You run your own business, hopefully successfully. You probably are smarter than a fifth grader. The more important question is, just how smart do you think you are? Are you the kind of leader that thinks he knows it all? Or maybe you don’t really think that but if you take a step back and analyze how you work and how you behave at work, you just might see that you send across that message.

This post is meant to be a wake up call for all small business owners out there. We have to understand the importance of learning. More than that, we have to understand that learning is a lifelong process and we just can’t know it all. No matter how smart we may be, no matter how much we know, no matter how much experience we may have had, there is always something new that we can learn.

How exactly can we continue learning? It’s not that hard. I believe that the first step is to keep an open mind. Recognize and acknowledge that there is always something that can be learned. With this attitude, it will be easier to find learning experiences in most everything.

In concrete terms, one way to pick up new insights is to interact with other business owners. You don’t even have to do this face to face. CEO blogs, web sites, books, and forums are all good ways to exchange information and learn.

Another way is to always keep yourself updated with regard to your field. Journals, web sites, forums, and other regular publications can help with this. For sure, new developments will arise – and you cannot afford not to know about these things.

You may be smarter than a fifth grader, but you have to outsmart yourself in order to go further.

Every business needs to evolve and develop. The stagnant business is only going to end up dying – and no businessman would want that! Here are some quick tips to help you develop your business and continue to grow as a company.

Always look for new customers.
Just because you have a stable customer base, it doesn’t mean that you should sit back and relax. It is true that having a stable customer base is a good thing – you will always be assured of income. However, you never know how long that customer base is going to be with you. After all, stable is not forever. As such, always be on the lookout for potential customers.

Keep tabs on the changing needs and requirements of your existing customers.
A stable customer base does not mean that your customers will always have the same needs. As the saying goes, change is the only constant thing in this world. As such, you owe it to yourself and your customers to always know what is going on and how to keep up with their needs. Of course, before you spend on changing your products and services, make sure that your customers are willing to pay for these improvements as well.

Keep tabs on your competitors.
You have to know what your competitors are up to. Otherwise, you might be left behind. Knowledge is power and having knowledge of what the competition has to offer will prove to be advantageous for your business.

For some companies, training is an inherent part of their business plan. For some, unfortunately, training is nothing but an expense. Let me ask you, how do you view training? Do you think that you have to spend time, effort, and money on training your employees?

Truth be told, I lean towards the first point of view. While training may indeed cost you, I view it as an investment. The money spent on training your employees and helping them in their professional development will only reap benefits for you and your business.

Before you start training your employees, however, you have to have a plan and to be sure what it is that you want to help them with. Here are some tips that can help you in this regard.

Have the right mindset
As I mentioned earlier, you have to be convinced a hundred percent that training is an investment. Once you are sure of this, you will not be swayed and you can lay out the specifics as to what your employees need training on.

Do not be limited to formal training
While formal training is necessary, you also have to realize that a lot of training can occur outside the classroom. You can make use of on-the-job training and save yourself some money as well.

Set an example
Continue to develop yourself professionally. Just because you own the business does not mean that you cannot continue to learn. Attend seminars and workshops when possible. Your employees will then see just how important learning is to you and perhaps take on the same attitude.

For the first several years of my working life, I found myself drawn to start ups. Perhaps it was not by choice. Perhaps it was simply because I got really good opportunities with start ups at that time. And I have to say, I really learned a lot during those years. If there is one thing that really stuck with me, however, it is that any business – no matter how big or small it may be – should have clear policies at the outset. Without clear policies, you might be able to get by for the first couple of years. Once you start expanding, however, you will see that having no policies spells disaster. Here are some tips that you can consider when coming up with policies for your business.

Have foresight.
While you may be content to run your business at the pace and scale that you started out at, expansion is inevitable at some point. As such, you have to bear in mind what can happen and what you will do in case these things happen. Planning ahead is always a good thing and having a solution to an event that has not occurred yet can save you a lot of time, money, and headaches.

Know what policies you will need, even from the start.
There are some things that you cannot do without. If you have employees, then you need an employee handbook. You have to establish policies regarding compensation, leaves, performance evaluation, and so on.

Make sure there is a concrete venue by which you can communicate your policies to everyone involved.
One of the worst things is having policies without anyone in the company being aware of them. When you spring a “rule” on your employees without the proper process, it might very well backfire on you.

I shared several tips that can help you make the most out of this period – tax time. Here are some more that you can use, if not this year then the next.

Don’t forget that your equipment depreciates.
You can get lower tax because of depreciation. While you might hate the fact that anything you buy (equipment-wise) depreciates in value, you can use this for your benefit. Come tax time, make sure that you take inventory of what you have in the business and calculate each piece’s depreciated value. In addition to this, do not overlook the fact that each piece of equipment or fixture depreciates in varying degrees and rates. As such, tag the depreciation value of each thing separately instead of lumping them together as one.

Employ family if you can.
While this might raise some eyebrows, here me out first. If you have family members who are fully qualified to take part of the business, then it should not be an issue, right? This also has tax benefits as you would be paying him money (which is essentially his as he is part of the family) and at the same time, shift your money to a lower tax bracket (from company to individual). More so, you can claim him as a dependent earning a wage, which can give you higher tax deductions.

Just one more day and everything should be over and done with. If you had more issues than necessary this year, do bear in mind some of the tips that we covered in this post and the last. Perhaps next year, it will be better.

Yes, I know. This time of the year can be a difficult one, both for personal and business reasons. After all, I do not know anyone who honestly looks forward to tax time, but since there is no way we can get around it, why not make the most out of the situation and get it over with as painlessly as possible? Here are some quick tax tips that can help you do just that.

Keep your records straight.
The people over at the IRS are no fools, and neither will they suffer fools gladly. They know that small business owners will look at every opportunity to get tax breaks, and believe me, they know every trick in the book. As such, do not go overboard with those deductions. If I were you, I would keep my records as straight as possible, keeping every single receipt for business-related expenses. As long as you are not doing anything shady and you have a solid paper trail, then you should be good.

Avoid home state tax if possible.
This works in most states, where the law says that if you earn your income outside of the state, then you do not have to pay taxes on that income. Of course, this is entirely dependent on the laws in your home state so make sure you know exactly what is stipulated.

Going green pays.
This works two-fold. One, you contribute to the conservation of the environment. Two, you might get incentives from the federal and state government. Again, you have to check what kinds of green initiatives are included in the incentive program.

(to be continued)

It is that time of the year again; you know, the time that a lot of people dread. Whether we are talking about personal income tax or business tax, the reaction is usually the same. It is bad enough that we have to shell out money, but the process of figuring out just how much you owe the government can be taxing as well – no pun intended.

So, regarding the taxes for your small business, have you thought of doing the work yourself? After all, it can save you some money if you do not have to pay someone else to do the job, right? More so, you can get a lot of tax prep software which can help you do your taxes yourself.

According to expert Gene Marks, however, tax prep software can be very helpful only up to a certain point. He says that in reality, you would be better off taking on the services of an accountant – a real live one. His rationale? He points out some advantages of this kind of software:

It points out potential deductions, red-flags potential audit items and accurately crunches thorny depreciation calculations, all while incorporating a flurry of pesky tax-law tweaks.

On the other hand, software also has this problem:

Still, as with all computer programs, there’s the old problem of garbage in, garbage out. If the user types an incorrect number (or, more likely, doesn’t fully understand what’s being asked), he ends up inviting more trouble–and expense–than he avoids.

As such, he suggests using software to do your preliminary work and then hiring a good experienced accountant who can help you determine all possible exemptions while at the same time keeping within the limits of the law. This makes sense to me. What do you think?

In the previous post, we took a look at some things that you have to consider when starting your own business in the midst of financial crises. We talked about having enough money to tide you over for at least 3 months (more would be better) in case you don’t have enough cash coming in. We also talked about how you have to stay away from certain markets during the recession. What other things can you consider when starting a business during the downturn?

Think about potential sources of money in case you need extra cash to run the business. The small business initiative by President Obama should be at the top of your list. But you should also look at other sources just in case. Relatives? Is that a good idea? Friends? I think that these two groups of people should be your last resort. Actually, if you do not have any other alternative, you might want to let your idea sit for a while till you find a better (and less complicated) source of money.

More than the money that you will be using for your business, consider how this endeavor will change your life – and that of your family’s. This is one thing that has been overlooked by some entrepreneurs. Even if your business plan is as solid as can be, if you do not anticipate the changes that it may wrought on your life, you might have a hard time dealing with circumstances. And remember, your family will be involved in those changes so they should know what they are getting into as well.

Photo courtesy of http://ccsmallbusiness.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/business-debt119.jpg

Most people would think that to start a business now would be akin to committing financial suicide. What do you think? What if I told you that now is the perfect time to start one, provided that you have some capital to work with?

Think about it, there are certainly a lot of advantages to starting up a business right now. While it will not be easy, it could be the right moment for you. So what are these advantages? For one, costs will definitely be lower. With fewer people starting their own business, leasing space will be cheaper. Finding employees (if you need them) should also be easier as more people are looking for jobs.

One thing you have to take note of, however, is that you have enough money to keep you going. The truth is that while it should be relatively easy to start a business, you will face challenges in maintaining it for the next several months. The idea is for you to have enough money to keep the business going for say, 3 months at least, even if money does not come in within that period of time.

Another thing that you have to consider is the market which you will be penetrating. There are certain businesses that you should stay away from during hard times. These are the luxury shops, like spas and similar services, which might not be high on the list of consumers. Instead, study your market carefully and look for a need that has to be met.

(to be continued)

Photo courtesy of Campus Access

Your business has been on the internet for some years and you’ve suddenly realized customers are not coming back. Why, well maybe your site is getting too much traffic it can’t handle it anymore. That is one of the most common mistakes businesses make, failure to regularly assess their businesses status and strategy over the internet. One simple check would be to go to the web site itself and try to see if your existing design is working for you and similarly for your customers. Ever heard of the suggestions box in your site, it might be overflowing with mail of suggestions of customers your staff may be failing to take account of. As business managers/owners, you need to be on top of things that other people may have overlooked thus ensuring all bases are covered and your business grows with your customers. Remember, as more and more customers try to get into a site, your current set-up may not be enough to handle all the added load so a thorough review and status report of your site traffic and other statistics might be in order.

Too much traffic, consider getting a dedicated hosting service so you get ample resources dedicated to you and your customers all the time. Much is the disdain of customers for sites that fail to load or cannot handle the traffic, for small to medium businesses this can prove to be a killer. Hosting is one of the best ways to save on equipment and other supporting hardware for they are so expensive and costly to maintain you might not be able to handle the costs. That’s why hosting services abound and that’s why you’re earning money, or are you? Better take a look to find out!