Simply Junior » Small Business Owners

Website for Small Business in 2011 Marketing Plan

admin — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 11:39:32 +0000

Many researches reveled that more than 50% small business owners do not have their own website and not thinking about having website. Some small business owners like to have a website for their business but they point out many difficulties implementing this strategy to their next year marketing plan. Other side of story, small business owners who have website for their business are enjoying the good online presence for their offline local business. Still there are another set of small business owners just have the website, but do not use its potential to improve their business next level. They will not bother to measure the effectiveness of website performance and no strategies to gain the benefits through online presence.

If you delay implementing corporate website for your small business, you will lose your customers. The era of using yellow pages or phone books or news paper advertisements to find a solution for our daily need has gone now. Many people go to Google and search what they need, than searching many old news papers. If your website is not listing for customer query, you will lose a customer and the business as well. Your web presence or online presence is must in another few years time, but to list your web site on Google for first page results, just having web site not be a solution. You should monitor your website, optimize it for your customer queries.

Your corporate website, I guess, I have right to say it is as a corporate web site, even though it is a small business, it should be unique website to differentiate from your competitors. Further It should align with your corporate Identity to get online customers attention and recognition.

Online presence will help you to spread your business ideas, offers, promotions, announcements. Social media is the latest and smartest tool to spread your business among online customers. Sometimes, you have to need only the kick off to it, others will spread the news, if it is smart enough to catch the audience attention. This will be a good cost effective method of sharing your small business stories and information. If you use TV or Press for this, you should have to spend thousands of dollars to implement this. However one staff member can implement your digital PR campaigns with very low budget.

Showing your business on search engine local results will be key success in online presence for small business owners. Search Engines did not forget small fish in the ocean. They gave big hands to come up and being on search engines when their customers search about their products and service online. If anything search with city name such as web designers in Melbourne, all local web design companies are listing in first results.

Not only that, Small business owners can build small community for their business, you can get feedback for your products and services, ideas to improve your products and services, engage with customers to build long term relationship. You can save lots of money on customer support handing, If you have offline customer support, for same question, your staff member may answer thousands time to different customers or may be same customer. But in web site, you can display frequently ask questions for anyone to view. Imagine how your staff member release from it and how much you can save on telephone bills. How many times you have print your product brochures for promotions, how much cost involve for it? But through your website, you can keep it to view anytime and if needed download it. But at very low cost, only designing part involve the cost, but no cost for usage.

In 2011,it is better to add your website for corporate marketing plan, otherwise you will far behind from your competitors and another few years time, you will regret lo about your decision, not to have a website for your small business. This should be implement is very strategic way. Identify the objectives and goals of your website, get you domain correctly, hosting should be in correct place and select the best company to design and develop your website.

Marketing it: Like the design stage above, you may want to outsource your marketing efforts to professionals who can help you create a social media plan or a marketing road map. However, if you’re willing to get your hands dirty, you may not have to. There are plenty of easy ways to build buzz for your small business site without hiring a full-fledged Internet marketing company. Matt McGee offered some great tips on what he’d do if he was just starting out again. You may not even need people like us.

While the number of SMB owners creating Web sites is up 36 percent over the past two years, that number really needs to grow in the next year. The search engines’ obsession with local has made your Web site an even bigger part of your business and marketing plan. Make sure you’re treating as such.

Strategic Plans Drive Small Business Success

admin — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:20:06 +0000

Over 85% of small businesses do not have a strategic business plan (strategic plan). By operating without a strategic/business plan, many small businesses are missing out on a powerful tool to help them define and reach their goals. Many small business owners believe that only large companies need such plans, but the reality is that small businesses can reap tremendous rewards by creating a strategic plan.

A strategic plan is like a roadmap for your company. It needs to identify where you are and what you stand for, where you are going, how to measure progress and estimate when you will arrive, and what resources are available for the journey. The plan helps the company maintain focus, recognize progress and take corrective action when needed.

While each company will have a unique document, the elements of the plan are remarkably similar across the board. Common elements and their purpose are listed below:

Vision, Mission, and Commitments: what do you stand for, what are your high level goals, and to what are you committed? Executive Summary: a quick synopsis of the document Company Background, Products, and Services: what does the company do to produce value for its clients? Marketing Plan: how will the company attract new clients, keep current clients, how much is budgeted for marketing, and how is success measured? Operational Plan: how will the company execute operations? Organizational Structure: how is the company structured and what are the roles and responsibilities to identify accountability? Financial Report: what is the long-term financial projection? Strategies: what is the company going to do to accomplish its goals? Challenges and Solutions: what obstacles are anticipated and what solutions are identified in advance? Budgets: how much will be allocated to each functional area?

Taking the time to put a guiding document together requires thinking through what the business objectives are, how they will be reached, the role individuals will play, etc. It is also a “living” document. It is of minimal value if it is put on a shelf and only referenced quarterly. It becomes a part of the operation of the business and is updated and referenced frequently. It can and should be used at meetings to measure progress and to help the company’s employees stay focused on the strategic goals and progress towards those goals.

What are some of the benefits of having a strategic plan? The effort required to create the plan necessitates contemplation of long-term goals and a manner to achieve those goals. The strategic plan helps orient the organization towards a common target and is a useful tool to create an environment of accountability. By constantly measuring progress against the identified goals, the workforce maintains focus and understand where their efforts fit into the grand scheme. A well thought out plan helps accurate budgeting and enables quick adjustments to be made if needed.

Elements can also be a useful tool to engage employees, focus productivity, and reduce turnover. We live in a different economic and workplace environment compared to a few decades ago. Gone are the job-for-life and benefits into retirement contracts that used to be common. Because of the turbulence now inherent in our business economy, people feel totally free to change jobs frequently and without concern for loss of accrued benefits. A strategic plan enables workers to see the long-term plan for the small business and helps create buy-in into the future they helped define. Reduced turnover and employee buy-in are valuable to any small business.

In summary, while the perception may be that strategic plans are not needed for small businesses, the reality is that a small business with a strategic plan is more aligned, has better employee engagement, and can quickly and accurately measure its progress towards well-defined goals.

Contact Michael now to find out more about how a strategic plan can help your business and to learn why a strategic plan is one of the first outcomes of my coaching process.

Michael Nelson
Phone: 877-242-4812
michael@thecogentcoach.com
www.thecogentcoach.com
This article may be shared provided it is not altered and the contact information remains intact.
© Cogent Consulting Group, LLC All Rights Reserved 2010

What Are Your Strategic Plan Mile Markers in 2011?

admin — Fri, 20 May 2011 11:02:17 +0000

Mile markers on major U.S. Highways are measured in tenths of a mile along with a plethora of other types of signs indicating the distance still to be traveled. With 2010 quickly coming to an end, now is the time to establish your mile markers through your strategic plan beyond the usual ones of end of month or quarterly.

For example, April 10 and September 23 are significant beyond what happened in history in years gone by. The significance of these dates are important to all small business owners, sales professionals and anyone engaged in economic activity.

Now some maybe shaking their heads to raising their eyebrows “Spock style” with quizzical expressions on their faces. They may be thinking what is so important about April 10 and September 23 relative to my business or professional success?

The answer is 100 days. On April 10, 100 days have passed since the turning of the New Year. September 23 marks 100 days before 2011 comes to an end. For many in business, the last quarter is considered a make it or break it benchmark. However, for some, maybe due to conditioning from past years, the urgency is no longer there.

I realized the significance of these dates after entering a marketing challenge sponsored by one article directory site. The goal was to write 100 articles in 100 days and it even had its own Twitter hash tag sign of #HAHA. Since I have engaged in education based marketing for the last 5 years, this specific tactic has worked well for me. The results have included:

Increased traffic to my website Increased sign up to my lists from which I can continue to market Improved Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ranking Increased passive income Increased clients Increased knowledge for myself

These results are in alignment with my strategic plan.

With small business owners still comprising 99% of all businesses, the reason I mention this marketing and selling challenge is to call attention to your own actions for the first 100 and last 100 days and you are not where you want to be. Imagine for a moment if you could be where you wanted to be. What would that mean to you, your employees if you have any, your family, your customers and your community?

Consider these strategic planning steps to help you leverage the first 100 days and the last 100 days to their full advantage:

Review where your sales, profits, productivity and operating goals as they currently stand Make any necessary course corrections based upon current results (now is the time for honesty and not hopeful projections) Construct a positive and proactive communication document to let everyone know where the organization is respective to the finish line of 12/31/2010 Schedule weekly meetings to keep on top of these critical targets Share the successes when each goal is achieved Repeat steps 1 through 5

Many times it is step number three where organizations fail. People in the 21st century still have not mastered mental telepathy or being mind readers. If you want improved results from yourself and your employees, you need to positively and to proactively communicate the current results for the 2011 performance race.

This does not mean giving any proprietary financial information. What you can do is state: Our sales goal currently stands at 95% completed. The next 3 weeks we need to complete that sales goal. This may be somewhat difficult, as the last month of the year has not been the best one to increase sales. However, if our team pulls together from management to our front line workers, we can finish the year at where we need to be.

By taking these actions, you can still make 2011 one of the best years ever in spite of this turbulent economy.

2011 Tax Deductions for Long Term Care Insurance

admin — Sun, 08 May 2011 19:19:20 +0000

When the Health Insurance and Accountability Act (HIPAA) was signed into a law, it has created improvements on health insurance, and the most significant adjustment made was the tax deduction for long-term care insurance policies. The HIPAA added the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 7702B that mandates all long term care insurance contracts to be treated as tax deduction under certain rules and limits.

Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced the increased LTC insurance tax deduction for 2011. Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long Term Care Insurance (AATCI), announced the increase that will benefit more small business owners.

The deductions for qualified LTC premiums for the year 2011 under Section 213(d)(10) are the following:

40 or less – $340 More than 40 but not more than 50 – $640 More than 50 but not more than 60 – $1,270 More than 60 but not more than 70 – $3,390 More than 70 – $4,240

Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2010-40

What Is a Tax-Qualified LTC Policy?

LTCi policies are considered tax-qualified if they meet certain provisions as prescribed by law. There are few requirements that will tell if your policy is tax-qualified or not:
- The policy should be guaranteed renewable
- The disability should drag long for the benefits to be paid
- A licensed health care practitioner should state if the individual is “chronically ill.” This should be done within 12 months
- There must be either or both of the two events that exist before a certification is given. First is the inability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) for at least 90 days. The policy must have at least five ADLs. Second is the need for supervision due to severe cognitive impairment
- Non-forfeiture and inflation protection must be offered by the insurer, but are not required in the policy
- Benefits under qualified long term care policies cannot copy benefits from Medicare

Individuals

Premiums for qualified long term care insurance (the definition is discussed below) are treated as tax deductible if they exceed the 7.5 percent of the insured’s adjusted gross income (AGI). These premiums are not only deductible for the insured; the deduction applies to his or her spouse and other dependents. Meanwhile, the tax deductions for the self-employed and business owners are treated differently.

Self-Employed, partnership, LLCs, S Corporation

Self-employed individuals may deduct a percentage on their premiums as business expense. The percentage follows the age-based limits used in individuals. However, the limit on Adjusted Gross Income does not apply and you can deduct 100 percent of the eligible amount.

C Corporations

C-corporations can deduct 100 percent of all tax-qualified LTC insurance premiums as business expense for all employees, their spouses and dependents. The employer’s contributions for the premiums are not included in the employee’s contribution.

Business Plans For Small Business – Simple Is Better

admin — Sat, 07 May 2011 00:31:32 +0000

There are some very compelling reasons for writing a business plan for small businesses. The challenge is that the misconceptions about what needs to go into a small business plan scare most owners and entrepreneurs away.

If you are like most small business owners or managers, you are incredibly busy, if not borderline overwhelmed. The idea of taking hours of valuable time to write a plan for your business may not seem worth it. But the data proves differently.

When writing a business plan for small business, focus on what really needs to be done, and what really needs to be measured. The plan does not have to be a 15 or 20 page document. In fact, it should only be one or two pages maximum. You should also have a yearly budget or financial plan as well. You really do not need to go overboard and do tons and tons of research about the market, and the opportunity, especially if you are already in business!

To write your plan, you will need a few things to get started. If you can assemble any of your sales and financial information for the past couple of years, that would be a bonus. You will need a notebook and writing instrument, possibly a laptop or a computer, and yourself. Then, basically find a quiet place to sit down for about an hour, and think about your business, and where you want it to go, and how you think you can get it there.

Let’s start with where you want your business to go. This is just a fluffy way of saying your vision for your business. Set a timeline for your vision; say 18 months or up to 5 years out. Then think about what your sales would be if everything goes as planned. What are your primary products or markets, and where will you do it.

Here’s an example: Within the next 3 years, grow MS Cut to $750,000.00 in sales providing industrial routing and cutting services to manufacturers and distributors in the Indianapolis market.

Or how about this: In the next 18 months, launch Tim’s Lunch & Deli, growing to $250,000 in sales. We will provide delicious sandwiches, soups and salads using all locally grown vegetables and products to the public in downtown St. Paul.

By writing out where you want your business to go in this fashion, you can clearly imagine the end result of your vision.

In terms of how you are going to get there, this is the strategy and tactics section of your plan. Again, what are the ways you are going to do the things you need to do? This could be everything from the methods you will use to attract customers, to the way that you will approach pricing your products or services. It can also address your marketing and advertising plans.

The main thing to keep in mind when it comes to your strategies and tactics, is to make them realistic. If you are going to need a lot of specialty skills (that you don’t currently have…) or technologies or a lot of money to do them, then chances are they won’t get used. Write this section of your plan so that you can actually do everything you need to do.

Next, you need to create a few measurables for your business. These are things like monthly sales revenues, profit percentages, labor hours to sales, number of returns per month, number of employee hours each month, etc.. These are all things that you can keep track of so that you will know if your plan is working, or if you need to address something quickly.

Each business, and each industry can have it’s own set of unique measurables. You may have one statistic you can keep that is a telling symbol for your business. Keep track of it, and see how it effects other areas of your business.

You should be able to track anywhere from 3 to 9 different measurables. Any more than that and you will not get much from it, and you are less likely to actually collect the information anyway. If you are using software like QuickBooks, Peachtree Accounting or another accounting app, there are several measurables you can pull and use to track your success.

All of the above information will fit nicely on one or two pages. Once you have that information, and you have written your business plan for your small business, the number one thing you can do is to use it, and use it often. Make a monthly (or weekly) appointment with yourself, your business partner, or your senior staff to review the plan, and make sure it still relevant. If something changes (and it will!), change your plan. It should be a living, dynamic document that you use on a regular basis to run your business.

By writing a business plan for your small business, you are creating a better opportunity for your business, and giving it a better chance of success.

Developing Your Small Business Marketing Plan

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 16:56:32 +0000

Along with your business plan, your small business marketing plans is only of the most important long-term plans you’ll make for your small business. Some small business owners choose to ignore that advice, instead preferring to fly by the seat of their pants, so to speak, to “wing it.” While some of those small business owners are successful, they’re not nearly as successful as they could be had they laid out a well-defined small business marketing plan.

Small business marketing strategy step 1: Know your market

The first step in developing a successful small business marketing strategy is to make sure that you have a really solid handle on your target market. Ask yourself: Who are my customers? Once you’ve identified who they are, ask yourself: What are my customers’ problems? What are their dreams and aspirations? The surest way to answer those questions, of course, is to ask your customers themselves. Even if you can’t afford to hire a small business marketing firm that will conduct focus group tests for you, you can do your own simple survey by hitting the streets and talking to those people you plan to sell to (and make contacts at the same time!). You’d be surprised how powerful that simple task is yet how few businesses do it.

Small business marketing strategy step 2: Know yourself

The second step in developing your small business marketing strategy is to get to know yourself (your business), once you’ve gotten to know your customers. Ask yourself: What does my business do? How is my business different than my competitors’? How does my business help solve my customers’ problems or help them achieve their dreams? Answering these questions will help you to define your unique selling proposition – those aspects that set you apart from your competitors.

That unique selling proposition should become your brand – your business’s identity. Your brand is what will pervade all of your marketing materials and what your customers will use to identify you. The importance of diligently developing your brand as part of a successful small business marketing strategy can’t be overstated.

Small business marketing strategy step 3: Analyze your competitors’ small business marketing strategies

Once you’ve developed your brand – that unique identity that tells your customers who you are and how you’re different – you can begin thinking about how you’re going to actually market your business. First, look at your competitors’ small business marketing strategies. Are there obvious gaps that you could fill (and thereby stand out among the competition)? For example, if you see that none of your competitors have websites, you could stand out with a small business marketing strategy online.

Wherever you market your business, it must be where your customers are. For example, small business marketing online will be a waste if none of your potential customers use the Internet. Likewise, you may think that writing a monthly column in your local newspaper would be a great way to advertise your services and establish yourself as an expert; but if none of your potential customers read that paper, that small business marketing strategy will fail.

At this point, your small business marketing strategy will not only be defined by where your customers are and what your competitors are doing, but it will also depend on your small business marketing budget. A full-page spread in a national magazine may be the best way to reach your target audience, but if you can’t afford to shell out tens of thousands of dollars, it’s not the small business marketing strategy for you.

Wherever your small business marketing plan takes you, the careful development of your small business marketing strategy – by knowing your market, knowing your business, and analyzing your competitors’ strategies – will be a critical determinant of your long-term business success.

Business Tax Audits on the Rise Plus 2011 Tax Changes That Could Cost Your Business Over $6,000

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:06:14 +0000

The IRS is at it again. The stealthy and highly aggressive agency has added two new 1099 tax forms for businesses, requiring extra caution and countless more hours in reporting and preparing your tax returns. This means all business, no matter how small, will be affected. Whether big or small, it is essential to be aware of these new tax extensions NOW- or you could find yourself in BIG trouble when filing your tax return next year.

Additionally, we can expect the number of IRS audits to continue to rise for small-business owners in 2010. About 25% to 30% of my tax relief clients are small businesses with tax problems – so I know how important it is to avoid IRS penalties, IRS audits or other tax problems that could be detrimental to your business.

Neil deMause revealed in his CNNMoney.com article “Stealth IRS changes mean millions of new tax forms” these two new tax extensions:

1) 1099-K – an extension to the 1099 form, which requires businesses to report non-wage income (dividends, earned interest, contract work). The 1099-K addresses “hard -to-track” payment streams used by businesses: credit cards. From 2011, businesses making over 200 payment transactions per year (and totaling over $20,000) through credit or debit cards have to fill out the 1099-K, documenting the year’s transactions and send this to their clients and the IRS. This will have little effect on companies currently reporting all credit card transactions to the IRS, though if you are not currently in the practice of doing so, it’ll be worth it to anticipate this for the near future.

2) 1099-Misc – used by companies use to record payments to individual service providers and freelance workers, has been massively expanded to include, from 2012, all annual business payments and purchases over $600. While previously payments to corporations and purchases of goods have been excluded, now all businesses need to obtain the taxpayer ID number of firm or individual you are paying. This form will now be a tracking mechanism used for any and all business transactions.

What This Means For Your Business: Swimming in Paperwork and Receipts!

The simple truth is that these extensions to tax legislation are quite the burden. There is a high probability you may get lost in the paperwork and tracking of receipts. A small business currently spends 3 – 5 hours a year on average filing 1099 forms. A survey conducted by Pennsylvania-based SMC Business Councils, shows that filing these two 1099 extensions for services purchased from corporations only would cause a standard small business at least 200 filings per year and an additional cost of $6,000 in preparing yearly tax returns. This estimate excludes the requirement for filing 1099s for purchases of goods – this would cause a staggering increase.

How did this tax provision blizzard come upon us? This new legislation has been in the works since 2007 when a tax-gap study was conducted. This ‘tax gap’ between businesses and individuals costs the government about $300 billion per year in lost revenue. The study showed that adding additional 1099 tax extension forms could produce $345 billion per year in federal tax revenue and this is where the health reform bill comes into play. These two extension requirements are part of the health reform bill – snuck in the 2,000 page bill, allowing the government to track down unreported income. The goal of this new tax legislation is to catch income that is not currently reported to the IRS.

For more information on these tax extensions, view draft versions of the 1099-K form and watch a video on “How to avoid a tax audit by the IRS” read the full article on CNNMoney.com.

If your business is under audit or you owe back taxes or IRS penalties – it’s important to get immediate tax relief to protect the future of your business. And you don’t want to go up against the IRS alone without the expert help of a professional tax attorney or Certified Tax Resolution Specialist.

Small Business Must Adapt Their Business Plan

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:05:51 +0000

A Recap of What Has Happened: During the earlier part of the decade (2001 – 2006) small businesses found there business environment easily managed. Revenues simply increased by 10% or more every year. Most small business owners are highly skilled in leadership, management, have a sale’s personality and\or a technical skill. These skill sets are a good fit for and can accelerate revenues increases in times which growth occurs.

Small businesses saw a sales increase on the income statement and debt increase on the balance sheet. Generally speaking, small businesses became focused on growth (only revenue growth) and overlooked other accounting metrics. The growth decisions made by small business owners omitted the risks of the overall financial position of the company. A result for small businesses was an expansion of their production capabilities. Companies over expanded their production capabilities through purchasing fixed assets (vehicles, equipment, furniture, etc) through debt obligations. Some businesses made these purchases by being enticed by tax benefits. The tax benefits were paid by debt, which means they received a deduction in the year they made the purchase, but did the cash outflow was over the next several years. This would later come back to haunt small businesses by having cash outflow without an offsetting tax deduction (i.e. paying off debt is not tax deductible).

Small business owners general choose to become a “flow through” entity for taxes (s-corporations and partnership). These entities, generally speaking, do not tax equity distributions (i.e. dividends). The small business owners used the tax regulations to exhaust all capital in their company. This worked efficiently during times when the small business owner could fuel growth through debt. With this no longer the case and small businesses are no longer able to depend on financial institutions for borrowing, small businesses will need to fuel their own growth through their own equity. This means owners will have to sacrifice by leaving monies inside the company (no taking equity distributions).

Overall, from 2002 through 2006 (perhaps even into 2008) being a business owner was fundamentally effortless. Risk was factored out of the equation. Group think began sneaked in. Group think is when no one disagrees or is ostracized for disagreeing. Realists were considered pessimists in the sea of optimists. The realist would be proven the victor, but there would be no celebration.

A Forecast Of & A Solution For The Future: The business environment has changed and will continue to be challenging for several years according to several economists and articles in Barron’s. The business model of the past (easy revenue growth, lots of debt and little equity) no longer matches the current environment. Small businesses have had their revenues cut by up to 30% (if not more) and have had financial institutions not renew and\or call loans. Small businesses will need to reposition their balance sheet to include high current asset balances (especially cash), reduce debts and increase their equity as well as rethink their strategy.

Small business owners need to immediately meet with their board of directors’ and\or advisors (or create a board) to begin to develop a new business model. The new business model will need to help reposition their company’s financial and business position to be able to survive the next several years. Small businesses must become more innovative and efficient so make sure the board participants have the ability to be creative and the environment to speak freely (in order to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear). Speaking of what you may not want to hear, a lot of sacrifice and longer hours may be warranted in the new business model.

Small Business Retirement Plans

admin — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:16:14 +0000

Present alternatives help small business owners save a noteworthy amount of money in tax-deferred small business retirement plans. If you’re seeing or running your own business, think big when it comes to saving for retirement. Oftentimes with all the excitement around setting up a company, one tends to forget about retirement plans for them and their employees. Don’t disregard setting up an own retirement plan because fortunately, there are major benefits to small business retirement plans that compensate the time it might take to set one up.

Small business retirement plan does not only allow a business owner to sock away a considerable amount for the future, but it also takes a sizeable tax deduction as well. Small business retirement plans can help fill in any personal savings gaps toward a more financially secured future. What are the benefits of getting small business retirement plans today for business owners? First, they may be able to take a tax deduction just for saving money for the future, secondly, all earnings on their investments grow tax-deferred until withdrawn, and they can include their spouse if they work together and also have a major advantage to offer employees nowadays or when their business gets bigger.

And what about the employees of your small business, are you finding it hard to have savvy employees working for you? The problem might just be on the small business retirement plan presented; it might not be appealing to your employees. So where does one start? Here is a rundown of small business retirement plans option for your employees, based on 2006 rules and requirements, the best plan however, depends on ones needs:

Simplified Employee pension Plan (SEP IRA)

For a handful of employees and looking for a plan that is really low cost and low maintenance, consider this plan. The SEP IRA is funded with tax-deductible employer contributions that cover all eligible employees. Contributions from employees are not allowed. There is no “plan document” and filing annual reports with IRS are not needed. Contributions can differ from year to year, so if your business hits the lean, you are not locked in.

Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE IRA)

These retirement plans are good for your employees because they allow employee contributions. They command an employer match, only problem is it will not allow you to sock away much for yourself. Annual contributions for 2006 are generally restricted to $10,000 plus an employer matching contribution. If you have a small business with less than ten people, then these small business retirement plans for your employees is a good way to get started.

There are many other small business retirement plans offered for both the owner and employees that can do a lot of good to the business. Also remember that in addition to small business retirement plans, you can also fully fund an IRA and create catch up contributions if you are fifty years old or older.

Ten Year-End Tips For Cleaning Up Your Small Business

admin — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 05:30:16 +0000

The last two years have been extremely challenging and small business owners are looking forward to 2011 with a sense of excitement and optimism. All signs are pointing to an improving economy and consumer confidence is beginning to move in a positive direction. To assist you in preparing for a successful new year, we have put together the following list of ten tasks you should complete between now and the end of the year.

Management and Financial

Pull out the old business plan and review where you are relative to the goals you set at the end of last year: (revenue, profit, number of customers, assets, owners’ equity, debt). To get these numbers you should review your Balance Sheet, your Income Statement and your Cash Flow Statement. Collect all of the receipts especially those in the shoe box or in the glove compartment. Make sure they are inputted into your accounting system. Look at your accounts receivable and call those customers who owe you money and demand payment. Times are tough and everyone is slow paying. Those who ask get moved to the top of the pile. Check leases to make sure you know when they are due to expire and renegotiate them in a timely fashion. Take a physical inventory of your products and compare with the entries in your accounting system and make any necessary adjustments.

Marketing

Understand who your favorite customer is and review your marketing message and make sure that it addresses their needs and is written using the words that they, the customers, use. Tune up your elevator pitch and make sure that all your employees learn it by heart. Check your web site content and make sure it communicates your marketing message. Also check your copyright notice and contact information for correctness. Make sure your Twitter, Facebook and other social media site names/profiles represent your company name. Register your company with Google Local, Yahoo Local and Bing Local. Check to see that you show up on map searches.

Now that you’ve done the above, start your planning for next year. Set the goals and objectives for the next 4 quarters and prepare action plans and designate responsible individuals in your company. Remember, you should be reviewing your business plan continually.