Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 29, 2009 in
Small Business Humor 
Friday Funnies — Are You a Professional?
OK, this is a reprint of a joke that has been around for a while but is still good for a few laughs.
Are You a Professional?
The following short quiz consists of 4 questions and will tell you whether you are qualified to be a “professional.” Scroll down for each answer. The questions are NOT that difficult.
1. How do you put a giraffe into a refrigerator?
The correct answer is: Open the refrigerator put in the giraffe and close the door. This question tests whether you tend to do simple things in an overly complicated way.
2. How do you put an elephant into a refrigerator?
Open the refrigerator put in the elephant and close the refrigerator. Wrong Answer!
Correct Answer: Open the refrigerator, take out the giraffe, put in the elephant and close the door. This tests your ability to think through the repercussions of your previous actions.
3. The Lion King is hosting an animal conference. All the animals attend except one. Which animal does not attend?
Correct Answer: The Elephant. The elephant is in the refrigerator. This tests your memory.
OK, even if you did not answer the first three questions correctly, you still have one more chance to show your true abilities.
4. There is a river you must cross. But it is inhabited by crocodiles. How do you manage it?
Correct Answer: You swim across. All the crocodiles are attending the Animal Meeting. This tests whether you learn quickly from your mistakes.
According to Anderson Consulting Worldwide, around 90% of the professionals they tested got all questions wrong. But many preschoolers got several correct answers. Anderson Consulting says this conclusively disproves the theory that most professionals have the brains of a four year old.
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Photo credit: Pucker up!
Tags: anderson consulting, friday funnies
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 28, 2009 in
Small Business Humor 
Managers and Engineers
This joke is soooo perfect for the business world. Good from some smiles. Enjoy!
A man flying in a hot air balloon realizes he is lost. He reduces his altitude and spots a man in a field down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts, “Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?”
The man below says, “Yes, you’re in a hot air balloon, about 30 feet above this field.”
“You must be an engineer,” says the balloonist.
“I am. How did you know?”
“Everything you told me is technically correct, but it’s of no use to anyone.”
The man below says, “You must be in management.”
“I am. But how did you know?”
“You don’t know where you are, or where you’re going, but you expect me to be able to help. You’re in the same position you were before we met, but now it’s my fault.”
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Photo credit: Fly me to the moon ….
Tags: engineers, hot air balloon, managers
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 27, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Even Local Small Businesses Need a Web Presence
Let’s say you run a local small business with a store front on Main Street. Do you need a web presence? A few years ago, I would have said, “Heck no! Save your money.” Today, I say, “Hell, yes! You’d better get on the internet bus while it’s still here.”
Now, as odd as that may sound, even if you focus mainly on doing business in your local town, the up-and-coming technology means that you will need a web presence-very soon. So what’s going on?
With the advent with mobile devices, consumers in even small towns will be using their smart phones to compare prices before they head out to do their shopping. This might even apply in the little one-horse town where I live. Actually, it’s more like a one-person town, since the cows and horses outnumber the people in Olathe, CO.
An Example from the Present
But, back to the example of how a local store needs to have a web presence. I’m a nut about horse equipment. The other day I was looking for a standing martingale, which is a nifty little doo-hickey that keeps my mare from flinging her head around. It attaches to her bridle. Now, in Olathe, there are two feed stores that also sell tack. Ten miles to the north are three more feed/tack stores. Ten miles to the south of me, there are six of these stores.
With the current state of technology in Olathe, Colorado, which is about as backwards as you can get, to find this martingale, I have to get out the phone book and dial around until I find the store that carries it in the right size and at the lowest price. In other words, my fingers do the walking, and my mouth does the talking.
Looking Into the Future
Zoom forward a couple of years. Now imagine that Olathe has caught up with the rest of the big cities in the U.S. I’m looking for another martingale because my mare has gotten tired of wearing the old one, ripped it off, and killed it with her hooves. This time, instead of dragging out the phone book, I get out my “talk to me” smart phone and type in “standing martingale.” My smart phone does its brainy thing and I get a listing of all the stores within a 25 mile radius that carry this item. It also lists the sizes and prices for every item, so that I can decide, in an instant, which store I am going to visit. I can even buy the martingale with my phone and go pick it up later.
Think I’m dreaming? I’m not. This phenomenon is already happening in the larger U.S. cities. Comparison shopping on mobile devices is quick and easy. It’s only a matter of time before the technology migrates into the smaller towns in the boonies.
So even if your small business only serves a small local market, you might want to start looking at developing a web presence now. The internet is one media that rewards longevity, so the sooner you start the better.
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Photo credit: 21st century communication
Tags: Colorado, mobile comparison shopping, Olathe, small business web presence
Is Your Job Hanging On by a Hair? Follow Warren Buffett’s Advice
This blog post goes out to all the people who are thinking about diving into the “small business ownership” pool, but are afraid to commit. This post is for those people who are still employed but are worried about the Sword of Damocles hanging over their head by a hair. In other words, the pink slip, the dread “ax” is just a hair’s breadth away.
If you still have a job but are worried about the security of that job, this blog post is for you.
Now is the Time to Own a Small Business
Now is the time to keep your day job and start investigating the option of owning a small business on the side. Why do this? Well, if nothing else, you’ll be following the advice of Warren Buffett. He says,
“A lot of great fortunes in the world have been made by owning a single wonderful business. If you understand the business, you don’t need to own very many of them.”
People always think that Warren Buffett made all his money in the stock market, but really he has never thought about it that way. He says, “I never attempt to make money in the stock market. I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.” Still think he’s all about the stock market? Not.
Why Small Business Ownership is a Great Option
Owning a small business while you still have a day job has huge benefits. The biggest benefit, of course, is that you have the best of both worlds: the income security of your job and the growth opportunity of your small business.
All of that aside, here are some other major benefits of small business ownership:
Tax Advantages
The small business owner has far more tax advantages than the employee. The deductions for small business are amazing. We help many people start their own small businesses, and help them gain tax deductions of up to $5,000 in the process. This is especially true if the person is still employed.
More Control Over Your Future
You can’t control what your employer does, but if you start a small business on the side, you have a “cushion” in case your employer decides to downsize or goes bankrupt. The key is to get your small business going while you still have a day job or some assets you can invest.
The Economy Never Stops
Bubbles keep bursting in the stock market, but the economy never really stops. People always have to eat, clothe themselves, and entertain themselves. Though the stock market is related to the economy, when the market crashes the economy still proceeds, even if at a slower rate. Small businesses service the economy, even in a recession.
Get a Larger Return
As an employee, your investment options are somewhat limited. A small business gives you access to much higher rates of return-the rates of return that the rich access on a regular basis.
The list of benefits of small business ownership is too long to be covered in just a brief article, but know that there are many. If you are interested in exploring the options of small business, give me a holler.
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Photo credit: Warren Buffett
Tags: benefits of small business ownership, tax benefits, Warren Buffett
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 25, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Test Marketing: Try Stuff On for Size
If you’re a sole proprietor or small business owner, marketing can seem like a headache that just won’t go away. You might have lots of good ideas, but you’re not sure which ones to pursue. And, if you’re like most small business owners, you only have a limited budget to invest in marketing, so which marketing options should you pursue?
Test Marketing an Idea
A really quick and dirty way to check out your ideas is to use test marketing. When you test market an idea, you implement the idea on a very small scale to a limited portion of your customers or “audience.” For instance, if you’re in the dry cleaning business and you want to try out a volume discount idea, you might test the idea by offering it selectively to people who regularly bring orders of $50 or more for dry cleaning. The people in this test market obviously do high volume and are probably interested in saving money.
Set Time Limits
Set a time limit for your experiment and keep track of the results carefully. Look back through your records and see how many orders these people brought in, how often they came in and how large the orders were. Then, see what changes, if any, your promotional discount created. See if you get an overall increase in revenue and profit. If there are no changes, talk to those high volume people and find out what’s on their mind. It may be that they already bring all of their dry cleaning to you and have no more volume.
Next Steps
If that’s the case, then try your promotion on the next tier of customers - the people who may bring you only pants and skirts, but who take their shirts to the 99 cent place around the corner. Offer a volume discount to this group of customers and see if they will increase their volume to get the discount. Talk to them and find out what’s important to them as you hand them a coupon for the next order.
If you run this experiment for a few months, you’ll begin to really see the effect (positive or negative) on your bottom line. At the same time, the only money you’ll spend on this effort is printing up some coupons to hand to customers. If this really works, then you might consider increasing your investment in this idea and advertising it through newspapers or coupon services.
Cheap Test Marketing Allows for Mistakes
Test marketing is a great way to test out all of your ideas on the cheap and limiting any possible negative effects. Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, once said that if you keep your expenses down you can afford to make a lot of mistakes and still recover. That’s the very essence of test marketing! Good luck and have fun!
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Photo credit: hair
Tags: cheap marketing, Sam Walton, test marketing
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 22, 2009 in
Small Business Tax Tips 
Which Business Entertainment Expenses are Tax-Deductible?
Let’s say you invite a group of potential business partners into town. You take them to lunch, and later to an evening show. Are both the lunch and the evening show tax-deductible expenses for your business?
Yes. Of course, as always, you have to meet certain criteria to claim both of these expenses. The lunch falls under the category of a direct business entertainment expense as long as these four criteria are met:
1. You expect there will be a future benefit to your business as a result of the lunch.
2. The main reason you are entertaining these people is to conduct business.
3. You specifically discuss business or items that will benefit your business.
4. You footed the bill specifically so that you could talk directly with these people, who can possibly benefit your business in the future.
In addition, the lunch has to meet the criteria of being in a “clear business setting.” Places like restaurants, hotel dining rooms, and meeting rooms all qualify as clear business settings. Therefore, lunch meets this criteria.
Associated Business Entertainment Expenses
That takes care of lunch. Now, what about the evening show? In the past, the evening show would only be a legitimate business expense if it took place directly before or after business was conducted, making the evening show a non-deductible expense. However, the IRS has now made the regulation more generous.
These days, as long as the entertainment, in this case the evening show, takes place on the same day as business was conducted, the expenses is considered a legitimate tax deduction. The evening show is considered an “associated entertainment” expense. As with the lunch expense, half the expense of the evening show can be deducted.
Figuring out which business entertainment expenses are tax-deductible isn’t really that complicated. You just have to have these qualifications clear in your mind, and document the nature of each expense just as you would any other normal business expense.
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Photo credit: Dinner Party 1954
Tags: IRS, tax deductible business entertainment expenses
Do You Dream the Impossible Dream?
I do. Well, not really impossible, but challenging. I love a good challenge, and my dreams are usually based around circumstances that are difficult at best. It’s where I thrive. Lots of my friends think I’m crazy, but as long as it makes me happy, I always say that my craziness is cheaper than a shrink.
I’m very much in alignment with business guru Robert Kiyosaki, who says this about dreams: “People who dream small dreams continue to live lives as small people.” I’m a firm believer that the desire for achievement is what keeps the lifeblood pumping in us from day to day. After all, if you don’t have a reason to get up in the morning - a good challenge to sink your teeth into - why bother to get up?
The Five Kinds of Dreamers
Robert Kiyosaki, in his book “The Business School for People Who Love Helping People,” lists five kinds of dreamers. I’m impressed with this list because it shows five very distinct ways in which people can go about living their lives. I know people in all five categories. Check out this list and see if you recognize people in your life who fit into these categories.
1. Dreamers who dream in the past.
These people don’t have any dreams to look forward to. All they have are past glories and memories that they relive over and over. Often, these people achieved the peak of their greatness in high school or college.
2. Dreamers who dream only small dreams.
These people have dreams, only they are tiny. It’s a matter of confidence. People with small dreams keep them small so they can feel confident of achieving them. The problem is that people who dream tiny dreams usually don’t bother to achieve even these small goals.
3. Dreamers who have achieved their dreams and have not set a new dream.
These are the people who dreamed of being doctors, lawyers, or fashion models in high school, and then went on to achieve those dreams. Once they have achieved their dreams, they sit on their laurels. They tend to be bored with their lives, but don’t have enough juice to start a new adventure.
4. Dreamers who dream big dreams but don’t have a plan on how to achieve them, so they end up achieving nothing.
We see tons of people like this in our MLM business. These people have great dreams and aspirations, but don’t have the right training or support network to help them reach their dreams. They are always saying things like, “This time will be different. I’m really going to make it,” but they never do. They live on dreams and very little else. According to Kiyosaki, these people should stay with their big dreams AND “find a plan, and find a team that will help them make their dreams come true.”
5. Dreamers who dream big, achieve those dreams, and go on to dream bigger dreams.
This is, of course, the ideal kind of dreamer. Most people want to dream big dreams and then achieve those dreams. The people who are in this category not only know how to dream big, but they know where to connect with the people and resources to help them achieve those dreams. Kiyosaki says he sees a large percentage of these people in successful network marketing companies (note: the word “successful” here is key!).
Which kind of dreamer are you? What kinds of dreams do you have for you, your small business, and your lifestyle?
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Photo credit: `169 | High..
Tags: five kinds of dreamers, impossible dream, Robert Kiyosaki
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 20, 2009 in
Small Business Management 
How many employees does it take to screw in a light bulb in a small business?
None.
The owner does it!
OK, that’s not strictly true for all small businesses, but if you look at the businesses that a lot of people call a “small business,” what you actually see is someone who is self-employed rather than a small business owner.
Self-Employment versus Small Business Ownership
From the outside, the self-employed person and the small business owner both look the same. They both own their businesses and they both sell something. In the startup phase, both will probably work long hours, and start to look a little worn-out.
That’s where the similarities end, and the differences start to show up. Business guru Robert Kiyosaki defines the difference like this:
The self-employed business owner wants to be the best in his or her field. The small business wants to work with the best in his or her field.
In other words, the values are different. The self-employed person wants to BE the best, so they spend all their time doing everything for their business so that they can be the best. The small business owners doesn’t want to do everything themselves. They want to develop a business that generates income and eventually runs itself. So instead of trying to be the best, they hire the best people. Why? So that they can eventually stop working in the business and have it still produce a passive stream of income.
Self-Employment Burnout
One way you can distinguish a self-employed person from a small business owner is that the self-employed person will experience burnout. Why? Because they have been doing everything for their business, day in and day out, for years. The small business owner long ago hired a competent staff and moved onto a different business (or went on vacation).
One person who has really recognized the need for self-employed people to get help for their burnout is bestselling author Tim Ferriss. One of the “homework assignments” that he gives business owners is to practice outsourcing tasks. That is, he strongly recommends that you hire a virtual assistant and delegate a certain percentage of your work to this assistant. Virtual assistants usually don’t live in the same town as you, and often work in a completely different country. Making use of a virtual assistant, who works for say $15-$20 per hour, frees you up for more important tasks, like strategizing business growth or developing marketing tactics. Getting help in the form of a virtual assistant also helps you avoid burnout. You learn to do only the tasks that only can do.
If you feel uncomfortable hiring someone to help you out, consider this: as a self-employed person, how much are you really earning per hour? Take the salary you pay yourself monthly and divide that by the number of hours you actually work each month. Be sure to include all the time you spend on lowly tasks like filing, restocking, documentation, and responding to routine inquiries. All of that goes on top of the time you spend actually practicing in your area of expertise, like accounting, marketing, or consulting.
When you honestly add up all the hours you work, and then divide that amount into your salary, chances are that you are not getting paid very much. You might actually make more money flipping burgers at your local burger joint. True, you would have to wear a really dorky uniform and work with junk food all day, but your paycheck might be bigger.
Hmm, gives you food for thought, doesn’t it? If you’re headed for a self-employment burnout, now might be the time to check out Tim Ferriss’ book and find yourself a virtual assistant. Check out Elance and other similar services where these assistants abound. Most of all, learn to enjoy letting go!
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Photo credit: absentminded
Tags: burnout, Robert Kiyosaki, self-employment, small business owner
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 19, 2009 in
Small Business Tax Tips 
Deductible Business Travel Expenses Allowed by the IRS
Figuring out which business travel expenses are tax-deductible according to IRS regulations can be tricky, especially if you are running on your own business and you don’t want to visit your accountant with every little question. What gets even trickier is trying to decipher whether travel expenses are deductible if you have combined a business trip with some leisure activities.
This article outlines the basic travel expenses that you can deduct as a legitimate business expense. But before diving in, I need to give you a definition, and that is the definition of a business day.
What Does the IRS Consider a Business Day?
Any of these qualify as a business day:
- a day on which you travel getting to and from your business destination
- a day when you spend at least 4 hours on business related activities
- a day when you have a pre-scheduled appointment
The first two are relatively simple to understand. Just be sure you have documentation to back up your travel, such as ticket stubs. On days when you are spending at least 4 hours on business activities, your activity log serves as documentation.
On days when you have a pre-scheduled appointment, you have to be able to prove that you actually attended the appointment. How do you prove it? If you met someone for a meal and picked up the tab, the receipt from the meal serves as proof. Otherwise, you’ll need to print out emails from before and after the trip to the person or people you met. The email from before your trips proves that the meeting was pre-scheduled. The email sent after the meeting (for instance, thanking them for meeting you) proves that you were at the meeting.
Tax-Deductible Business Travel Expenses
Now that we’ve gotten that definition taken care of, let’s get down to the list of items you can deduct from your business travel. The related IRS regulation or publication is listed after each category.
Business Meals
Half the cost of all your meals during actual business days can be deducted. This is true whether you met another person for a meal and picked up the tab, or you ate alone. (1.162-2(a))
Transportation
This usually makes up a bulk of your business travel expenses. These expenses include rental cars, airline tickets, airport shuttles, taxis, and trains. (IRS Publication 463)
Laundry
Any dry-cleaning or laundry expenses associated with clothes that you wore on the business part of the trip can be deducted as a legitimate travel expense. (Internal Revenue Ruling 63-145 and 1963-2 C.B. 86)
Lodging
Any lodging costs, such as your hotel bill, are travel expenses that can be legally deducted. (IRS Publication 463)
Tips, Gratuities, Phone Calls
If you had to tip a cabbie, a porter, or a maid, then you can include these expenses as a part of your travel expenses. These should be associated with business days. Business related phone calls, whether local or long distance, may also be deducted. (1.162-2(a) and IRS Publication 463)
Does that sound simple enough? As always, remember that the devil is in the details, or in this case, the documentation. This article outlines all the legal business travel expenses you can deduct, but you really can only deduct these if they are properly documented. So deduct away as long as your document!
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Photo credit: Patrick Ng
Tags: IRS, tax deductible business travel expenses
Posted by Stephanie Valentine on May 18, 2009 in
Small Business Marketing 
Oddly enough, there is a great list of small business marketing ideas on a blog called “The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur,” or TPE. No, really, it’s a great website/blog. And the list of marketing ideas is huge, with 115 great suggestions. Author Mike Michalowicz surveyed the TPE community and compiled this list.
The list ranges from basics, like participating in trade organizations or telling good stories, to unusual ideas, such as giving away free soap stamped with the slogan, “Be Sweet,” asking people to retweet!
The list is definitely worth a read, and will probably spark some inspiration for your small business. Check it out here:
115 Marketing Strategies for Small Business
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Photo credit: Everyone Poops
Tags: small business marketing ideas, toilet paper entrepreneur
