Attendees of the Women in Charge conference in Miami Beach, Florida rushed to hear Entrepreneur columnist and internet entrepreneur Rosalind Resnick teach the breakout session, The Money Game: How to Get What You Deserve.

“If you want to take your business to the next level, it’s not enough to fly by the seat of your pants,” Resnick said. “You need to do the math to create a profitable and scalable business model and raise the capital necessary to execute your strategy.”

Resnick, an internet business pioneer and author of Getting Rich Without Going Broke: How to Use Luck, Logic and Leverage to Build Your Own Successful Business defined debt financing and equity financing. Debt financing--bank loans, home equity loans, bank lines of credit and the like--is funding you must pay back. Equity financing is selling a piece of your company to investors for cash. They control a percentage of your company and have a stake in the revenues.

Resnick also defined the rules of venture capital, encouraging attendees to study any VC firm they approach as well as learn the merits of the term sheet before signing on the dotted line. She reminded entrepreneurs that a deal should be beneficial to both sides before signing.

Writing a solid business plan that includes impeccable financial figures is key to receiving any funding though, she noted, so entrepreneurs should spend a lot of time on this step. “[Build] a solid business plan with a bullet-proof financial model that can pass muster with even the toughest bank or investor,” she said.

Finally, Resnick opened the floor to questions from the attendees who asked how to connect with angels and investors as well as how much a small business can expect to pay for financial consulting. She answered all the questions and even spoke one-on-one to entrepreneurs after the session. Using the strategies laid out by Resnick, entrepreneurs should be prepared for anything. --Nichole L. Torres

In 1992, a struggling economy was the main issue as Bill Clinton unseated George H. W. Bush. Sixteen years later, with Bush’s son in the White House and Clinton’s wife vying to replace him, it’s still "the economy, stupid." So where do this year’s remaining presidential candidates stand on the issues that matter most to small business owners?

The American Small Business League has expressed displeasure with the candidates' perceived lack of attention to small business issues. However, although the candidates may not directly address small businesses, their stances on health care and tax reform could affect small business in the future.

Both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama favor a general overhaul of the healthcare system that would move toward coverage for all Americans. They would do so by requiring all businesses to either provide medical insurance or chip in for its cost. Clinton hasn't specified what sized company qualifies as a small business, but would give tax incentives for businesses that provide coverage. Obama has defined a small business as one with 15 or fewer employees and also favors an exemption.

On the Republican side, common threads include tax incentives and deregulation of insurance companies. Sen. John McCain proposed policies that would control health-care costs and provide assistance for the self-employed. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s proposed policies would provide block grants to individual states so that each could provide market-based medical coverage.

Of course, no discussion of business and politics would be complete without taxes. Most of the noise on this issue has been made by the GOP candidates. Romney favors lower taxes across the board, including the elimination of estate tax as well as those on capital gains, interest and dividends. McCain opposed both the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts but then voted to extend them through 2010. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose wins in the South have him hanging on for now, wants to dissolve the IRS altogether and go to a national sales tax system on all new retail goods.