Small Business Made Simple™ » Small Biz Management

Do Your Last Minute Taxes Online!

Matt — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:16:57 +0000

Did you know that TurboTax now allows you to not only do your personal tax return, but they also do Single-member LLC’s, Multiple-member LLC’s, S-Corporations and C-Corporations? Related posts:States Ranked by State and Local Taxes Tracking Online Buzz You Can Form an LLC Online Related posts:

How to Create a Small Business Intranet

Matt — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:36:05 +0000

Lifehacker has a good article on how small businesses and teams need to “stop repeating yourself” and collaborate with a company “wiki” and use it as an intranet. Basically, you want a password protected web page where everyone on your team can view, edit and collaborate on ideas, processes and “how to’s” so a team member does need to keep asking for information or bother anyone on how to do something, what is so and so’s phone number, what is the time-off policy, etc. The basic premise is that if you need to send an email to everyone in the company about something (especially how to do something, a policy change, procedure update, etc.), you can probably post it on your small business intranet where everyone can access it.

If you can centralize your company documents, instructions, contact lists and procedures in one place, and make that information easy to update, then you have a fantastic time-saving resource. Moreover, you have gotten one step closer to automating your business, standardizing your procedures. You’ve also made your company more valuable because a) you can sell it as a “system” and b) you can have your company run by others who know what to do and how to do it.

Lifehacker recommends MediaWiki, the free open-source software that powers WikiPedia, to power your intranet. However, the learning curve is steep, it requires installation on your own web server and is not entirely user-friendly. There are many other professional solutions like HyperOffice and Microsoft Sharepoint but they have their own complexities – usually too many bells and whistles for a small business intranet.

We use and recommend EditMe. EditMe is like a user-friendly, password protected version of WikiPedia. Basically, you setup an account instantly, double click the page you are on and you can edit it in a regular Word-like editor. Same goes with the side menu where you will be adding links to other pages (which you can create in one click). Basically, you create a page, name it, then link to it on your menu – you can even attach files to each page (employee manuals, etc.). You can add users with different permissions (view/edit/delete, etc.) quickly and it sends email notices when pages have been updated. A basic account starts around $5/month and is easily the best $5 MyNewCompany.com has ever spent. I’ve seen all the intranet solutions and this is by far the easiest for small business.

Small Business Intranet suggestions:

Have a “Home” page that everyone must check daily – this is where you post any important notices or updates – prevents endless “memo” type emails. Tip: set company browser home pages to this page.
Let anyone make updates but make sure there is an “administrator” who can reverse those updates and “undelete” files and pages. EditMe has this feature.
Recommended pages: Contact List, Procedures Manual, “How to” page (change printer ink, setup email account, etc.), Business Ideas, Suggestion Box, Marketing Info, Vendor List, Employee Contact Info, projects, etc.
Make sure every employee uses it. EditMe takes 10 minutes to learn so every new and existing employee should get an overview.

Optional:

If you need to collaborate on a higher level, you may want to consider, in addition to a small business intranet, using a simple project manager like BaseCamp. BaseCamp has some additional features that make managing tasks, projects and more extremely simple and they offer a free basic account.

So “stop repeating yourself”, setup your intranet now and focus on your business – you won’t regret it.

Great Small Business Advice from Larry Winget

Matt — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:42:39 +0000

Larry Winget offers great small business and personal development advice in this recent article. He can be a bit “brusk” and in your face. He’s known as the “Pit Bull of Personal Development” so while his advice might not make you feel good, it is effective.

Specifically, his small business “truths” (each is summarized in the article) include:

Apathy is killing business.
Attitude doesn’t matter.
Who cares if your employees are happy?
You don’t have to love your job – but it helps.
Not firing people is a cancer on your business.
Do the right thing no matter what.

And he summarizes with his “Larry’s all time best advice for business success:”

Do what you said you were going to do, when you said you were going to do it, in exactly the way you said you were going to do it. You won’t ever get any better business advice than that.

Be there when you said you would be there. Deliver when you said you would deliver. Call when you said you would call. Be a person who can be counted on by keeping his word every time.

While I don’t agree with every one of his “truths”, his summary is the absolute truth – we take it to heart here at MyNewCompany.com and you should consider it as a cornerstone of great customer service for your small business.

Tracking Online Buzz

Chris — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:19:28 +0000

Inc. Technology Blog has an Article Posted on ways to montior when your company is mentioned online:

Listen Up! Tracking software and services can alert you to what customers are saying about your business on social networks, blogs, and other social media. These tracking techniques offer steps beyond Google Alerts to keep you informed.

A few weeks ago, a Twitter user tweeted that she was planning to try Zitune, a restaurant in Los Altos, Calif. David Auerbach, the restaurant’s co-owner got an e-mail alert from a Web-based service Trackle, calling his attention to the tweet. As he often does, he sent a response thanking her for visiting Zitune and asking how she’d liked it. Soon, they had a dialogue going. Then she asked if Zitune’s chef (and Auerbach’s brother-in-law) would like to be interviewed for her video blog.

As social networking sites grow in popularity it is becoming more and more crucial to monitor any online mentions of your brand. You can use these methods to take advantage of opportunities to connect with satisfied clients who can become advocates for your services and products (as in the above example). You can also connect with clients who are dissatisfied before negative publicity grows and damages the public’s perception of your brand. An excellent example of why this can be valuable is the massive amount of bad buzz and negative publicity caused by United Airline’s handling of one angry customer’s request for replacement of a broken guitar (story HERE).

The method you choose to monitor mentions of your company is less important than having a system in place that ensures you are aware of it when your company is being discussed online.

Avoiding Bad Technology Habits

Chris — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:28:54 +0000

Steven G. Atkinson from Technology Tips for SMB’s has a post up on Bad Technology Habits:

It seems that sometimes when people are talking they forget where they are. Or they get so engrossed in the conversation that they don’t realize who may be near.

As new technology enters the mainstream it is easy to make it part of your life without thinking about the consequences of that new technology on interpersonal relationships. This is true for both business and personal relationships. Most of the tips are pretty common-sense but it’s never a bad thing to be reminded of how things we are not thinking about can influence our interactions with other people.

Tips for Better Business Writing

Chris — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:49:40 +0000

Stepcase Lifehack has a helpful article with 12 Tips for Better Business Writing:

If you’re one of the many people in business for whom writing has never been a major concern, you should know that a lack of writing skills is a greater and greater handicap with every passing year. Spending some time to improve your writing can result in a marked improvement in your hireability and promotional prospects.

At MyNewCompany we are always looking for ways to improve our communications skills. Whether we are responding to client email requests or live chats using our Support System, posting entries on Social Media Sites or creating new content for our site there is no such thing as “good enough” when it comes to communicating with our clients or potential clients. Constantly working towards improved communication methods is also a great step to include when developing your Marketing & Sales Strategy!

Business Lessons from Jeff Bezos

Matt — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 23:38:35 +0000

Dr. Cornwall has a great video, about 8 minutes long, from Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos. Definitely worth watching as he sums up the things he’s learned from starting and running Amazon:

Obsess Over Customers (not competitors)
Invent (figure out solutions)
Think Long Term
It’s always Day 1 (theirs always new ways for invention and solutions)

Tips on Developing an Effective Marketing Plan and Avoiding Common Mistakes

Chris — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:09:28 +0000

The OPEN Small Business Forum has an Article Posted on “7 Reasons Your Marketing Plan Doesn’t Work“.

Every business should operate with a set of plans – a plan for the business, a plan for cash, a plan for growth, and certainly a plan for marketing. Opening a business with no plan is kind of like driving somewhere you’ve probably never been without a map or GPS device.

The article is full of useful tips and tricks for adopting the best possible marketing plan, as well as pitfalls to avoid when developing your plan.

Before beginning the development of your Marketing Plan it is important to understand the difference between Marketing and Sales. We’ve made this easy! Just visit our page on Marketing & Sales. The page also lists helpful resources for developing an effective Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy.

Of course the first step when developing your Business Idea is to create a Business Plan. A properly written business plan will make it much easier to develop a marketing plan and implement your sales strategy.

Making The Personal Touch Part of Your System

Chris — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:51:48 +0000

The E-Myth Business Blog has an Article Posted on how you can make the personal touches that grew your business part of your system.

The initial step is to recognize the reality. What results do you achieve in your business? Yes, you created patterns of behavior (systems) that you’ve followed in order to achieve a degree of business success. You pride yourself on your abilities. You enjoy the fact that in your growing organization, nobody has the same personal touch with the customers that you have. I mentioned rainmaker status above, for often this is how this pride in the personal touch shows up; you feel recognized and special for your personal ability to achieve great results.

The trick is to create a system that allows replication of these personal touches even when you are not there to provide them. Once such a system is in place you can concentrate on the work of growing your business instead of getting bogged down in the day-to-day routine of client service.

At MyNewCompany we believe that the E-Myth System works! We provide our clients with a general overview of the process of Automating your Business so that they can free themselves up to grow the business, and can even take a real vacation without having to worry that their clients’ experience will suffer during their absence!

The E-Myth system works so well that we have made it our top pick on our Recommended Business Books & Software page.

Bouncing Back From Failure

Chris — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:28:14 +0000

Forbes has an article posted on How to Bounce Back From Failure:

Anyone who claims to have built something of lasting value–be it a business, personal relationship or a body of critical knowledge–without suffering serious pain and disappointment is either a liar or dangerously naïve. At some point on your journey, you will stumble and fall.

As the article mentions only 45% of startups make it to their 4th anniversary. In today’s troubled economic climate the challenges faced by new businesses are even greater. What separates successful entrepreneurs from the crowd is not a lack of failures, but the resiliency to pick themselves up and try again when things don’t go as planned.

Of course, when starting a new venture it is always worthwhile to do everything you can to increase your odds of success. Two great ways to do this are by adopting a properly written Business Plan and Automating Your Business. Franchises have a much, much higher success rate than general business startups, so Automating your Business to make it run like a franchise will give you an advantage over other companies that have not taken this crucial step.

If you enjoy our blog posts just visit our Free Tools & Resources page to follow us on social media or subscribe to our free monthly newsletter!