Micki Meece wrote an inspiring piece in The New York Times chronicling a closer look at today’s entrepreneur; who they are, where they come from, what they did and now are doing, and how they’re turning their lives upside down in a positive way to become entrepreneurs.

According to her story, today’s new entrepreneur is vastly different than in years past mostly because of the recession that’s forced millions of people out of work. Rather than search the unemployment listings, today’s new entrepreneur is taking matters into their own hands. Here are some important insights from her article:

–The Index of Entrepreneurial Activity continues to rise from 2007 to 2008 and an average of 320 Americans (out of 100,000) formed a business each month. She also notes there is a shift today and less “opportunity entrepreneurship” is forcing more Americans to instead turn to “necessity entrepreneurship.”

–The Do-It-Yourself legal filings company, LegalZoom.com says the top five areas of entrepreneurial incorporation are real estate, consulting, Internet business, retail and construction.

Important tools that can help you start up your entrepreneurial small business:

QuickBooks: Don’t spend thousands of dollars on expensive accountants. Take advantage of QuickBooks to manage your small business accounting. Use this link to get 20% off.

BlueHost: Every small business, start-up and entrepreneur needs a Web site. Use BlueHost offers reliable hosting services for your Web site and has excellent customer service. Use this link to get easy web hosting for $6.95 a month.

GoDaddy.com: What will be your small business Web site domain name? GoDaddy is the best way to secure your domain and they offer names for budget-minded professionals. Use this link to also take advantage of their unlimited hosting services.

Yahoo! Search Marketing: Once your Web site is up and running you’ll want people to find you. Use Yahoo! Search Marketing to place search engine ads and pay per click keywords so that your Web site comes up in specific searches. Use this link to get an additional $25 credit in your account.

iContact: After you’re up and running you’ll want to start doing online marketing to draw even more traffic into your Web site or Web store. Use this link to get great deals on online marketing and Internet marketing tools for email marketing.

PR Toolkit: Download this resource so that you can learn how to get reporters to write stories about you in the media. It’s also a great resource to help you write important press releases and work with television reporters on stories about your company. Use promo code “Twitter” to get an additional 20% off the price.

Here are a few more important start-up resources:

Micki Meece’s article in The New York Times

Search Engine Optimization Bible

Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur

Balance Sheet Basics: Financial Management for Nonfinancial Managers

Marketing Through Twitter

Facebook Marketing

The One Minute Entrepreneur