Tax Time
We’ve started a new year, and among other things, that means it is time to prepare income tax returns. In the US, the due date this year is April 1.
An important part of running a business, no matter the size, is keeping complete records of income and expenses. Not only is this needed for tax purposes; it is also an excellent way to see how well your business is doing during the year.
There are many ways to keep track of this – with paper and pencil, through any number of computer programs, and through the use of an accountant. If you have a small business, or are just starting out, you may not have enough coming in and going out to justify spending money on it. So what is another option?
A spreadsheet. When I decided to keep track of my businesses finances, I created my own spreadsheet to use. Want to try it for yourself? You can download it here for free. It is a simple spreadsheet, but allows for customization by adding columns for additional categories, and additional rows for each month.
I have set it up to total each month separately, and a yearly total at the end. That will let you see what is coming in and going out each month, as well as the overall total.
Also note, that on the page for mileage, it is set up to calculate the amount based on what the IRS is allowing for 2012. If you want to take the blank spreadsheet and fill it in for 2011, you’ll need to adjust the amount allowed for the first half of last year.
You can save this on your computer, or into Google Docs to save it online.
Taxes are an inevitable part of running a business. I hope this spreadsheet helps you run your business, and makes filing your taxes go more smoothly.
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Tags: Biz Resources, database, expenses, income
Resetting Passwords
I got an unexpected Christmas surprise a few days ago. I checked my email on my iPhone, and discovered that I had 2 messages from Facebook letting me know there had been comments on my post.
“What post?”, I thought. I hadn’t posted anything on my personal profile recently, and didn’t remember scheduling anything either.
Turns out, someone had hacked into my account…from a mobile device in Argentina! It was a link about earning money online, so it could have been worse. Once I was able to get logged in through my netbook, I deleted the post and put up one saying “too bad it isn’t true, but that wasn’t me posting it”.
The good news in all this is that Facebook recognized the post came from a computer I had not used before, and they locked my account. When I logged back in, I could either say that yes, I had indeed made the post, or I could reset my password.
Over the next few hours, I learned that when you reset your Facebook password, you also need to do so on any apps that connect to Facebook. I’ve started making a list to keep up with it all, but here’s some places to remember when you reset your Facebook (and other social media) password(s):
Apps on your cell phone
Hootsuite
Networked Blogs
any other apps that connect with that site
And here’s a reminder – if you haven’t reset your passwords on any account recently, you might want to take a few minutes over the holidays to do so. Maybe set up a regular schedule for it, and put it on your calendar (with a reminder notice as well)! This could prevent someone from getting access to your account and doing much worse than posting a random link.
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Tags: Facebook, passwords, Social Media
Guest Post – Use LinkedIn to Promote These 7 Ways
By Joan Stewart
LinkedIn, the most powerful social networking tool for business, can also be used as a valuable tool to promote any product, service, cause or issue.
The cardinal rule for anyone using LinkedIn to promote, however, is that you must give more than you get. That means your first contact with people who have connected with you can’t be an invitation to buy something. You must lay the groundwork long before asking for the sale.
Promote on LinkedIn carefully using these steps:
1. Create a complete LinkedIn profile so people can find you.
The best place to start is with your resume. Give a complete work history, and also list the high school and college you attended. Former classmates might be searching for you, and if your profile doesn’t mention schools you’ve attended, you might miss the chance to connect with somebody who might someday need what you’re selling. The more complete your profile, the easier it is for people to find you when they use the search box at LinkedIn.
2. When making connections, concentrate on quality, not quantity.
Compiling a long list of connections can actually work against you. If you send a message to one of your connections, and they don’t know you, they might flag you as a spammer and LinkedIn can suspend your account. If someone asks you to connect and you don’t know them, it’s best to reply and ask “How do we know each other?” Before accepting the connection. Read more about “How LinkedIn Connections Can Hurt You” in Item #1 of the Aug. 26, 2008 issue of my newsletter.
3. Use the question and answer feature to ask a question.
LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for research. The question-and-answer feature lets you ask a question, and people who are connected to you can respond. Use this feature to take an informal survey, learn about the kinds of problems your target audience is trying to solve, learn about the solutions they’ve found to a particular problem, collect people’s predictions about how something will turn out, and find out what’s on their minds.
4. Use the question-and-answer feature to answer a question.
This is one of the best ways to promote your expertise because other people can see your answer. LinkedIn also has a nifty feature that lets the person asking the question to tag an answer as “best answer.” On your profile page, people can see instantly how many times you have given the “best answer” to a questions. My blog post Use LinkedIn to Promote–Ethically & Powerfully shows how social networking expert Scott Allen uses the Q&A feature to promote his expertise.
5. Offer recommendations to people you know or have done business with.
This gives you exposure on their profile page. If you give them a recommendation, it’s a good chance to ask them to return the favor. The more recommendations you can accumulate, the great the chances that someone will be inclined to do business with you.
6. Ask your connections to help you spread the word about something you’re doing.
People don’t like sales pitches. But many of them are more than happy to help you. So if you’re planning a live event and you’re trying to promote it, for example, don’t ask your connections to attend it. Ask if they can share the information with others via their blog, newsletter, website and word of mouth.
7. Link to your websites and blogs.
Your profile page lets you link to three pages. Be sure to include your websites, blog and any other places people will find helpful, like the Free Articles page at your website.
“How to Use LinkedIn to Promote Anything–Ethically & Powerfully” includes a timeline on what do to on LinkedIn, and when, whether you’re promoting a product, service, cause or issue. It’s a recording of two 70-minute teleseminars with Joan Stewart and Scott Allen, a LinkedIn expert.
This guest post is by Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound. She shows you how to use free publicity, including social media, to establish your credibility, enhance your reputation, position yourself as an expert, sell more products and services, promote a favorite cause or issue, and position your company as an employer of choice. Visit her website at http://www.publicityhound.com.
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Tags: Guest Post, Linked In, Social Media
Resources for a Mobile Business – Netbook
Being mobile is a lot easier if you have the right resources. And here’s one that has worked well for me – a netbook.
Why did I get a netbook? It began with the crash of November 2009. Haven’t heard of it? Well, it was late one Saturday night (or maybe early Sunday morning) and I was finishing up some work on my laptop. When I stood up, I stepped on the power cord, and my laptop flew from my hands. And crashed to the floor. Attemps to reboot it that night and the next morning failed, so I emailed my computer guru and asked for advice. Took it to her the next day, and did the best I could with my desktop.
Within a couple of days, I knew I needed a portable computer, and decided to look at netbooks. This was to be a temporary solution until I got my laptop back. Once I began working on it, however, I discovered I liked the lighter weight and longer battery life.
After a couple of weeks and numberous repairs, it was decided that the laptop could not be repaired. I briefly thought about buying another laptop and using the netbook some of the time, but decided to save my money and see how the netbook worked out.
Then my ideal life began to happen. I was traveling and working from numerous remote locations. I was packing everything I needed in my carry on bag, so the lighter weight and smaller size were a huge bonus. It seems the equipment I needed for the lifestyle I want arrived before the lifestyle did!
The biggest drawback of my netbook is the smaller screen size. For most work, it is fine, but I often find it difficult to place it so my hands are in the right position and I can also see the screen without hunching over. It can be done, but it also helps to take frequent breaks to look up and stretch.
Another issue for some is the size of the keys on netbooks. They are usually smaller than a regular keyboard, and for those with larger fingers, it can result in many wrong keystrokes. This was the primary reason I purchased an HP Mini 110
Do you use a netbook? Please leave a comment and let me know how it works for your business.
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Facebook How To: Change Your Language
Did you know you can change the language for your Facebook profile? You may not need this, but if you move to another country, or learn another language, you might want to. You can also do something fun with it and change to English (pirate) and have your wall in pirate talk! Here’s how to make the change:
Log in to Facebook.
Click on Account in the upper right corner.
From the drop down menu, click on Account Settings.
Scroll down to the section for Language.
Click the Edit button on the far right.
Click on the down arrow for the drop down menu, and find the language you want.
Click on it.
Click on the Save Changes button.
Click on Home at the top of the page. This will take you back to your wall where you can see how it looks.
If you make a change, post a comment with a link to your Facebook profile so we can see how it looks!
NOTE: This change does not work on Facebook Pages; it is only available for personal profiles.
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Tags: Facebook, How To, Social Media
The Importance Of Computer File Backups
We often hear the importance of performing a backup of our computer files on a regular basis. Usually this is related to the computer crashing or being stolen. However, on two different occasions last week I was reminded of the importance of having multiple copies of my computer files. Both times the problem was me, not my computer.
Fail #1 – I meant to open a spreadsheet to make some updates. However, instead of clicking on the icon to open a document, I clicked on the save icon. Up come the list of files, and not realizing I was in “save” and not “open” I selected the document I wanted, clicked OK….and overwrote my spreadsheet with a blank one.
The words that followed aren’t printable here. Then, I realized I had backups of the spreadsheet in other locations. A few minutes later, my document was up and I was updating it. A quick “save as” replaced the blank one on my hard drive, and also saved it on my flash drive and online.
Fail #2 – The next day I headed out to do some work and only realized I had forgotten my netbook when I arrived. Briefly thought about going back to get it, but was offered the use of a laptop and internet. Since my documents are backed up on a flash drive and online, I had access to everything I needed. While I was not happy with myself for not checking I had everything, it was nice to know that the backup systems I’ve put in place work!
There are a variety of ways to do backups, and each person has to select what will work for them. The main thing – find a method that works and use it!
Leave a comment and let me know what backup system(s) you use. Do you use it regularly, or do you need to find a better system?
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6 Google+ Tips and Tricks
Have you heard about Google+ (Plus)? It’s the latest in social networking and is creating a lot of positive buzz. It is still in Beta testing, but anyone who has a Google+ account can send you an invitation. Including me!
I’ve been on for a couple of weeks, but I really like the idea of circles, and targeting who you can see your posts. It will be really interesting to see how Google+ evolves over time.
For those of you using Google+, here’s 6 tips and tricks I’ve learned:
1. When mentioning someone in your post who is also on Google+, you can make their name clickable to their profile by typing a + or @ then their name. Either one works.
2. Speaking of Google profiles, your Google+ account is tied to your Google profile. Does it say what you want it to? Want to remove some information for more privacy, or work on your keywords to help similar-minded folks find you? Edit your profile to get it the way you want it.
3. When I am logged in to Google, no matter what application, there is now a black bar at the top which includes a link to Google+. On the right side of the bar is my Google profile name, a place where I see any notifications I get from Google+ and a status box where I can make updates to my feed without having to go into Google+.
4. When you go to your profile in Google+, your photo appears in the upper left. Underneath that is a link where anyone can send you an email. They are not given your email address, but rather the message goes through the system. However, you can change who this is visible to, from anyone on the web to only yourself. From your Google+ profile, click the Edit Profile button in upper right. Then click on the Send An Email button; the options will come up. Check the one you want, then Save, then Done Editing (at the top of the page).
5. Click the +1 button as a way of giving something your thumbs up. Sort of like the Facebook “like” button. Watch for this button to begin appearing on more web sites (again, like the Facebook “like” button).
When you +1 something on the internet, it is recorded in a tab on your profile. You can make your +1 tab visible or keep it hidden. (Note, this is only the tab on your profile that can be hidden.) If there is a +1 button on a web site, it also shows how many have clicked it, and who they are. So be careful what you click on!
6. The Share button lets you share posts on your feed. While Google+ lets you limit who sees your posts, anyone who sees it can Share it to anyone they want…or to everyone. It the post was sent to a limited group, you will be notified before you Share that it went to a limited group; however there is nothing to stop you sharing it however your want. Again, be careful what you put out there. You never know who will see it.
There’s 6 tips to get you started in Google+. What tips have you learned that I missed? Leave a comment to share!
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Tags: Google, social networking
Set Your Business As Your Employer On Your Facebook Profile
Here’s a great way to promote your business on your personal profile without having to make multiple wall posts about it – you can set your employer as your Facebook business page.
– Log in to Facebook. From your Wall, click on Profile in the upper right.
– Then click on the Edit Profile box in the upper right.
– Click on Education and Work on the left side.
– At the top is the box to list your employer. Start typing in the name of your business and your business page should come up with one of the options. Click on that and add it to your profile.
– Check the link on your wall to make sure it goes to the right page.
Now, when someone goes to your profile, your employer is listed as your business and it is clickable to your Facebook page.
Leave a comment and let me know if this helps, or if you have any questions.
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Tags: Facebook, Marketing, Social Media
Do You Have A Backup Admin For Your Facebook Page?
Do you admin a Facebook page for your business? If so, do you have anyone else set as an admin?
While you may want to maintain control of your page, there is an important reason to make at least one other person (someone you trust) an admin.
If you should become seriously ill, or should die, no one else will be able to access you page. No one can update it, change it, or if needed, delete it.
While this is not something pleasant to think about we do need to make plans for situations like these. As a small business owner we need to learn that letting other people be involved can be a very good thing. To ensure someone has access to your Facebook page, you need to either give someone else your Facebook login (so they can log in as you), or give someone else admin privileges.
Pick a trusted friend or family member, and preferably someone who does NOT live with you. I chose a friend and client for mine, and will likely add my son when he becomes an adult and we live in different locations.
As a final step, set up a plan for what the other admin(s) should do in the case of your serious illness or death. Will they delete the page, or maintain it? If your business is to be taken over or sold to someone else, do the admins turn over control of the page to them? What, if anything, do you want them to post? None of this is pleasant to think about, but better to do it when everything is good than when faced with a crisis.
So, who else is an admin for your Facebook page?
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Tags: Facebook, Social Media
New Post On Quips And Tips Blog
If your business is mobile, you are probably on a plane fairly frequently. Isn’t it fun going through security and trying to get everything you need on board?
No, it isn’t! To help make it easier, I’ve got a new post on the Quips and Tips For Achieving Your Goals blog that shares some ideas on packing light for plane trips. What can you leave behind? How do you pack efficiently to make it all fit? Check out Packing a Carry On Bag For Air Travel? 8 Easy Ways To Pack Light.
Don’t miss the tips in the comments as well – and feel free to leave your own!
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Tags: mobile business, travel