What does that business plan look like, and how should you approach writing it?

Why Start a Bookkeeping or Accounting Business?

There are many perks to starting a business. Creating and being in charge of your own organization means you'll have the flexibility to choose your own clients, set your own hours, and dictate your course of business growth. On top of that, you'll have unlimited potential income – and new opportunities to challenge yourself and grow as a person.

Bookkeeping and accounting businesses are attractive for several reasons. For starters, they're relatively easy to start. While you need at least some specialized knowledge in bookkeeping and accounting, this knowledge isn't prohibitive or time-consuming to obtain. Resources like this guide from Bookkeepers.com make it easy to get started.

Overall, startup costs for a bookkeeping or accounting business are relatively low. You can start running remotely anywhere in the world. There are countless feasible clients and overhead is minimal. Because bookkeeping and accounting services are so in demand, there's enormous potential to succeed, even with an impressive roster of competitors to contend with.

The High Level View

So how do you write a business plan for your bookkeeping or accounting business?
These are the steps you'll need to follow.

Research

The best businesses are ones grounded in objective research. You may have certain intuitions for how to create or run this type of business. Those intuitions may be valuable for brainstorming or speculating, but when it comes to making formal business decisions, you need data to back up your ideas. Market research, competitive research, and other business research will help you collect that information.

Draft

When you've gathered the information, you can prepare a draft of the business plan. The drafting process may be iterative, giving you the chance to refine your ideas as you scrap early drafts and polish new ones.

Feedback

It's possible to write a good business plan in total isolation, but your business plan will be even better if you get feedback from knowledgeable experts. Shop your business plan around with other entrepreneurs and experienced businesspeople to see if you're missing anything and to get new ideas.

Revise

It's a good idea to revise your business plan at least once, so you can iron out the imperfections and upgrade your core ideas.

Key Sections of Your Business Plan

There’s no hard rule for what a business plan must contain, but most business plans include the following sections:

Executive Summary

The executive summary is usually the first section of a business plan, and it's also often the one written last. That's because it's supposed to be a concise, tightly focused overall summary of the entire business.

Company Description

In the company description section, you'll detail the operations of your business with more in-depth specifics. You will explain how the business is going to run.

Market/Competition

You'll need to describe your target demographics as well as the existing bookkeeping and accounting businesses that could pose a competitive threat to you.

Organization

You'll need a section detailing how the business is going to be organized and managed. Who's going to own the business? Who's going to make decisions for this business? How are profits going to be distributed? What legal issues might stand in your way?

Products/Services

Obviously, your business is going to offer bookkeeping or accounting services. But will you offer both? How are you going to package your services? How are you going to price them? Detail all your product and service ideas here.

Marketing and Sales

Even if you have modest plans for the future of your bookkeeping or accounting business, you'll need to consider integrating strategies for marketing and sales. How do you plan to attract new clients and grow?

Finances

Finally, you’ll need a section outlining the financial details of your business. How much startup capital will you need? How will you make money? Which expenses are most significant? How will profits grow over time?

Writing a business plan for a bookkeeping or accounting business is arguably the hardest part of the process, since it's going to force you to confront the biggest obstacles in your way and find strategic paths around them.

Still, it's something you can manageably accomplish in the span of a few weeks – and it's going to provide you a runway to crafting a successful financial business.

The post How to Write a Business Plan for a Bookkeeping or Accounting Business appeared first on Business2Community.

These must sound like bleak statistics if you're a founder who believes plentiful resources are the key to fast growth. But trends and statistics tell just part of the story.

According to Esther Kestenbaum Prozan, a multi-industry C-Suite executive and author, success depends on both your mindset and the methodology that helps you grow — which isn't solely dependent on capital. In her new book, Bigger & Better: A Playbook for Quickly Scaling Your Small Company with Limited Resources, she reveals that creating lean, exponential growth is absolutely possible. Founders and growth teams, regardless of industry or locale, have to make a series of intentional decisions to propel the business forward, or else they could easily become another statistic.

Why Small Companies Fail

Funding is only one piece of the puzzle: Let's explore some other reasons why most startups don't make it.

1. The Product or Service is Not Filling a Deep Need

Running a business without offering what people want is like trying to sail a ship without wind. Just as a ship relies on the wind to fill its sails and carry it to its destination, a business relies on the desires and needs of its customers to drive its growth and prosperity. It may be a terrific concept on paper (or on-screen). Your social circle and potential business partners may be wildly supportive. And it might be a product or service that could benefit the masses — but only if they buy in, literally.

Doing your due diligence in market research will tell you, in part, whether the idea has a product-market fit. Additionally, aim to find a specific customer and build your offering in response to their need. Otherwise, you can have great technology, data, and advisors. But, if your product doesn't solve a customer pain point in a scalable way, then you don't have a customer.

2. The Market is Overly Saturated

Are you trying to sell a product to a saturated market? Attempting to compete in a market that an established brand already owns? Or do you envision the entire country (or world) as your demographic? Nothing appeals to everyone, not even Taylor Swift, although, like the music itself, her demographic has a lot of crossover.

Once you've done your market research and determined you have a viable idea, define your niche. The narrower the niche, the better you can get to know your audience and what they most want in your service or product. Far from excluding potential customers, a narrow, well-defined niche can help you attract more of your ideal customers more easily. Pick a niche that is not easy. One where others fear to tread. If you solve a hard problem that is in demand, your conversion rates will be astronomical.

3. Failure to Create a Solid Yet Flexible Plan

The U.S. Small Business Administration says a solid business plan can function "like a GPS for how to structure, run, and grow your new business." While it can be informal — think of all the brilliant ideas that are initially sketched out on restaurant napkins — a business plan is a crucial tool to help you articulate the steps and details of how your business will operate. The days of huge, voluminous plans are gone. Show what problem you solve and how large it is. Demonstrate a growth plan, show how you will implement it, and then project it out in 3 years.

Once your plan becomes part of your company’s DNA, you'll be able to refer to benchmarks and celebrate milestones. A business plan can help you secure investors who will be able to see you're serious about your venture, organized enough to spell out the steps, and unafraid to share the details with your team. With that said, remain agile, and as you learn new information, don’t be afraid to edit the plan.

4. Ineffective or Outdated Marketing Tactics

Unless you have experience in marketing or promotion, odds are you will struggle to do it well. You can hire a marketing or branding expert if the budget permits. But there are some basic steps every entrepreneur can take at the outset that won't put a crimp in your finances and will help position your business well from the beginning.

Many founders neglect to build and optimize a simple website with landing pages designed to drive traffic and build trust right from the start. Blogging is also an essential marketing tool in today's marketplace: the average B2B buyer consumes 13 pieces of content from a specific provider before deciding whether to make a purchase. A blog showcases your expertise and helps your potential customers get to know you.

Too many startup founders ignore social media, feeling too busy to spend time on TikTok or Facebook. Yet these social platforms may be where your core market hangs out — so you're missing a golden opportunity to build brand ambassadors who will build brand credibility for you.

What you really need is a comprehensive content strategy that includes text and video with multi-platform distribution. Even better, finding partners with which to co-produce and co-market content will expand distribution for all the partners involved.

5. The Wrong People Are Leading the Business

Your brother-in-law may be an ace when it comes to family, fishing, and even business, but if he doesn't know a thing about early-stage companies, he may not be the right person to hold the reins with you. Maybe he's excited to be part of the business but can't think on his feet and handle constant change. Either scenario can be problematic when establishing a startup with limited resources.

Find people who have traveled down the path you want to travel down. If you're a company that wants to grow, find people in sales, marketing, product development, technology, etc., with a track record of that very thing. They will have the battle scars and experience you need and the optimism of knowing it can be done.

6. Poor Management of Funds

You may raise a significant amount of capital only to see your ledger hemorrhaging money down the road. Even with a solid initial cash flow, the business may not be managing expenses appropriately. For example, investing in high-end office furniture or other non-essentials instead of plowing revenue back into the business so it can start generating profits. There's a reason the startup mindset is known as bootstrapping.

Entrepreneurs need to conserve their early capital and become creative in doing more with less. Or, you may discover that your idea takes off, but problems arise that require a deeper investment in technology, repairs/refunds, or additional resources, which strains your cash reserves along with the stakeholder relationships. The solution isn’t all about frugality, which has its limits. Think deeply about how much money you need to hit your goals, then plan for bank financing and fundraising to help you get there.

7. Lack of Passion for the Mission

Who are you building for? Believe it or not, some founders develop a product or service they don't care about, and this lack of alignment between company and consumer naturally leads to disaster. For instance, a startup that wants to create a technology app that consumers want and need but doesn't care about the actual usage or industry the product will serve will have difficulty meeting those customers' needs. The market is there, but the wrong people are choosing to serve it.

That said, you can become deeply passionate about your work if you understand its impact on your industry. For example, you’re a fully integrated 3PL for apparel, providing forward (fulfillment) and reverse logistics (returns) services. That is what you do. But what does it mean for apparel companies to quickly and efficiently move returned products into the same-season sales cycle as first quality? It’s financially transformative. It also reduces waste sent to landfills by millions of units a year. So before you discount your passion for your company's work, think deeply about what it actually means. You may find some real passion in the most pragmatic of places.

Small Companies Must be Intentional to Survive — and Thrive

The adage about doing what you love holds as true for startups as in finding a job: if you want to increase your chances of achieving long-term success and sustainability in the competitive business landscape, choose a field or industry that captivates you, find a genuine consumer need and a product or service to alleviate the pain, and align with the right people, marketing, and financial support for this business. Instead of being one of the statistics, your startup will not only survive but thrive for years to come.

The post 7 Reasons Small Companies Fail Within the First 5 Years appeared first on Business2Community.

Some of these categorizations, including whether an employee is exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), are defined by law and misclassifying workers could be punished by massive fines or even jail time.

Key Takeaways:

• Market Expansion: The e-learning market is rapidly expanding, with projections suggesting it will reach $350 billion by 2025, driven by widespread adoption in both academic and corporate settings.
• Technological Advancements: AI enhancements in Learning Management Systems are set to improve personalized learning experiences, highlighting the shift towards more adaptive educational technologies.
• Impact of the Pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly shifted perceptions towards online learning, with a marked increase in preference for this mode of education across various demographics.
• Corporate Adoption: Businesses are increasingly turning to e-learning for employee training, noting major cost savings and improved retention of training material compared to traditional methods.

Understanding the Differences Between Exempt vs. Nonexempt Employees

In a nutshell, the difference between exempt employees and nonexempt employees comes down to whether they are eligible for minimum wage and premium overtime.

Business owners and hiring staff need to be well-versed in the differences between exempt and nonexempt to avoid violating labor laws. Likewise, workers should also know about the difference between the two to make sure they are fairly classified and paid.

In this article, we will use our extensive expertise in hiring and labor laws to help you understand the difference between exempt and nonexempt employees. Finally, we will show you exactly how you can classify your workers (or yourself) so that you don't have to worry about breaking labor laws.

Exempt vs Nonexempt: Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Explained

Today's labor laws in the US look nothing like those in the early 20th century. There was no minimum wage, and no requirements to pay employees more for overtime. Even worse, child labor was still quite common. That was until President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) into law in 1938 as part of his series of legislation called the New Deal.

[caption id="attachment_2734568" align="aligncenter" width="760"] President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs New Deal legislation into law[/caption]

The FLSA was quite a pathbreaking law and came amid the tail end of the Great Depression. While the final law was a toned-down version of its original plan and did not apply to all industries, it was still a monumental shift to US labor laws. It banned child labor (for the most part), fixed a minimum wage at $0.25 per hour, and set requirements for employers to pay extra for overtime (work over 40 hours per week).

[caption id="attachment_2734570" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Child laborers in Macon, Georgia 1909 before FLSA banned child labor[/caption]

The purpose of FLSA was to eliminate “labor standards detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being of workers." Roosevelt said that the law was meant to ensure “[a] fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work." The Supreme Court expanded the definition in 1989 in the case Barrentine v. Arkansas Best Freight System, saying that it is meant to protect workers “from the evil of ‘overwork’ as well as ‘underpay'"

What Is an Exempt Employee?

Section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA provides an exemption from both minimum wage as well as overtime pay for certain employees who are employed as bona fide professional, administrative, executive, and outside sales employees.

The FLSA specifies that the employee must meet the salary level, salary basis, and job requirement tests before they are classified as exempt. These include

• They should be paid on a salary basis and not an hourly rate and their their weekly salary should not be less than $684 (though this requirement is higher in some states with minimum wages).
• Employers might use incentive payments (including commissions) and nondiscretionary bonuses which can be paid on an annual or more frequent basis to exempt employees to meet up to 10% of the salary level.
• To be classified as an exempt employee the worker should work in an exempt job function such as an administrator or executive. This means that even if the employee meets the salary level and salary basis test they would be considered nonexempt workers if the job duties are nonexempt.

It's important to note that the FLSA specifies that job titles do not have any bearing on whether an employee would be considered exempt and that it is related to the job description and the nature of the work. It adds, "In order for an exemption to apply, an employee’s specific job duties and salary must meet all the requirements of the Department’s regulations."

For instance, an employee can be designated as a "manager" and still be classified as a nonexempt worker if they are doing manual work and don't make their own decisions regarding their work. Usually, all white-collar workers are exempt employee which means that the overtime regulations and minimum wage does not apply to them.

The Department of Labor (DOL) specifies the following exemptions:

Executive Exemption

To qualify for the executive exemption, the worker should meet the following conditions

• They should be paid on a salary basis at a minimum of $684 per week. The minimum salary is subject to change just as the federal minimum wage is raised frequently to keep pace with the rising cost of living.
• The employee's job duties should primarily include managing the enterprise and they must direct the work of two or more employees, along with having the authority to hire or fire employees in the organization.

Administrative Exemptions

This exemption is similar to the executive exemption, requiring the same minimum salary but for administrators. The worker should perform administrative tasks or non-manual work and "exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance."

Professional Exemptions

Employees using advanced knowledge typically in the field of science and learning which is acquired through a prolonged course through specialized intellectual instruction are also classified as exempt employees. Doctors, scientists, and teachers are examples of professional exemptions.

In addition, outside sales employees whose primary job duties involve making sales are also classified as exempt employees.

Highly compensated employees who receive a minimum of $107,432 in annual salary are also classified as exempt and aren't entitled to overtime. Some jobs governed by other laws and regulations, such as truckers and railroad workers, may be exempt as well.

Examples of Common Jobs for Exempt Employees

Examples of jobs that could be worked by exempt employees include:

• Outside salespeople
• Software engineers
• Accountants
• Doctors
• Lawyers
• Teachers
• Managers
• C-suite executives like CEOs

Are All Salaried Employees Exempt?

While the salary test is a key determinant of an employee's exempt status, not all salaried workers are exempt employees. For instance, if a worker's salary is less than $684 per week they would be a nonexempt employee even though they are paid on a salary basis. Also, nonexempt blue-collar workers can be paid a salary and are still eligible for overtime pay even though they aren't paid hourly.

Can Exempt Employees Earn Overtime Pay?

FISA overtime rules don't apply to exempt employees and they are not legally entitled to overtime pay. Their employer could still pay them extra for overtime work but they aren't required to. Employers often add additional compensation to make their job offering enticing in various forms such as benefits or bonuses.

What Is a Nonexempt Employee?

Nonexempt employees are not exempt from the requirements for premium overtime pay and a minimum wage as specified by the FLSA. They generally earn less than $682 per week and carry out orders without making many of their own decisions (common in manual labor jobs like construction). While they can be paid on an hourly rate or salary basis, they are eligible to receive overtime pay beyond 40 hours worked in a week.

Notably, while the federal minimum wage and overtime rules for employees are governed by the FLSA, some state and local jurisdictions have their own wage and hour laws. In this case, the company must apply the laws that are more favorable to the nonexempt employees.

If you still aren't totally sure that you understand the important differences between exempt vs nonexempt employees, check out HR Party of One's breakdown on the topic for a quick recap:

https://youtu.be/RWTfq1Uj_B4?si=EUM5WPYfcjtiN0Vx

Examples of Nonexempt Employees

Usually, nonexempt employees do manual and repetitive jobs and are "blue-collar workers." The following are examples of nonexempt employees.

• Assembly line workers in manufacturing industries like steel and automotive
• Food servers
• Retail workers
• Construction workers
• Certain skilled workers like electricians, carpenters, and mechanics

Exempt vs Nonexempt Employees: Risks of Misclassification

There are various risks and legal repercussions of misclassifying employees. Firstly, the employer is liable to pay overtime pay extending as far back as three years for misclassifying employees. Also, the courts might order the company to pay penalties equal to the unpaid wages.

There are also reputational risks to the company for misclassifying employees and they might receive negative media coverage for doing so - which could hurt its reputation among customers, employees, and suppliers.

If an employer repeatedly misclassifies workers or does so willfully, they are subject to $1,000 in civil penalties for every such violation. Additionally, they may be subject to criminal prosecution.

Workers who were underpaid due to misclassification often sue the offending company in class action lawsuits. In fact, FLSA lawsuits were by far the most common employment-related class action litigation in the US in the past 15 years.

[caption id="attachment_2734564" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Image Courtesy of DuaneMorris and the Class Action Weekly Wire[/caption]

According to the massive international law firm DuaneMorris, which runs a regular podcast about class action lawsuits called the Class Action Weekly Wire, there were 2,646 total state FLSA collective actions filed in 2022. Check out the Weekly Wire episode on the topic to learn more:

https://youtu.be/bh-XUVO7JJw?si=7TonpXTMm2pWELjK

Exempt vs Nonexempt Employees: How to Classify Your Workers

The substantial risks of misclassifying workers make it tremendously important to accurately determine the exempt status of your employees. In a nutshell, if an employee is doing manual repetitive work and don't make decisions themselves, they are usually nonexempt employees.

On a similar note, white-collar employees are generally exempt (see the executive, administrative, professional, etc. exemptions listed above) and thus are not entitled to overtime pay. The following three-part test should help you determine whether the employee is exempt.

• Firstly, the employee should pass the salary basis test which means that their pay across pay periods is similar irrespective of the number of hours worked in a week or the pay period.
• Secondly, the worker should pass the salary level test and their salary should be higher than the minimum threshold which currently stands at $684 per week at the time of writing.
• Finally, the worker should pass the job function test which means that while employees working in managerial, administrative, professional, and executive positions are exempt, those working in manual jobs are nonexempt employees.

The Bottom Line

To sum it up, it is important for employers to correctly classify their employees as exempt and nonexempt employees and misclassifying employees would mean that the company is in violation of federal law, apart from it being a reputational risk.

From an employee's perspective also, they should understand whether they are an exempt or nonexempt employee which would determine whether they are owed overtime pay by the company.

The post Exempt vs Nonexempt Employees – How to Classify Your Workers in 2024 appeared first on Business2Community.

Business owners need to be able to easily calculate how much they are paying employees as a total package as well as their take-home pay to gain a complete grasp of payroll costs.

Workers also need to understand the difference between gross pay and net pay so that they can better understand their total earnings before and after deductions, especially when negotiating pay with an employer.

Don't worry if you don't fully understand the terms yet.

In this article, we will break down the differences between gross pay and net pay and will walk you through how to calculate both in a matter of seconds.

Key Takeaways: Gross Pay vs. Net Pay

1. Understanding the Basics: Both business leaders and employees must grasp the distinction between gross pay (total earnings before deductions) and net pay (take-home pay after deductions). This knowledge underpins effective payroll management and salary negotiations.
2. Calculating Gross Pay: Gross pay calculation differs between hourly and salaried employees. For hourly workers, it's based on hours worked multiplied by their hourly rate, potentially including overtime. Salaried workers' gross pay is their annual salary divided by the number of pay periods.
3. The Significance of Net Pay: Net pay is what remains after all deductions, including taxes and any voluntary contributions, are subtracted from gross pay. It represents the actual earnings an employee takes home.
4. Mandatory Deductions: These include federal and state taxes, Social Security, and Medicare, which collectively reduce gross pay to net pay.
5. Voluntary Deductions: Employees may also opt for deductions like health insurance premiums or retirement contributions, which further adjust net pay.
6. Employer's Role: Besides handling deductions, employers must also contribute to Social Security and Medicare, highlighting the importance of understanding payroll taxes for accurate financial planning.
7. Practical Application: Armed with this knowledge, employees can more effectively discuss and negotiate salaries, focusing on the net figure to understand their true take-home pay.

Gross Pay vs Net Pay: What Is Gross Pay?

Gross pay or gross income is the total earnings without considering any deductions and it is usually found on the employee's pay stub like the example below.

Typically, most job openings specify the gross pay and not the net pay - which can vary between different individuals based on their tax status and voluntary contributions.

[caption id="attachment_2734188" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Example Pay Stub[/caption]

In simple terms, gross income is the total pay an employee receives during a pay period before any deductions. Gross income includes extras like commissions, bonuses, reimbursements, and overtime. Before you get paid, your employer (unless you are an independent contractor) will take that amount and subtract payroll deductions, which include income tax, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes.

How to Calculate Gross Pay

The methods used to calculate gross pay in any given pay period are somewhat different for hourly and salaried employees.

How to Calculate Gross Pay for Hourly Workers

While the gross pay for salaried employees is usually similar across pay periods, it can vary significantly for hourly-wage employees. The gross pay for an hourly employee would be:

Total number of hours worked x hourly rate = gross pay

Unless the total hours worked don't change from day to day or week to week, the gross pay for hourly workers will fluctuate. This is unlike salaried employees whose gross pay is usually similar across all pay periods unless they are given other compensation like bonuses or commissions.

Both types of employees should be eligible for overtime pay if they work more than the standard 40-hour workweek. As stated by the US Department of Labor, unless they are exempt, employees must be paid overtime for any hours worked over 40 in a week, and the overtime rate should be at least 1.5 times their regular pay.

For instance, if an hourly employee works for 50 hours in a week and the hourly wage is $20 and an overtime rate of $30 then the gross wages for the week would be $1,100. Calculated as follows

• 40 x $20 = $800 for the first 40 hours
• 10 x $30 = $300 for the next 10 hours (assuming a 50% higher hourly rate.)
• Total = Normal wages + premium overtime pay = $1,100

How to Calculate Gross Pay for Salaried Workers

The salaried employee's gross pay is specified at the time of hiring only and is generally specified as the annual salary. The job offer letter (like the sample attached below) mentions the employee's gross pay as well as the various benefits that are part of the employee's annual salary.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="990"] Example Offer Letter[/caption]

The general formula for calculating salaried gross pay is:

Gross pay per pay period = annual salary / (number of days in a pay period / 365)

This can be simplified for common lengths of pay periods such as 1 month:

Gross pay per monthly pay period = annual salary / 12

For example, if the annual gross pay for the employee is $120,000, the monthly gross income would be $10,000.

Similarly, if the employee is paid twice a month there would be 24 pay periods during the year so the annual gross salary would need to be divided by 24, equaling $5,000 in this case.

Gross Pay vs Net Pay: What Is Net Pay?

Employers are responsible for deducting taxes from their employee's pay. Net pay, also known as take-home pay is the final amount that the employee is paid after these deductions. Mandatory deductions include:

• Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA taxes or payroll taxes) which are split into Social Security tax (currently at 6.2%) and Medicare taxes (currently at 1.45%).
• Federal income tax is the same across the US and varies between 10%-37% depending on the taxable income and the filing status.
• State and local income taxes if applicable

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1024"] 2023 Income Tax Brackets[/caption]

The amount of taxes deducted depends on your gross income and marital status, just like normal income taxes.

Note that these deductions are not mandatory for independent contractors but they have to pay the same taxes by tax day. They also have to pay twice the amount of payroll taxes as their clients don't have to pay their half for them.

Employers may also deduct:

• Health insurance premiums
• retirement account contributions (like a 401(k))
• Wage garnishments

It is the employee's take home pay which is available after deduction of all the legally mandated and voluntary deductions and is the money that the employee receives in their bank account.

How to Calculate Net Pay

To calculate an employee's net pay, we first need to arrive at the gross wages for the pay period. Then we need to deduct the following from the gross pay

1. FICA taxes
2. Federal income tax
3. State and local income tax
4. Any other non-mandatory deductions including health insurance premiums, 401(k) contributions, and wage garnishments.

Check out Mr. de la Garza's video on calculating net pay for an even more in-depth guide if you want to see a full walkthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmsSF-HnQLo

Employer Payroll Tax Obligations

While the above-mentioned deductions are deducted from employee's gross wages, the employer also pays their share of the Social Security and Medicare taxes which is equal to the payroll taxes (FICA) deducted from the gross pay of the employees.

The FICA tax rate is 15.3%, split into 12.4% for Social Security tax and 2.9% for the Medicare tax.

Real-life Examples of Gross vs. Net Pay

To understand the distinction between gross and net pay, consider these two scenarios:

• Scenario 1: Emma is an hourly employee in California making $20 per hour. She works 40 hours a week, totaling a gross pay of $800. After deductions for federal and state taxes, Social Security, and Medicare, her net pay is approximately $640.
• Scenario 2: John is a salaried employee in Texas earning $50,000 annually. Bi-weekly, his gross pay is roughly $1,923. After deductions, which include federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, and a 401(k) contribution of 5%, his net pay comes out to about $1,450.

Impact of Bonuses and Commissions

Bonuses and commissions are treated as supplemental income and are subject to the same tax withholdings as regular income. However, they are often taxed at a higher rate initially:

• Bonuses: These are typically taxed at a flat federal rate of 22%, aside from regular withholdings. For example, a $1,000 bonus might only result in an extra $780 in take-home pay after federal taxes alone.
• Commissions: Like bonuses, commissions are added to an employee's regular income and taxed at the normal rate. If an employee earns a commission of $2,000, it will be added to their gross pay, increasing the tax liability proportionally.

Tools and Resources for Payroll Calculations

Several tools and software can assist with accurate payroll calculations:

• Intuit QuickBooks Payroll: Offers automated payroll services that handle tax calculations and payroll processing efficiently.
• ADP Payroll Services: Provides comprehensive payroll solutions, including automatic tax calculation and employee self-service portals.
• Paychex: Offers scalable payroll services for small to large businesses, including direct deposits, tax services, and compliance management.
• Gusto: Well-suited for small businesses, offering user-friendly interfaces for payroll, benefits, and HR management.

Common Mistakes in Payroll Calculations

Common pitfalls in payroll processing can lead to significant issues if not addressed properly:

• Misclassification of Employees: Incorrectly classifying workers as independent contractors instead of employees can lead to improper tax withholdings and penalties.
• Incorrect Tax Withholdings: Failing to update or incorrectly setting up employee tax withholdings can result in employees owing money when filing their tax returns.
• Failure to Keep Updated Records: Not regularly updating payroll records can lead to discrepancies in payments and tax calculations.
• Neglecting State and Local Taxes: Employers sometimes overlook state and local tax requirements, which can lead to fines and penalties.

By understanding these aspects, both employers and employees can better navigate the complexities of payroll processing and ensure that everyone receives the correct pay and that all deductions and taxes are appropriately managed.

The Bottom Line

Now that you fully understand the difference between gross pay and net pay you can more effectively negotiate your compensation with your current and prospective employers. When joining a new job or negotiating the hikes in an existing role, the figure discussed is usually gross pay.

This isn't ideal as it isn't the figure that you will be taking home but as long as you know the difference between gross and net pay you can negotiate more effectively.

The post Gross Pay vs Net Pay: 2025 Guide for Employers and Workers appeared first on Business2Community.

The more you look into the differences between direct employees and independent contractors, the more confusing and ambiguous it becomes due to the IRS' fuzzy legal definitions.

Key Takeaways: 1099 vs W-2 Employees

• Understanding Worker Classifications: Distinguishing between W-2 and 1099 workers is crucial for compliance with IRS regulations and effective workforce management.
• Pros and Cons: Each worker type has specific benefits and drawbacks that can impact business operations and financial obligations.
• Tax Obligations and Benefits: Knowing the different tax responsibilities and benefits for each worker type helps businesses plan better and avoid legal issues.
• Decision Making: Carefully assessing business needs and worker roles can guide employers in making informed decisions about worker classification.

This decision is likely more important than you think. It's obvious that choosing the right kind of worker for each job is instrumental for building a great team but it's more than that.

Misclassifying workers could result in severe fines and even jail time.

That's why we want to use our extensive experience in hiring and personnel management at Business2Community to help you fully understand the problem and make the best hiring decisions that you can.

Throughout this article we will explain the differences between the 2 classifications, explore what kind of worker is best for certain kinds of businesses, dive into the general pros and cons of contractors and full employees, and detail the employer tax obligations that come with them.

W-2 vs 1099: Difference Explained

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A 1099 form and a W-2 form are entirely different and so are the roles of workers that are issued each. Direct employees whose work is under the direct control of the employer file W-2 forms whereas independent contractors file 1099 forms.

The difference between contractors and regular employees comes down to the control the employer or client has over the work. To determine whether a worker is an independent contractor the IRS performs a common law test, often called the IRS 20-factor test or the "right-to-control" test.

A few of these factors include flexibility of schedule, continuity of the relationship, whether it is full-time work, payment methods, reimbursement of expenses, and the provision of tools or materials. No single factor considered in the test is decisive, which can make the classifications a bit ambiguous. Instead, the IRS looks at the circumstances surrounding each factor and weighs them accordingly. If the employer or client seems to have great control over the work across most or many of the factors, then the IRS is likely to classify the worker as a full employee.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Chart Courtesy of Statista[/caption]

The gig economy is expanding faster than ever before and is estimated to reach 455 billion in gross volume by the end of 2023. rapidly expanded - not only in the US but globally - a lot of companies are now looking to hire independent contractors and similarly a lot of workers see the benefits of working as independent contractors.

W-2 vs 1099: What Is a W-2?

A W-2 form is one that the employer provides to employees to aid in filing their income tax. It has details like wages paid during the year as well as the various payroll taxes withheld by the employer. These include the withheld federal income taxes, social security tax, and Medicare tax - details that the worker will need when filing their personal tax returns.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1500"] Example W-2 Tax Form[/caption]

The document is essential for employees when tax day rolls around as it provides them with most of the information they need to file.

W-2 Employee Tax Obligations

When your company employs W-2 workers, it is responsible for calculating and deducting various taxes from the employee's pay.

Typically, companies need to withhold taxes for W-2 employees for the following purposes:

• Federal income tax
• State income tax, if applicable
• Local income tax, if applicable
• Medicare and Social Security taxes

Apart from withholding income taxes for employees, employers are also required to pay their share of their employees' Social Security and Medicare taxes. Workers pay half of these liabilities while the remaining half is paid by the company and is considered as employee compensation.

Employers are also responsible for reporting payments and filing taxes in a timely way. Notably, you're going to need to withhold income taxes and provide the W-2 for all eligible employees ahead of the tax season, and failing to do so for even one employee might have legal repercussions. You also probably need to pay unemployment insurance taxes annually by filing IRS Form 940 which goes to support workers who lost their jobs.

Also read: You Need to Know Your Small Business Tax Forms

Examples of W-2 Workers

When you think of W-2 workers, they are the traditional employees that can either be full-time or part-time. Common examples include:

• Software engineers working in tech companies
• Unionized workers working at steel, auto, and other industrial companies
• Uniformed workers of the armed forces
• Police personnel

Benefits of Hiring W-2 Workers

There are multiple benefits as well as some disadvantages of hiring W-2 workers. The benefits to you as the employer include:

• W-2 workers typically with you for the long haul and can be trained in multiple job functions.
• Strong W-2 employees can rise the corporate ladder and might even reach top leadership positions.
• W-2 employees might be better aligned with the organization's goals and missions and might gel better with other employees as compared to self-employed contractors who are more focused on their own business.
• Trained and skilled W-2 employees are among the biggest strengths of companies, especially in the current knowledge economy.

Disadvantages of Hiring W-2 Workers

Meanwhile, like most things, there are some disadvantages to hiring W-2 workers. These include:

• You need to provide employee benefits including health insurance when you hire W-2 workers.
• You have to pay for half of your employee's Social Security and Medicare taxes
• You may need to invest time and money in training W-2 employees which you need to budget for.
• Your small business may need additional resources or payroll software to prepare, file, and pay payroll taxes for W-2 employees.

W-2 vs 1099: What Is a 1099?

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1500"] Example of a 1099-NEC Tax Form[/caption]

According to the IRS, a 1099 is an information form and is further divided into Form 1099-MISC and Form 1099-NEC. The Form 1099-MISC is used for miscellaneous payments like royalties, rents, prizes and rewards, payments to an attorney, crop insurance proceeds, etc.

The Form 1099-NEC is used to report to report non-employee compensation. It is provided to someone who is not an employee of the organization and often falls into one or more of these categories.

• Self-employed: Someone who works for their own business.
• Freelancer: A self-employed contractor without a long-term commitment to any single employer who often works more at the direction of the client than other contractors.
• Business owner or sole proprietor: Freelancers (in the US) are automatically business owners, even if they don't file to create a separate company.
• Gig worker: Independent contractors who often work on a number of short-term projects for various clients.

One of the most important differences between W-2 and 1099 workers is that your company does not withhold federal or state income tax for these individuals and does not pay employment taxes on their behalf.

Simply put, a payment made to a 1099 worker is non-employee compensation for the company and is paid to individuals who provide services without being on the company payroll.

Who Is an Independent Contractor According to the IRS?

Some people just think of uber drivers, construction workers, or freelance writers when they think of independent contractors but almost any job can be filled with a contractor.

According to the IRS, "The general rule is that an individual is an independent contractor if the payer has the right to control or direct only the result of the work and not what will be done and how it will be done.

"They are treated as self-employed workers and are subject to self-employment tax.

The IRS adds, "You are not an independent contractor if you perform services that can be controlled by an employer (what will be done and how it will be done). This applies even if you are given freedom of action. What matters is that the employer has the legal right to control the details of how the services are performed.

"The key aspect here is the "employer-employee relationship" and how much control the company has over the worker.

If the worker has an employee-employer relationship with your company, then they are a W-2 employee and you will need to offer all the associated benefits like health insurance, and social security - and you will would need to withhold taxes on their behalf.

From the company's perspective, the payment made to an employee would be categorized as payroll expense as they are on the employer's payroll. However, any payment made to independent contractors is eligible to be classified as a business expense therefore is tax-deductible as it is non-employee compensation.

Check out Yahoo Finance's video for a quick explainer about independent contractors if you want to learn more:

https://youtu.be/RDYWMctJ9B4?si=XhT3xB1-PUCZbXKb

1099 Independent Contractor Tax Obligations

Usually, companies don't have tax obligations for 1099 independent contractors and they are responsible for their own taxes. This is one of the greatest advantages of using contractors over full employees.

Typically, independent contractor should pay their estimated taxes every quarter and file their return annually. If they don't, they will be fined, depending the amount of taxes that go unpaid and the length of time that it goes unpaid.

1099 independent contractors need to pay self-employment tax of 15.3% of their income, split into 2.9% for Medicare and 12.4% for Social Security. They are also responsible for paying state, federal, and local taxes.

Independent contractors may have to pay the IRS more on tax day but they can also write off business expenses to lower their tax bill. These expenses can include operating expenses, supplies, your home office, and even snacks and coffee (but only if these things are only used for the business).

W-2 vs 1099 Workers: Which Is Each Best For?

When you are hiring workers, you need to decide on whether you need a full employee or an independent contractor. Both types of arrangements work well in different scenarios.

When 1099 Contractors Are Often the Best Choice:

• When you want to hire workers with specialized skills immediately but don't have time to train them
• When you need short-term or project-based help
• If you don't have the ability to pay for extra benefits like health insurance and withholding taxes
• When you need a flexible worker to pick up an unpredictable workload outside of the usual 9-5 shifts
• If you run a seasonal business and need workers for only a specified period, then self-employed workers and contractors may fit your needs.

When W-2 Workers Are Often the Best Choice:

• If you need to control how the work is done, not just the result
• When the job market is competitive and the worker could get great benefits elsewhere
• You want long term and loyal employees
• When staff who can work multiple functions and not necessarily one specific job are needed
• If the position has confidentiality requirements
• When strong collaboration with other parts of the company is needed
• When you need exclusivity and dedication from the worker

Benefits of Hiring of 1099 Workers

Hiring 1099 workers has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include:

• Hiring independent contractors can be cost-effective in many cases as you don't have to provide the same employee benefits as W-2 workers.
• Independent contractors can help bring new insights and skill sets to your organization.
• Contractors are generally much more flexible
• Less administrative and management work is needed to support contractors (generally)

Drawbacks of Hiring 1099 Workers

Meanwhile, there are some drawbacks when you hire an independent contractor. These can include:

• 1099 workers typically have a short-term view and likely aren't loyal to your company
• Your company will have less control over the work and how it is completed
• Your business might not own the copyright for the contractor's work unless it is specified in the contract.
• There could be a greater risk of data breach or IP theft

W-2 vs 1099: Differences in Hourly Rate, Salary, and Benefit Rates

The compensation structure of an independent contractor is quite different from a payroll employee because they don't get the same benefits. Because of this difference, they tend to command a higher hourly wage as compared to normal employee, especially if they are highly skilled or in large demand. Be prepared for this!

When devising a payment system for an independent contractor, you need to take into account the total employee compensation package, not only the hourly rates. Employee workers' compensation also includes overheads like healthcare insurance and retirement plan contributions - while non-payroll workers don't get such benefits and hence the higher hourly wages should also account for these.

W-2 vs 1099: How to Choose Which Is Better for Your Business

Both 1099 and W-2 workers can be a great choice for your business depending on its needs.

Most companies typically use a mix of both. Be careful when making the decision between hiring contractors and full employees. It will take a considerable amount of planning and strategizing to land on the best strategy.

First, come up with a list of every job that you need to be filled.

Next, go through them one-by-one and consider all of the main factors including:

• Is this a long term position?
• Do we have enough capital to pay for benefits and payroll taxes?
• Do we need a loyal employee to keep IP, secrets, or data safe?
• Is it important to control how the work is done?
• Do we need to hire immediately?
• Is this position in the job market competitive?

If the answers to all of these questions are all yes, you probably need a w-2 employee. If they were all no, you may benefit more from hiring an independent contractor. If you landed somewhere in between, work out which of these factors is more important for your business and make your decision accordingly. These considerations are all extremely important but the decision will come down to the reality of current job market and whether you can find a qualified full employee or contractor.

Risks of Misclassifying Workers: Liability for Income Taxes

There are penalties associated with employee misclassification and according to the IRS, "If you classify an employee as an independent contractor and you have no reasonable basis for doing so, then you may be held liable for employment taxes for that worker."The various risks of misclassifying a W-2 employee as a 1099 worker include:

• You or your company might be liable for criminal penalties as well as back wages if it misclassifies a W-2 employee as an independent contractor.
  • The law allows for a sentence of up to 1 year in prison for misclassifying workers as well as a fine of $1,000 per affected worker.
• Your company could be liable for not withholding taxes as required by the applicable law and would also need to pay the unpaid unemployment taxes.

Additional Penalties for Worker Misclassification

As the business owner, you should know that your company would need to pay a $50 fine and a penalty equating to 1.5% of the worker's wage for not filing the W-2 form for the employee. The company is also liable to pay all the FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare taxes) that it would of paid if they were classified correctly and an additional 40% of the worker's FICA taxes.

Check out attorney Aiden Durham's video covering the IRS' rules regarding classifying employees for an even more in-depth breakdown.

https://youtu.be/bjA895WhE2A?si=P12xrKcZCp8oILfz

W-2 vs 1099: The Bottom Line

Overall, both 1099 and W-2 employees could potentially fit your business' needs and you will need to decide which works better. Independent contractors are increasingly becoming popular as the gig economy expands but W-2 workers still make up the foundation of almost every workplace.

From a worker's perspective, while some prefer the freedom associated with being a freelancer, others prefer the benefits that W-2 employees get.

The post W-2 vs 1099 Workers: Here’s What Employers Need to Know appeared first on Business2Community.

But don't worry. Our credit card experts at Businness2Community are here to help.

With our extensive expertise in the world of business credit, we will walk you through everything you need to know about getting a business credit card, from understanding the different types of cards and their features to figuring out the ideal card based on your spending habits and business profile and the application process.

Key Takeaways: How to Get a Business Credit Card

• Understanding Needs: Identifying the specific needs and uses for a business credit card is critical to choosing the right one for your company.
• Credit Check and Options: Checking personal credit scores and comparing card features, like rewards programs and interest rates, are vital steps.
• Application Process: Gathering detailed business and personal information is necessary to smoothly navigate the application process for a business credit card.
• Strategic Benefits: Business credit cards offer several strategic advantages such as building credit history, managing cash flow, and leveraging rewards for business expenses.

How to Get a Business Credit Card In 5 Simple Steps

If you have already decided that you need a business credit card, you can follow these simple five steps to apply for one.

Step 1: Decide What You Need a Business Credit Card For

Before applying for a business credit card, determine your motivation for getting one and whether you really need one. Write down everything you may want to use it for to help judge if it's worth it.

Who Can Benefit From a Business Credit Card?

Small business owners often benefit from having a business credit card, even when their business doesn't bring in much revenue yet.

Business credit cards are especially powerful in the early stages of businesses when expenses are high and revenue is still building. They provide the flexibility to purchase inventory, equipment, marketing services, software subscriptions, and more while managing cash flow efficiently at the same time.

The common thread is that any type of business with regular purchases can benefit from obtaining a business credit card, especially when their largest expenses have to be paid upfront. Getting a business credit card early on is often recommended because it helps build your business' credit history and keeping finances separate from personal spending is incredibly important for taxes.

Nevertheless, it's important to remember that credit cards aren't always the best solutions for every funding problem you run into. Small business loans often have much lower interest rates than business credit cards so if you can't pay off the balance on time, a loan may be the better choice.

Always be aware of potential costs like interest charges (if you will be carrying a balance) and annual fees.

https://youtu.be/Lbu0I0_jyQA?si=tY5SEiCEDqb5acw6

Step 2: Check Your Personal Credit Score

Every business credit card issuer will check your personal credit history when reviewing your application. Check your FICO credit score from a site like Credit Karma before applying. 'Good' scores are 670-739. If your score is on the low end, below 580 or so (sometimes higher), look into secured cards that require a deposit (collateral).

Step 3: Research Credit Card Features

Compare business cards and their features like rewards programs, points systems, and cash-back offers. Pick a credit card that matches your spending needs.

Frequent travelers may want airline miles while those that will be used for general business expenses may opt for those that offer the best cash-back rewards. Also look for extra perks like insurance, upgrades, and warranty extensions.

If you aren't sure which business credit card you want yet, scroll down to the next sections to gather more information to learn about the many different types of business cards.

Step 4: Gather Business Information

Collect the required business and personal info to apply, including your business's legal name, address, tax ID number, structure, revenue, tax records, years in business, your role, and your employer identification number (EIN).

'Also have your personal contact details, income, Social Security number (SSN), and date of birth at hand to share during the application process. The personal credit score of the business owner is necessary because most small business credit card companies require a personal guarantee.

Note that you don't necessarily need an employer identification number to get a business card but a SSN is almost always required for small business credit cards.

Step 5: Submit Your Business Credit Card Application

Once you have this information at hand, complete the business credit card application through the issuer's website, by phone, or by email. Provide accurate details. You may get an instant decision or have to wait a few weeks to get a decision.

If accepted, your new credit card should arrive within 7 to 14 days after the approval notice is sent. Once you receive the business credit card, make sure to follow our best practices for business credit below to build business credit just like you build personal credit.

If you want to dive into even greater detail on the application process, check out Daniel Braun's video on the subject.

https://youtu.be/HJuOgHKLiAc?si=cF_ZXcWc8yEIOBwz

Key Business Credit Card Features to Compare

Getting a business credit card tailored to your company's needs can provide flexibility, rewards, and valuable benefits. Now we are going to walk you through how to compare business credit cards. When choosing which business credit card is right for you, keep these key factors in mind:

Rewards Programs

• Analyze your spending to identify frequent categories like travel, shipping, dining, gas, office supplies, etc.
• Compare cards that offer bonuses in those categories through cashback, points, or miles. Tiered rewards cards earn more in select categories while flat-rate cards provide one rate across all purchases.

Interest Rates & Fees

• Cards with annual fees often provide premium rewards and benefits. Evaluate whether the annual fee will be offset by your estimated earnings.
• Check interest rates and introductory APR offers. Low intro rates help finance large purchases over time. Ongoing lower rates reduce interest costs if the card is carrying a balance.
• Consider special financing options like 0% intro APR periods for 12-15 months on new purchases.

Fit For Your Business

• Match the card's benefits and offerings to your actual business needs and expenses. Avoid paying for perks you won't use.
• Understand card use restrictions. Some business credit cards prohibit certain business types or don't allow international transactions, for example.
• Ensure you can meet application requirements like years in business, revenue, and personal credit score eligibility.
• Consider both your short and long-term business goals and choose a business credit card that can evolve along with your company over time.

With the right business credit card, you can seamlessly separate expenses, track spending, build business credit, access flexible financing, maximize rewards, and gain valuable benefits tailored to your business. Analyze your spending habits, credit needs, and budget to narrow down the best option.

Also read: Business Loans vs. Line of Credit: A Detailed Entrepreneurial Guide

Types of Business Credit Cards

Financial institutions offer different types of the best business credit cards. Each of these instruments has its own benefits and perks that make them attractive choices for specific types of businesses. In this section, we provide an overview of the most common types of business credit cards.

Cashback Cards

A cashback business credit card offers a cashback reward on eligible purchases expressed as a percentage of the total purchase. The percentage typically ranges from 1% to 5%. Some providers offer higher rates in certain categories like office supplies, gas, or restaurants.

• Pros: Easy to earn and redeem rewards, benefits different types of businesses.
• Cons: Lower earnings rates compared to a rewards credit card.
• Good for: Service businesses, retailers, and restaurants.

The Chase Ink Business Cash Card is an incredibly popular cashback business credit card.

[caption id="attachment_2732831" align="aligncenter" width="458"] The Chase Ink Business Cash Card[/caption]

Travel Rewards Cards

Travel rewards cards are ideal for frequent business travelers, these cards earn points or miles that can be redeemed for flights, hotels, rental cars, and more.

• Pros: Lucrative rewards for travelers. Airport lounge access and travel protections may be included.
• Cons: Annual fees are common. Benefits are limited if you don't travel often.
• Good for: Consultants, field sales, and executive teams.

One of the most popular options is the Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card pictured below.

[caption id="attachment_2732833" align="aligncenter" width="466"] The Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card[/caption]

0% Intro APR Cards

These cards provide a 0% introductory interest rate for a set period typically ranging from 12 to 15 months. They provide financing for large purchases over time without accruing interest initially.

• Pros: Useful for major startup costs or equipment purchases when cash flow is tight.
• Cons: Interest rates typically spike after the intro period ends. Balance transfer fees may apply.
• Good for: New businesses, contractors, and retailers.

American Express' Blue Business® Plus Credit Card is a top 0% intro APR card, especially for small business owners.

[caption id="attachment_2732838" align="aligncenter" width="448"] The American Express Blue Business® Plus Credit Card[/caption]

Business Rewards Cards

Business rewards cards offer accelerated earn rates on bonus business spending categories like shipping, internet services, hardware, and more. Credit can be redeemed for cash, airline miles, or merchandise.

• Pros: Maximizes rewards on common business purchases. Some of their perks include employee cards and travel protections.
• Cons: Annual fees usually apply.
• Good for: Retailers, restaurants, and professional services.

The Brex 30 Card is a popular business reward card for businesses that pay for rideshare and software often because it offers 7x and 2x points for these types of purchases respectively.

[caption id="attachment_2732846" align="aligncenter" width="465"] The Brex 30 Business Credit Card[/caption]

Charge Cards

Charge cards don't have a preset spending limit but must be paid in full each month. The purchase limit is approved based on your payment history and creditworthiness.

• Pros: Flexibility and prestige. Useful for businesses with irregular large purchases.
• Cons: Risk of overspending. Mandatory full monthly payments.
• Good for: Well-established businesses with excellent credit and reliable cash flow.

The Capital One Spark Cash Plus card is a common choice for business charge cards because of its 2% unlimited cashback on all purchases and a $1,200 intro offer (after $30k in purchases in the first 3 months).

[caption id="attachment_2732848" align="aligncenter" width="476"] The Capital One Spark Cash Plus Card[/caption]

Secured Business Credit Cards

Require an upfront security deposit that is used to determine the credit limit. It is easier to get one of these business credit cards approved and they can help business owners in building their credit history.

• Pros: Accessible option for new businesses with minimal or damaged credit.
• Cons: Upfront deposit and additional fees. They also tend to offer little rewards.
• Good for: New business owners with poor personal credit.

Bank of America's Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured business credit card is a popular choice for secured cards because of its $0 annual fee, 1.5% cashback on all purchases, and the ability to graduate to the unsecured version after a strong credit history is built up.

[caption id="attachment_2732857" align="alignnone" width="760"] The Bank of America® Business Advantage Unlimited Cash Rewards Secured Card[/caption]

Benefits of Getting a Business Credit Card

A business credit card can be a powerful tool that opens doors for both small and mid-sized businesses. The benefits of obtaining one of these cards go beyond securing funding only and, in this section, we list some of the most relevant advantages of getting one of these credit instruments.

• Build business credit history: Using a business credit card responsibly helps establish a credit profile for your company separate from your personal credit. This can improve your chances of securing financing in the future at better rates.
• Higher limits: Business credit cards tend to come with much higher spending limits compared to personal cards - $30,000 or more is common. This provides flexibility to make large inventory or equipment purchases when needed.
• Improved cash flow: The increased purchasing power of business cards allows you to take advantage of opportunities and discounts when they arise. Many cards also offer an interest-free grace period which gives you extra time to pay.
• Business-focused rewards: The reward programs of business credit cards are tailored to common spending categories like shipping, advertising, gas, restaurants, travel, and more. Some also offer valuable perks like employee cards, concierge service, travel protections, and extended warranties.
• Streamline expenses: Issuing employee cards on your account simplifies expense tracking and reimbursements. Some cards also let you set customized spending limits for each cardholder. Having a business card also makes separating personal and business expenses easy.

Check out credit card expert Brian Jung's video breakdown to learn more of the hidden benefits of getting a business credit card.

https://youtu.be/2l-XfC6IQ5U?si=fq3VN9JVlyteW0WP

Business Credit Card Best Practices

Getting a business credit card is an important step for any business owner but it is also a responsibility. Make sure that the card is used appropriately to not break your cardmember agreement (or any laws) or harm your business credit.

Here, we outline five of the best practices that business owners may follow to avoid the pitfalls of getting a business credit card.

1. Never make personal expenditures with your business card

One of the main benefits of getting a business credit card is to be able to separate personal from company expenditures. In fact, many credit card companies don't allow small business owners to use their business cards for personal purchases. If you do, you may be breaking the agreement you made when signing up for the card so just use a personal credit card.

2. Make payments that exceed the minimum

Just like personal credit cards, most business credit cards have a minimum monthly installment that must be paid to stay current. It is typically a good idea to make a monthly payment that exceeds this minimum to reduce interest expenses, make positive contributions to your credit history, and keep your utilization rate low. This helps tremendously when building business credit.

3. Set limits to your employee cards

If you happen to issue separate credit cards to one or more of your employees, make sure that there is a maximum limit to the amount that they can spend with it. This reduces the risk of fraud and keeps your business expenses in check. In addition, it is often a good idea to pay up all of the balance or transfer it to the least expensive credit card each month to reduce interest expenses.

4. Take advantage of all rewards

Your business credit card's rewards are not free. Hence, if you happen to have access to benefits and perks, make sure you use them and exploit them as much as possible to the benefit of your company.

This includes features like discounts on insurance and travel tickets, access to VIP lounges at airports, and cashback rewards. If you are not fully familiar with how these perks and features work, you can contact a representative of the credit card company to get more information.

The Bottom Line

Business credit cards provide a range of benefits and advantages, from the ability to keep business and personal spending separate to earning rewards on expenditures to establishing a business credit profile.

When exploring your options, scrutinize rewards programs, interest rates, fees, credit limits, and bonus features like employee cards, accounting integration, and travel protections to find the right business credit card for your company.

The application process is usually straightforward, requiring simple business and personal information but make sure to read the fine print to ensure you meet the eligibility requirements. With a tailored business credit card in hand, you can invest in your company's growth while streamlining expenses and gaining financial flexibility.

The post How to Get a Business Credit Card in 5 Simple Steps [Updated 2024] appeared first on Business2Community.

Business meetings are the cornerstone of effective communication and collaboration within organizations. From one-on-one discussions to problem-solving and decision-making sessions, their importance cannot be understated.

In this business-meeting guide, we will take you through the process of planning and conducting the most effective business meetings that you can.

Lets get started.

How to Run a Business Meeting In 7 Steps

It’s not just the chief executive or chief strategist at the company that needs to know how to hold meetings correctly. Everyone on the team, especially anyone in management needs to know how to participate and conduct a meeting. From careful planning to keeping employees engaged, here is how you can plan and run an effective meeting.

1. Plan the Agenda

Work out what type of meeting you want it to be. Do you need your team to update everyone on their projects, progress, and ideas? Plan it like a status update meeting, jotting down how you want to order the agenda and what projects or teams you want to discuss. Make sure that you only include employees who can bring value to the meeting or gain something from it so that you don’t waste anyone’s time.

Once you have a general outline of the meeting, try to think of any information or resources that you or the team may want to reference or investigate. Once you have all the materials ready, distribute them to all meeting participants along with the meeting invite (if possible) before it starts so that they can have time to go over anything they are unfamiliar with.

2. Only Invite the Right (and necessary) Employees

Only invite employees relevant to the task at hand so that other workers aren’t wasting time. Don’t go too far with this, however, as even tangentially related employees can still bring valuable insights to the table.

A 2020 study performed by Penny Zenker found that even organizations with leaders who feel that they are efficient still waste a surprising amount of time if you ask the employees. She found that these organizations were wasting 38 days per year because of meeting inefficiencies – now, that’s food for thought.

3. Optimize Meeting Time

At the beginning of the meeting, quickly go over your agenda with the whole group, detailing how the meeting will be broken down so that everyone is on the same page.

With a specific agenda, this makes it much easier to plan your time better, increasing efficiency and ensuring that you cover everything you need to.

Read more: 14 Calendar Hacks to Help You Optimize and Save Time

4. Record the Meeting

A key aspect of efficient meetings, is to record a meeting using notes or a recorder, ensuring employees and managers can always come back to the points discussed avoiding misunderstandings and missed deadlines.

Online meeting apps make this extremely easy. We’ve previously gone through the most popular online meeting apps, and in this head to head review we go through Google Meet vs Zoom.

5. Stick to the Agenda

Try to keep everyone on-topic and moving through the agenda items at a reasonable pace. Don’t be shy about cutting workers off if you have to but, of course, remain respectful and kind. If you find that the meeting is going off-topic but that the discussion could still be valuable, write it down and schedule a new meeting to discuss it.

6. Finish With an Action Plan

In the last few minutes of your meeting, make actionable plans for each problem or task discussed during the meeting. This helps you make use of everything discussed during the meeting. Many managers like to ask everyone spearheading a certain goal or task to break down what they are doing to encourage accountability and action. You can read more about how to turn your action plan into business results here.

7. Follow Up

Keep track of the biggest takeaways for employees and send a message, whether it’s an informal reminder or a memo, to remind them of what was discussed and what needs to be done going forward. How you follow up matters, and you can read more about following-up on meetings here.

Still not sure how to run an effective meeting? Then watch Adriana Girdler’s video on the topic below.

Importance of Running a Great Business Meeting

Now that we’ve covered how to conduct an effective meetings, its time to deep-dive into the importance of running great business meetings.

[caption id="attachment_2732339" align="aligncenter" width="760"] Chart Courtesy of Zippia[/caption]

Study after study, including the Zippia research above, has found that strong communication and collaboration in the workplace is vital for running an effective business.

Business meetings are often the best way to ensure that communication lines are open and everyone gets their say. Employees can bring up their tasks and goals in the group discussion and can ask the other attendees for help or advice. This helps make the team more cohesive as well.

Furthermore, good business meetings are vital for strong decision-making. The combined experience and expertise of all of the meeting participants is often worth much more than a single manager or executive.

The post How to Run an Effective Business Meeting appeared first on Business2Community.

In this extensive guide, we will break down all of the major features of both Trello and Asana, detail their pros and cons, explain what kinds of businesses would benefit most from using each, and help you choose the right project management tool for you.

Key Considerations:

• Project Complexity: Trello is often preferred for simpler projects and workflows, while Asana is better suited for more complex project management needs with detailed planning.
• Team Size and Collaboration: Asana may offer more in terms of collaboration features for larger teams, whereas Trello's simplicity can be a perfect fit for smaller teams or personal projects.
• User Experience: Trello's Kanban boards are highly visual and straightforward, making it easy for new users to adopt. Asana provides more detailed control and customization options, which may require a steeper learning curve.
• Budget: Both tools offer free versions, but the choice between Trello and Asana might also depend on the specific features your team needs and the available budget for project management tools.

Both Trello and Asana have their strengths and ideal use cases, and the choice between them often comes down to personal preference, project requirements, and team size.

Trello vs Asana: What Kinds of Businesses Are Each Best For?

Both Trello and Asana could be a reasonable choice of project management software for most teams but you have to consider each platform’s advantages and disadvantages and compare them with your needs to choose the best project management software and achieve the best results.

Trello Is Best for:

• Individuals who love to organize to-do lists or other projects with Kanban boards
• Small to medium-sized businesses with simple workflows
• Anyone looking for a free tool to organize linear workflows with built-in automation and expansive software integration

Asana Is Best for:

• Complex teams with highly integrated workflows
• Large diverse teams looking to heavily customize workflows, automate simple tasks, and integrate with popular business software
• Managers who want to closely follow and manage the workflow, workloads, and goals of their team

What Are Project Management Tools?

Project management tools are software platforms or applications used to assist project managers and workers through every stage of project development, maximizing efficiency and generally improving workflows.

They are absolutely essential in today’s complex and competitive business environment.

Project management tools make manager’s jobs dramatically easier, helping them with planning, assigning and organizing tasks, fostering collaboration, managing resources, and more. They bring everything a team needs into a single central platform that acts as a vital source of information, collaboration, and a jumping-off point for every task.

What Is Trello?

Trello is one of the most popular project management tools available today, specializing in simple workflows with its Kanban-style drag-and-drop organization system.

The platform is best described as a collaborative digital Kanban board (also known as a signboard or task board) where project managers can quickly and easily organize, assign, and manage pretty much any kind of task.

Trello is about as simple as great project management software gets. It's organized into boards, columns (or lists), and cards. Managers generally split separate teams like an editorial team and a developer team into separate boards.

Within these boards, they can create simple groupings called lists such as “Ready to Assign” or “In-Progress.” Managers can add cards (tasks) to these lists, set a due date, leave a quick description, assign them to a worker, and more with just a few clicks.

They can then move cards around easily by just dragging and dropping them wherever you want them to go. In project management, even slight improvements to efficiency and ease of use are much more helpful than you might imagine as each small time save adds up over time.

To get an even better understanding of Trello, take a look at these simple examples of managing projects using Trello boards for a theoretical SEO blog:

Trello knows that combining too many workflows from separate teams can get confusing fast so it made it easy to create new boards and swap between them. The screenshots below are simple examples of outlines for boards for an evergreen SEO blog: one for the development team and one for the editorial team.

Trello stands out for its simplicity, efficiency, and ease of use and isn’t often recommended for its software integration but its "Power-Ups" feature is full of useful integrations with top apps and platforms. You can easily integrate all kinds of useful tools like Google Drive, Slack, Gmail, Microsoft Teams, and many more.

The platform also has a surprising number of automation features, allowing you to set rules for it to follow when certain conditions are met. For example, you can tell Trello to automatically add an outline format when you create a card in a “To-Do” list.

Furthermore, if you sign up for Trello Premium, you can get 2 more “Views” or layouts for your workflows: a table view and a calendar view. You can use any and all of these layouts within Trello’s mobile app which is extremely smooth and intuitive, especially compared to other workflow management tools.

Trello Pros and Cons

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Pros

• Incredible simplicity makes it one of the easiest PM tools to use
• Nearly unbeatable smooth Kanban board functionality with just the free plan
• Solid software integration with most large business tools
• Great automation features, many of which are already built-in
• Smooth, functional mobile app

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Cons

• Templates aren’t too useful
• Calendar and timeline layouts are locked behind a paywall and have limited functionality
• Customer support is limited to help pages, a community forum, and a simple email support system
• The free plan has a limited attachment size (10MB/file)

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What Is Asana?

Asana is also one of the most popular project management tools but for mostly different reasons than Trello. It is impressively customizable, even for a project management tool that has to fit any number of different kinds of teams. This makes it a great option for most teams if they can put in the time to learn the platform and customize it to maximize efficiency, especially if they are working on complex projects.

Asana’s advantage in customization is already clear during the sign-up and setup process. When you create your workspace in Asana, it will ask you to choose one of 4 different layouts, including a kanban-style layout similar to Trello’s. It’s important to note that its Kanban boards are not as well-polished as Trello’s.

You can also choose to organize your projects and tasks in a regular calendar, a timeline (only available in the Premium and Business plans), or a simple list. After you create the workspace it will automatically create pages in all 4 layouts to help you decide which one you want to stick with.

Some teams decide to keep more than one layout as well to get the benefits of both. For example, an editorial team may want to use the Kanban boards for assigning articles to writers and editors as well as the calendar to visualize due dates better.

Within these layouts, you can create custom tasks with most of the features that you need to set up a comprehensive workflow and sort them into as many sections as you want. You can switch back and forth between the layouts with a single click

Asana Pros and Cons

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Pros

• Offers a large suite of useful management tools including: Dynamic real-time reporting, Goal setting, Managing multiple projects at once in portfolios, Workload management
• The free plan includes great functionality with 3 different layout options and more
• Great collaboration tools allow multiple large, separate teams to work on complex projects together seamlessly
• Decent support with a live support chat, an extensive support wiki, and a community forum
• Powerful software integrations with over 100 external tools

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Cons

• The free plan is limited to 15 users
• No phone support
• Mobile app has a relatively poor user experience
• Can only assign tasks to one person (though collaborators can be added)

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Trello vs Asana: Features Compared

If we compared Asana's sheer number of features to Trello's (and most other top project management software), Asana would win in a landslide but it isn’t that simple.

Asana’s multi-layout setup is chock-full of features, especially compared to Trello which is mostly just a digital Kanban board. Trello does offer table and calendar views but they are reserved for Premium subscribers and they aren’t as feature-rich as Asana’s layouts. However, the efficiency and ease of use of Trello’s skillfully integrated features put it on a similar level of quality and usefulness.

Trello Features

The Foundation of Any Project Management Software: Task Cards

Trello, like most project management tools, is built around task cards, where you will find most of the platform’s features. These cards are surprisingly customizable, despite how easy they are to use.

They can be easily assigned to a team member with the board and have every customization option that most teams need for their workflows. You can add a checklist along with a general description of the task, a comment section for everyone working on it, and much more.

The example above shows how an editorial team might customize a card layout to quickly move an article through the stages of planning, writing, editing, and publishing.

Project Management Software Needs Expansive Software Integration and Trello Is On Top

Modern businesses use a myriad of powerful software together so great project management software must be able to integrate the most popular tools well. Trello is one of the most impressive contenders in this regard.

Cards can be customized with Trello's software integrations, labeled “Power Ups.” Editorial teams often use the Google Drive Power Up to store drafts in Google documents easily and the Slack Power Up to notify team members quickly through their primary messaging platform.

"Power Ups" can also be used to add powerful features missing in the base platform such as task dependencies. Task dependencies are particularly important tools in process management and project planning, allowing managers to break down the sequence in which tasks need to be completed.

Trello's Mastery of Simple Automation

Trello’s automation features are also found within cards. You can add buttons to your board’s card layout to automate an impressive array of tasks, driving down the number of clicks you have to make dramatically if used well.

For example, you can create a button that automatically assigns you the card or one that sets the due date 2 days from now. Trello’s team designed a fair number of simple automation buttons that you can add to your cards immediately but it also lets you make entirely custom buttons.

With Trello’s custom buttons, you can automate so many actions that you can make pretty much every step of your workflow more efficient. Don’t be daunted by the complicated layout as the platform offers a video overview that walks you through the entire process.

Before you set up your first board, check out Trello’s vast selection of pre-made templates that come with many of the power-ups and automation features that you may want. The example above shows a fully fleshed-out board template for an onboarding process that could probably be customized to fit your needs in under an hour. However, templates all have the same general structure of Kanban boards so they aren’t too useful and are far from necessary.

Trello may not have as many features as many of its competitors but the features it does offer are so smooth and well-optimized that it is a great choice for individuals or small to medium teams with relatively simple team structures and workflows.

Asana Features

Asana clearly tries its best to maximize functionality without making it too complicated or confusing to use. Though Trello is significantly easier to understand and use for the most part due to its sheer simplicity, using Asana is still a breeze. In fact, Asana customization and layout options can make it easier and more intuitive for more team members than Trello.

Asana's Management and Analysis Tools Are a Godsend for Managers

Asana has a comprehensive navigation bar on the left of the page where you can find all of the important pages you need to follow. Any projects that you create, like the sample project labeled “Product Development” pictured above, can be found here along with a myriad of other useful pages that mostly aggregate information from all of your projects.

These pages give it an edge in efficiency for workers and managers who work on various projects at the same time. Within the customizable "Home" page you can see all tasks assigned to you and tasks that you have assigned to others along with a list of projects and other custom boxes that you can add or remove like a private notepad or comments from tasks.

The "My Tasks" page is perfect for managers and any workers who work on multiple projects at once as it shows all tasks assigned to you from all projects so that you don’t have to click around all of them to figure out what to do next.

The "Inbox" page isn’t quite as useful for many teams. It’s where you will find notifications and messages left by other members of the workspace. You can also send a private message to a person or even to an entire team or project.

Asana's "Portfolios" tab is a succinct overhead view designed for team managers to check in on the status of various projects. Unfortunately, it’s only available in the enterprise plan (which is locked behind expensive enterprise pricing). Within "Portfolios" you can track multiple projects closely and use the "Workload" tab to ensure that tasks are distributed evenly and employees aren’t overworked.

For more in-depth information about your team’s project progress, you can use the “Reporting” page where you can find detailed views of important statistics such as the number of complete tasks, incomplete tasks, overdue tasks, upcoming tasks by assignee, and more.

Managers can use the “Goals” page to create overarching goals for the rest of the team to work towards, though this feature is only available in the most expensive plan. You can customize it down to the time period, update method, measurement metric, and source of progress to help you track progress and keep your team on track.

The Foundation of Asana: Task Cards

These pages are all useful additions to the platform but the meat and potatoes of Asana are the projects themselves and the tasks within them. Teams can set up a project as a simple list, a Kanban board, a timeline, a calendar, or any combination of the 4.

At the foundation of every page and feature that Asana offers are its task cards. You don’t have access to quite as many features as you do with Trello cards but they are more than enough for most teams.

You can quickly and easily assign workers, set due dates, add descriptions and comments, select the priority and status of the task, and even create and assign subtasks. You can also make a task dependent on another one, making sure that prerequisites are completed before work on the task begins.

Asana also has a robust set of automation features that can cut out repetitive tasks and streamline your workflow using the "Workflow" tab within each project. It only takes 2 minutes to get started automating your workflow.

You can tell Asana to automatically perform all kinds of actions such as adding an assignee, setting a priority, moving a task to a new project, and more. You can even automate Asana’s expansive selection of software integrations to automatically perform actions outside of the app like sending a Slack message, creating a calendar event on Google Calendar, or creating a new issue in Jira Cloud.

Notably, Asana doesn’t include any financial management tools, unlike some other team management tools. However, it has just about everything a team might need to maximize the efficiency of nearly any given workflow. While some of these incredibly useful tools are locked behind a paywall, most are available in Asana’s free plan.

Trello vs Asana: Pricing Compared

Both Trello and Asana offer fantastic free plans that are more than sufficient for many teams no matter the size. You can get all of the basic features of both for free with the option to pay more for a variety of advanced features.

Trello Pricing

Trello’s pricing is a bit complicated with 4 different plans offering a variety of features and limitations: Free, Standard ($5/user/month billed annually), Premium ($10/user/month billed annually), and Enterprise ($17.5/user/month billed annually).

Free Plan:

Trello's Free plan includes:

• Unlimited cards
• Unlimited storage (10MB/file)
• Up to 10 boards per workspace
• No-code automation
• All basic task card features such as assignee, due dates, descriptions, and more
• Board templates
• Unlimited “Power Up” software integrations

Standard Plan:

For $5 per user per month if paid annually (or $6 if billed monthly) you can get the Standard plan which includes all of the features in the free plan plus additions such as:

• Advanced checklists
• Unlimited storage (250MB/file)
• Unlimited boards
• Custom fields
• Single board guests
• Saved searches

Premium Plan:

For $10 per user per month billed annually (or $12.50 if billed monthly), you get the Premium plan that includes all of the previous plans’ goodies along with features like:

• Calendar, Timeline, Table, Dashboard, and Map views
• Table and calendar workspace views (similar to Asana’s different layouts)
• Additional security and administrative features
• Observers
• Collections
• Simple data exporting

Enterprise Plan:

For $17.50 per user per month billed annually ($210 per user) you get the Enterprise package including all of the previous plans’ features along with:

• Unlimited Workspaces
• Organization-wide permissions
• Organization-visible boards
• Guests who can access multiple boards
• Administration of Power-Ups
• Single sign-on (SSO) and provisioning with Atlassian Access

Most teams that use Trello won’t need to upgrade beyond the free version as it includes everything you need to create multiple boards with efficient, easy-to-use workflows. However, large and more complex teams may need to step up to one of the paid plans to get the increased administrative, managing, and other various added features.

Asana Pricing:

Asana’s pricing is a bit less complicated than Trello’s with three plan tiers: Basic (the free plan), Premium for $10.99 per user per month if billed annually (or $13.49 if billed monthly), and Business for $24.99 per user per month if billed annually (or $30.45 if billed monthly).

Asana also offers a great 30-day trial for its highest plans that automatically activates when you sign up for the first time so that you can test out its paywalled features.

Basic Plan:

Asana’s free plan gets a majority of the most important features on the platform including:

• Unlimited projects, tasks, activity logs, storage, and comments
• The list, board, and calendar views
• Basic reporting with status updates and CSV or PDF exports
• Basic workflows with many options for software integration
• Security features such as 2FA, Google SSO, SOC 2 Type II compliance
• A 15 user limit
• Access to community support forums, webinars, and guides

Premium Plan:

The Premium plan includes all of the features in the basic plan plus a few extra including:

• The timeline view
• Automated workflows using Asana’s Workflow Builder
• Comprehensive reporting with unlimited dashboards, custom fields, advanced search, and more
• No user limit
• Unlimited free guests
• Private projects
• Personalized customer success options

Business Plan

The Business plan adds even more features on top of the premium plan including:

• Portfolio and goals views
• Advanced workflows with unlimited dynamic and custom rules, forms, and custom templates
• Advanced reporting with unlimited dashboards, workloads as well as integration with Tableau, Power BI, and Salesforce
• Resource management tools: time tracking on tasks and projects, critical path, and Workload views to plan capacity

Trello vs Asana: Customer Service

Both Trello and Asana offer the basics of customer service with extensive help pages and wikis as well as a community forum and a way to contact the support team. Trello has a support email messaging system as well and Asana boasts a live chatbot that can also connect you with a customer service representative if need be. Unfortunately, neither tool offers phone support so you will have to go through other channels if you run into any issues.

Trello vs Asana: Customer Reviews Tell All

Customer reviews for both Asana and Trello are great across the board. Asana has a 4.5 star rating with just over 12,000 reviews GetApp.com. Reviewers raved about the value for the money that you get with Asana and rated its ease of use, features, and customer support at 4.5 stars out of 5.

It also received an impressive score of 8.4 out of 10 on TrustRadius.com with 2291 reviews and ratings. Only 14 of the total 193 reviews (not including ratings) were negative and over 56% of reviews gave it a rating between 9 and 10 out of 10.

Trello also received an overall rating of 4.5 stars on GetApp.com but with a whopping 22,000 reviews and ratings. It achieved 4.5 stars on all of the same categories as Asana with a score of 8.56 out of 10 likelihood to recommend.

Users of TrustRadius.com gave it a slightly lower rating than Asana with 8.1 out of 10 over 2,632 reviews. Nevertheless, it had an even smaller percentage of negative reviews than Asana with only 10 out of 203. Furthermore, over 63% of respondents ranked it between 9 and 10 out of 10.

Users of Trello and Asana platforms seem to be quite happy with their offerings, particularly their free plans. While one or 2 other project management tools have slightly higher ratings on these review websites (like monday.com with a 4.6 on GetApp.com), most fall below these 2 giants.

Trello vs Asana: Are There Better Alternatives?

Though Trello and Asana are clearly at the top of their game in the project management tool field, there are a few worthy alternatives that you should also consider. They aren't necessarily better or worse than Asana or Trello overall but some may be better for your particular situation. These include:

1. monday.com

monday.com is another popular project management tool that boasts functionality similar to Asana’s with a myriad of different layout styles including a list, Gantt, Kanban board, map, and timeline. monday.com can be a bit easier to set up, customize, and get working than Asana as it has pre-built templates for types of teams like sales or development teams.

It has decent automation and software integration roughly on the same level as Asana as well. It falls short when it comes to rivaling Trello’s simplicity and ease of use though both its mobile app and web interface are solid. However, like Asana, it beats Trello by a mile in terms of functionality.

2. Wrike

Wrike is a powerful and popular project management tool that is often considered one of the top options for complex teams striving for greater collaboration and efficiency.

It has one of the best user interfaces in the industry, allowing even the least experienced and tech-savvy employees to get the most out of the platform.

This customization takes a considerable amount of time and effort to get the platform to that point by the managers, however, as designing your perfect tool using its customization features can be a difficult task.

Wrike blows Trello out of the water and edges out Asana in terms of sheer functionality with its many features and layouts like Gantt charts, spreadsheet views, board views, and more. Managers who choose Asana or Trello over Wrike may wish they had its useful time-management feature. Lastly, Wrike is significantly more expensive than both Asana and Trello, though it also offers a free plan with limited features.

How to Choose Between Trello and Asana

Now that you have all the major information that you need to decide the winner of Trello vs Asana it’s time to choose which one is best for you. Here are a few of the most important factors to consider:

1. What size is your team?

If it’s small and relatively simple, Trello is likely best.

2. Are you working on complex projects and workflows? And are different teams collaborating on the same workflows often?

The more simple the workflow, the more efficiency and optimization you can get out of Trello in general.

3. Do you prefer Kanban boards or lists, calendars, or timeline layouts?

Trello is the obvious choice if you only want to use Kanban boards.

4. Do you need live chat support?

Asana offers live chat support whereas Trello only offers an email messaging system along with its help guide and community forum.

5. Can you or another team member dedicate the time to fully customize your tool?

Asana may take a while to fully customize to your team’s liking and will have a more steep learning curve than Trello.

6. What kinds of tasks are you going to track with this tool?

If your tasks are heavily interdependent, you may want to choose Asana as Trello doesn’t offer task dependencies. Otherwise, Trello may be better for more complex tasks as its task cards are significantly more customizable than Asana’s tasks.

7. What features do you need?

Do you need heavy optimization for a relatively simple workflow to maximize efficiency? Trello is likely your best choice because of its wide selection of easy-to-use built-in automation tools. Asana has decent automation as well but it’s a bit harder to set up and can’t do quite as many actions.

Trello vs Asana: Which Tool Is Better?

Because Trello and Asana are significantly different tools with different goals for functionality, customizability, automation, and ease of use, and they are both great for what they are designed to do it would be impossible to tell you which one is objectively better.

It all depends on your business and your current situation.

If you find that all of the questions you answered above point to Asana or Trello, it will probably be the best project management tool for you.

References:

Asana Help Guide

Asana Video Tutorials

Trello Guides

The post Trello vs Asana in 2025 – How to Pick Which Project Management Tool Is Right for You appeared first on Business2Community.

This includes income from the sale of goods and services before any deductions are made. This metric is a measure of a startup's financial performance and a great way to evaluate the growth of a business.

This article explains gross revenue and why it's an important indicator for business owners.

Let's explore!

Key Takeaways on Gross Revenue

• Fundamental Metric: Gross revenue is the total pre-deduction income from sales and services, crucial for evaluating a company's financial performance and growth trajectory.
• Investor Appeal: It signals business health to investors and lenders by indicating market penetration and operational efficiency, although it doesn't reflect profit margins due to not accounting for expenses.
• Strategic Insights: Offers valuable insights for strategic planning by highlighting revenue-generating activities and market demand but requires careful interpretation alongside net revenue for a complete financial analysis.
• Limitations: While important, gross revenue can be misleading if considered in isolation, as it ignores the costs involved in generating that revenue, potentially overestimating a company's financial health.

What Is Gross Revenue?

Gross revenue, also known as gross income or total revenue, is the total amount of money a business generates.

This can be from the sales of the company's primary products and services, stocks, exchange rates, liquidation of assets, and any other source of income.

It isn't necessarily the same thing as gross sales as not all revenue comes from sales.

Gross revenue is calculated over a period of time, covering a quarter or a year.

It's important to note that it does not account for any expenditure incurred by the business within the covered period.

The gross revenue meaning only refers to the company's total proceeds from sources such as the sale of products and services. It does not capture the business's ability to profit from its activities.

It is often regarded as the top line since it occupies that position on a company's income statement and is generally an important metric to follow.

Income statements provide detailed reports on the company's financial activities over a set period, whether a quarter or a fiscal year.

We will now explore what does gross revenue mean in business, and how you can leverage it.

Why Is Gross Revenue an Important Metric for Businesses?

Understanding gross revenue is important to business owners, as it is a preliminary indicator of a company's operational efficiency and profitability.

These are some of the reasons why it is important:

1. Predicts Business Growth

Gross revenue can be used to predict the business growth of a brand.

With the total sum of income the company generates, business owners can more readily project the growth trajectory the company will take in the coming quarter or fiscal year.

2. Investor Magnet

Gross sales or revenue is an important metric for investors.

An increasing figure indicates business growth and rising market penetration. Investors see sustained gross revenue as evidence that your business is executing its corporate strategies efficiently and is positioned for long-term growth.

It also reflects the demand for a company's products and its ability to set favorable prices on the market.

Of course, investors must watch many other metrics such as cost of goods sold, gross profit, operating expenses, and net profit margin

3. Needed for Loan Applications

In addition, gross revenue is factored by banks, credit unions, and lenders into a company's credit applications.

A strong figure indicates to these financial institutions that the business is growing, has sustained cash flow, and is robust enough to meet its loan obligations.

However, a slow or declining revenue indicates otherwise and may view your business as a high-risk enterprise.

4. Gain Insight Into High-Impact Channels

Gross revenue calculations can also help you ascertain the total revenue your marketing channels contribute to the business. This way, you can better identify high-impact income channels to prune for more robust earnings.

The Drawbacks of Gross Revenue

Relying solely on gross revenue as a profitability indicator would be a catastrophe.

Firstly, it completely ignores expenses incurred to generate that revenue. Without considering these expenses, it provides a misleading profile of the company's financial health.

While a high value may inform investors and relevant stakeholders about the company's ability to maintain sustainable pricing in the market, it does not always indicate high-profit margins.

If used out of context, a business owner or investor can overestimate their business' financial health by only fixating on total funds coming into the company.

For example: if a company boasts extremely high gross revenue but doesn't mention that its cost of goods sold is even higher, it may look like it is a well-oiled functioning business when it's actually just losing money.

Gross Revenue vs. Net Revenue

Net revenue, or net sales, is calculated after subtracting returns and allowances such as purchase discounts and sales promotions from gross revenue.

Net revenue provides a clearer and more understandable picture of the total revenue a business retains from sales of its products or services.

Below, we explain seven major differences between gross revenue and net revenue:

Deductions

• Gross revenue excludes only allowances, returns, and other operational costs.
• Net revenue is the total amount of money a company receives after deducting costs such as discounts, returns, and costs on sales promotion from gross revenue.

Cost Reflection

• Gross revenue doesn't account for any operations or production activities costs.
• Net revenue reflects the amount earned after returns, discounts, and sales promo costs have been factored in.

Operational Insights

• Gross revenue metric provides financial insights, which entails sales volume and market demand for products and services only.
• Net revenue offers a more accurate picture of a company's financial performance, as it considers actual profitability from products and services.

Depth Evaluation

• Gross revenue can not be used as a standalone metric to provide a comprehensive view for investors, lenders, or stakeholders to understand a business's finances.
• Net revenue metric can be used alone to provide a detailed breakdown of actual return on investment in a given period.

Financial Analysis

• Gross revenue is recorded and reported in basic financial analysis to gauge top-line growth.
• Net revenue is used for in-depth financial auditing as it directly reveals a company's profitability after deducting incurred costs.

Decision Making

• Gross revenue metric is not often considered when making a business decision related to products or services as it lacks cost consideration.
• Net revenue is used to analyze and base strategic decisions as it reveals the impacts of costs on revenue.

Tax Calculation

• Gross revenue is used as a starting point for tax calculations.
• Net revenue is considered most relevant as it reflects the income available for taxation after subtracting sales promo and purchasing discounts from the total revenue.

Why They Matter

Gross and net revenue are essential financial metrics for analyzing a business's performance, viability, and potential sustainable growth.

These metrics matter because they provide detailed insights into a business's financial health over a specific period (monthly, quarterly, or annually) and investment evaluations.

Through the income reflection of both metrics, business owners can make strategic decisions impacting overall growth, such as pricing, cost control, and resource allocation.

While gross revenue often reveals the sales market traction of a company, net revenue throws more light on its actual profitability and efficiency by deducting discounts, returns, and sales promo from the total revenue.

Both metrics are requisite for business managers, accountants, stakeholders, and investors to seamlessly understand the true income balance made from sales and plan future strategies to ensure long-term success.

Overall, gross and net revenue matter because they streamline and maintain the balance between growth tactics and business strategies that are viable for the long term.

How Are Gross Revenue and Net Revenue Reported?

While gross and net revenue are important financial metrics, they are recorded and reported differently due to deductions and adjustments to arrive at a revenue balance.

Gross Revenue Reporting

During a business financial audit, gross revenue represents the total money a company generates through sales and other primary operations before subtractions.

The recorded metrics include all sales, transactions, and income from a company's products or services.

It's extremely easy to calculate gross revenue.

Total sales over a fixed period = Gross revenue.

This metric is always reported at the top of a business income statement, highlighting an oversight of its revenue-generating operations.

A well-recorded and reported gross revenue is extremely helpful in tracking business sales volume and ensuring that market share is on a positive growth trajectory.

Net Revenue Reporting

Conversely, net revenue is reported lower on the financial statement after cost deductions have been made from the gross revenue.

These subtractions include expenses directly associated with the generated revenues, such as purchase discounts and cancellation/refunds.

In essence, net income accurately reflects a business's actual income after accounting for deductions.

To calculate net revenue for a given period, subtract deductions from the gross revenue using the formula: Gross revenue - Returns/Cancellations - Purchase Discounts - Sales Promos = Net revenue.

This formula calculates a business's income after accounting for all expenses. The total balance arrived at reflects the total profit over a period.

Accurate records and reports of gross and net revenue are important for analysts and stakeholders to understand the true financial performance of a company.

Examples of Gross Revenue and Net Revenue

Let's explore a few in-depth examples highlighting the difference between gross and net revenue and how they are reported.

Gross Revenue Examples

• Retail Sales

Consider a retail store that sells electronic gadgets. If it generates $500,000 in total sales over a given period without factoring in any returns or allowances, the gross revenue can be calculated using the following gross revenue formula:

Gross Revenue = Total Sales

For this example, the gross revenue would be $500,000. This figure represents the total earnings from selling gadgets before considering any costs associated with production, distribution, or returns.

• Software Subscription Services

A software-as-a-service (SaaS) company offers a monthly subscription plan for its productivity software at $20 per user. If they have 1,000 active subscribers over a quarter, the gross revenue can be calculated as follows:

Gross Revenue = Subscription Price * Number of Subscribers

In this case, the gross revenue would amount to $20,000. This reflects the total revenue generated from subscriptions before accounting for operational costs.

Net Revenue Examples

• E-commerce Company

Consider an e-commerce giant that sells consumer electronics. The company records gross sales of $10 million in a given quarter. However, it also faces returns and refunds of $500,000 and discounts extended to customers for promotions totaling $300,000.

To calculate net revenue, the company deducts returns and discounts from the total sales:
Net Revenue = Total Sales - (Returns + Discounts) = $10,000,000 - ($500,000 + $300,000) = $9,200,000

This net revenue figure is reported in the income statement as a line item in the financial statements. This transparency gives investors and analysts a clear view of the company's revenue generation, considering adjustments for returns and discounts.

• Software as a Service (SaaS) Provider

A SaaS company offers a subscription-based project management tool. The company records $2.5 million in subscription sales in a given year. However, it also offers a 10% discount to annual subscribers and experiences credit card chargebacks amounting to $50,000.

The calculation for net revenue involves subtracting discounts and chargebacks from subscription sales:

Net Revenue = Subscription Sales - (Discounts + Chargebacks) = $2,500,000 - ($250,000 + $50,000) = $2,200,000

This net revenue figure is vital for assessing the company's recurring revenue stream and its ability to manage customer attrition. It is presented in the income statement, providing stakeholders with a clear understanding of the company's effective revenue.

To further our explanation, we'll look at examples of how they are calculated on a company's transactions.

• Retail Business

Imagine a retail business that sells electronic gadgets. In a given quarter, the business generates $1,000,000 in sales revenue.

However, during the same period, they have to refund $50,000 due to product returns and offer $20,000 in discounts to customers. The gross revenue for the quarter would be $1,000,000, as it reflects the total sales before any deductions.

Now, let's consider the expenses. The cost of sold gadgets returned amounts to $50,000, and the business offered $20,000 in discounts.

If we input the figures into the formula, we'll have:

$1,000,000 - $50,000 - $20,000 = $930,000

Gross revenue: $1,000,000
Sales returns: $50,000
Discounts: $20,000
Net revenue: $930,000

• Software as a Service (SaaS) Company

Consider a SaaS company that offers a subscription-based project management tool. In a given year, the company is able to generate sales amounting to $2,400,000 in subscriptions.

However, the company offered a 10% discount and had credit card chargebacks, which amounted to $100,000.

Therefore, the net revenue is calculated as follows: Net Revenue = Subscription Sales - Discounts - Chargebacks.

Gross revenue: $2,400,000
Chargebacks: $100,000
Discount: 10% of gross sales = $240,000
Net revenue: $2,4000,000 - 240,000 - $100,000 = $2,060,000

Does Gross Revenue Mean Profit?

No, gross revenue does not mean profit.

Gross revenue is the total income a business generates from its sales or services before any expenses are deducted.

Profit, on the other hand, is the amount of money that remains after all operating expenses, taxes, interest, and costs are subtracted from the gross revenue.

Is Net Revenue the Same As Profit?

No, net revenue is not the same as profit.

Net revenue is the income a company earns after deducting direct costs associated with producing goods or delivering services, like discounts and returns.

Profit, or net income, is what remains after all business expenses, not just direct costs, are subtracted from the total revenue (gross or net).

Does Revenue Mean Gross or Net?

The term "revenue" can refer to either gross or net revenue, but it is often used to mean gross revenue.

Gross revenue is the total, unadjusted income from sales or services. Net revenue, in contrast, is the amount remaining after subtracting returns, allowances, and discounts from the gross revenue.

The context in which "revenue" is used typically clarifies whether it refers to the gross or net figure.

The Bottom Line

In conclusion, a solid grasp of financial metrics such as gross revenue, net revenue, cost of goods sold, gross profit, and many more is imperative for any business owner. Beyond the mere numerical representation, a thorough understanding of these figures incorporates crucial elements that can impact strategic decisions.

By accurately evaluating them, a company can assess its overall financial health, set effective pricing strategies, and allocate resources precisely. Moreover, it establishes a foundational benchmark for calculating profitability and evaluating operational efficiency.

The significance of understanding gross revenue cannot be overstated, as any misinterpretation can lead to adverse outcomes.

Failure to account for deductions such as discounts, returns, and allowances can artificially inflate perceived earnings. This could distort financial planning and potentially mislead stakeholders.

This distorted interpretation can also make performance assessments unclear and steer investment decisions off course.

In essence, a nuanced understanding of gross revenue will empower businesses to make well-informed decisions, ensure accurate financial reporting, and fortify strategic initiatives in today's competitive business landscape.

The post What Is Gross Revenue? Explained With Examples [Full Guide] appeared first on Business2Community.

That's because there are so many horrible choices that will break down constantly, rake up thousands and thousands of dollars in ink cartridge costs, or both.

Today’s business landscape is highly competitive, so small businesses need efficient tools to ensure smooth operations. There is little sense in buying a cheap printer to save money, only to fix it every other day or pay an exorbitant amount for the ink.

As anyone with a business can tell you, a reliable printer is a crucial component of nearly any office setup.

With that said, let’s talk about how to pick the best printer for your small business and see which ones are available on the market right now.

Best Printers for Small Business in a Nutshell

If you are in a hurry and wish to know which printers are the best, we recommend the following.

• Best Overall Printer: HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f
• Best for Durability: Brother MFC-L8905CDW
• Best for Color Accuracy: Canon PIXMA G620 Megatank
• Best for Multifunction: Canon Maxify GX4020
• Best Value: Brother MFC-J4335DW

If you wish to learn more about these printers and why they are the best for small businesses, keep reading; we will review them in detail.

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Key Takeaways:

1. Efficiency Matters: Investing in a reliable printer can significantly save time and reduce operational costs.
2. Business Needs: Assess your specific printing requirements, including volume, speed, and quality, before making a decision.
3. Top Picks: HP Color LaserJet, Brother MFC-L8905CDW, and Canon PIXMA G620 are standout options for various business needs.
4. Cost Considerations: Balance initial purchase price with long-term running costs, including ink and maintenance.
5. Functionality: Multifunction printers offer added benefits like scanning, copying, and faxing, which can enhance overall productivity.

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Printer Statistics You Should Know

1. The global printer market was valued at over $45.2 billion in 2021, with a projected growth rate of 5.07%.
2. In 2020, there were 36 million printer units shipped around the world
3. Both office and home printing dropped 13.7% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
4. 64% of businesses suffered print-related data losses in 2020
5. Digital printing is rising, with experts expecting a 7% growth in the digital printing industry between 2022 and 2027.

How to Pick the Best Printer for Your Small Business

Picking the best printer for your small business is often more complicated than it sounds.

Of course, you could buy the first, cheapest one you see, but if you don’t consider various factors, you might be in for an unpleasant surprise later, especially if you discover that it has reliability issues or is missing required features.

So, how do you pick the best printer for your small business?

Start by assessing your needs and determining what your business primarily needs a printer for:

• Will you be printing a high number of documents every day?
• Does it need to print quickly to keep operations smooth?
• What devices will you be printing from?
• Do you need a printer for marketing materials? Both? Identifying your needs is essential, as some businesses need printers with ultrafast printing, a scanner, copying capabilities, or color printing, while others do not.

What Influences the Cost of a Printer?

This affects the cost of a printer itself, as multifunction printers tend to cost more than plain old regular printers.

Furthermore, the type of printer matters as well, which might depend on factors like the printing volume. If you print many documents, a laser printer might be more suitable than an inkjet printer.

Also, don’t forget to ensure that the printer you wish to buy is compatible with your OS and the applications you intend to use.

Remember: You will have to refill the ink, so ink cost needs to be considered, as well as the printing quality. Quality matters, especially for marketing materials, while speed can be a crucial factor if your business tends to get busy often or have large quantities of text documents to print.

Our Top Recommendations for Picking the Best Printers

This guide has prepared a carefully crafted list of the best printers for small business, denoting what each one is best for along with its benefits and drawbacks.

Compare your needs with the choices on this list to see if you can spot the best option.

Once you identify your needs and form a shortlist of the printers or types of printers that make the most sense for your small business, it's time to dive deep into each one to figure out which one to choose.

You can consider the brand reputations of various printers and look up user reviews for brands or even specific models but be careful as fake reviews are unfortunately common nowadays. That is the best deal if you can find a printer that fits all your needs and has a warranty and support.

And, of course, it is in your best interest to get the best possible printer for the least amount of money, so simple price is another factor that should not be ignored.

List of the 5 Best Printers for Small Business

Now that you know what to look for in the best printer for a small business, here are our top picks. Each of these excels in a specific aspect, so consider your needs and capabilities and pick the best one for your company.

Please note: The prices included are at the time of writing. They can and will change over time.

1. HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f

Price: ~$1,000

The HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f is generally regarded as the best overall printer for small businesses, especially regarding factors such as quality and speed. It is a mid-volume color laser AIO printer that boasts incredibly detailed printing without breaking the bank on ink and other running costs.

It can print as many as 29 pages per minute, making it among the fastest options on the market. It also features an automatic document feeder, which can hold as many as 50 pages. This is a great feature to have if you need to print a lot of documents quickly.

It also allows you to print, copy, scan, and fax. It features a 4.3-inch touchscreen, it is easy to use and navigate, and you can print from various sources — including PCs, tablets, and laptops, which is possible thanks to the integrated Wi-Fi.

The main downside of this printer is its purchase price of just under $1,000 though its relatively low running costs help make up for it over time.

2. Brother MFC-L8905CDW

Price: ~$635

Those from the Brother series tend to be trendy if you are looking for a fast, durable printer at a reasonable price (about $635 on Amazon). It is an all-in-one color laser multifunction printer that offers great text quality. It warms up very quickly and can print up to 32 pages a minute. It comes with an integrated flatbed scanner large enough to scan Legal-size sheets. It also features an automatic feeder with a lot of paper capacity and single-pass duplex scanning. That way, you can process multiple pages and print double-sided sheets much faster.

You also won’t have to pay a fortune for toner cartridges, as they are relatively affordable and tend to last a long time. Of course, this will also depend on how much you use it. However, there is an extra expense, as you must replace the drum separately. On the plus side, this is not something you must do often, and you will likely be able to get up to 30,000 prints before it needs a replacement.

The printer also has USB, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity, which offers great diversity in printing sources.

This printer starts to become less competitive when it departs from text documents as its photo quality isn't top tier (though it's decent enough).

3. Canon PIXMA G620 Megatank

Price: ~$299

Regarding color accuracy and photo printing in general, Canon's PIXMA G620 Megatank is one of the best in the business. It is ideal for small businesses who want to print colorful, vibrant photos and marketing images for a low price because of its incredible print quality. This is possible thanks to its 6-color dye-based ink cartridges.

The printer does not take up a lot of space and is lightweight, allowing you to lift it and move it around with only one hand. Printed photos also dry quickly, so you don’t have to worry about smudging ink. As such, it is perfect for printing marketing materials. You can connect it to Wi-Fi or USB and print directly from it.

This printer is also quite cheap at $299 and has surprisingly low running costs but it does have a few downsides that disqualify it as the best printer option for many small businesses. It doesn't have an automatic document feeder and it prints quite slowly, making it a relatively poor option for office work and basic high-volume text document printing.

4. Canon Maxify GX4020

Price: ~$330

Regarding multifunction printers for a business, the Canon Maxify GX4020 is a fantastic choice. This four-function printer is perfect for a small office but it's also an excellent choice for those working from home. The model is known for its speed, output quality, and various features. It has a 250-sheet front drawer, as well as a 100-sheet tray.

It can print, scan, copy, and fax, and it features automatic duplex printing and scanning. It is an excellent choice for those needing to print large documents, mainly due to its paper-handling capabilities. Its initial price is slightly on the expensive side and it is somewhat slower than cartridge-based competitors but running costs are quite low. But, other than that, it is a top-tier printer that will serve you well for a long time.

5. Brother MFC-J4335DW

~$150

Last but not least, we have Brother MFC-J4335DW — another Brother printer that offers incredible value for the money. It features everything you need in a four-function AIO for everyday use and stands out regarding price and performance. Its paper handling is excellent thanks to a 150-sheet tray, and it will let you print around 600 sheets per month without having to refill it more often than once per week.

You also get auto duplex printing (but its ADF doesn't support duplex scanning) and a bypass tray that feeds single sheets for extra convenience. The ink is low-cost, so refilling it will not cost a fortune either. On top of that, it is a small-size and lightweight printer that you can quickly move around, making it perfect for homes or small offices.

The main downside of this printer is its relatively poor quality at smaller font sizes so if you need to print documents with small font regularly, it may not be the best option for you.

Is It Worth Getting the Best Printer for My Small Business?

Depending on your needs and budget, getting the best printer for your small business can be a worthwhile investment. A cheap printer may cost more than a decent one when accounting for running costs whereas a proper printer can serve you in the long term, enhance the productivity of your business, and print professional marketing materials that typically go a long way in attracting customers to your company.

Not to mention that a reliable printer can continue to serve you well even as your business grows, so you won’t have to replace it quickly for a faster and more competent model. Buying a cheap printer may seem like a better option, especially if you are on a tight budget, but it may be far more expensive in the long term than buying a quality printer and being set for years to come.

References

• SkyQuest
• Cash4Toners
• Marconet

The post 5 Best Printers for Small Business 2024: Which Printer Is the Best for You? appeared first on Business2Community.

For small business owners, choosing the best workers’ comp insurance can help them avoid the significant costs that result from these situations while this can be an added benefit to employees who can rest assured that, if an accident happens, their living and medical expenses will be covered.

In this article, we share a detailed list of the best workers' comp insurance for small businesses, featuring 5 of the best providers in the United States.

Best Workers' Comp Insurance for Small Business in a Nutshell

To rank the companies that made it to the best workers' comp insurance for small business list, we will be focusing on 5 elements of their service that are considered important for a prospective customer. These are cost, online availability, coverage, provider network, and customer support.

Without further ado, here’s our best workers' comp insurance for small business list:

• Best Workers’ Comp Insurance for Small Business Overall: The Hartford.
• Most Financially Robust Workers’ Comp Insurance Company: biBerk.
• Best Global Workers’ Comp Insurance Company: Chubb.
• Largest Workers’ Comp Insurance Company in the US: Travelers.
• Most Flexible Workers' Comp Insurance: AmTrust Financial.

Is Workers' Compensation Insurance Important for Small Businesses?

https://youtu.be/enpDn_RpTIE

Workers' compensation should be a top priority for any small business with employees. While premiums add overhead costs, the protection that this insurance provides is invaluable and often legally required. There are several compelling reasons why small business owners need to buy this insurance product:

It's Legally Required for Protection

• In most states, businesses are required to have workers’ comp insurance once they hire even one employee.
• Failing to comply can result in fines, legal penalties, and criminal charges.
• Skipping coverage to save money exposes the business to substantial financial and legal liability.

It Provides a Safety Net for Injured Staff

• Covers medical treatment, lost wages, and rehabilitation for hurt employees.
• Without coverage, workplace injuries could financially devastate workers.
• Gives injured staff the support they need to recover.

Also read: 2023 Wealthfront Review: Features, Pros, and Cons

It Reduces Financial Risk for the Business

• This type of insurance policy covers liability costs so workplace accidents don't drain the company's finances.
• They minimize the chance of expensive lawsuits from uninsured injured employees.

It Boosts Employee Morale and Loyalty

• Employees appreciate knowing that their well-being is protected.
• It demonstrates a commitment to caring for staff.
• They foster stronger company culture, engagement, and retention.

The Alternative Incurs Catastrophic Risks

• Premium costs are small compared to accident liability.
• Going without it leaves the business extremely vulnerable.
• Owners can be proactive and not reactive by buying this type of insurance.

How to Pick the Best Workers’ Comp Insurance for Your Small Business

The list of the best workers’ comp insurance for small business provided above is a helpful starting point but you will likely need more information to decide which provider is best for your situation. Here is a detailed discussion of the factors that we used to rank the companies above and that you should consider when making your decision.

You can use these elements to shortlist your candidates and make a final decision.

1. Cost: The premium rates and any available discounts should be considered when the best workers' comp insurance for small business. Lower costs mean more affordable coverage and savings for small business budgets. Comparing premium costs can identify providers that offer competitive pricing.
2. Online availability: The availability of online account access, policy management, and claims reporting can be an important consideration for small businesses that want technology-enabled convenience and efficiency. Providers with robust online services can simplify workers' comp administration.
3. Coverage: Evaluating the policy coverage against the company’s state-by-by statutory requirements and business-specific risks helps ensure the workers' comp insurance meets regulatory standards and the unique needs of the small business depending on the industry it participates in. Reviewing details like medical assistance availability, lost wages, and death benefits provides a basis for comparing various different plans.
4. Provider network: Considering the size and quality of the provider network is relevant because broad provider access makes it simpler for injured employees to get treatment and have claims processed. Extensive networks with reputable doctors can result in smoother claim-handling procedures.
5. Customer service: Ranking insurers based on customer service like claim-handling speed and agent availability makes sense for small businesses that want responsive service and ease of doing business. Superior service improves the workers' comp experience for both the employer and employees.

List of the Best Workers' Comp Insurance for Small Business

Now that you know what factors to consider when choosing the best workers' comp insurance provider for your small business, it's time to dive into our list of the best options available.

#1 – Best Workers’ Comp Insurance for Small Business: The Hartford

With over 200 years of experience, The Hartford is a leading property and casualty insurance provider that serves over 1 million small business customers. The company has a strong reputation, having been named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies 14 times by Ethisphere. The Hartford offers a wide range of insurance products, including workers’ compensation policies tailored to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses.

What Makes the Hartford One of the Best?

The Hartford aims to make workers' compensation efficient and hassle-free for small businesses. They provide access to extensive medical provider networks with over 1 million experienced providers to treat work-related injuries. The Hartford also offers enhanced prescription drug features, with access to 65,000+ pharmacies and convenient mail-order options to fill scripts cost-free.

Additionally, The Hartford has programs like needle-stick reimbursement to cover testing and medical costs if an employee is injured by a needle. Their “nursed back to health” program also coordinates treatment and therapies to help employees recover by relying on experienced case managers. These value-added services allow The Hartford to deliver positive experiences to small business owners and employees.

Top Features of Coverage

The Hartford provides robust core workers' compensation coverage as well as added programs and benefits. Key features include:

• Medical care coverage including treatment, hospital services, and physical therapy.
• Wage replacement for lost income while recovering from injury.
• Disability benefits for permanent partial or total disability.
• Death benefits to support families of employees who died on the job.
• Legal liability protection if employees file lawsuits over injuries.
• Prescription drug and extensive provider network access as mentioned above.
• Pay-as-you-go billing based on current payroll rather than estimates.

Coverage Offered

The Hartford offers workers' compensation policies with a variety of options to meet different small business needs. Their coverage includes:

• Injury and illness compensation for incidents that occurred in the workplace.
• Ability to choose deductible levels to balance premium costs.
• Coverage for part-time and seasonal workers.
• Options to include employer's liability insurance.
• Voluntary coverage in states where not legally required.
• Flexibility around employee classification for optimal rates.

Cost of Coverage

According to The Hartford's data, most small businesses with under $300,000 in payroll pay an average of $70 per month for workers' compensation insurance. Some policies can begin as low as $13 per month. Rates vary based on payroll, employee classifications, industry risk, and claims history. The Hartford provides quotes online so small businesses can easily compare pricing. Their expertise helps small companies get tailored workers’ comp coverage at competitive costs.

Also read: 92 Best Small Business Ideas for 2023 | Cheap and Easy Ideas

#2 – Most Financially Robust Workers’ Comp Insurance Company: biBerk

biBerk is the small business insurance division of Berkshire Hathaway, the renowned company led by Warren Buffett. biBerk exclusively serves small and mid-sized businesses, with over 200,000 satisfied customers. As part of the respected Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group, biBerk leverages substantial insurance expertise while focusing specifically on the needs of smaller companies.

What Makes biBerk One of the Best?

biBerk aims to make the task of securing small business insurance seamless and affordable. These are the key advantages that helped biBerk make it to this best workers’ comp insurance for small business list:

• Direct insurance without brokers, passing savings of up to 20% on to customers.
• The quote and policy purchase process can be completed entirely online or via phone experts.
• Decades of insurance experience as a subsidiary of the prestigious conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway.
• Top-rated coverage at reduced rates compared to competitors.

Top Features of Coverage

biBerk provides robust core workers' compensation coverage as well as value-added support. Key features include:

• Injury/illness coverage for incidents arising out of the workplace.
• Medical treatment, rehabilitation, and wage replacement.
• Disability and death benefits for severe injuries or fatalities.
• Employer liability protection in the event of lawsuits.
• Ability to collect certificates of insurance from contractors.
• Fast and easy claims submission process online.
• Access to small business insurance experts for guidance.

Coverage Offered

biBerk offers customizable workers' compensation policies to meet different small business needs across industries like healthcare, construction, retail, restaurants, professional services, and more. Their coverage includes:

• Guaranteed cost policies with no surprises at audit.
• Options for deductibles to offset premium costs.
• Add-on coverage like employer's liability.
• Coverage for part-time, seasonal, and temporary workers.
• Simplified classification codes for accurate rates.
• Compliance with regulations in all 50 states.

Cost of Coverage

biBerk provides quotes online or over the phone allowing small businesses to easily compare costs. Average premiums range from $0.75 to $2.74 per $100 of payroll, varying based on the unique characteristics of each business.

biBerk leverages its direct structure to reduce rates by up to 20% versus its competitors. Their digital processes also increase efficiency. Expert guidance ensures customers get properly priced policies to fit their budget.

#3 – Best Global Workers' Comp Insurance: Chubb

Chubb is a leading commercial property and casualty insurer that has been in business for over 130 years. Chubb provides insurance products tailored for middle market and small business customers across industry sectors. The company is known for its exceptional claims services and financial strength. Chubb's small business division offers customized workers' compensation coverage.

What Makes Chubb One of the Best?

Chubb aims to make the workers' compensation claims process smooth, empathetic, and efficient for small businesses. They provide robust medical management services and specialized support to help guide employers and get injured staff healthy and back to work. Key advantages include:

• Nurse case managers with medical expertise to assist claims adjusters.
• Online claims reporting and management for convenience.
• Commitment to contact within 24 hours on lost time claims.
• Deep expertise in local regulations to resolve claims quickly.
• Access to high-quality medical care at reasonable rates.

Top Features of Coverage

Chubb offers comprehensive workers' compensation coverage plus added benefits like:

• Protection for businesses with 1 to hundreds of employees.
• Medical and wage replacement for injured employees.
• Coverage options e.g. waiver of subrogation, employer liability.
• International travel insurance through foreign package policy.
• Pharmacy program for safety in medication dispensing.
• Special investigations unit to identify potential fraud.
• Online claims reporting and forms access.
• Robust core workers’ compensation plus value-added support services.

Coverage Offered

Chubb provides customizable workers' compensation policies to meet different small business needs, including:

• Injury/illness compensation for workplace incidents.
• Flexibility in employer liability limits.
• Coverage for part-time, seasonal, and temporary staff.
• Tailored options by class codes and industry.
• Protection across jurisdictions with local expertise.
• Ability to integrate with existing business policies.

Cost of Coverage

Chubb does not provide estimates for the cost of its workers’ compensation insurance policies. Prospective customers can visit their website to get a quote from a Chubb agent. These quotes are tailored to the business’s needs, state where its headquartered, and industry.

#4 – Largest Workers' Comp Company in the US: Travelers

Travelers is the largest workers’ compensation insurance provider in the US, serving customers of all sizes. They have extensive experience and specialized expertise working with this type of product, along with innovative capabilities and strong financial backing. Travelers aims to simplify workers’ compensation for employers while caring for injured staff.

What Makes Travelers One of the Best?

Travelers strives to make the claims process smooth and facilitate return to work through compassionate and proactive services. Here’s what makes them one of the best workers’ comp insurance for small business:

• 500+ in-house medical professionals to guide treatment.
• Over 2,000 claims professionals are available to handle claims rapidly and easily.
• At-work-safety educational resources are provided to help customers prevent workplace accidents.
• Travelers offers investigative teams to assist with potential fraud claims.
• Industry-tailored solutions using their deep experience.
• Travelers combines responsive claims handling with robust risk management support.

Top Features of Coverage

Travelers offers complete workers' compensation coverage plus value-added services like:

• Medical care, treatment, and rehabilitation benefits.
• Wage replacement for lost income during recovery.
• Employer liability protection in lawsuits.
• Access to prescription drug formularies.
• Dividend programs to return unused premium.
• Managed care plans to optimize treatment quality and costs.
• Travelers provides core injury coverage with added capabilities.

Coverage Offered

Travelers provides customizable workers' compensation policies including:

• Guaranteed cost and loss-sensitive plans.
• Deductible options to reduce premium.
• Tailored solutions for every company size and industry.
• Integrated products to address gaps and reduce risks.
• Coverage-compliant in all states.

Cost of Coverage

Travelers leverages its scale, data, and risk-management expertise to offer competitive workers’ compensation rates based on factors like location, payroll, and claims history. They have enough multi-industry expertise to craft customized policies at the best cost. Superior services and capabilities come standard without premium pricing.

#5 – AmTrust

AmTrust Financial is a property and casualty insurer that provides commercial insurance products for small and mid-sized businesses. The company holds an ‘A- Excellent’ financial strength rating from AM Best. AmTrust leverages its expertise to offer customizable workers’ compensation policies with strong coverage and service.

What Makes AmTrust One of the Best?

AmTrust aims to make workers' compensation smooth and straightforward for employers when workplace incidents occur. The key advantages of its products include:

• Claims experts that efficiently handle injury submissions.
• Proactive benefits management to facilitate employee recovery.
• Network of appointed agents with compensation expertise.
• Flexible packages and affordability for small companies.

Top Features of Coverage

AmTrust provides complete workers’ compensation coverage plus additional support:

• Medical treatment and rehabilitation benefits for injured employees.
• Wage replacement for time away recovering.
• Legal/expert assistance with claims and cases.
• Advice on regulations, class codes, and underwriting.
• Fraud investigation services to manage suspicious claims.
• Ability to exclude coverage for specific violations.

Coverage Offered

AmTrust offers customizable workers' compensation policies:

• Guaranteed cost and deductible options.
• Industry-specific tailored premium calculations based on present risks and other factors.
• Coverage for part-time, seasonal, and temporary staff.
• Integrated packages with other commercial policies.
• Protection plans for businesses in any state.
• Add-on features like employer's liability.

Cost of Coverage

Premiums vary based on payroll, occupation, industry risk, and other factors. AmTrust leverages its dedicated network of agents to provide cost-effective rates. Policyholders benefit from the financial strength, expert claims management, and outstanding service that comes with the AmTrust name without paying a premium.

Also read: Best CRM for Small Business | Top 11 Reviewed for 2023

Is the Best Workers' Comp Insurance Worth It for My Small Business?

Workers' compensation insurance can be considered an investment for small business owners. Though it adds overhead costs, the protections and risk mitigation that workers’ compensation insurance provides make it a critical component of any business’s risk management policy.

In most states, workers’ compensation is legally required as soon as you hire staff. Failing to comply can lead to substantial fines and penalties. More importantly, workers’ comp insurance provides a safety net for your employees if they are injured on the job. It covers their medical treatment, rehabilitation, and lost wages so they can recover without financial devastation.

For the business, workers' comp reduces the risks of expensive accident liability costs and lawsuits that could put the company out for good. While premiums cost money upfront, those costs pale in comparison to the severe consequences owners face without coverage.

Workers' compensation allows small businesses to operate with confidence rather than fear, knowing that their staff and the company itself are protected. When weighing the pros and cons, workers' comp insurance is almost indispensable to ensure the continuity of a small business.

References:

• Data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities
• NAIC 2022 Market Share Report | The Top 25 U.S. Workers Comp Insurers

The post Best Workers’ Comp Insurance for Small Business appeared first on Business2Community.

Fortunately, there are various inventory management software programs specifically designed for the requirements of small enterprises.

In this article, we'll explore the 5 best small business inventory management software products with an in-depth examination of each product's advanced inventory features.

5 Best Small Business Inventory Management Software in a Nutshell

Choosing the best inventory management software for small businesses can be a game-changer in optimizing daily functions and providing users with valuable insight. These systems accomplish these goals and avoid unnecessary expenses by focusing on features that align with the business's needs.

Below, we highlight five of the best inventory management software designed for small businesses and their unique selling points.

1. Zoho Inventory – Best for Real-Time Tracking
2. InFlow – Best for Scalability
3. Cin7 – Best for Integration
4. Sortly – Best for User Experience
5. monday.com – Best for Affordability

How to Pick the Best Inventory Management Software for Your Small Business

As a business expands, having a strong inventory management system becomes more crucial. The appropriate software has the potential to optimize processes, lower expenses, and offer a distinct competitive edge.

Nonetheless, given the multitude of choices accessible, choosing the optimal small business inventory software can seem overwhelming.

To navigate this decision-making procedure, it's essential to consider the listed factors below, as each one significantly influences the trajectory of the user's business.

Scalability: Growth Adaptation

A critical factor to consider while selecting inventory management software is its capacity for scalability. This is because as a business prospers, the software should effortlessly expand along with it.

Scalability guarantees that the system can manage higher inventory volumes, new product lines, and a growing customer base. This adaptability prevents costly interruptions and minimizes the necessity for frequent software modifications.

Choosing a software solution that can accommodate anticipated business growth empowers users to focus on strategic decisions free from technological constraints.

For business owners seeking inventory management software with good scalability, InFlow is a strong choice.

This is due to its seamless integration with various pre-existing systems, its skillful management of sudden surges in demand, and its effective handling of a growing range of product information.

Integration Capabilities: Enhancing Operational Efficiency

Success is closely tied to interconnected operations in today's dynamic business environment.

It's crucial that the inventory management software users choose seamlessly integrates with their current infrastructure, encompassing their point-of-sale (POS) framework, e-commerce hub, and accounting applications.

Through this integration, the need for laborious manual data input diminishes, minimizing mistakes and elevating the precision of your documentation.

The immediate synchronization across systems fosters effortless order completion, real-time inventory updates, and meticulous financial reporting. This compatible interaction amplifies productivity and comprehensively evaluates the user's business's well-being.

Cin7 is particularly attractive for those focused on easy integration because of its impressive incorporation of over 700 pre-designed integrations and functions covering many areas, including eommerce, accounting, and more.

User-Friendliness: Enhancing Productivity

Overly complex software demanding extensive learning efforts can hinder productivity, potentially deterring employees from embracing it.

Instead, business owners should explore inventory management software that values user-friendliness and requires minimal training.

Interfaces designed for intuitiveness and seamless navigation simplify the onboarding process and minimize the likelihood of mistakes. By choosing a system that is easy to use, business owners encourage teamwork and guarantee that their staff can fully utilize the software.

This ultimately leads to the optimization of their inventory management procedures. Sortly stands out for this section due to its intuitive and user-friendly interface.

Cost: Balancing Budget and Features

Effective cost management holds great importance for small businesses. While financial constraints are a reality, maintaining a balance between the cost and the features offered by inventory management software is crucial.

Although certain choices may boast lower initial costs, they could be deficient in essential functionalities required for sustainable expansion which could hamper profits later on.

Alternatively, allocating resources towards a more comprehensive solution might result in considerable gains by enhancing effectiveness and reducing operational expenses. As a result, users should deliberate on the long-term benefits and compare them with the initial investment to make an informed choice.

Customization: Tailoring to Preferred Needs

Each business is unique in its operations and requirements, setting it apart from the rest. Hence, it becomes crucial for business owners to seek out inventory management software that offers the option of personalization to align with their individual preferences.

The ability to fine-tune the software according to the company's procedures helps guarantee sufficient functionality and optimization. This tailoring process could encompass configuration fields, user role establishment, or the delineation of automated workflows.

Such flexibility empowers users to address specific challenges and harness opportunities unhindered by inflexible software constraints. However, the most customizable and flexible software is often quite hard to set up and use which can cause problems if employees aren't trained well enough in its use.

List of the 5 Best Inventory Management Software for Small Businesses

By evaluating the distinct requirements of the enterprise and matching them with the software's capacities, entrepreneurs can empower their small businesses to thrive in a competitive environment. This section reviews five of the best inventory management software for small businesses to consider.

1. Zoho Inventory: Best for Real-time Tracking

Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based software for inventory management. It helps businesses generate and oversee sales and procurement orders while effectively monitoring their inventory.

With its user-friendly interface, the platform enables seamless monitoring of stock levels, the creation of sales reports, and even predictive demand analysis. Its time-saving features include automated purchase order filling, streamlined dropship management, and efficient multi-warehouse administration.

The platform also boasts an exceptional real-time tracking ability that empowers businesses with unparalleled control over their inventory processes.

Seamlessly integrating with various sales channels and warehouses, the software provides a live overview of stock levels, order status, and replenishment needs, ensuring that businesses can make informed decisions swiftly.

Zoho also offers around-the-clock customer support through phone assistance, chat, email support, and an extensive online knowledge base.

Adding to its appeal, the platform offers a robust free option for those embarking on their inventory management journey. Furthermore, a 14-day trial is on offer for the paid plans, which start at $59 per month with annual billing.

However, it's worth noting that despite the cost-effectiveness of Zoho's inventory management software, it does have some limitations when it comes to integrating with e-commerce platforms and marketplaces.

2. InFlow: Best for Scalability

InFlow offers a comprehensive inventory management suite for B2B and wholesale businesses with specialized features.

The platform caters to stock monitoring, procurement, and fulfillment needs, excelling particularly in the B2B domain. It empowers users to create virtual display rooms for clients, controlling information like pricing and delivery times.

InFlow's true prowess lies in its remarkable scalability. The system effortlessly integrates with diverse existing systems, adeptly responds to surges in demand, and efficiently manages various product data.

This empowers businesses to confidently pursue growth trajectories without being hindered by the complexities of inventory management.

Moreover, the platform extends beyond the fundamental functions. InFlow facilitates quoting, invoicing, optimizing order routes, streamlining manufacturing, enabling tailored production, and enhancing the picking and packing process through location mapping.

InFlow starts at $89 per month. The software does not offer a free plan, but customers can take the product for a spin using the 14-day trial mode. InFlow customers also benefit from phone, live chat, and email support.

This support may be necessary as InFlow's integration capabilities are limited and any unsupported integrations require developer assistance.

3. Cin7: Best for Integration

Cin7 is a versatile solution for managing inventories, ideally suited for businesses operating intricate supply chains.

What truly sets Cin7 apart is its extensive array of over 700 pre-designed integrations and functionalities, spanning eCommerce, accounting, and more. This unique feature simplifies the process of elevating one's business as it expands.

Moreover, the platform seamlessly incorporates B2B e-commerce capabilities by integrating with online stores, marketplaces, and shipping software. This integration facilitates end-to-end management of orders, inventory, and shipping processes, ensuring a smooth workflow.

Cin7 further excels in precise stock tracking and efficient warehouse management.

This allows users to seamlessly synchronize stock quantities across multiple warehouses, monitor components for bundled and assembled products, and automate purchase orders based on sales velocity.

B2B customers also benefit from automatic order forwarding to warehouses and dropship suppliers for seamless fulfillment.

Additionally, Cin7 offers the convenience of monitoring in-store and online sales through an integrated point-of-sale (POS) feature across all its plans.

The platform provides around-the-clock customer support for all plans, comprehensive online tutorials, and a wealth of knowledge-base resources.

Unfortunately, Cin7 does not provide a free trial option. Furthermore, its standard plan starts at $325 per month. This positions the platform as one of the higher-priced choices within this section.

4. Sortly: Best for User Experience

Say goodbye to clunky interfaces and hello to a user-friendly experience with Sortly. This web app is an easy-to-use inventory management software for small non-retail businesses.

Sortly presents an ideal choice for enterprises seeking a swift and uncomplicated resolution to their inventory and asset management requirements.

The software boasts an incredibly intuitive interface that enables teams to efficiently monitor crucial inventory details. As a result, users won't require much of a learning curve to effectively utilize the platform.

With automatic cloud synchronization, Sortly seamlessly adapts to mobile, desktop, or tablet devices, ensuring a consistent experience across various platforms.

Whether accessed through the website or mobile app, individuals can generate personalized fields and define corresponding metadata for these fields.

Additionally, they can swiftly include, relocate, delete, or modify items on the go through their mobile app.

Sortly encompasses a comprehensive range of fundamental inventory management software attributes, including warehouse management, inventory control, barcode scanning capabilities, and essential inventory reporting.

One of the platform's standout features is its seamless synchronization of inventory data across multiple devices and teams. Users can conveniently employ the app to scan QR codes, receive stock alerts for efficient stock levels, and effortlessly categorize items.

While Sortly does offer a free version, users also have the option to explore the more advanced or ultra versions through a 14-day free trial. These upgraded versions, priced at $29 and $59 per month, provide additional features and enhanced capabilities.

Support for users is readily available through email assistance, help centers, and tutorials, ensuring a smooth experience. However, it's worth noting that Sortly lacks integration with eCommerce and accounting software solutions.

5. monday.com: Best for Affordability

monday.com is a versatile cloud-based management system engineered for workforce, project, and operations management, with a distinct focus on inventory control.

The platform offers tailored solutions for departments like marketing, sales, IT, HR, and operations. It also boasts over 200 functional templates, including a readily available inventory template accessible in the free plan.

Noteworthy features include dashboards, integrations, forms, automation, timeline and Kanban views, file sharing, and workspaces.

monday.com offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, or phone. Users can also access a comprehensive learning resource center and an extensive FAQ section.

The software offers four pricing plans catering to diverse user requirements. The individual plan offers a free lifelong option with basic functionalities. Meanwhile, the paid plans start at $8 for the basic tier and $19 for the pro tier, offering enhanced features.

The pricing is unique compared to other mentioned software because the free plan offers users access to its basic features and template for life which is suitable for some small businesses.

However, for those who want to harness enhanced features, the basic price plan at $8 through to its pro price at $19 is the lowest amongst its competitors.

Although suitable for small business inventory management, monday.com lacks the advanced capabilities of specialized systems.

Advanced features such as item barcodes, automated purchase orders, sales-driven projections, and multi-warehouse automation require customization or additional widget add-ons, potentially incurring extra costs.

Why Is Great Inventory Management Software Important for Small Businesses?

For companies managing physical inventories, the significance of well-optimized inventory procedures cannot be overstated. This section outlines some of the reasons why great inventory management software is important:

1. Efficiency and Time Savings

For small business operations, each passing moment carries significant importance. Managing inventory levels, tracking stock movements, and setting up reorder points can be tedious and time-consuming.

In addition to this, humans make mistakes easily. Inventory management software can automate these processes and reduce the risk of errors.

A 2017 retail vision study noted that to increase efficiency, 72% of retailers plan to revolutionize supply chain operations using real-time visibility through automation, sensors, and analytics.

The software can ensure that inventory levels remain consistently current through constant real-time updates and automated notifications. This removes the necessity for manual verifications and prevents depleted stocks or overstocking issues.

Furthermore, the software provides the business with quick insights into availability and trends in demand, helping enterprises quickly arrive at well-informed decisions.

In today's unpredictable market, quickly adapting to customers' preferences is crucial for the success of small businesses. A high level of agility can make or break their prospects.

2. Error Reduction and Accurate Data

Manual inventory management is inherently prone to errors, resulting in inconsistencies between recorded and real-time stock quantities.

A survey by Peoplevox found that around 34% of companies have encountered situations where they accidentally sold items that were out of stock, causing delays in order fulfillment. These issues can lead to lost sales, unhappy customers, and financial losses. This is why effective inventory management software is crucial for tackling these problems.

By embracing automation, the likelihood of errors in data entry and calculations is significantly reduced, ensuring precise inventory records for businesses. Furthermore, the integration of barcode scanning and RFID technologies goes a step further in enhancing accuracy by minimizing the chances of human input mistakes.

As a result, small businesses can elevate their order fulfillment processes, guarantee timely product deliveries, and maintain customer confidence by providing unwavering and consistent service.

3. Optimized Reordering and Demand Forecasting

Encountering a shortage of a popular product just when demand is skyrocketing can be a source of frustration for both customers and business owners.

Data from Zippia.com states that about 43% of small enterprises do not actively monitor their inventory, while about 21% assert that they have no stock.

To counter this issue, inventory management software implements predetermined stock thresholds for automated reordering.

This proactive strategy ensures that businesses restock their inventory promptly, reducing the occurrence of stock shortages and maximizing opportunities for sales. Furthermore, numerous advanced inventory management systems offer the ability to forecast demand. These tools provide invaluable insights into forthcoming demand patterns by examining historical data and market trends.

With this information, small businesses small business inventory software can fine-tune your inventory levels and purchasing decisions, optimizing your stock to meet anticipated customer requirements.

4. Enhanced Profitability

The fundamental objective of every business is to make money and efficient inventory management software plays a pivotal role in realizing this goal for many.

It can help prevent excessive capital from getting tied up in unsold products by mitigating the risks of overstocking. Additionally, the reduction in occurrences of stockouts translates into fewer missed sales opportunities and revenue setbacks.

Furthermore, inventory management software assists in recognizing slow-selling or outdated items.

With this information, businesses can execute focused marketing approaches or offer discounts to sell off stagnant inventory, creating room on shelves for more in-demand items and ultimately boosting overall profitability.

A great inventory management software offers various benefits ranging from operational efficiency and error reduction to demand forecasting and enhanced profitability.

Small businesses that embrace these digital tools position themselves for growth, scalability, and improved customer satisfaction.

Is It Worth Getting the Best Inventory Management Software for My Small Business?

By implementing top-notch inventory management software, small businesses can effectively tackle challenges arising from manual inventory management.

Software automation is pivotal in minimizing errors and preventing stockouts, ensuring meticulous inventory tracking and precise stock-level oversight. This translates to reduced errors and the avoidance of stockouts, which can result in missed sales opportunities and customer dissatisfaction.

A significant advantage of this software is its capacity to automate inventory tracking and stock level monitoring, leading to time savings and a decreased likelihood of errors.

This feature promises seamless monitoring of stock movements, real-time alerts for low inventory, and demand trend forecasting, facilitating proactive restocking and optimized inventory levels.

Furthermore, the software holds the power to substantially enhance customer satisfaction. By providing accurate stock visibility, businesses can reliably fulfill orders, thus boosting customer loyalty, garnering positive reviews, and establishing a reputation for dependability.

Inventory management systems like Zoho Inventory are also suited for efficient order fulfillment.

This software streamlines the entire process, from order placement to shipping, ensuring efficient picking, packing, and delivery. In exchange, the organized workflow leads to quicker order processing and increased customer satisfaction.

Considering the cost, which varies from free but limited to paid options, the advantages of a top-tier software often far outweigh the expenses.

The unquestionable value of investing in top-notch inventory management software becomes evident for any small business. This investment leads to increased revenue, improved efficiency, stronger customer loyalty, and reduced occurrences of stockouts.

References

• Zebra

The post 5 Best Inventory Management Software for Small Businesses in 2025 appeared first on Business2Community.

From the diverse requirements of small business owners; from start-ups to mom-and-pop companies, this thorough and informative guide will help you find the best firewall for your small business needs.

Best Small Business Firewall Review in a Nutshell

• Best for Cloud Protection: Perimeter 81
• Best Premium Option: SonicWall TZ400 Security Firewall
• Best Entry-Level NGFW: FortiGate 30E (FortiWiFi 30E)
• Best for Unified Threat Management: Cisco Meraki MX64/MX64W
• Best for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO): WatchGuard Firebox T15

Each of these firewalls comes with unique features suitable for different scenarios, we will further explore what makes them stand out and how to choose the one that fits your business in the rest of this comprehensive guide.

Key Takeaways on the Best Firewalls for Business

1. Diverse Firewall Options for Small Businesses: The review highlights top firewall products like Perimeter 81, SonicWall TZ400, FortiGate 30E, Cisco Meraki MX64/MX64W, and WatchGuard Firebox T15, each offering unique features tailored for different small business needs.
2. Critical Role of Firewalls: Strong firewalls act as an essential line of defense for small businesses against cyber-attacks, providing protection against malicious intrusions, ransomware, malware, and data breaches.
3. Factors Influencing Firewall Selection: When choosing a firewall, small businesses should consider factors such as the type of firewall (software or hardware), budget, scalability, ease of use, and specific features and capabilities.
4. Importance of Investment in Firewalls: Investing in a robust firewall is crucial for safeguarding sensitive business information, maintaining customer trust, and ensuring uninterrupted business operations. It's a strategic decision that goes beyond compliance, emphasizing the commitment to security.
5. Evaluation and Strategic Decision Making: Selecting the right firewall involves evaluating options based on the business's specific needs, understanding the scalability, and recognizing that the right choice is an investment in the business's digital security infrastructure.

Why Are Strong Firewalls Important for Small Businesses?

Strong firewalls are not just a technological safeguard; they are a piece of critical business infrastructure for small businesses.

In an era where 43% of cyber-attacks target small businesses, firewalls are needed now more than ever. They provide the first line of defense against malicious intrusions, ransomware, malware, and data breaches.

Notably, the rise in debilitating ransomware attacks has further emphasized the need for robust firewalls.

Small businesses often lack the extensive cybersecurity infrastructure that large corporations possess, thus, a robust firewall can act as an all-in-one solution, protecting the business network, securing data, and ensuring uninterrupted business continuity.

It helps maintain the integrity and confidentiality of sensitive information, which is vital to maintaining customer trust.

In a time where remote working is common, firewalls also secure connections between various endpoints, preventing potential entry points for hackers.

Without strong firewalls, small businesses stand at a heightened risk of crippling attacks that can not only lead to service interruptions and financial loss but also reputational damage.

Investing in a strong firewall is like investing in a sturdy door lock for your business in the digital world - an essential step towards security and peace of mind.

How to Pick the Best Firewall for Your Small Business

Choosing the right firewall for your small business depends on several factors that are dependent upon the specific needs of your business, these include:

• Type of Firewall: Depending on your network size and the assets you're protecting, you may choose between software or hardware firewalls. Hardware firewalls often offer higher performance and protect all connected devices, while software firewalls are limited to individual hosts.
• Budget Considerations: There are several options for different budget ranges, but remember that investing in a premium option often provides more comprehensive protection, more customization options, and greater ease of use.
• Scalability: Ensure that the firewall can grow with your business and adapt to your evolving needs.
• Ease of Use: Look for firewalls that offer a user-friendly interface, especially if you don't have dedicated IT personnel.
• Features and Capabilities: Consider features like Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW), Secure SD-WAN, Zero-touch provisioning, VPN, and Cloud services.

Review of 5 of the Best Small Business Firewalls

So without further pause, let's dig down into the detail and break down Business2Community's picks for the 5 best small business firewalls.

Option 1: Perimeter 81

Perimeter 81 is an advanced security package that offers comprehensive protection for both cloud services and on-site resources.

For small businesses utilizing cloud-based services like Microsoft 365, this firewall offers a seamless blend of versatility and security.

By providing a firewall-as-a-service module, Perimeter 81 protects individual applications and entire sites, allowing for granular control and robust security enforcement, it presents a malware filter that works excellently for geographically dispersed organizations, forming a secure access service edge (SASE) system that scans traffic at Layers 3 and 4.

Beyond the typical firewall functions, it also can implement Zero Trust Access, a paradigm shift in cybersecurity that assumes no user or system is trustworthy, whether inside or outside the organization.

It's a significant option for businesses aiming for an integrated approach to security, covering various network aspects without compromising on quality and efficiency.

What's more? The flexible pricing, with the firewall feature offered in three upper editions, provides scalability according to the business needs.

Option 2: SonicWall TZ400 Security Firewall

One of the top choices for small businesses is the SonicWall TZ400 Security Firewall. This Next-Generation Firewall (NGFW) is regarded as a premium option, owing to its robust security, ease of use, and unique features that make it stand out.

Features like the Network Security Manager and Zero-Touch Deployment (ZTD) provide a seamless experience in both management and installation.

Its Capture Advanced Touch Protection (ATP) goes beyond ordinary security measures with a multi-engine sandbox and Real-Time Deep Memory Inspection (RTDMI™).

It also integrates Secure SD-WAN, adding a layer of intelligent routing and cost-saving, with optional expansions like PoE/PoE+ support and 802.11ac Wi-Fi, SonicWall TZ400 brings scalability and security to small businesses or branch locations, without the complexities of managing enterprise-level firewalls.

It’s a choice for those looking for uncompromised protection with ease of use.

Option 3: FortiGate 30E (FortiWiFi 30E)

FortiGate or FortiWifi 30E is an entry-level application-centric Secure SD-WAN NGFW appliance tailor-made for small spaces.

It's a comprehensive solution for small offices, offering Deep Packet Inspection at Layer 7 and protection against malware and malicious sites.

The FortiGate 30E provides a compact, fanless form factor, utilizing a Purpose-Built-Security processor for high-performance threat detection, and with a throughput of 150 Mbps for threat protection and 160 Mbps for SSL inspection, it ensures robust protection without sacrificing speed.

Its management console and services like FortiGuard Security Service provide real-time intelligence and support.

Integration with Fortinet's Security Fabric offers access to AI-driven operations, dynamic cloud security, zero-trust network access, and endpoint protection.

Its ease of setup and use, along with scalable subscription offerings, makes it a solid choice for businesses needing comprehensive protection without the complexity.

Option 4: Cisco Meraki MX64/MX64W

Cisco’s Meraki MX64W offers an intelligent solution for small businesses looking to integrate Secure Access Secure Edge (SASE) into their network.

This desktop form factor secure SD-WAN appliance combines Next-Generation Firewall capabilities with sophisticated features like application-layer filtering, auto-VPN, and Cisco Advanced Malware Protection.

Its SD-Branch Cloud platform and ML-powered Advanced Analytics provide a tech-savvy approach to security, connecting branches intelligently and offering insightful recommendations.

The difference between the MX64 and MX64W models lies in WIFI support, adding flexibility according to business requirements. With support for up to 50 clients, a stateful firewall throughput of 250Mbps, and a VPN throughput of 100Mbps, it provides robust performance.

Cisco’s Meraki MX64W brings a blend of innovation and efficiency, suitable for tech-driven businesses that require advanced, integrated security features.

Option 5: WatchGuard Firebox T15

WatchGuard Firebox T15 is a small form-factor network security appliance designed explicitly for Small Office/Home Office (SOHO) environments.

Providing central Unified Threat Management (UTM) capabilities, this firewall extends its functions beyond basic protection, offering features like application proxying, URL filtering, data loss prevention, and a single visibility platform.

With built-in Secure SD-WAN and throughput up to 400 Mbps for Firewall, 150 Mbps for VPN, and 90 Mbps for UTM, it assures performance without compromising security.

Its Cloud-based RapidDeploy technology simplifies deployment, allowing remote setup and management, an optional integrated wireless module and extension for WIFI support add to its versatility. Furthermore, exceptional logging and reporting help in tracking and improving security posture.

Its affordability coupled with broad-ranging capabilities makes WatchGuard Firebox T15 a powerful and practical choice for SOHO environments.

Is It Worth Getting the Best Firewall For My Business?

Investing in the best firewall for your small business is a strategic decision that extends beyond mere compliance with regulatory requirements, it is a crucial commitment to safeguarding valuable business assets, both physical and intellectual.

The proper firewall solution forms the bedrock of your cybersecurity infrastructure, ensuring that data integrity, business continuity, and customer trust remain intact.

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, where cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, choosing the right firewall becomes a strategic business decision.

Evaluating options like Perimeter 81, SonicWall TZ400, FortiGate 30E, Cisco Meraki MX64W, and WatchGuard Firebox T15 reveals a diversity of features, scalability, ease of use, and pricing.

While budget considerations should still play a role in your decision-making, it's essential to recognize that the right firewall is an investment in the future of your business.

It will not only provide a security buffer against external threats but also act as a sign of your commitment to responsible business practices, enhancing your brand's credibility in the eyes of customers, partners, and stakeholders.

Making the right choice in firewall technology is akin to setting a solid foundation for your business in the digital age, allowing you to navigate the cyber world with confidence and security.

References:

Cisco

Fortinet

Perimeter 81

Score

SonicWall

WatchGuard Technologies

The post Best Small Business Firewalls in 2025 [Full Review & Comparison] appeared first on Business2Community.

Strategic risks are those that arise from the decisions that directors take concerning an organization's objectives.

They form an intricate part of any business plan, and their mismanagement could lead to catastrophic results. But what exactly is strategic risk and how does it affect businesses?

Key Takeaways

• Understanding Strategic Risk: Recognizing the impact of strategic decisions on business objectives is crucial for risk management.
• Types of Strategic Risk: Businesses must plan for various types of strategic risks including change, regulatory, reputational, and governance risks.
• Real-world Examples: Highlighting major cases like Kodak, Facebook, Volkswagen, and Enron shows the critical importance and potential impact of strategic risks.
• Effective Management Strategies: Employing comprehensive risk management strategies can mitigate potential losses and leverage opportunities for growth.

What Is Strategic Risk?

Strategic risks stem from the fundamental decisions about the objectives of an organization. They are the risks associated with failing to achieve these objectives.

Often, they are subdivided into two categories:

1. Business risks;
2. Non-business risks.

Business risks derive from the decisions about the products or services that the organization supplies.

They encompass risks associated with developing and marketing those products or services, economic risks affecting product sales and costs, and risks arising from changes in the technological environment that impact on sales and production.

Non-business risks, on the other hand, do not derive from the products or services supplied.

These can include risks associated with the long-term sources of finance used, these levels of strategic risk are determined by how the organization is positioned relative to its environment, including competitor actions and technological advancements.

The 4 Common Types of Strategic Risk That You Need to Know

There are several common types of strategic risks that businesses should be aware of and plan for, including change risk, regulatory risk, reputational risk, and governance risk.

1. Change Risk

Change risk is the inherent risk of introducing any change to your business model, platform, marketing strategy, products, or almost anything related to your business. In our ever-evolving digital landscape, change is inevitable, and the ability to adapt becomes paramount.

Whether it's integrating new software or altering business operations, change introduces risk. It's absolutely vital to know what risk you are taking when you make any significant changes so that you can prepare for them. Nevertheless, it's also important that you aren't afraid of change. It's a necessary part of progress and staying competitive.

2. Regulatory Risk

Regulatory risks are any potential threat of new regulations (or new enforcement of regulations) that could disrupt business operations, create new responsibilities, or demand new technologies. These risks can include anything between the need to make small changes to your product, to a fee or even a crushing lawsuit.

Regulatory enforcement could also distract business leaders from their core operations as they must put in place new governance processes and control measures. It's important to be aware of relevant regulations so that you can remain compliant and avoid any unnecessary regulatory risk.

3. Reputational Risk

Reputational risks pertain to the threat of damage to a firm's reputation. A company's reputation is one of its most valuable assets, and any harm to it can lead to significant losses.

This risk could emerge from various situations, such as data breaches, unethical practices, or poor customer service.

4. Governance Risk

Governance risk refers to the risks brought about by poor governance, risk, and compliance processes within your organization.

This includes everything from inadequate data management to a lack of internal controls and can have severe ramifications for a company if not managed effectively.

Important Strategic Risk Examples

The following examples illustrate strategic risk and the potential impact of these risks on businesses:

Example 1 - Governance and Change Risk - Kodak Cameras

Kodak's fall from grace serves as a poignant example of governance risk. Kodak, once a behemoth in the world of photography and tech in general, found itself on the brink of extinction due to its failure to embrace the digital revolution in time.

Ironically, Kodak was the pioneer of digital photography, but its over-reliance on the lucrative film market and fear of cannibalizing film sales led to strategic inertia.

The company was unable to pivot its business model to fit the digital era, it held onto the belief that film-based photography would always remain dominant, disregarding the rapid strides in digital technology.

The world moved towards digital cameras, and later to smartphones, while Kodak continued to concentrate on selling traditional film. Kodak executives may have been worrying too much about change risk and decided to focus on old, proven technology instead of innovating further.

It wasn't until 2012 when Kodak had already filed for bankruptcy protection, that the company began to refocus its strategies towards digital technologies and services.

By then, it was a case of too little, too late, illustrating the devastating effects of governance risk and an overemphasis on change risk.

Example 2 - Regulatory Risk - Facebook Meta

Facebook (now Meta) provides an example of regulatory risk in the tech sector.

The social media giant was fined a record $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2019 for privacy violations in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

This penalty was the result of Facebook’s lax privacy practices, which allowed third parties like Cambridge Analytics to access the personal information of millions of its users without explicit consent.

Not only did Facebook incur a substantial financial loss, but it also had to make significant changes to its operations to comply with new privacy standards, affecting its business model and operating practices.

Further, these changes affected Facebook's ability to target ads as accurately as before, affecting its revenue streams.

This case underscores how regulatory risk, if not managed appropriately, can directly impact a company's profitability and reputation.

Example 3 - Reputational Risk - Volkswagen

The Volkswagen emissions scandal of 2015 offers a textbook example of reputational risk (with a side of regulatory risk). The automobile manufacturer was found to have installed software in 11 million diesel engines worldwide to cheat on emissions tests.

This deceit was not just an operational mishap but a calculated move to mislead regulators and customers about the company's environmental impact. Volkswagen executives ignored the tremendous reputational and regulatory risks of the decision, just to sell more inefficient diesel engines.

The aftermath came swiftly and brutally. Volkswagen's reputation as a trustworthy manufacturer was shattered, leading to a significant decrease in sales and plummeting stock prices.

The cost to fix the affected cars, combined with the fines and legal settlements, ran into tens of billions of dollars, the scandal left an indelible mark on the Volkswagen brand, demonstrating the far-reaching implications of reputational risk.

Example 4 - Governance Risk - Enron

The collapse of energy company Enron in 2001 remains one of the most infamous examples of governance risk.

Enron's management used a series of special-purpose entities to hide debt and inflate profits, painting a picture of a highly profitable company.

When the deceit was eventually uncovered, the entire company evaporated into thin air. It led to one of the biggest bankruptcies in U.S. history. Enron's shareholders lost billions of dollars and confidence in corporate America took a massive hit.

Enron's downfall showcases the severity of governance risk, it underscores the necessity for robust corporate governance structures, including transparency and robust internal controls.

How to Excel at Strategic Risk Management

Strategic risk management requires the identification and understanding of potential risks, evaluating their potential impacts, and implementing measures to mitigate them.

This process involves strategies such as risk avoidance, risk acceptance or retention, risk transfer, risk reduction, third-party risk management, and risk spreading.

For example, Facebook could have enacted stronger data privacy measures (risk reduction) to circumvent the heavy fine.

Similarly, Volkswagen could have adhered to emission standards (risk avoidance), thereby eliminating the reputational and regulatory risks.

Enron, on the other hand, could have employed a transparent, legal, and ethical approach to its operations, avoiding the massive losses and legal trouble that followed its downfall.

It's important to note that risk management is not just about avoiding losses; it's also about enabling growth.

When a company properly identifies and manages its strategic risks, it is better positioned to seize opportunities that others may see as too risky.

Therefore, companies must view risk management as an essential part of their strategic planning.

How Important Is Strategic Risk Management?

Strategic risk management is critical to the success of any organization, it helps identify potential risks before they become problems, allowing for proactive management.

The examples above demonstrate the dire consequences of ignoring strategic risks.

By properly managing these risks, businesses can protect their assets, improve decision-making processes, and enhance their competitiveness in the market.

In conclusion, strategic risk management isn't just about protecting against potential downsides; it also provides the strategic flexibility to seize opportunities that come with uncertainty and change.

Ignoring strategic risks can have grave consequences while managing them well can lead to sustained growth and success.

References:

ACCA Global

Diligent

Skaleet

FTC

BBC News

Investopedia

Accounting Tools

Tech Slang

Risk Publishing

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The post What Is Strategic Risk? Explained Through Real Life Examples & Case Studies appeared first on Business2Community.

When a person buys a home and doesn’t have more than 20% to put down, the bank requires that the buyer purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI). In the event that the buyer defaults on the loan and the bank can’t recoup their principle when the property is sold, the SBA will contribute the spread to make the bank whole. The SBA is essentially PMI for business loans.

Since banks are the direct lenders to Small businesses, the bank is the one that has to feel comfortable with the business’s ability to repay the loan. With all its influence, the government is not in a place to force banks to make loans they do not feel are prudent.

Banks are especially reluctant to extend loans when it comes to new ventures. One key criterion that banks use to determine if they will extend a loan to a business is sufficient cash flow to pay the principal and interest on the debt. New ventures don’t have cash flow yet so unless the loan if for an asset and there are sufficient other unencumbered assets that can be pledged as collateral banks are not in a position to issue a loan.

Generally speaking, the SBA hits its stride in the small business world only after the business has proven its business model and it is producing a cash flow that is contributing to profits. This is why I say that debt in the form of a bank loan is not for startups but to scale a successful business.

The following are the three primary loan programs that the SBA supports.

SBA 7(a) Loans

The 7(a) Loan Program is the SBA’s most common loan program and includes financial help for small businesses with special requirements. This is the best option when real estate is part of a business purchase, but it can also be used for:

• Short and long-term working capital
• Refinance current business debt
• Purchase furniture, fixtures, and supplies

The maximum loan amount for a 7(a) loan is $5 million. Key eligibility factors are based on what the business does to receive its income, its credit history, and where the business operates. Your lender will help you figure out which type of loan is best suited for your needs.

To be eligible for SBA 7(a) loan assistance, businesses must:

• Operate for profit
• Be considered a small business, as defined by SBA
• Be engaged in, or propose to do business in, the United States or its possessions
• Have reasonable invested equity
• Use alternative financial resources, including personal assets, before seeking financial assistance
• Be able to demonstrate a need for a loan
• Use the funds for a sound business purpose
• Not be delinquent on any existing debt obligations to the U.S. government

Basic uses for the 7(a) loan include:

• Long and short-term working capital
• Revolving funds based on the value of existing inventory and receivables
• The purchase of equipment, machinery, furniture, fixtures, supplies, or materials
• The purchase of real estate, including land and buildings
• The construction a new building or renovation an existing building
• Establishing a new business or assisting in the acquisition, operation or expansion of an existing business

Most 7(a) term loans are repaid with monthly payments of principal and interest. Payments stay the same for fixed-rate loans because the interest rate is constant. For variable rate loans, the lender can require a different payment amount when the interest rate changes

The SBA 7(a) program can guarantee up to:

• 85% of a loan up to $150,000
• 75% of a loan greater than $150,000

Loans to Buy Out Early-Stage Investors

One of the biggest values that I think the SBA brings to the small businesses community is the ability within the 7(a) loan program to buy out a minority partner that wants out of a successful business.

One of the early-stage funding options that I share with many clients who have an LLC and need funding is to reach out to a high-income earner, such as a Doctor or Lawyer, and encourage them to invest in their new venture simply to claim the losses on their income taxes.

With an LLC you can use the operating agreement to grant this investor 100% of the loss which they can use to offset their taxable income from other sources such as their high-income salary. A business can stipulate in its operating agreement any level of decision-making involvement the investor may have, if any, and the proposed exit strategy.

Once the business is successful and the business’s value has gone up the founder can use the SBA 7(a) loan program to get an SBA loan to buy the high-income investor out at the new and higher valuation.

The SBA 7(a) loan program offers 100% financing (no down payment) if both of the following conditions are met:

1. Purchasing shareholder, generally the founder, has been in the business for at least 2 years and owns either an equal or greater percentage of the business then the exiting shareholder.
2. Prior to purchase, the company is not leveraged more than 9 times on the last interim and fiscal year-end balance sheet.

SBA 504 Loans

The CDC/504 Loan Program provides long-term, fixed-rate financing of up to $5 million for major fixed assets that promote business growth and job creation.

The SBA 504 loan is available through Certified Development Companies (CDCs), SBA’s community-based partners who regulate non-profits and promote economic development within their communities. CDCs are certified and regulated by SBA.

To be eligible for an SBA 504 Loan, your business must:

• Operate as a for-profit company in the United States or its possessions
• Have a tangible net worth of less than $15 million
• Have an average net income of less than $5 million after federal income taxes for the two years preceding your application

Other general eligibility standards include falling within SBA size guidelines, having qualified management expertise, a feasible business plan, good character, and the ability to repay the loan.

Loans cannot be made to businesses engaged in nonprofit, passive, or speculative activities. For additional information on eligibility criteria and loan application requirements, small businesses and lenders are encouraged to contact a Certified Development Company in their area.

An SBA 504 loan  can be used for a range of assets that promote business growth and job creation. These include the purchase or construction of:

• Existing buildings or land
• New facilities
• Long-term machinery and equipment

Or the improvement or modernization of:

• Land, streets, utilities, parking lots and landscaping
• Existing facilities

An SBA 504 loan  cannot  be used for:

• Working capital or inventory
• Consolidating, repaying or refinancing debt
• Speculation or investment in rental real estate

Maturity terms available for an SBA 504 loan can be:

• 10-year
• 20-year
• 25-year

SBA Microloans

The SBA microloan program provides loans up to $50,000 to help small businesses and certain not-for-profit childcare centers start up and expand. The average microloan is about $13,000.

The SBA provides funds to specially designated intermediary lenders, which are nonprofit community-based organizations with experience in lending as well as management and technical assistance. These intermediaries administer the Microloan program for eligible borrowers.

Each intermediary lender has its own lending and credit requirements. Generally, intermediaries require some type of collateral as well as the personal guarantee of the business owner.

The SBA Microloan can  be used for a variety of purposes that  help small businesses expand. Use them when you need  less than $50,000 to  rebuild, re-open, repair, enhance, or improve your small business.

Examples include:

• Working capital
• Inventory
• Supplies
• Furniture
• Fixtures
• Machinery
• Equipment

Proceeds from an SBA microloan  cannot  be used to pay existing debts or to purchase real estate.

The maximum repayment term allowed for an SBA microloan is six years.

Disaster Loan Assistance

SBA also provides low-interest, long-term loans for physical and economic damage caused by a declared disaster. There are four types of disaster loan assistance that the SBA provides.

Home and Personal Property Loans

If you are in a declared disaster area and have experienced damage to your home or personal property, you may be eligible for financial assistance from the SBA, even if you do not own a business. As a homeowner, renter, and/or personal property owner, you may apply to the SBA for a loan to help you recover from a disaster such as a fire or flood.

Business Physical Disaster Loans

If you are in a declared disaster area and have experienced damage to your business, you may be eligible for financial assistance from the SBA. Businesses of any size and most private nonprofit organizations may apply to the SBA for a loan to recover after a disaster.

SBA makes physical disaster loans of up to $2 million to qualified businesses or most private nonprofit organizations. These loan proceeds may be used for the repair or replacement of the following:

• Real property
• Machinery
• Equipment
• Fixtures
• Inventory
• Leasehold improvements

The SBA Business Physical Disaster Loan covers disaster losses not fully covered by insurance. If you are required to apply insurance proceeds to an outstanding mortgage on the damaged property, you can include that amount in your disaster loan application.

If you make improvements that help reduce the risk of future property damage caused by a similar disaster, you may be eligible for up to a 20 percent loan amount increase above the real estate damage, as verified by the SBA.

You may not use the disaster loan to upgrade or expand a business, except as required by building codes.

Economic Injury Disaster Loans

If you have suffered substantial economic injury and are either a small business, small agricultural cooperative, or private nonprofit organization and you are located in a declared disaster area, you may be eligible for an SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL):

Loan Amounts and Use
Substantial economic injury means the business is unable to meet its obligations and to pay its ordinary and necessary operating expenses. EIDLs provide the necessary working capital to help small businesses survive until normal operations resume after a disaster.

The SBA can provide up to $2 million to help meet financial obligations and operating expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred. Your loan amount will be based on your actual economic injury and your company’s financial needs, regardless of whether the business suffered any property damage.

Military Reservists Economic Injury Loans

The Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan (MREIDL) provides funds to help an eligible small business meet its ordinary and necessary operating expenses that it could have met, but is unable to, because an essential employee was called-up to active duty in his or her role as a military reservist.

The maximum MREIDL loan amount is $2 million. The amount of each loan is limited to the actual economic injury as calculated by SBA. The amount is also limited by business interruption insurance and whether the business and/or its owners have sufficient funds to operate. If a business is a major source of employment, SBA has the authority to waive the $2 million statutory limit.

The purpose of MREIDL loans is not to cover lost income or lost profits. MREIDL funds cannot be used in lieu of regular commercial debt, to refinance long-term debt, or to expand the business.

How can you use one of the SBA programs to scale, buy out one of your early-stage investors or recover from a declared disaster?

The post What You Need to Know About the Role of the SBA appeared first on Business2Community.

But before you’re ready to work with someone to create a digital content strategy for your business, you may have some questions about what it is and how we go about creating a strategy that’s customized for your business, your goals, and your ideal customers.

What is a digital content strategy?

So let’s start here: A digital content strategy is a group of tactics you’ve chosen strategically to help you reach a particular goal in your business.

Tactics, in this case, include things like:

• SEO
• podcasting
• long-form videos on YouTube
• short-form videos on social media
• social media posts
• live videos on social media
• challenges, summits, and events
• webinars
• email newsletters
• hashtags
• partnerships
• advertising

And so on.

How to create a digital content strategy for your small business:

For us at our agency, I define small businesses as being up to around $5 million a year in revenue; beyond that, businesses usually start to hire marketing people in-house. Specifically, my agency works with businesses earning anywhere between, say, $250k and $5mm a year because that’s our sweet spot, but the following information should be useful for even businesses at an earlier revenue stage.

1. Know your goals.

So many articles will talk about KPIs and metrics in the same breath as goals, but for small businesses, it often comes down not so much to things like click-thru rates and website conversion rates, and more to: what do you want to achieve?

That’s where I start with all my clients.

What do you want to achieve in the next 6-12 months?

Your answer will inform what kind of digital content strategy you want to put together and where you want to focus your efforts.

For example: If a client comes to me and tells me that she wants to write a book proposal and sell a nonfiction book to a major publisher in the next year, the content strategy we create for her will be very different from someone who has a very high ticket program or service and only needs to fill, say, 15 spots in a year.

So, start with the goal. If it’s a revenue goal, work backwards from there and determine how many sales you need (and of which products) to meet that revenue goal.

If it’s a visibility goal, determine how many people you want to add to your audience. In our book proposal example above, it’s well known that publishers look to see if authors have an existing platform, so an aspiring author might want to shoot for 10,000 followers on social media to shore up their marketability with a publishing house.

At its most basic, a digital content strategy is about building an audience of potential customers.

To know what tactics you want to add to your digital content strategy, you need to have an idea of how many people you want to add to your audience.

Some important numbers to know:

If you’re selling something online with a sales page and a “buy now” button, you can expect a 1–3% conversion rate. That means, between 1–3% of the people who land on the page will decide to make a purchase. (This is average; you may have a better or worse conversion rate for any given offer.)

If you’re selling something via a phone (or zoom) call, your average conversion rate will probably hang around 50%. It’s worth tracking to find out what your personal conversion rate is so you know how many people you need to speak to in order to reach your sales goals.

But these numbers mean that the number of people you need to have in your audience is actually exponentially bigger than your sales goals.

For example, email is still the best place to nurture your audience for most businesses, but the average click thru rate for emails is also 1–3%. That means, if you have 5,000 people who actually open an email, you can expect around 50 of them to click on a link to a sales page…

…and of those 50, you might make 1 sale.

This is not to make you feel bad about yourself, your business, or your numbers! (And remember: these are averages. Your conversion rates may be better or worse.)

Rather, this is to help you get a more reasonable idea of how many people you need in your audience to meet your sales or growth goals and your digital content strategy.

2. Choose the discovery channel for your digital content strategy

At this point, the vast majority of my clients realize they aren’t reaching enough people and that they need a digital content strategy that will grow their audience.

And many realize they don’t even really have a clear way for new people to discover their business.

I call this your discovery channel: the part of your digital content strategy focused on how new people will find your business.

There are lots of different tactics that can be added to your digital content strategy here to fill the role of your discovery channel:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• advertising
• partnerships
• publicity (including traditional media, guest blogging, podcast interviews, etc.)
• hashtag strategy

And so on.

You want to define at least one strong discovery channel as part of your digital marketing strategy; and, depending on how quickly you want or need to grow, you may choose more than one.

The metrics to track for this channel are essentially how many new audience members you’re adding per strategy, per month.

3. Define your nurture channels for your digital content strategy and choose your Power Platform

The next part of your digital content strategy that you want to focus on is how you will nurture the audience you have and are growing to become leads and potential customers.

Your nurture channels include anywhere that you’re having a conversation with your audience and leading them down the path to becoming a customer.

Nurture channels might include:

• social media
• blogs
• podcasts
• email newsletters
• videos (long and short)

And so on.

Usually what I recommend is that small business owners choose one Power Platform where they will share their thought leadership, and then use other channels to drive their audience to that Power Platform. This is the backbone of your digital content strategy.

How do you choose a Power Platform? Well, think about how you most like to communicate — what’s easiest for you. Is it writing? Speaking? Recording videos? The medium will often dictate the platform.

For example, if you love to write, you might choose blog articles or email newsletters as your Power Platform. If you prefer speaking, a podcast might be best for you. And if you love to be on camera, video is the way to go whether it’s live or pre-recorded.

(Quick note: some people love to verbally process their ideas, but don’t want to start a podcast or video series. In that case, I recommend finding a great writer who can take your verbal processing and turn it into articles, the way we do for our clients.)

Once you know your Power Platform, you’ll want to focus most of your efforts on creating content for that platform, and let your other channels — like Instagram captions, Facebook posts, Tweets, etc. — point back to your Power Platform posts.

4. Choose your Power Platform content topics strategically

Now, because we want to focus on quality over quantity, you’ll need to choose your content topics strategically.

Essentially, we want each piece of content you create for your Power Platform to help move your audience a little bit closer towards a sale.

In practice, there are practically infinite ways to accomplish this, but here are some pointers:

• Think about what your ideal customer needs to know, do, feel, or experience right before they say yes to the sale and create content about that. (This is all about understanding your customer awareness spectrum.)
• Consider what myths or objections you can overcome for people with your content — maybe before they even think of it themselves.
• Be sure you’re writing content for your ideal customer: for example, if you sell a done-for-you service, don’t tell them how to do it for themselves; that will attract the wrong audience.
• Think about what action you want people to take from each piece of content, and be sure to have a strong call to action in every one.

Once you’ve chosen your topics, you’ll want to organize them into some kind of editorial calendar for your digital marketing strategy. I offer a template of the same system we use with our clients here.

5. Create your distribution plan.

As I mentioned, your Power Platform is where you’re going to share your deeper thought leadership — but you still need to promote and distribute it on your other nurture channels so that everyone in your audience gets to see it!

Typically, for many of my clients, this means having an assistant create content for the other channels.

And for a lot of people, this is where the process can start to break down. They find outsourcing this sort of content creation to be challenging and the results not up to their standards.

There are three main things you need to successfully outsource content creation — whether that means an assistant who creates some Instagram and Facebook posts for you, or a full content production team:

1. A content calendar (see step 4 above!)
2. A brand voice style guide
3. And a clear content workflow and standard operating procedure

As I said, whether you have one part-time assistant or an entire team, having these 3 pieces in place will make outsourcing any part of your digital content strategy that much easier.

6. Test, measure, and iterate

The final piece of the puzzle when you’re thinking about how to create your digital content strategy is to simply test things out and see what works.

The “see what works” part is key — which means you have to keep track of those metrics we were mentioning back in step 1.

Of course, the metrics you want to track will vary based on your strategy, but some common ones include:

• how many new people you add to your audience across various channels
• email open and click thru rates
• conversion rates for your sales pages or sales conversations
• engagement on your nurture channels

And so on.

Get comfortable with your numbers and track what’s working — and what isn’t.

There’s a popular piece of advice for writers: “Kill your darlings.” It means, be willing to cut things that don’t work — even if you love them.

The same is true for marketing. You need to be willing and able to look at the different pieces of your digital content strategy and be able to tell whether or not they’re actually working to bring you closer to your goal.

If the answer is yes: great! Do more of that.

If the answer is no: you have to be willing to let those things go, even if you enjoy them, if they’re no longer a good use of your time and resources.

For example, a business owner might love doing their podcast, but if the metrics show that it’s not meaningfully contributing to their business goals, they have to be willing to either try something different with the way they’re approaching the podcast, or let it go entirely.

The post How to Create a Digital Content Strategy For Your Small Business appeared first on Business2Community.

Although there’s no universal recipe in the business world, there are a few essential ingredients that all small businesses need to increase their chances of success. Here are seven of my top tips on how to make your small business thrive.

1. Automate Business Processes

Believe it or not, this one element can have a transformational impact on your business. By automating some repetitive tasks, such as supply chain, logistics, weekly newsletters, and social media, you make things easier for yourself and give your employees the time to focus on more pressing issues.

And when it comes to automation, there are plenty of options for business of any size, which you can further tailor to your specific needs. The company argano.com, for example, offers cloud-based solutions perfect for small businesses.

2. Go Digital

Everyone knows being online is essential, but integrating digital marketing practices in your business is a must if you want to succeed.

From getting more customers to understanding your audience better, the benefits of digitizing are innumerable. There are many ways you can go about it, but some of the most common include:

• setting up branded social media page profiles.
• creating daily or weekly content for your website or blog.
• adding calls-to-action to all website and social media pages.
• paying for advertising on digital platforms like LinkedIn.

3. Build a Compelling Brand

You don’t just build a business, you’re building a story.

Storytelling plays an important role in the overall success of your business. Building a solid brand around your brand story also gives you more opportunities to connect with customers. Here are a few branding techniques you can use to make your small business’s brand story thrive:

• define who your brand is before you create a logo that differentiates your brand.
• use the same story and strategy for all aspects of your branding: website, events, social media.
• know your audience and create a specific message for each stakeholder and consumer persona.
• use visuals to strengthen your brand’s identity: videos, infographics, and photos.

4. Offer Remarkable Customer Experiences

Customer service is one of the most important aspects of any business, and it’s especially crucial for small businesses. Offering excellent customer service helps you get more sales, repeat customers, and it also builds a strong relationship with your clients.

And always remember that their are real costs to having poor customer services, as we’ve written about here before.

5. “Mobile-ize” Your Business

Most people are spending more time on their mobile phones than they are on their computers these days. This fact alone makes it crucial for businesses to have a mobile-friendly website.

In a world where everything is going mobile, you’re doing your business and your customers a great disservice by not having a mobile-friendly website. If you need to revamp your website, make sure it can be accessed easily on mobiles and tablets.

Having a mobile-friendly website also gives your business an edge in search engine rankings because it gets prioritized when it comes to displaying search results.

6. Get Involved In Your Community

Getting involved in your community can do wonders for your business. There are numerous ways to do this well, from sponsoring local events to becoming a member of your local chamber of commerce.

When people see your brand being associated with good things, it positively impacts your business. Not only that but being involved can help you attract new customers and partners.

7. Stay Up-To-Date On Trends

To stay ahead of the competition, you need to constantly update your business on the latest trends in your industry. This doesn’t just mean following industry news. It also means being active on social media and attending industry events.

Knowing what’s going on in your industry will help you develop new ideas, better understand your customers, and stay ahead of the competition.

The Takeaway

These are just a few of the many things you can do to help boost your small business—there’s a lot more you can do regarding tactics, strategy, discovery research, omnichannel strategy, and much more. Just remember that success doesn’t happen overnight.

You can do many other things to boost your small business, but following these tips should give you a good head start and can make a big difference for your business. So, get to work and start seeing results!

The post 7 Tips to Boost Small Business Sales in 2022 appeared first on Business2Community.

Things started with a bang. In January, my longtime friend and head writer, Teri Vannoy, made the decision to move on and accept a full time position elsewhere. I ended up hiring three new writers to help take over her client work with us.

In February, we had our biggest revenue month ever. It seemed like the year was off to a roaring start. But over the next few months, a lot of weird things started happening…

We onboarded more retainer blogging clients than ever — but then we also had more churn than ever before.

Our Facebook ads, which had been working to send a steady (if small) stream of inquiries every month, stopped working.

We decided to clean up our email list and ran a re-engagement campaign, but ended up going from around 5,000 people on our list to fewer than 300. Saved a ton on email fees, but was a real hit to the old ego.

By mid-summer, our regular flow of referrals and inquiries dried up almost completely. I hired a fractional sales person to try to drum up business, but even she struggled to find qualified leads.

I’m not going to lie: these were stressful, anxious times. Summer is always a slow time in our business, but this felt different. I remember telling my mastermind group that next year I would just take August off completely because it’s so dead.

By October, I was crying on the phone with my accountant, feeling like a complete failure at everything, and considering if I should take out a government SBA loan.

Interestingly, after I chose not to panic and believed that business would recover, I experienced a wave of creativity. I developed a REALLY FUN podcast project set to launch in early 2022 (stay tuned!); I released a low-cost content planning template for Black Friday that did really well; and I created my new Power Platform assessment.

And then, like magic, people started booking calls and projects again in November. I sold double the number of VIP days I set out to sell and completely booked myself out until January. I had a very successful Black Friday sale. We’re getting solid leads and inquiries and selling retainers again to fantastic clients I look forward to long relationships with.

So the big question is, WHAT THE F*%& HAPPENED??

I had the opportunity to have this conversation in a business group I belong to a few weeks ago and the consensus was that this summer was outrageously slow — and not just for B2B service businesses like mine. People weighing in to say “me too” included a lawyer, SaaS company founder, high end business coaches, and more.

There doesn’t seem to be consensus around why — I saw one suggestion that people were traveling for the first time in a while this summer, or that people were feeling conservative, not knowing what was going to happen with COVID.

Regardless, here are a few lessons I’m going to take away from 2021:

1. Operating with a net makes the ups and downs of business a lot easier to tolerate — in this case, I’m talking about a savings account with a couple months of operating expenses saved up. (Thank you Profit First and my amazing bookkeepers!)
2. I can scale up the agency — but with more writers and more clients comes more management tasks and oversight that need to happen.
3. Facebook ads can work for a service like ours — but if we ever try that again, I need to have strong pre-qualifying questions in place. (Almost 100% of our client churn happened with clients who came in through Facebook ads.)
4. Shockingly, you have to talk about your offers. When I did a debrief for my coach about what I had done differently to sell out my VIP days for the 4th quarter, the biggest difference (beyond the beta pricing) was just that I was talking about them more than ever. Guess sometimes I have to take my own medicine!
5. But sometimes you have to change up how you’re talking about your offers — especially if you’ve been offering the same thing for a long time.
6. One of my biggest challenges is watching my expenses. I have a strong value of paying people well, and that isn’t going to change, but I also have to be more mindful of what percentage of my revenue is going to my expenses. “Can I afford it?” is about more than whether or not I have cash in the bank.
7. There is no easy button when it comes to marketing and selling. It’s a lesson I apparently need to learn over and over again. I have to remind myself not to fall for anybody selling me a pole.

We’re ending the year on a high note. 2021 will go down as our highest revenue year ever — despite the ups and downs. I’m excited about what’s next for us and what 2022 will bring.

• My TOP SECRET podcast project! So excited about this one.
• Partnering with Mike Roderick to offer the Content Innovation Circle workshop (in January — watch for it!).
• Expanding my Power Platform diagnostic.
• A brand refresh.
• A return to blogging for my own biz and a greater focus on SEO.

And if you read this far, I want to say a big, humongous thank you for being a part of this crazy ride with me. Without you, there is no Content Direction Agency, and I hope you know I never forget it.

The post 7 Things 2021 Taught Me About My Business appeared first on Business2Community.

I've been trying to understand "The Great Resignation," a term used after the pandemic, to grasp why so many people are opting to become full-time entrepreneurs or start side hustles that they hope will eventually turn into full-time jobs. Common reasons mentioned include burnout, the wish to work remotely, mistreatment by employers, and low pay. However, I believe these reasons alone don't fully explain the significant shift in employment. As I tried to figure out what’s really behind this trend, I remembered a post I wrote back in March 2015 about personal fulfillment, and I wondered if there might be a connection between personal fulfillment and the great resignation.

After thinking it over, I've realized that the pandemic allowed many people to rethink how satisfied they feel with their jobs. This is the main reason behind the great resignation and helps explain why so many workers are leaving steady jobs to start their own businesses or take on side hustles for personal fulfillment.

Before the 2020-2021 pandemic, as a society, we were used to and molded into a routine to obey and to do what had to be done without much reflection on what really made us happy. From a young age, we were taught to go to school, get good grades so we could get into college, and choose a good-paying career path, so we could earn a decent wage and save for retirement. People got a job solely to make money to support their lifestyle. Unfortunately, this often led many to choose an occupation that did not provide much in the way of personal fulfillment. When you do not get any type of personal fulfillment from your job, going to the office becomes a chore and soul-crushing over time.

The pandemic gave many people a pause. It provided a time for personal reflection that they lacked when they went to their 9 to 5 jobs every day. Many employees began to realize that there must be more to life than working a meaningless job for 40 plus years to reach retirement.

Incentives to pursue their personal fulfillment goals included several rounds of direct stimulus payments, American Rescue Plan benefits, and direct monthly child tax credits. All these benefits and payments acted as seed capital for many to reconsider the old 9 to 5 paradigm of a job.

Factor in a lack of daycare options that forced many former dual-income households to pick one parent to adopt a more flexible work schedule and act as a daycare provider. Many of the stay-at-home parents turned to side-hustles or started a home-based business to make ends meet while also feeding their ikigai personal fulfillment goals. They traded a job to peruse their life’s work which is the essence of ikigai.

Tim Tamashiro said it best in his TEDxYYC talk when he explained that a job is what you do to earn money. It is a paid position of regular employment so you can pay for housing, food, and so on. When you have a job, your role is to put in the effort so you can get paid. For most people with a job, it was not very personally fulfilling. That is what the vast majority of people were conditioned to do with their lives before the pandemic.

Work, on the other hand, is what you do to achieve some kind of result. Work is an activity involving mental and/or physical effort to achieve a purpose or result. The result could be the introduction of a new product that you felt could change the world or a purpose to create a more meaningful you. Working to achieve a result is far more personally fulfilling than just putting in the effort at a job. Work is what has always driven the entrepreneur to trade security for the pursuit of a purpose.

Therefore, in my humble opinion, the great resignation is not about burnout, poor treatment by employers, or not earning enough. It is about people trading in a job so they can focus on finding fulfilling work. When your work is personally fulfilling, it will not feel like work. You will wake up energized each morning and look forward to the day ahead and ultimately devote more of your energy to your work and live a happier life. Finding your work is where ikigai comes in.

The image I used in that original post was based on the Japanese philosophy of “Ikigai” and was used in the context of choosing the right occupation that will make you the happiest. Ikigai is a term that derives from two Japanese words: iki meaning “life; alive” and kai meaning “result; worth; benefit”. Simply put, it is about finding a meaningful life or one’s personal fulfillment.

The most common way of depicting ikigai is with a Venn diagram. Your ikigai personal fulfillment is at the intersection of four overlapping circles.

• What you love to do
• What you are really good at
• What the world needs
• What you can get paid for

Your personal fulfillment or ikigai requires a deep awareness of these four questions. The Institute of You provided a good list of questions as the first step in helping you find your ikigai.

How to answer the question: What you love to do

• What is most important to you in life?
• What are your values and how do you use them every day?
• Who are the people you love spending time with?
• What is your goal in life?
• What makes you smile?
• Where do you find beauty?
• What bodily sensations do you feel when you are happy?
• What makes you calm?
• What would you like to learn that you don’t know yet?

How to answer the question: What you are really good at

• What activities do you do in your personal time?
• What is easy for you?
• What are your achievements?
• What do you enjoy doing the most in life?
• What are your strengths?

How to answer the question: What the world needs

• How do you help others?
• What could people do more or differently?
• What is the world lacking?
• What will you leave behind?
• How could you be more involved in your community?

How to answer the question: What you can be paid for

• How much money do you need per month to cover your needs?
• What would you do with more money?
• What type of employment would you want: part-time or full-time? Temporary or permanent? Employee, freelance, or business owner?
• What work environment would you be happier in: working from home, having your own office, or an open space?
• What are the jobs that require the skills you already have? (see “what you are good at”)
• What is important to you in the company you work for?
• How does your company or the people who pay you match your values?
• What does success mean to you?

Ikigai is personal, specific for each one of us, and represents where our passion, mission, vocation, and professional lives meet.

• Your passion is what you’re good at and what you love
• Your mission is what you love and what the world needs
• Your vocation is what the world needs and what you can be paid for
• Your profession is what you can be paid for and what you’re good at

Successful entrepreneurs conduct an extensive introspective search of their soul to discover what they love to do and match it to their talents, what the world needs, and what can earn them money. Finding your ikigai or what it takes to achieve personal fulfillment is not only at the heart of the great resignation but is the fire that is forging the next generation of small businesses.

How can you use the knowledge of ikigai to discover your personal fulfillment so you can launch your own business?

The post How Ikigai Is Driving Personal Fulfillment and Changing Small Businesses appeared first on Business2Community.

That's why we dove in to find the best small business ideas for those of you who are looking to get out of your mundane 9-5 job, or just want something new to invest your time and brain power into. In this post you'll learn:

• The 25 best businesses to start in 2022
• Details and salary information
• 60 more great small business ideas to inspire you

The best small businesses to start in 2022: our verdict

Knowing that people have different motivations for starting their own business, we searched for the best small business ideas in four different areas: stability, profitability, ease of starting, and creativity. Before we get into each one, let's cut to the chase and give you our prize-winners for each category:

1. Best small business to start from home: web developer
2. Best stable small business: childcare owner
3. Best profitable small business: event planner
4. Easiest small business: notary
5. Most creative small business: travel planner

Small business ideas from home

Remote work is all the rage, for good reason. Why leave your house to make money when you don’t have to? No more commute, no more expensive lunches and inescapable coworkers. We have the best small business ideas that you can make happen right from the comfort of your home.

1. Childcare business

After entire families were stuck at home together for months on end, daycare providers are in high-demand for parents who transitioned to remote work. The best part? If you are a stay-at-home parent, you can offer daycare out of your home and take care of your kids at the same time.

Avg. yearly salary: $29,000

2. Virtual fitness trainer

During and after the pandemic, gyms saw huge drops in membership numbers and influencers had a field day with DIY at-home videos. People figured out that they don’t need to go all the way into a gym to exercise. And the rise of video fitness trainers created an interest in a variety of exercise experiences. Which is a fancy way of saying that online fitness training, on YouTube, Instagram, via the MindBody app, and more, is a thriving business model.

Salaries for trainers range from $30,000 - $70,000 per year, but the money you make online would be dependent on your pricing model.

Image source

Fitness trainer or not, video is the way to go. Follow our tips on how to get more video views and rank higher on YouTube.

3. Web developer

Learning to be a web developer does require training and upfront schooling costs. However, there are plenty of boot camps that will get you up to speed. And the best thing about web development is that you can choose a plethora of specialities, from focusing on marketing websites to e-commerce to blogs...basically anything you can browse on the internet.

If you’re not looking to actually be a web developer, consider starting a small business to manage them. Freelance web development is in high demand!

Web dev salaries are fairly high, starting around $60,000 per year and going up to $150,000 depending on your skillset and location.

4. Executive assistant

As the economy experiences massive growth through tech, there are plenty of up-and-coming c-suite executives who somehow never learned to schedule meetings (shots fired). But really, being an executive assistant can take place from the comfort of your home at a remote company, and if your executive is looking for part-time help, you can take on more than one. And there you have it, a burgeoning small business from home!

5. Nonprofit Work

Starting a small business is a lot easier when you know you’re contributing a net-good to your community. Starting a nonprofit isn’t easy, but it can be done remotely, particularly if you’re looking to run this business yourself. Pick a cause that you feel passionately about and dive right in.

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Always-good small business ideas

What do we mean by “good” small businesses? We mean evergreen, stable businesses that provide a service people will always need. Anecdotally, my grandfather heard Hoover promise to put a chicken in everyone’s pot. People will always eat chicken. So he started a chicken business. Don’t worry, these small business ideas don’t require plucking feathers.

6. Translator

As the world becomes more global, the need for translation services continues to rise. Some of that involves translating emails, documents, and content, but others are more service-oriented, like accompanying groups or business leaders on international trips. It’s important to note that you’ll not only need conversational translation skills but also grammatical and structural understanding of a language.

7. Tutor

If you’re an adult who has graduated from high school and/or college, you likely have something to teach kids. If you have an affinity for teaching, try out tutoring first. Not only can you tutor multiple students, you can dabble in different subject matter, like SATs or remedial Spanish. The time commitment stays according to what you want and small tutoring businesses are in high-demand, even remotely.

8. Nanny

People just keep having babies! If you love playing with kids, using your imagination and packing snacks, a nanny business might be for you. Depending on your level of commitment to one family, sometimes nannying positions offer food, board, and benefits, or you could be a part time nanny!

9. IT consulting

This is a small business that is always needed by other small businesses. If you know your way around an IT stack and know how to fix it when it breaks, make a website and start collecting payments because you’re in high demand.

IT professionals are well-compensated by job or by the hour.

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10. Online advertiser

At this point, to say that digital marketing is an ever-growing industry is to say that the sky is blue. It's a fact and businesses that want to survive must invest in online marketing strategies, but small business owners wearing many hats don't have time to learn or keep up with the ever-changing platforms. Consider starting an advertising gig for small businesses. You might even end up starting your own agency.

If you want to learn about online advertising, you're in the right place, my friend (both on this blog and in this post). Here are our best recommendations:

• The 9 Best Free Google Ads Training Courses for Any Level
• The 8 Facebook Ads Courses for Every Level

Small profitable business ideas

Why start a business if you’re not sure you’ll make money? We all work to live (hopefully), and these small business ideas will make you the most money to keep your bank account plump and your vacations fancy.

11. Handyman

Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. While I am in the process of renovating an old house, I have never appreciated handymen more. If you are handy around the house and like figuring out how to fix things, a handyman business could be for you.

Payment for handymen varies based on the type and length of a job.

Related: Home Services Advertising Benchmarks

12. Event planner

This may fall into creative small businesses, but it is also a fairly steady job (despite the pandemic). People will always celebrate birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, holidays, and need help with planning the events. If you are hyper-organized, can herd cats with the best of them, and have attention to detail, consider planning events!

Image source

13. Transcriptionist

With video content becoming more popular by the year, transcription services become even more important. In fact, I was desperately searching for transcriptions just last week. Now, I’m referring to casual marketing video transcription but for a legal or court transcriptionist or medical, you’ll need certifications that are fairly affordable to get.

Transcriptionists make an average of $52,000 per year.

14. Movers

We’ve seen a rash of big moves the past few years with people exiting urban areas to purchase homes in the suburbs—and some migration back to big cities as well. Moving isn’t fun for anyone and small moving companies have made a fortune on this real estate boom. Get in on the action by starting a small moving business.

Movers typically get paid per hour or per job, if it’s a multi-day, out-of-state move.

Image source

15. Antiquities renovation

Okay, it’s likely you’ve never heard of this one, and it likely mostly applies to people who live in historic areas. However, there is a niche market for people who are able to restore and reinstall original fixtures in old homes, from cabinet pulls to bricks and old window panes. In fact, I just bought 200 year old bricks specific to my town to place in the house I’m renovating. So if vintage charm is your style, this small business may also be.

Easy small business ideas

Looking for a side hustle that doesn’t take too much effort? Same. We found the easiest small businesses to start that will also be (we hope) fun too!

16. Pet care

Not to disregard the effort that goes into raising pets, taking care of pets can be the best job ever. You can be a dog walker, a cat sitter, check on chickens, feed horses, the list goes on and on. You can choose which jobs you want to take, what hours you want to work, and sometimes you’ll get to house sit as an added bonus.

Pet sitter businesses make between $10-$25 per hour, depending on the number of pets and your location.

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17. Proofreading/quality assurance

I’m pretty stoked on this one. Yes, being a proofreader and QA specialist are different...but also very similar. If you are a good writer and have a knack for noticing tiny details, these jobs might be for you. They are always in high demand, because who has time to check their own work these days, and you can easily pick up work on UpWork or a number of other freelance sites until your portfolio is ready to launch your small business.

Proofreaders and QA specialists can get paid up to $80,000 per year.

18. Notary

Ever need something notarized and don’t know where to go? Luckily, I know some small business owners who have a notary on-call. Becoming a notary isn’t the easiest process, but it isn’t expensive. And once you’re done, you too can be an on-call notary or offer your services to courthouses and small businesses full-time.

Notary salaries have a broad range from $20,000-$52,000 per year. But being able to choose when to work (or not) while you have a high-demand certification will come in clutch.

19. Short-term rental manager

Once upon a time, my parents rented out half of their house on AirBnb. They made a killing in their little hotel-less town with grandparents visiting family, families in between homes, and business people staying for a consulting project. Eventually they stopped Airbnb because it was too much work for my mom to clean and sanitize after every guest.

Point of the story: rental managers are largely successful and becoming even more so with the rise of home rentals. Reach out to local Airbnb and VRBO hosts to see how you can help manage their rentals acting as a sort-of superintendent for guests.

Rental manager salaries are dependent on where you are located, but most profitable in urban centers.

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20. Personal shopper

Being a personal shopper is the dream of so many fashion students. Imagine being able to shop for the perfect jewelry, clothing, furnishings, and not actually having to pay for any of it! With the expansion of online ecommerce stores, most of this job can be done remotely. And personal shoppers are well-compensated, earning about $60,000 per year.

Creative small business ideas

Want to start a small business to lean into your creative juices? Maybe you work in a corporate environment and excel sheets have dried up your brain. I’m all for having a creative outlet, and if you can make money off of it, even better. Here are our creative small business ideas.

21. Landscaper

If I had leaned into the plant-mom craze, I might want to be a landscaper, but I hate gardening. However, if you’re the type of person who gets stress relief from gardening, landscaping might be for you.

This can be one of the most satisfying, creative jobs. You’ll have the ability to transform properties into magic gardens—or at least maintain green lawns, flower beds, ponds, and make people happy.

Landscaper pay can be between $10-25/hour, or you can price your services by project.

22. Gift kit creator

Ever receive a box in the mail full of customized snacks, wine, gadgets, and knick-knacks? I’ve been loving the gift boxes I receive now that I’m working fully remote. And you better believe I love working with gift kit creators, who search markets far and wide to curate the perfect batch for their audiences. Gift kit businesses don’t require too much upfront, as you can ask the buyer to pay before purchasing and drop shipping any items.

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23. Travel planner

This is my dream job. Travel planners get perks galore, from discounted hotel rates to inside info about airlines and tour guides. It can be the most creative small business through planning trips in a niche--maybe your specialty is South America or Iceland trips for college kids or seniors! Even better, this business can be run from home...or anywhere in the world.

Travel agents typically get paid between $35,000-$67,000 per year.

24. Influencer

While some people might not consider being an influencer a creative business, I certainly think the trendsetters of the world would differ. There are plenty of courses to take that will help train you to be an influencer in this brave new world of social media.

Being an influencer comes with a lot of scrutiny and variable pay; this is truly a pick-your-own-adventure type of gig.

Influencer or not, the fact that influencers exist speaks to the power of social media marketing, so make sure you're using it for whatever business you start!

25. Thrifting reseller

Thrifting, altering, and upselling vintage goods was the way NastyGal got their start—and has now become somewhat of an online business. If you have an affinity for spotting diamonds in the rough, hit your local goodwill, grab some clothes, make an eBay account, and get selling. You can be your own boss, designer, brand, or whatever you please with this creative small business.

How do you find the best business to start?

The most successful businesses solve a problem for a specific group of people. When you’re looking to start a small business, not a big corporation with investor funding, look for a niche that you, and you alone, are the best person to step into.

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It’s okay if you don’t know what your passion is yet! Don’t put pressure on yourself to figure it all out on day one. These ideas are meant to be just that, ideas. Iterate on them, make them your own, and we can’t wait to help you succeed.

The best small businesses to start [recap]

Here's the full list of the best small businesses to start that we covered above. But we're not done yet! Keep scrolling to find out why.

1. Childcare business
2. Fitness trainer
3. Web developer
4. Executive assistant
5. Nonprofit Work
6. Translator
7. Tutor
8. Nanny
9. IT consulting
10. Hospital janitorial agency
11. Handyman
12. Pet care
13. Proofreading/Quality Assurance
14. Landscaper
15. Gift kit creator
16. Travel planner
17. Influencer
18. Thrifting reseller
19. Notary
20. Short-term rental manager
21. Personal Shopper
22. Event planner
23. Transcriptionist
24. Movers
25. Antiquities Renovation

Even more great small business ideas

At the end of the day, the best small business for you to start depends on your motivation for starting a business. Is it to work from home? Monetize a hobby? Start a nonprofit? Spice up your life? Here are some more great small business ideas to consider.

At-home small business ideas

Here are some at-home small business ideas for the introverts, the homebodies, or the homebound!want to have to leave your home!

1. Publicist
2. Voiceover-er
3. Grant writing
4. Photographer
5. Accountant
6. Dropshipping store
7. On-demand printing
8. Social media manager
9. Online advertiser
10. Freelancer (write, code, design, video)

Always-good small business ideas

There are tons more evergreen needs out there to give you small business ideas. Here are just ten:

1. Home inspector
2. Snow clearing
3. Online therapy
4. Elder care
5. Senior move manager
6. Junk removal
7. Bicycle repair
8. Credit repair specialist
9. Career coach
10. Ecommerce store for sustainable products

Small profitable business ideas

Aside from our five above, ten more of the best small profitable businesses to start are:

1. Caterer
2. Auto repair
3. Food truck
4. Carwash
5. Electronics repair
6. Interior designer
7. Virtual assistant
8. Locksmith
9. Real estate brokerage
10. Electrician

Easy small business ideas

If you want to run a side gig, here are some easy small business ideas for you:

1. Resume writer
2. Pet care
3. Proofreading/quality assurance
4. Notary
5. Short-term rental manager
6. Personal shopper
7. Affiliate marketing
8. Jam seller
9. Data entry
10. Menu planning

Creative small business ideas

Art is everywhere! These creative small business ideas afford you endless outlets of expression!

1. Landscaper
2. Gift kit creator
3. Travel planner
4. Influencer
5. Thrifting reseller
6. Photographer
7. Baker
8. Professional organizer
9. Jewelry designer
10. Homemade natural beauty & cleaning products

Cool small business ideas

Last but not least, here is an eclectic mix of interesting small business ideas to get you intrigued...

1. Hot air balloon operator
2. Home staging
3. Drone trainer
4. Christmas tree farmer
5. Online dating consultant
6. Tour guide
7. DJ
8. Herb farming
9. Mobile anything (pet grooming, hair stylist, bike repair)
10. Freelance bartender

Read more:

• 10 Essential Qualities for Small Business Owners
• Best Project Management Apps

The post The 85 Best Small Business Ideas for 2022 (by Category!) appeared first on Business2Community.

Amid the pandemic, successful businesses adapted with the help of their vendors; they found new ways to operate; they launched new offerings and found new lines of business. While they may have weathered one storm, there is always another brewing.

While it may be natural to lower our guards after the past year-and-a-half, businesses — especially small businesses — cannot afford to do so. Many businesses think they have all the answers. But complacency is a serious threat.

The cybersecurity threat is real, only adding to the challenges businesses face. A Symantec report revealed that about 1 in 40 small businesses is at risk of being victimized by cybercrimes.

Bad actors use several tactics to attack a business, but ransomware — which often relies on phishing schemes — is a common approach. With so many working from home amid the pandemic, cybercriminals have more opportunities to exploit a business’ security weaknesses.

Ransomware has threatened businesses for decades, but the volume of attacks has skyrocketed in the past two years. During the first half of 2021, the number of attacks globally increased by 151%, and the FBI warned that 100 different ransomware strains circulate the globe.

One problem is that according to the 2021 Data Breach Investigations Report, half (50%) of small and medium sized businesses do not provide security awareness training to employees. Companies must change their “head-in-the-sand” approach or risk gambling with their revenues, customers and business.

Success is built on solid planning. While no one can predict every risk a business might face, it is reasonable to prepare for the unexpected and recognize that new threats continue to emerge.

It’s not a matter of having the answers to every problem that arises, but recognizing that problems will arise that need creative solutions.

To be successful, companies must understand the threat and assess their exposure and potential risk. Then, they must educate their teams and work to eliminate vulnerabilities.

Technology can help, but companies of every size must deploy current security technologies to safeguard against emerging threats.

Most importantly, businesses and IT teams don’t need to go it alone.

They just need to find a trusted partner who recognizes the challenges ahead and responds accordingly. Businesses deserve a partner who knows how to make IT easy and understands how to protect their business.

The post Celebrating Businesses That Made Their Way Through a Pandemic appeared first on Business2Community.

Fortunately, there are many tools and techniques you can use to do just that! In this article, we’ll give you a few of our favorite tips for improving productivity through workflow optimization.

Try These Four Ways To Streamline Your Team’s Workflow

1. Chatify Your Email Threads

If you had to pick a reason why reading and responding to emails in your inbox is one of your least favorite tasks, what would it be? For us, it’s definitely that email threads with more than one or two replies become incredibly repetitive and cluttered, making it hard to find and easy to miss important information.

Wouldn’t it be great if all your email messages were as easy to read and respond to as chat messages? Imagine a scenario in which we were to let you know that they can be.

You can “chatify” your inbox threads by using Spike, an email client for mac that turns your emails into chat-like conversations. In other words, instead of opening up your inbox every time you receive a new message and sifting through all the back and forth, you receive email replies as chat bubbles in a messaging window. It’s just like using a workplace chat application but synced with your email!

This makes it possible to respond to emails in a much faster, more natural way. Instead of sitting down for a chunk of time and going through your emails one by one, you can simply respond to messages on the fly.

Conversational email messaging apps also offer other useful features, such as priority inboxes that only show you the most important messages now and put things like promotional and marketing emails away for later. By eliminating all that unnecessary noise and clutter from your inbox, you can really boost your workflow and increase productivity!

2. Use Collaboration Software

Collaboration software is essential if you want an optimized workflow. Something like project management software or a collaborative workspace tool lets you centralize all your project info in one place, where everyone on your team can access it.

Instead of having different bits and pieces of information in a bunch of different locations, you can have all tasks, files, notes, deadlines, and other relevant project info in one central hub. This improves your workflow by making it easier to stay on top of project data and deadlines.

Plus, collaboration software holds everyone on your team accountable for their individual tasks, ensuring timely delivery. If there are delays or updates that change timelines, the person responsible for a task can note them in the app and make sure everyone else on the team is aware of what’s going on.

3. Use a Team Communication Platform

Improving communication is essential to optimizing your team’s workflow. The best way to do this is to get everyone using the same team communication app. That way, everyone knows exactly where to best contact everyone else to get answers to questions or updates on progress.

The best team communication platforms also allow for audio and video meetings right within the app, for when it’s more efficient to do so. This is especially useful for remote or hybrid teams.

Additionally, good team chat apps have advanced search features that let you filter chats and search for messages by keyword, thus making it really easy to track down key information that you need without having to ask someone for it again.

4. Don’t Forget to Take Breaks

You can use all the productivity tools and apps you want, but if you don’t remember to take breaks, it’s hard to maintain focus and keep your work flowing.

Try different break schedules to see what works best for you. For example, get up and move around, stretch, or grab a snack and a cup of coffee after each individual task you finish. Or go for a 20-minute walk outside every few hours to reset your body and mind.

Remind others on your team to take breaks, too. If you’re co-located in an office with other team members, you could even schedule team breaks, such as active pauses or coffee runs. If you work with a remote team, maybe try setting up automatic reminders via your team chat app or email messaging app for everyone to get up and move a bit!

The type of breaks you take doesn’t matter, but studies have shown that regular breaks improve your workflow and help you concentrate better on long, complex tasks.

Conclusion

An efficient, productive workflow means you can move things from “to-do” to “done” faster, ultimately leading to higher productivity. From email messaging apps to taking breaks, there are all kinds of ways to improve your company’s workflow. Try out the tips on this list to get started, and you’re sure to notice your team’s workflow improving in no time!

Read more: Ways to Improve Your Business’s Efficiency

The post 4 Tips to Improve Your Company’s Workflow appeared first on Business2Community.

Harvard Business Review outlined that a key component in business is the ability and capacity to learn new things. These skills can align with being hard-working and having natural talent, but what about when it comes to being an entrepreneur? Is this enough for a business to succeed in a way an entrepreneur would want it to? The key habits of being an entrepreneur can open up the door to opportunity, but entrepreneurs often can pinpoint a time when things started to change for their business and this could be attributed to something that may not have been a result of their talent.

What do luck and timing have to do with success?

(Image showing the number of private sector businesses in the UK. Source: Statista)

It is no secret that entrepreneurs work hard and sacrifice can get them results if they believe in their business idea and are willing to do what it takes for their venture to succeed, but the timing of certain opportunities may be considered, by some, as luck. There are different interpretations of luck when it comes to business and one of these may be meeting the right person at the right time. Speaking about your idea to more and more people will inevitably increase the number of ears that are listening, but landing your idea and aligning with someone who could end up being a big part of your venture may just be down to timing. Take the example of looking for an investor, you have spoken to someone who is interested because they had just come off the back of wanting to explore the sector that your business lies in and so chose to invest. The timing of speaking to the right person at the right time can be pivotal for an entrepreneur.

The role of luck and timing in business doesn't take away from the grit it takes to be an entrepreneur, but one video of your venture that goes viral might mean the difference between your business taking off and it being a slog. The timing of certain things when it comes to business cannot be controlled and could indeed go the other way and lead to misfortune for your business. Take the example of a product, and someone recommends it to someone who recommends it to someone and it gets in the hands of someone who has a large platform and decides they love the product and encourages their followers to buy it. This is timing and luck playing their part in the success of your business.

The cyclical nature of timing and talent

There are some things in life, not just in business, that is sheer timing and luck, but in the world of entrepreneurship, the so-called lucky moments are more curated than we may think. The nature of entrepreneurship will mean that entrepreneurs and business owners are active in different ways than they would be if they were an employee, so naturally the types of people they network with and the audience that their business will reach will most likely be in favour of their business goals. The opportunities that arise may be ones that propel and accelerate the success of a business, but that opportunity was most likely created by the entrepreneur. Timing and talent seem to work in a cyclical way with each other, the talent means that an entrepreneur is fulfilling what they're good at and because of this, well-timed opportunities will most likely come.

When it comes to the discussion of timing versus talent, there are often conflicted emotions as some people get ahead of others who have been in the same market as them for years, but the key is to remember that no entrepreneurs are exactly the same. There is no concrete timeline when it comes to running a business and ultimately it cannot run without the initial talents of the person steering the ship. Timing and luck may come, but starting your business and remaining consistent is key to opening your venture up to receive opportunities and expand your business.

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This season I'm talking about the marketing mistakes I made with my first startup, and I'm hoping that you may benefit from my failures as well as my subsequent experience working with other entrepreneurs.

I didn't notice this mistake when I was at my first startup. But now, as a marketing consultant working with other entrepreneurs, I've seen that many people make this error. The mistake I'm talking about is not having a clear marketing budget for your small business.

Let me begin by sharing my experience: when I reflected on my startup, I realized I spent less than 1% on marketing. As you might know, marketing is what makes you visible. It's what tells people what you do, what you offer, and how it can benefit them. If you're not investing enough, your message won't connect with the right audience. This will naturally impact your sales.

Why do entrepreneurs miss making a marketing budget?

Many entrepreneurs make this error because marketing is intangible in the short run. In the short term, the concrete parts of your business are what you can see or measure. Things like operations, employee pay, raw material costs, how much raw material you're acquiring, and what tools you're investing in, are all things to consider. Unfortunately, marketing is not very tangible in the short term, as it takes some time to get your message over to your customer. As a result, many entrepreneurs give up too soon when it comes to marketing since they don't see any results.

According to Harvard Business School research, you should spend 20% of your total budget on marketing in the first few years because that's when you'll need it the most to create your brand awareness. After you've settled in and made enough sales, you can reduce it to 8 to 12%. However, if you spend less than that, your message will take much longer to reach its intended audience. And, if you're a small business, the longer it takes, the more money you'll have spent on tangible items like operations, salaries, raw material purchases, and so on. So, if you've spent too much time on other things and not enough time on marketing, you won't be able to make enough sales, and it may make you want to give up.

This is something I'm telling you because it happened to me. As an entrepreneur, I want you to be aware that this is a common occurrence for many startups. That is why many startups fail during the first 1 to 5 years of their existence. Be aware that if you don't put enough effort into your marketing, it will have an impact on how well your company does in the long run.

How much should you budget for marketing?

Now that you know how important it is to spend money on marketing, the next thing to consider is how do you know how much you need to spend? I did say you may spend between 8 and 20%, but that's only a guideline. And as a small business, you may not be able to spend that much. So, how do you figure out how much you can spend?

Making a plan for what you want to do in marketing is something I highly recommend doing.

The channels that you’re interested in could be what you want to target through marketing. You may have a presence on Instagram and Facebook, and perhaps that is where you want to focus your efforts. Alternatively, you may have a website and wish to use Google advertisements to drive visitors to it. Or you'd like to accomplish something fully offline like attend networking events or invest in a stall at the appropriate event. Whatever it is, you must make that decision for your company. What channels do you believe will bring you sales?

Once you have a clear picture of where you want to go, you can start budgeting for it. And if you already know how much something will cost from previous experience, that's fantastic. Otherwise, all of this information is readily available on the Internet.

So that's one method of calculating how much money you'll need to spend on marketing. Another option is to assess your marketing budget and commit to a spending level that you can sustain for the next few months. For instance, I've committed to spending ₹5000 every month on marketing, and I stick to that budget. And once a month, I try out new things to see how they work. So I tried with Instagram promos for a month, spending my whole marketing budget on them to see what results I might obtain. Was it increasing my awareness? Was it giving me more sales or more followers? The following month, I shifted to a different channel, such as Facebook ads, and evaluated the outcomes accordingly.

You might also spend your money on non-digital items. For example, I hired a three-month intern who was only responsible for assisting me in the creation of marketing collateral. And that's how I spent my marketing budget for those three months. It isn't necessary to always create a specific marketing campaign. For two or three months, you can hire a visual designer to prepare all of your marketing collateral, including brochures, business cards, website designs, and social media accounts, as well as anything else that helps to marketing. Put that money into your marketing budget and stick to it over the next few months. This will keep you focused on marketing on a continual basis. When you're doing this, you'll be thinking about marketing all of the time, and after six months or so, you'll have a better idea of what worked and what didn't. Over time, you’ll be able to decide whether or not to focus on specific channels, and you'll have a better understanding of how much to invest in those channels.

While building a marketing budget isn't difficult, it's one of those things that small business owners overlook. It is critical to have a clear marketing budget defined for your small business, so that you focus on marketing. If you haven't yet built your marketing budget yet, I hope I've given you some pointers that you can use to get started.

The post Marketing Mistake 2: Not Having a Marketing Budget For a Small Business appeared first on Business2Community.

The Gartner Hype Cycle is a graphical depiction of a common pattern that accompanies the introduction of new technology or innovation. It is associated with the expectations of the market’s perceived value of a technology or innovation over time. The Gartner Hype Cycle helps business owners understand how the market perceives the value of the given technology as it evolves throughout its maturity lifecycle, and is closely linked to the five categories of adopters.

Regardless of whether your company is the developer of new technology or innovation, a service provider leveraging consulting services, or just one of the adopters, you must understand the Gartner Hype Cycle so you know what to expect, depending on the position of the technology or innovation in the cycle.

The maturity lifecycle of new technology or innovation goes through five phases in what is called the Gartner Hype Cycle.

Phase 1: Technology/Innovation Trigger

Phase 1 of the Gartner Hype Cycle begins as the founder(s) start sharing their business idea during the idea validation stage, while developing a minable viable product, and as they share their business model and economic model with potential early-stage investors and collaborators.

As early prototypes begin to circulate, visibility of the new technology or innovation starts to reach a wider audience. Soon the prospect of new technology or innovation reaches a few Innovators, who are at the leading edge of the five categories of adopters.

Innovators love bleeding edge stuff which is why they are the first ones interested in taking part in acceptance testing or are the first adopters. Moreover, since Innovators are connected socially, the word begins to spread to other Innovators. Innovators also have a high social status and are often considered mavens in their space or industry. As soon as the first release happens, word spreads to the Early Adopters who represent a much bigger cohort.

Early Adopters are visionaries and opinion leaders in their space or industry. Early Adopters like the Innovators have a high degree of social status that allows them to influence others, based on their opinions. However, since Early Adopters are five times more prevalent in society, the word spreads at a more rapid pace. In addition, Early Adopters are more likely to spread the word than Innovators with their followers.

Finally, the new technology or innovation catches the attention of bloggers and other influencers as the peak is reached.

Phase 2: Peak of Inflated Expectations

Phase 2 of the Gartner Hype Cycle is where the new technology or innovation has to cross what professor Everett Rodgers in his book “Diffusion of Innovation“ calls the Chasm. Innovators and Early Adopters are primarily focused on technology and performance and are tolerant of bugs. However, the next category of adopters, the Early Majority, value stable solutions and convenience over technology and performance. These Early Majority adopters share their negative sentiments as they encounter issues and the Gartner Hype Cycle begins its downward slide.

Phase 3: Trough of Disillusionment

Phase 3 of the Gartner Hype Cycle is often where the trailing edge of the Early Adopters and the Early Majority adopters begin to experience the product. The Early Majority represent a large percentage, 34% of the potential market, and are three times the size of the Early Adopters. As the larger audience begins to experience the product, they start to encounter lots of problems that the Innovators and many Early Adopters have simply ignored. Being much less tolerant of problems and complications, they share their negative experiences, which are picked up by the media.

Consider the example of the Internet of Things (IoT). The hype related to home automation was very appealing. Having a smart home where you could control objects with just your voice, and sensors that could be programmed, captivated the attention of many early-stage adopters willing to give it a try. However, as the Early Majority began to implement home automation with the IoT, they soon became frustrated with the lack of device standards, connectivity issues, and the increased vulnerability to hacking. They began sharing their negative experiences in reviews, reducing expectations that the IoT was the greatest thing ever.

Moreover, the need to scale the solution often leads to supply chain issues and lower quality, leading to worse PR in a vicious downward spiral. To avert disaster, the company or industry frantically tries to address problems in order to stop the slippage of disillusionment of market perceptions. The company or industry begins to focus on developing more stable and user-friendly follow-on versions of their solutions to address the shortcomings of the initial release. Furthermore, the company or industry frequently adds customer service divisions, training products, and other services to reverse perceptions of disillusionment among users.

Phase 4: Slope of Enlightenment

Phase 4 of the Gartner Hype Cycle sees an upward trend in expectations as the solution begins to mature. Best practices are adopted and supply chain issues are resolved. Early Majority adopters begin to adopt the solution in greater numbers, leading to greater word of mouth. With less negative press, expectations slowly rise.

Phase 5: Plateau of Productivity

Phase 5 of the Gartner Hype Cycle is where the fourth stage of adopters, the Late Majority adopters begin to see the solution as mature enough to consider embracing it. The Late Majority adopters have a low-risk tolerance and are only willing to accept solutions they feel are mature and very stable. They often only accept a solution out of fear of missing out. The Late Majority cohort represents a potential market of the same size as the Early Majority, at 34%. By phase 5 of the Gartner Hype Cycle, mass adoption is well underway.

How does knowing the Gartner Hype Cycle affect your rollout or adoption of new technology or innovation?

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