The Closet Entrepreneur:
Writing a business plan…
As mentioned before, there are no hard and fast rules for writing a business plan. Do you really need an executive summary, 3-Year pro forma, and sales forecasts for the next five years? Only if you’re going to find a benefit from these things.
The example below is the structure I used to get started, so feel free to mix it up, reorder, and modify it to suit your needs:
– The Vision –
What exactly is my business?
What problem does it solve and why is my solution the best/most unique?
What benefit does it provide to my customers?
– Branding –
What is my story and/or message?
What is my product’s personality, soul, and voice?
How will I translate the above into an identity, logo, website, business card, et cetera?
– The Numbers –
What does it cost to build my product and/or provide my service?
What are my expenses and are there any hidden costs?
What profit can I expect to make per item and is it acceptable/realistic?
What is my budget and what will I do if I go over?
– Beta Testing –
What existing resources/products can I use to help create my product?
Do I have someone in mind to try out my product/service?
How will I collect and utilize feedback?
How will I turn my beta users into paying customers?
– Sales and Marketing –
How will I get my initial customers?
How will I provide customer service and collect/utilize feedback?
What marketing channels should I explore – web, radio, print, et cetera?
As I mentioned before, this is what I used to get started and there are other pieces to the puzzle that can be incorporated such as funding, an exit strategy, employees, management structure, break-even analysis, profit and loss, et cetera. Ultimately, utilize items that will help your business grow and succeed now, and…
Writing the Dreaded Business Plan [The Closet Entrepreneur]
Month: March 2008
Categories
How To Go Easy On Filing Tax
Business Pundit: As tax season approaches, I thought it would be useful to offer some advice on taxes for those who make most of their money as online entrepreneurs. Here are five tips that I’ve found to be priceless in the long run. Hopefully, you can save time and stress with these 5 easy suggestions:
1. Send in quarterly payments so that you don’t get stuck with a massive tax bill at the end of the year.
2. Keep all receipts (not just ones that were obvious business purchases), determine “business expense” later. You might be surprised at what you can deduct.
3. File receipts. File your receipts by the end of the day (trust me on this) in a folder penciled with the current month. If the ink is unclear, make a notation in dark ink somewhere on the receipt.
4. Log business activities in a day planner. Record the occurrence of any business-related meetings in a day planner in ink, as well as in a digital file. These will help you or your accountant decide whether a particular expense is tax deductible or not.
5. Keep a spreadsheet. In addition to daily filing of receipts, enter the information in a spreadsheet. If you don’t like or have Microsoft Excel, use OpenOffice. You could also use web-based spreadsheets like Zoho Sheet or Google Docs.
Bonus Tip: If you work out of your home, remember that you can deduct a nice amount for utilities (you are heating your home during the day in the winter *so that* you can work).
Bonus Tip 2: Try to keep all of your purchases on a single business credit card (not your personal card). This gives you a backup record in case the IRS comes knocking.
5 Tax Tips For Digital Entrepreneurs [Business Pundit]
I recently ventured into the world of creating digital information products and selling them via my website. One of the biggest dilemmas I faced was deciding which shopping cart provider to go with.
Having worked on various shopping cart systems for clients, I knew my way around setting these up, but when it came to my own online shopping cart system I couldn’t decide the best way forward.
Ultimately I ended up making a poor choice by going a cheaper alternative route, than the service I really wanted. The reason I made this poor decision was lack of confidence on my part – I wasn’t sure how well my product would sell and didn’t want to invest heavily in a service that I may not need or use!
The reality of going the cheaper route? I had customers who weren’t able to download their product or make a payment and I lost revenue because of this!
To save you the same trouble I went through, here are my top 6 tips for ensuring that you get the right shopping cart system for YOUR business.
1. Think about your long-term goals. Having a shopping cart system that grows with your business is crucial to your long-term goals, particularly if you’re planning on launching more products and services in the future.
You’ll want to ensure that the shopping cart system you choose can easily handle additional products and services.
2. How simple is the shopping cart to set up? Can you easily do the product setup yourself, or does it require you to hold a degree in computer programming! You don’t want to be spending huge amounts of your time on the phone to tech support, or getting frustrated because the shopping cart isn’t easy to set up.
If the shopping cart system provides you with HTML code that you have to add to your website, consider how comfortable you feel adding this. You may decide that this is a service to outsource to your Virtual Assistant.
3. Accepting online payments. If you’re going to be selling products/services online, whether they’re digital or physical products, you will need a system that can accept online payments. These days customers want instant gratification, which is why digital products are so popular, and you need to be able to accept payments instantly too.
Think about this situation – you go on to a website and in order to buy a product you have to print off an order form and fax it in, or call to place an order! That’s not easy for your customer and you will have just lost the sale! The best solution is to get a merchant account, and ensure that your merchant provider’s services are compatible with your online shopping cart system.
4. Cost of your Online Shopping Cart System. It can be a false economy to go the cheaper route, particularly if it doesn’t offer all the features and functionality you want. Come up with a list of what you would like in an online shopping cart system, and then find a service that will meet ALL of your needs.
5. Customer Service. You want to make it as quick and easy as possible for your customers to purchase from you and get instant access to their product. An online shopping cart system that offers digital download of your products will do this for you.
And if you have a physical product ensure that your shopping cart service can calculate postage and print shipping labels too.
Don’t make your customers jump through hoops just to make a purchase from you!
6. Autoresponders and follow-up messages. It’s much easier to sell future products to existing customers – after all they already know, like and trust you. In order to do this you need your shopping cart to be able to keep a database of your customers so that you can follow up with them. Autoresponders are a great way to do this. You can follow up with your customer several times after they’ve made a purchase and check in with them to see how they’re getting on with your product. And you can do this very easily and quickly if your shopping cart has an autoresponder feature.
Keep all of these points in mind when choosing your online shopping cart system, and you will find the perfect solution for you!
When you have systems in place your mind is also clear because you’re not feeling overwhelmed; instead you feel organized and calm, knowing that everything is taken care of and the systems are running smoothly. This allows you to focus on your clients and your other income generating activities. Your creative juices flow and you can begin developing additional streams of income.
Therefore running an efficient and streamlined business is all about continuously improving and ‘tweaking’ your office management systems so that they grow with your business and not hinder your business.
But why do you need efficient office systems in place? Here are some answers!
# To quickly and easily find important contact information.
# To be able to respond to client’s requests straightaway.
# So that you can immediately submit a proposal. To keep track of your business.
# To be able to follow-up with clients and contacts.
# So that you can stay on track with your projects.
# To monitor your latest marketing campaign.
Sometimes though problems don’t become apparent with your office management systems until you actually start using them — and then you may find out that they’re not working in the way that you’d hoped.
So what can you do about it?
Step #1 Look at where the problems are.
Are you constantly searching around looking for an email address? Or cannot tell at a glance if your project is on track? Or you don’t know your cashflow situation?
Make a list of where you feel the problems are, and then follow step two – you may be surprised at what you discover!
Step #2 Analyse what percentage of your time is being spent on administrative tasks.
Keep a diary for a week of how you are spending your time. At the end of the week look it over and see what percentage of your time is being spent on these jobs. Could this time be better spent on income-generating activities? Or market research?
Step #3 Compile a list of all non-income generating tasks that you currently do.
Could some of these be delegated? Would it help if you took on an assistant? Perhaps now is the time that you should start to think about partnering with a Virtual Assistant so that you can grow your business, and this list will help you determine where you need the support.
Once you have followed these 3 steps you should have a good idea of where your time is being spent, what your biggest time drains are, and where you can make improvements. You will be well on your way to deciding if you need to partner with a Virtual Assistant and will be able to see exactly where you need the support.
This article is contributed by Heather Johnson, a freelance business, finance and economics writer.
With a tax deadline looming over their heads, many self-employed Americans are scrambling to get their ducks in a row. After all, the last thing anyone wants is to be audited. Even muttering the word strikes fear into the hearts of most people.
Why should entrepreneurs be especially concerned about audits? It is because the government is more likely to examine the self-employed a little closer. This is because many people accept cash payments, avoiding those pesky W-2 forms. As you can imagine, not everyone complies with the honor system when it comes to claiming his or her income.
So, now you know that you’re more likely to be audited than someone else who isn’t self-employed. Mind you, that doesn’t mean the IRS is waiting in the bushes and ready to pounce. Chances are, you will never be audited and if you are, it really isn’t the end of the world.
That being said, there are a few precautions you can take that will work in your favor. Below are eight tips for making you the least likely candidate for an IRS audit:
1. Be Honest – Don’t purposely fudge on your taxes, even if you know someone who gets away with it or if you’ve done it in the past. It’s wrong, it’s illegal and it’s really not worth it if you get caught.
2. Save Every Document – This is the most important step in good accounting and you’ve heard it a million times. Should the IRS ever come knocking on your door, this will be your saving grace.
3. Hire A Professional Accountant – Just as many people don’t save receipts like they should, not many people heed this advice. However, it really is best to hire an accountant to handle your taxes when you are self-employed. Your paperwork is more complicated than those who work for a company.
4. Avoid Math Errors – A miscalculation that is spotted by the IRS will alert them to your records. The goal here is to keep a low profile, so any discrepancies make you stick out like a sore thumb. Mind you, a miscalculation may just result in a friendly notice from the IRS and not a full-blown audit, so don’t panic.
5. Don’t Forget Your Signature – What could be more conspicuous than you failing to sign your return form? Even a minor mistake like that could make the government suspicious.
6. Don’t Drastically Change Your Lifestyle – If you were to move from a palatial mansion to a single-wide trailer, this might ring some alarms when you file your taxes.
7. Don’t Be Successful – Heh, this may be the best rule to break. Hopefully you are successful and will become even more so, but a drastic change in income will certainly make the IRS a bit curious about your situation.
8. Be Careful With Your Deductions – Don’t go crazy with deductions, particularly if you aren’t sure how they work. Also, forget about deducting anything you don’t have a receipt for. As far as the IRS is concerned, you didn’t buy it for that reason if you don’t have a receipt.
Here’s some encouraging news: as of the year 2003, only 1% of Americans filing tax returns were audited. So, that leaves a 99% chance you will never have to face those scary taxmen. Also, don’t assume you’re going to the poor house or the big house if they do choose to audit you. As long as you are as honest and as thorough as possible, the IRS won’t send you up the river.
Heather Johnson is a freelance business, finance and economics writer, as well as a regular contributor at Business Credit Cards, a site for best business credit cards and best business credit card offers. Heather welcomes comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.