Revving Up to Use an Online Search Engine

Q. I want to represent aromatherapy products to wholesalers and retailers and would like to research this industry using the World Wide Web. I don’t know what search engine to use or the correct way to word the search request. Any advice you could give me would be helpful.

--James J. Mitchell, Long Beach

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A. My first choice for a search engine is Yahoo (https://www.yahoo.com), a service that focuses on business resources and provides category listings that will make your search easier and more efficient. When you get to Yahoo’s Web page, simply type “aromatherapy” into the search request line and you will get several categories of information that you can pursue.

One of them, Business and Economy: Companies, will probably lead you to lists of wholesalers and retailers, suppliers, information on industry trade shows, etc.

Yahoo has concentrated on making its categories in-depth, fast and easy to use. It also provides a laundry list of links that will take you to other sites that may offer more information on this industry.

If I can’t find what I’m looking for at Yahoo, I go to the bottom of the Yahoo page and find its links to AltaVista and HotBot, other large search engines. If you click on those, you will automatically get searches of the same word you’ve chosen in Yahoo.

--Peter Benjamin, freelance Web consultant, Marina del Rey

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Q. I have come across a number of situations that I’ll call “stealth ventures,” in which one or more would-be entrepreneurs need to keep their day jobs and fear they might be terminated if word got back to management that they are involved in mailings and discussions with investment funding sources. Is it acceptable to use an alias and a generic description for work references in a business plan?

--Patricia O’Leary Rosenberg, Rosenberg Public Relations, Tustin

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A. My advice would be to tell your clients to be upfront about their plans. As long as they are doing mailings and business plans on their own time--and not on their employer’s time--they are free to pursue any deals they want. Of course, if someone is using the employer’s telephone, stationery or postage to pursue a business venture on company time, that would be stealing.

Also, if an employee is interested in starting a business that will directly compete with his employer, he may have an ethical problem and, if he’s signed a confidentiality agreement, he may be at risk for legal problems.

But I believe that if an employee is doing a good job at his current place of employment and he’s planning to start his own business in a field that is not directly competitive, he has nothing to worry about. If he tells his boss what he plans to do, stressing that this venture will not hinder his good performance at work, he may find that his boss will become a resource and mentor for him. Eventually he and his former employer may be able to form strategic partnerships and alliances that will be very helpful to both of them.

In reality, most people don’t know their next-door neighbors, let alone people who work in other industries, and unless an employee is pursuing funding in the same industry as his employer, his activity is very unlikely to get back to the boss. But I believe that when someone is honest and open, he is likely to get more out of business and life in general than if he tries to hide. And something that is dropped in the mail anonymously is not likely to be taken very seriously, anyway.

--Barry Allen, executive director, Consumer Business Network Inc., Newport Beach