Wise Bread (Thursday Bram)

The 10 Worst Ways to Make Extra Money

Thursday Bram — Thu, 03 May 2012 10:36:08 +0000

Having a side income can make life a lot easier. But there are some good ways to earn that side income and some seriously awful ones. I’m not talking about dirty jobs or hard work — there’s nothing wrong with sweating for your money or needing a shower after your side job. But it doesn’t make sense to slave away over something that isn’t actually going to put money in your pocket. The "opportunities" below fall into that category. (See also: Ways to Make Extra Cash)

1. Filling Out Surveys or Surfing the Web

This work isn’t particularly difficult, and it’s easy to sign up for. The catch is that you earn pennies (at most) for any survey you complete or any site you visit. Actually making enough money to make your time worth it is impossible. To make matters worse, most of these offers only pay out once you’ve earned $20, which can take months.

2. Investment Schemes

Whether we’re talking about day trading, trading in foreign currency, or other investment schemes, it’s rare to make a lot of money with these approaches — and fairly typical to lose a lot. There are a few individuals who have done quite well with various investment schemes, but that’s usually due to a combination of a lucky investment and the ability to invest quite a lot of money at once. For us mere mortals, it’s a bad bet.

3. Medical Testing

Agreeing to try out new drugs or other medical procedures for money sounds like an easy thing to do. But while there are some people who make something approaching a full-time income from being a test subject, it requires not informing one lab that you're working for another lab. That’s because being a lab rat doesn’t pay well. Of course, that’s not even considering the side effects you might experience.

4. Selling Body Fluids or Organs

While selling an organ is illegal in the U.S., selling plasma, eggs (if you’re a woman), and other bits of yourself is considered okay. It’s not particularly lucrative, though — even selling your eggs, which used to bring in a check of around $10,000, now pays closer to $3,000. Considering that there can be some major side effects, depending on how a doctor chooses to harvest those eggs, it’s not an equitable pay off. Giving plasma repeatedly can also impact your health.

5. Sign Spinner

Standing by the side of the road to draw attention to a local business, such as by spinning a sign, has a long history. Businesses have hired people to stand outside their locations and convince buyers to enter for centuries. But it’s become a less lucrative job over the years and can now rank particularly poorly, especially with the need to stand near busy streets and breathe in pollution for hours on end.

6. Renting Out Your Stuff

There are an increasing number of websites that let you rent out your car, parking spaces, a spare room, tools, or anything else you might have. But because most of these sites orchestrate short-term loans, you’re not about to raise a lot of money this way. You better have other motives for renting out your things than just cash.

7. Recycling Scrap Metal

The prices that recyclers pay for scrap metal fluctuate pretty regularly. Even when they’re good, though, it’s hard to turn recycling scrap metal into a lucrative opportunity. In order to make a sizable amount of money (think over $500), you need to turn in something like an old car or camper. Collecting old soda cans isn’t even going to earn you minimum wage, and you might get pretty smelly hunting them down.

8. Treasure Hunting

Infomercials for metal detectors promise that you’ll find all sorts of valuables while taking a relaxing stroll down the beach. But even if you take a more active approach to finding some treasure, the odds of actually finding something are slim.

9. Work-at-Home Schemes

There are plenty of lucrative ways to work from home, but there’s a particular work-at-home scam that goes around on a regular basis. Someone will post an ad offering people the chance to make money stuffing envelopes or assembling crafts at home — some sort of situation where you have to buy supplies from the advertiser before you can start making money. But when you actually do the work, the scammer tells you that your work doesn’t meet requirements.

10. Playing Video Games

There actually used to be some well-paying opportunities that went along with playing video games, like creating in-game items and then selling them for real-world money. But these days, you have to compete with players in cheaper markets who have dramatically driven down the value of most of the items you can commonly sell.

You may read through this list and think that you could make some serious money with any of these options — that you can buck the curve. But the reality is that with each of these situations, earning money is incredibly difficult. It requires more luck than it really ought to, and the odds are good that you won’t even hit minimum wage with any of these ventures. You’d be better off picking up a second job before considering any one of these options.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Coworking Spaces: The Office Alternative

Thursday Bram — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 09:48:16 +0000

Telecommuting is becoming an increasingly popular approach to working these days, and starting your own business is as popular as ever. Both options mean that you need a place to work of your own, though, because an employer won’t be providing it.

A home office may be an easy option, but there are a lot of downsides to working in the same environment your kids are playing in or your chores need to be done in. The main alternative — renting office space — can be an expensive proposition, especially if you’re just starting out. A new trend may offer a much easier option, though — coworking. (See also: Setting Up a Home Office on the Cheap)

A Brief History of Coworking

Coworking spaces are shared offices. Usually one person or a small organization rents a larger office space and then makes parts of it available to other individuals. The trend started in San Francisco in 2005 with the Hat Factory, a place where three people lived, and, during the day, made the space available to others to work in. The concept gained traction and has spread like wildfire. Most major cities have at least one coworking space these days, and there are an estimated 700 locations in the U.S. alone. The Coworking Directory serves as the best resource for checking into what’s available near you.

Coworking spaces are meant to provide an improvement over working in a coffee shop (you don’t have to keep buying an ever increasing number of cups of coffee) or at home (you can reduce the overlap between work time and your personal life). The movement, as a whole, also provides an organic approach to office space. No one needs a license or a franchise to open a coworking space. That’s how they can pop up all over, and why each one is very different from the next.

How to Get the Most Out of Coworking

Just about any coworking space offers you a place to plunk down with your laptop and work, completely tuning out everyone else. Most of us need that sometimes — when we’re on deadline, paying for the privilege of quiet workspace makes sense. But the rest of the time, there are a lot of other benefits you can get from a coworking space.

Most coworking spaces operate on the assumption that if a bunch of people are going to work in the same area, they might as well form a community. Many spaces host events, but even those that don’t offer plenty of informal opportunities to sit down and talk with other people in the space. Depending on your own background, this can be an easy way to find new clients, a freelancer to help you with a project, or even a team member for a new company. The human interaction can be one of the biggest benefits of a coworking space, especially for those of us who are used to sitting home alone to work.

Understanding the Amenities and Prices

Most coworking spaces make a point of posting both their amenities and prices on their websites. If you’re lucky enough to be in an area with multiple spaces, this information can help you decide where you should work, but it’s also important to understand what you’re getting.

You may be able to choose between a variety of different plans, from a one-day drop in option to monthly plans giving you full-time access and your own key. You may have access to a range of amenities:

A key allowing you access anytime you want
Coffee and other beverages
Storage spaces
Reduced costs for events
Membership discounts for other businesses
Access to printers, fax machines, and other office equipment

Every coworking space is different, so if there’s a feature you really need, it’s important to ask about it. If an amenity isn’t available, your request may prompt the space organizer to look into it.

Prices are mostly influenced by location — the simple fact that office space in New York City is more expensive than in Austin means that you’ll pay more to join a coworking space in New York. I’ve usually paid around $25 per day for dropping in at spaces in California, Oklahoma, and along the East Coast. Monthly memberships are often tiered to allow for different levels of access. In my experience, full-time access starts around $200 and goes up from there, based on location and features.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

How to Use a Computer More Efficiently

Thursday Bram — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:30:18 +0000

Many of us spend hours in front of our computers, pushing around the mouse and pecking at the keyboard. It may seem like there’s no way to reduce the amount of time we spend here, but just by doing a few things a little faster, you really can be more efficient. (See also: 10 Ways to Save Time by Spending Time)

How to Type Faster

It can seem like a big time investment to learn how to type faster, especially if you’re a proponent of the hunt and peck method — also known as looking at the keyboard to find each individual key. But improving your typing skills can save you a lot of time. It’s considered average for a computer user to be able to type between 30 and 35 words per minute. With a little training and practice, however, it’s possible for most people to get up to between 50 and 65 words per minute, sometimes doubling their speed. Experienced typists may reach average rates of anywhere between 80 and 120 words per minute. Even if you don’t hit that level, you can probably improve your typing efficiency.

The key to learning to type faster is to know what keys are at your fingertips without having to look down. Being able to recite the layout of your computer keyboard isn’t just a fun party trick. When you know the layout of a keyboard by heart, you can touch type — and from there, improving your typing speed is a matter of practice more than anything else.

You can take classes in typing, but it can be more useful to use training software, because you won’t be tied to an instructor’s schedule. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is one of the better-known typing software packages, and Typing Instructor is good as well.

How to Use Computer Shortcuts

Most computer users rely on the mouse to interact with computer programs. In fact, the mouse and the visual interface that most of us are used to were key to making computers mainstream. But if you want to be particularly efficient in how you use your computer, you need to learn the keyboard shortcuts.

Every piece of software and even many websites have their own shortcuts. You can also go into your computer’s settings and modify shortcuts to your own preferences. Because they can vary dramatically, I can’t just give you a list of the different shortcuts out there. But if you search online for a particular software package or website’s name and the word "shortcuts," you can find a list of what's programmed. This table of common shortcuts can also give you a start for the more common operating systems.

The trick to getting full benefit from keyboard shortcuts is to make a point of using them instead of your mouse. You’ll get a lot faster, to the point that typing a shortcut is automatic when you want something to happen, rather than having to shift your hands to the mouse and hunt around for the right menu. One word of warning — you may get so used to using your shortcuts that moving over to a new kind of computer with different shortcuts can become that much harder.

Software for Improving Computer Efficiency

There are a variety of software packages that can help you speed up your typing beyond just learning to type faster. My personal favorite is a tool called TextExpander, which lets you create shortcuts of your own. I’ve created a few shortcuts to help me use software faster, but most of my shortcuts are actually for typing — for instance, I type one shortcut and TextExpander automatically replaces it with my name. Another expands into my address and so on, for a few hundred different shortcuts.

There are also dictation software packages, which allow a computer to transcribe whatever you say into a text document. The best software, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking, requires you to train it to better understand your speech patterns before it can provide accurate transcriptions. But once the software is used to you, it can be very effective. With it, you don’t need to worry about speeding up your typing speed at all.

There are a variety of tools and techniques out there that can help you be more efficient on the computer, but you’ll get the most out of them by investing some time up front.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Carrying the Kenmore: How to Move a Fridge

Thursday Bram — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:00:18 +0000

There are a few things in your house that are harder to move than others. Some families have pianos, others have gun safes. And everyone has a refrigerator. Moving these items just isn’t the same as moving boxes or small pieces of furniture — not only are they expensive to replace if something goes wrong, but a misplaced hand or foot could mean that you wind up injuring yourself.

Whenever I’ve had to move house — or even just move a heavy item from one room to the next — I’ve had the benefit of my dad’s wisdom. Mike Bram, my father, also happens to be the owner of Fisher Piano Moving. He spends all day finding ways to move not just pianos but any sort of heavy and awkward object that regular moving crews don’t want to touch. Here are his best tips for making sure that you can move heavy objects and keep both yourself and the object intact at the end of the move. (See also: What to Know When Renting a Moving Truck)

Get the Right Equipment

Refrigerators are the most common big items that a person might try to move without calling in a moving company. Mike suggests getting an appliance dolly, rather than trying to use a normal dolly, to make the move. Appliance dollies have mechanisms built in that let you move the whole dolly, with a refrigerator or other appliance strapped on to it, up and down stairs. You’ll need two people — one pushing and pulling — and it’s especially important to make sure that you’re working in tandem. You can rent an appliance dolly from just about anywhere that you can rent a moving truck from.

Mike says that the biggest mistake he sees when it comes to moving refrigerators is a very simple one: “People don’t cover the fridge up with pads. Especially on stainless steel, any scratches you pick up will really show.” It’s easy to do, though. You can use just about anything as a pad, from shrink wrap to old blankets that you don’t mind ripping. Pad your refrigerator before loading it on the dolly, so that the appliance is protected from the straps. Then ratchet the straps just tight enough that you can’t get your fingers underneath them. There should still be a little give, though.

Protect the Area You’re Moving In

You may not be moving your fridge very far. Maybe you just need it on the other side of the kitchen so that you can paint the wall behind it. It’s tempting to just push a refrigerator as far as you need it to go — after all, some appliances (and other large objects) have small plastic wheels on the bottom that seem perfect for the purpose. The truth is, in Mike’s experience, those wheels are more dangerous than helpful. Without them, pushing an appliance across your floor will often result in scratches and tears in the linoleum. With them, you’re likely to wind up with a broken wheel and a gouge in the floor. Things are worse on wood floors or if you take the appliance outside.

Mike does have an easy solution to the problem. He says, “One way to avoid those scratches is to take clean scrap carpeting, turn it upside down, slide it under the fridge and then slide the fridge out on top of the carpet. Thick cardboard can work in place of the carpet.”

Protect Yourself During the Move

Always be more careful than you think you actually need to be, especially when you’re dealing with moving something heavy. You need to remember the basics of personal safety — like lifting with your legs, rather than your back — but you need to go beyond those basics, too. You have to be able to control your refrigerator (or anything else you want) throughout every step of the move. Mike points out: “Don’t ever take anything on the stairs that you can’t control. If it gets away from you, it’ll go a lot faster than you will and someone will always get hurt.”

Get everyone who isn’t actually moving your bulky object out of the way. Children and pets need to be far away from the action, and Mike suggests that you don’t need any management around who isn’t actually physically up to helping with the move.

Use more straps and tie-downs than you expect to need, especially when moving something heavy on a truck. Mike has plenty of horror stories from his customers about what could go wrong: “We’ve seen pianos come loose and then fly out of a truck on to asphalt. There’s nothing left at that point but to sweep up the mess.”

What is actually too big to move on your own depends entirely on you. Mike has had customers who will move everything up to a gun safe themselves, but will call for help with something that big. It’s a question of what you feel comfortable moving yourself and what work you’re willing to do to make sure you’re doing everything right — from renting the right equipment on down.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

How to Find the Right Accountant for You

Thursday Bram — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:00:34 +0000

Finding the right accountant can make a world of difference when it comes to managing your money, but it can be easier said than done. There are a few ways that you can make the process go much easier, though.

Why Do You Need an Accountant?

The first question you need to think about when looking for an accountant is why do you need help with your finances — and what sort of help do you need? Not every individual really needs an accountant. There are a number of services out there that can help you with your taxes, if that's your only concern. An accountant usually works with individuals or organizations with slightly more complicated finances, ranging from managing a business' finances to helping an individual keep investments straight. (See also: 6 Mistakes to Avoid With a Financial Adviser)

You could just start calling accountants based on who is closest to you, but most accountants have specialties. You're not going to get exactly the help you need from just any accountant.

When we talk about accountants, we can actually be referring to one of several different kinds of financial expert. There are quite a few different designations for accountants, from the common "certified public accountant" to a certified management accountant or an accredited business accountant. It's most likely that you're looking for a CPA if you're generally looking for an accountant in the U.S. (other designations are used in other countries). A CPA will help set up the books for a new business, prepare tax returns, and handle a wide variety of other accounting tasks — unless you have a sizable business and need specialized help with your accounting, a CPA is usually the place to start.

It's still important to narrow the field down even further, though. Many CPAs work with specific types of clients. For instance, the CPA who helps me with my business focuses on small businesses that don't need much in the way of payroll but do need advice on business operations from time to time. He works with a lot of freelancers and small business owners, though he does take on other clients. Ask right off the bat about whether an accountant you're considering working with handles your type of situation — most are very clear about what types of clients they want to work with. You should also ask about specifics like price and who will actually do any work, like preparing a tax return.

Make a note of what sort of help you need. The price you'll pay for an accountant's help can definitely depend on exactly what you need done. Most CPAs work on an hourly basis, often starting at a price of $150 and going up from there. But for common situations, like needing a tax return prepared, you can expect prices to start closer to $90 — provided you are employed and don't have particularly complicated finances.

It's All About the Referral

Because an accountant may wind up knowing every last thing about your financial situation, it's important to find someone you're personally comfortable working with. Starting with a referral is often the best way to do so. Ask around to find out whom your peers use and whether they recommend their current accountants. If you're having a hard time getting a recommendation, many review-based sites, such as Yelp, do list accountants and other financial professionals. However, you'll want to dig a little deeper than just a review online — while it's fine for choosing a restaurant for dinner, you'll want more information when you're putting all your financial information in someone's hands.

If you operate a business, it may be worth going to your professional associations (such as the local Chamber of Commerce, if you are a member) and getting referrals there. You can get good leads on reliable accountants quickly.

Of course, you'll do the necessary due diligence to make sure that you're working with a reliable accountant. But because of that "certified" part of the job title, it's relatively easy to make sure that anyone you choose to work with has the necessary credentials to handle any accounting quandary you may face. Individual state boards are responsible for issuing certifications, and most will now allow you to verify an accountant's credentials online. A quick online search can also confirm that you've chosen the right person to work with. Many CPAs (including the one I work with) now have websites, Twitter accounts, and even blogs to help you make the right decisions.

An Ongoing Relationship

Even if you only visit your accountant for a yearly tax planning session, it's important to have an ongoing relationship. The best accountants will go out of their way to update you on new legislation, as well as anything else that might impact your finances. You may not anticipate needing help, but already having a great working relationship with your accountant can put you ahead of the game in the event of an audit or other financial situation.

Depending on how you expect your finances to change in the future, you may want to ask about some of the options that an accountant might offer before making your final decision. If you know you need to start planning for retirement or a child's education, you should ask about what sort of financial consulting or planning services a particular CPA offers.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

15 Simple Networking Tricks

Thursday Bram — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:00:31 +0000

Networking is an absolutely necessary skill — it can make all the difference in landing a job, launching a new company, or bringing in a new client. But while networking is something that comes naturally to some people, most of us have to work at it to get good. These simple tricks can make the process easier. (See also: Networking Basics for Regular People)

1. Set Goals for Your Networking Efforts

Networking can be a relatively time-consuming process. It may sound cynical to say that you need to focus your efforts on the people most likely to help you, but the truth is that you need to know what you’re getting out of networking and find the opportunities that really help you the most.

2. Make Networking a Habit

In order to really get the most out of your network, you need to be doing more than just going to the occasional networking event. You need to make a regular habit of reaching out to new people and connecting with them, even if you can’t find that many events to attend in your area. There’s always email, phone calls, and one-on-one meetings.

3. Think About How You’re Different From Everyone Else

You don’t need to have a full-on existential crisis, but you do need to understand why someone would (or wouldn’t) want to network with you at this point. Consider how you can help your connections and how you stand out from your industry. If you need to, write out a few points so that you can get some ideas for conversation topics.

4. Get a Better Address Book, Preferably Software-Based

There are dozens of different address book tools out there these days that can do all sorts of tricks. Some can even fill in websites and other public information about a new contact based on just a few details you can add. If you’re trying to build deep connections, you shouldn’t be spending time alphabetizing your Rolodex.

5. Always Set a Way to Follow Up

No matter who you’re networking with or what your goal is, you should make sure that you have already arranged to follow up before the conversation ends. It can be something as simple as promising to email a copy of an interesting article — you just want to skip that awkward phase of wanting to contact someone but not have a reason to do it.

6. Carry Business Cards With You Constantly

With today’s technology, the information on a business card isn’t particularly important. But it does provide a physical reminder to your new contact that he or she did meet you, making it easier for you to build on the connection.

7. Look for People You Want to Network With Ahead of Time

It’s common to be able to look at the expected attendees for many events these days, and social networking can provide you added insight on who will be attending a given event with a little searching. Identify the best people to network with and make a point of introducing yourself at the event.

8. Make Your Connections Deeper

Just meeting someone in passing at an event (or even online) is just a shallow connection. It’s a great starting point, but if you can take the time to make that connection deeper — say with meeting up for lunch or passing a few lengthy emails back and forth — you can make build a much deeper relationship. It can be as simple as telling yourself that you want to make one connection deeper every week and make a point of acting on that commitment.

9. Listen More Than You Talk, at Least at First

We all like to talk about ourselves, but a good networker spends a conversation learning as much about her new connection as possible. Ask questions, listen, and generally pay attention. Then, when you talk, you can talk about the reason for your networking within your contact’s frame of reference, like what you can do to help her. This approach is much more effective than going in and trying to sell at a networking event.

10. Develop a Thick Skin

It’s easy enough for a new connection to ease himself out of a conversation or turn you down during the follow up. It’s important to be able to let such situations go. There are just some people who you will never click with, and that’s fine.

11. Don’t Shy Away From People Who Don’t Seem Useful

You never know what the future may bring: You could change industries, strike out on your own, or generally need to know very different people down the line than you do today. Don’t brush off anyone who doesn’t fit in with your current networking needs just for that reason.

12. Go Outside of Your Industry or Niche

It’s very tempting to build most of your connections within your own industry — especially if your goals focus on sales or business. But by going further afield, you can build a more useful network. It’s rare that any of us only need sales connections, after all. Vendors, media, and other potential contacts are crucial to a healthy network, even if they don’t directly work in your industry.

13. Connect Your Connections

Take the time to make helpful introductions within your own network. The more interconnected your network is, the easier it is to get your contacts to take action. It doesn’t hurt if you can build the reputation as the person always able to make a useful introduction.

14. Follow-Up Is Always Your Responsibility

It’s easy enough to go to an event and hand out a stack of business cards — but the odds are that only 10-20% of the people that you connect with will follow up with you, even if you give them a great reason to do so. If you want to create connections that will actually be useful to you in the long run, you have to take responsibility for following up.

15. Don’t Forget Your Existing Network in Your Hurry to Add to It

Going back and regularly strengthening your ties to your existing network — friends, family, coworkers and so on — is just as important as building new connections. That’s because your deepest connections are the ones most likely to help you.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

9 Signs Your Service Can Be Turned into a Product

Thursday Bram — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:31:35 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/9-signs-your-service-can-be-turned-into-a-prod...

As a service provider, I have to keep close track of how much work I’ve agreed to do for clients in a given week. There are, after all, only so many hours in the day that I can actually work—and every hour I spend on one client’s work is an hour that I can’t get paid for by another client. It makes the thought of creating a product that I can sell to my clients appealing. Since clients are paying for my expertise in performing services like writing articles, maybe they would pay for a product that I use my expertise to create?

A lot of products are simply the end result of the sort of work that someone might otherwise sell as a service. When you buy a toy at the store, you could have also paid a toymaker for the service of creating that toy and the materials necessary to do so. But some services are better suited to being transformed into products than others. There are certain signs worth looking for.

1. Do you finish the project by giving your client a completed piece of work?

There are plenty of services in which the client walks away with the results of a project, as opposed to an actual finished product. While it isn’t impossible to make a product out of results, having something that your client walks away with, like a website or a technical document, makes it easier to create a product that fits your clients’ needs.

2. Do you do the same sort of work over and over again?

It’s much easier to make repetitive processes into a product than a service like consulting. If you go into a new situation and have to look at a lot of details before you can decide what your next step will be, it’s harder to create a product.

3. Do you get a lot of questions about DIY options?

Especially if your target market is small businesses or individuals, you might be asked if you can help someone learn just what they need to do the project themselves. In such situations, it may make sense to create a product priced lower than your usual services that guides a business owner through a DIY process.

4. Have you created your own templates or shortcuts to completing a project?

If you’re experienced with the services you provide, you’ve probably built up your own little toolbox of files, templates, or other task-related resources that help you complete a project significantly faster. The more templates you’ve been able to build, the more likely that you can create a product from your services that a buyer can customize for themselves.

5. Do you have to do a lot of repeatable research?

For many projects, research is the first step—and it’s often research that is very similar, again and again. That sort of research can be packaged as a product in certain situations, either to be made available to clients in the earliest stages of working with you, or for other people offering the same services you do.

6. Do you have a blog or a newsletter that is well-received?

If you post content about your business regularly and your audience finds it interesting, you may already have a built-in clientele for any product you create. To make things even better, you may be able to build a product based on the information readers are most interested in on your blog or newsletter.

7. Do you need to provide a lot of background materials to get your clients up to you speed?

In a lot of fields, service providers need to educate clients before those clients will realize that a consultant or another service provider is necessary. That education may present a useful area to consider building a product from.

8. Have you built up a backlog of material about your area of expertise?

While you don’t have to have lots of material ready to go when you’re planning a product, having that sort of collection (especially if you’ve got templates or bits and pieces that you copy for new projects) is a great sign that you’ll be able to create a product your clients will consider worth buying.

9. Can you see a big need for a specific tool that would make your work easier?

Whether the tool in question is software or a more physical product, you’re the expert in your field—if you need it, chances are that other service providers working in your field would find the same tool useful. It may be just a matter of building it.

Depending on the service you provide, you may have plenty of opportunities to create products based on the tasks you already do. The mechanics are like creating any other product: research your market, test your products in your market, and then actually create the product. Because you already know the market, from selling your services, you almost certainly have access to past clients who can give you a few answers about what they’d be willing to buy from and perhaps even test out your products.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Does Your Business Need a Crisis Response Plan?

Thursday Bram — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 21:49:01 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/does-your-business-need-a-crisis-response-plan

Just a few weeks ago, I was working in my home office when the whole house began to shake. It may have seemed minor to anyone who has lived in California, but an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 is a big deal for those of us on the US east coast.

Many businesses sent their employees home, either because they wanted to check their buildings for potential damage or because those employees needed to deal with personal matters, like picking children up from the many schools that closed.

A week later, a hurricane swept up the same coast. That led to more downtime for businesses that needed to batten down the hatches and, in many cases, make repair afterwards. There was more warning for the hurricane than the earthquake, but it was still tough for many businesses to handle.

The Big Problem is Planning

The simple truth is that, as business owners, most of us are focused on building our businesses. We can be so busy working on the opportunities in front of us that we often forget to do any contingency palnning. In fact, at the time of the 9/11 attacks only 19 percent of CEOs reported having a crisis management plan in place, according to PRWeek. But that sort of planning is absolutely crucial.

There’s no way to plan for every eventuality, but there are a lot of generalized responses that you can put together. In the process of creating a crisis response plan, you may spot some weaknesses in your business’ operations that you can take steps to fix now.

Categories of Catastrophes

Think in terms of categories of potential issues, rather than every possible permutation. That will you will have options that you can adapt to different situations. After all, what you need to do in the event of a blackout will be different than what you’ll need to do in the event of a full-fledged evacuation. Where possible, you might want to consider preventative steps you can take, as well.

There are plenty of companies that specialize in handling every aspect of crisis management, from prevention to recovery. The price tag can get a little steep for a small business owner, and it is certainly possible to put together a plan for your business without those companies’ guidance, provided you can invest some time in the process.

The Crises Worth Planning For

There are plenty of natural disasters that could potentially strike your business, to the point that it can feel absolutely overwhelming to start planning. A more manageable approach can be to think in terms of what you actually need to operate your business—and what you would need to do if you had to go without.

Make a List

You can start by just making a list of what you use every day in the course of running your business. Dig down deeper than just the obvious, though: if you boot up your computer, you’re not just using your computer. You’re using electricity, an internet connection, software, and perhaps even some web applications.

Don’t forget to think about a crisis that might remove you from the equation. If an employee or one of your family members had to step in and handle your business for you, having a plan in place they can follow—typically referred to as a continuity plan—is crucial. The same goes for the employees who work for you. Especially if you work with a remote team, a team member may be unexpectedly unavailable, for days or even weeks.

Documenting Your Crisis Response Plan

Keeping your crisis response plan in your head is a sure way to make managing a crisis harder. If a hurricane is headed your way or you just rode out an earthquake, you’re going to be stressed—ask anyone living in the Mid-Atlantic region. You’re bound to forget at least a few details.

With a written set of guidelines, you can respond quickly. A checklist is nice, especially in situations like an evacuation, when you may have to do a lot in a very short period of time.

Be sure to have multiple copies of your plan available, in multiple locations. Storing it on your laptop is great—but what happens if the battery runs down and you can’t recharge? For once, this is a situation where electronic tools shouldn’t be your main choice. Sure, you should keep a couple of copies on different computers and in the cloud, but you absolutely need to print out a couple of copies as well.

You’ll find that it’s worth running drills, as well, even if it’s just you in the office. Practicing the steps you’ll need to deal with a certain situation can help you find potential problems in your plan. Solving such issues now means one less thing to worry about in the event that there’s real trouble. You may also notice opportunities for preventing certain situations: even something as simple as setting up off-site backups for your computer files can save your bacon in the event that a crisis wipes out your desktop or laptop.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Affiliate Marketing, the IRS and You

Thursday Bram — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 20:33:29 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/affiliate-marketing-the-irs-and-you

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to increase your sales by letting other people sell for you. But it is important to keep abreast of regulations. If you aren’t careful, your phenomenal affiliate marketing campaign might turn into your terrifying encounter with the IRS.

Your Obligations as a Business Owner

Your affiliates earn income from your business, creating some obligations for you as a tax payer.

Neil Johnson, a tax professional, points out exactly what your obligations are: “It is very important to have all affiliates complete a W-9 form and the parent company keep them on file. Whenever the affiliate has more than $600 in sales during a calendar year, the parent should issue a 1099-MISC form.”

Failure to keep records on file and report sales and tax information accurately can result in stiff penalties:

The penalty for failing to file 1099s can be $30 per missed 1099, up to a maximum of $250,000.
The penalty for filing inaccurate 1099s is $250 per 1099, with no maximum penalty.
Additionally, the IRS might determine that the lack of 1099s indicates the parent should have been withholding taxes for the affiliate and could impose a 28% income tax on 1099 amounts. In effect, the parent would be paying the affiliate’s income tax.

The Trouble with 1099s

Dreama Lee’s company, Intern Profits, has experience with affiliate marketing, including two programs in two very different niches. But it took some additional expertise for the company to get on track for handling 1099 forms and other tax documentation in a way that keeps the IRS happy.

“For several years,” Lee says, “we never collected W9s or filed 1099's for various reasons. We didn't make that much money (or hit the threshold), our bookkeeper and accountant were not familiar enough with the process to insist upon it, and we didn't fully understand the implications of not filing.”

That all changed when Lee hired a new bookkeeper – one who understoof both affiliate marketing and the IRS’ reporting requirements. Under Lee’s new system, an affiliate can’t be paid unless there’s a W9 on file. New affiliates are asked to provide W9s once they’ve earned their first commission, but not when they first sign up. This saves Lee’s company and her affiliates some paperwork since not every new signup goes on to earn a check.

“It’s a very easy system for everyone involved,” Lee says.

Put the Right Person in Charge

Finding a bookkeeper or accountant who already knows the ins and outs of affiliate marketing is not easy, although it is becoming easier.

Lee’s new bookkeeper learned on the job with previous employers that had affiliate programs. If you aren’t in a position to hire a bookkeeper with similar experience, you need to make sure that the person who does your accounting has the opportunity to learn the details.

Many companies manage their affiliate programs through software that handles most or all of the tax reporting details. But not all programs do a good job of it. Consulting with a technical professional who is familiar with multiple affiliate management tools can help you make sure that you’re fulfilling your obligations to the IRS.

Whether you use software or a contractor to manage your affiliate tax reporting, ultimately you are responsible. It’s important that you understand the process and confirm that it’s followed correctly.

Coming to Terms with Your Past

If you’ve found that you may have overlooked some of your reporting obligations with past affiliate promotions, it is important to involve a tax professional as early as possible. Getting the situation resolved can be tricky without tax expertise.

But this is a case where the best defense is a good offense. Get ahead of the game and make sure your affiliate program is in compliance with IRS reporting requirements and you won’t need to worry.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Countering: What To Consider Before An Employee Gets Another Offer

Thursday Bram — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:27:23 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/countering-what-to-consider-before-an-employee...

If you have any truly great employees on your staff, there will come a day when one of them comes in and tells you that she’s received a better offer. But that doesn’t mean you’ve already lost one of your stars. While an employee may be coming in with the intent to give notice, she’ll certainly listen to an offer to match whatever makes that new job so great.

That means the next move is yours and you may not have a lot of time to make it. You can ask for a little time to see if you can put together a decent counter-offer, but most of the time, your employees will want to be able to give notice and accept the new gig as soon as possible. You need to know what moves you’re willing to make before the topic ever comes up in discussion.

Do You Even Want to Make a Counter-Offer?

For many of us, the immediate reaction is definitely “yes” because of the expense and hassle of a change up. You’ll have to find a replacement and train him – and you may be shorthanded in the meanwhile.

But unless an employee really is something special, the price of keeping him may actually be too much. Hiring and training a new hire is a one-time expense while a raise gets more expensive over time. Worse, an employee that has gotten a counter-offer once may use an on-going job hunt as a way to guarantee regular salary increases down the line.

Weigh the actual costs – in advance – and decide whether you’re comfortable replacing a given employee or if you’d really prefer to keep her on.

Find Out Why Your Employee Went Looking

The reason one of your employees has a new job offer in hand may not be because of the money. If it’s even partly due to the work environment or a personality conflict or perceptions of company health, a raise or better benefits isn’t going to satisfy most workers for long. You may discover issues that need to be overcome to keep the rest of your staff satisfied. Those solutions may not involve pay raises or enhanced benefits. They may even help your company propser in the long run.

There’s another reason to keep truly excellent counter-offers in reserve. If you offer raises to every employee who announces they intend to leave, you’ll build a reputation among your staff as a pushover. But if you only rarely make such moves, you will reinforce the value you place on the employees who really do stand out in your company.

Decide What Your Upper Limit Is

When you consider the cost of hiring a new employee to replace someone who is leaving, it becomes critical to determine exactly how far you’re willing to go to keep even the best employees around. Putting a dollar amount in writing long before it becomes a question means that you’ll be better equipped in a negotiation. And make no mistake: a counter-offer can be a situation that requires great negotiation skills.

When you have an upper limit in place, you have more certainty during negotiation, and you’ll be better equipped to recognize fair outcomes.

Everything Needs to Be In Writing

Once you know what move you want to make, it’s important to put it in writing.

If an employee comes to you and you need to make a counter-offer quickly, it may not seem necessary to write down what you have in mind. Just the same, ask for the fifteen minutes necessary to write up your thoughts. It doesn’t take much time and it will keep negotiations manageable and impress upon your employees that there is a policy in place.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Finding Community Leadership Opportunities

Thursday Bram — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 20:32:58 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/finding-community-leadership-opportunities

Communities thrive because of their leaders. With few exceptions, though, there aren’t organizations seeking out potential leaders and training them at the community level. The right people have to figure out that they want to be leaders on their own, and go out to find leadership opportunities. They have to take the initiative.

If you’re a business owner, it makes sense that "they" should include you. The owners of smaller businesses have a stake in making sure that our communities are doing well. After all, it’s easier to make sales in a community that's prosperous and growing. But taking up leadership positions is about more than making the next sale, provided you’re willing to invest some time. You can help future employees, make sure that the businesses and organizations your company needs to grow are healthy, and even make the world a better place.

Finding an Opening for a Leader

Don't look in the classified ads for a community leader. That means that you’ll need to spend some time working on finding the right spot for yourself. The first step has to be identifying your community. Where do you want to lead?

Your neighborhood?
Your industry?
An issue or cause?

There are a lot of communities that I would consider myself a part of, personally, but there aren’t that many communities that I feel a need to be a leader in. For me, the right spot to work is the geographic area in which I live. There are quite a few entrepreneurs around, but the local small business community has room for more leaders.

It took me a while to identify that need, though. I knew I wanted to get more involved locally, but I had to learn more about the leaders who were already active, the organizations that were trying to help the community, and even the details of local problems. If you’re interested in leading, you first have to learn the situation. Unless you can see the big picture, it’s easy to rush into situations thinking that you’re a white knight, only to get an unenthusiastic response from the rest of the community.

Making Sure It’s the Right Fit

For most people, it’s tough to even consider taking on a huge leadership role right after learning the basics of how a community functions. That’s true whether there’s an official organization in place that you can work through or you’re operating on your own. But not being able jump in head first can actually be a benefit. Not only does it give you an opportunity to learn about issues and other individuals in the community in some depth, but it also gives you a chance to test the waters.

Starting small has it advantages. First of all, it fits better within the entrepreneur’s busy schedule. You also have the opportunity to see what’s really going to work in your community, without committing resources to a huge push.

For example, if, when I first moved to the area I know work, I had jumped in and addressed the problem that I thought I saw, I would have wound up with a less than effective approach. What looked to a newcomer like a lack of small businesses in the area was actually a communications issue. The local small business community wass there, but it was fragmented based on the types of connections and communications embraced by the people involved. I was ready to go out and try to convince more people to support small businesses, when really, bridging the communications gap was the necessary next step.

Benefiting From Leadership Opportunities

No one wants to be perceived as taking advantage of a situation, but it’s not unreasonable to expect that a leader has certain goals and objectives for a community that likely overlap with her more personal (or professional) goals and objectives. The only easy answer is that you have to be aware of how you handle a leadership role. You need to be sure that when you’re acting as a leader, you’re working first for the community and second for your own objectives.

That said, it’s worth taking the time to look at how your goals and your community's goals line up. More and more business owners are coming around to the point of view that building up a community is like building up an eco-system. The more that everyone is successful, the more room there is for a given business to grow. If you can take that approach and spend some effort on making the community a better place to operate for every business that comes along, you’re bound to benefit.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Try Social Lending as an Alternative to Banks

Thursday Bram — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 19:48:05 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/try-social-lending-as-an-alternative-to-banks

Money is the life blood of every business. Gathering start-up capital or finding the funding for an expansion is crucial. There are certain institutions that we consider the best places to get those funds, such as a bank or an investor, but there are multiple funding methods beyond the traditional. Social lending, in particular, can provide a business owner with access to funds that would otherwise be unavailable. Also known as person-to-person lending or peer-to-peer lending, social lending lets individuals lend and borrow money without going through a bank or other traditional lender.

Looking Beyond Banks

When banks lend money, they have very specific concerns. Credit-worthiness of the borrower is a factor, of course. Loan size is another. Most banks simply can’t offer small loans; they can’t make enough money from them to support their operations and generate a profit. What's more, most banks will not lend to businesses that fall outside of what they consider the norm. If your business doesn’t match up with the bank’s standard, you may be out of luck.

But social lending offers a way to source funds that is a little more flexible.

If, for instance, you need only a few thousand dollars to purchase a piece of equipment or fund an expansion, most social lending sites make it easy to find a lender who can work with you. Even better? You can often get lower interest rates through social lending. Because you’re working directly with an individual with money to lend (and not a bank with employees and overhead), the costs of such loans are lower and fees and interest are lower as a result.

Some social lending organizations, such as Kiva, do not even allow their lenders to charge interest. However, Kiva, in particular, actually passes along their loans to local microfinance organizations both in the U.S. and abroad. Despite the fact that it is one of the best known social lending platforms, you cannot directly get a loan from Kiva.

Finding Money Online

There are a wide variety of social lenders online, including many that are country-specific. Because lending laws can vary dramatically country to country, most social lending sites have constraints on where borrowers can be based. Additionally, you’ll find that most loans are made out to you personally, rather than to your business. Some lending sites may check your personal credit history, but few will consider your business’ credit history. You will be ultimately responsible for any loans you take out through a person-to-person lender, no matter what happens to your business. Before making a choice and applying for a loan, you should take a close look at how each of the many lending sites operates, just as you would call around and get rates from a couple of different banks before agreeing to a specific loan.

A few sites that offer social loans include:

The Social Lending Process

On most sites, the application process is relatively simple. You’ll be asked for basic information, like the amount of money you need and your plans for it. Some sites will run a credit check on you. You’ll also be asked to put together some sort of profile. Because your loan may come together piecemeal, with one lender offering a hundred dollars, another putting in fifty and so on, your profile is a key piece of the process. It’s what convinces lenders to choose to fund your loan.

Social Lending Versus Crowd Funding

You may have heard of crowd funding or crowd-sourced funding. It's a lot like social lending. Both leverage the power of the Internet to build communities and markets that aggregate small contributions of money. But they aren’t identical. Crowd funding usually comes down to soliciting pledges from sponsors or donors, without necessarily promising a return from the profits of the project or company being funded. In fact, it’s usually illegal to promise such returns because of the way securities laws govern investments. In contrast, social lending includes strict terms for repayment and your lender expects to be repaid according to those terms. There are many projects, especially creative ones, that pique the interest of individuals willing to pledge a small amount to see them completed. Unfortunately, this is not true for all business efforts. For that reason, business owners in need of capital will likely have better success finding funding with social lending than they might with crowd funding.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn: Where Should You Be?

Thursday Bram — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:29:37 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/twitter-facebook-and-linkedin-where-should-you...

More than once, I’ve had a new client come to me and say that she wants to be on “all the social networking sites.”

When I dig a little deeper and ask for details, that almost certainly means that the client wants her business on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. But the why of the matter is a little harder. Basically they believe that since potential customers are on the big three social networking sites (possibly soon to be the big four with Google+), businesses had better be there, too. The fact of the matter is that there are some major differences between the three sites. Audiences vary widely, and the methods of connection vary, too. Which one (or ones) your business should be active in depends on a few factors.

Facebook

Facebook, as a platform, has many benefits. It is built to allow multiple types of communication and interaction, from sharing messages to posting photos. With its specialized markup language, it is possible for a business to create a Facebook page that gathers leads, offers up free ebooks, and many other strategies.

Facebook users cover a broad range of demographics. In a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, it was reported that 92 percent of social networking site users in the U.S. are on Facebook. There is certainly an overlap between Facebook’s users and people active on other social networking sites, but at the same time, Facebook offers businesses access to the broadest swath of people online.

But there is a drawback for many businesses that might otherwise benefit from Facebook: many users aren’t actively looking to buy. They visit the site to communicate with friends and acquaintances, and not to look for purchasing opportunities. This certainly isn’t an insurmountable problem, but the businesses that are successful finding leads through Facebook are likely to fall more into the business-to-consumer category, especially lifestyle purchases that Facebook users are more likely to share with one another anyway.

Where you might visit Facebook to connect with friends and just happen to add some business connections into the mix, LinkedIn is built with business in mind. Because of the nature of networks, many LinkedIn users will look at their own connections as a source for vendors. It’s a great place to make connections with customers, especially if you are selling specifically to businesses. The site also offers an incredible number of opportunities to build up your expertise and share information; the result can be establishing yourself and your company's expertise quickly and with people that are regularly looking for experts to work with.

Twitter

Compared to the other two social networking platforms that have gotten big, Twitter is a very different opportunity. Twitter, by its nature, is extremely fast. You can post only 140 characters to the site in a given message and there aren’t a lot of other features you can interact with (unlike the wide variety of features on both Facebook and LinkedIn). But those constraints are actually what makes Twitter such a valuable opportunity for businesses looking to connect with potential customers.

The site makes it easy to post messages, whether it’s a response to someone else’s comment or a general broadcast. If you’re willing to take the time to build up a following, you will have easy access to an audience that is more likely to act than those in your email list. You can also easily connect with people who aren’t already in your network, through tactics like searching for users that mention specific keywords. And unlike Facebook, there are plenty of Twitter users who use the social networking site to search for products and services, making it an easier opportunity for businesses selling to other businesses. However, it’s important to note that it’s still a relatively small site, estimated to have around 200 million users worldwide, and there are many industries that have not enthusiastically adopted it as a method to connect. Depending on your business, you may find that your target market is connecting elsewhere.

Where Does Your Business Need to Be?

First and foremost: Where is your audience? That’s where you want to be. That means searching for people that fall into your customer base on each site, as well as surveying the customers you’ve already got about where they’re spending their time. Unless you have both the time and money required to build a great online presence on all three sites, it’s worth prioritizing your efforts. Starting with just one platform is a perfectly reasonable choice for most organizations.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Fundamentals of Online Advertising

Thursday Bram — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:12:21 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/fundamentals-of-online-advertising

Online advertising has become a crucial part of many companies’ marketing mix. Where once a business could develop an effective reach just by placing an ad in the Yellow Pages, it has become necessary (and easier) to pinpoint specific demographics online with contextual ads, as well as ads placed on sites catering to specific niches.

Compared to traditional print ads, online ads can be dramatically cheaper. Rates can be as low as a few cents per action or impression.

Of course, while you can keep your budget fairly low when using online advertising methods, you can also wind up spending more money than you might have intended. To make sure you get the most bang for your buck, take a close look at a variety of online advertising strategies and get a clear picture of what you have to pay to generate the impact you need.

Evaluate and Test

It is not an entirely uncommon story: someone not particularly familiar with an online advertising tool sets up an account, chooses a few keywords to advertise around and winds up with an unexpected bill for several thousand dollars.

It is perfectly possible to keep your online campaigns under control, however, and avoid such surprises. The key is having detailed information to work with as early in the process as possible and testing the advertising opportunities you identify.

Mikel Schwarz thoroughly tests the online advertising he uses to promote Deo-go and RibbedTee.com. He suggests allocating “a specific amount of money for an online advertising ‘test’ each month. Don't go over that spend...Since you can tell online advertising performance pretty quickly, prepare more than one ad creative, and test.”

But before you even get to the point of testing, you need to narrow your list of potential advertising venues, so you can focus on creating a valuable test. That means vetting advertising opportunities carefully – just as you would if you were working offline. Schwarz uses three specific criteria to do an initial check to determine whether a site is worth advertising on:

Check Alexa and Compete ranking/traffic information to see what the historical information shows. Since those sites are not 100 percent accurate, look for trends (going up or going down) and gross traffic values, generally looking for traffic above 20,000 visitors per month as a starting point.
Ask the advertising vendor for any click rate or conversion expectations. If they can't provide any, that's a warning sign.
Attempt to contact existing advertisers to see how their ads are performing overall.

Determine Your Audience and Reach Them

Don’t be afraid to go looking for ad networks beyond those that you’re already using. While there are a few big players – specifically the major search engines – you can get more targeted results by looking at the ad buys offered by social networks, such as Facebook, and other sites.

Michael Podlesney, owner of Average Person Gardening, along with its Seeds of the Month Club, has tested his advertising mix: 40% to Adwords, 40% to AdRoll and 20% to Facebook. “We have found,” he explains,” that the best results for Facebook advertising occur when you are sending someone directly to your Facebook page. As far as AdWords, we use the pay per click model, using keywords derived from our analytics to drive customers to our seeds club page. We then use AdRoll in what is called “ad retargeting”. If a person visits our Seeds club subscription page and simply leaves, AdRoll will then put our ads on a variety of sites that the person may visit so it keeps our company on the top of their minds.”

Podlesney developed this approach through targeted research.

“For our Adwords,” he says, “we use the keywords from our analytic software that tells us the exact keywords people have used to find us. So we only bid on those keywords. As for the Facebook portion of our advertising we can use our industry data that we collected from various studies from the NGA and the USDA and pinpoint our exact customer demographic. We combine that data with buying data reported by various trade publications and can then narrow down to days of the week and certain times during those days.”

Podlesney’s is a complex process, certainly more complex than anything new advertisers may be ready to develop. But the fundamentals are the same for every advertiser, in print or online: find your audience then find the pitch that brings them to your site.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

10 Business Owners Who Turned Services into Products

Thursday Bram — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 19:25:22 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/10-business-owners-who-turned-services-into-pr...

Offering a service can be the easiest way to start a new business, but many business owners who focus first on services find their businesses evolving. One path that evolution can take is offering a product.

While a product usually takes more work at the beginning of the process, it can be a logical choice for many companies. Products can help increase the prices of services that a given company offers, create an easier entry point for prospective customers, or even generate an entirely independent income stream. The following ten business owners developed products from their services for a whole host of different reasons.

Live Comedy Act into CDs/DVDs

Dan Nainan has taken numerous turns in his career, starting as an engineer with Intel. He took a comedy class, got into stand up and since then has sold thousands of CDs and DVDs.

RFID Installation to a Social Media Product

ODIN provides services and, now, products centered around RFIDs. Patrick Sweeny explains their transition: "ODIN handled health care and asset tracking projects, until a special client wanted some social media in the mix. The result is a software and hardware solution available off the shelf."

Marketing Services to a How-To Manual

Suzanne Meyer is the founder of the Welcome Committee, and has taken her expertise as a word-of-mouth marketer from service to product. She specializes in local clients and got many requests for franchises. Meyer chose to create a product (a "how to" instructional guide and blueprint) for marketers interested in offering similar services, rather than franchising.

Consulting into Downloads

Meredith Keller has transformed her expertise as a coach and consultant for small businesses at Smaller Box into a product that she can sell. Her consulting rates were not always in reach for all potential clients, but Keller produced a series of downloadable files on the subject areas she regularly gets asked about.

Professional Organizing to a Self-Guided Organization Program

Jessica Chapman’s organizing abilities aren’t just available as a service. She developed a self-guided training program that can help her target market get organized on their own.

Social Media Consulting to Facebook Apps

As the co-owner of a social media marketing firm, Movement Strategy, Jason Mitchell has helped create products that make it easier for his clients to manage campaigns and for his company to implement ideas. Where the company previously focused on custom social media solutions, they’ve put together specific Facebook applications they can sell, including the popular Facebook Picture Upload Contest Application.

Web Design into Software

Matt Certo’s company, WebSolvers, started out as a web design firm. Since then, the company has developed to self-service software applications that help his clients, without requiring the company to work more hours.

Business Consultant into a Membership Site

Kerri Salls is known as a consultant, but that isn’t all she does. She has transformed the program she offers to clients into a membership site, Goal Achiever's Club, available for a monthly fee.

Travel Marketing to DIY Guides

Andy Hayes has built a reputation and a business by being "that travel guy" — and he’s built products to match up with his services, too. He offers DIY guides for travel marketing that offer his knowledge to companies that want to do the work themselves.

Ebook Consulting to Ebook Templates

Kelly Kingman’s ebook expertise helped her work with clients, but also gave her the opportunity to build Ebook Evolution, a product that includes templates, guides, and all the other tools someone needs to create an ebook. She partnered with another service provider, Pamela Wilson, to get the job done.

If your business is service oriented, take a close look at your offerings. Is there something you do that can be turned into a thing people might buy? You may not end up with game-changing products such as those noted here. At the least, the exercise will give you a new perspective on your business. And it might help you create an intriguing value-ad or maketing giveaway that results in more demand for the services you provide.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Your Next Hire: Specialist or Generalist?

Thursday Bram — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:05:39 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/your-next-hire-specialist-or-generalist

When you’re considering bringing on a new employee for your business, you probably have a few ideas of just what she or he will wind up doing in the office – a list, perhaps, of things you want to get off your desk. But it’s tough to decide whether that person should be a specialist, and able to serve one key function in your business, or a generalist, and able to handle everything that comes up in the course of a business day.

The entire hiring process can be a little intimidating. The decision of whether that perfect hire should be a generalist or a specialist is just one more step – but a necessary one.

The Argument for the Generalist

As a small business owner, you yourself are a generalist. You have to know how to handle bookkeeping, human resources, marketing, and everything else that comes up. You probably have some sort of specialized knowledge, though, that led you to go into business in the first place. If you can bring in someone to handle all of the general stuff that comes up every day, you can focus your attention on the work that is the mainstay of your company.

It can be relatively easy to find someone with the general skills to handle the sorts of administrative work that are necessary to keep a business humming along. There are a variety of job titles that can go with that position, from office manager to administrative assistant. There are also options to use virtual or telecommuting staff to fill such a position. In fact, my first hire was a virtual assistant who handled a wide variety of tasks and never came into the office.

You should expect to need to train a generalist, perhaps more than you would a specialist. That’s because a generalist needs to learn your systems for all parts of your business, as well as pick up any general skills he doesn’t already have. That can be an important consideration when you know you want a generalist, but aren’t sure just how much of a generalist you need.

The Argument for the Specialist

For other companies, though, a specialist may be the better choice. Because you’ve likely already got a system in place for running the day to day operation and probably figured out how to keep the administrative stuff to a minimum (so you can actually work), bringing in a specialist who can directly contribute to improving your business’ ability to earn money will help your company grow.

That first virtual assistant I hired? I eventually let him go, in part because I could always handle tasks faster and because with my business model – services based – it was easier to build up more income by bringing in others who could provide the same sorts of services I do.

It can be harder to find a specialist who has the exact skill set you need, but it’s generally worthwhile to take the time to find someone who has at least started to build up that skill set already. Training a specialist can take enough time and effort away from your own work that it is worthwhile to pay more for an employee that already knows what they’re doing.

Deciding What’s Right for Your Business

If you could do more to directly earn money for your business by passing the genralized stuff off of your desk, the decision is pretty clear. Same goes if you could sell more products or take on more clients if only you had an employee with a certain skill in your office.

Of course, it’s rarely that easy.

Few businesses need just one thing by the time they’re ready to hire their first employee. It’s tempting to put off that first hire for as long as possible, if only to avoid paying out a salary until you’re absolutely sure that you can afford it. But by that point, it feels like you could use a full time bookkeeper, a couple of specialists, an administrative assistant, and maybe someone to make coffee for everyone else. Scaling up at a speed that works with your business is a balancing act.

If you really can't decide, consider a few alternatives. Depending on your business, a part-time contractor or freelancers brought in on a per project basis might be the answer.

Ultimately, you may find that the most important thing is hiring the right person, irrespective of generalist or specialist skills. He might be the right personality fit, or the right person in terms of availability or some other characteristic entirely. Make sure you’re getting the right package, not just someone who fills one specific requirement. After all, the right person ought to be able to meet your business’ needs in more ways than one.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

5 Resume Reading Tips

Thursday Bram — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:48:50 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/5-resume-reading-tips

If you post a job listing, you’re likely to receive a flood of resumes in return. It’s generally easy enough to sort through the resumes that aren’t relevant at all. But making a decision between those candidates who aren’t obviously bad choices isn’t as cut and dry.

That said, focusing on a few key characteristics that will differentiate the truly good catches from the so-so folks can help you cull through the pile even faster.

1. The Resume Looks Right

There are thousands of resume templates online, so putting one’s work history in the right format should be routine. Spell check only takes a minute and even those errors that spell check doesn’t catch should be caught by a friend reading over the resume in question. If an applicant can’t get a resume right, it’s a warning sign right off the bat that maybe she doesn’t want the job or wouldn’t be a particularly good catch.

2. Clear Advancement on Paper

One of the most important characteristics a resume can show you is that the candidate keeps moving forward. It’s rare that you want to hire someone who can’t — or won’t — advance in your company or grow in their own career. You can see from a glance at the job titles listed on a resume if a potential hire has simply moved sideways at each company she’s worked for or if she has moved up the ranks.

It’s worth noting that, especially with younger job applicants, advancement often requires moving to another company. While job hopping may be a sign that the applicant has trouble sticking with a job, it may also signal that she is able to move on to bigger responsibilities quickly and has been able advance with each hop. In fact, advancement by job hopping isn’t uncommon when you consider that many managers expect employees to put in time in the trenches before a promotion.

3. At Least a Little Diversity

Diversity can be a crucial strength for companies; great ideas are often generated by teams whose members have different viewpoints and experiences. However, racial, ethnic, or gender diversity aren’t the criteria you’re looking for — you don’t want to tangle with a suggestion of that kind of discrimination — but there are other types of diversity to look for. If you can find good applicants with different educational backgrounds or hobbies or career paths, you can bring a wider range of viewpoints into your company.

Assuming that the applicants you’re considering are equally qualified in other respects, it’s worthwhile to make a list of some of the qualities your current employees have. That will provide you a point of comparison to check whether a new hire will bring a new point of view to your business.

It’s worth noting that many companies immediately disqualify resumes that mention information that could potentially be used to discriminate between candidates — information about race and other protected classes. If you have any questions about what information you can use to make a hiring decision, consult with a legal professional who has experience in human resources issues.

4. A Way to Learn More

Not all jobs require a portfolio or a list of references, but a good resume should at least give you an idea about how to learn more about your candidate’s abilities. That may take the form of a website or a portfolio or a second or third page of the resume, but the best hires will always anticipate your needs and make it easy for you to move past their resume.

It’s rare that a resume tells you everything you need to choose an employee. Interviews are a standard part of the process, but when you can look at examples of a candidate’s work, or even follow some of their ideas on a blog, you can tell much faster if you’ve found the right person.

5. A Cover Letter that Explains Oddities

There are few job applicants who have had careers that are tailor-made for sharing through a resume. If I applied for a job tomorrow, my resume would likely make some human resource managers cringe — I’ve been self-employed, held overlapping jobs, and generally haven’t had a career that could be summarized in a neat list on a piece of paper. Resume quirks don’t have to stop you from considering a good candidate, especially if you’ve got a cover letter that clarifies the situation.

Explaining big gaps, non-work experiences, and other relevant parts of one’s background are indications that an applicant has thought through potential problems, as well as why she would still be a good fit for your company.

Going Beyond the Resume

Just because the resume is a perfect fit for your business, it’s worth remembering that no candidate is just the piece of paper he sent your way. It’s always worth double checking the information, as well as doing a trial run with the applicant to see if she can live up to her resume. Or maybe a game of chess will help you decide.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Using Your Green Practices to Market Your Business

Thursday Bram — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 19:38:38 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/using-green-practices-to-market-your-business

Many buyers make an effort to purchase products and services from businesses that are green, or at least more environmentally-aware than their competitors. To capture those customers, you have to make sure that your green practices are a visible part of your marketing efforts.

Not every part of your marketing plan needs to trumpet how amazingly eco-friendly your company is, but integrating descriptions of the steps you’ve taken can provide a significant boost.

Address Potential Customer Concerns

Certain industries face more customer concerns about environmentalism than others. If, for instance, your prospective customers know that you are responsible for disposing of waste, they may have questions that your marketing needs to answer.

Gabriella LeVota is the director of marketing for Junk King, which uses print, broadcast, radio, and digital channels to reach potential clients. She’s made environmentalism as a key component of Junk King’s marketing efforts. “In the junk removal industry, there was a real lack of environmental consciousness before our company was formed," she says. "It seemed imperative that we inform our customers of our green efforts, so they could make the decision for their items to be disposed with full information. Additionally, we are really proud of our green initiatives and feel proud to share our efforts with our community.”

The customer response has been excellent. “Our customers feel at ease knowing that their items are not going to be tossed in a landfill if it is at all possible to avoid,” she says. “We have received great press in the markets we currently serve, as well as being nationally recognized by Inc. magazine and Waste & Recycling. While our press tends to discuss the growth of our company on a national level and into the local market, it always mentions how we are using a green approach to differentiate ourselves in the junk removal industry.”

Bring Your Marketing into Alignment with Your Values

A key consideration of how you market your business has to be what you personally value. In part, that’s because prospective customers tend to identify well with personalities and stories in marketing. You’re better equipped to attract clients whose needs and preferences are in alignment with your own.

Arcadia, a retailer founded by Jay Gurewitsch, has focused on its Fair Trade credentials as a key component of its marketing efforts. Through strategic partnerships, media outreach, and other elements, Gurewitsch has emphasized the store’s connection with the New York City Fair Trade Coalition (FTC NYC) and the rest of the Fair Trade community.

Ian Edwards, an Arcadia representative, says, “Gurewitsch's world view has been about fair trade and sustainability. It was how he started Arcadia, the store in the first place – relying on unique gifts and products that were sourced ethically. So, it's part of the fabric of the store's story – which has extended to operational efforts, too, like low-wattage LEDs and FSC papers and local sourcing.”

Those efforts have not gone unnoticed – nor unrewarded. Gurewitsch’s personal commitment to sustainability has built a brand that is very attractive to his target market.

“The fair trade/sustainability angle is the ethical way to do this kind of business," says Edwards, "and his customers respond to that. Also, fair trade is a market differentiator. Many customers enjoy the experience and story line behind how the product came to be – a premium, if you will and an opportunity to contribute to a solution for some global challenges. He has the rep of being the go-to guy for fair trade products in NYC.”

The Right Campaign in the Right Place

When it comes to talking about your company’s green efforts, make sure that you’re telling the right people in a way that will matter to them. Not everyone will be motivated by your green messaging; for many audiences, cost, usefulness, or other factors may be the motivating features. In general, however, few people actively avoid the eco-friendly label, so your green marketing is unlikely to dampen sales. Just be sure each of your audiences is getting the message that resonates with them.

That means surveying your market, as well as testing your promotions to see if you get a more positive response with a green focus or by concentrating on other parts of your brand. It may also mean testing different approaches in different channels. As long as you have taken genuine steps to green your business, however, it’s worth including your efforts in your marketing materials.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

What You Need to Know About Online Sales Tax

Thursday Bram — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 01:31:33 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/what-you-need-to-know-about-online-sales-tax

Figuring out online sales tax can be something close to a nightmare. It used to be that everyone "knew" that online shopping was tax free. These days, though, crossing a state border can make a world of difference in your level of obligation. I get a little worried just thinking about it because while the IRS isn’t concerned about sales tax, state tax bureaus are — and they can be just as aggressive in tracking down money they consider theirs.

It’s not impossible to untangle the online sales tax mess, but the risks of getting it wrong make a visit to a local tax professional a wise move. You can get a headstart by taking a look close to home.

Your State’s Laws

One of the biggest difficulties when it comes to handling online sales taxes is that there’s no single set of rules in place to cover every state. Naturally, then, the first place to start untangling is in your own state.

In Maryland, where I live and operate my business, I’m expected to collect sales tax on all sales made within the state. According to the state comptroller’s office, anyone who maintains a nexus, or place where business operations occur, within the state is also expected to collect sales tax — but there is no single resource for out-of-state sellers who happen to sell online.

In most cases, you’re under no obligation to collect sales tax for states where you don’t have a nexus. That usually means an office, but (depending on the state) can also include a warehouse or business trips on a regular basis into the state for the purpose of conducting business. Those rules are based on a Supreme Court decision about mail order purchases. A good general rule is that if you aren’t doing anything else in a given state besides shipping to a buyer, you don’t need to pay sales tax. For instance, when I sell an ebook to someone outside of Maryland, I don’t need to charge sales tax because Maryland is the only state where I have a presence.

Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee that the situation will stay this simple. Even if you aren’t planning to eventually expand your business’ presence to other states, you may find yourself expected to collect sales tax for all online purchases if certain state governments have their way.

Your E-Commerce Software

It’s also important to consider what sort of software you’re using to handle online sales. Many of the simpler online shopping carts have only basic sales tax functionality, leaving you to figure out the details on your own. But some allow you to set sales tax rates for buyers who list a specific state in their information. While sales tax wasn’t the most important feature I was looking for when I chose the shopping cart tool that I use on my websites, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the software handles sales tax readily and it generates reports that let me cut a check to the appropriate tax agencies.

If you’re not sure on how to configure your shopping cart for sales tax collection, it may be worth bringing in some outside help to get your tools in order. Virtual assistants who specialize in setting up shopping carts can often help. You will need to be able to supply an idea of how much sales tax you need to charge, which may require some digging if you live in a state where sales tax rates differ by county or municipality. Most shopping cart software developers employ support staff who can help you, too.

Stay Aware of Changes

Sales tax questions are going to remain difficult, especially since online sales tax has yet to be ironed out with a universal answer. If selling online is a major part of your business, it’s important to stay abreast of the discussion, both in your own state and in any states you have customers in. The alternative can be a tax bill with plenty of fees and penalties added on.

Check your state’s comptroller’s office or revenue service to see if they offer mailing lists or other notification services. Many CPAs provide newsletters or blog about tax rules in their local areas – you may want to ask any tax professionals you’re already working with about the sources they use.

In many states, sales tax is a key revenue source, which pays for schools, roads, and other public services. Those states are likely to look for opportunities to make an end run around the Supreme Court decision which effectively removed any responsibility for online sellers to collect sales tax in states they don’t have a presence in. With that end in mind, twenty-three states have already streamlined their sales tax collection process and more are moving in that direction. With so many states backing the effort, it seems possible that there will be a requirement to collect sales tax nationally, eventually.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.

Hiring the Best: Go Beyond Asking Questions in an Interview

Thursday Bram — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:54:31 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/hiring-the-best-go-beyond-asking-questions-in-...

Finding the perfect employee for your business can be difficult. Depending on the size of your business, you may not have a separate human resources department. You may also have limited resources you can commit to a search for job applicants.

Contrast that with the exhaustive process (and extensive resources) used by online footwear retailer Zappos. At Zappos, hiring is just the beginning. From there, new employees go through a four-week training program and then spend two weeks on the customer service lines, no matter what position they’re hired for. Zappos has become well known for this process, as well as a special offer the company makes to each new hire after the first week of training. If new hires agree to quit immediately, they can walk away with $2,000 in their pockets.

The entire on-boarding process ensures that new employees are just as dedicated to Zappos as employees who have been with the company for years. But it’s probably not a practical option for smaller businesses. Nevertheless, innovative small businesses can go beyond the standard interview routine to find the right employees.

Dig Deeper than the Interview

Interviews are a mainstay of the hiring process. They provide a way to get to know an applicant, but they don't say much about how well the candidate will perform nor how she'll fit in with you and the rest of the team.

To help her get a better sense of applicants, Alicia Vargo of Pampered Passions uses card, board, and strategy games.

“I don’t play an entire game of chess with an applicant," she says, "you can imagine how time consuming this would be – however I sit down and either play gin rummy or chess with our applicants. Of course, they look at me quite strange.”

Despite the odd looks, Vargo’s method gets results.

“When I sat down with one applicant, she was quite competitive, and frustrated with her mistakes. She was concerned about winning the game, and winning only. She was quite insecure at the same time about her strategies. Ultimately she was throwing her hands in the air, could not believe she was making the decisions she was making on the board, and gave up after about ten moves. She had mentioned that she was an excellent chess player prior to me taking out the game."

Form this experience, Vargo surmised a few things about the candidate:

She may be a perfectionist;
She may not be a team player;
She may give up in a challenging circumstance;
She may not be a problem solver;
She could not take the time to breathe through her frustrations.

The result? "She was not a candidate we hired," says Vargo.

The Handwriting on the Wall

Chess and board games aren't your only alternatives. While a variety of assessment tests have become commonplace in the hiring process, Sheila Lowe’s handwriting analysis stands out. Lowe provides employers with a deeper insight into the people that they may hire and her analysis has proven out for her clients. “I had provided an analysis of a woman who was applying for outside sales. In my report I noted that while she had many fine qualities for the job, her strong sensitivity gave her tendency to blow up at the slightest provocation. While not all my clients share with their applicants that their handwriting is being analyzed, this particular one did. He told the woman what my report had said and – she blew up.”

Lowe’s efforts provide employers with an additional layer of information about a candidate. “I never tell a client that they should or shouldn’t hire someone," she says, "but my analyses provide objective information (I never meet the applicants) that they can add to their impression in the interview, application, skill testing, background check. I’m not there to stop good people getting a job, but to help the employer make sound choices. In most cases, it’s not poor job skills that cause people to lose their job, it’s personality problems.”

Show, Don’t Tell

Many applicants will come to you with impressive resumes – but a resume doesn’t tell you how they really do their job and how they fit in with your team. Having a prospective employee actually get down in the trenches and do a trial project (paid, of course) can give you a much clearer picture of how they’ll actually work for your company.

Sara Sutton Fell is the CEO of the jobsite Flexjobs.com. Applicants to her company are asked to complete an exercise that shows how they would perform in the real world.

“One of the positions is a researcher role," Fell says, "so we gave the candidates similar guidelines that our current researchers have, and asked them to take a half hour and submit the results of the research guidelines. It gives us a great insight into (a) their current level of understanding of the job; (b) the quality of their work; and (c) in what areas they may need training. "

Because her current researchers are already experts, she includes them in the process, helping her "grade" candidate responses. “We had four candidates who just knocked the research component out of the park, with their submitted results being 100 percent usable and up to our current standards, with absolutely no training. The other submissions ranged on the spectrum, with about half of them ensuring their progress to the interview stage.”

Fell's process has resulted in positive responses from applicants, as a general rule. After all, many potential hires aren’t sure how a company really operates until they land the job and start work. The test offered a glimpse of what applicants were applying for. The insights that a work exercise such as Fell's research test provides can be beneficial to applicants as well as the companies interested in hiring them.

Written by Thursday Bram and published on Wise Bread. Read more articles from Wise Bread.