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Financial tips and hacks for small business owners

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Why Your Next Online Sales Channel Will Be Facebook

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I recently wrote about the importance of multiple sales channels for small business owners and how the economics of sales channels is an important consideration when determining which channels to use. Why Your Next Online Sales Channel Will Be Facebook Traditional sales channels like retail stores and wholesale distributors now also work in conjunction with e-commerce. Selling via your website or a third party site is accepted as a standard. Several years ago mobile commerce—selling to … [Read more...]

Keep Your Legal Budget In Check

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Imagine walking into a restaurant and after being seated you are presented with a menu...that has no prices. After asking the waiter how much your dish of choice costs, you’re told “I can’t tell you until after you finish eating.” Odds are you wouldn’t eat there. Imagine pulling a stunt like that with one of your clients after being asked to present a firm price quote. It just wouldn’t fly. Yet for some reason, many small business owners accept (grudgingly or otherwise) this type of response … [Read more...]

How To Get More Value From Your banking partner

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There are four things that every business owner should expect from their banking partner. If you’re current bank is unwilling or unable to provide these services then it’s time to shop around. While working in Kansas City, Missouri last month I had the opportunity to meet Grant Burcham, CEO of Missouri Bank & Trust Co., also known as Mobank. The minute you walk into their main branch, you are met by the following words and phrases: Entrepreneurial, individual, be the difference, unique, … [Read more...]

Getting A Business Loan With Bad Credit

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Most small businesses that have survived the great recession are left with serious battle scars. For many, business-credit ratings have suffered. As cash flow declined, bad debts increased and sales decreased. Many companies fell behind on their obligations to creditors and were forced to restructure their debts. Others violated the covenants of their debt agreements, which can also require restructuring. Smaller businesses that rely on the credit rating of their owners also suffered as … [Read more...]

How The SBA Helps Bigger Companies…Get Smaller

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The 2011 U.S. federal budget consists of approximately $3.82 trillion of expenditures. With a projected U.S. Gross Domestic Product of $15.3 trillion, federal government expenditures account for nearly 25 percent of our economy.  As a business owner, if one customer type accounts for 25 percent of your potential sales universe then you shouldn’t ignore them. On the other side of the equation are the federal agencies that have to spend their budgets. The current policy is to increase procurement … [Read more...]

How To Outsource Your Bookkeeping

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Bookkeeping is one of the least popular administrative tasks for small business owners. Many would rather go to the dentist for a root canal rather than make journal entries. What ends up happening in many cases is that the bookkeeping tasks are pushed aside and they pile up as the business owner procrastinates. Without bookkeeping, your accountant can’t do their job.  So either you will pay expensive hourly rates to have an accountant do bookkeeping work or you will go without financial … [Read more...]

Near misses in business are learning opportunities

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In business, near misses occur on a regular basis. Most people who have been in business long enough can recall at least several near miss events Being Lucky In Business Can Hurt You A recent study published in Risk Analysis, an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis, analyzes the impact of “near misses” on an individual’s protective responses to hurricanes. Authored by Robin L. Dillon, Catherine H. Tinsley (a former professor of mine) and Matthew Cronin, the study shows how … [Read more...]

Small Business Tax Reform May Finally Be Here

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For years small business owners have sent a clear message to national elected officials: We need tax reform! The complexity of the tax code and the burdens it places on small businesses are tremendous. According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation in Washington, D.C., the average person has to work until Apr. 12 this year to pay all local, state and federal taxes. That’s 102 days. Even a 15 percent reduction in this burden would free up significant resources for business owners. Lately, several … [Read more...]

How To Protect Yourself From Counterfeiters

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Counterfeiters are a huge problem for U.S. businesses. As more companies outsource production to foreign countries, they lose control Counterfeiting of goods is a huge problem for U.S. businesses. As more companies outsource production to foreign countries, they lose control of their designs, plans, processes, trademarks and copyrights. As I recently noted, China is clearly taking a leisurely approach to enforcing intellectual property protections—it should be no surprise that 66 percent of … [Read more...]

Audit Red Flag To Watch Out For

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If you are in the business of renting property, the IRS is going to take a very close look at your tax return beginning this year. Here is the one audit red Flag to watch out for. If you are in the business of renting property, the IRS is going to take a very close look at your tax return beginning this year and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.  In December, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (known as TIGTA) published an audit report analyzing the income … [Read more...]