People Google you.  These people include clients and industry contacts.  Do you know what pops up on the first page when someone Googles your name?  I did this recently (after not doing so in a few months) and was surprised that a few images had popped up from a blogger account I had years ago!  Google has now linked a lot of these platforms (that it has acquired in recent years) and they are now all linked to your Google profile and Google+ account.  I don’t care for those images to be the first things that people see when they want to learn about me professionally.  Delete. Delete. Delete.

Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn all pop up in that first page of the Google along with any blogs that you may write (and possibly your business website).  Often people set up a social media account and forget about it for years.  I’ve seen this happen with LinkedIn accounts.  (Do you have a stale LinkedIn account?)  If your client is in the corporate world, it may be one of the first places he or she looks to learn more about you, your business, and your work experience.  This is an opportunity to show off your merits.  It’s also a missed opportunity if you haven’t updated this profile in quite a while.  (You may also want to rethink linking your Twitter account automatically to your LinkedIn feed.  All of those tweets may not be appropriate to the LinkedIn audience.)

Spend a few minutes today making a list of the all the accounts where you have “profiles”.  These are essentially your virtual business cards.   Next, spend some time updating each one of them with current information about you, your business, and your accomplishments.

1. Don’t underestimate a business plan

2. Don’t get stuck in the past

3. Don’t hire friends

4. Don’t dive in without a plan

5. Don’t fall into a discount trap

6. Don’t be afraid to fail

You can read the rest of the article here.

I like what the author has to say about business planning.  A lot of people think that they only need a business plan if they are going to seek financing for their business.  But, in reality, the process of writing the plan – regardless of whether or not you need financing – is a very helpful exercise in figuring out what this business will look like.

Let me be straightforward here…
If you are yet to launch your business, you will write your plan based on best assumptions at the time.  Chances are many of those assumptions will be wrong or different in reality.  (You really won’t know what your business will be like until it is up and running a couple years.)  But, the plan is a starting point, a set of business goals.  As time goes on, you continue to build your plan.  It should continuously evolve just as your business does.  But, the early stages of ‘dreaming’ with the help of a business plan can be very helpful and eye-opening.

]]> http://www.sageweddingpros.com/2012/02/07/before-starting-a-business/feed/ 1 http://www.sageweddingpros.com/2012/02/02/insider-to-insider-sapphire-celebrations/ http://www.sageweddingpros.com/2012/02/02/insider-to-insider-sapphire-celebrations/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:35:49 +0000 Michelle Loretta http://www.sageweddingpros.com/?p=8171

Angie Johnston & Pam Drennan

Angie and Pam are owners of Sapphire Celebrations in Denver.  What I love about this duo is the teamwork and chemistry that they have.  They know their individual strengths and work in unison to produce events.  This is what business partnerships are all about!  Read on to learn more…

Angie Johnston & Pam Drennan
Owners of Sapphire Celebrations
www.sapphirecelebrations.com
Denver, CO
Established 2004

Why did you start your business?

It had always been Angie’s dream to be a wedding and event planner. It is just a huge added benefit that mother and daughter get to achieve this dream together. When the business was started in 2004 there was still a great need in the Colorado market for wedding and event planning businesses.

We planned Angie’s wedding in 2004 and even her Day of Wedding Coordinator could tell that this was her calling. Having planned corporate and philanthropic events and some weddings for friends, this was the catalyst to starting the business. After research the business was officially formed in July of 2004. Using both of our business and sales backgrounds we’ve been able to take Sapphire Celebrations to the top!

In the past seven and a half years the market has started to reach saturation, however, there are still enough clients to go around if you know your niche.

What book do you recommend to new business owners?

I am currently reading “Book Yourself Solid” by Michael Port. I’m still early in it, but can already tell that it is going to change the way that we sell our services.

Do you have any cool goal-setting tips to share with us?

Write them down – make them visual. A vision board for what you want to achieve is a great way to be sure that you have it in the front of your mind. Mine is now right next to my desk, so that it is visible to everyone!

What do you find to be the biggest challenge as a business owner?

The biggest challenge is separating your business life from your personal life. Owning your own business you can quickly get sucked into working all the time – your desk is just right there! Recognizing this and setting up work hours and rules will help to make sure

If you were starting your business all over again, what would you have done differently?

Hired Sage Wedding Pros to help us get our business plan and processes pulled together at the beginning!

Thanks ladies!

The IRS 1099-MISC form is one that you have to fill out for any vendor for which you paid $600 or more.  The misunderstanding of this form is that you only need to submit it for independent contractors that you’ve hired to do work (freelancers, weekend assistants, for example).  But ANY non-corporate business (sole proprietor, partnership, LLC, etc) that you hired to do any work that totaled more than $600 in the year will need to receive a 1099-MISC form.  If they are an incorporated business, you do not need to send this.  (There are a few types of 1099s.  The one that typically refers to miscellaneous contractor income is the 1099-MISC.)

This would include (but not limited to):

• graphic and web designers hired to do your branding
• rental services
• attorneys
• commissions paid to non-employees
• mileage reimbursement paid to non-employees
  and the list goes on…

This is not a new requirement of the IRS.  They call this an “information return”.  BUT… this part is NEW: the IRS will now have a statement on your income tax forms that will ask you if you were required to file any 1099s for 2011 and if you have filed them (or, are planning to do so).  They know that this information has been slipping through the cracks, and they are trying to get a better grasp on it than in prior years.

The 1099 form is one that you can get online.  Unfortunately, it’s not one that you can download and fill out.  You need to have the actual IRS hard copy.  The form is a multi-part form that requires you to mail one copy to the payee, a copy to the IRS (with a summary form of all 1099s) and a copy for you to keep.  You will need to have tax ID information for the payee.  (You can get this information by having the payee fill out the W-9 when they do work for you.  Or, if you are in a pinch, just ask the payee.)

The 1099-MISC was technically supposed to be mailed to the payee (contractor) yesterday… so hurry up and get it out there if you missed out.  The IRS needs to receive the final copies by February 28th.  The gap of time between the payee mailing and IRS mailing allows you to make any corrections if needed.  (My understanding is that the payee mailing date of January 31 has a little flexibility – there are no penalties – but you’ll want to get this out ASAP so that you can do the February 28th filing.)  If you are too late to receive the 2011 forms directly from the IRS ordering system, you can also buy the forms at your office store (Staples, Office Max, etc).

As always, please talk with your tax accountant on these requirements and your specific situation.  (I’d personally like to thank my awesome accountants, Accountability Services, for helping me fill some of the gaps on my understanding of this topic.)

Image: Creative Commons

Last week, I helped you with the basics in getting your accounting ready to file taxes on April 15th this year.  (The rest is up to you to discuss with your accountant.)  By the way, read my tips on finding a good accountant here.

Today, I want to talk about saving to pay your federal taxes.  If you have to pay income taxes at the state level and/or sales tax, the strategies are the same.  But, because each state differs in their requirements (filing dates, etc), this post will solely address IRS taxes.  It’s a little too late to save for your 2011 taxes, so let’s move forward to create positive habits for 2012.

(I want to give the disclaimer again that I am not a tax accountant… please advise your accountant to find out the latest and greatest according to the IRS and to get proper tax advisement on your particular situation.)

If you are a corporation…

If your business is set up as a corporation, you will pay taxes as an employee of the corporation and as a shareholder (owner) in the corporation. This ‘double-taxation’ is the reason that many tax accountants advise small business owners against setting up a corporate structure.  (There are benefits, depending on your situation, so ask him/her what is best for you.)

Your tax saving will, therefore be double-duty.

As a business, you will have to save taxes for the following:

• your corporate tax (generally 15-35% on your year-end net profit or loss)
• your employees’ social security, FUTA, and medicare (and any amounts you’ve withheld on their behalf)

As an employee, you will have taxes withheld by the corporation (your company).  The company ‘holds’ your taxes and pays them quarterly to the IRS.  At the end of the year, when you file the 1040, you determine whether you had enough held, too much (resulting in a refund), or not enough (resulting in a payment).

The biggest challenge is for the business to save the cash to make these payments quarterly.  It’s easy to be paid for a client, think you are flush, and spend it.  In reality, you’ll want to save incrementally.  For corporate taxes, a tax accountant will help you calculate what your tax payments are expected to be quarterly.  Here’s an example:

• Based on prior years, you will be required to pay $3000 quarterly for corporate taxes.
• Break this down into monthly payments and set it aside in a ‘don’t touch this’ saving account.  $1000 monthly is the amount you’d save here.
• If you have ~4 clients each month, you can break this down further so that you save $250 from each client.

You’ll also want to ensure that you are not touching the money withheld for employment taxes (social security, FUTA, medicare, and taxes withheld on behalf of the employee.)  Again, hold it in a separate account so that you can pay this quarterly.  Or elect to e-file so that you can send payments more frequently.

If you are a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, LLP, or S-Corp…

You will pay taxes as the owner of your business only.  In other words, you will make a draw against equity in order to pay yourself (a salary, per say.)  This is something we cover in our workshops, and it’s a little tricky, so I won’t get into too much detail here.  Suffice to say, the net income or loss that your business makes is your own personal income or loss.  This is what you pay taxes on.

This income or loss is stated on your annual 1040 (and supplementary schedules).  And, because you are paying these taxes at the PERSONAL level and not the BUSINESS level, this is something you need to budget for in your own personal budget.  (WHAT?  You don’t have one?  Read Dave Ramsey’s book, Totally Money Makeover.)  If you have employees, you’ll hold their taxes the same as above.

So… here’s where you can get into a fine mess…

• Your business performs phenomenally in 2012!  Your net profit (after you pay all expenses, etc) is $100,000 for the year. YAHOOO!!!!  As an owner of your business, this is yours. (Chances are that you’ve drawn this incrementally.)
• BUT – you didn’t really save for taxes, or pay quarterly.
• You take this to your accountant and your accountant tells you that on April 15th you owe $25,000 in taxes.  YES – it’s time to cry.  You just bought yourself a car.  ONLY – it’s not a car – it’s a big fat tax payment.

How do you get around this?  You save and you pay quarterly. With the help of your tax accountant, you will calculate your estimated quarterly taxes.  In the example above, you would save $6,250 quarterly (and you will send this check to the IRS along with a little form called the 1040-ES).  AGAIN – this is something that you need to budget for on your personal budget – it’s a personal payment – not a business payment.  BUT, you can think ahead and you know that each time you make a draw on your business, you need to set aside 20-35% for taxes.

Does this help?  Do you feel better prepared to save for your taxes?

These are some of the write-offs that you might be missing out on:

The Home Office

“Write-offs”

A “write-off” is an expense that you can use as a deduction from the taxes that you pay the US Treasury.  There are two types of write-offs:

• a business expense that hits your profit & loss statement
• an adjustment to your tax base (typically done directly on your tax forms)

It’s true that business expenses do lessen the amount of taxes you pay each year.  But, an expense is an expense is an expense.  It’s money out of your pocket.  And, I don’t know about you, I’d rather have money in my pocket.  The money saved on the tax is never enough to equal the expense.  Depending on your tax bracket, a business expense of $100 may mean that you are paying $30 less in taxes.  $100 is better than $30, don’t you think?

Something I often hear new business owners say is:

“Oh – it’s a business expense.  It’s a great write-off.”

This makes me cringe. Don’t spend money just because of the write-off.  The IRS is not sending you a check for this money.  You won’t see it again.  Spend the money because it’s a good move for your business, not because it’s a write-off.

This being said, there are some write-offs that you might be missing out on:

Image: Creative Commons

1 – Car Mileage for Business Purposes

This is an amount that your tax accountant will put as a deduction on your Schedule C (the tax form used for businesses) and is not typically something that you input into your tax accounting (or affects your profit & loss, unless you are reimbursing employees). This amount gets deduced from your business income, lessening your tax base. Depending on your tax bracket, you could be paying ~$300 less in taxes because of this. Cha-ching!

How to track your miles…

Remember, if you are audited, the IRS will want to see an actual log showing the travel you made in the tax year. Here are some easy ways to keep track of your mileage:

Come back tomorrow!  I’ll have some more deduction tips for your 2011.

As much as I love the numbers of business and their ability to help me make solid decisions, I detest getting all my accounting ready for taxes.  AND – I hate paying taxes.  But, such is life.  There is nothing more certain than death and taxes.

I’m going to help you get you ‘tax-ready’.  Keep in mind, I am not a tax expert.  (You need to hire one of those.)  But, these tips should give you a good basis for preparation.  Make sure to jump ahead to the section that applies to you…

Image: Creative Commons

1 – Get Organized

 Have you been separating your receipts each month?  Are they organized?  If so, skip to #2.  If you have an ugly box of denial, read here…

As I’ve said before, accounting is 80% organization and 20% perspiration.  If you haven’t been good about being organized, you’ll need to do some catch up.  I have been in the ugly position of having a year’s worth of receipts in a big bin that I had to sort thru for good ol’ Uncle Sam.  UGLY!  (New motherhood took its toll on me in 2007.)

So here’s what you do:

• Go thru the box o’ denial piece by piece and sort each expense receipt, each client invoice, each bank statement etc.
• Sort each receipt by month and separate them into 12 files (one file for each month).
• Make sure you have a bank statement for your business bank account for each month.  If you are missing a few months of statements, download them from your online banking information.   (If you don’t have a separate bank account for your business, go back and read Accounting 101, get a separate bank account NOW, and start highlighting your business expenses from 2011 on your 12 months of personal bank statements.)

If you ended up 2011 with a huge box of denial, you certainly don’t want to be in that position next year.  There’s nothing like the present to get yourself ready for 2012 taxes next year, so go back and read Accounting 101 for total organization and start moving in a positive direction for this year.

2 – Create your accounting records

Have you been updating your accounting records monthly?  If so, skip to #3.  If you have a ton of data entry catch up to do, read here…

If you have not been inputting your accounting records on a monthly basis, you’re going to  have to do all of your inputting now.  This can take a few days depending on the number of transactions. So grab a few bottles of wine and sit back. (But not tooooo many bottles of wine.  We want accuracy here.)

The easiest way to create your accounting and catch up is to go through your 12 months of bank statements, line by line:

• Use your bank statements (starting in January) and start to identify all of the transactions: cash going in, cash going out.
• If you use Quickbooks (or other accounting software) start inputting them.  (The Accounting 101 tutorial gives great basics on this.)  If you do not use any accounting software, I don’t know if I’d recommend starting at this juncture.  Because of the learning curve, software is better for when you can move forward – not for when you are playing catch-up.
• If you don’t use software, start inputting the transactions into an excel spreadsheet:
• Date
• Payee
• Amount
• Description
• Category aka Account (what type of transaction was this? marketing expense? phone expense? advertising expense?)
• You’ll want to make sure to have a separate Excel sheet for each type of transaction. (One for expense receipts – cash going out.  One for client invoices/contracts – cash coming in.)
• As you go thru each month, look thru your receipt files (that you compiled in section 1).  Check to see that you have a receipt to back up the transaction on the bank statement.  (This is uber-necessary in the chances that you are audited.)  If you do not have a receipt, see if you can go back and get one.  (If it was an online charge, you should be. If it was a retail purchase, you won’t be.)  Just make a note of any receipts you do not have and make a sign of the cross (or sacrifice a chicken – whatever your religion prescribes.)
• Make sure to do the same for any business credit cards you have.

3 – Create Accounting Reports

This is where having accounting software can save you some minutes in the proverbial nuthouse.  The reason I am obnoxiously adamant that people use accounting software for their businesses is the ability to generate accounting reports.  People spend years in college (I did!) learning how to put these reports together.  But, with Quickbooks you can do it with a touch of button.  Unless you have some accounting in your bones, you will not be able to make these reports.  (I’m sorry.)

These are the reports your accountant may ask you for, depending on the structure of your business (corporation, partnership, LLC, LLP, sole proprietorship):

• Balance Sheet for 12/31/2011
• Profit & Loss for 1/1/2011 to 12/31/2011

Nowwwwww… I don’t want to scare you too much.  If you don’t have the Quickbooks, your accountant MAY be able to work around this if you give him or her a listing of all your expenses (cash out) and all of your client invoices (cash in).  Accountants can be cool like that.  But, spare yourselves some misery in 2012 and get yourself some accounting software ASAP.

And… there’s more!

Come back tomorrow.  I’m going to share with you some tax-saving tips and how to find an accountant that rocks.

I have one very basic rule by which I live the balancing of kid(s) and a business.  It is…

Image: Creative Commons

Don’t blame your kids.

What does this mean?  It means don’t use your kids as an excuse for not getting your work done – ESPECIALLY with clients.  These excuses may sound like this:

I’m so sorry for being late, Jonny threw up all over my purse.

I have to flake again.  I can’t find a sitter.

I won’t be able to meet the deadline because Maddy isn’t napping well and I couldn’t get it done in time.

The reality of the situation…

The reality is that every insane thing is going to happen when you are juggling your own business and children.  There are days that you will have to jump through hoops of fire to get it all done.  Children will be sick. Children will not nap.  Babysitters will flake or quit or get into an accident.  All of these things will make it incredibly challenging (and at times, impossible) for you to get your job done.  But, don’t blame your kids.

There are 2 reasons you shouldn’t blame your kids…

1) It’s not fair to your kids.

It may be the best excuse, the actual excuse, for not getting your work done.  But, it’s unfair to your children to blame them.  You will begin to resent them.  You will begin to see them as the barrier between you and a super-successful business.  And, it’s not their fault.  They didn’t set out to make your day impossible.  They’re just doing what they do: be kids.

2) It sounds like a weak excuse.

All parents know that this is not a weak excuse… kid sh*t happens.  But as a business woman, you need to remember business is business and personal is personal.  If you rely on your kids as an excuse you begin to sound like the grade schooler who tells his teacher “The dog ate my homework.”  It might be true, but it doesn’t come from a position of strength.  It sounds disorganized and irresponsible.

What do you say instead?

Be honest, but don’t blame your children.

I’m so sorry for being late.  I didn’t calculate how much time it would take me to get here.

I’m sorry I won’t be able to attend the networking event as planned.  I have other obligations.

I won’t be able to meet the deadline because didn’t schedule appropriately.  I want to make it up by doing this…

You see how all of the above ‘excuses’ are so much more professional?  You are taking responsibility for your business.

Exceptions…

You can talk amongst colleague-friends about the trials and tribulations of being a parent.  There is very little judgment here.  If a good wedding industry friend is having childcare issues, I’m going to relate with her.  She can share this with me.  But, I’m not going to open up all of my personal family-balance challenges with a potential client or a colleague whom I don’t know very well.  It isn’t professional.

Taking responsibility…

As a mom, you’ll get good at damage control when it comes to balancing your kids and your business.  You’ll be good at finding that replacement sitter in seconds flat.  You’ll become good at wiping up vomit before it ruins your client’s fabric swatches.

You’ll also see that you are responsible for this damage control.  (That’s your job – for better or worse – as a mompreneur.)  And, you’ll take responsibility for all of it.  Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what forces try to block us from doing our work.  Business is business.

Over time, I came to learn that only I was responsible for my business actions (not my child; not an employee).  I wouldn’t dream of blaming my kid for ‘getting in the way’ of my business.  Not only because it’s unfair to them – but also because it’s MY JOB to make sure that I can put out the mompreneur fire drills that happen daily.

What do you think about this?  How often do you use your kids as an excuse?  Is it fair to them?  To yourself?

I became much more efficient.

Before having Lili, I had allllllll sorts of time… Time to work ALL the time!  I think if I actually spent all that time working, it would be a different story.  But, often when we work all the time, we aren’t really working.  We are often wasting time.  The incredible thing is when you are forced to smush your week into 10 hours or 20 hours or 30 hours (and eventually 40 hours) it’s incredible how efficient you become.  There is no time for nonsense.

I became much more intuitive. 

Along with efficiency came intuition.  When I became a mom, I didn’t have time to deliberate on every single decision.  I got really good at trusting my gut and going with my instinct.  I no longer question every single little tweak to my business.  This intuition has saved my sanity and given me piece of mind.

I established better work-life boundaries.

I became better at setting boundaries between my personal life and my work life.  This didn’t happen overnight, tho.  I had to evolve into this after being a parent for a couple years.  Initially, I was all over the place – without boundaries – and not taking enough care of myself.  After a while, I became better at turning off the computer before dinnertime and LEAVING it off.  I became better at closing the office door and not going back in.  I became more confident in telling “no” to the client when the request just wasn’t realistically feasible or good for business (or my sanity).  I became better at prioritizing.

One more thing…

Some people will say that you become better at multi-tasking as a new parent.  I think multi-tasking is not effective.  As a new mom I thought I was good at this.  I would even brag about it.  But, the truth is, when you’re doing 10 things at once, you aren’t really doing any of them well.  What I came to see on the days I was attempting to work while simultaneously take care of my child, I wasn’t giving either the attention they deserved.  It was hard, frustrating, and exhausting for everyone involved.

How about you?  What are some traits, characteristics, or work habits that you picked up when you become a mom?