Small Business Encyclopedia
Letter: O

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

A federal agency that oversees the federal laws requiring employers to provide employees with a workplace free from hazardous conditions

Online Advertising

Internet advertising whose goal it is to drive customers to your website or location(s), or to make a call regarding your products or services

Online Auctions

Virtual auctions on the internet. The seller sells the product or service to the person who bids the highest price. For sellers, online auctions open up new sales channels for new products and offer buyers favorable purchasing conditions.

Operating Expenses

The selling and general and administrative expenses incurred by a business

Outdoor Advertising

Any advertising done outdoors that publicizes your business's products and services. Types of outdoor advertising include billboards, bus benches, interiors and exteriors of buses, taxis and business vehicles, and signage posted on the exterior of your own brick-and-mortar location.

Outsourcing

The practice of having certain job functions done outside a company instead of having an in-house department or employee handle them; functions can be outsourced to either a company or an individual

Overhead

The indirect costs or fixed expenses of operating a business (that is, the costs not directly related to the manufacture of a product or delivery of a service) that range from rent to administrative costs to marketing costs

Overtime Regulations

The laws that regulate how to compensate employees for working in excess of a standard workweek

Owner's Salary

The wages a business owner pays himself for work done for the business

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