Return Policies and Your Business

As consumers we've seen many, many variations of return policies. From "no questions asked" to "if you open it you own it for good". Small businesses are hit a little bit harder with a lot of returns compared to big corporate accounts, so they need to be a little more careful on how they manage them.

While not every week is Black Friday with your business shipping and selling more than every other week, the problems you see are the same at any time of year. The same mistakes are made by many, but these 3 guys want to share their most common mistakes and what they did about them.

Some Small Business Tax Changes For 2011

As with any client I've ever had when discussing taxes I always need to preface the conversation when they ask about stuff they can "look back" on and write off and say that after this time you have to think a head. There is no reason a small business owner isn't up to date with upcoming tax changes that could help them, or at least their tax man better be and let them know about it in January instead of waiting until next January. Sure they may be jerks and want to look like they pulled a genius idea out of their butt, but they aren't doing you many favors. It doesn't do you much good to plan backwards does it? Of course not. PLAN A HEAD. I don't care if you run a vending machine business, or a lemonade stand.

Even as you prepare your 2010 taxes, consider also looking ahead to make investments in equipment or other fixed assets before Dec. 31, 2011. The Small Business Jobs Act enacted in September doubles the Section 179 expense limitation to $500,000 for fully writing off fixed assets the year they were acquired. This specific tax break is applicable to 2010 and 2011 tax returns. Eligible investments include office furniture and equipment, machinery and computer software. Another provision from the same law allows 100 percent writeoffs of up to $250,000 of qualified real property such as leasehold improvements and some restaurant and retail improvements. more

Oh Captain My Captain: Motivating Your Team

You may have a lot of stars at your office, but are they really motivated to do their best job? What helps motivate your workers? Are there some things that all employers can work on to give their employees more motivation? Of course there are. Give them a bunch of samsung lcd tvs and a PS3 to play games with instead of work? Nah...

In a recent study by TowersWatson, an international HR consulting firm, fewer than 21 percent of employees surveyed described themselves as "highly engaged," down from 31 percent in 2009. 8 percent admitted to being fully disengaged.

Having only one-fifth of your employees highly engaged is not the hallmark of a "Winning Business." Other studies show that employee engagement derives from three important factors:

-Alignment of the employee with the goals and vision of the company.
-Faith of the employee in the competence of management and their commitment to realize the goals and vision.
-Trust in their direct supervisor that he or she will support his or her people and help them to succeed.

14 ways to motivate them all

There Are Niches Everywhere

Do you think there is anything else left in the matchmaking industry to try and make money off of? At least something where you don't have to beat the competition to death, or at least just try and share a piece of a piece of the pie with every other low rent website out there matching people up?

Apparently someone found a niche and is doing it up right. I'm not exactly saying this was brilliant, as I'm shocked that someone actually could make this work, or was the first to really bring it all together.

It took two years of Internet dating for Jasbina Ahluwalia to find a husband--yes, online--but she found a business idea, too: A matchmaking service for South Asians in the U.S. that combines the personal elements of Indian matchmaking with online technology and social networking. Everything but a side business of document management. Sparks flew.

Just goes to show that the right person coming a crossed the right business, at the right time can be extremely profitable. You still ahve to get it right, but there are niches everywhere if you keep your eyes peeled.

Social Media Trends For 2011

Social media is one of the most important aspects of advertising and marketing in the technology age so following the trends fr the upcoming year is pretty much something we all should look at.

After a year of high profits sit back and enjoy a couple arturo fuente cigars and see what the year has in store a head.

You think you have Twitter, Facebook, and everything else down to a science? What is next in the upcoming year? What trends are you going to have to get used to? Here are 10 Social Media Trends of 2011 to watch out for.

Entrepreneur's 32nd Annual Franchise 500

Entrepreneur magazine is one of the most read small business and entrepreneurial magazines in the U.S. With the internet they are one of the best websites out there on the subject. Entrepreneur's Franchise 500 is the world's first, best and most comprehensive franchise ranking based on objective, quantifiable measures of success. There's no better place to start a franchise search.

Their top 10 this year is:

1. Hampton Hotels
2. ambm (gas stations)
3. McDonald's
4. 7-Eleven (surprising to me as most in my area have closed)
5. Supercuts (lean times, cheap haircuts...lol)
6. Day's Inn
7. Vanguard Cleaning Systems (Commercial cleaning)
8. Servpro (insurance disaster cleaning)
9. Subway
10. Denny's Restaurant

While none of these places will need much in the help of getting a website directory submission due to how big they are it is an interesting list at the top. Two cleaning companies. One for normal commercial cleaning and one for disaster such as fire in Servpro. 7-Eleven and Denny's are a bit of a surprise to me as both franchises have pretty much closed out in my area of West Michigan. 7-11 is almost completely gone. At least half of them are. Denny's has closed twice in my town only to re-open again recently.

Holliday Gift Season For Employees

While a lot of employers give out gifts to their employees around Christmas, does anyone actually give gifts that people want?

I've always found that getting a bonus check of even $50 was the best gift. Cash always wins. If not I always liked getting a gift card. Not a specific store card, but just an overall Visa card, or something similar. Again, being able to do with it what I want.

I've worked at some places that are a bit creative, but most tend to just give something like a free turkey, or ham around Christmas. While not a bad thing, when 4-5 other people in your family get the same thing at their jobs it is a bit much to have that many in the freezer.

With the gift cards you can get anything. If it fits into the accounting books I always like the idea. Women can pick up some nice women's sweaters, buy some stuff for the kids, or you can even use it for something you have to have like groceries. Most people that work and get small gift cards could use an extra 50 bucks just to pay their bills, but it also helps for buying gifts.

Help Finding Those With Influence Online

I don't care who you are. You likely don't know everything there is to know about how business on the internet works. You may not be able to code, you may have no idea how to market, and you may not even know the most effective ways to network. There is always something you have to look out for on the internet with business. A lot of aspects that many of us who grew up without it have to either learn on our own, or find someone else that already knows it to get help from.

Over the past five years, connecting on social networking sites has rocketed from a niche activity into a phenomenon that engages millions of Internet users. In fact, “member communities” are now visited by more than two-thirds (67 percent) of the global online population, including social networks and blogs, according to The Nielsen Company, a global research firm.

In today's networking space, you need to be efficient with your time and even more effective with whom you choose to connect with. There are two types of networkers online: the posters and the seekers. Your business is a poster, which means you actively post valuable information, resources, tips and offers. The seekers are your customers. They're actively seeking your products and/or services. You'll find seekers in discussion areas, forums, groups and engaging on fan pages.

How do you better connect with these seekers? Someone out there you don't know yet, or doesn't know you wants your non slip solution. How do you reach them? The age old question.

You probably know most of the major social networking players like Facebook and LinkedIn, but look here to see how to utilize them better.

Is Word Of Mouth Nature, or Nurture?

Many, many salespeople, and anyone that could benefit from referrals believes that word of mouth is something that comes with just doing a great job at what you do. Being bad at what you do, or even mediocre certainly isn't going to give you good word of mouth business, but you aren't exactly going to be turning customers away at the door if you just rely on your work being what brings people in the door.

That is why there is a need to nurture the paths that lead referrals to your door. Waiting for them to come to you rarely works. You need a plan to get that business with referrals, or someone else that makes the effort to nurture the referral angle is going to steal them away from you. After all, you probably aren't the only one in your industry that does an above average job with the work you do. You need to inject a little hgh into the system.

A good reminder on why word of mouth is not just important, but why it must be worked on by YOU can be read here.

What Color Are Your Products, and Does It Matter?

Everything matters when it comes to the impressions you want to make with your products. Labels, packaging, and even the color of the product itself. How much does it matter? It all depends.

Ten years ago, Heinz unveiled a new type of ketchup that became an immediate success. It sold seven million bottles in its first seven months and gained international attention. It became so popular that when it sold out of some supermarkets, people actually auctioned it off on eBay.

On the flip side, Crystal Pepsi was a colossal failure. Why? Even though it tasted exactly like Pepsi, consumers didn't like the idea of drinking a clear colored cola. The sales were atrocious, and it was discontinued.

So I would guess that some ugly brown, or green color for something that would be used to show how to lose weight quick wouldn't exactly work. Well..maybe it would...

So...Learn how to choose your color and make millions.