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Author Archive for Susan Payton

How I Incorporated my Business with CorpNet

by Susan Payton
May 17th, 2013

I’ve been blogging on CorpNet for nearly a year, and I’ve written a lot about protecting your business by incorporating or filing as an LLC. The thing is, and I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this: I was still operating as a sole proprietor! I thought I should taste my own Kool-Aid and get on the incorporation bandwagon. Here’s my experience with CorpNet (and yes, while they’re a client, my review is honest!).

After emailing back and forth with CEO Nellie Akalp, she put me in touch with Senior Document Analyst Amanda Beren. We emailed a few times, then set up a call, as she had questions that would help me make the right decision about my business structure. Initially, I thought I wanted an LLC, but since my husband has his own S-Corp and could advise me on how to set up for taxes, et cetera, I decided to go with an S-Corp.

I decided to file on January 1, 2013, so that I’d have a clean break tax-wise from my sole prop status (thanks, Nellie, for that advice). I was actually on vacation on January 31 when Amanda called. I expected the call to be long and tedious, but since we’d done the bulk of the information transfer over email (my company name, address, details), it actually only took a few minutes.

Amanda told me what to expect next. Since I wasn’t in any hurry to get my corporation approved, I opted for the standard package. The site says processing and delivery time on that package is 50-60 days, and it was exactly that. In retrospect, I might have paid to get the expedited package to get it processed faster, as I needed to get a new business bank account, and that was held up by my corporation not being ready. Continue reading “How I Incorporated my Business with CorpNet” »

Categories Business Filings
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How to Be a Happier Entrepreneur

by Susan Payton
May 3rd, 2013

If you’ve got work up to your eyeballs and are operating in high stress mode, you may have trouble remembering why you started a business in the first place. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now you’re inundated with bills, complaining employees, and nonstop work.

Sound familiar? If so, these tips should get you back on track.

1. Remember the Beginning

It can help you to go back and remember why you started your business. Probably you were passionate about helping other people, or providing a solution you thought would fit a need in your industry. While it may not be roses and kittens now, it can help to keep that original perspective in mind as you wade through your day to day stress. Continue reading “How to Be a Happier Entrepreneur” »

Categories Running A Small Business
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How to Find Your Ideal Client

by Susan Payton
April 26th, 2013

When you start a business, you’re typically happy to have any customers at all. But after a while, you might look at your client list and wish you had more of one type of client and fewer of another. Not to worry; it’s absolutely possible to attract your ideal client and clone him into more, while sending away the time-consuming clients you don’t want to work with.

What Does Your Ideal Client Look Like?

If you have a client currently that fits exactly what you’d want in terms of your ideal client, use that person or company as the mold. If you haven’t yet met your ideal client, think about the qualities he would have and make a list. That might include: Continue reading “How to Find Your Ideal Client” »

Categories Running A Small Business
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10 No-No Words You Should Never Use in Marketing

by Susan Payton
April 15th, 2013

Consider what turns you off when it comes to sales or marketing. Probably you have certain types of people that drive you crazy when they try to sell to you. For me, it’s that salesperson who is pushy, slick, and doesn’t listen. But what about words? Have you ever realized that there are certain words that are overdone and ineffective when it comes to marketing?

Here’s the “what NOT to say” list of words for your marketing campaign.

1. Guru

If you work on personally branding yourself, please avoid the word “guru” at all costs. There are simply too many gurus out there for anyone to believe that you are one. Even if in fact, you are one. There are other words to express that you’re an expert and well-informed in your field. Continue reading “10 No-No Words You Should Never Use in Marketing” »

Categories Marketing Mondays, Marketing Your Business
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When You Need a Hero

by Susan Payton
April 12th, 2013

Mentors. People you look up to. Heroes.

Call them what you like, but all small business owners need them. They’re the people we learn from, the people we get ideas from, and the people who offer us advice.

It took me a while to realize I had small business heroes. I started out feeling like I was in competition with everyone in my field. But one day, I turned my thinking around. There was a woman I’d heard speak at a networking event. She, too, was in marketing. At first, I was envious. After all, we were trying to get the same group of people to become customers. Continue reading “When You Need a Hero” »

Categories Running A Small Business
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Giving Yourself a Break

by Susan Payton
April 5th, 2013

My eight-year-old is in year ’round school, so he gets all of April for Spring Break. Yea. A month. I know.

The first few years, I struggled to retain my status as Cool Mom and take him to every museum and theme park in San Diego,  while struggling to get all my business work done. It was hard. But since then, I’ve learned to relax, shift around my schedule, and — gasp — have a little time off. Continue reading “Giving Yourself a Break” »

Categories Running A Small Business
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How to Make Your Idea a Success

by Susan Payton
April 3rd, 2013

Don’t (yet) consider yourself an entrepreneur? If you’ve got a great idea that’s been rattling around in your head, making it a reality could turn you into one. In From Idea to Success by Gregg Fairbrothers and Tessa Winter, the authors take you from a concept scribbled on a napkin to starting a business in no time.

The book asks thought-provoking questions like these, sure to get your creative juices churning:

  • What is your market?
  • What is your value proposition?
  • Where do you start?

Sometimes simply answering these questions can take that inkling of an idea you had and help it grow. Continue reading “How to Make Your Idea a Success” »

Categories Starting a Business
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How to Write Killer Headlines for Email, Blogs, Press Releases & Everything Else

by Susan Payton
March 21st, 2013

If the eyes are the windows to the soul, a headline is the window to…content. It’s what draws people in and makes them decide whether they want to click to read more.

There are a lot of dull headlines out there. Just look at press releases. Recently in a marketing class I teach, I was trying to find a good example of a press release title. I couldn’t find one. Companies often write them extremely dry, with just the facts and no juice to make people curious. Blogs and emails are the same way. If you’re not excited about your headlines, how can you expect your audience to be?

Here are my tips to writing better headlines, wherever you need them.

1. Keep it Short

Every search engine and RSS feed has a maximum length for headlines. Go beyond that, and your headline will be chopped in two, rendering it pointless at its length. Some sources say to keep headlines 50 characters or less. Say what you need to say, then see if you can boil it down to make it even shorter.

2. Make it Clear

I see a lot of blog headlines that don’t make it clear what they’re about. So if I see on Twitter someone sharing a post called “Are They Serious?” I have no idea if it’s about diapers, tech, business or elephants. You can be witty and still include words that clue people in to what to expect in the content. Continue reading “How to Write Killer Headlines for Email, Blogs, Press Releases & Everything Else” »

Categories Business Checklists
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SizeUp Your Business with SBA’s Small Business New Tool

by Susan Payton
March 14th, 2013

If you’re starting a business, you might know you need market research and information about your competitors, but not know where to find it. The Small Business Administration recently released the perfect tool to help you start and grow your business. Called SizeUp, the tool lets you do a few key things:

  • Benchmark your business against competitors
  • Map your customers, competitors and suppliers
  • Locate the best places to advertise

Best part? It’s free! We love free, don’t we? Once you enter your business’ industry and location, you can click on My Business, where you input your company’s revenue, year started, and salary. Each of those data points will show you how your company stacks up to competition in the area. You can see if your revenues are more or less than average in your city, if your business has been around longer than others, and see how well you’re paying (or not paying) your staff. Continue reading “SizeUp Your Business with SBA’s Small Business New Tool” »

Categories Business Tools
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Are Women Wired to Be Entrepreneurs?

by Susan Payton
March 7th, 2013

Women are used to juggling multiple tasks at anygiven time: balancing the checkbook, making dinner, talking to a friend and taking the kids to soccer practice  all manage to get done in the limited hours after work. We’re used to working long hours with little to no compensation in our households. We know how to run a team (or family). So is it any wonder that in 2009, there were 10.1 million firms in the US run by women? And these firms employed 13 million people? Women, it seems, are running neck and neck with men in the entrepreneur race.

Does Entrepreneurship Come Naturally?

There’s a theory out there that women have different wiring that makes it easier for them to be entrepreneurs–and successful ones. While, as a gender, we tend to err on the side of caution, that doesn’t actually make us less inclined to start a business. In fact, it makes us more likely to be successful at it. Unlike men, who tend to ask for double the amount of funding they need from investors, women ask for exactly what they need, and make do with less funding, which means they have less equity tied up with investors.

Continue reading “Are Women Wired to Be Entrepreneurs?” »

Categories Women In Business
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