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5 Loose Ends to Tie Up Before 2012
Oct 28th
We’ve reached the home stretch of 2011. All too soon, fall will give way to winter, and holiday music and merchandise will be all around us. For the small business owner, this is the time of year to make sure you have everything squared away for 2012–because when it comes to some of these decisions, waiting until you write your 2012 New Year’s resolutions will be too late.
Here are five things to consider for your small business while it’s still 2011.
1. Do you need to file an annual report for your corporation?
If you’ve incorporated your business, you need to keep it in good standing by following your state’s requirements. Most states require some form of an annual report filing (either every year or every two years). The specific due date for this filing will also depend on your state — in some cases, it’s on the anniversary of your business’ incorporation date; in other cases, it’s when your annual tax statements are due; and in some cases, it’s at the end of the calendar year.
Check with your state’s secretary of state office to learn your specific filing deadline and get your paperwork in on time. Missing this deadline can result in penalties and late fees; in the worst-case scenario, your company can be subject to suspension or dissolution.
2. Do you need to file an “Articles of Amendment” for any changes to your corporation?
Let’s say you made some changes to your business in 2011. Maybe you changed your business address or dropped the .com from your official company name. Maybe a board officer left or you authorized more shares. In most cases, you’ll need to file an official notification with your state of incorporation (known as Articles of Amendment).
Like your annual aeport, filing an Articles of Amendment is a critical step to making sure your LLC or corporation remains in good standing. The implications can be significant. If your business happens to be sued, the plaintiff can try to show that you have not maintained your LLC or corporation to the letter of the law. And if this suit is successful, your “corporate shield” is pierced and the plaintiff can seek recovery against your personal assets.
3. Did you start a new business in 2011? Think about incorporating before 2012.
If you started a new business in 2011 and still haven’t gotten around to incorporating or forming an LLC, you might want to do so before 2012.
But bear in mind that the “start date” of your corporation isn’t retroactive. So, if your corporation forms on November 1, you’ll still need to file your taxes as a sole proprietor/partnership for January 1 to October 31, 2011 (and then as a corporation for November and December). For this reason, many business owners want to wait until January to incorporate or form their LLC. However, January is the absolute busiest time of the year at your secretary of state’s office. In short, waiting to file until January puts you at the mercy of whatever backlog exists.
There’s another option, and that’s selecting a “Delayed Filing” with a document filing company. With this option, you can get all your paperwork submitted now, and it will be held and filed on the first business day of 2011 (so you’ll be at the front of the line).
4. Do you have an inactive business to close before 2012?
Did you start a venture a few years ago, but have since turned your focus elsewhere? Even if you’re not actively promoting the business and it’s made no revenue for 2011, you still need to file a formal termination of that LLC or corporation. Otherwise, you can still be charged fees associated with the business, you’ll still be expected to file an annual report, and you’ll still need to submit tax returns to the IRS and your state.
If you have an inactive business, you can file “Articles of Dissolution” or “Certificate of Termination” paperwork with the Secretary of State within the state where your corporation or LLC was formed. Keep in mind that in most cases, you’ll need to settle any owed taxes before you can close the business.
You should also cancel any kinds of permits or licenses you hold with the state or county. And if you’ve been using a fictitious business name, you’ll need to file an abandonment form. Make sure to take care of these matters while it’s still 2011. There’s simply no reason to pay an extra cent in fees toward a business you’re not working on. Put that money towards your next venture instead!
5. Are there any other legal loose ends to tie up before 2012?
The last few months of the year offer a perfect opportunity to tie up any loose ends you’ve been putting off. For example: Did you file a DBA (Doing Business As) for your business name? Do you need to file for a trademark? Did you get a Tax ID number (or Employer ID Number)? Are all your necessary licenses and permits in order?
No matter how busy your fourth quarter and holiday schedule get, set aside some time to address your business administrative obligations. By taking care of certain issues in 2011, you can save money in fees and penalties. And in other cases, you can cross a few more things off your list to start fresh in the New Year.
Image from Albert Lozano/Shutterstock
5 Loose Ends to Tie Up Before 2012
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Never Before Seen. Newbie Affiliate Makes $35,867 In First 14 Days!
Oct 20th
Hot & New $151.20 Per Sale + Re-billings! Free Traffic & *untapped*: Http://profitmiracle.com/resources.php – Partner With Us And We Will Never Forget You – We Aim To Pay Out Over $2m To Affiliates By 2010 Promoting This Invincible Software System.
Never Before Seen. Newbie Affiliate Makes $35,867 In First 14 Days!
Marriage Makeover, Mend Your Marriage, Make It Better Than Before
Sep 21st
75% commission with almost no returns. This book offers Techniques and Strategies On How To Save a Marriage and Reignite Love. It is a very effective program and there’s nothing like it on the market.
Marriage Makeover, Mend Your Marriage, Make It Better Than Before
Customer Expectations: Pride Cometh Before a Fall
Aug 25th
Whether you’re selling a product or providing a service, one of the first steps in any business relationship is setting expectations. How you set those expectations can make or break your business relationship.
My Sad Story
A while back I was approached by a client that was looking to improve their online marketing. They had been doing a lot of PPC advertising and weren’t getting the results they wanted. Therefore, they had been getting quotes from numerous Internet marketing agencies for PPC with SEO and social media bundled together. During the process I was told that another agency made the following claim:
“We can get you the same number of conversions on half the spend.”
The reason I learned this was because the client preferred my company, but they wanted to get that half of their spend back. And here is where pride enters the scene.
The Deadliest Sin
In most accounts of the seven deadly sins, pride is the original sin and the most deadly.
Usually, I do not make such bold statements. Perhaps it is my naturally conservative nature or a desire to overdeliver, but I would not have made this type of claim myself. However, I looked at past performance and saw how the other agency had arrived at their claim (there was a lot of spend and a lot of keywords that were not performing). I took the deal without adjusting this expectation.
What Happened?
As you might have guessed from the blog title, I wasn’t able to deliver on the expectation. I did what a good PPC manager should do and plucked out all the best-performing keywords and put them in a shiny new campaign. I used the best ad copy as a baseline and tested new ad copy against it. In theory, it should have worked, but it didn’t.
The client beat me over the head with the expectation over and over. I told them everything I was doing to remedy the problem. I spent hours trying to fix the problem. In the end, I was buried in the grave of unfulfilled expectations.
Setting Proper Expectations
A famous research study by Walter Mischel, a professor of psychology at Stanford, showed that a simple test of delayed gratification was a better predictor of future academic performance than IQ tests. The test? A child was given one marshmallow and told that if he or she could wait until the researcher returned (15 minutes), he or she could have two marshmallows. If they ate the first marshmallow or rang a bell to bring the researcher back early, no second marshmallow.
Expectations are the same way. They may seem like they’re only a small part of the process, but they are powerful predictors of the relationship’s future. Expectations are at the foundation of the relationship. They’re the measuring stick.
What Did I Learn?
Here are a few takeaways I can offer you:
- Know Yourself and Stick to What You Know – If you’re uncomfortable with the initial expectation you’re probably going to be uncomfortable trying to meet it. Save yourself a lot of pain by not letting pride get into the mix.
- Proper Expectations Make Happy Clients/Customers - When people get what they expect, they’re satisfied. If you exceed expectations, they’re ecstatic. Those are the clients that recommend you.
- Own Up to Your Mistakes – If you’ve set expectations too high, reset them as soon as possible. The further along you get, the more trust is lost and the more hard feelings develop. It may cost you the sale, but you have to pay the piper eventually.
Customer Expectations: Pride Cometh Before a Fall
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Affair Repair: How To Save Your Marriage & Make It Better Than Before
Aug 12th
75% commission. Written by nationally recognized relationship expert, Kara Oh, this product will help couples not only save their marriage but make it better than it was before the affair. Conversions should be high because of the nature of their need.
Affair Repair: How To Save Your Marriage & Make It Better Than Before
Set the alarm clock the night before
Aug 6th
Situational goal adjustment is a real problem.
Don’t set the clock when you’re tired, set it when you are planning your day. Don’t whittle away at your sales goals right after a serious rejection, set them when you’re on a roll.
The discipline is in obeying the rule you set when you were in a different mood than you are now. That’s what makes it a rule as opposed to a guideline.
View full post on Seth’s Blog
6 Questions to Ask Before Signing a “Green Lease”
May 5th
You might lease your facility or office, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be green.
More property managers and tenants are signing so-called green leases. While the term is used loosely, these essentially are lease agreements struck between landlords and tenants in buildings that adhere to environmentally sustainable operations and management. The building may be designed in eco-friendlier ways, such as maximizing natural lighting, while building operations may be carefully controlled to minimize energy and water use and waste.
Among benefits for commercial tenants are lower energy costs, better air quality and more comfortable work environments. Some studies, such as this one from the Rocky Mountain Institute, find that green buildings improve worker productivity and lower absenteeism. (Another study found that green buildings have 3.5 percent lower vacancy rates and fetch 13 percent higher rental rates than non-green ones.)
But while more properties are being touted as “green” and marketing themselves to businesses as eco-friendlier alternatives, business owners should do some homework to ensure they’re truly getting a good deal. Remember, the commercial real estate market is still soft, and there’s lots of room for negotiation right now.
Here are some questions to ask before signing a green lease:
1. Is the building LEED-certified or Energy Star-labeled? A common way for commercial properties to verify they are indeed “green” is by meeting the criteria for two programs. LEED – or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – is an internationally recognized building certification system created by the U.S. Green Building Council that promotes green practices in buildings, such as indoor air quality and energy efficiency.
The Energy Star Building and Plants program, run through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides ratings to buildings on a 1 to 100 scale based on energy use per square foot. Buildings that score at 75 or above – meaning they’re in the top 25th percentile for energy use – can get the Energy Star label. You can feel good knowing you’re renting space in a building that has at least one of these certifications.
2. Who pays the utility bills? Lower energy costs are a nice perk of parking yourself in a green building and can help offset any premium you might pay in rent. So it’s worth asking property management beforehand how utilities are handled and how much you should expect to pay for them. One benefit to paying utilities directly (rather than through your rent): You have direct control over your energy costs.
3. How is the building’s performance measured and monitored? Make sure the landlord has procedures in place for ensuring the ongoing green operations of the building. Perhaps they do an annual audit or have other checks in place.
4. How close is it to public transportation? It’s not just operations and design that make a facility truly green – it’s also accessibility to public transportation. Remember, employee commutes can take a big toll on the environment. The closer you are to a bus or commuter train or bike path, the more likely it is that employees will forgo cars.
5. What are the cleaning procedures? Another aspect of green building is cleaning practices. Inquire how the building is cleaned, by whom and whether they can vouch that the cleaning products used are non-toxic.
6. What’s my obligation as tenant? It’s not unusual for green leases to put some requirements on tenants to uphold green practices, such as recycling certain types of waste or following energy-efficient practices. Make sure you can uphold your end of the bargain before signing on the dotted line.
6 Questions to Ask Before Signing a “Green Lease”
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
Before You Quit Your Day Job: Read Startup From the Ground Up
Mar 19th
It’s been a long time since we’ve reviewed a book on becoming a small business owner or entrepreneur. So, when I received Startup From the Ground Up from a publicist, I thought it was time to give it a read and see what the most current advice is about getting out on your own.
About the Author
Cynthia Kocialski (@ckocialski) has been involved in 25 startups and writes the Start-Up Entrepreneurs’ Blog. All of the startups she’s been involved in have been acquired for nearly $20 billion. She’s also had a variety of executive positions in technical companies and served as a consultant. So she’s been on just about every side of the entrepreneur’s journey.
Kocialski wrote her own foreword and in it describes the book as being about making the entrepreneurial dream a reality. It will show you how to go from an idea to a launch. I think the benefit this book promises to today’s entrepreneur is the ability to learn from another’s experience and hopefully not make the same mistakes.
Startup From the Ground Up Is Ideal for Tech Startups That Need Investors
When I read the author’s background and the first few chapters of this book, I could see that it was really targeted to people who have a tech product and may be interested in getting investors.
This book covers a lot of topics very quickly and with broad brush strokes. It’s the book you would run out and get right after you and your tech buddies finished hashing out a plan for taking over the world with the next revolutionary tech product. Before you quit your day job, take the time to quickly go through this book, and when you find yourself flinching at any of the chapters, bookmark that one for further review.
There are quite a few chapters dedicated to marketing and sales topics. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a technical person, covering what they think might be important and what’s actually important from the customer’s or investor’s perspective.
How to Read This Book
I’m not sure if the book I received from the publicist was a review copy or a final copy. I’m mentioning this because I have to admit I was a bit overwhelmed when I looked at the table of contents. It looked like there were more than 30 chapters.
I thought they might be in sections because there were three or four chapters in a row that seemed to be on a similar topic, but I couldn’t tell what the sections were until I started reading. So I’m going to give you the sections here because they aren’t easy to spot in the table of contents without going through the book:
- Introduction
- Product and Business Concept
- Product
- Customer Understanding
- Market Opportunity
- The Team
- Product Development
- Some Marketing Implementation Issues
- Understanding Sales
- Funding
- Business Model and Planning
This is a book you would probably want to read from cover to cover the first time around. This book is a terrific litmus test to see if going into “startup mode” really what you want to do.
If you’ve gone through this book and are still fired up about your idea, go back to the sections that made you wince and get some professional advice as to how to handle that.
Startup From the Ground Up Will Give Budding Entrepreneurs the Lingo and a Road Map
Another benefit of Startup From the Ground Up is that it gives aspiring entrepreneurs the framework and phrases that they will need to use to get help in areas where they feel less comfortable.
Startup From the Ground Up is a realistic, real-life book about taking your idea out of your head and into the marketplace. If you’ve been sitting in a cubicle mulling over the next “Google-sized” idea, then this book is a great first step.
Before You Quit Your Day Job: Read Startup From the Ground Up
View full post on Small Business News, Tips, Advice – Small Business Trends
6 Steps to Take before Starting a Business
Feb 23rd
This is a guest post by Carol Roth.
Are you tired of working for someone else? Do you think starting your own business could get you off the unemployment line? Think again. The failure rate for new businesses within the first 5 years is as high as 90 percent.
Before you decide to join the ranks of America’s self-employed, find out if business ownership is right for you. Try these 6 steps.
Know your motives.
Are you bored, wanting to be free of a boss, or eager to jump on the bandwagon of a hot technology? These are not valid reasons to start a business. But if you’re focused on solving a customer problem, believe you can do better than anyone else, and are dying to work long hours, wear many hats, and balance responsibilities, you have the right start-up mindset.
Meet the people.
If you equate business ownership with solitude and freedom from annoying coworkers or managers, you’re in for a surprise. Entrepreneurs spend most of their time dealing with people — investors, professionals such as lawyers and accountants, suppliers, and customers.
Prepare yourself.
Ever managed employees and vendors? Do you know your industry inside and out, including aspects such as accounting and marketing? If you don’t have all the entrepreneurial skills you need, acquire them before starting your business. Spend time working in a similar company, shadow a business in your industry, or accept an internship.
Check your checkbook.
Be honest about your relationship with money. Do you have money to invest? Are you able to lose it all? Will you rely on others? Do you avoid financial risk at all costs? Are you “good” with money? How you handle money now will influence the type of financial manager you’ll be.
Know your competition.
Is your market saturated with successful businesses? Is your industry littered with bad businesses? Is anyone doing what you want to do? If not, why not? To brand your business and woo investors, you’ll need to understand why and how you can outshine competitors.
Test your scalability.
Successful businesses rely on automation and delegation. Will you be able to teach other employees to do your work? If your business relies on your brain and skills alone, you might have a successful job, but not a successful business.
Official bio: A popular media personality on Fox News, MSNBC, and WGN-TV Chicago, among others, Carol Roth has an award-winning blog at www.CarolRoth.com. Her new book is The Entrepreneur Equation: Evaluating the Realities, Risks, and Rewards of Having Your Own Business (BenBella Books, March 2011).
View full post on Business Pundit
