Seattle Small Business Blog

Business owners everywhere are working seven days a week, struggling to sell their products and services, as well as attending to all the daily tasks of keeping the business going. The paperwork alone can be a full time job. Few seek help, often saying, “I can’t afford to hire someone… I barely make enough to pay myself!”

The truth is, you can’t afford not to hire help for those mundane tasks. This is especially true if those tasks require expertise you don’t have. Every minute you spend learning how to do something is precious time you could be spending on developing your business.

Self-made millionaire, Cory Rudl, said the best business decision he’d ever made was to hire someone to help him. Although he was paying out almost half his earnings to his employee, that move freed him to develop his business into a money making machine, to the tune of millions of dollars.

You can do the same for your business, and it won’t cost half your earnings either. By creating “mini projects” you can hire a freelancer to do those routine chores and pay them for the hours you need them.

Creating those mini projects will take some effort at first. It means you have to stop and think before you tackle a task, “Is this something I have to do myself, or can I delegate this to someone else?” Even after getting started on a task, it’s important to be aware of your time spent – if it takes you too long to do it, you’re wasting your time! That’s the signal to hire a freelancer who can do the job for you.

Although many freelancers can come to your business office, you can save even more money with “virtual assistants.” The craze for virtual assistants has taken the Internet world by storm.

Virtual assistants are capable, competent people in every country who are looking for work they can do from their own office. And their rates are incredibly low. For $2 or $3 per hour, you can have your website developed, all your QuickBooks transactions entered, have a software program developed to make your life easier…the options are endless.

For a few more dollars per hour, you can hire the best available copywriters, marketing gurus, graphics designers…you name it. The key is to define your mini project, decide what you’re willing to pay to have it done and get the word out.

The Internet is a great way to get the word out about your project. Websites such as www.GetaFreelancer.com, www.ScriptLance.com, www.Elance.com and www.RentaCoder.com have hundreds of professionals eager to work. Post your mini project on these websites and you’ll have 20 bidders or more in a few hours. In a very short time you’ll be able to choose the best qualified professional for your project, at your price.

So, if you’re working in your business, doing everything from sales to bookkeeping, decide now to get help. If you want your business to grow, you can’t afford not to.

Social media marketing is a way to promote your business on the internet via social networking. This has grown to encompass a very large number of websites and methods.

The savvy internet marketer is learning how to use this powerful marketing method to grow their business and make valuable contacts for the future.

Of course this also means making more money if you do it right. Let’s take a look at 4 ways to use social media marketing to make money online.

1. Blogging is a very strong way to combine various forms of social media marketing all in one place. If you do not have a blog you are losing ground to your competitors who do.

2. Social bookmark your blog posts to create traffic from social directories and as search engine bait for search engine traffic.

Be sure and use a quality blogging platform such as WordPress. They offer a terrific plug-in that makes social bookmarking a blog post very simple.

Social bookmarking gives you a way to get backlinks to your blog very quickly. You should be bookmarking to social directories such as Technorati, Digg, Stumbleupon, and Propeller.

Also go get a Twitter account and learn how to make friends and use it to drive traffic to your blog. This is fast becoming one of the top social sites online.

3. Video such as You Tube is becoming a favorite way for bloggers to add some excitement to their blogs, but it is also much more than that.

For example many affiliate marketing programs now offer videos embedded with your affiliate i.d. that you can use to pre-sell a visitor before sending them to your affiliate website.

Many bloggers are also easily creating videos and putting them online on their blog. This is a very powerful form of social media that is giving your visitor what they want. Many people are a product of the TV generation and like to learn by watching as opposed to reading.

4. Discussion forums are a great place to make friends and sell products if you do it right. They can also be an excellent place to create joint ventures and millions of dollars are sold online now because of these.

There is much more we could say about social media including social networking in places such as FaceBook, My Space, and many others. The bottom line is making money online via social media all comes down to finding a way you enjoy and then mastering how to use it to your business and personal advantage.

OK, so you have been working your business for a while but yet you seem to continue having issues with your business planning. Have you considered that you might have holes in your business plan?

What are holes? Glad you asked. Holes are those things that may cause you to lose money unaware or along potential business clients to slip through your fingers.

Some examples of holes are as follows:

Income funnel not present: an income funnel allows you to build your mailing list while also allowing you to upsell your products to your mailing list.

Missing outsourcing opportunities: outsourcing opportunities allow you to hire others to handle tasks that would be more financially reasonable for someone else to complete.

Not holding teleseminars: when you hold a teleseminar, you can also record it so that you can sell the audio or transcript as a product via your website.

No financial plan: in order to understand where you business is going financially; a plan must be in place. The plan will help you by showing when you should make changes in your business too reflect growth.

Lack of a crisis management plan: having a crisis management plan in place will help you be ready to handle tragedy when it happens. Examples of tragedies are computer failure, fire destroying office equipment, or flood damage to office.

The above list is just a short list of holes that you might find in your business. Regardless of what type of holes that you find in your business, you need to take action to fix them.

One final area that would be considered a hole is not have a business mentor. A business mentor is some who provides sound advice and direction to you as you manage your business. Some of the characteristics of a good business mentor are:

~ Ability to give you constructive feedback

~ Successful in own business

~ Experienced at mentoring business owners

~ Able to be real and truthful to you

~ You are open to receiving their feedback

~ You respect their opinion

These are just a few of things that you should consider when looking for a business mentor. Just keep in mind that a good business mentor will fit well into your business plan. If the mentor does not fit, you need to give more thought to whether you want to keep them or get a new one.

So be an undercover agent and work to find the holes that may be holding back your business.

You’ve heard it said before, “Think Positive, and You Will Succeed!” Is it really that simple? Well, there is a little more to it than that, but Positive Thinking is certainly a great starting point.
Whether you realize it or not, your thoughts have a big impact on your life and especially your business. Learning to monitor and change your thoughts is a big task, but it is essential to making your dreams a reality. The way your mind works has a direct effect on the way your business and life develop.

How exactly does your thinking affect your life? Scientists are just beginning to figure out the intricate relationship between your mind and the results you get. There is a lot of evidence that proves that your results are directly determined by your thinking.

But monitoring your thoughts day in and day out can get overwhelming. It does not come naturally to people to censor their thoughts. If you have ever tried to do this, you know how difficult it can be to go through your day and evaluate what you are thinking about every moment.

Fortunately, there is a short cut to monitoring your thoughts. Your positive thoughts create positive results, but there’s a step between your thoughts and your results. That step is your feelings. Your thoughts create feelings, and your feelings create the actions that you take. Ultimately, your actions determine your results.

You can instantly know what your thoughts are by monitoring your feelings. The way you feel is related to what you are thinking about. If you are feeling bad, you are thinking of things that are taking you away from your main purpose. If you are feeling good, you are thinking things that are fostering your purpose.

Once you decide your purpose or your goal, your thoughts will either move you closer to your goal or away from it. You can tell what you are thinking, based on how you feel. If you feel discouraged, depressed or otherwise down, you know that your thoughts are not aligned with, or supporting your goals.

The easiest way to make sure you are thinking positively is to monitor your feelings. If you feel bad, steer your thoughts into a positive direction. Sometimes this is easier said than done. In times like that, read something uplifting — a success story or some motivational quotes — to help you turn your thoughts positive.

There may be some effort required to keep you on track. Remember, every time you overcome a negative experience, your confidence grows, and you will feel better. The better you feel, the more supportive your thoughts are and the closer you are to making your dreams a reality.

What do your dreams and goals look like?

Are they so immense that they make your stomach hurt a little? Or are they small, reachable goals that bore you when you think of them?

Dreams and goals can run the gamut from being larger than life to small and humble. Which type of goal is better? There are actually good reasons to have both types of goals.

Having huge goals that “scare” you a little is important. Goals and dreams are supposed to stretch your imagination, your abilities and your character to transform you into someone new. Your goals should help you live the ideal life that you want to live, no matter how far away the goal may seem.

History tells us about individuals who dreamed big, despite people around them who told them to get their head out of the clouds. In fact, most successful people, whether they are politicians, business people, authors, athletes or humanitarians, have been told at some time throughout life that they were dreaming too big.

Don’t be afraid to have big dreams and goals. Set your sights on something that at the present time seems so far out of your reach, that you know you were absolutely successful when you achieved that goal. Thinking of your big goal should make you nervous and excited at the same time.

On the other hand, it is also important to set small reachable goals for yourself. Your success depends heavily on your belief in yourself. If your big goal seems too out of reach, start setting smaller goals. By reaching those smaller goals you prove to yourself that you can achieve more.

Small reachable goals can be something as simple as working out a certain number of times per week, or reading a certain list of books. When you reach any type of goal, it feels good and gives you a boost in your self-esteem. If you start with small goals like these, while keeping your eye on the big goal in the future, you will build the confidence that you need to achieve that big goal.

As you achieve the small goals and check them off your list, your confidence and the belief in yourself will grow to the point where you look at the small goals as stepping stones, that will take you to the top.

Success comes from setting goals of both types. You need the big goals to motivate you toward success, and you need the little goals to help you gain confidence and discipline along the way.

The derivation of the word blog comes from web logging, as it used to be known. It has changed a lot in its development and now blogging is a front line tool in the Internet promotion tool box. It is now used to promote products and services and presents another platform to to communicate with the visitor and develop a lasting relationship with them.

Having created the the business blog you can then monetize it as well as personalize it to your own requirements. Once created, you can make money out of the blog by syndicating it through RSS to your business website. If you have decided that you will set up a blog for business, below are a few tips on how to make it one of the more interesting and popular blogs.

1 – Your audience.

You are writing your blog post for your audience to read, so don’t forget that what you write is of interest to them. They have searched for through a keyword, or keyword phrase, and arrived at your blog. So, make sure they are happy with what they find and even interested enough to look a little further into your blog, and maybe visit your website.

2 – Words fail – see sketch.

A large block of text can become very boring when reading, especially online. A picture or graphic or two placed within the text breaks up the strict framework of the post and keeps the reader interested through to the end. It is especially true if the picture is relevant to the subject of the post.

3 – The content needs to be relevant.

The posts made to your business blog need to be relevant to the subject of the blog. In other words the blog is set up around your niche market and with keywords and keyword phrases that are relevant to the subject. The intent is to draw traffic to your blog based on those keywords and keyword phrases. The business blog needs to create a special relationship with its visitors with the aim to sell products or services. If you consistently write good quality posts to your blog the visitor will return for more of the “good stuff,” and will eventually trust that you know what you are talking about and buy one of your recommended products or services.

4 – Keep things simple.

The art of good communication is to keep things simple. Keep away from the technical jargon unless absolutely necessary and try to keep the sentences short and to the point.

5 – Make it interactive.

Audio and video are very good interactive methods, but all blogs come with a “comments” facility for each post made. Make sure that this feature is not turned off, and all comments must be approved before publishing them.

Before starting out with your blog you will need to do some pre-planning as to how you will personalize and monetize the blog, as well as how often you will post to it. An important fact to resolve is where will the content for each post come from. A good business blog needs a steady stream of interesting and relevant content in order to become a profitable venture – how will you complete this task? Remember that no plan is a plan to failure.

When you decide to start your own business, there are many decisions to make. A critical decision is to decide what legal or formal structure the business will take. This is important because if you desire to work with wholesale suppliers or establish business credit, you will need to prove that you are a legitimate business. There are four forms your business can take: sole proprietorship, partnership, S-Corporation, and limited liability company. (There is also another corporate entity, the C-Corporation, but this structure is not often used by small businesses and will not be discussed here.)

A sole proprietorship is the simplest form your business can take. It has a very simple legal structure and you must get a business license from your state to get a sales tax license, if your state has a sales tax. The disadvantage of this business form is your personal assets are not considered separate from your business assets. If you sell a product and the product injures someone due to a fault, the victim could sue the distributor of the product and they could sue you. Not only can your business assets be attached, but your personal assets as well. The advantage of this type of business structure is that you are allowed almost all of the business expenses and deductions that corporations can get. If you make a profit this money is added to any salary your received from your job or other income and is taxed at the normal rate. If you have losses, then you can often deduct these losses from your salary or other income.

An S-Corporation is the most common type of corporation used by small businesses in the United States. A S corporation does not pay taxes on its profits. All profits and losses flow through to the shareholders(you) and is considered ordinary income for tax purposes. Ordinary income is different from earned income in that you do not pay Social Security and Medicare taxes as well as federal income taxes. You only need to pay the basic federal income tax. An important advantage of incorporating is it limits your liability. Your personal assets cannot be attached and liquidated by creditors; only the corporation’s assets. In addition to limiting liability, an advantage of incorporating is credibility. When your business name ends with “Inc.” wholesalers will be more willing to deal with you, it is easier to get into trade shows and it is easier to find trade credit.

A partnership is formed when two or more people sign a partnership agreement and file taxes as a partnership. Partnerships have several disadvantages. If you or your partner are sued, then each of the partners is personally liable. If you and your partner decide to part ways, dissolving the partnership can become messy. A partnership does not enjoy all of the tax benefits nor is it as flexible as a corporation. And partnerships are considered a high value target for an IRS audit. Each partner is liable for a co-partner’s wrongdoing. An alternate form of partnership, the limited liability partnership (LLP), is formed when two or more people form an LLC (see below). The LLP enjoys most of the same benefits as the LLC, though each partner is often still responsible for the others’ wrongdoings.

A limited liability company enjoys some of the tax benefits of a sole proprietorship, as well as the liability protection of a corporation. There is no double taxation that can occur with a corporation. The liability is limited, in that the owners are protected from liability for certain acts and debts of the LLC, but may still be responsible for any debts beyond the fiscal capacity of the company.

Before any final decision is made about the type of business structure you choose for your business, consult a tax attorney or CPA. They can give you advice based on your individual needs as to what structure is best for your business, as well as additional ways to limit your liability and insure that you pay the least tax possible.

One of the great American dreams is being able to quit a 9-to-5 job to start building a work at home business. More and more people are making their dream come true. But before you quit that job and set up your home office, there are a few issues to consider.

On the plus side, part of your home and related expenses are tax deductible. It’s convenient to work while your kids are in school and then be home for them when they walk through the door in the afternoon, and let’s face it, not having a boss to answer to is a major plus.

But it’s not always the ideal situation. Starting a business from home isn’t always easy on families. There are many issues that will affect your family. First and foremost are financial issues. Will you be able to handle the hit to your wallet when you don’t have a steady paycheck? If this is an issue, consider working your business part time while holding down a full down job.

It takes a very dedicated person to work from home. There are always distractions to overcome such as the unexpected visits from family members who think you have lots of free time because you don’t work a “real” job. It also seems like telemarketers prefer to call in the middle of the day, and don’t forget the neighbors dropping by to see if you’ll babysit while they run errands. It’s very important to let family and friends know your working hours. Tell them in no uncertain terms that your business is your income and you need to block out regular working hours. Also let them know when you are available.

Along those same lines, it is crucial that you explain to your own family that, although you are home, you are not always available to them. This can be confusing to kids. Set some basic rules for them to follow. Let them know your work hours and tell them you expect not to be disturbed. But occasionally, surprise them by quitting early and doing something fun with them!

Here are a few basic rules that will help you and your family handle the new working situation.

* Make sure everyone knows not to answer your business phone. This will save you in a number of ways. You’ll be sure to always get your messages. Kids are never good at getting all the details. You’ll create a much more professional business image if you answer your own phone.

* If you’re children are typical kids, they will want to “borrow” your office supplies. Give them their own office supply center elsewhere in the house! Otherwise, you’ll start losing your much needed supplies.

*Set a work schedule at the beginning of every week and post it in a prominent spot so family members can check your schedule to see when you will be available.

Though these issues can and probably will arise, working from home is still the American Dream for many people. Learning to set, and more importantly, enforce boundaries for family, friends and clients will make your business less complicated.