News Flash: USA Today names us a "Hot Site"! The Mining Company gave us a great review too. Now if we can just figure out how to get the IRS not to review us... Books of Interest to Independent Professionals (What? You work for yourself and you actually have time to read books?) For press coverage of the recent renaming of our talent agency, go to:	Most IPs know that joining a professional association can help their networking. But what do you do once you join?   Full Story Surely you knew that museum curators can be independent professionals. It's an interesting life, complete with mother goddesses, problem clients (sound familiar?), and a diabetic male cat named... Susan? Don't ask; just read. You can invent a name for your solo business, or simply use the one you were born with. We found that IPs disagree on this issue. Full story A Day in the Life of an IP: When it's hot in the Hamptons, superstar summer residents hire IP landscape designer Elizabeth Lear. Full story   Tips The Great Scott, a magician, is used to stunning children and adults by making things appear and disappear. But not even smoke and mirrors can conjure up new clients... Full story    Tips Taxes and Bombs: Tale of a Dark Night in April At least once every year -- usually in April -- IPs have a first hand experience of film noir.   Full story Just Plain Taxes: You Think You Can File an Accurate Tax Return, Do You? Unless you think like Al Capone, you've probably already filed your tax returns. Still, the question remains even for the law abiding: "Should I have done it myself, or paid a professional tax preparer to do it?" 1099 speaks with three professionals about the pros and cons of each method. Full story April's over, and if you were a good little girl or boy and filed your taxes on time, you can ignore this. But if you screwed up and are still having IRS nightmares, here are our picks of Key Web Sites for Tax Panic.	(ir)regular columns... This week: San travels back a million years to explore the roots of IP-hood and corporate incompetence. Bring your loincloth. New every Friday You call yourself "self-employed," but what will the IRS call you? June Walker explains in her trademark clear style. Client relations and project management (We're looking for a permanent columnist for this slot) (Yep, we're still looking for a marketing columnist. Recommendations? More great letters from our readers: business names, the "desert" of self-employment, and a complaint about... Agency X? Quiz: One of the articles or features mentioned elsewhere on this home page uses this as a secondary illustration: Look at the descriptions and guess which topic it's for. (Click on the illustration to go to the right article.)