Starting a Small Business - Part 1

 Where to start?

Sit down and write a 50 - 75 word description of the business you want to start. 

It may not be as easy as you think.

Then set it aside, and the next day read it. Is it ..... a coherent description of a small business that you 1) want to operate, 2) that will work for customers/clients, and 3) that is viable in your proposed market?

If you have writer's block start this way.

Who

What

When

Where

How

Notice and Disclaimer: This blog is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information for education purposes only. This blog is not an attempt to provide legal, accounting or financial planning advice, such advice should always be obtained from licensed, certified and/or qualified professionals. 

Readers should be aware this is a dynamic area; professional advisors and reference sources should be consulted regularly for updates. Sources for state and local laws should be consulted when necessary. 

Starting a Small Business - Upcoming Series

 Questions arise about starting a small business.

How? What do I need? What about timing? Start up budget? Marketing? Staffing? Staff timing?  Lawyer? Accountant?

The First posts will look at developing a business plan.

Stay tuned.

Disaster Preparedness for Small Business - Part 3

 We are obsessed with checklists, for lots of purposes, and we like to use Excel to prepare our various checklists.

Checklists can be useful in disaster recovery, and are best prepared before the disaster and backed up in the cloud and/or offsite.

Checklists should focus on your biggest concerns and work down the list to your smaller concerns. The lists should be backed up by your data backups, such as an electronic "rolodex" of suppliers, contractors, and employees.

An ounce of prevention is worth 100 pounds of cure.

Bookkeeping is Boring - Part 3

 If, and it is a big IF, Congress passes a tax bill that exempts tips and/or overtime from income taxation, there will be new burdens on payroll accounting.

Payroll accounting is already complicated, and depends on political location, number of locations, and the size and complexity of the workforce.

This may be the year to reevaluate the payroll function from start to finish, and to reevaluate decisions about inhouse versus contracted payroll. 

Work with your public accountants, who can offer advice and who sometimes offer payroll services. 

Notice and Disclaimer

 Notice and Disclaimer: This blog is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information for education purposes only. This blog is not an attempt to provide legal, accounting or financial planning advice, such advice should always be obtained from licensed, certified and/or qualified professionals. 

Readers should be aware this is a dynamic area; professional advisors and reference sources should be consulted regularly for updates. Sources for state and local laws should be consulted when necessary. 

Bookkeeping is Boring - and Critical - Part 2

Bookkeeping is boring and critical to your business.

In the good old days you took your "books" to an accountant once a month or once a quarter and the accountant prepared a financial statement.

With the advent of in-house computing (dominated by Quickbooks (TM)) a small business could do their own bookkeeping all the way to a financial statement.

That did not insure accuracy or completeness. Big problem. 

Accurate bookkeeping increases the odds of accurate financial statement and useful analytics. And that requires work, and review, and more work.

Sloppy or incomplete bookkeeping causes problems. 

In a future post we will discuss analytics.

In the future we will also discuss the impact of bookkeeping on tax returns.

Bookkeeeping is Boring - and Critical

 Bookkeeping is boring - and critical.

Without good bookkeeping, you will be vulnerable to major problems:

faulty financial statements

faulty analytics

faulty tax returns (or pay your tax pro to clean up the mess)

potential lost cash collections

potential lost billings

facilitate embezzlement and other forms of theft

inadequate expense controls

payroll hassles

So there will be a series on bookkeeping issues and excellence.

Disaster Preparedness for Small Business - Part 2

 Following up on Part 1, it is important to keep some information offsite so you can get back in business quickly.

A full list of equipment, with brand name, equipment model, serial number, and related warranty information is important. Also the name and phone numbers of which ever company sold the equipment.

That list, by the way, should have been a part of the file of your insurance agent, as another backup and to facilitate an insurance claim.

Photos of the equipment

Same for automobiles and trucks, including a copy or scan of the title work on each vehicle.

The time and energy necessary to keep these files is small compared to a reconstruction after a disaster. 

Disaster Preparedness for Small Business - Part I

 The terrible tragedy in California reminds us that small businesses must be prepared for disasters. 

The most precious asset? The hardest to replace?  Records and documents.

Some suggestions:

Keep an extra laptop, loaded with all licensed software, offsite.

Cloud software offers some security, but you may be offline for a long while.

Backup hard drive files on a portable hard drive, place in a safety deposit box or at home or both (remember the bank is only open 40 hours a week).

Certain key records, like an employee roster with phone numbers, should be kept offsite in old fashioned paper.

Electricity and the Internet may be down for extended period of time. Buy and charge some small power packs designed to charge smart phones. 

Keep a log book with important passwords and combinations. Keep it secured offsite. This is not just for disaster prep.

Keep a list of key phone numbers, including customer service numbers, helplines and banking phone numbers offsite in paper or a spreadsheet. 

Documents not requiring high security can be emailed to yourself as attachments. Even if access is not immediate you will have access to them on-line. 

Have extra building keys secured offsite.

If you home is in the same danger zone as your business you may need a third party to keep some of your  backups. In sealed envelopes of course.

If your home is in the same danger zone as your business you may need a different place for storing backup material.

Also, your lawyer, insurance agent and accountants serve as a backup for some but not all documents.