V.L. Thompson's Blog, page 16

IRS – Small Business and Self-Employeed Tax Center

SB/SE serves taxpayers who file Form 1040, Schedules C, E, F or Form 2106, as well as small businesses with assets under $10 million.

The post IRS – Small Business and Self-Employeed Tax Center has been shared by ceo-book.com.

America’s SBDC

America’s Small Business Development Center Network is the most comprehensive small business assistance network in the United States and its territories.  The mission of the network is to help new entrepreneurs realize their dream of business ownership, and assist existing businesses to remain competitive in the complex marketplace of an ever-changing global economy.

Hosted by leading universities, colleges and state economic development agencies, and funded in part through a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration, approximately 1,000 service centers are available to provide no-cost business consulting and low-cost training.

The mission of America’s SBDC is to represent the collective interest of our members by promoting, informing, supporting and continuously improving the SBDC network.  America’s SBDC network delivers nationwide educational assistance to strengthen small/medium business management, thereby contributing to the growth of local, state and national economies.

The post America’s SBDC has been shared by ceo-book.com.

House Approves Permanent Small-Business Tax Break

Article by John D. McKinnon from the Wall Street Journal

The House voted Thursday to make permanent a tax break allowing small businesses to write off up to $500,000 in new equipment purchases.

While the move adds to momentum for congressional efforts to extend a range of now-temporary tax breaks, it also sharpens a conflict between the House and Senate over whether to extend the breaks permanently or temporarily.

Thursday’s vote was 272-144, with several dozen Democrats joining Republicans to support the measure.

The list of temporary tax breaks, many of which expired at the end of 2013, has grown over the years and now includes over 50 separate provisions affecting businesses as well as individuals.

By now, the cost of making them all permanent is proving to be prohibitive—almost $1 trillion over the next decade. But many of the breaks are so popular or important that lawmakers are reluctant to eliminate them.

House Republicans are trying to make permanent some of the most significant ones, such as the expensing provision, in an effort to give certainty to businesses as well as government budget writers. The expensing provision gives small businesses the ability to write off equipment purchases up front, rather than depreciating them over a period years. The amount has been set at $500,000 since 2010, but without congressional action would fall to about $25,000 for 2014.

“It’s time to make it a permanent part of the tax code,” said Rep. Dave Camp (R., Mich.), chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, on Thursday. “Why not do something good for America?…What we really need is permanent policy.”

Democrats said House Republicans’ effort would force cuts in spending, especially from social programs. They also said putting expensive business breaks on a permanent footing would make it harder to rewrite the tax code.

“This is piecemeal and an ill-considered way to do tax reform,” said Rep. Richard Neal (D., Mass.).

 

Read full article on the Wall Street Journal online

The post House Approves Permanent Small-Business Tax Break has been shared by ceo-book.com.

Google My Business: New Tools for Small Business Owners

Article by Ashley Zeckman from  SearchEngineWatch.com

Google has created Google My Business, a one-stop shop for small business owners looking to increase their visibility within Google search, Google Maps, and Google+. Users will also be able to access their applications in one place.

In order to avoid the need to make duplicate entries while still providing information across all Google products, users will only need to enter their information one time and it will populate into all of Google’s services. TechCrunch reported that to create ease of use and rival Facebook “owners can post news, events, photos and other updates they want shared with customers.”

Exploring “Google My Business”

Let’s jump right in and take a look at the updates. As soon as you login you will be guided through a tour of the new updates and instructions on how to interact with the platform.

Next you will see a screen that houses your basic information that appears on Google+, Google Places, and Google Search. You can quickly update any basic information including phone number, address, URL, and categories.

The real meat and potatoes of this new release is what comes next. You are now able to access the following all from one screen:

- Google+: You can share new text, photos, links, videos, and events.
- Insights: Once you verify your business you are able to gain insights into your visibility, engagement, and audience. I recently made an edit to our page so it is pending verification.
- Reviews: Each business is given a Google rating and you are able to manage your reviews on Google and view other reviews around the web.
- Google Analytics: Quick access directly to your Google Analytics dashboard.
- Start a Hangout: With the click of a button you can start or join a Hangout.

Read full article on SearchEngineWatch.com

The post Google My Business: New Tools for Small Business Owners has been shared by ceo-book.com.

Things Broke People Do

Article by Caryn Rivadeneira, Rachel Marie Stone, Marlena Graves from ChristianityToday.com

The Problem with Lists

Caryn Rivadeneira

For the longest time I wondered why God allowed me—and my family—to go broke. After so many cries for rescue, after so many laments, after so many opportunities where God could’ve “fixed” our financial crisis easily, but didn’t, I wondered what he was up to. Wondered why he wasn’t “blessing” us with financial abundance the way he had in the past.

At long last, I figured maybe God was actually blessing us with a time in relative poverty. That maybe, God allowed us to linger in financial desperation so that we might learn something life-changing through a time of total and utter dependence on him. That maybe learning what it is to lean on God and God’s people, to fully understand the beauty of asking for and receiving daily bread would be a bigger blessing than some zeroes on a savings account.

But I was wrong. At least, according to a post on Christian financial guru Dave Ramsey’s site. Based on that advice, we went broke—from rich to poor—because I wasn’t forcing my children to read at least two non-fiction books a month… or following those 19 other things Rich People Do Every Day that Poor People Don’t.

If this is true, it makes total sense why I’m no longer rich: I may have spent two hours last night in bed with Jane Eyre, but since I did not spend 30 minutes reading something career-related, I have no hope. It doesn’t help that I choose NPR over audio books or that I usually speak what’s on my mind. You know, like we broke people do.

But of course, I jest. This list’s truthiness isn’t its biggest problem. The problem is the prevalence with which so many Christians seem to think lists like this are helpful. After all, why should Christians be so concerned with what the rich do—how they become so or how they act? According to Jesus, they are not the blessed ones. They have the harder time finding the Kingdom.

While some of the items on the list make common sense (reading more of anything is always a good thing), if in my most desperate financial need someone handed me this list and told me to hop to it, I’d never seen Jesus poking through these words. Not like I saw him peek out when friends handed us stacks of grocery store gift cards or family members sent checks—with no repayment expectation. There, I saw love. There, I saw grace, There, I saw Jesus. In the gifts, not the lists.

Our Gifts, God’s Grace

Rachel Marie Stone

From Proverbs, we might conclude that God rewards the hardworking with wealth, while poverty is the result of laziness. The book is full of aphorisms like, “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich” (10:4) and “Do not love sleep, or else you will come to poverty; open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread” (19:13).

This idea—that people who are poor are poor simply because they haven’t cultivated the right habits—gets labeled as biblical, but tends to foster a contempt for the poor that’s anything but.

Scripture reminds us many times poverty itself is by no means a cursed state (Prov. 15:16) and condemns contempt for the poor: “Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him” (Prov. 14:31). Deuteronomy 15:7-8 warns Israelites not to be “hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward your needy neighbor. You should rather open your hand, willingly lending enough to meet the need, whatever it may be.”

The Bible doesn’t indicate that people must be worthy of such generosity, no provision made for excluding the person from charity because of laziness. We see that kindness and generosity are to be given without reservation, without restriction. Perhaps this is because all good things—including the ability to work hard—come from divine grace. The prosperity that can follow hard work is not exclusively our natural and inevitable reward, but in fact a gift from God.

I understand this idea much more clearly since I came to live in Malawi, Africa, which is one of the ten poorest countries in the world. It’s common to see even very small children with babies tied to their backs, carrying buckets of water on their head, and women and girls cultivating the ground with short hoes or stooped over, gathering firewood: literally backbreaking work. I have never worked as hard as many women and even children do here, day in, day out, year after year. Yet my annual income exceeds theirs many, many times over. Not because of my hard work, but because I was born someplace else.

Ecclesiastes 9:11 reminds us that “under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful; but time and chance happen to them all.” Sometimes riches do indeed come from hard work, but when hard work can result in riches, it may be an accident of birth, or God’s unknowable providence—in Manhattan, say, rather than in Malawi—that makes it so.

Read full article on ChristianityToday.com

The post Things Broke People Do has been shared by ceo-book.com.

Doing Business God’s Way

Book Desription

Dennis Peacocke provides eleven master principles on which businesses should be built. Learn the difference between riches and wealth, leadership and management, and God’s view of money and private property. This is a must read for any Christian business professional. Now in its second printing!

 

About the Author
Dennis Peacocke is founder and president of Strategic Christian Services, Inc. a non-profit corporation that aids leaders in discovering how to apply bibical truth to churches, business, and culture. He teaches widely in the Americas, Europe, and New Zealand. A graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, former research economist, and business owner. Dennis was ordained to the minstiry in 1973. He and his wife Jan reside in Santa Rosa, California. They have three children and three grandchildren. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Click here to view this title on Amazon.com

The post Doing Business God’s Way has been shared by ceo-book.com.

Creating Powerful Affirmations

Article by Danielle Hark from BeliefNet.com

Do you want change in your life? More money? Love? Weight loss? We all have desires and dreams. One simple tool that has helped people across the world for generations to realize their dreams is… affirmations. Affirmations are powerful tools of transformation that will shift the way you think, feel and even speak. These simple statements have within them the ability to alter your mindset to a more positive place and spark feelings of confidence that can lead to positive action and meaningful change. Here are tips for creating powerful affirmations, and examples to get you started. Use them as is or add personal details to make them your own…

 

Visualize

Start by closing your eyes and seeing the future you want to create. In that future, identify any habits, feelings, or situational elements that will need to change for you to get from the present to that ideal future… That is where your affirmation begins.

 

Powerful Wording

Start your affirmation with strong present words, such as, “I am,” “I choose,” or “I see,” as opposed to “I will try,” “maybe,” or “I should.” Words like “try” or “should” insert doubt. They leave room for failure. Which do you think is stronger? “I will try to take better care of myself” or “I feel healthy and strong now that I am taking care of myself by exercising and seeing my doctors.”

 

Present Tense

While affirmations are phrases you tell yourself about your desired future, they are said in the present tense. This simple tense change puts you directly into the reality you are creating with your thoughts and words. This can be as simple as “I am successful” or more specific, such as, “I feel satisfied as I am naturally creating expanding opportunities in my career doing what I love and making the money I desire.”

Short and Simple

Keeping your affirmation short and simple broadens the effect. Instead of being focused on one area of your life, the affirmation will apply to many areas. For example, “I am content and satisfied,” could be about family, relationships, career, spirituality, or any other area.

 

Emotion

If you prefer longer affirmations, add words that convey your emotion in that ideal state, such as “I am excited to receive the promotion I deserve,” or “I feel lucky to be in good health and good spirits.” Emotion words give your affirmation energy and feeling.

 

Positivity

Affirmations are inherently positive and uplifting, but some people fall into the trap of negative wording. Make sure to choose your words carefully and that the words you choose are all positive and express things and ideals that you are moving towards, not away from. Instead of “I want to lose weight,” opt for “I’m pumped to have reached my goal weight” or “I now feel comfortable and confident in my body.”

Read entire article on BeliefNet.com

The post Creating Powerful Affirmations has been shared by ceo-book.com.

Small Business Technology: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started

Article by SAMARA LYNN from PCMag.com

It doesn’t matter why you started your small business; it doesn’t matter how killer your idea is; it doesn’t matter if you’ve identified a completely underserved niche; it doesn’t even matter how deep your pockets are, really—if you don’t get the tech right, you’re simply not going to succeed. And, let’s face it, most new small businesses don’t have bottomless pockets, so it’s absolutely critical to get it right from the very beginning.

But that’s easier said than done. You know you need a website, but how are you going to get one. Do you even know how to get a .com address for your site? And what about email? It’s critical, sure, but what’s the best way to get it. Gmail sounds good, and it’s cheap, but is it really a business quality service? And what about hardware? Do you want to buy and maintain your own servers? Do you even want to own your own PCs? And how about a wireless network? You know you probably need one, but what are the challenges of setting one up for a whole company, where it actually might matter a great deal if your neighbors can piggyback on your bandwidth—or steal your intellectual property—if you don’t get it right. The sheer volume of things that you need to know and problems you need to solve before you can even get started can be crippling. But it doesn’t need to be.

The answers all depend on the type of business you’re running and your business goals. Our step-by-step guide walks you through some of the most important early steps and gives you key pointers for getting started on the rest.

Create a Web Presence

While specific steps for setting up a business vary by type of business, there are a few givens. First, few businesses can run successfully on word-of-mouth alone these days, so you’ll need an internet presence. Second, even micro-businesses rely on some form of technology to succeed, so you’ll need computers, and probably a network of some sort as well. In reality, you’ll need to have access to at least one computer to get started, but I’d argue that a modern business ought to be thinking about its Web presence as early as possible. It’s part of the company’s intellectual property; it should be a key part of the company identity.

Choosing a Domain Name:

One of your very first tasks is to choosing your business’ domain name. Your domain name is your Internet name—it’s your “yourbusiness.com.” Domains are registered through hosting providers. If your business’ name is “Annie’s Apple Pies”—you’ll likely want to opt for the domain name “anniesapplepies.com.” In fact, you should probably register the domain name you want well before you actually open for business. You’ll want to make sure that no one registers the domain name you want before you get the chance. You may want to make sure an appropriate domain name is available before you even officially register your business name. If there isn’t a good corresponding domain name, you may want to think again.

Research Your Domain Name: Let’s continue with the example of Annie and her nascent apple-pie business. Annie first needs to check if anyone already owns the domain name “anniesapplepiescom.” She can check by going to InterNIC’sWhois database online. InterNIC, is the governing body largely responsible for handling domain names. I prefer using Network Solutions’s WHOIS search, because it’s a bit more user-friendly.

If someone already owns, “anniesapplepies.com,” Annie can search to see if the name is available under a different extension like .net or .biz. Sometimes you can negotiate with a domain name owner and get them to sell it to you. If not, it’s back to the drawing board. Good luck if you’re trying to get a simple name like “Applepie.com”—if there’s not already someone using it, chances are someone will be squatting on it. Squatters register names in bulk with the intention of reselling them later. Type in www.applepie.com to see what I mean. A more specific name like “anniesapplepies.com” is much more likely to be available (in fact, as I write this, it is).

Register Your Domain Name:

Once you’ve found a suitable, available domain name for your business, you need to register that domain name. This can be done through a registry service like Network Solutions, eNOM, or GoDaddy. Registering a domain typically costs anywhere from $8-15 dollars per year for the average small business.

Some companies offer free domain registration and only charge you for particular services, such Web hosting for a nominal fee. Be wary of free registration and hosting sites, especially if you plan to run a business that does a lot of online financial transactions and ecommerce. Some companies offering free services lack the security resources to protect your data and transactions. This is not to say those companies are bad or inefficient. But, if this business is going to be a significant part of your income, you may want to think twice about using them.

Domain names have to be renewed after a period of time. Think of registering a domain as more of a lease than an actual purchase. Your registry service will send you a reminder when your domain is about to expire, or for additional cost you can opt to extend your domain registration for several years before expiration.

Do I Need a Static IP Address?:

Most small business users using hosted services like GoDaddy.com have no need for a dedicated or static IP address. However, if you are running a small business like an accounting firm or a medical office and your site could include sensitive client data, you will want to opt for a static IP address because you can use SSL certificates for extra website security. GoDaddy offers SSL certificates with dedicated IPs, so they take care of all of that for you. You can also get a static IP by upgrading your broadband Internet service to a business account. When your ISP issues you a static IP, you can enter that information in the DNS records of your registry service. The tech support at the service hosting your website and DNS can easily walk you through that. You can also purchase SSL certificates from VeriSign, and apply them to your website.

Set up Your E-mail:

After you have registered your domain at a registry service, that service will often offer you hosted email. For example, say Annie has registered “anniesapplepies.com” at one of the registry services. She can also opt to get anannie@anniesapplepies.com email-account from same the registry service. Pricing averages $2 to $10 a month for hosted email depending on the number of email accounts and amount of hosted storage you want for your business.

You certainly aren’t stuck with using the hosted email offered by your registry company. You can get hosted email accounts with the domain you have registered from Microsoft’s Exchange Online via Office 365, through Gmail or any of the other online mail services and add your hosted domain to those email sites.

The problem with hosted email is that it can go down or have problems, and, when it does, fixing the problem is beyond your control as we have seen with, for example, email backlogs in the Microsoft Exchange online service So, if you are leery of potential downtime, and your business thrives on customers able to constantly contact you, you may want to consider setting up and hosting your own email server. It’s easier than you may think.

I’ll flesh the process out in a future article, but it’s not all that complicated. Technophobes may want to skip to the next bullet point, however! All you really need is an affordable server like the Lenovo ThinkServer TS200v or even a workstation with some beefed-up memory. Install a server OS like Windows Server 2008, Windows Small Business Server or Linux. Then, install an email server application. I like SmarterMail, but there are other options such as MailEnable and Zimbra.

You will also need to set up DDNS (Dynamic DNS). This is to give your email server an Internet-facing IP address so people can communicate with you. You can go toDynDNS’ website for more information. If you have already registered a domain name with a registry service, you can update your MX record with your new DDNS information to have your email integrated with your domainname.com address. Just ask your registry service about this.

Set Up Your Website:

When you register a domain name, the same company that you register with will usually provide website hosting, DNS record management and email hosting. These are all ways Internet users can find your website and contact you.

Don’t have a website built and don’t want to pay an expensive consultant to build it? Not a problem. The big registry services offer affordable website building tools that you can use to create some surprisingly customized, professional and attractive websites. Of course, you can also use other tools like Intuit’s Small Business Website Services or Microsoft’s Office Live Small Business’ website design program. Whatever tool you use to build the site, you can upload your created site to your registry service. The registry service can help you get that site you created up and running through their Web hosting and DNS records, so if you are new to all of this, have no fear.

Going Live:

Getting the website created is probably the most time-consuming (and often fun) part of establishing your Web presence. How long that takes depends on you. Once you’re finished and uploaded the code (if you did it locally) or okayed the code (if you used an online tool), the next more time-consuming part is waiting for the site to actually begin online. This takes about 36 to 72 hours for what’s called DNS propagation to occur. Basically, you’re waiting for the major ISPs and DNS servers on the Internet to find your new site and its associated IP address. Once it does, you’re in business!

But don’t just rely on Google to find your site. Part of going live and getting your business’ name out to the public includes using social networking—creating a Facebook page for your business and a Twitter account, perhaps even setting up a blog about your business. It can be tricky to successfully promote your business via social networking sites; you want to both acquire and engage customerswithout bombarding them with spam-like Twitter posts or email. Stay tuned for a guide to best practices for business social networking. In the meanwhile, check out our piece on How to Use Twitter for Business.

Read full article on PCMag.com

The post Small Business Technology: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Started has been shared by ceo-book.com.

Tweeting 101 for Financial Advisers

Article by Veronica Dagher from the Wall Street Journal

For financial advisers, Twitter can be an indispensable communications tool to help them promote their practices and win new clients.

But there are smart ways to tweet—and some not-so-smart ways. Here’s a look at some of the guidelines experts suggest advisers follow if they want to use Twitter to their advantage:

Beware of the line between useful and spam. Twitter can be a great tool for promoting links to free webinars, white papers, workshops, videos and educational tips, and thus for expanding the client list. But be careful never to spam anyone.

Financial advisers often make the mistake of not including comments in such tweets. Without an explanation or point, even a tweet with the most useful information can seem like junk mail. Say something followers can digest even if they don’t click on the link, says Matthew Halloran, president of Top Advisor Coaching, in Portage, Mich.

After receiving the right amount of information in a recurring, nonthreatening fashion, prospects may be ready to become clients, says Marie Swift, chief executive of Impact Communications, a marketing communications firm in Leawood, Kan. “The idea is to create interest and demonstrate expertise on Twitter but move those with whom your message resonates over to your website or blog.”

 

Stephen Savage

Russ Thornton, vice president of Wealthcare Capital Management, a Richmond, Va., financial-planning company, occasionally poses questions to foster discussions.

Go one on one. When an adviser gets a new follower, Mr. Halloran suggests using Twitter’s Direct Message function to engage them one on one. After doing some research on that person, the adviser can offer to set up a phone call, webinar or coffee, he says.

It’s not all about you. Mr. Thornton says that instead of constantly sharing and promoting his own content and agenda, he has learned to share three to five times as much content from others. “Twitter isn’t a bullhorn to amplify your voice or message,” he says.

Follow your followers—to a point.When someone becomes your follower, should you return the favor? For financial advisers, there seems to be a diminishing rate of return.

 

Read full article on Wall Street Journal

The post Tweeting 101 for Financial Advisers has been shared by ceo-book.com.

How Small Firms Can Make Customers Feel Safe Online

Article by Javier Espinoza from the Wall Street Journal

It’s hard enough for big companies to reassure customers that their sites are safe from hackers. So how do small companies make people feel safe?

Simply having a site that’s well protected against attacks isn’t enough, especially when small businesses seem like much easier targets than big operators. Security pros and entrepreneurs say small-business owners need to aggressively sell existing customers and potential ones on the idea that the sites are safe, using a number of methods.

Among the tips experts offer:

Get a Secure Badge

One immediate way to reassure newcomers to a site is to get a “trusted” seal from a third party—like McAfee Secure or Google Trusted Store—that shows the site meets certain safety criteria and is constantly monitored for problems.

Getting a badge isn’t complicated. With McAfee, for example, businesses simply sign an agreement with the company. From there, they receive a code to put on their site to make the trust mark appear, and then McAfee scans the site daily for potential vulnerabilities.

“You have to go over the top and really communicate that you have the safest [site] in the universe,” says John Jantsch, a marketing consultant. “Make sure that you are placing those badges in the path of customers, that you are communicating those things along the way.”

 

 

Look Polished

Badges are an easy way to give customers a sign of safety. But they’re not enough. A site has to give a much broader impression of solidity and safety to drive the message home.

“You walk into a law office with mahogany walls, you feel good. You walk into a law office with the springs coming out of the couch, you don’t feel very good,” says Ian Goldman, chief executive of Celerant Technology Corp., a provider of technology to small businesses.

As soon as they land on a site, customers need to feel they are in a “high-end professional site” like Amazon or any other big Internet retailer, says Mr. Goldman. This means the site needs to be “clean” and feel “new.”

Those can be tough to define, since standards for graphics and layout keep changing. But sites should do their best to keep up with styles and get rid of anything that looks clunky or out of date. If nothing else, sites should make sure that their search function is as efficient as possible. “If it’s a shoes site, for example, you are able to drill down your search and look for brands first, then color, then size and so on,” Mr. Goldman says.

 

Read full article on Wall Street Journal

The post How Small Firms Can Make Customers Feel Safe Online has been shared by ceo-book.com.