Tag: Home-Based Business

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Online Business

3 Tips to Internet Marketing Even If It’s Not Your Cup of Tea

On the surface, starting an internet-based business may seem like a dream come true. A business owner can start a business out of her home, selling her products and services everywhere and anywhere in the world without big marketing budgets or lots of advertising. However, once she puts up her first web site, that dream often comes crashing down – it’s not nearly as easy as it first looks.

So, she does her research. She starts learning everything she can about Internet Marketing.

But it’s still not as simple as what the “gurus” say. Maybe the business owner is still stuck at her current revenue goals and she knows she could be making more. Maybe she feels uncomfortable or “icky” around her marketing. Maybe she agonizes over every negative email and feedback she gets. And maybe she feels like there must be a better way.

Here are 3 tips to use to get more success through Internet Marketing:

1. Pull up those big girl panties and get some business training. People start businesses for all sorts of reasons that have really nothing to do with owning their own business. They want freedom, to provide for their families, to not have a boss, to get their message out into the world, to make a difference. None of those reasons started with the words, “I love business.”

So it only stands to reason they have little to no training or experience in business. If that’s the case, it’s unlikely that business will come naturally. Learning to run a business is like learning to do any skill. Learn to run an effective, profitable business, and put Internet Marketing in its proper place, which is …

2. Internet Marketing is a tool in a business owner’s marketing toolbox, it is NOT a business model. There’s a certain amount of confusion about this whole Internet Marketing thing, that this somehow is a business model rather than a collection of strategies. While it certainly CAN turn into a business model, that’s not a desirable situation. Typically, when that happens, the business has turned itself into a “launch after launch” model, which is highly stressful on a number of levels (not to mention it’s not sustainable, long-term).

When a business owner views Internet Marketing as simply another tool in her toolbox, then her mindset changes. It’s just another tool – nothing more, nothing less. Certainly nothing to agonize about. Next step: focus on using that tool correctly.

3. If there’s a part of Internet Marketing a business owner really struggles with, she should take a good hard look at it. One of two things will most likely happen – either she’ll see the reason she struggles is because she has a block around something else, and if she wants to fix it she will work on the block. Or she realizes this piece is just not going to happen – either she really hates doing it or maybe she feels like it doesn’t align with her or her business. If it’s the latter, she will have to find another way to get the same results, or she’s going to have to accept the consequences of not doing it.

But how does she know which one it is? If it’s a block or something else? And if it’s something else, how does she make the choice to do something different? And how does she know what the consequences even are, before it’s too late?

This is a problem I’ve seen over and over again – conscious entrepreneurs making a choice around Internet Marketing based on faulty or incomplete information and not realizing the consequences until it’s too late. It’s something no one else is talking about… but I am.  Stay tuned for more!

Categories
Entrepreneurship Home-Based Business Online Business Starting Up

eCommerce on a Shoestring Budget for the Do-it-Yourself Entrepreneur

This article is contributed by Michelle Ulrich.
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1. Website
a. http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/ – FREE
Microsoft Office Live Basics is the easy way to get started on the Web. If you have always wanted your own Web site, Microsoft Office Live has just made it easier — much easier.
– Free domain name and Web hosting
– Easy-to-use Web site design tools
– 500 MB of Web site storage space
– 25 company-branded e-mail accounts
– Web site reports
– Search advertising tool with $50 credit* – (I do not recommended to start)
b. Go Daddy’s Website Tonight for as little as $4.00/month
Go Daddy has THREE plans (or so) to choose from!
Blog instead of a website
c. Blogger.com – Free
d. WordPress.com – Free
e. TypePad.com – Basic Level is Free
i. With TypePad Basic you’ll be blogging in minutes. Choose your design from dozens of professional templates. TypePad makes it easy to include pictures and links, manage comments, and categorize your posts. Includes 100MB of storage and 2GB of bandwidth per month.
ii. $4.95 per month for higher level of service (more storage space, etc.)
Benefits of a blog versus a website
– No web designer needed
– Pick a template and start adding content
– Useful for selling one product (i.e. a book, ebook, info product, etc.)
– Useful for selling a relationship with potential clients
– Useful for opinion writing – be careful what you put out there; people read blogs!
– Hone writing skills
– Post at a minimum of 3x/wk for higher Google rankings
– Can also be a link from a website, which also increases traffic to your website
2. List capture form on your website and ezine delivery
a. iContact.com $9.95/month for up to 500 subscribers; 15-day free trial
i. Non-profits receive 20% discount and may pay by check monthly, quarterly, or annually
ii. Templates or design and paste HTML code
iii. Surveys
iv. Auto Responders
b. ConstantContact.com $15/month for up to 500 subscribers; 60-day free trial
c. CampaignMonitor.com
i. For each campaign you send with more than 5 recipients, you pay a flat delivery fee of $5 plus 1 cent/recipient. Any campaigns you send to 5 or less people are free of charge.
ii. Let’s say you’re sending an email newsletter for a client to their database of 4,500 subscribers. To send this newsletter, you will be charged $5 plus a cent for each recipient, $45 in this case, making a total of $50. All prices are in US dollars.
3. Shopping Carts and eCommerce
a. Mals-e.com
i. Shopping cart, digital downloads and affiliate program ONLY
ii. FREE for up to 1000 digital deliveries per month; you can purchase more as you increase your sales.
iii. $8/mo option for unlimited orders per month
iv. $95 flat one-time fee for their mOrders plus version for a desktop application for downloading and ‘databasing’ orders properly and permanently. www.mals-e.com/morders.php
v. Reporting
vi. Numerous third-party add-ons
b. E-Junkie.com
i. FREE 1-week trial
ii. $5/mo for 10 products/50 MB storage space; rates go up to $125 incrementally based on the number of products
iii. Product storage and delivery
iv. Easy to use, pop-up free, installation free
v. Shipping and postage calculations
vi. Sales tax and VAT calculations
vii. Inventory management
viii. Product promotion
ix. Discount codes
x. Affiliate management
xi. Customization (even works with an existing cart for digital downloads)
xii. Tracking, logging and notifications
xiii. Global acceptance
1. download page and email in language of your choice
xiv. Extras
1. send out free expirable download links
2. Works with eBay and MySpace, too!
c. Payloadz.com
i. Digital downloads ONLY
ii. FREE for up to $100 transaction limit / 50MB of storage
iii. $15/mo for $500 transaction limit / 100 MB of storage
d. WAHMcart.com
i. Full shopping cart very similar to Professional Cart Solutions (see below for full list of options, but you get EVERYTHING for $29.99/mo – no tiers
e. Professional Cart Solutions (aka – 1shoppingcart.com and many other private labels)
i. FREE 30-day trial or $3.95 for 30-days depending upon private label partner
ii. Four tiers of service
1. Starter $29
2. Auto Responder $29
3. Basic $49
4. Pro $79
iii. Shopping cart
iv. Broadcast (ezine, email announcements, etc.) delivery
v. Auto Responders
vi. Digital downloads
vii. Affiliate program
viii. Ad tracking
ix. Reporting
x. Payment processing with PayPal as well as a large list of merchants such as Authorize.net; QuickBooks/Intuit will be on the list soon (poss. Fall 2007)
xi. Templates for ezine delivery to come out soon (poss. Fall 2007)
4. Online Publishing Centers
a. CaféPress.com
b. LightningSource.com – Most recommended by traditional publishers if you must do Print On Demand (POD).
c. Lulu.com
5. Miscellaneous online services
a. CentralDesktop.com – Free online collaboration tool for up to 3 users; $25/mo for up to 10 users and other various packages. Use this tool to work with a virtual team to delegate the projects or pieces of larger projects.
b. EventBrite.com – Event management program. First event is free, then up to $9.95 each event. For paid events, your PayPal, Google Cart or merchant fees shall apply. You can specify donations or payments, number of ‘seats’ available, reporting, and lots of extras.
c. Evite.com – Free event management tool where you can pick a template, customize one on your own, add your Outlook contacts, track responses, and it even integrates with PayPal for paid events.
d. Foldershare.com – Free folder sharing application from Microsoft (a bit clunky to set up between two parties, but is an awesome program for sharing documents with clients, subcontractors, etc.)
e. Google.com – Google offers email, word processor, spreadsheet, calendar, classifieds (Google Base), groups, Blogger, Desktop and lots of other programs for FREE.
f. OpenOffice.org – Free office suite similar to and compatible with Microsoft office. Includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program. Interface similar to other office suites.
g. SurveyMonkey.com – Free up to 10 survey questions with 100 responses allowed; $19.95/mo for unlimited questions per survey and 1000 responses allowed, $200/yr to have unlimited questions and responses.
h. TheBasementVentures.com – Host teleclasses, teleseminars, etc. with this free tool. You can even record your own audio and then copy and paste the html code on your website, download the mp3 file and burn it to a CD for info product sales.
i. Thumbstacks.com – Free webinar presentation tool. This is for PowerPoints or various incarnations of PowerPoint only.
j. YouSendit.com – Free file sending program; $4.99/mo for 2 GB file sending, send multiple files, and no ads on your ‘send’ invitation.
k. Zoho.com – Office suite with free and $5 on up for other options. Word processing, spreadsheet, presentation tool, Wiki, notebook, Meeting (desktop sharing, web conferencing, online meetings, etc.), projects, CRM, database creator, planner (online organizer), chat, mail, and more.

About the Author
Michelle Ulrich is the Chief Villager and founder of The Virtual Nation, an educational destination for Virtual Professionals around the globe. Michelle is an avid believer in giving back to her industry and she does this by offering coaching, teleclasses, resources, and tools, in addition to providing a community of learning, a nation of culture, and a virtual village for her members. Education is the foundation of her organization as well as for her own personal and professional development. Michelle has been a community college instructor teaching a Virtual Assistant certificate program online. Aside from coaching and teaching, she is also a speaker and soon-to-be author on the subject of Virtual Assistance. She maintains her private practice where she specializes in working with authors, coaches and speakers who struggle to keep up with e-commerce and new technologies. Clients can check out her services at www.virtualbusinessmarketing.com, while Virtual Assistants can find her over at www.thevirtualnation.com. She can be reached by telephone at (916) 536-9799 in the Pacific Time zone.

Categories
Entrepreneurs Entrepreneurship Home-Based Business Starting Up

Cash In Minus Cash Out Does Not Equal Profit

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You’ll pay too much in taxes if you don’t understand that cash in minus cash out does not equal profit.
This is the most important thing you need to know before you start keeping records for your business…cash in minus cash out does not equal profit. It simply equals cash left over. Or, in many cases, it’s a negative number, so it equals cash you owe somebody.
What this means is that you’ll need to understand the IRS rules and keep your records according to those rules so you report your profit correctly and take (and be able to prove) all the deductions you’re allowed to take. Because you want to pay the least amount of tax possible, right?
The way you’ll need to keep your books will be different depending on whether your business is a sole proprietorship, a partnership or a corporation. The rules for calculating income and deductions (and therefore profit) and the forms used for reporting to the IRS are different for the different business types.
What counts as income? Most or all of the money you take into your business will count as income. This includes fees for services and/or product sales.
But not all the cash that comes into your business counts as income.
If you get a rebate for a purchase you made at your local office supply store, that’s cash in, but it’s not income. It’s a reduction in your supplies expense.
If you get a refund of part of your insurance premium at the end of the year, that’s cash in, but it’s not income. It’s a reduction in insurance expense.
If you borrow money (and it doesn’t matter if it’s from your brother or the bank), that’s cash in, but it doesn’t count as income.
What counts as expenses? Most of the money you spend for your business will probably count as expenses. This includes advertising, postage, office supplies, and similar items.
But not all the cash that goes out of your business counts as expenses.
When you buy business property like cars, computers, and furniture that will last longer than a year, you’re not allowed to deduct their entire cost as an expense in the year of purchase (except in special circumstances).
These items are called capital assets. Sometimes they’re referred to as fixed assets.
You have to depreciate them over several years. Basically, depreciation is a process of spreading the cost of an item over its useful life.
You might have cash of several hundred or thousands of dollars go out the door when you purchase fixed assets, but you can’t deduct the entire amount of the purchase price as an expense when you buy them.
Some things that your business pays for might only count as partial expenses. An example of that is business meals and entertainment where you can only deduct half of the cost.
That doesn’t mean that your business can’t pay for 100 % of the cost, but only that you’re limited in the amount of the tax deduction you can take. This is another example of cash out that doesn’t translate directly to expenses.
Some things your business pays for might not be tax deductible at all.
An example of this would be a contribution to a Political Action Committee. That doesn’t mean that the business can’t pay for it, just that it’s not a deductible expense on your tax return.
Some more examples of cash that goes out the door that doesn’t count as expenses are: draws for sole proprietors and distributions for partners or S corporation shareholders.
There’s also one type of expense that can be more than the amount of cash that the business actually spends. It’s the home office deduction that some sole proprietors can take.
So you see why it’s so important to understand that cash in minus cash out does not equal profit.
Unfortunately, the IRS rules and regulations don’t always make logical sense; they might seem complicated and unfair. One thing is certain. They are the way they are, so we have to deal with them. Learn what you can. And get help when you need it.

SherylSchuffPhoto.jpgSheryl Schuff, CPA, is a Certified Public Accountant, author, and consultant who teaches entrepreneurs how to get their businesses organized, keep good accounting records, and maximize their business tax deductions. She is President of Schuff & Associates, PC and has been in private practice for over 30 years. She recently started an information products company www.TaxesForSmallBusiness.com to provide individual training materials for small business owners.