Keeping Tab on Taxes

IRS has introduced a new email newsletter called IRS's e-News for Small Businesses designed to inform small businesses and self employed individuals about taxes.

If you want to know about tax news and tax law changes pertaining to small businesses, this newsletter is a must-read. You can also get tax tips to ensure compliance with IRS rules. I'm sure most of us would rather not be at the opposite end of a table during an IRS audit.

The newsletter will be sent out every other Wednesday. Click here for a sample newsletter. Read about this new newsletter and subscribe at the IRS website.

Should You Offer Additional Services?

Whether you are a lawn care contractor or a resume writer, one of the pressing questions you will be faced is whether you need to offer more services than what you currently provide.


Offering additional services has its advantages and disadvantages.


Add-on services can increase your revenue stream and add to your bottomline. By widening the services you offer, you may be able to attract a wider customer base and upsell to them more profitable services. A resume service can add coaching services or interview training, helping those looking for a job package themselves well and beyond their resumes.

Diversifying will also help your business during slow periods. Lawn care business, for example, is seasonal in some states that you need to adjust the types of services that you offer based on the seasons. So when demand for mowing services start to significantly slow down in the winter, you can offer holiday decorating or landscape lighting design during those lean months.

Adding more services also gives you a leg up on your competitors. It allows you to market your business as full service offering customers one-stop comprehensive services. They want to simplify their lives by dealing with, as few vendors are they can.


However, adding a new service has its drawbacks.

If you are offering a service that poses new risks -- e.g. a lawncare business now offering tree services will have workers get up the air -- expect your insurance and workman’s compensation to increase.

There will also be investments in equipment, additional skilled workers, training and technical know how. You need to consider how much resource you are willing to commit. Decide whether the new services you are thinking of offering are a one time or occasional deal, or whether these are repeat business -- and whether you have the resources to commit. You don't want to spread yourself too thin trying to do your main business while coping with the demand for the new services.

And of course, despite your investments in the add-on services, they may not click well with your target audiences that your new equipment or new skills remain sadly unutilized.

Study your proposed new services first. Look at what the competition is doing, and see if adding them to your list of services offered can prove beneficial to you.

How to Get PR for Your Business -- Without a Publicity PR Company

If you've been wanting to get as much press as you can for your business without busting your bank by hiring a public relations firm, read Jason Calacanis of Silicon Alley Insider's 10 tips on how to get PR for your startup. His tips, though, are not for the faint of heart or the introverts (well, if you are seeking PR, chances are that you are not the shy type).

One of his amusing anecdotes is when he climbed down the stadium during a Knicks game in order to hand a copy of his Silicon Alley Magazine to John F. Kennedy Jr. That's chutzpah at its best! Though I don't think I would do that personally, his passion, confidence and belief in his business is worth emulating.

Your job is to transfer the enthusiasm you feel for your brand to everyone you meet.

His tips are:

1. Be the brand = you must be in love with your company, and proud to show it off to anyone and everyone. Wear tshirts with your company name. Talk to people about your business - all the time.

2. Be everywhere = go out and network, all the time. Attend industry events. Meet people in your industry. Of course, with your company name always visible in your person whether stickers in your laptop or wearing a company tshirt.

3. Always pick up the check = They say that the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach. And apparently, the same holds true when the best way to network is to pay for dinners. As Jason said, "In the real world break bread, don't trade contact information."

4. Be a human being = Understand that journalists and bloggers hate being pitched to. A better strategy is to develop relationships with the media organically and slowly.

5. How to bond with a journalist = If you want a journalist to take interest in you, take interest in them. Read their stories. Know what they write about. Even pronounce their name properly!

6. How a CEO should e-mail a journalist = Create direct, personal and honest relationships with journalists.

It's a very long piece, but well worth the time you'd spend reading it. Read the full article.

How to Become a Sales Superstar

Voss Graham of Lawn and Landscape Magazine wrote a great article on how to become a sales superstar. To become a sales superstar, you need to master 10 critical decision making areas that create sales success, as follows:

1. Sales superstars are always learning - learning in-depth about their customers; reading about selling, business trends and industry trends; and even attending training and development sessions. To become a sales superstar, you need to constantly sharpen your skills.

2. Business acumen - you must speak in terms that are important to customers, not just about product features and benefits

3. Preparedness = Do customer research before meeting customers. Get more information about your customers and be more knowledgeable than your competitors.

4. Industry knowledge = Knowing the industry is a requirement. This allows you to anticipate trends in your industry and help you guide your customers to better business decisions.

5. Questioning skills = Many sales people make the mistake of talking too much and boasting what they think they know, which turns off customers. To become a sales superstar, learn how to ask the right questions -- questions to educate or guide the customer, uncover their biases, and learn what benefits or solutions would address the needs of the customer.

6. Listening = you need to actively listen to the customer. Focus on what the customer is really saying.

7. Think like an owner = Learn how to connect all the dots, taking time to think about customer satisfaction after the sale and what it takes to ensure success.

8. Creative problem solving = The key word is "creative," which involves looking at the customer's situation and thinking about different ways of solving the problem.

9. Practice, practice, practice = Work on your skills using role plays, application exercises, even video a customer simulation. Using video in the practice sessions is the fastest way to gain immediate improvement.

10. Self confidence = confidence is the key to having the winner's edge.

10 Reasons Why Online Retail Entrepreneurs Succeed -- and Fail

The book "How to Start a Home-Based Online Retail Business" by Jeremy Shepherd is one of my favorite startup guide for starting an ecommerce business. The author writes from the perspective of someone who will run the business from a small office tucked in the kitchen with the inventory located in a spare room or basement.

The author lists a good list of 10 reasons whu online retail merchants will make it big:

1. Good product niche
2. Good web site design
3. Excellent customer service
4. Good market research
5. Competitive prices
6. Innovative Marketing
7. Established word-of-mouth buzz
8. Good product sourcing
9. Good business and financial planning
10. They never lose their entrepreneurial spirit

He also puts out a top 10 list of mistakes made by online entrepreneurs

1. Lack of product research
2. Not finding a product niche
3. Lack of familiarity with online retail
4. Poor web site design
5. Lack of financial planning
6. Poor customer service
7. Ignorance of online legal issues
8. Lack of competitive edge
9. Lack of commitment
10. Lack of passion

One thing that I will add to the list of common mistakes of online entrepreneurs is the failure to understand the site's metrics. Big companies often pore through their data trying to understand how customers purchase through the site and make the necessary adjustments.

Small business owners, on the other hand, commonly fly through the seat of their pants praying their Hail Marys that customers come to the site and buy. But they don't have the knowhow, interest or time to carefully analyze at what point of the buying process they start losing their customers, or why their customers are abandoning the shopping carts at a high rate.

Small online entrepreneurs may not have the deep pockets to use the latest technologies in their website but there are tools such as Google Analytics that can give them a perspective of how visitors are using their site and what kind of visitors convert into buyers.

The Challenges of Work at Home Moms

I previously wrote about how the challenges of work at home moms in the post How to Survive Life as a Work at Home Mom . But it is a topic very close to my heart as a work at home mom myself, and one that I like to revisit again and again.

I interviewed for Women Home Business Nicole Simons, founder of Fortunuts.com, maker of custom made walnuts with a dash of whimsy with its fortune sayings. Nicole gave a very real and grounded response to my question of how she is balancing the demands of a successful business, family and other interests that I'm sure many could relate:

It’s called breathing deeply! As a mom of two toddlers I have to really break things up into bite size pieces.

That has taken some getting used to and still is a struggle to this day. When September hits – my life goes into overdrive and everything is “NUTS”! We really do most of our business in 4th qtr since we are such a great unique gift item. I have learned to organize myself better and to try to take on only what I can handle.

In all honesty, I am not a great role model on balancing to take care of myself! I have to be forced to go and get a mani/pedi and do things for me. Having 2 little boys has been very challenging- and I am usually putting their needs first (as most moms do). It’s my friends and family that remind me how much people love our product and that is always a nice injection of motivation! Also I do know as women we tend to be superheroes and it’s key to step away and replenish self to step back into the arena and be not only a better mom, but a smarter and focused business owner.

What Nicole said, I think, is common among work at home moms running their own businesses. I've met one or two women who are able to perfectly balance domestic family life with business, bringing the kids to extra curricular activities to cooking meals while getting all business related tasks done for the day and still having the time to get their nails done! But they are a rare breed. I remember meeting a freelance marketing consultant and we got into comparing dark circles under our eyes - a result of working late into the night!

Watch out for the full interview with Nicole at WomenHomeBusiness.com!

Increasing Your Product Mix: How to Decide

Someone asked a question during lunch today: "Do you have any ideas what else should I sell?"

This young lady just started an online store selling hair extensions and bags, and she has been thinking of expanding her product line. But she has no idea what else she could offer on her new website. She was expecting me to give her ideas of specific products that she could sell.

In the discussion, some suggested that she offer hair accessories. Another person suggested she offer makeup. While another said she should offer yoga products such as mats and yoga outfits. And the suggestions kept getting weirder and weirder, with one saying she should offer men's shaving products!

I told her that the best approach to answering her question is by asking the following questions:

• Who is your market and what else do they need?
• What other products are your competitors offering?
• What are the gaps in the marketplace -- the products her customers want but are not currently being offered by her competitors?
• What products can she produce or source from her suppliers?

I think this young lady captures the flawed decision making process of many small business owners. She, like many others, make the mistake of looking elsewhere for answers without first trying to understand their market and their business.


The key in making the decision to add to the product mix is to think of your target market and determine what else do they need. Talk to some of your best customers. Analyze your search box to see what visitors are trying to find in your site, paying close attention to those products you don' have.

Just don't go around asking your friends what you should sell (unless of course they represent your target audience)

Starting a Business and the Fear of Failure

One of the most common reasons why many would be entrepreneurs hesitate to start a business is the fear of failure.

"What if the business fails?"


It's a scary thought, especially if you've given up a lot in order to jumpstart the business. The key is to prepare and have a plan of action.


The first step is to identify what's the worst thing that can happen if the business fail. This is not being too negative, or even fatalistic (as Ayn Rand said in The Fountainhead, "You don't start out by giving up" or something to that effect). Thinking through the worst thing could help you get a feel for the risks involved, and whether you can handle the risks if and when it happens.


Some of the worst things that could happen include:

• Losing all your savings
• Inability to pay off loans and losing your collateral (your house!)
• Losing a year of your life
• Learning that your dream business is not going to work
• Broken relationships due to failed business partnerships or investments
• Disappointing yourself, your family and friends

To help mitigate the risks, you can:

• Work on jumpstarting the business while still employed. You can start the business on a part time basis (or work part time while spending most of your time starting the business). So even if the business fails, you still have your job to sustain you.


• Get the support of your spouse. Your spouse can work and provide the steady paycheck (and even health insurance) while you focus on building the business.


• Get the support of your family. If the business fails and you run out of money, you can go back and live with your parents. It may be a tough choice, but living with parents is a sure way to have a roof over your head if the failed business wiped out your savings.


• Choose a business with lower risks, especially if your resources are limited. If you have poor credit and no savings, don't start a business producing organic cleaning products that will require millons in production and marketing in order to compete in the marketplace. Start a business that you think you can handle, even if it means foregoing your dream business at the moment until you've built enough capital for yourself.


• Have a fall back position. If the business don't work out as planned, think of alternative courses of action for you. You can go back to the corporate world. You can go to school. Or you can try again, but this time avoiding the mistakes you made in your first try.

Common Myths of Starting a Business

Many want to start a business, but find that actually starting one is not easy. Some are scared of venturing on their own, while others doubt whether they have the ability to run a business.

A new book entitled "What's Stopping You? Shatter the 9 Most Common Myths Keeping You from Starting Your Own Business" by Bruce Barringer and B. Duane Ireland explores the various reasons that prevent people from starting their own businesses, then provides a reality check to address these myths.

According to the authors, here are the common myths of starting a business:

1. It takes an extraordinary person to start a business.
2. Starting a business involves lots of risks.
3. It takes a lot of money to start a business.
4. It takes a great deal of business experience to start a successful business.
5. The best business ideas are already taken
6. No one can compete against Wal-Mart and the other big box retailers.
7. It's almost impossible for a new business to get noticed.
8. The Internet isn't what it was all hyped up to be.
9. It's easy to start a business, but it's difficult and stressful to grow one.

The authors did a great job capturing the fear and anxiety many would-be entrepreneurs feel that make them stop in their tracks. I agree completely with their list. When you're starting a business -- especially if you quit your job and everything is on the line -- it is hard to avoid self-doubts or just plain feeling scared.

Are there any other you'd like to the above list?

Buy an Established Website vs. Start a New Website from Scratch

An interesting question was posed by a Yahoo Answers user -- which is a better path to getting into internet marketing: buy a small, established website that has a monthly cash flow or start from scratch and learn-as-you-go?

In my view, the established site has the advantage of being already set up. The site has been in existence so there must be some content, and that means lesser work for you. (Of course, whether you will keep the content depends on the quality as well as your goals for the site so you may still need to scrap the whole content and replace it.). Check out Archives.org for a cursory check of the history of the site and its contents.

The main benefit, however, is the aging of the domain name, the number of links the site already got, some established traffic, and possibly a steady revenue stream. Instead of waiting for a year for solid income to come in, you can have income on your day 1 after purchasing the site. Plus, the site may already be ranking well in many (or at least some) of its keywords.

The problem with the established site is that you don't really know what the previous owners did, and whether the site got penalties from the search engines. The worst thing you can do is buy an established site, and then find out the site has been slapped with penalties with Google ad other search engines and even delisted from their databases. Or you can't monetize the site because it has been kicked out of Google Adsense and other ad programs (once kicked out, you can't reapply).

With a new site, you have the full control of what you do with it and you'll be responsible for charting its growth. No penalties, nothing. BUT -- most new sites land in the sandbox so it takes time for it to be visible in the search engines (sometimes as long as 6 months to 1 year). That means you'll work overtime to get traffic to the site, even spend more in terms of PPC for lack of organic traffic.

Buying an established site vs. creating your own site has its pros and cons. But if there's an opportunity to buy a clean, good site with a reasonable price, then it has a lot of advantages. Choose unique sites that have been around for at least a year. Avoid the dime-a-dozen copy cat junk template sites for sale that uses the same content as hundreds of similar sites for sale. Check their present customer base, liabilities if any, average sales of last six month, profit and loss account if possible and overall judge the profit making ability of that site.

And don't ever believe the hype. If a seller is claiming the site is earning $10,000 a month or so, why is the selling offering the site only for $200? Verify the information yourself(even screenshots of their accounts such as Google Adsense revenues as those screenshots can easily be faked). Request the login information and verify the information yourself, even the traffic (check the log files or access their web traffic software).

Like any other business purchase, investigate and do due diligence carefully when buying a website