1: Seek Knowledge Always

Think about how much more you could offer your business clients if you knew more about the latest trends. From accounting to marketing to product development to other news that affects their industry, there’s much to learn. Consider going back to school to gain new insights. While physically attending classes has some advantages (networking, for instance), you could also take classes online. Web-based classes make a great alternative if you don’t have the time or you can find no classes in your local area.

Most local colleges offer a variety of business-related courses covering topics you may not be familiar with or skills you are not adept at. For example, look into classes on social media, improving communication skills or how to manage conflict in the office. You can then pass along the skills and knowledge you learn to your clients. There are also a number of workshops and seminars offered through government agencies and organizations, such as the Small Business Administration, SCORE, and a local Small Business Development Center office.

You can help your clients by learning specific industry information and passing it along to them. If, for instance, your clients are interested in expanding internationally by exporting goods, take a look at Export.gov, where you’ll find downloadable guides, market information, and a schedule of events you can attend. If your clients belong to industry associations, consider attending a meeting (with or without them) to learn best practices. Doing so can help you find out what others in their industries are doing to grow their businesses. Also, look for and subscribe to industry e-newsletters that will deliver up-to-the-minute information right to your inbox.

2: Understand Corporate Compliance Basics

A vital element of your services is helping your clients keep on the right side of the law by being compliant. The specific compliance obligations vary from state to state and depend on the legal structure of a business. Encourage clients to stay on top of deadlines for filings, keep corporate meetings, fulfill licensing requirements, and complete other responsibilities. They should seek the guidance of licensed legal and accounting professionals to understand their obligations. To give you an idea of the types of compliance issues they need to watch are:

• Maintaining good corporate standing in a state by initial and annual reports and documentation.
• Filing Articles of Amendment if they make any changes to an existing corporation or LLC.
• Filing conversion documentation when a company converts one entity type to another. (such as  going from a corporation to an LLC)
• Filing a Certificate of Authority (sometimes also referred to as a Statement & Designation by a Foreign Corporation) with each Secretary of State’s office a client conducts business in. 

After your clients have gotten the proper legal and tax advice regarding their compliance responsibilities, you can help them fulfill those obligations by providing compliance services for your clients through the CorpNet Partner Program. It’s a wonderful way to bring in the new revenue and provide additional value to your clients without adding overhead.

3: Learn About Women-Owned Business Certification

Thirty years ago, there were close to 4 million women-owned businesses in the United States, and today, there are over 11 million. If your women business clients are running their own businesses and not officially certified as woman-owned businesses, they may be missing out on viable opportunities to gain new customers and clients. Federal, state, and local government agencies must give a certain percentage of their contracts to women-owned businesses. Many large corporations are also seeking to expand the types of companies they subcontract to and hire more diverse contractors. Getting certified as a woman-owned business could open the door to obtaining new contracts.

Here are the two types of woman-owned business certifications:

1. Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) certification: For your clients that want to do business with the private sector, nonprofits, and state or local governments.
2. Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) or Economically Disadvantaged Women-Owned Small Business (EDWOSB) certification is necessary for a women-owned business that want to conduct business with the federal government.

To be eligible for certification your client’s business must be a for-profit operation, meet the SBA size standards, be at least 51 percent woman-owned, and be controlled by a woman or women who are U.S. citizens or Legal Resident Aliens. The business’s daily operations must be overseen by a woman or women and the certifications must be renewed every year. To help your client get started, visit Certify.SBA.gov and find out what documents are required and then be on hand to help them through the process, which can get a bit complex.

A successful coach is all about anticipating your client’s needs. It’s essential you keep up on the latest issues, news, and information relevant to women business owners. You can do this by reading the latest research reports from the National Women’s Business Council or attending a local NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) event in your area. As a bonus, attending events is a great way to find more clients.

Continual Learning and Development = Successful Business Coaching  

The best business coaches are the ones who never stop learning. They spend time keeping up with the latest trends so that they can share that information with their clients. And they look for business coaching tips that will help them become better and more effective. I hope these tips for business coaches will help you in your efforts to help your clients succeed.

The post Three Tips for Business Coaches to Help Their Clients Succeed in 2019 appeared first on CorpNet.

Walking

It never fails: I’ll be thinking so hard, trying to come up with a genius idea in my office and getting nowhere. So I get up and take a walk around the building. Innovation strikes!

Sometimes you just need to remove yourself from the environment that’s stifling your creativity (namely, your office) and get some fresh air and fresh perspective.

Put it in Action: The next time you’re stumped, get up and outside. Heck, even try the treadmill! The point is to change your environment so you can change your thought patterns.

Weekend Getaway

Frankly, it shocks me that fewer than half of entrepreneurs take a vacation. I know there’s that sense of being needed in your business, but c’mon people! You need a break. And even if you’re digging your toes in the sand, far away from work, you might be surprised at how inspired you become with ideas for your business.

Put it in Action: Even if you’re convinced you can’t take two weeks off, find a way to get a break from your business, even if it’s just a day. Don’t check email or answer work calls; just be. See what ideas spring forth.

Your Employees

Look no further than the people you work with daily for a dose of creativity. My employees are my biggest inspiration and source of ideas for me. After all, great big companies are made because of its people.

Put it in Action: Get out of your own office and spend more time with your staff. See what ideas you can create together.

Your Customers

Who better to inspire you to make your business better than the people you’re creating solutions for? You can learn amazing things about your business, as well as get ideas for improvement, simply by talking to your customers.

Put it in Action: If you work retail, make a point to chat with each customer. It doesn’t always have to be about your product; you’ll still learn things. If you work in B2B, call up a customer every week just to see how things are going.

Life

I’m sometimes surprised at where I find inspiration. Because I help small business owners, I tend to gravitate toward people I meet who are entrepreneurs, even if I meet them in the grocery store. If you sell physical products, pay attention to how people are using them out in the world. What’s missing? What could be made better?

Put it in Action: Just be open to insight from anywhere, and see where it takes you.

A Nice Hot Bath

Sounds funny, but I actually get a lot of ideas when I take a shower or bath. I attribute it to the fact that I’m in complete relaxation mode, and not trying to think of anything in particular. Then, sure enough, bam. A genius idea.

Put it in Action: Take more baths! Or showers. Or meditate. Whatever helps your brain unwind could help you move forward with your business.

Reading

I’m constantly highlighting phrases in books, dogearing magazines, and bookmarking websites. There’s so much information out there! Not every idea has to come from scratch, and you can find great influence from what other people write.

Put it in Action: Keep a file of physical or digital content that inspires you, then read through it when you need a jolt.

The post 7 Places to Find Inspiration for Your Small Biz appeared first on CorpNet.

Early On

The early years are the critical ones. Here’s my advice for surviving those early growing pains.

• Don’t Let Your Emotions Cloud Your Judgment – You will have strong opinions on things that relate to your business, and that’s fine.  Just don’t let a bad attitude or anger temper a business decision. You will likely come to regret it.
• Stand Up and Ask for What You Want – Running a business is not for the meek. If you want something — a sale, your employee to step it up, whatever — you won’t get it unless you ask for it. The worst that can happen is you get a “no,” but just think of the possibilities if you get a “yes!”
• Take Your Trials as Blessings Undisguised – My thinking on making mistakes (which you will) is: you can either wallow in them or use them as lessons to move forward. The latter has changed how I do business, and has helped me recover faster when I do make errors in running my business.
• Don’t Be Shy About Asking for Help – You’ve heard the saying “it takes a village…” and that applies to running a business. You can’t do it all on your own, so don’t even try. Help might come in the form of hiring an employee or even asking your kids to file folders. You’re not Superwoman, so build a team that can help you succeed.
• Build a Network of Advisors – This goes with the asking help tip. Having an amazing group of advisors can help you grow your business faster. Look for people with skills in areas where you’re weak, whether that’s marketing, finance, or growth. Meet with them regularly and pick their brains about how you can make smarter decisions for your company.

Five Years In

Once you’ve passed the hard part of starting your business, the advice changes.

• Make Your Business About Your Customer – By now, you’ve probably found your niche and really owned what you do. Take it one step further and put the focus on your customer. It’s not about you and increasing sales; it’s about how you can help customers find solutions to their problems. This shift, you’ll find, will increase customer retention.
• Empower Your Executive Team – You’re not the only person who can make decisions in your company, so make sure your executive or management team feels that you trust them enough to call the shots without you looking over their shoulders.
• Reinvest into Your Business – Profit is great, but what’s better than putting it in your pocket is putting it back into the company. Invest in tools, training, and apps that will help your staff do more and help your business skyrocket.
• Don’t Grow Until You’re Ready – Entrepreneurs assume growth is what every business wants, but in truth, you shouldn’t expand unless you’re mentally, fiscally, and physically ready. Otherwise, your expansion efforts will fall flat and you will run yourself ragged.
• Over Deliver – Your customers have a certain expectation of your brand. Go beyond that and delight them! I truly love hearing from a customer that we went above and beyond. It’s our brand promise.

The post 10 Inspirational Tips for Entrepreneurs appeared first on CorpNet.

Still, few people actually master the art of smart networking. I’ve gleaned a few helpful strategies over my years of attending networking events to help you.

Practice Pre-Networking

Many events have an RSVP list available online, such as through Meetup.com or Eventbrite. This makes it easy for you to see who’s attending an upcoming event and do a little investigating on them. Connect with people you want to get to know on LinkedIn and other social platforms. If, after reviewing their profiles you find you have something in common with some of the other attendees (or they sound like your perfect customer), memorize their faces and make it a point to seek them out at the event. You’ll be able to say “I connected with you on LinkedIn” as your icebreaker.

Set a Goal

You’re not going to the event just to hang out. Nor are you going to cash in on $100k in sales. Find a goal somewhere in between, such as “to meet 5 people that fit my target demographic” or “to find a mentor.”

Having a goal for your event will make it easier for you to stay focused. If you end up talking with other people in your industry (and they’re not your ideal customers), then remembering your goal can nudge you to venture out to meet other kinds of people.

Come Prepared

This means making sure you have plenty of business cards (it’s ridiculous how many networking attendees forget them) and that you’ve practiced your elevator speech. And speaking of that speech, spend plenty of time rehearsing it. Veer away from the mundane “My name is Nellie and I’m CEO of CorpNet. We help people incorporate their businesses.”

Find a better way to grab people’s attention: “Do you stay up at night worrying about your personal assets being at risk with your small business? Well, you should, if you’re not incorporated. Hi, I’m Nellie Akalp, and I’m CEO of CorpNet. We help small business owners protect their personal assets by setting up the right business structure.”

You see how the second speech was a lot more engaging and got you thinking about whether your assets were protected? Which do you think people will remember?

Do Enough of It

You can’t go to a single networking event and expect it to help you boost sales. You should attend the same group’s meetings each month (or more often, if they meet more frequently) so you can get to know the people in the group. The more they see you, the more they’ll trust you. And sales start with trust.

Get Involved

This is an excellent strategy if you tend to be a wallflower at these events. Volunteer to check people in or help out in other ways. This gives you a purpose, and makes you a focal point in the room. You can meet way more people if you have to talk to everyone that comes to the event!

Implement these strategies at your next networking event and see if they make a difference!

The post Knock Your Next Networking Event Out of the Park with These Tips appeared first on CorpNet.

Open Up the Floor

Don’t get the wrong idea that you as the business owner are the only one who can come up with great ideas for your company. If you’ve got staff, their ideas are often great — and sometimes better than anything you could come up with.

Hold monthly brainstorming sessions and encourage their bright ideas. Let your team know that you value their opinions, and show that by implementing some of their ideas. They’ll soon start coming to you with their thoughts, now that they know you’re really listening.

Get Out of the Office

For me, my best ideas happen when I’m not at work. That lightning bolt might happen when I’m on a run or watching my kid’s ball game. When an idea comes, I make sure to jot it down so I don’t forget my genius thought.

If you’re trying to work through a difficult problem, get out of the office. Go for a walk or drive, and don’t try to think directly about the problem. You’d be surprised at what comes up as soon as you let go.

Let Go of The Bad Ideas

Sometimes we’re emotionally attached to bad ideas, and we’re not willing to let them go until they make us bleed money. Try to be objective about every idea you take action on, and separate your emotions from the outcome. That way, it’ll be easier to discard the bad ideas and focus on the good ones.

Find Inspiration in Surprising Places

Sometimes seeing what your competition is up to can inspire you to come up with new ideas. What are they overlooking that you can swoop in and offer? How are they missing connecting with your audience?

But the obvious isn’t the only place to look for inspiration. Look at brands outside of your industry and see how they operate. Here’s a good example: Chipotle restaurants. They’re “slow” fast food, meaning it takes a few minutes to get your food, so they’re not competing with Taco Bell for speed. But their attention to quality is impressive. You might take inspiration from the fact that there are only about 5 items on the menu. Simplicity. Don’t overwhelm the customer with too many choices.

See where something unexpected takes you in terms of how to apply it to your own brand.

Innovation gets rid of stagnation. You need to continue to generate new concepts in order to stay relevant in your marketplace and continue to grow your business.

The post How Does Your Small Business Generate New Ideas? appeared first on CorpNet.

Happier employees are 12 percent more productive, too, according to 2014 research by the University of Warwick. Decreased stress leads to less time off due to illness or accidents, as the Harvard Business Review reports that 60 to 80 percent of workplace accidents are caused by stress. Moreover, high-pressure companies spend more than two times the amount on healthcare costs than other businesses.

Taking all these factors into consideration, here is how to make your business culture stand out to those searching for jobs and how to sustain it for those who work for you.

Show off on Your Careers Page and Social Networks

Give potential candidates a glimpse of what they can expect from your company culture through the descriptions and imagery throughout your website, especially your careers page, and social networks. Write in a voice that conveys the personality of your company. Display your mission statement on your website. Create a video that gives a tour of the office. A great example of this is Toms shoes. Its homepage features the slogan “one for one” prominently, showing off its goal of donating a pair of shoes for every pair that is bought.

Include testimonials from staff about why they are passionate about working for your company. Photos of smiling faces provide evidence your business is an attractive place to work for. You can share content about your culture on everything from your Facebook profile to your LinkedIn page. If you’re looking for a good example of what to include, Amway posts updates about the company on its LinkedIn page. Posts cover everything from pictures of new employees to information about new products to trips its team leaders take.

Provide Training and Development at Work

Jobs are no longer only ways to make money for today’s employees. To stay engaged, employees require learning opportunities that help them add to their skill repertoire. This benefits your business as training enhances your employees’ competence and creativity. The Gallup poll found that 87 percent of millennials say on-the-job development is crucial to increasing their loyalty and stimulation at work.

Ways to implement development range widely and include:

• Department-wide enrollment in online courses related to the profession
• Cross-department training to improve how employees understand and work with each other
• Company-wide training on skills that benefit the whole workplace, such as interpersonal communication or conflict management

Your business could employ a training professional to conduct lessons or send out a casting call for employees to lead training sessions for each other, which might make the learning more meaningful.

Respect Employees as Humans, Not Just Workers

A company culture that chains employees to desks and doesn’t recognize personal needs is draining and restrictive. Employees who feel like they are able to fulfill their familial duties or personal passions while still working full-time for you will be more engaged when they’re at work.

Ways to improve a work-life balance at your business include:

• Provide childcare benefits and maternity and paternity leave
• Offer incentives for prioritizing health, such as a paid gym membership
• Partner with local businesses to get discounts for your employees on services such as auto repair or massages

One of the best things you can do to improve the work-life balance of your staff is to offer flexibility in hours worked, whether that means allowing them to set up their own schedule throughout the week or work remotely part of the time or when needed. A 2014 study by telecommuting job site FlexJobs found that 74 percent of people say work-life balance is affected by the flexibility of their work hours. The ability to work remotely at least part of the time decreases stress related to commutes and family or personal obligations. Working from a home office may also increase productivity for some employees.

Company culture can constantly be improved upon, so it’s a good idea to periodically survey your current employees about what is working and what is needed. When you involve your employees in creating the culture themselves, they’ll be more likely to support it and be invested in it.

The post How to Attract and Retain Skilled Workers Through Culture appeared first on CorpNet.

Face it: not every day is roses and sunshine when you’re an entrepreneur. Sometimes it’s hard to muster up passion for that business you launched oh so many years ago. So how do you reignite that excitement and get back on track with your love affair with your business?

Take Some Time Off

Often, recalibrating your feelings about your business is as simple as getting away from it for a while. Taking a vacation (or even a staycation) and not being mired in the day-to-day of your company can give you some breathing room and time to remember why you started the business in the first place.

Put it in Action

Sure, not everyone can afford to take off a week or two, but you don’t need it to make this concept work. Try taking off early a few days a week, or have a long weekend. However long you are able to get away from work, completely shut off from it. No emails, and no calls. Otherwise, it won’t have the intended benefit.

Write Yourself a Love Letter

Sounds silly, doesn’t it? But writing a letter where you talk about all the wonderful things you as the business owner have done, for yourself, for your customers, and for your employees, can remind you why you’re doing it. Don’t write anything negative or talk about your frustration; just write it as if you were someone else looking at your company’s accomplishments. You may not be able to see the forest for the trees normally, so taking this third-party look at your company may help you to see it in a new light.

Put it in Action

Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, write your love letter as a Valentine. Throw in a bouquet of flowers just for fun!

Do Something Fun

If you have staff, they may be feeling your bad attitude, and that can affect your workplace greatly. And if you’ve been working on a stressful project, you’ll all need to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So lighten up the mood! Show them that your office can be a place of joy, and that it’s not always about work only.

Put it in Action

Take your entire staff out to dinner. Buy Nerf guns and have a 10-minute Nerf war. Hold a contest for silliest hat. There are a million ways you can create smiles on your employees’ faces (as well as your own), and they don’t have to cost a dime or take them out of their productive zones.

If you work at rekindling your love for your business and you simply can’t find it, have an honest conversation with yourself about whether this is a path you want to continue down. It might be time to close the business and move on to something else.

The post How to Rekindle Your Love for Your Business appeared first on CorpNet.

Therefore, many successful businesses are turning to short-term contractors, or freelancers, to alleviate some of the bandwidth struggles they are experiencing. Using a freelancer can make sense if you want to mitigate the risks of new hires.

Freelancers are cost-effective, specialized, and expendable, which makes them incredible resources for running growing businesses. Whether you are hiring freelancers to redevelop your website, build email lists, or run your social media, there are some important tips to help you hire more effectively.

Below are my top tips for hiring freelancers and building solid working relationships.

1. Define and Document the Job

Before you can hire a freelancer, you need to make sure you understand the role that person will fill. The most common positions for freelancers are in the areas of digital marketing, web development, creative, sales, and office management.

These fields are the most popular because they can be performed remotely and relatively low-impact, meaning if you have high turnover it will not have a major effect on your production. Regardless of the position you want to hire for, you need to take time to understand and define all factors of that role including:

• Who manages the freelancer?
• What are the KPIs by which they will be measured?
• What training can you provide them?
• Do you have a clearly defined job description?
• How long is the contract and what are you willing to pay?
• What hours will they work and how do they communicate with your team?

2. Have an Ideal Candidate in Mind

Understanding the job is an excellent first step, but you also need to define the ideal candidate. Think about the characteristics and experience needed to execute the job description. Does your candidate need to have a college degree? Does that person need to be fluent in a specific language or possess some other minimal qualifications?

After you have a general idea of the perfect candidate, start thinking about other factors like their ability to work on the same schedule as the rest of your office. Many qualified freelancers might live outside the United States, which means they could have a substantially different time zone than you.

Having a blueprint for the perfect candidate will help you weed through the applicants. It’s important that you not just internalize your candidate expectations, but clearly define them in the job description so that you do not waste the applicants’ and your time.

3. Know Where to Look

Looking for freelancers can seem like an overwhelming task with so many options at your disposal. With an understanding of your job description and the ideal candidate for the role, the next step is to make sure you are looking in the right place.

Some of the most popular freelancing websites are:

• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Fiverr
• Craigslist

Each website has pros and cons, so you should only look for freelancers after you’ve outlined the requirements for the role. For instance, if you plan to manage the freelancer internally, then you may want to use UpWork or another freelancing marketplace.

Take some time to look at the freelance platform you are considering using before you begin a relationship. Many companies require all communication and upfront payment inside their system if you want to hire a freelancer, and some may charge a service fee.

4. Set Clear Expectations and Defined Measurables

Clearly defining expectations and milestones is one of the most difficult steps when hiring a freelancer. However, outlining the requirements by which the freelancer will be measured is probably the most critical step in the hiring process.

These expectations help the freelancer understand exactly what you want, while also providing you a tool to keep the relationship on track. It’s a good idea to physically document your expectations and have the freelancer agree with them before hiring.

If the freelancer is not hitting the milestones, you can point back to the agreement as leverage for improving the speed or quality of the work. Additionally, many freelancing systems lock payment until the deliverables are approved. This means that you can ultimately have the final say when work is completed.

5. Run a Test Before Hiring

Another freelance hiring tip is to execute a test project before entering into a long-term contract with a freelancer. For instance, if you are looking to hire a freelancer to take over your blog and write daily or weekly articles, it would be wise to hire them to write 2-3 piecemeal articles before agreeing to a month-long engagement.

A test project will not just show you the freelancer’s skills, but it will also give you an idea of how the relationship would work. You’ll see how well that freelancer communicates with your team, you’ll work out some of the hiccups in the process, and you’ll build some trust with that freelancer.

It’s not uncommon for companies to see a high turnover for a freelancing position. There are a lot of variables that go into the relationship, and it’s impossible to predict all issues beforehand. However, by taking your time to test the relationship before you agree to any substantial partnership, you’ll be able to weed through some of the bad relationships before they get too serious or you become too invested.

Why Hiring Freelancers Just Works

Growing businesses that are looking to add team members with little overhead or resource allocation would be wise to look at hiring a freelancer. Freelancing is becoming more and more popular, which means the talent pool is only getting better.

Businesses can now find qualified, contract-based employees with experience and knowledge in different business sectors. This, in turn, helps the company rapidly improve operations, without incurring the risks that come with the typical hiring process. If you are considering hiring freelancers to help you grow your business, you need first to make sure to take your time and make sure you find candidates that can match your expectations.

The post Five Tips for Hiring Freelancers appeared first on CorpNet.

1. Increase the Odds of Success

No one starts a business with the expectation of failure, but the reality is that about half of all new companies go under within five years according to the SBA. However, the chances of success are increased for owners who used a business mentor. The odds for surviving five years increased to 70%. In other words, the chances of remaining in business are greatly increased by bringing a business mentor into the picture. Why? The other reasons below will explain.

2. Gain Confidence

You may not be familiar with many of the tasks you need to do in running your company. Maybe sales and marketing are new activities and you don’t necessarily feel confident that you’re handling things in the best way possible. Maybe you need additional capital and don’t understand which funding option is best suited for your needs, or how to go about securing the money you need. Or maybe working with professionals, such as accountants, attorneys, and bankers is a new experience and you feel overwhelmed. A business mentor can be a sounding board against which to bounce off your ideas and get assurances that this way or that is a good option for your situation.

The mentor can also remind you of your abilities to deal with problems, professionals, and anything else that may come your way. And the mentor can tell you when you’re right which may not be easy to see in a particular situation. For example, you want to raise prices but fear that it will scare off customers. The mentor can help you evaluate this decision—to raise prices, when, and by how much—so you’re confident that you’re doing the right thing.

3. Network With Winners

A person who acts as a business mentor is someone who has already achieved success in business. This person knows other successful entrepreneurs. Through your mentor, you may find opportunities to connect with successful business owners. These business owners may be able to provide direct assistance to your company by recommending suppliers and other contractors, referring customers and clients, and helping you find investors if or when you want them. The business owners you meet through networking can also act as informal mentors, providing feedback on business matters you discuss with them.

4. Get Encouragement

Spouses, friends, co-workers, and other people you know may offer you encouragement to continue on your business journey. You need encouragement to keep you going during the long hours you put in, especially when things aren’t going as planned. A business mentor can offer you constructive encouragement, which is far more valuable than friendly words of support. Constructive encouragement includes detailing specific ways to move ahead. It reflects a dispassionate evaluation of the situation and steps you can take to remediate a problem. For example, say you have a difficult employee who does good work but is causing discontent in the workplace. What do you do? A mentor can appreciate your situation and encourage you to think through your approach to the situation. In other words, the mentor can help you step back, assess your options, and help you arrive at the best course of action.

5. Learn the Secrets of Success

Not everything you need to know about running a business can be found in a classroom, a book, a blog, or a webinar. You need to find out what other business owners have learned through their experiences that you won’t find on the Internet. A business mentor can share his or her personal successes and failures, so you can learn from them. With these “secrets” this person can save you from experiencing the same failures and can help you attain similar successes. A business mentor does not necessarily have to be in the same industry that you’re in to be of value. But having a mentor in the same industry offers an additional layer of insight into your situation.

6. It’s What Successful Business Owners Do

Ask just about any successful entrepreneur and you’ll find out that there is or was a business mentor in the picture. In fact, there are a number of peer groups, such as Vistage,  that function as mentoring organizations. Owners meet on a regular basis to bring their company’s challenges before the group and receive guidance and direction so they can address their issues. According to Dun & Bradstreet data, Vistage member companies grew 2.2 times faster than average small and medium-sized U.S. businesses.

7. Remain Positive

In starting and running a business, there are days when things seem impossible. An order doesn’t ship on time, an employee makes a mistake that costs the company serious money, or a social media post disparages your brand. It’s easy for an owner to become discouraged or depressed. It’s important not to lose hope, and that’s where a business mentor comes in. You may be focused on the problem at hand, but the mentor sees the big picture and can help you see it too. Oprah Winfrey summed it up by saying “ a mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.”

8. Be Accountable

A small business owner may have a business plan with goals for growing revenue, increasing the number of employees, and expanding into new product lines or locations. If the owner is smart, he or she will continually review these goals to see what’s working and what isn’t. But the owner usually doesn’t have to report to anyone. There’s no independent board of directors or a group of shareholders to which you have to explain everything you do. There’s no accountability. If an owner is wise, he or she will work with a business mentor to be accountable. This means confronting problems and taking responsibility for them. Being accountable also requires making decisions on how to address them. With a mentor, you can’t escape the unpleasantness and will have to face up to mistakes you make so that you can fix them. You’ll have to grow as a person to be big enough to shoulder the mistakes but able to put the past behind you so it doesn’t slow you down.

9. See What You Don’t See

You have a plan for your business and have thought about how to implement the plan. Unfortunately, you may not have thought about everything. There may be weaknesses, errors, or omissions from your plan that you just don’t see because you’re so close to it or because you have limited experience in certain matters. Here’s where a business mentor comes in. The mentor can take a fresh look and gain a different perspective on your plan so that together you can fix what’s broken or missing.

Also, you may be focused on day-to-day activities, keeping an eye on your bottom line, and trying your best to look ahead. But you may not have a clear vision of what the future can hold for you. You may not see in yourself and your company the possibilities that await you. A business mentor may help you see what lies ahead.

10. Give Back

Once you become a mentee (the person receiving the assistance of a mentor), you know better than anyone how important the relationship can be to a business’s success. Perhaps the best way to repay your mentor is to become a business mentor to someone else. As a seasoned business owner yourself, you will be able to share what you know with someone just starting out, and likely you’ll continue to learn from your new relationship.

The Many Ways of Mentorship

There are many ways to be mentored. It can be a one-way street where you receive free information from successful entrepreneurs through TED talks and YouTube videos. You’ll learn many things but won’t get the feedback you may need. You can have an informal mentoring arrangement with colleagues and other business owners you meet through chambers of commerce, trade and professional organizations, or networking groups. With this option, there’s only so much you can ask of another business owner, and perhaps only so much you want to share about what’s going on in your company.

The best option is a structured business mentor arrangement available through local colleges and universities (search for business mentorship programs), mentoring organizations, and SCORE , the largest network of volunteer mentors providing online and face-to-face services for free. Whatever mentoring arrangement you select, you’re bound to find value and help you and your company grow.

The post Why a Business Mentor Can Impact Your Business appeared first on CorpNet.

Is Your New Hire an Employee or an Independent Contractor?

The IRS has classification rules for how an independent contractor differs from an employee. This information can help business owners get a better grasp on what’s involved in having employees and working with professionals on a contract basis.

Employees

Employees are workers an employer puts on their business payroll. The employer must register for payroll taxes so that it can withhold money from employees’ paychecks and remit it to the appropriate tax agencies.

When individuals are hired as employees, the employer controls employees’ working hours, work location, tools used, and where they should make work-related purchases. Also, when an employer gives specific directions for how workers should perform their deliverables, the IRS is more likely to classify individuals as employees.

Moreover, elements like worker training and evaluations are considered employer direction, thus usually prompting the IRS to consider workers on the receiving end of those activities to be employees.

Independent Contractors

Independent contractors are self-employed individuals who enter into an agreement (either written or verbal) with a payee to get paid for their services. In the IRS’s classification test, contractors are largely in control of how and when they work. And they are usually responsible for providing the equipment and tools they need to perform their assignments. Although the business engaging contractors controls the end goals, like projects or campaign requirements, independent contractors decide how to accomplish their assigned tasks.

Contractors are not on their clients’ payrolls, and they cannot receive benefits or paid time off like employees. They are wholly responsible for reporting and remitting their taxes (including self-employment taxes) to the IRS, state, and local tax authorities.

Unlike employees, independent contractors issue invoices for their services rendered. Ideally, businesses’ contracts with contractors should contain a beginning and ending date. Contractors should be able to (if asked) show that they earn money through project work and have a variety of clients. Maintaining separate personal and business finances is advised, even when an independent contractor operates as a sole proprietorship. To achieve some legal protection of their personal assets, independent contractors often choose to formally register their small business as a limited liability company (LLC) or C corporation.

Tax Considerations for W-2 and 1099 Employees

There are clear differences between employees and independent contractors when it comes to recordkeeping, employer responsibilities, and how workers are paid.

W-2 Employees

Whether part-time or full-time, employees are subject to a number of taxes by the federal and state governments—and sometimes by the county or city in which they work. Employees must fill out a W-4 (Employees Withholding Certificate) form when hired.

Employee’s Information on the W-4 Form

• Individual’s name
• Address
• Social security number
• Filing status – i.e., Single or Married filing separately; Married filing jointly or Qualifying widow(er); Head of household
• Whether the individual has multiple jobs or a spouse that works
• Number of dependents the individual wishes to claim
• Withholding adjustments

Employers are no longer required to turn W-4 forms to the IRS unless specifically asked for them. The W-4 stays with the company as an official record and is used to determine withholding taxes.

Employee wages are subject to payroll taxes, including federal income taxes, state income taxes, and FICA (Social Security and Medicare). Employers are also required to make a matching employer contribution for the FICA tax. As noted above, some cities also require employees and employers, or just the employee, to pay a local tax, which means the business must withhold the tax from the employee’s paycheck. Finally, unemployment taxes (SUTA) are typically paid only by the employer — the amount varies by state. Only employees in Alaska, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania contribute to their state’s unemployment tax.

Quarterly, employers are required to use Form 941 to report income taxes, Social Security tax, or Medicare tax withheld from employees’ paychecks. Employers must also pay their portion of FICA quarterly.

By January 31 each year, employers must report employee wages and payroll taxes on individual IRS W-2 (Wage and Tax Statement) forms. Employers must send W-2s to the Social Security Administration (SSA) and state, city, and local tax departments. After the SSA processes the form, it transmits the federal tax information to the IRS. Employees must also receive a copy, and a copy stays with the business. In addition, the company must fill out and send Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, to the Social Security Administration when sending employees’ W-2s.

1099 Workers

Independent contractors need to fill out IRS Tax Form W-9, which identifies the contractor’s personal information, including social security number or Federal Tax ID number. The business hiring the contractor then submits that form to the IRS.

Businesses do not withhold taxes from payments to independent contractors. Contractors pay estimated taxes quarterly and self-employment taxes on their personal tax forms, which are typically due by April 15.

Businesses must report compensation they made to any independent contractor paid over $600 in a tax year. Payments to independent contractors are reported on Form 1099-NEC, used to report “Nonemployee Compensation.” Up until the tax year 2020, Form 1099-MISC was used by businesses to report independent contractor payments. Some business owners are still unaware of the change, so spread the word! Form 1099-NEC should be filed by January 31 (if January 31 falls on a weekend or holiday, the form is due the next business day). The IRS also requires businesses to submit Form 1096 (Annual Summary and Transmittal of U.S. Information Returns) by January 31. A company’s digital accounting system should be keeping track of the payments it has made and inform it of which independent contractors will need a 1099 form.

State Legislation for Classifying Workers

AB5 (formally known as California’s Assembly Bill No. 5) took the IRS’s worker classification rules and tightened them. California’s law requires that all the following three points must be true for a business to classify a worker as an independent contractor:

1. The worker is free from the control and direction of the hirer in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of such work and in fact.
2. The worker performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity’s business.
3. The worker is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work performed for the hiring entity.

The change caused a lot of stress and confusion for independent contractors and business owners alike! For more details, I encourage you to visit my past blog post which explains more about AB5’s impacts on classifying workers as independent contractors or employees in California. And stay on the lookout for news in your state about any plans to enact similar legislation down the road. The more you stay in the know, the better prepared you can be for any changes.

Cut Through the Confusion with CorpNet

Many businesses find payroll tax registration and navigating the nuances of working with independent contractors somewhat confounding. Matters can become especially complex when working with employees and contract workers in different states. That’s why it’s wise to enlist the help of a trusted attorney and tax professional to ensure all t’s get crossed and i’s dotted.

And you can rely on my team CorpNet to take the mystery (and mayhem) out of registering your business for state payroll taxes. We have experience working with businesses and the departments of revenue in all 50 states. Also, our specialists can register your business for State Unemployment Insurance Tax (SUI) and State Income Tax (SIT), ultimately saving you a lot of time (and hence money!)

Contact us today for help, so you can get your human resources in order and grow your business.

The post Independent Contractor vs. Employee appeared first on CorpNet.