This thread can be used for tips and questions for and by small business owners. I run an extremely small business (solo law firm, no employees).

One cost saving suggestion that I use is the Verizon Home Phone Wireless:

http://www.verizonwireless.com/home-phone-connect.shtml

Optimal if you need a separate phone from your cell phone and if you like to work from home sometimes. Its free if you sign up for a two year contract and I think I pay around $24 a month for the line. You can unplug it, take the phone home, and calls to your office go wherever this device goes.

I'm also about so sign up for this cell phone credit card swiper:

https://squareup.com/

The hardware is free and I've looked at other ones that have fees and a certain amount that you have to swipe per month, and this SEEMS to have none of those (will do more checking, but don't see any at first glance). 2.75% isn't that bad either.

I also use Metrofax:

http://www.metrofax.com/

My plan is $80 a year (roughly $6.60 a month) and I get 500 pages a month...which I have yet to go over. I think it's 3 cents a page when you do go over that. It's extremely easy to manage. I get email and text updates when I receive a fax.

I'm sure I have more info, but that's all I've got off the top of my head for now. I also used http://www.tigerdirect.com to get really good deals on monitors, wireless keyboard/mouse/speakers, and a copier/printer/scanner/fax machine

All of these things have really lowered my start-up and operating costs.

6/7/2012 12:09:52 PM

word, thanks

im starting my business right now. Keeping things as low cost as possible is important cause i'm not exactly sure how its going to make money. It's more a charity-type business for others

6/7/2012 12:20:32 PM

Google Voice is another work/personal phone routing solution. And it's free.

Some of my tips:

Buy a nice drill/driver. I recently bought the Bosch combo Drill/Driver + Impact Driver. You can fix a lot of things yourself and power tools make a HUGE difference.

Google docs is very handy for collaboration or sharing/synching documents between computers.

6/7/2012 12:22:43 PM

Phonebooth Free is another option.

I can setup call attendants with separate voicemailboxes, and redirect the calls to my cell or other numbers as needed as well ... ex: If sales, call my cell for 30 seconds and then use phonebooth VM if no answer; If support, go strait to support VM, and send me an email that I have a message.

Its owned by the local company, bandwidth.com

http://www.phonebooth.com

http://www.phonebooth.com/free-business-voip

They also have upgrade plans for $20 for small business ...

[Edited on June 7, 2012 at 12:59 PM. Reason : .]

6/7/2012 12:58:20 PM

^^^I use Square. Swiper is not the best, usually takes more than one swipe to read a card. However, no monthly fee and competitive percentage makes up for it.

One of the most basic things you can do is open a separate checking account/credit card and keep all your business expenses and income separate from personal. It will really help with the tax accounting at the end of the year. Also you have to pay the government at least quarterly.

6/7/2012 1:01:49 PM

Matt,

How is google voice working out for you? The mortgage guys beside my office seem to struggle with it...but I feel like they have trouble with technology.

How often are you on the phone? I'm on the phone enough to where I like/need having the separate option.

^ Good to know about Square Up. I don't know how often I plan to use it (which is why I like the no monthly fees), but I'm okay with having to swipe it a few times.

[Edited on June 7, 2012 at 1:28 PM. Reason : .]

6/7/2012 1:10:49 PM

To be honest, I don't use it that much so I'm not sure. I usually just give my clients my direct cell number. However, I'll be finding out soon, when I start advertising and marketing hard, and putting my google number on everything.

I do know that you can simply log in and adjust the times you want calls to your google # forwarded to certain phones, it also does text messaging, and voicemail to text.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/167424/google_voice_5_reasons_to_use_it_5_reasons_to_think_twice.html

[Edited on June 7, 2012 at 1:24 PM. Reason : link]

6/7/2012 1:17:08 PM

I also did my domain name and email set-up through godaddy. I did get lucky and get someone to do my website for free. It's not the best website ever, but it's well above average and much better than 90% of the solo practice websites I've seen. And I save (at least) a few grand, so I'll take it.

6/7/2012 1:32:47 PM

I keep thinking of things after my 30-minute edit window is up...

IMO, Vistaprint has the best, cheapest, business cards deals along with the best (cheap) customization options. I've done several different card designs over the years and I've always been happy with what I've been able to do with their options. And I usually get hundreds of cards for a very small price (too long ago to remember specifics and they're always running deals). And they're always offering deals on other accessories (magnets, address stickers, pens, etc).

Their customer service is great too. I ordered 500 cards one time and shipment tracking said it was delivered but the package never showed up. I called them and told them the deal, and they re-shipped in two days with no extra costs. I was extremely surprised at how easy that was.

6/7/2012 2:17:00 PM

we use http://www.overnightprints.com/ for biz cards.. have been since we started. prices are comparable to vistaprint. we do double-sided/full bleed.

for mobile card processing (only used it a few times a year at car shows), http://phoneswipe.com/. 2.69% for swiped, more for key-entered. worked well when we went to a show in may, except the amount of people overloaded the cell tower and it was difficult to get a signal/data, but everyone in town was having problems.

[Edited on June 7, 2012 at 2:34 PM. Reason : links]

6/7/2012 2:33:23 PM

Quote :

"im starting my business right now. Keeping things as low cost as possible is important cause i'm not exactly sure how its going to make money. It's more a charity-type business for others"

Red Flag. Unless you have a plan on making money/fundraising, your business is going to fail. Business, at the fundamental level, is creating a (productive and in-demand) service to make a living. Even charity-type businesses leave room for paying yourself and the bills associated with business.

6/7/2012 2:53:26 PM

Quote :

"im starting my business right now. Keeping things as low cost as possible is important cause i'm not exactly sure how its going to make money. It's more a charity-type business for others"

wat

6/7/2012 3:03:27 PM

tax questions from a tax noob....

I always wondered this when I was bartending and people were always using their business credit cards to pay for their drinking tabs every weekend, but...

How much does everyone use their business credit cards to pay for dinner and drinks and how much does it really help you on your taxes?? I had a buddy practicing out of my office for a bit and he said that him and his wife would go out to a really nice dinner about once a month and he would claim it under dinner with a client.

I assume that if you don't abuse this practice it shouldn't raise any red flags. But how much does it save you regardless?? If I treat the lady to a $150 dinner and write it off as a client opportunity or meeting...how much will that $150 save me in the long run. I read something about a "50% rule" somewhere, but can't remember the details.

7/31/2013 3:16:04 PM

from a friend who runs a side business (I have no personal experience), I think he told me before that he can only write off like 50% of it AND he documents who he spoke with and what they spoke about because it was required (if he got audited that is). Someone else can probably correct me or fill in the blanks. The amount you'd save seems like it wouldn't be worth it to fib on a few, but who knows.

7/31/2013 3:33:44 PM

Quote :

" required (if he got audited)"

That my friend is one of the reasons we have the most screwed up tax collection systems imaginable. If you look at the total amount of taxpayers very few have anything scrutinized on their returns, and people get away with as much as possible, even if you get caught you just play stupid, pay the correct amount, and then stop doing whatever you got caught for while exploiting other loopholes.

8/5/2013 7:10:18 AM

Anyone have suggestions for a legit, low cost, voip system. I am not thinking MagicJack or Vonage.

It would be nice to be able to transfer calls, vm -> email, 2-3 lines. the office will have 3-5 desks.

8/6/2013 9:17:35 AM

Quote :

"I read something about a "50% rule" somewhere, but can't remember the details."

Yeah, 50% of "meals and entertainment" are deductible. If you're self employed, it's that much less of your income that's taxed so it definitely helps. Exactly how much less tax it is depends entirely on the tax bracket you're in.

While we have some clients that bring in bags and boxes of receipts to document their M&E expense, I'd say 90% of the time we're just given a number and/or summary sheet. For a lot of our clients I'm guess most of the time they're just estimating a number.

And I've never seen an IRS letter asking for M&E documentation in an audit but I've only been preparing tax returns for 5 years so I'm sure it happens occasionally. There are those that are aggressive as possible with stuff like that but as long as it's reasonable (somebody in sales spending 3-4k a year when they're pulling in gross income of 100k, for example) you're probably going to be fine.

8/6/2013 9:31:43 AM

So, I have a hypothetical question....Lets say that a friend recently started selling handmade woodworking items on Etsy. They made about $2000 in sales in the last 4 months or so. All transactions are through Paypal.

They have equipment expenses of approximately $800 to get the equipment they needed to begin making these items.

Their raw material expense is about $400.

They have spent about $400 in shipping costs to ship the product to the customer.

So, in the last 4 months, They have essentially made $400 in profit after paying themselves back for equipment costs. They anticipate probably making another $400-800 net profit by the end of the year.

They are not a registered business yet, nor do they have a Tax ID. This was "merely a hobby" until they started to make a few bucks...

I know people make money from yardsales and shit...and this is totally a loaded question in the eyes of Uncle Sam, but at what point do they NEED to become a registered business and claim taxes? And if they do this, could they deduct "meals" from this type of business?

Also, at the end of the year when they file their personal taxes, couldnt they just report "additional" income if they havent filed as an official business yet?

They project for next year about ~$4-5K sales with maybe $3k-$4k in profit.


[Edited on August 6, 2013 at 10:27 AM. Reason : .]

8/6/2013 10:08:45 AM

They're operating as a sole proprietor and should report all the income and expenses on a Schedule C. Everything is reported under their social security number until they organizes as a partnership, LLC, etc. It doesn't have be officially registered to be a "business."

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf

[Edited on August 6, 2013 at 10:33 AM. Reason : .]

8/6/2013 10:30:47 AM

Right now T-mobile has some sweet specials for business customers. If you want PM me and I'll send you the contact info for my guy.

9/14/2013 2:55:21 PM

Anyone have suggestions for a legit, low cost, voip system. I am not thinking MagicJack or Vonage.

It would be nice to be able to transfer calls, vm -> email, 2-3 lines. the office will have 3-5 desks.

9/14/2013 4:49:56 PM

Barely got my 1120S in on time, even with the 7004 extension

9/14/2013 7:32:35 PM