneur. Make sure to subscribe so you don't miss it!

What mistakes have you made make you gnash your teeth?

Running a small business is hard work. Between generating new clients, managing employees and vendors, did you schedule a backup of your hard drive?

I didn't think so.

These 16 online resources and low-cost services can make life easier (and cheaper!) for the small business owner, freelancer or startup.

Project Tracking

To-do List: Tadalist.com

While I prefer an old-fashioned legal pad for my "To-do" list, I also use a very basic list online with "Ta-da" lists.

Ta-da List – Basic Task Tracking

Cost: Free

Software Project Management: The Trac Project

If you do any sort of software or web app development, The Trac Project is a fantastic way to track revisions, bugs, and timelines for your project. This works great especially when you're working with a developer who is remote.

Cost: Free

Customer Support

Customer Satisfaction: GetSatisfaction.com

Happy customers return. Happy customers also tell their friends about your product or service.

Tracking customer complaints and feedback is made easy with GetSatisfaction. Not only can users get help from other users, your company can sign up to help users in an official capacity as well.

Registering yourself at GetSatisfaction and responding to customer questions is saying, "I care about you!" to your customers. Check out their company-customer pact.

Cost: Free

Customer Ticket Tracking: helperoo.com

For customer ticket tracking, nothing is worse than getting bogged down in email. Use a simple ticket tracking system like helperoo to help manage customer support requests.

Cost: Free

Freelancers

Finding Contractors: GetAFreelancer.com

Need a new logo or perhaps some fresh content? There are thousands of freelancers on the web who do great work at a great value for your business.

GetAFreelancer isn't as slick as guru.com or other freelance websites, but it's still my favorite. There are thousands of quality freelancers that peruse postings here. Their escrow service is simple and widely used on most GAF transactions.

I've hired dozens of freelancers from GetAFreelancer and had only one bad, minor experience. Overall the quality of vendors here is top notch. Be sure to check a vendor's feedback before putting any money in escrow.

Cost: $3 to post a project

Office Basics

Office Furniture: Craigslist.com

New furniture can be a rip-off.

The good news is that quality office furniture and supplies are always in fresh supply on craiglist.com - I don't think I've ever paid more than $80 for a desk. And I've had some nice desks all courtesy of craigslist.

Cost: From free to dirt cheap

Office Supplies – Staples.com

That was easy.

No, really. Ordering business supplies, paper, post-its, paperclips, toner, whatever is dead simple with Staples online. Just make sure to spend more than $50 to get free shipping.

At least in Seattle they use local delivery services so sometimes your orders show up the next day at no additional cost. Save the trip out of the office as well as get the best prices online.

Cost: Spend $50 or more for free shipping

Financial Management

Bookkeeping: QuickBooks Online Edition

Cheaper month to month than buying a full edition of QuickBooks, the online edition can be accessed from anywhere you can get an internet connection.

Handy when working from a coffee shop or beach, the online edition will seem familiar to anyone who has worked with QuickBooks before.

If you hire a bookkeeper, giving them a remote login to QuickBooks is easy through the online edition as well. Integration with payroll services (see PayCycle below) is seamless.

Cost: $24.99 per month

Online Payroll: PayCycle.com

You do not want to manage payroll on your own.

A cheaper option than a full service payroll service is PayCycle. Once you've setup all your employees, running payroll is pretty easy.

The interface is very user friendly, and nearly all tax payments can be made online. Having knowledge of payroll taxes is helpful here, but as long as you have all the government documentation you need, the setup isn't too difficult.

The monthly fee is for up to 5 employees. PayCycle can also handle contractor payments (including handling 1099's).

Cost: $24.99 and up

Business Savings Account: ING Direct

Keeping your business and personal finances separate is vital when tax time rolls around.

I've found ING's business savings account very simple to use for my business. Opening an account will take some paperwork, but once you've setup your account transferring between your business checking account and your ING online savings account is simple.

Cost: Free. APR is currently 3.15% (Aug. 19, 2008)

Start-Up Resources

Legal/Startup Documents: Docstock.com

Sometimes you need a lawyer.

Sometimes it's better (and cheaper!) to do basic legal documents yourself. Forget paying for generic legal docs, you can find non-disclosure agreements, LLC Operating Agreements, EIN Applications, and more docs like financial projections templates on .docstock for free.

For more useful startup documents check out this list.

Cost: Free

Web

Domain Registration: Google

While Go Daddy is the king of domain registration, the best value I've found is actually Google.

Yep, Google has a little-known domain registration service for $10/year that includes private registration. Private domain registration allows you to keep your personal information hidden.

Cost: $10

Computer Backup: Mozy.com

Backing up your computers is a must-do activity for any business. You used to be limited to ZIP disks and external hard drives. While external drives still have value, automatic backups are a snap using a cheap online backup service like Mozy.

Mozy will backup your system every night and keep the backups on their servers, so God forbid your office burns down; your data will be safe. For a few bucks a month, you can't beat the peace of mind off-site data storage gives you.

Cost: $3.95 + $0.50/GB per month

Cheap Web Hosting: dreamhost.com

Dreamhost has had its fair share of issues (downtime, billing issues), but it's still a great value and dead simple to use. Their 1-click software installers are genius. You can have a new website up and running in 5 minutes.

Cost: From $5.99/month for shared hosting

Website Content Management: WordPress

Use the Dreamhost 1-click installer to install WordPress for your website. Get a custom theme done for a few hundred bucks (hire a freelancer from Getafreelancer). Now you can update your website easily, and you saved thousands by not hiring a designer to build you a site from scratch.

WordPress is an open source content management platform that continues to get better as the community improves on it with each new release.

Cost: Free

Idea Storage: Evernote.com

Evernote is a hot new startup in beta that has an incredible ability to track your documents/photos/audio from the road. You are given an email address to send documents/photos/audio files too. Evernote then organizes the files and can even recognize text in photos to allow faster searching.

Have a great "back of the napkin" idea at lunch? Snap a photo and send it to Evernote. You'll be able to access it from anywhere as well as search the text in the photo.

Cost: Free (40 MB per month)

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Do you have a frugal web service that helps your business thrive? Share your favorite frugal web service in the comments section below.

I love to run… Well, sort of.

You see, running itself is not all that enjoyable. Dodging cars in an urban environment might have something to do with it. It's the "runners high" that keeps me coming back for more, and the more I write about personal finance the more I realize: Successful personal finance is very similar to successful running.

Look at the similarities:

1. Running Makes You Sexy

Being smart with your money is sexy, but a maxed out credit card? Not sexy. A lean body, like a lean budget... that's sexy.

2. Running Requires Discipline

Once-a-month runners aren't runners. Once-a-month frugal spenders aren't frugal. Just like successful running, successfully managing your finances requires discipline. Just like runners will say "no" to that tasty looking piece of cake, successful management of your money means consistently saying "no" to frivolous purchases and other such money blunders.

3. Running Has Big Payoffs

The benefits of running are many. At the end of a good run you may be exhausted, but you feel great. Numerous studies have shown that exercise is as good for beating depression as any pill.

The payoffs of managing your finances smartly are equally as rewarding. Do you want to build up a nest-egg to retire early? Awesome. Start now. Are you looking to save up enough to start your own business? Great, go for it. How about buying a nice home with 20% down when all your friends are still renting? Now we’re talking!

4. Running Can Be Boring and Tedious

Sometimes running is boring… especially treadmill running (which IMHO, is not "real" running by the way). While sometimes tedious, longer are important to a running regimen.

Managing a budget, checking in on your investments, analyzing your credit card statement each month... it can all get a bit tedious, but it’s all critical to gaining an understanding of where your money goes each month. Luckily, services like Geezeo, Mint and Wesabe make managing the details of your finances easier than ever.

5. Running Requires Sacrifice

It's raining... but you still go for a run. You're tired, and yet still get up early to work out. Sacrifice. Sacrifice separates the dedicated from the wannabes. Are you willing to sacrifice now to achieve your goals in the future?

Not Just Running

Many of the examples above can apply to nearly any type of exercise. If you commit to being financially savvy, don't be surprised if your waistline starts shrinking along with your spending!

Can you think of any other parallels between exercise and finance? Please share in the comments below!