Tax Season Approaches - do you know where your reciepts are?

It is almost that time of year again, when the taxes are going to be due and everyone needs to think about just where their business receipts are stashed away. Old shoe boxes of stacks of receipts are the nightmare of everyone facing tax season, but they are at least a step above frazzled small business owners that scrabble through drawers and cars and old coat pockets trying to locate the receipts for the year.

If you are frantically trying to find your business receipts, then make a resolution this year to create a single file box with 12 folders in it into which you will drop all of the receipts for you business as soon as they arrive. Your tax accountant will thank you next tax season.

What is your busniess competition?

Discovering who your competition is is an important part of business success, and a good business plan can help you to stand out from those competitor and gain more customers.

As part of building a good business plan you will need to consider what you will offer your customers that your competitors can't. What will you do different from the businesses that are similar to your own?

Another question that working on a business plan will help you answer is if you are going to be the only one with your type of business in the area. If that is so, then that leads to a new question: Why are there no businesses like yours already in the area? Are you in a place where there is no demand for such a business?


While looking to see what your competition is, don't forget to look for any small home based businesses that might be similar to your business. Just because you do not see a similar business in any of the local shops does not mean there is not someone doing the same kind of business out of their home in a local subdivision. Local craft fairs are a good place to see if you already have any competitors if you have a product you want to make that might be sold at a craft fair.

Technology Boom is Making Jobs

It seems that the technology s booming faster than the babies did once upon a time, and leaving some work places short enough on qualified technology experts that they are in some cases resorting to drastic measures to entice the right people in.

The snag in the system is that the lifespan of an employable technology worker is exceptionally short. The following excerpt is from an article in Business Week:

Companies tend to hire people with IT engineering degrees, use those skills for five years, and then they want a new crop, says Cappelli, who researches human resource practices and talent management.

There was once a time when a man working in the tech industry could make a good living and have a steady career - my father was working as a computer programmer in the 1970's and making $100 an hour at it. Today, however, the landscape is changing fast and those working in technology have to move faster to keep up with the pace it is setting.

To stay in the field a person needs to be working in their work time and studying the next big thing in tech programming in their free time. It makes it a job that requires as much dedication as any home based business, so I would think that it would be one that could be very well suited to looking toward as a home business base.

With the evolving technology and the revolving door on big business tech jobs, it would seem to me that the market is primed for those who have the skills to set up consulting businesses where they can work for however long the larger company needs their specialized skills, then move on to the next business in a freelancer style when their skills are no longer what the first company requires.

The freelancing IT marketplace can work to keep the person with the skills working and give the companies the workers they need, when they need them, without the need for hiring and firing regular employees - which can earn a big business a bad reputation.

If you are skilled in IT engineering, or looking for a new direction to go in your education, you might think of how your skills could work in this growing and ever evolving needs market segment.

Small Businesses and Government Contracts

On Monday the Wall Street Journal published an article on small businesses and the government's stimulus contracts that caught my attention. It is about the owner of a small publishing-services company that is pursuing government contracts. Titled Small Businesses Chase Big Stimulus Money the article explains what is to be expected when pursuing government contracts and what the outlook is for small businesses looking for those contracts.

Something that caught my eye, as a woman who owns a small business, is that the federal government has a goal each year to award 23% of its procurement dollars to small businesses. And one of their targets is for women-owned businesses. To find out more about this check out the article at the Wall Street Journal linked to above.

Back to work

I don't really want to work, but it is one of those necessary evils in life that one simply can not avoid. So, I have started working on my websites and getting them all back up and going smoothly. We'll see just how long I can maintain them at a steady pace, but I do have high hopes for keeping up with things this time. I don't see where anyone should be able to dislodge me from my groove this time.

I have set aside the quilting I was working on, simply because when I went down to Washington for a week the start of this month I had thought someone was going to stay here taking care of the house so at the last minute I shoved all the clutter into my sewing room. Still have not got that excavated, so it will be a couple of days before I get that done. As soon as I get that all set back up, however, I will be diving right back into my sewing projects. Sewing helps my hands recover from the pain of working on the computer all day. I had not realized just how much it was helping until I have gone a couple weeks now without being able to sew for a while after a day of working at the computer.

Second Saturday Market is another bust before it was even a go

Okay, here it is, Saturday, the day before Mother's Day, the day when I should have had my best sale of the year on quilts and I am sitting at home with dad rather than being able to get up to the Saturday Market that I had planned to be able to be in my second week of selling quilts at.

To say that I am annoyed would be an understatement, since it is pure family politics crap that has curtailed things. It has also given me and dad a renewed determination to prove people wrong in their estimation of my goals. I want to make quilts to help me in paying off the mortgage on my parents house, a effort that I have been told is nothing but a fanciful daydream that is doomed to leave me disappointed in the form of my losing the house one day (soon according to those saying I can't save it).

My mom taught me that you don't give up when you see something that you really want, however, and I am not about to give up on this house.

Mom encouraged my writing over the years, and she was immensely proud of the ability I had developed to earn money by writing online. She taught me that anything worth doing is worth doing right, and that any dream was within reach if only I wanted to reach for it. I'm going to reach for this house, and I intend to grasp it with both hands and hold fast. The naysayers be damned.

So, since with nothing more than an ATV as transportation I can not haul dad up to the park in Houston at 8am every Saturday, and keep him there until after 9pm, I have decided that I am going to bypass the local Saturday Market angle and sort out other avenues for selling my quilts. I'm not sure what all I am going to do, yet, but I have the determination and drive to make this happen. Let's see if that is enough.

First Saturday Market looms

Tomorrow is my first Saturday Market and I am so far from being ready it is not even funny. To make matters worse, the water heater won't work, I'm going to have to sort that out in addition to getting everything else ready tonight. ::pounds head on desk::

The past couple of days were messed up and I lost at least one full day because of that chaotic disaster, but I won't say anything about it all here. This is about my business, so I'll keep to the topic. One SNAFU is that night before last I busted my glasses riding back home on my ATV after delivering medications for my dad to my sister's place. Dark trail, fogged 12 year old glasses, loose lens... and a rock. I found 2 small pieces of the lens. Be a while before I'll be able to afford new glasses.

Tomorrow should be interesting without glasses to see what I'm doing. At least I can see things that are close up, if I squint a lot.

Tonight I need to get together samples of my quilting (having fun finding that without being able to see), my quilting books so people can have idea sources, print up some contracts and quilt design pages, print some business cards, print "Display only, not for sale" cards for the things I take as samples... and I am not sure what all else. Thankfully the stuff is mostly made up on computer and just needs printed. Don't wanna squint at computer screen making things.

Might, if I have time, make some trifolds that people can take, dunno yet.

My plan for tomorrow is basically show what I have (but won't sell cause they're already spoken for) and see if anyone's interested in ordering things. I have a few things to sell, but am mainly on a mission to see if my plan for a "You design it, I'll build it" quilting business would work or not, so all I really need is things to show what my craftsmanship is like and some stuff for folks to use for enlisting my services to make them a quilt.

Might take some of my handbound books and stuff I've made from Polymer clay along, dunno yet though. I'll have to take it all on my ATV, since car I had been gonna use ain't here no more (long story).

Need to get back to work now, will post info on what happened when I get home tomorrow.

Almost forgot.... I can't get ahold of my sister - I have no idea if I have anyone to take care of dad while I'm at the Saturday Market or not. Her husband made it sound last night like they weren't going to be able to take him, even though she'd said a week and a half ago it was a given they take him all Saturdays this summer. :::pounds head on desk:::

Follow Along in My New Business Startup

Have you ever considered starting your own home based business but had no idea what might be involved in such a venture? I am going to be starting a new business in May, and I would like to invite everyone to come along for the ride as I weed my way through how to do it.

Some of the things I need to leap through will not apply to you, of course, and there are some that will apply to any new business venture. My goal with this business is to figure out how I can work from home in order to earn an income that will allow me to be fully self sufficient, and still let me provide the full-time in-home caregiver support that my father needs.

As a full-time caregiver I can not work outside the home, but I want to be able to be fully self sufficient and eventually be able to buy my parents home out from the mortgage company that currently holds it so I will be able to one day own the home as my mother had wanted. (That is a long story and better suited to another blog, so just know that is my goal: self sufficiency and home ownership.)

The business that I have decided to start is a Quilt and Crafts business, to allow me to tap into my passion for quilting and crafting. I have a plan to take exploratory steps in the first two weeks of May, researching market options and participating in the first Saturday Market of the year near where I live.

I have signed up to participate in a small business seminar provided by the Alaska Small Business Development Center and will be attending that on May 13th, with a start date for my business on May 14th (In honor of my mother's 75th birthday).

So, this is a formal invitation for everyone to follow along, and participate in commenting on, my new business venture as a home based quilter and crafter. Wish me luck!

What to do with $13 a week?

Okay, so the government is giving the lucky few an additional $13 a week in their paychecks.  I’m sitting here listening to all this whining about how lousy that is and thinking, “Oh if only I can get that too!”  I don’t know if that $13 a week will help someone in my position or not, but oh how I would love to be one of the lucky few that gets it.

It seems, however, like the only ones that will get it are those who do not need it and are only going to complain it’s not enough.  So, what can someone do with $13 a week from someone that $13 a week would REALLY mean something to?  Well, a lot actually.  If I was able to qualify for that additional $13 a week the things I can think of that could be done with it include:

NETFLIX - Subscribe to Netflix and make a “Family Movie Night”

For $4.99 a month you can have one movie at a time shipped to you, that makes it $1.24 a week, so out of your $13 a week you have $11.76 a week to get some snacks such as cookies or some popcorn to pop up for movie night.

If you watch movie on weekend and mail it back on Monday you will have next one in plenty of time to watch on Friday or Saturday and mail back Monday – that’s  a movie every week of the month, plus snacks.

Other plans with Netflix include $13.99 a month for 2 movies at a time, $16.99 for 3 at a time… right up to $47.99 for 8 movies at a time.  A plan for anyone that still leaves $4.01 a month even at the most expensive level.  ($4.01 a month into a savings account for a year is $48.12, so 8 movies a month from Netflix, plus almost $50 into your piggy bank.)

SAVINGS - How about putting all of that $13 a week into a savings account?  I know it is not what they were thinking in terms of stimulating the economy, but after that year you would have $624 to spend on something totally unnecessary for you.

Or you could get into a habit of setting $13 a week aside into savings and after 30 years you would have put $18,720.00 into a retirement account.

This is about stimulating the economy, however, so lets see what else $13 a week can do…

GAS – Let us assume that gas costs $3.00 a gallon, and your car gets 20 MPG… If my math is right…

$13 * 4 = 52 / 3 = 17.333 * 20 = 346.66

Weekly stimulus of $13, multiplied by the number of weeks in a month equals $52 a month, divided by $3 a gallon, multiplied by 20 MPG equals 346.66 miles worth of gas.

So, for $13 a week you can buy enough gas to drive an added 346 miles in a month… that is an 86 mile Sunday drive every week.

GROCERIES – In Alaska milk costs between $3.50 a gallon and $5 a gallon.  Bread varies between $1.29 and $3 and up.  Now it might not be much, but if you are buying staples for getting by week to week, then an added $13 can be a lot of money for groceries.

WEBSITES – You can get 1 Gig web hosting for $50 a year at platonicsolid.info, so each month you could pick up another website and create your own online money making empire using online advertising such as AdSense or by creating Amazon.com storefronts.  That $13 a week can easily build you a second job that you can use to make a lot more.

So… what can you do with $13 a week? I can think of a lot more ideas, but I’d like to hear what you can come up with.  So, what could you do with $13 a week?

Small Business and SEM

Considering Search Engine Marketing (SEM) as one of your marketing strategies, but uncertain on just where to begin? Check out the article published this morning at E Commerce Times, part one of SEM and the Small Biz: Desperately Seeking Success.

The article discusses what SEM is and why Google is the reigning leader in SEM tools for small businesses.

SEM is one of those areas of marketing that a small business owner simply can not afford to ignore. There is a lot of business done daily online, and if a small business wants to remain competitive, then they need to learn more about SEM and how to get their business recognized and in front of the people that are going to be in need of their services.

Sell your handcrafted items for free at ArtFire.com

I found a site for selling handcrafted items where I am going to list some of the many craft projects that I create. I am hoping that this site will help me to begin selling my projects and building up a fund toward saving my parents' house.

You can Register on ArtFire.com for a free account to sell up to 10 individual items at a time, or for just $7 a month you can sell unlimited items and even create your own personalized store.

I want to upgrade to the store level membership when I can afford it, but for now I am happy to find a site that will allow me to sell my handcrafted items.

Porn industry asking for $5 billion bailout

Okay, if the porn industry is getting a bailout, how about the home based business owners of America? I mean, come on! The porn industry? Larry Flynt (Hustler Magazine) and Joe Francis (Girls Gone Wild).

Don Lemon at CNN did some looking and he says that Flynt has had sales this past year in excess of $300 million, Francis had sales in excess of $100 million. He also cornered Francis on if the guy or Flynt had laid off anyone and got mostly stammers and a few "no"s in answer.

I think a case could be made for small home based businesses needing to have a bailout - particularly those who are at risk of losing their homes in the mortgage crisis. There would go not only a place to live, but a business. Double blow to the small business owner and home buyer.

So come on, Congress, bail out the people that really need it. Forget giving a $5 billion dollar bailout to the Porn industry, instead give say $100,000 to 50,000 home based business owners. I suggest that they have to be ones that have filed business taxes for at least a year to prevent a sudden flare of home based businesses, but I think if we gave a bailout to 50,000 home based business owners we would see a significant boost to the American economy. Don't you?

Presidential Elect Obama's Stimulus Package

I was watching the news a little while ago and they were talking about the stimulus package that is apparently in the works by Presidential Elect Obama. What they were saying was that the idea was to give everyone a bonus in their paychecks immediately to help boost the economy now rather than having a check later on like the last stimulus package.

What does this mean for people like me who work for themselves? Last year I was unable to get any of the stimulus payments stuff because I did not have a W2. I was not very concerned, since the way I understood it had been that anyone that did not qualify last year would get one this year, however, it now seems to be something that will once again bypass me (and many others) because I don't get a paycheck from an employer?

It is the people like me that need the help the most, and yet it looks like we are once again going to be passed over by a stimulus package that targets everyone but those who need it the most.

I am going to be looking into this more and trying to sort it out, but I would love to hear comments from anyone that might know something about this or have input on it.