Ask SCORE

SCORE, "Counselors to America's Small Business," is a nonprofit organization of more than 13,000 volunteer business counselors who provide free, confidential business counseling and training workshops to small business owners. Call 610.327.2673 for the Pottstown SCORE chapter, or find a counselor online at www.pottstownscore.org

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Bringing On Contractors Vs. Hiring Staff: Which Will Benefit Your Small Business The Most?

As your small business grows, you will find you cannot do everything on your own. To obtain the help you need, you can choose to outsource tasks to independent contractors or hire employees to whom you can delegate work.

To decide which will make the most sense for your company, it is important first to understand some of the key differences between working with independent contractors versus having employees on staff.

Employees vs. Independent Contractors: Four Points Of Comparison

Key Considerations When Firing an Employee

While carefully selecting employees can help prevent human resources issues, your small business might still find it has hired a staff member who is not a good fit.

A number of issues may justify termination of an employee:

How Creating Buyer Personas Can Help Small Businesses in Their Marketing Efforts

Compiling demographic information about your buyers will only take you so far in understanding how to reach and what to say to your target customers. By creating a “buyer persona” (a profile of a customer to represent a particular group of buyers) for each group of customers to whom you wish to sell your products and services, you will gain greater insight. Buyer personas help you drill down to the specifics of what motivates individual customers to buy and identify what communications channels will give you an opportunity to connect with more of your prospects and customers. 

“Success Thinking”—It’s All About Attitude

As a small business owner, you’re not just “the boss.” You’re also the leader, the person employees, vendors, customers, and prospects look to for guidance, support, and confidence. And being a leader is easier than you think. It begins with a positive, “can-do” attitude that your business delivers what it promises, and can achieve any goal.

Self-Employment Tax Basics

Going from “employee” to being your own boss brings some significant changes, professionally and personally. One of the most significant to become accustomed to is no longer having certain taxes neatly taken from your paycheck by your employer.

As a self-employed individual, not only are you responsible for directly submitting the income tax you owe to the federal, state, and local governments, you are also responsible for paying self-employment tax.

Eight Ways to Manage Your Time and Multiple Projects

As a small business owner, you must have fallen into the trap of having to juggle many tasks in a limited time. While there is no magic formula to hitting the right balance and managing your time seamlessly, you can improve your time-handling skills to accomplish more tasks on your to-do list. Here are some ways to help you keep everything in check when working on multiple projects at the same time.

1. Make a to-do list before you start your day

Record Keeping 101: Information Your Small Business Needs to Maintain

One of the most important administrative responsibilities small business owners face is keeping accurate and current records. Not only is it critical for assessing opportunities and risks that can affect your company’s profitability and potential for growth, it’s also necessary for ensuring legal and regulatory compliance.

Regardless of the type of business you are running, record keeping comes with the territory. Some types of documentation and information are required for all businesses and others may or may not be necessary depending on your industry.

Get Ahead of Your Personal Paper Chase

Forget everything you’ve read about the “paperless” office. Though our computers, PDAs, and smart phones have digitized many aspects of daily life, paper is still very much with us.

Good Habits Can Translate Into Great Sales

The longer you’re in business, the more you realize that the only constant is change.  You may be enjoying strong sales across a broad customer base, but those conditions could be far different in just a matter of months.  A competitor’s offer may tempt your customers to try something different.  Organizational and operational changes may require you to build relationships with new people from scratch.

Revitalizing Your Old PCs Can Maximize Your IT Investment

Computer technology changes so quickly, it almost seems like today’s state-of-the-art today might well be obsolete. Though few small business owners can afford to be on the “bleeding edge” of PC technology, they also don’t want to compromise their employees’ productivity with seemingly outmoded machines.  As a result, they find themselves making periodic purchases of new hardware while the old machines pile up in a closet or corner.

Your Price Is Right — If You Do Your Homework

“How much should I charge?”

That’s one of the first questions most small business owners ask. And it’s not an easy one to answer. Setting a pricing strategy depends on many factors — the type of product or service you’re offering, your own costs to provide it, your expected profit, your customers’ location, the “going rate” for your industry, and many others.  

Finding just the right balance between all of the factors involved is more art than science. Pricing too low can cut into your profits, while overpricing also can hurt your business.

Good Planning Will Help You Know How to Grow

After a fast start, your small business seems to have lost momentum. What happened? And more importantly, what can you do about it?

Given the interconnected nature of today’s economy, even small, largely local businesses are influenced by trends and events in other industries, and even other continents. 

For Fast-Track Fulfillment, Consider Specialized Shipping Services

Handling the fulfillment responsibilities yourself may seem like a good, cost-saving idea when you’re just starting out. But as demand for your products grows, so too will your fulfillment backlog. Unless you stay on top of it, your sales will suffer along with your company’s reputation for quality and responsiveness.

Ethics — Don't Do Business Without Them

Operating an honest, ethical business may seem like a no-brainer. But in today’s highly competitive business environment, the temptation to bend the rules looms large. And don’t think that it’s OK to do something “just this once.” Not only is a wrong choice always wrong, but one-time ethics breaches often become habits. And, once the reputation of you and your business are compromised, it may be impossible to repair the damage.

The Potential Power — and Pitfalls — of Partnerships

The idea of a partnership may be appealing if you’re considering launching a small business.   Unlike solo ventures where the burdens fall on a single person, partners can share responsibilities and often bring different skills and knowledge to the business. One partner may be great with numbers and planning, while the other is a whiz at marketing and sales. Combining these elements can open more doors and help the business realize more opportunities more quickly than it could with only one person involved.

Overtime Awareness Will Protect You and Your Employees

Will you be asking your employees to work overtime this year? Before you start setting those work schedules, make sure you fully understand the rules governing overtime pay.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, hourly employees must be paid overtime at time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours in a workweek. Overtime pay may not be waived by any agreement between you and your workers.

Overtime Awareness Will Protect You and Your Employees

Will you be asking your employees to work overtime this year? Before you start setting those work schedules, make sure you fully understand the rules governing overtime pay.

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, hourly employees must be paid overtime at time-and-a-half for working more than 40 hours in a workweek. Overtime pay may not be waived by any agreement between you and your workers.

Some Insights on Successful Outsourcing

Outsourcing is a common practice in today’s business world, but it’s not the domain of large companies. Small business owners use outsourcing for a variety of reasons— to handle work overflows, receive specific expertise in a new or unfamiliar area such as marketing or IT, or take on more routine administrative tasks that are taking up too much of their time and attention.

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