Category Archives: Business Resources

A Five-Step Guide For Beginner Entrepreneurs

Want to get your awesome idea underway, but don’t have the necessary experience to turn your thoughts into reality? Don’t worry – no one is born with all the knowledge they need to do, well, anything! It comes with time. The important thing to remember is that you can know how to run a business, even if you haven’t worked in a business environment before. Below, we take a look at a few key ingredients that show everything you need to know if already (mostly) inside of you!

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Find Your Passion

There’s no one single way to run a business. There’s only your way. As such, you’ll be making things much easier on yourself if you choose to run a business in an industry that you’re already passionate about. Everybody has passion inside them, it just sometimes takes some time to bring it to the surface! If you’re not sure where to turn, think of something you’d do every day for the rest of your life, even if you wouldn’t be paid. Whatever it is, that should be a guiding force in getting your business idea together. And hey, you will be paid for it!

And What’s Hot

Of course, it’s also important that you’re living in the real world. You might happily spend all day in bed, eating cookies and watching films: nobody is going to pay you to do that. The key to forming a successful business is to find the fine line between your passion and what’s hot. There are plenty of ‘trendy’ business ideas out there; take a read of the type of businesses that are currently successful, and see if any of them fall in line with your passion.

Get the Necessary Skills

As well as choosing a company that has the potential for growth, you’ll also need to know how to market your new venture so that people know where it is, how it can benefit them, and so on. There is a knack to this, but it’s important to persevere through the learning process, as knowing the rules can be the difference between success and failure. Read and listen to the best marketing blogs and podcasts, and also consider studying for an AACSB-Accredited online MBA in marketing to ensure you fully grasp all the modern marketing strategies. With this in your knowledge bank, you’ll be able to effectively market your business – and see tangible results.

Start Small

Your enthusiasm will be a driving force behind your success, but there is such a thing as being too enthusiastic. It’s important to start small and focus on getting everything right, before expanding your enterprise. This way you’ll be growing from a solid foundation; a key aspect of success!

Going All In

Finally, remember that no one bluffs their way to business success. It takes time, patience, and hard work to grow a profitable company. Commit to it, treat it like a passion, and eventually, things will begin to pay off. Everything is possible with the right attitude!

Business Resources, eCommerce, work at home

How to Turn Your Favorite Crafts into a Lucrative Business

Anne Younger Leave a comment

I used to read blogs all day, then I started writing myself in 2009. The shift from consumer to creator has been a beautiful adventure. It’s inspired me to share with you my tips on how to turn your favorite craft into a moneymaking business, too.

Let’s face it: doing what you love is the best, but the appeal is greater if it makes income. You’ve had your doubts, especially when it comes to turning a profit. But I’m here to tell you that there’s no reason you can’t succeed. You may have started crafting when you were a toddler, but you’re a professional now. It is your time to shine.

Think Ahead

There has never been a time that’s more conducive to selling your handmade crafts than now. One reason is Etsy, the internet’s number 1 online market for DIY goods. With the boundaries of physical geography erased, your creations will have a digital consumer reach that is greater than any time in history.

Build a Social Media Following

You don’t need much to build hype. You could have only one kind of bracelet to sell, if you made people feel like it was the ultimate bracelet every single person needed to have on the planet. Not feeling very confident with this whole branding thing? I understand. Easier said than done. Poke around Instagram and learn from the best. You’ll notice that successful social media influencers have a specific angle, whether that’s a literal camera angle or a recurring pattern to what they post (for example, jewelry with an interesting backdrop). Think of Instagram as the hook that grabs the consumer. The next step is directing web traffic to a site that offers more information and/or products for sale.

Become your Brand

Personality is so important when it comes to self-promotion. Because you don’t have an advertising team to push you, what you have to work with is your fabulous self. The consumer is interested to know about who created the object they can no longer live without. Remind yourself how enormous the internet is—it’s a wonderful thing that you have found each other. Honor their trust by creating an About Me page on your website and share your story and bio.

Stick to a Name

Whether it’s your own name or an alternative, the main way to communicate what you’re about is through a brand name. You’ll want it to fit what you are selling and come up with a logo too. A book agency is not going to have the same sound or aesthetic as a jewelry line. To that end, know your audience. When it comes to marketing, first impressions stick. This takes us back to learning from others: get to know other crafters doing what you have in mind for yourself. Determine what you think works for them, what you would do without, and what you can do better. Conducting this kind of market research before launching your website and social media is a good idea, as changing a name once you’ve established a vision can be confusing to consumers and fellow crafters alike.

Choose a Business Model

The legal model that you choose for your business depends on how much responsibility you are interested in taking on. The rudimentary setup for a small business is a sole proprietorship. As the owner of the business, you become solely responsible for the gains and losses accrued under your watch. If you would prefer a little legal distance between you and your company, you may need a Limited Liability Company (LLC).

Apply for a License

Every state enforces a set of codes and stipulations for small business ownership. While your business might be more fun than some, the legal structure is just as important as any other. If you want your business to take off, you have to set strong foundations. Set your prices in such a way that yields profit.

Pay your Taxes

Keep the IRS happy and pay your taxes, in full and on time. Running a business is a lot of work, but if you build it correctly you will succeed. Transparency is key. This is also true of your relations with your customers. When it comes down to it, your aim is to keep customers happy and coming back for more. Make contact easy and pleasant by providing sufficient communication tools, like a business email address that you check regularly.

Give Yourself Benefits

One of the best parts of being self-employed is that you get to decide your own benefits package. You decide how much vacation time and sick time you get. You decide your holidays, health insurance, life insurance, maternity/paternity leave and more!

Conclusion

Starting a small business is an exciting time in any field of work. For crafters, it’s a dream come true. You’re obviously passionate about your product if you think it’s worth value! All you need is to get the paperwork in order and you’ll be on your way!

Business Resources

What Are The Differences Between LLCs And Corporations?

Anne Younger Leave a comment

When starting a business, it is important to establish the entity of that business. There are four major business entities in the United States including Sole Proprietorships, Partnerships, Limited Liability Companies and Corporations. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on the similarities and differences between Limited Liability Companies, often referred to as LLC’s, and Corporations.

Taxes: The method of taxation is a major difference between an LLC and Corporation. Corporations are taxed as entities before their shareholders are taxed as individuals. This is called double taxation. Meanwhile, LLC’s avoid double taxation because LLC’s are not taxed as entities. Instead, each shareholder will report their own profits and losses for individual tax purposes. This is called pass through taxation. In general, the pass through method of taxation is considered more favorable over double taxation simply because this means that less money is spent in taxes.

Structure: Corporations are known for a rigid governing structure that involves board members, officers, employees, and shareholders. Meanwhile, an LLC is known for structural flexibility. While you’ll still need organization for any company, you are better off going the LLC route if you prefer to keep your options open.

Liability: When it comes to liability, LLC’s and Corporations have the advantage of shareholder protection via limited liability. This means that if someone sues your company, or if the company incurs debt, you cannot be held personally liable. The limited liability clause ensures the safety of personal assets of each shareholder within the LLC or corporation.

Once you figure out which business entity best suits your business, you will need to file the appropriate paperwork. Whether you are starting a corporation or filing your llc forms, the easiest way to get your paperwork in is to work with a reliable site such as Gov Doc Filing.

Business Resources

Employee Benefits as Tax Claims

Anne Younger Leave a comment

As a business owner claiming deductions for employee’s salaries and wages are clear, yet there are a number of other fringe benefits that you may provide that can also have an impact on your tax liability. The rules and requirements are sometimes convoluted but it is worth the time investment as the deductions can often times be significant.

Check out these great tips from Simple Living Australia on how to put more money into your back pocket or business.

Fringe Benefits

The benefits that are outside an employee’s normal remuneration are referred to by the IRS as fringe benefits. To make matters more complicated, some benefits are taxable and others are non taxable. These designations also differ between the ability of an employer able to claim the deduction and whether the employee must also report the benefit for their own income, but the two instances are treated separately by the IRS.

For example even if the benefit is not taxable for the employee’s individual tax return you may still be able to deduct the cost of providing the benefit as the employer. These fringe benefits can include company cars, health insurance, educational plans, retirement plans, business provided cell phones, de minimis gifts and even meals provided on site to maintain productivity are 100% deductible expenses.

The Differences

There are large differences in employee expenses that can be claimed as business expenses and those fringe benefit expenses that are also required to be reported on the employee’s gross wage statements. As an example, transportation provided to employees like a vehicle for commuting to work or even a bicycle can be written off by the company but also must be included within their gross wages at fair market value for their use as taxable income.

Whereas providing discounts on company products or services, tickets to theatre or sporting events, use of company property such as a copier can be provided to employee’s tax free for their income but are still tax deductible for the employer. Educational assistance, life insurance up to $50,000, dependent care assistance and tuition reduction fringe benefits are also benefits that are tax free to the employee and deductible by the company.

Exclusions and Discriminatory Benefits

As a business you also need to be careful of fringe benefits that are provided to a discriminate few. By providing fringe benefits that favor certain employees or are targeted towards only the top employees in the company than the benefit would not qualify as a non taxable benefit for the employee and must be included in their gross wage statements.

The fringe benefits that are excluded from gross wages are considered exclusions and each category of exclusion, such as those listed above including commuting transportation, meals, educational assistance, tuition reduction, cafeteria plans, health benefits, athletic facilities, de minimis gifts, employee stock options, employer provided cell phones, lodging on premises, group term life insurance, moving expenses and even adoption assistance have their own unique requirements in order to be excluded from an employee’s gross wages as a taxable benefit.

Meet with a tax professional to see how your company’s fringe benefits could be made more compliant with current regulations to provide the best benefits at the least cost.