Some People Get All the Luck – Be One of Them

June 5, 2015 by

64002400There are thousands of legends about businesses becoming successful because the owner was in the right place at the right time, he was lucky.  But, if you look closely at them you’ll find, that while “uncontrollable” good fortune may have played a part in the success, that isn’t the whole story.  The real story is how the owner made his own “controllable” luck.

Many mangers think good fortune is uncontrollable (such as winning a bid or having good weather for the company picnic) and they either have it or they don’t.  But, you can increase your chances of being lucky.  Often, what’s perceived as, uncontrollable events can be managed to increase the odds of working out in your favor. 

For example, anyone who has bid out a job has multiple stories about companies (who they wanted to award the contract to) who’ve knocked themselves out of the running.  They weren’t unlucky — their bids were incomplete, sloppy, late or unrealistic, all things they had control over.  Also, in northeastern Ohio there’s a better chance of having good weather for your picnic in June, not April. 

If you look closely at most “his successful business is due to luck” stories you’ll find they usually have 4 things in common.  One of them is that there is a dose of luck involved.  But, the other 3 are more important.  Each story shows a person augmenting his good fortune through controllable behaviors, which you can also do.

Pay attention – Put down the cell phone, step away from the computer and get out of your office, building and comfort zone.  The beginning of any successful venture is to recognize that the opportunity is there.  There are few things more important in life (work, family and friends) than paying genuine attention to what’s going on around you.

Do the work – After you get the idea take logical and practical risks to do something about it.  Ideas are usually worthless until they’re put into action through a lot of hard work.  In every success story there’s always someone, sometimes many people, who did the work.  As Thomas Jefferson said, “I’m a great believer in luck, I find the harder I work the more I have of it”.

Seek out information – The average small business owner gets insulated, which leads to tunnel vision.  Success isn’t a solo act; every business success story has multiple characters in it.  Steve Jobs was brilliant, hard working and lucky.  One of the things he learned to do was to seek out and listen to what people had to say, and then use the information to better his product.  He was relentless in his quest to learn more and do better.

There are some things you can’t do anything about – you’re betting on 3 of a kind and your opponent wins with her straight.  But, you can increase the chances of winning by knowing your rival’s tells (pay attention), learn the odds, rules and psychology of the game (do the work) and continue to develop your skills (seek out information).  Luck is a combination of controllable and uncontrollable actions and events. 

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Small Changes You Need To Do To Help Your Business

June 4, 2015 by

Having a website nowadays is not longer enough.  If your website is not optimized for mobile devices, you are loosin54640451g sales.  But before you spend the time and money optimizing your website for mobile devices, make sure it is good enough for desktops before spending the money elsewhere. Ask yourself these questions: Does my website load in less than 2 seconds? If the answer is no, you need to fix that before going any further.  Research has shown that if a website takes longer than two minutes to load , more than half of  your visitors leave without ever seeing if you have what they wanted. Is the content relevant? Good content can engage you potential customer and offer basic information they may need.   To read more about this and other topics follow the links below.

5 Things Your Small Business Should Do This Summer

Summer is almost here! While a vacation is definitely recommended, don’t spend the whole summer relaxing.

Here are five things your small business should definitely do this summer:

1. Get a Mobile Website

Look around when you’re walking down the street. Almost every person is attached to a smartphone. About 40 percent of consumers prefer to use their phone to search for businesses and services on the internet. Is your website mobile-optimized? If not, why not? Make it easier for potential customers to find you. Mobile-optimize your website.

6 Small Business Tips from a Pet Mediator

Big businesses, like Walmart and Apple, seem to just roll along on the momentum of their success and power.

However, small businesses don’t have that luxury. You fight for every little success and every advantage to get ahead of the competition. Some small businesses are so small, most people have never heard of them before.

For example, have you heard of a pet mediator?

Debra Hamilton, Pet Mediator

Pet mediator. What will we come up with next?

What The Small Business Tax Break Actually Does

The immediate tax deduction for small business announced in the Federal Budget has been broadly welcomed, but what may have been missed is the fact that what the Government doesn’t collect now, it will collect later.

As part of the $5.5 billion small business package at the centre of its latest Budget, the Federal Government announced it would allow businesses with turnover less than $2 million to immediately deduct the cost of any individual asset purchased up to the value of $20,000, from Budget night through to the end of June 2017. The estimated cost of this accelerated depreciation measure to revenue is estimated at $1.75 billion over the four years of forward estimates.

But what should be noted about this measure is that it doesn’t change the eligibility for tax deductions of these assets; it simply changes how quickly a small business is able to receive the tax deduction.

Under the existing simplified depreciation rules for small business, an asset costing over $1000 would be depreciated at 15% for the first year, and 30% thereafter, until the taxable value of the asset pool is $1000 or less, at which point the full amount can be written off.

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Starting a Business in Northeast Ohio? Check the Best Cities for Business

May 19, 2015 by

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More than half the population of the United States work for a small business, and  a small business per the SBA is a business with less than 500 employees.  The news about the economy seems to pull small business owners in two directions. Those optimistic and ready to hire new employees, or the cautious one that are still waiting to see how the economy is really working out.  Which small business owner are you?  Follow the links below for more news about the economy.

The Best Places to Start a Business in Ohio

Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Ohio occupied the center of America’s industrial heart. The burgeoning United States economy couldn’t get enough of the region’s cars and steel, and in turn, Ohio and other states provided a virtually endless stream of jobs in its workshops and factories.

In the second half of the 20th century, however, the region fell into decline, as manufacturing output required less labor input, and companies left the Great Lakes states for the warmer climes of the Sun Belt. The entire region was categorized economically dead as factories closed and traditionally middle-class manufacturing jobs disappeared.

But what really happened wasn’t quite that simple. Although it’s true the number of manufacturing jobs has declined, Ohio remains one of the country’s most productive states. Photos of rusted, abandoned factories paint a dire picture, but companies and communities adjusted, and the Ohio economy proved to be more resilient and dynamic than portrayed.

Ohio small businesses feeling better about economy

Ohio small-business owners are feeling better about the economy, both locally and nationally, according to a U.S. Bank survey released Monday.

The growing confidence, however, isn’t translating into significant hiring or big investments by owners.

The U.S. Bank survey, the sixth that the Minneapolis-based bank has done, found that 72 percent of the 200 Ohio small- business owners surveyed describe their business as good, very good or excellent, the best in five years.

Still, 23 percent of those surveyed believe the national economy remains in a recession. That’s down from 35 percent in 2014 and 45 percent in 2013.

Small-business owners aren’t the only ones who have been cautious since the recession, said George Mokrzan, Huntington Bancshares economist. Consumers also have been holding back on retail sales and buying homes.

Small business owners bullish on economy, ready to hire workers

Small-business owners in Central Ohio and throughout the state are growing more optimistic about their own financials along with the health of the national economy, according to separate surveys from U.S. Bank and the Entrepreneurs’ Organizations.

Three-quarters of Columbus-area companies surveyed by the EO trade group expect profits to increase over the next six months, up from 67 percent in its semiannual survey released last October.

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Expansion Loans – What to do Before Going to the Bank

May 18, 2015 by

59350241Successful small businesses owners occasionally need additional working capital.  The company is stable and profitable, but the cash flow is unable to support a large expenditure for growth (i.e. additional square footage, new employees, needed equipment, adding a product line).  In these situations traditional banks are still the provider of choice for most small companies.

However, due to new regulations resulting from the Great Recession, owners are finding it difficult to get the money they need.  Even if they’re veterans of the old system and were able to secure financing in the past, they’re finding the old rules don’t apply anymore and are having trouble getting financing now.  And rookies are quickly becoming confused and frustrated by the loan process.

So, what do you do?  Planning, patience and follow through are the keys to getting an expansion loan — three things that most small business owners are not very good at.  But, the banks have the money you need and you have to follow their rules to get it. Here are 3 things to do that will help.

Do the planning – Before you fill out the paperwork and submit it to the bank you must to do your homework.  Talk to someone at the bank and get an idea of what’s required for a successful loan application.  Do you have a good credit score and a large enough customer base?  Do you know what your debt-to-income ratio is? 

In the loan process your good intentions don’t count — banks aren’t interested in your open-ended visions and imprecise ideas.  This is strictly a tangible numbers game.  They’re interested in how the changes you’re proposing are going to create a profit, which will repay them with interest.

Have patience – Based on the planning you’ve done you now know what’s required to submit a successful loan application.  However, after the planning stage you may be unable to submit it right away.  You might need to pay down some debt, increase your credit score, clean up your existing credit line, or implement a new sales strategy. 

Patience, time and sticking to a comprehensive plan is often the intermediate step for many businesses.  They find that their financial house has to be put in order before they can successfully get a loan.

Follow their procedures – It’s baffling to lawyers, accountants and bankers how often small business owners are their own worst enemies.  They consistently make the loan process much more difficult than it needs to be and sabotage themselves. 

The average owner started their business so they could do things their way and not have someone else tell them what to do.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t work with banks.  It’s simple, but not easy, to learn to speak the bank’s language, find out what they want and give it to them.

Many successful businesses have failed because of poorly conceptualized and implemented expansions; experienced business bankers have seen it too many times.  Although, at times, it may not seem like it, responsible owners and bankers want the same thing.  They both want a successful, profitable business, which will strengthen the community. 

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How to Market For Small Businesses

May 8, 2015 by

business (11)Having a business is for many people a dream.  Some reach for it and achieved their goals, while others are left behind wondering if it is still a possibility.  The optimism many small business owners experience can be dampened by the state of the country’s economy.  If consumers are not spending what it is projected, in all likelihood, small business owners will not expand their business, nor hire new employees, affecting the local economies and the country as a whole. Some of the questions small business owners ask is; how do I reach more customers? Is that even  something I can do by myself? Is marketing the answer to my problems?  You can read more about some of these questions and answers by following the links below.

3 Things You Need to Know About National Small Business Week

Running your own business can mean a lot of time on your own, in the trenches, building your company brick by brick, pushing the gears forward inch by inch. Next week, however, there are many opportunities for entrepreneurs to step back from the daily grind, connect with one another and be inspired.

That’s because the week of May 4 through May 8 is National Small Business Week (NSBW).

Organized by the Small Business Administration, this is the 52nd year in a row that the president of the United States has declared one week per year the official celebration of the Main Street entrepreneur.

“National Small Business Week is a chance to honor our nation’s 28 million small businesses and renew our commitment to fostering the entrepreneurial spirit that is central to the American experience,” says SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, in a statement.

How to reach your small business customers

You’ve got a killer idea for your small business. You’ve created a great new product or service, set up operations, raised sufficient money to get out of the gate. But where are the customers? It’s time to pay attention to marketing.

During Small Business Week, I’m devoted to helping you “Make This Your Year to Grow.” Whatever industry you’re in, whatever the price or quality of your offerings, you need well-conceived, and consistently executed, marketing to grow your business.

The marketing message

Before you begin marketing, first clarify your company’s core message. That’s what you want customers to remember about you. It might even express a bit of your company’s personality.

Marketing vehicles

Marketing guru Peter Shankman says effective advertising is all about knowing your specific customers and tailoring your activities to their desires.

Ohio AG warns of scams targeting small businesses

COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine warned small businesses to watch for signs of a scam, including callers who claim the business’s power will be shut off and invoices for products the business never ordered.

The warning comes during National Small Business Week.

In the past year, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office has received more than 150 complaints about potential scams affecting businesses, with an average payment amount of about $2,000.

“Small businesses work incredibly hard to keep their operations running, and they can be hit hard by scams,” DeWine said. “We don’t want business owners to lose valuable time or money to con artists, so we are encouraging them to learn about common scams and to talk to their employees about the warning signs.”

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Information Silos Are a Small Business Problem Too

May 4, 2015 by

64735957The problem of insular management in businesses, governments and organizations has been around for millenniums.  It began when the first chiefs (managers) became responsible for the safety and well being of their tribe (workers).   Julius Caesar, 2,000 years ago, conquered a large portion of Europe by aggressively minimizing or eliminating insular management in his army.

In large and small companies the problem of insular management is just as relevant and troublesome today as it was then.  However, many small business owners believe that only big companies have difficulties with it.  They erroneously think it is a function of size – that while a larger company may struggle with it their smaller business is exempt.

But, it is an issue which can be present in almost any size of entity (i.e. big governments, small businesses, teams, committees, families).  Insular management is the cause and effect when there is a systemic communication, operational and management breakdown.  This breakdown creates and is the result of information silos, think of the classic snake eating its own tail metaphor.

The concept of information silos is a simple one.  Silos are created when information is not readily shared and fundamental responsibility is abdicated.  In other words, one hand does not know what the other hand is doing, nor do they take responsibility for their actions.  This is a problem which can only be managed, not fixed, because it is caused by basic human nature. 

People, consciously and unconsciously, typically do not readily share information with their co-workers or bosses.  There are a variety of reasons for why they do not.  They also, routinely, do not take responsibility for their behaviors, decisions or job duties.  To the point where it seems, to some managers, that people who are self-motivated to do their jobs responsibly are the exception not the rule.

Therefore, to minimize, eradicate, or stop silos from forming a capable owner will understand human behavior and be willing to manage it.  Unfortunately, many are not willing to learn and are as culpable as their employees in creating and maintaining information silos.  Consequently, whether it is the tragedy of the General Motors ignition switch problem or a machine shop foreman shipping defective parts, they will continue to affect businesses of all sizes. 

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How To Avoid Business Mistakes

April 30, 2015 by

business (2)Retirement plans for the small business owner is probably one of the most important issues they face every year. Retirement accounts are  not something small business owners offer their employees, but even for themselves is not something that is widespread nor considered at all. Hiring an outside firm to oversee those financial aspects for the business is costly, and many small businesses cannot afford such an expense. Does your business need a loan? Are you making too many mistakes in your business and don’t know what to do? Do you need to set up a retirement account and don’t have any information?Follow the links below for more information about these topics.

Why online lending will take off with small business owners

At a minimum, banks are perfect partners in the new game.

Earlier this month, the momentum behind the online lending industry was in full view at LendIt—an industry gathering that didn’t exist four years ago, but grew from about 700 attendees last year to more than 2,500 this year. What was clear is that it’s no longer a question of whether these disruptors will change the game in small business lending, but how quickly.

In fact, in his remarks at LendIt attendees in New York City, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers predicted that online lenders could eventually capture upwards of 70% of the small business lending market. That may be an overly optimistic prediction, but one thing is clear online lending is a welcome innovation in the small business sector.

Small Business Retirement Plans in the Hands of Lobbyists

 Financial advisers will be lobbying Congress this week on 401(k) plans for employees of small businesses.

The 401(k) accounts many rely on now are complex, require an outside administrator, and as a result are not cost-effective for some small businesses to set up for their workers.

Tom Iorio, an Edward Jones financial adviser in Rantoul, Ill., says they’re lobbying for a program for small companies.

“There are several bills out there in Congress that are trying to incentive small businesses to more easily get into what we think of as the traditional 401(k) market, like a small 401(k) or a ‘simple 401(k)’ is really the term that they’re using,” he says.

In a 401(k) program, employees may make tax-free contributions and select their investments within a plan that is administered on behalf of the employer. Employers also can contribute to employees’ accounts.

Avoiding Small Business Blunders

Entrepreneur Reva Minkoff aims to stop small businesses from making the same mistakes over and over.

Common mistakes account for too many small businesses wasting an average of 25 percent of their pay-per-click advertising budget each month. After identifying the same basic mistakes in 95 percent of the accounts she consulted on, Reva Minkoff started the award winning-website DigitalGroundUp in the summer of 2012 to train small business advertisers and over 300 students in successful digital marketing through short, hands-on online courses.

The company has since collaborated with major companies such as Facebook, while Minkoff herself wasinvited to the White House to live tweet the arrival ceremony of new British Prime Minister David Cameron. I recently interviewed Minkoff by email.

What are the worst mistakes small businesses make in advertising?

Not tracking their results. It drives me nuts when companies don’t know what’s happening on their website, what the results of their marketing are and how both are factoring into their bottom line. If they’re spending money on something, they should know what they’re getting out of it, and if they don’t, their agencies and developers should be working with them to help get them that information.

What are the most common pieces of advice you give students?

I remind students to focus on the overall concepts and not the interfaces. The fundamental digital marketing concepts haven’t changed from day one. As long as students understand them, they’ll be able to adjust to any other changes that may come their way and make the right decisions when faced with a new concept.

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Minority Owned Businesses and Gov. Kasich’s Budget

April 23, 2015 by

54642287Minority owned businesses have increased over recent years, and the US government knows the important growth these businesses provide to their local economies, and the nation’s economy  overall.  The increased in minority owned businesses have more than double compared to those of non-minorities nationally, and the City of Cincinnati, Ohio is now looking into promoting the inclusion of minority owned businesses for the State.  To read more about this and other topics follow the links below.

Ohio House Markedly Improves On Gov. Kasich’s Budget Plan

Last week, Ohio House leadership introduced a substitute bill to Governor Kasich’s proposed budget that would make many notable improvements to the tax plan. This is good news, because the proposed tax plan that came from the Kasich administration was deeply in conflict with itself.

The central element of the governor’s proposal was to reduce the individual income tax, which Kasich argues has “sucked the vitality out of this state.” The internal conflict, however, came from the revenue offsets the governor chose, which would have placed greater hindrances on, well, economic vitality. When first details emerged, I wrote on Forbes that the governor’s plan may be a tax cut overall, but that doesn’t make it good policy.

The governor’s proposed hikes included an increase in the state’s unique Commercial Activity Tax (arguably the most distortive tax in Ohio’s code), a hike to cigarette taxes, new taxes on electronic vapor cigarettes, hikes in the severance tax, and a hike to the sales tax. When done correctly, tax swaps can reduce highly harmful taxes while offsetting revenue losses by leaning on less distortive taxes. The Kasich proposal, by contrast, leaned on economically distortive, nontransparent taxes to make the ledger balance.

Here’s how Cincinnati is pushing for minority-business inclusion (Video)

Sorry, small business: Middle-market companies create most net new jobs

Companies with revenue between $10 million and $1 billion created 2.1 million out of the net 2.3 million new jobs added over the past seven years, according to an American Express/Dun & Bradstreet analysis.

Maybe it’s time for politicians to drop their rhetoric about small businesses creating most of America’s new jobs — since 2008, it’s actually been middle-market companies that have driven job growth.

That’s according to a new analysis from American Express and Dun & Bradstreet. It found that middle-market companies — businesses with revenue between $10 million and $1 billion — created 2.1 million of the 2.3 million net new jobs added over the past seven years.

Middle-market companies “have been the unsung heroes of employment growth,” said Susan Sobbott, president of global corporate payments for American Express.

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The State of the Small Business in the U.S

April 15, 2015 by

business (5)We are past the point of expressing as a nation, any shock to the news that the United States is trailing behind other developed nations in terms of education. But, when one starts talking about business, we believed that we are a nation to be emulated and look up to what other developed nations should be doing, or trying to achieve.  It is with trepidation to find out that the United States now ranks 12th – Yes, you have read it correctly – among developed nations concerning business start up activity.  So, what is the government doing to fix this? Can they fix it? Or better yet, do they want to do anything about it? Follow the links below for more information about this and other topics.

Is the estate tax killing small farms and businesses?

“Here in South Dakota, we are land rich and cash poor, leaving roughly one-third of South Dakota farms vulnerable to the death tax, based on cropland values provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The death tax imposes a tax rate as high as 40 percent on family farms, ranches and small businesses, which hurts economic growth by discouraging savings and development.”

–Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), opinion article in the Rapid City Journal, April 13, 2015

“This tax doesn’t just hit the big guy. It hits the little guy—like the small business and the family farm. It is both unwise and unfair, and it needs to go.”

–Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), hearing at the House Ways & Means Committee, March 25, 2015

“I believe that the estate tax is politically misguided, morally unjustified and downright un-American. It undermines the life work and the life savings of farmers and small- and medium-sized businesses in Georgia and across the nation.”

Small business tax concerns with SHOP

Initially created with the goal of helping small businesses comply with the requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) has not been meeting expectations.

According to Don Donner, CEO and president of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), “Almost no one is using the SHOP exchange, according to the government’s own enrollment data, and to the extent that there are subsidies available in the form of tax credits, they are complicated, temporary, and too small to offset the costs.”

A February 26, 2015, letter from Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), chair of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, to Sylvia Burwell, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, highlights these concerns, with a focus on problems associated with incorrect SHOP tax forms that were recently sent out by HHS.

Policy Points: How Tax Inversions Hurt Smaller Businesses

Everyone’s “favorite” day of the year is less than 24 hours away – Tax Day. And the big question is: Have you filed your return yet? (If you haven’t, stop reading this and go take care of that. This will still be here when you’re done.)

By now, most people have (hopefully, anyway) sent in their returns. Some have probably gotten a pretty decent refund; others might be a little disappointed at their bill.

One thing you can always count on come April 15 is some griping about how much Americans pay in taxes. Nobody likes paying them, after all. But as Oliver Wendell Holmes once wrote, “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” Everything people rely on the government for, from public safety to infrastructure, health care and education, is paid for with your tax dollars.

It’s easy for this to get lost in the mix – especially when you find out you owe more than you thought you would – but paying taxes is one of the most important things Americans do for their country. Name a program that matters to you, and your tax dollars — and those paid by businesses — help make it possible. What makes it work is that everyone recognizes the burden is not only on them: Everyone has taxes to pay, and everyone has to chip in for the services we all rely on.

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Employee Praise and Last Minute Tax Tips

April 7, 2015 by

59948705Google has been for a while now considered one of the best places to work for.  Thousands of new applications are received daily for employment at Google, and even a movie has been made about Google being the place to be.  Taken those points into account, one has to consider whether Google is actually doing things right.  According to research done by The Gallup Organization, they discovered that for a place to be considered a great place to work, one of the four characteristics they had to have was recognizing and praising employees for doing good work.  They stated that; “Praise and recognition are essential building blocks of  a great workplace.”

To read more about this topic follow this link. To read more about tax tips, follow the links below.

Last Minute Tax Advice for the Self-Employed

Every tax paying American knows April 15 is the deadline to file your federal income tax return, but do you know about this year’s tax code changes that can have a big effect on your 2014 tax return and your wallet? As the American public, including millions of self-employed business owners, race to meet the April deadline, there are some important changes to the tax code to keep in mind that could help ensure your return is filed accurately – and with the greatest possible financial benefit.

 Health Care Penalty:

The biggest change is the new health-care penalty, if you chose to not to obtain qualified health-care coverage. As part of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), everyone is required to sign up for health-care coverage, or face a penalty that increases each year for non-compliance.

5 Tax Breaks Overlooked By Small Business Owners

For the small business owner, tax season can be stressful, and the prospect of shelling out a load of money to the government is not exciting. That’s why small business owners love tax benefits. Here are 5 tax benefits that are often overlooked by small business owners that can save your business money.

Please consult your tax professional before following any of the suggestions below. If you do your taxes yourself, there is a resource which compares the online offerings of TurboTax, TaxAct, and HR Block.

1. Have Lunch Meetings  
If you often buy lunch (eat-in or take-out) while you are working, you might be able to deduct 50% of meal expenses. If you and your business partners or employees have meetings, consider having meetings over lunch.
As long as the dining expenses are reasonable, you are allowed to deduct 50% of meal costs when eating with business partners and employees while conducting business operations. If you buy lunch every day and spend around $8, you can deduct $4. If you do the math, that amounts to over $1000 a year in claimable deductions ($4/day x 5 days x 52 weeks).

Getting coverage Small-business owners seek affordable health care options for workers

The days when Annapolis’ Prographics offered all of its employees health insurance may have ended.The graphics firm’s owners are considering their options as they try to get 2015 coverage for their staff of six by next week’s deadline.

Costs have increased so much, they said, that it might be cheaper for employees to get their own insurance through Maryland’s exchange, rather than doing so through the company.For weeks, Chris Larson and his employees have been examining coverage options that last year came with a $300 monthly premium but would go up to$700 in 2015.
The same employees could qualify for $344 premiums by getting individual coverage through the exchange.”We’re sort of being forced to look at other options,” said Larson, who runs the firm with his wife, Carol. “We have to look at where everybody falls and make the decisions of cost savings.”
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