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The 24.Karat Mark.eter New.sletter
Bringing you a w.ealth of
o.pportunity
and kn/owledge to help you su.cceed!
http://24karatmarketer.com
March 17, 2005
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In this Issue
-------------
$$ Top Sponsor Ad
$$ Table of Contents
$$
Publishers' Notes
$$ Elite Signups
$$ Quote of The
Week
$$ Sponsor Ad
$$ Your Subscriber Ads
$$ Feature
Article - Small Business Administration:
A U.S. Entrepreneur's
Best Friend
by Yank Elliott, MBA & IAHBE Staff Writer
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$$ 2nd Feature Article - Untapped Assets For Your Business - Your
Children
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Contact Us
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** Publisher's Notes:
Welcome to all - current and new - subscribers to The
24 Karat
Marketer! Thank you for subscribing to our
ezine.
I'm so happy :-)... I made it to Silver Team Leader this month in
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There will be NO rotators, NO redirect urls, ONLY 1 popup! I am
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That's enough chit chat for one day, I think... LOL
Have a great week!
Thank you!
Michelle
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** Feature Article
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Small Business Administration:
A U.S. Entrepreneur's Best Friend
by
Yank Elliott, MBA & IAHBE Staff Writer
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is the federal
government
agency whose sole responsibility is helping you
succeed with your small
business. Many entrepreneurs have
heard about their loan packages, but are
you taking
advantage of the additional free information, resources,
and
even personal assistance they have to offer? These
people are paid to provide
assistance in every area of your
business. They are knowledgeable, and they
are glad to
help. All you need to do is ask.
Every politician in the entire country wants the U.S.
economy to thrive.
What better way than to support the
engine that drives this economy: small
business?
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), though always
ready to
help, used to be considered too complex for the
average small business. For
many years, only those
businesses with legal and accounting advisors
took
advantage of most programs.
The U.S. government is like any other lender: it wants to
be repaid. So
any loan program will have questions and
procedures some will consider
difficult and inhibiting, but
in just the last few years, the SBA has become
about as
friendly as any lender can be. They not only provide the
money to
operate your business but they also offer
counseling on a variety of problems
from start-up through
selling your business.
SBA Online
Other services can help you find customers or even products
to sell. And
the SBA Website is very user friendly. Just
look at
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/.
Perhaps the first thing to strike you is the top center
flash block
calling attention to “Success Stories”. The
first one I caught was about
Premier Pet Products
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/ss/ss11.html.
This business
was inspired by the rescue of a former racing
greyhound
about to be destroyed. The business flourished on a $5,000
loan
and was housed in the owner’s home.
Now Premier Pet Products is a $2.4 million company with
40
employees.
For ideas and inspiration everyone, would do well to go
through this
section and read how successful entrepreneurs
have used SBA services to help
them grow thriving
businesses.
The left sidebar has some powerful help for the
small
entrepreneur.
Among the “Hot Items” are these:
Because 97% of U.S. exporters are small businesses, the SBA
provides a
lot of aid in this sector. The SBA Office of
International Trade (
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/oit/)
shows
where you can find regional and local offices for
personal assistance.
To locate new business connections, see PRO-Net
(
http://pro-net.sba.gov/). This site provides
many sources
of opportunity and help to obtain customers or clients
for
your business.
Startup Guide
(
http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/startup/guide.html)
shows
you exactly how to start, finance, operate, and find
customers for your small
business. It includes a list of
all kinds of support services you may need.
Here is all the
information you need to succeed.
The “Startup Kit” we discussed above covers every aspect of
running your
business. But wait!
The SBA has this material organized in a much more useful
manner at the
top of the right sidebar. The elements are
“Starting Your Business,”
“Financing Your Business,”
“Managing Your Business,” “Business
Opportunities,” and
“Disaster Recovery.”
How this arrangement helps is to group all the information
into related
areas. For example, under “Business
Opportunities,” there are sections
dealing with the basics,
rules, finding opportunities, size standards,
marketing,
proposals, small business programs, and special interests.
Each
section contains links to everything you might need to
clear up issues in the
group.
The Disaster Recovery section is one every entrepreneur
should study
right now and hope you never need it. The
writer has lived in North
Carolina’s Hurricane Alley for
many years. Recent disasters have included
Bertha, Fran,
Bonnie, Dennis, Floyd, and Isabel (the center went
directly
over our house). We have been most impressed by the
rapid
response of the SBA and FEMA (Federal Emergency
Management
Agency).
After the latest Isabel disaster, those who applied quickly
received aid
quickly, often in two or three days. Study
this section before you need it so
you can deal with
disaster to avoid greater loss.
Small business is so important politically and economically
that all
government will continue to push the SBA into more
areas of aid to
entrepreneurs. Visit
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/ as soon
as you can and see
how this agency can help you.
Be sure to peruse the information on Small Business Person
of the Year
awards throughout the U.S. to get ideas about
what you can do.
If they did it so can you!
Local Small Business Counseling
The SBA’s Small Business Development Program works through
centers
scattered throughout the country. From their
Website (
http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/), there is a link
for
locating a Small Business Development Center near you; they
are almost
always affiliated with a state college or
university.
Not only do the staff of these centers offer free business
counseling,
but they usually offer many mini-courses and a
well-stocked library on
everything from business entities
and business plans to taxes and technology
for your small
business. As your business grows, there may be a small
fee
charged, but initially the use of the center’s staff and
facilities
are free except for very reasonable costs for
the courses (well under
$100).
The advantage of using your closest local Small Business
Development
Center is that their staff will be the most
knowledgeable about local
business trends, marketing, laws,
and taxes that might affect your business.
They will also
know about local funding, financing, or other
assistance.
They will guide you through the process of writing a
business
plan and work with you as your business grows.
A visit to your closest Small Business Development Center
should be a
top priority for any home-based business owner,
even if all you do is
familiarize yourself with what they
have to offer.
The SBA is charged with stimulating the national economy by
promoting
small business, so take advantage of their
offerings and make your tax
dollars work for YOU for a
change!
RESOURCES
© Yank Elliott. All rights reserved worldwide.
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** 2nd Feature Article
----------------
Untapped Assets For Your Business - Your Children
by Patricia Dinslage, IAHBE Staff Writer
Home-based business owners often read articles on how to
combine a
home-based business with family life. Much of the
advice discusses how
work-at-home parents can set
boundaries to make sure children don't interfere
or
interrupt, or how to occupy them during business hours.
Rather than a
problem, however, your children may be an
overlooked resource for your
business.
I'm not talking about violating any child labor laws or
taking unfair
advantage of your children. But they, too,
have a stake in the survival and
success of your business.
Allowing children to be a part of your business can
result
in both long-term and short-term advantages for everyone.
A Chance To Learn
The most obvious advantage for the children is the chance
to learn about
business in general, and your business in
particular. They can learn how a
business operates, what's
involved in keeping it going, and that people don't
just
give you money for nothing (at least not that I've been
able to
discover!). They may even discover that business
and work can be fun;
accomplishing something important can
make you feel good; and having your own
money gives you
freedom.
Involving your children as an integral part of your
home-based business
allows them to experience, on a
personal level, the value of money and work
in their lives,
and the connection between the two. Watching and
listening
to you as a home-based business owner, and working with
you,
your children can gain knowledge of how to work with
other people, to
collaborate, negotiate, and reach
compromises and agreements. Over time, they
may even see
what can be accomplished with self-motivation, discipline
and
sheer determination, and may even develop these
entrepreneurial traits for
themselves.
Seeing and experiencing firsthand the balance between
rewards and risks
that comes with owning your own business
may plant a seed. That seed may lead
to them becoming
entrepreneurs and business owners, whether with a
lemonade
stand, babysitting service, or an Internet business
with
worldwide connections!
Hiring Your Children
To be clear, the involvement I'm talking about is not
having your
children run to the post office once in a
while, dusting the furniture while
you're otherwise
occupied, or watching the younger ones on a regular
basis
for free. These tasks may be just part of being in a
family.
What I'm talking about is allowing your children to
contribute in a
meaningful way to your business and to
receive rewards in direct proportion
to their contribution
and efforts, just like any other employee you would
hire.
They may be employed in your business on a regular
part-time basis
(a few hours a week), during summer and
other school vacation times, even
during extra-busy times
in your business, or in combinations of the
above.
One of the advantages of hiring your children is that you
can get help
when your business needs it, without the
hassle of placing an ad and
interviewing applicants—all to
fill a need for someone 10 hours a week or
during a
seasonal rush. Who knows your children—and their
capabilities,
skills, personality, and work ethic better
than you?
Some important points to keep in mind, though, when
considering offering
your child a job:
* No one likes to be told they HAVE to do something (Ask
any teenager if
you don't believe this!). Using the "power
of the parent" probably is not the
most productive method
for getting your children involved in your business.
ASK
them if they would like to work with your business and, of
course,
earn some money of their own.
* Don't automatically assume that your child will be
thrilled to start
working with you—even if you do offer to
pay them. That's OK—they may not be
ready for the
responsibility, may not be interested in your business,
or
may be caught up in other activities and priorities. After
all, one of
the reasons you probably became a home-based
business owner is for the
freedom to set your own
priorities and do what you wanted. In this case,
your
children should also have that freedom.
* Treat them as you would any other potential employee, to
a certain
extent. Explain, at their level of understanding,
the job and tasks involved,
the work hours, the pay,
rewards or benefits.
* Remember that they still will need time to be children
and accomplish
the developmental tasks of being children.
They will need, and should have,
free time to play, be with
friends, do schoolwork, watch TV, play videogames,
go to
movies, etc.
* Discuss the concrete, as well as intangible, benefits to
you and to
them of helping you and your home-based business
to succeed.
* The wages you will pay them is their own money, to spend
as they
please (as long as it's on something legal and not
dangerous). If they want
to buy that new CD by that
horrible group you can't even understand—well,
that's their
choice! You certainly wouldn't be telling
non-family
employees what they could and couldn't spend their
money
on.
* Explain at their level of understanding some of the other
rules,
expectations, and guidelines that adults take for
granted, but which children
don't necessarily know—such as
not leaving in the middle of a rush job to go
to a movie
with a friend calling in a last-minute invitation.
* You will need to provide proper training in how to do the
job and the
intangibles of business etiquette.
* Plan to have lots of patience. Your new employee will
make mistakes
and you will need to provide guidance and
constructive praise, not yelling or
destructive criticism.
The goal is not just to get the job done most
efficiently;
but also to parent, to teach, to grow closer as parent
and
child, and to have fun.
* Plan B: Sometimes, despite everyone's best effort,
working with family
members just doesn't work out. Rather
than get caught up in blaming, fights,
resentments, or
guilt—just chalk the whole arrangement up to a
learning
experience for both of you.
Tax Advantages & Legalities
I am assuming, of course, that you will be compensating
your children
for their work. Keep in mind, too, that the
compensation may be money,
payment in products or services
from your business, or for very young
children, a favorite
meal, movie, special trip or other uncommonly given
treat.
Other than the last suggestion, certain tax and legal
guidelines
exist that, as a business owner, you must take
into account.
One of the advantages to you as a business owner of
employing your
children is that you can deduct their wages
right off the top of your
business's taxable income as a
business expense. As a home-based business
owner in the
United States, the salaries you pay your under-18
children
are not subject to Social Security or Medicare taxes. If
your
child is between 18 and 21 years old, you do not have
to pay federal
unemployment taxes. Of course, whatever the
age of your child-employee, you
must withhold income taxes,
according to the U.S. Internal Revenue
Service.
The bottom line is that you may be able to include your
children as
standard deductions on your personal income
tax, and also deduct their wages
from your business taxes.
In addition, if your child earns less than a
certain amount
in wages during the year, their wages may be tax-free,
but
you still would be allowed to deduct those wages as
business expenses.
Other countries may have similar laws;
check your government tax guidelines.
In any case, as a
business owner, you will want to consult your tax
advisor
or accountant before filing tax returns.
Salaries, whether paid to your children or a non-relative,
are a
legitimate business expense. When employing your
children, however, certain
additional factors will be
considered before allowing the business
deduction.
1. The business owner must have proof that the child was
paid a salary;
AND
2. The salary was the same as what would be paid to any
employee doing
the job - no over- or underpaying; AND
3. The salary was reasonable for the child's age ($20,000 a
year to a
5-year-old might be questioned); AND
4. The work the child did was necessary to the business.
You are allowed to pay your child-employee in product or
services from
your business. For instance, in return for
working in your travel and tour
business all summer, you
arrange and give your child a trip to Disneyworld
in
payment for his or her work. You can claim the fair market
value of the
trip and arrangements as a deduction from your
business's taxable income.
However, you must add to your
gross sales an amount that is equal to the
value of the
product or service you paid them. The child, on the
other
hand, must claim the value of the product as part of their
income
and the business owner must withhold income taxes.
Another significant tax advantage for your children is that
earned
income qualifies them to contribute to a Roth IRA.
Starting in 2005, this can
be up to $4,000 a year in an
account with tax-deferred earnings—a huge step
towards
their eventual retirement or other allowable uses. Savings
in
their own name could possibly count against them for
financial aid when the
go to college, but in general, most
financial advisors say "Start saving
early."
This is not meant to be definitive tax information for the
business
owner. You definitely will want to consult your
national tax laws, as well as
a professional tax advisor or
accountant.
What Jobs Can Your Child Do?
You've decided to hire your child to work for your business
and he or
she has agreed that it's a good idea. Now what?
Specifically, what work your
child can do for your business
that you would be willing to pay them to do?
Be creative.
You want the job to be age-appropriate, so that
your
child-employee does not become frustrated, overwhelmed—or
bored.
Remember that your new employee has a child's
attention span and viewpoint,
which can sometimes result in
unexpected consequences.
You also don't have to wait until your child gets to be
mid- to
late-teens before offering them a job. For
instance, your toddler can help
you open packages, turn
lights and equipment on and off, throw paper in the
trash,
etc. Preschoolers can lick stamps, seal envelopes, open
mail, stuff
envelopes and more.
For these tasks on a relatively regular basis, they can be
paid with a
special treat, extra story time, a trip to the
mall, library or museum, etc.
Of course, these
payments-in-kind, probably wouldn't be deductible,
but
could be very rewarding to both of you.
School-age children have begun to realize what money really
represents:
the ability to buy things they want. Most like
the idea of getting money on a
regular basis, and usually
take well to the concept of doing something to
have
something. In addition, some jobs they can do in your
business may
add to what they are learning in school and
even result in better grades.
They can sharpen pencils,
keeping count of them and learning when you might
need
more. They can help you sort and organize papers, bills,
ads, etc.,
or file papers in folders, even if they can't
read everything. Children can
count and keep track of
change, for instance, if your business involves
handling
money. The ability to sort, organize and match things is
one of
the major childhood learning tasks, and children
often find these types of
activities fun to do!
Teenagers have the knowledge, ability, and skills to be a
significant
addition and contributors to your business.
However, they may not be
motivated to work, or may be
extensively involved in school activities,
sports,
friendships, and not have the time. On the other hand,
teenagers
also are very aware of the usefulness of money.
Employing your teenager may
be a challenge for both you and
him or her. But where better for them to
start learning
about the world of work, getting along with
people
(including bosses), money management skills, and a good
work ethic
than working in the supportive environment of a
family business? They
probably can do almost anything in
your business that you would need done—and
maybe some
things that you don't realize could be done—in your
business.
These young people tend to be among the most
Internet-savvy people in the
world today. In addition, they
often are consumer- and business oriented at a
young age.
When it comes to Internet research, seeking out new
online
markets for your business, getting a Web page up and
running for
your business (or improving the one you have),
even advising you on business
technology, electronics and
equipment, your teenage child may become one of
your best
business resources and advisors. Respecting them as
employees
and the knowledge they bring, even seeking out
their ideas for improving your
business, could result in
payoffs far exceeding the wages they earn.
In summary, hiring your children and paying them probably
is better for
everyone than just giving them money and
getting no deductions in
return.
RESOURCES:
© 2005 Patricia C. Dinslage. All rights reserved worldwide.
Patricia C. Dinslage is a freelance writer and staff writer
for IAHBE.
She has BA degree in Economics, BS degree in
journalism and is currently
working on a Master's degree in
career counseling. She has worked in
business, government,
agriculture and media, including a stint as a
business
reporter for a daily newspaper.
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This week's winner of the $2.00 PayPal Giveaway is...
Regina Danley
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The two winners of the 500 double opt-in leads are:
ADCODE: fastcash!
Please show your support by voting for us! Thanks :)
**** WARNING
Any person reporting alleged spam to any person, persons,
or entities
without physical proof of said claim is guilty of both
fraud and a civil
crime and may be pursued and prosecuted to the
fullest extent of the law.
Further, should the said allegation result
in any interruption of normal
business activity of the company
and/or result in loss of income and/or
result in unnecessary
expenses, a civil suit will be brought against the
complaintant for
restitution.
