We are pleased to introduce a new premium membership that offers business owners a selection of sophisticated premium services at significant savings.

The premium membership was created to answer the demand among the growing number of small business start-ups. According to U.S. News and World Report, the rate of self-employment among non-agricultural workers has actually increased in the midst of the current recession, rising from 6.2 percent in January 2009 to 6.6 percent in June.

This reflects a consistent trend wherein recessions actually encourage people to go into business for themselves. For these new and growing companies, access to the latest tools and services is essential for survival. Yet, for many of the country's 9.1 million self-employed, services such as press release distribution and search engine optimization have proven to be cost-prohibitive.

Business Owner's Toolkit^® Premium Membership offers those and a number of other services to small businesses for a $39 annual membership fee. Premium Membership provides small business owners with affordable access to tools that can help their business succeed.

Premium Services

Premium members can choose any three of eight premium services. At the end of 12 months, members can retain the selected services or choose new ones, providing flexibility as business needs change. The services are:

• Toolkit 411-Small Business Assistance is an email-based help service that allows business owners to pose questions to a business expert.
• SEO Audit and Consultation evaluates and documents the strengths and weaknesses of a business's website.
• Financial Planning Toolkit provides access to extensive personal financial planning resources, including information, online calculators and downloadable tools.
• Toolkit Publicity Pack is a turnkey service to help business owners draft and distribute press releases.
• Toolkit Business Book Library, which allows business owners to pick three of eight easy to understand how-to business books.
• Legal Forms Library provides access to 49 forms and guides.
• Corporate Forms Library providing 100 forms to help keep businesses compliant.
• Government Forms Library providing access to over 40,000 federal and state forms.

About Business Owner's Toolkit^®

The Business Owner's Toolkit^® has been helping small businesses with problem solving since 1995. The site offers more than 5,000 pages of free and premium content, including cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates.

It has been reviewed favorably by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. PC Computing named it a "Top Five Small Business Site" and Entrepreneur named it one of the "Top 100 Supersite for Entrepreneurs." Toolkit Media Group is headquartered in Riverwoods, Illinois and is part of Wolters Kluwer, a leading multinational publisher and information services company.