Cool Tech Tools: When There’s No Internet, Use Your Personal Hotspot

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Have you ever been in a situation where there’s no internet and you needed it?  Or perhaps you’re at a hotel and don’t want to pay the extra $15 per day for wireless internet.  If so, you’re not alone, and luckily, there’s a gadget for just about everything.  This time, it’s a gadget you probably already have:  all you need to do is whip out your cell phone.

iPhone

Your cell phone can act as your wireless modem.  Plug the iPhone into your PC using your USB connection.  Go to Settings on your iPhone and one of your settings will be labeled Personal Hotspot.  Tap it and toggle it to “on.”  Set a password.

On your PC, view your wireless internet connections, and the name you’ve given your phone will show up.  Click to connect and enter the password you set on your phone.

Voila, internet!

Android

If you have an Android, tap More… and select Wireless and Networks, then Tethering and Portable Hotspot. Check Portable Wi-Fi hotspot. Tap Portable Wi-Fi hotspot settings and you can edit the Wi-Fi network name, and choose a password.

On your PC, view your wireless internet connections, and the name you’ve given the Wi-Fi network will show up.  Click to connect and enter the password you set on your phone.

Fees

Ask your cell phone network provider if this hotspot feature is included in your package or is an extra charge.  You may also have to call then to enable this feature.

Once you’ve used this once, you’ll be hooked.  You now have a new internet access alternative anywhere you have cell phone coverage.

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How to Avoid Sales Tax Surprises

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Sales tax laws are constantly changing, and sales tax audits have increased since states and local agencies have become creative about finding new ways to generate revenues.  If you haven’t made any changes in your sales tax procedures in a while, you are probably at risk.

Taxability

From state to state, the taxability of items varies.  For example, data processing services including web hosting and graphics are taxable in Texas but not California.  Because of these intricacies, it makes sense to consult an expert in this area.  Some states have been taxing certain services for many years now.

Nexus

The new buzzword in sales tax is “nexus,” which simply means presence.  If your business has a presence in a state, then certain items you sell could be taxable.  “Presence” is a little gray, but here are a few examples of some characteristics that the courts have decided prove nexus.

  • If you have employees or contractors working in a state, you are liable to collect and remit sales tax.  This can play havoc if you hire virtual or remote workers.  Even if they are part-time, you have nexus in that state.
  • If you outsource inventory fulfillment in any way (think Amazon sales), you have nexus in states where there is a physical warehouse that houses your products.
  • If you own business property in a state, you must file sales tax.
  • If you participate in trade shows or are a public speaker, you have nexus in states where the conferences are held.

The Risk

If you fail to collect taxes where you should, the risk is easy to calculate.  Take the potential taxable sales times the sales tax rate, and add any penalties.  The numbers get scary if you’ve been in business for several years.

Let’s say your annual revenues are $5 million.  You didn’t realize that your Texas sales were taxable, and this amounts to 10% or $500K.  Your tax liability is $41,250 per year.  If you have been doing it wrong for five years, well, you can add it up.  Add penalties on top, and it’s not a small amount.  It can wipe out your entire year’s profit.

Sales tax liability becomes more important if you plan to sell your business.  A traditional valuation will always include a sales tax risk analysis.  Even if you don’t plan to sell, the odds of you getting audited or a disgruntled employee blowing the whistle can be too much to risk.

If you want help calculating your risk or assessing nexus or taxability for your business, reach out and we can help.

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What to Do About Spam

Posted on July 23, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Unfortunately, spam is an inevitable part of today’s digital world.  The bad news is if you have your spam settings set too tightly, you will lose good emails.  If you receive new prospects via email, you may miss out on good clients and revenue.  If you have your settings too loose, you have to take up extra time to wade through the spam emails.

Here are some tips and facts that can help you control it.

Anti-virus software

Desktop-based (not cloud-based) anti-virus software is a must anyway, and most have an anti-spam component that can be activated to mark spam and move it to a junk folder in your Outlook or email software.  You can then periodically review and delete the items in the junk folder.

Web hosting software

Many website hosting packages come with SpamAssassin which you can set up via your website’s control panel.  You can choose whether to delete the spam and you can set the level of deletion which is based on an email scoring system as to how spammy it is.   Your webmster can help you set this up.

Third-party email

About half of all businesses have gone to third-party email solutions such as Google mail, Rackspace, Office 365, and many others.  Many of these have built-in spam protection on their servers.

Gmail, which is free, is also very popular and filters the spam automatically.  You can set up your gmail account so that it sends from your business email.

Challenge and response software

Some business owners have gone to a challenge and response software such as SpamArrest.  All emails coming in require validation via a captcha (those boxes that have you prove you’re a person and not a robot by entering letters and numbers) on the sender’s part.

Old email addresses

Older email addresses are subject to more spam than newer ones.  Also, if you use common emails such as info@yourdomain.com, you probably get more spam than most.  Start over every 3-5 years with new emails.  It is worth the time.

Too many email addresses

Spam will come in to all the email addresses you use, so if you have two email addresses, you may get twice as much spam.  Keep the number of email addresses you use to an absolute minimum.

Scrapers

Avoid placing your email address on your website or in public forums where it can be “scraped” by robots that will place your email on lists without your permission.  Even so-called reputable companies employ scrapers; it’s more common than we’d like to think.

Also, some of the more aggressive websites will capture your domain and/or email address from cookies, so beware.  With Google Chrome, you can browse “incognito,” and we recommend you do that.

If you’re challenged with spam, try one or more of these ideas to save time.

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Mid-Year Milestones

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Wow, can you believe that 2015 is half over already?  Now that we’ve crossed the halfway mark, it’s time to see if we’re on track for our 2015 goals.  To do that, we need to see if we’ve met our mid-year milestones.

Managing By Milestones

A milestone, in project management terms, is simply a point along a project timeline.  It’s marked so that project managers recognize when that portion of the project has been completed.  We can use milestones to see how we’re faring toward financial goals as well.

Assuming our business is not seasonal, we should have earned half of our target revenues for 2015 as of the June 30, 2015 income statement.  If we’re falling short, we can recognize that and perhaps add some promotions or sales to spike revenues so that we can correct the shortfall before the year has ended.  If we’re ahead of the game, we can see what is working so well and make sure to replicate it.

Either way, with milestones, we can be more proactive in reaching or surpassing our goals.

By the Numbers

Some of the numbers you may want to set milestones for include:

  • Revenue to date
  • Expenses
  • Profit to date
  • Debt paid down or debt taken on
  • Assets acquired or sold
  • Number of employees added or lost or both
  • Number of clients added or lost or both
  • Accounts receivable aging

Project Performance

Milestones don’t have to be numeric.  You can also use them to determine if you’re on track with internal projects.  Perhaps for 2015, your goal was to replace 5 PCs and convert your shopping cart software.   You can set milestones to monitor specific phases of these projects or just monitor when you start and complete them.

Mid-Year Milestone Report

Document your accomplishments in a mid-year milestones report.  It feels good to write them down, plus you’ll have a history of how much you accomplished as well as what worked.

The report can include the milestones as well as a narrative explaining the performance to date.  If you’d like our help creating this report, please feel free to contact us.

Accounting for milestones can help you become more proactive toward reaching your business goals.  Plus, it’s great to see how far you’ve come since the beginning of the year.

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Cool Tech Tools: Customer Portals

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Cool Tech Tools:  Customer Portals

If you have a business where you have to send documents of any kind to your customers, then you may benefit from a portal.  You can save time on customer service and possibly postage and labor.  You will also look most professional while increasing service delivery.

What Is a Portal?

A portal is software in the cloud that allows users to upload and download files from a secure space that only they have access to.   For each client you have, you can set up a private virtual filing cabinet where only you and the client will have the key.  Your client will have their own user ID and password into their area of the portal.  There, they can upload and download documents.  Some portals also have secure signature capability to help you take the paperwork out of obtaining signatures.

How Can I Use a Portal?

Think of all the paperwork that occurs between you and your customer, and that will give you several ideas about how to use a portal.  If your business is data-intensive, you will definitely benefit from a portal; imagine moving all of those documents out of email and into a clean, private filing folder in the cloud.

Businesses that would benefit the most include:

  • Any small business with remote employees: a portal can be where they pick up and drop off work.
  • Mortgage companies where the loan officers are collecting a great deal of information for the underwriters.
  • Construction companies: each subcontractor could access the schedule, estimates, material details, invoices, and certificates of insurance.
  • Real estate agents to collect the details of home purchases and sales
  • Accountants, attorneys, consultants, coaches, and other professionals who deal with private customer information.
  • Web design, ad agency, and marketing companies

Types of documents and files you can upload and download from portals include:

  • Contracts, estimates, and legal documents
  • Invoices and credit card authorizations
  • Instructions and training materials and aids
  • Company policies and procedures
  • Brochures and marketing materials
  • Reports and spreadsheets
  • Forms and applications, blank and completed
  • Graphics, drawings, and photos

You don’t necessarily have to set up a portal for every client; perhaps it’s cost-effective to use a portal on your largest customers or vendors.

Where Can I Find a Portal?

One of the leading vendors in the portal space is Citrix Sharefile.  You can find them here:  http://www.sharefile.com/.  Your industry may have specific solutions for you as well, especially if you have regulations such as HIPAA that you need to follow.

You may also have heard of DropBox and Box.net.  These companies offer file transfer and don’t have a dedicated user area, so they are useful, but a bit different than a portal.

Look for software that provides each user with their own unique login, and that will distinguish the software as a true portal.

If you decide to implement portals for your business, you can private-label them with your logo and place a direct link to your portal login page for easy client access.

Using portals will keep your inbox cleaner, save time looking for lost emails and documents, and help you look professional in the eyes of your clients.

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Ten Excuses to Have a Sale

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Jay Mercer

If you need cash fast, there’s nothing like having a sale to increase your bank account quickly.  Here are ten excuses you can use to tell your customers you’re having a sale.

1-      It’s Your Birthday (or Your Business’s Birthday)

We all feel generous on our birthday, so why not have a sale on your special day.  You can even tie to discount amount to your day of birth.  For example, if you were born on the 14th, then you can offer customers 14% off.

Similarly, you can hold an anniversary sale on your business’s anniversary date.  It’s a good way to let customers know how long you’ve been in business.

2-      Your Partner Is on Vacation

If you have a business partner, you can use the excuse, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”  You can pretend that your partner knows nothing about the sale, but has left you in charge and you’re going to have this sale.  The customers will enjoy the reason and feel like they are getting away with something fun.

3-      Holidays

Most stores have holiday sales, and you can too.  There are so many unusual holidays that you can tap into just in case the holidays are at an inconvenient time.  Here’s a website that will give you a list of special days, weeks, and holidays: http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/

4-      The Full Moon

Why not?  It might be the best sale you’ve ever had.  The next full moon is July 2, 2015, and you’re in luck because July has a blue moon (when two full moons occur on one month) on July 31, 2015.

5-      Small Business Saturday

November 28, 2015 is Small Business Saturday.  It’s one day after Black Friday and the Saturday before Cyber Monday.  Small Business Saturday is relatively new, but has been gaining momentum in the past few years.

6-      Tax Holidays

In some states the sales tax authority provides exemptions for a few days on selected categories of items.  For example, in August, Texas allows one weekend where sales tax does not have to be paid or collected on school supplies.  You may not even have to mark down your items to generate a crowd for sales tax holidays.  Here’s a Wikipedia page on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_holiday

7-      Old Inventory Items or Overstock Conditions

A great reason to have a sale is when you have old inventory items you need to clear out.  Similarly, if you’re overstocked on certain items, a sale will help them move.

8-      Your Kid’s College Tuition Is Due

You can have a lot of fun by advertising that you simply need to make your tuition payments.  Customers will get a smile out of helping you out and relating to a familiar need.

9-      The Stock Market

If the stock market goes up or down, you can have a sale based on its performance.

10-  Seasonal Dates

Dates such as the first day of summer, Spring Equinox, or even April 15th, tax day (in the U.S.) can be potential sales days for your business.  Think about seasonal dates related to your industry.

Try these ten ideas to get your sale noticed.

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Understanding How Teams Grow

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Do you have employees who need to work together as a team?  Or perhaps you need to work as a team with your customers and vendors.  When people of different backgrounds get together for a common goal, there are often four stages they go through before they become a true team or family.

Four Stages of Teams

In 1965, Bruce Tuckman noted that there are four stages in which teams evolve:  forming, storming, norming, and performing.  Two goals are crucial for teams:

  1. To reach the optimal stage, performing.
  2. To build trust, respect, and open communication during all four stages of the process.

Forming

In the forming stage, team members begin to get to know each other and what their goals are.  This is a good time for the team to set ground rules that cover how often the team should meet, how they should communicate, and what their objectives will be.  This is an ideal time for the team to assess their strengths and challenges.

Storming: Team Conflict

In the storming stage, conflict begins.  The diverse points of view of each team member present as team conflict.  Team members need some tools in this stage to avoid clashing egos and turf wars.  Have team members actively listen to other team members’ viewpoints to better negotiate through the problem-solving the group needs to perform in order to get their goals met.

Don’t let a team get stuck in this stage because emotions that simmer under the surface will blow up.

Both active listening and assertiveness training are great tools to help teams learn how to manage the conflict and work through the issues that come up during the storming stage.  Employees also need to learn how to deliver feedback and bad news in an effective, non-threatening way.

Norming: Becoming Complacent

The third stage of teambuilding is norming.  In this stage, team members can become complacent and agree with the group to avoid conflict.  The leader must challenge the group not to fall into this type of groupthink, which results in terrible decisions.

Performing: The Optimal Stage

In the final stage of teambuilding, performing, the group has found their synergy.  They perform at their highest productivity and quality.  They have built trust among team members to get the job done constructively and without personal conflict.

Which stage is your team in?  Knowing the natural stages will help you move your team to the optimal stage, performing.

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The Best Payment Terms for Faster Cash Flow

Posted on May 14, 2015 by Jay Mercer

A great way to speed up your cash flow is to get paid faster by customers who owe you money.  One way to do that is to examine your payment terms to see if you can accelerate them.  First let’s talk about what payment terms are common.  Then I’ll share a study that showed which payment terms generate the fastest payments.

English, Please

Traditional payment terms are spoken in the following format:

Percentage discount/(Days due from invoice date), “Net” (Days due before payment is past due)

An example is 2/10, Net 30.  It means to the customer that if they pay within ten days, they can take two percent off of the invoice due amount.  If they don’t want to do that, they need to pay the full invoice within 30 days of the invoice date.

You could write “2/10, Net 30” on your invoice, but you will get paid faster if you write it out in plain English.

Industry Standard

If your industry “has always done it that way,” I encourage you to challenge the status quo.  Getting your cash faster is important to all small businesses, so don’t let your industry hold you back.

Discounts

Most corporations are required to take discounts if they are offered, so offering an early pay discount might help you get paid faster.

Insights

There are several studies on how to get paid the fastest.  Of course they all have different conclusions!  FreshBooks advises that “due upon receipt” terms can work against you as most people decide that that can mean anything.  They suggest using wording that says “Please pay this invoice within 21 days of receiving it.”  Here is their blog post on the topic:

http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/the-best-invoice-payment-terms-to-help-you-get-paid-faster-and-more-often

Xero produced a page on the topic as well. Their research suggests that debtors pay bills 2 weeks late on average.  They also suggest using terms of net 13 or less in order to get paid within 30 days.  Here is their page on the topic:

https://www.xero.com/us/small-business-guides/invoicing/invoice-payment-terms/

Feel free to contact us if you’d like help deciding on payment terms for your business.

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Five Modern Marketing Methods You May Not Know About

Posted on April 30, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Older marketing methods like direct mail and cold calling just don’t work as effectively as they did a few decades ago.  There are two reasons for that:

  1. The trust level between people has dropped more than 20 percentage points in the last few years; people are more skeptical and untrusting of each other than ever before.
  2. The amount of marketing messages we receive on a daily basis has increased exponentially, to the point where most everything is simply treated as white noise.

What is there to do if you still need more clients?  Sharpen your marketing skills and try out these newer ideas from the 21st century:

Website Landing Pages

A landing page is a web page that is not listed in your website menu.   It’s a hidden page that advertises something very specific, such as a free report, a service, a niche, or a sale item. The landing page includes a description of an offer and a call to action, such as a Buy Now button, or a signup form where you enter your name, email, and possibly phone numbers.

You can drive traffic to your landing page through social media, online ads, or email notices.  Once someone has taken action, a sale team often follows up with a phone call or an email to encourage further action.

Free Trials or Samples

Although there is nothing new about free trials, they are certainly popular and they still work very well.  You might think they are only for magazines and software companies, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

You can offer free food samples or free servings if you own a restaurant, catering or other food service company.  If you own a training or consulting company, you can offer a free course or a free consulting hour.  Physicians often offer free pharmaceuticals, and dentists offer free toothbrushes.  Think about how free trials or samples can be used in your business to attract new clients.

Webinars

The online equivalent of a class or lecture is a webinar.  If your company sells a product or service that requires a lot of client education, you can deliver this information via a webinar.  The benefits to offering a webinar are that people do not have to get dressed up to go anywhere, you can have people from all over the world attend, and people will be able to get to know you and how you think so they can make a decision about whether they want to do business with you.

To offer webinars, you’ll need webinar software such as Citrix GoToWebinar or WebEx.  You could also use Google Hangouts for free, but the number of people attending is limited.  Invite people you know via email announcements or social media.  You can make a sales offer during the webinar as well.

Email

Email is a great way to make sales offers to people, especially if you have a list of people who have given you permission to send emails to them.  If you send out a monthly newsletter, include a Product of the Month or a Deal of the Month.  It’s much less expensive than direct mail, and often there is a much better response rate.

Online Ads

If placing ads in newspapers and magazines is not working in your industry any more, then try placing online ads.  There are lots of choices.  You can go with Google AdWords and Facebook Ads.  Twitter and LinkedIn have ads as well.

You can also try banner ads.  There is a special type of banner ad called retargeting.  Have you ever been on a company’s website, then left it and started seeing advertisements for that company on the websites you visited later?  That’s called retargeting and it’s very popular.

Before you create your marketing plans for next quarter, give these ideas some consideration.  You may get more bang for your marketing dollar.

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Cool Tech Tools: Google Drive

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Jay Mercer

Google Drive, which used to be called Google Docs, is a great way to collaborate with team members and stakeholders that are in a different location than you are. Here’s a quick introduction (or refresher) on how to use this powerful collaboration tool.

Google Drive is a browser-based application that allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other documents that reside in the cloud. They can easily be shared with others, and both of you can see and edit the document at the same time.

Using Google Drive

To get started, you’ll need to have (or set up) a Google account. If you have a gmail account, you can use it. Log in to your gmail or Google account, and at the top right corner of your screen, you will see a square made up of nine small squares. You can click on it and select Google Drive.   Alternately, you can go to drive.google.com.

Time to Create

Once you’re on the Google Drive main page, you’ll see a large red CREATE button on the top left. Click it to create your first Google document. Select among the choices of spreadsheet, document, presentation, and more. Give the document a title, and start editing. The commands are very similar to Microsoft Office®, so there’s no learning curve.

Time to Share

When you are viewing a document, you’ll see a blue SHARE button on the top right side of your screen. Click it to enter the email address of a person you’d like to have see and/or edit the document.

You can tell who else is viewing the document at the same time you are because you’ll see a colored box and perhaps their picture on the top right side. You can also tell where their cursor is in the document; it will show up in another color.

As you create documents, you will see your list growing under My Drive. If someone else created the document and shared it with you, you’ll see it under Shared With Me.

So Many Uses

Here are a couple of ideas on how you can use Google Drive.

  • As a bulletin board for your employees or customers
  • For status reports on projects
  • As a to-do list when multiple team members are involved – they can check off the items as they go
  • As a collaborative note-taker when you’re brainstorming with another person
  • With a client when you need to explain part of a document – you can copy and paste from Word or Excel to Google Drive (but check to make sure everything came over)

Google Drive is great for productivity and makes communications easier. Try it and let us know how you use it.


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