You may be considering starting a small business and you need to decide whether or not you should operate your business from a home office or if your small business will require a more traditional office setting. Below you will see 5 reasons to operate your business from home if your specific business allows for home-based operations.
Start-Up Costs:
When evaluating your small business’ start-up expenses you will find that starting a small business and operating your business from home will usually have fewer start-up expenses. When starting a traditional office-based business you may have start-up expenses associated with 1st and last month rent, security deposits, establishing utilities, furnishing the office with desks, computers, ect. By operating your small business from home you may be able to significantly reduce these costs or eliminate them altogether.
Hours of Operation:
While many traditional offices hours are restricted to 9 to 5, Monday to Friday, home-based businesses can be open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. With an online business designed to process payment and outsource orders to a warehouse or distributer, people from around the world can purchase your products or services on your small business website while you are working, when you’re not working, while you are sleeping, even when you are sick or on vacation.
Customer Base:
Many brick and mortar business’ customers are restricted to locals or people willing to travel to the business’s location. When you operate a home-based business, especially an online business, it allows you to have a customer base worldwide.
Start Slow:
One great benefit of starting a small business from home is the fact that you don’t have to jump in with both feet right away. You can start slow by operating your business in your spare time, while remaining employed with your current employer. You should be sure that operating your small business does not violate any noncompeting clauses that you may have signed with your current employer. You can speak to your employer or legal council before starting a business to determine if starting your new home-based business will violate a noncompeting clause that you have signed.
Resources:
It today’s environment of information at the click of a button, there is vast amount of home-based small business resources easily accessible to business owners. Much of this information is available for free or at minimal cost online. You can find tutorials, forums, blogs, courses, ebooks, and other forms of information to help your small home-based business start and grow to become successful.
With all of the benefits of starting a small business and operating it from home, unless your small business industry is unsuitable for home-based business operations, you should definitely take operating from home into consideration when deciding to start a small business. Even if you decide to operate your small business from a traditional office I would still recommend that you also build and develop a small business website and web presence where you can take orders and process payments so that your small business is not restricted to local customers and your hours of operation.
A Webinar about Getting Certified & Securing Opportunities as a Women or Minority Owned Business!
Are you a women or minority owned business that has not yet applied for a WBE or MBE certification? If so, you could be missing out on dozens of opportunities set aside solely for your small business!
There are numerous government agencies at the local, state or federal level that can provide you with a women or minority business certification. Whether you are just starting a business or your company is already established, you can drastically benefit from these MBE and WBE “set aside” contracts.
We invite you to spend a valuable hour with BizCentral USA, and learn the benefits and steps to becoming a WBE and/or MBE certified small business!
Topics of Interest:
•Eligibility for WBE and MBE Certification
•Getting Registered
•Supporting Documentation
Don’t wait any longer to get your small business certified. Take advantage of the certifications that are available today by attending our FREE webinar on Wednesday, June 2, 2010 from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (EST).
When you decide to hire additional employees to staff your small business, you must be sure to ask all of the right questions so that you can legally obtain all of the information required to make the right hiring decision.
When considering hiring an employee you must first decide exactly what qualities, experience and skills will be required. Write down your criteria for hiring, considering both hard and soft skills. You will need to consider the specific roles that the employee will be filling, as well as the type of personality and attitude that would be a good fit for your small business. Will they be a sales person speaking directly with your potential customers or will they spend the majority of their time behind the scenes?
Prospective employees are not the only ones who should prepare thoroughly for an interview. You should also prepare ahead of time. Create a list of questions that will allow you to acquire all of the necessary information from the interviewee.
Avoid yes-or-no questions and ask specific, open ended questions. ”Describe a situation in which you…” or “Provide an example of…”.If the interviewee provides vague answers be sure to ask for additional information or examples.
Avoid any questions that could be considered illegal. These questions include, but are not limited to, the applicant’s age, marital status, race and disabilities. You may decide to avoid these topics all together. If you do decide to ask the questions, you should seek more specific guidance from a legal resource on how best to phrase these questions.
When you are conducting the interview, you should be sure to accurately describe the job. This should explain the job title, responsibility, daily duties and future prospects. Be as honest as possible when describing the position. You will want to be sure to include the level of responsibility and expectations to make that clear from the outset.
You will want to be sure to tell applicants about where the job is located, how many hours per week it is, what the salary is and describe any related benefits. You also need to a prepared response if a candidate tries to negotiate on any of these terms.
You should also decide before the interview whether or not the interview will be formal or relaxed. A more traditional, formal style of interview is based on the question-and-answer format. Some bosses prefer to forego this structure and simply start chatting to the candidate. This may help illustrate their day-to-day personality, when they are not relying on prepared answers.
Many companies require their potential employees to be subjected to one or several tests. These tests may range from behavioral, knowledge or personality. Tests can be a useful tool when narrowing down a candidate pool.
During the interview, focus on the amount of time you spend listening rather than speaking. The most important thing to take away from an interview is whether or not you have found a match for your open position. This can be deciphered by listening to the candidate’s words, observing their nonverbal behavior and body language.
By focusing on these areas you will be able to find the best candidate the job opening in your small business.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, (ARRA) often referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by Congress in February 2009. The Act followed other economic recovery legislation passed in the last year of the Bush administration.
The ARRA was intended to promote investment and consumer spending during the recession and create jobs. The reasoning for the stimulus comes out of the Keynesian economic thought that argues that government spending should be used to cover the output gap created by the drop in consumer spending during a recession. While many economists agreed a stimulus was needed under these conditions, others maintained that fiscal policy would not work because government debt would use up savings that would otherwise go to investments, what economists call crowding out.
The Act includes federal tax cuts, expansion of unemployment benefits and other social welfare provisions, and domestic spending in education, health care, and infrastructure, including the energy sector. At the end of August 2009, 19 percent of the stimulus had been outlaid or gone to American taxpayers or small businesses to provide small business help in the form of tax reductions.
Currently, the U.S. Small Business Administration continues to waive loan fees and offer higher guarantee levels on its popular small business loans under an extension of a program launched last year under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The 7(a) Loan Program is the SBA’s primary program to help start-up businesses and existing small businesses obtain financing when they might not be eligible for business loans through normal lending channels. The name comes from section 7(a) of the Small Business Act, which authorizes the SBA to provide small business loans to Americans. The SBA itself does not make loans, but rather guarantees a portion of loans made and administered by commercial lending institutions.
Under the act, the SBA received $730 million to provide small business help including $375 million to boost the guarantee on its 7(a) loans to 90 percent, and to waive fees charged to borrowers.
Funding for the program has repeatedly been exhausted, and then extended. The SBA said the incentives have led to an increase in lending to start-up businesses. The new $40 million extension runs through April, or until the funds are spent. While this does not guarantee that all small business companies who apply for a 7 (a) loan will receive it, the SBA is extending funding to make more financing available to businesses that qualify for the program.
For more information on the 7 (a) loan eligibility requirements please follow the link below:
Incorporation, also known as a limited liability company (LLC), is a flexible form of business enterprise that incorporates elements of both partnerships and corporate structures. It is a legal form (for a small business or company), that provides limited liability to its owners. In more basic terms, it is a hybrid business that has certain characteristics of both corporation services and a partnership or sole proprietorship. This of course is dependent on the number of owners there will be within the company. An LLC is a type of unincorporated association and is not a corporation. The greatest similarity an LLC shares with a corporation is limited liability. The greatest similarity it shares with a partnership is the availability of pass-through income taxation. More times than not, it is more flexible than corporation services and is well-suited for companies with a single owner.
An LLC can choose to be taxed as a sole proprietor, partnership, C corporation or S corporation (as long as the small business qualifies for such tax treatment), resulting in a great deal of flexibility. Another advantage to organizing an LLC is that it involves much less administrative paperwork and record keeping than a corporation does. The structure of a limited liability company, or LLC, makes it relatively easy to give new partners stakes. While giving new partners stake is relatively easy but sharing equity works a bit differently than it does in corporation services.
In an LLC, there are two types of equity compensation: a capital interest and a profit interest. A capital interest entitles a partner to a share (cut) of the profits as well as an interest in the company assets. On the other hand a profit interest entitles a partner to a share of the profits but not an interest in the company assets. The difference becomes important when the company is sold. When selling an LLC, a capital interest entitles the partner to a share of the proceeds, but a profit interest entitles the owner a cut only of the company’s increase in value. Capital interests become taxable upon receipt, but profit interests typically aren’t.
If your new partner chooses to not invest in the small business startup, then it is recommended that they put in three to five years before claiming full interest. You can vest over time or present the whole package at the end. If your partner leaves early or can’t meet performance goals, they forfeit their unvested share. On the other hand, if they do invest capital, they should receive a fully vested capital interest.
You will need the counsel of an attorney and a financial adviser, and these specific details should be outlined within the operating agreement. You should also draw up a buy-sell agreement that specifies when your partner can sell the stake, to whom, and at what price. This will help to shield the company from being sold to a competitor, stranger, or unwanted partner.
If you are interested in organizing an LLC please follow the link below to find your appropriate state forms that need to be filed.
BizCentral USA, a one-stop small business resource center, is proud to unveil their new redesigned website intricately tailored to meet the revolving needs of small business owners and entrepreneurs. The new small business website, http://www.bizcentralusa.com, acts as a “one-stop” online portal with new interactive tools and free small business resources for entrepreneurs nationwide.
The new small business website provides a wide variety of information for those seeking to start a business or grow their existing one. A few of the highlighted small business resources include:
A Free Business Development Review: Current business owners can benefit from the one-on-one small business review that identifies business strengths and weaknesses and positions them for future growth.
Competitor Price Comparisons: Potential clients can compare BizCentral small business service pricing against competitors, allowing for product research all in one place.
Live Site Chat: Site visitors in a hurry will benefit from live chat functionality, allowing for immediate assistance or consultation.
Business Startup Section: Registered users will have access to exclusive articles, how-to’s, free magazine subscriptions and special email promotions.
Small Business Webinars and Videos: Entrepreneurs can join in live, online for one or several installments of the Small Business Webinar Series.
The small business website also includes added services with more clear process and service descriptions. Themes include: business plan writing, small business certification, incorporation, marketing, web design, small business HR, graphic design, accounting and bookkeeping.
Additionally, web visitors can share their business startup experiences and find more answers to their questions by visiting the Small Biz Blog, regularly updated with entries about all aspects of business startup and growth.
“The launch of our new website ties in with our constant effort to aid small business owners and entrepreneurs, by providing easy access to the services and small business resources critical to their success,” said Efrain Rodriguez, CEO and Founder of BizCentral USA.
About BizCentral USA
Founded in 2004, BizCentral USA is a “one-stop” service and resource centerfor small business owners and entrepreneurs nationwide. Theirmission is to provide affordable services and solutions to small business owners and entrepreneurs, enabling them to successfully start and grow their business. For more information visit: http://www.bizcentralusa.com/.
A recent survey by Combined Insurance, an Illinois consulting and insurance firm that works with small businesses, found that 71 percent of workers said benefits were a factor in signing on with their current employer.
As a start-up business many individuals are uncertain about, “What benefits package to offer employees?” Many employers wonder if they can afford to purchase benefits for employees at all. Perhaps the most common form of benefits employers offer is health insurance. Here are some important questions a start-up business employer needs to ask before selecting an insurance plan:
What is the mix of employees working at my organization? It is important to know how many employees are single, married with kids, or head of household. The type of insurance purchased will often be affected by the mix of individuals using it.
What type of work do my employees do? If employees work mostly outdoors or do manual labor the types of insurance they will need maybe different than if they primarily work in an office. Be sure that the policy covers the injuries that are most common in the type of work performed by your employees.
Once an employer has a firm grasp on the health needs of the employees it is time to select the right insurance carrier. The first step is to establish the creditworthiness of the insurance provider. Make sure it’s rated A or better by A.M. Best, an insurance industry rating service whose rankings are available online. Insurance companies with lower rating are more likely to fold-up shop rather than comply with increasing demands imposed by new state laws.
When debating between two insurance carriers that have the same insurance score it is always recommended to speak with an existing client. Often times, clients can indicate important issues such as ease of filing claims, or difficulty of scheduling payments. This allows you to make a decision based on more than the companies marketing materials and sales pitch.
Being knowledgeable about the cost and rating of your potential insurance carrier will allow you to see if insurance is right for your start-up business. The cost of not knowing might simply be an inability to find employees who can afford to work very long at your company, leading to high turn-over and training costs.
Are you thinking about hiring employees for your start-up business? If so, share some of your hiring concerns and solutions.
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