BizBuySell surveyed 2,300 small business sellers and future business buyers and found sellers can sell for more money because buyers know the cash flow of the average business for sale is on the rise. Most of the business owners who were selling their businesses started their companies from scratch (64 percent) and have owned their businesses for more than 10 years (38 percent).

You don’t have to have a big business to successfully sell it. Most of the survey respondents who are selling their businesses have five or fewer employees. As you might expect, small business sellers are predominantly over age 50, while the majority of those seeking to buy a business is under 50 years old.

Steps to Selling Your Business

If you’ve never sold a business before, it’s important to be sure you know what to expect when it comes to your business’s legal processes, finances, its marketability and the life transition you’ll go through after the sale. According to the BizBuySell survey, the number-one concern for business buyers is finding the right business (58 percent) and that means finding a perfect fit. As a business seller, you also want a perfect fit—that is, an owner who will pay you the right price and buy your business for the right reasons. If you have employees, you also have their concerns and livelihoods to think about.

Before putting your business on the market, you need to get it ready to sell. Here are four important steps for selling your business.

1. Legalities: Are Your Ducks in a Row?

If your business is structured as a sole proprietorship or partnership, you are selling the assets of the company. The profit from the sale of your business will flow through into your personal tax return as the profits from your business did in the past.

If your company is structured as a corporation or LLC, you’ll need to make sure you’ve kept the business in compliance with all legal matters and have the documentation ready for inspection. For example, corporations are required to hold annual shareholders and directors’ meetings and keep accurate minutes on each meeting and decision. LLCs are not necessarily legally required to have meetings, but it’s a good practice most LLC members embrace, including maintaining minute books. The documentation helps maintain proof the company is a separate entity from the owners and can take on any liabilities.

Minute books should document important decisions made by the Board or members such as agreements, contracts, loans, equipment and insurance purchases, profit sharing and more. Keeping good records improves your reputation and your attractiveness to potential buyers.

Your corporation or LLC’s operating agreement should include the procedures for what happens to the business in case of dissolution or sale, along with what happens to the shares and the members/shareholders. In some states, you may have to dissolve the LLC if your operating agreement does not provide for ownership transfers. There are two ways you can choose to sell the company: through the sale of assets or common stock. In an asset sale, the seller remains as the legal owner of the entity. The buyer purchases the assets such as equipment, licenses, customer lists, and inventory. In most cases, the seller retains its long-term debt obligations, pays the debt out of the profits from the asset sale and then dissolves the entity. A stock transfer means selling the entire entity including all assets and liabilities.

2. Finances: A Numbers Game

Most people think you need to start with a business valuation, but your prep work actually starts before you search for an appraiser. Talk to your accountant about your plans to sell your business and have him or her go over all your financials so you have the most up-to-date information.

Get the following financial documents in order:

• Current financial statements (Income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement)
• Statement of retained earnings
• Past financial statements
• Financial projections for 3, 5 and 10 years out

You’ll need to have these documents on hand to present to prospective buyers. Without these statements, buyers will move on to other sellers who are better prepared.

If your business’s finances aren’t good as they could be, talk to your accountant about ways to make your business look more attractive to buyers. Business buyers want to see evidence of solid cash flow on steady footing, not precarious ups and downs.

Your business will appeal to more buyers if it is debt-free. So, even if you’re a few years away from selling, take steps now to pay down debt. If you have investors, can you buy them out? The “cleaner” of encumbrances your business is, the more interested buyers will be. If you do have debt, look for better rates on fixed asset financing. Having debt is not a deal breaker by any means, but it will lower your business valuation and may cause buyers to offer less than your asking price.

3. Marketability: Curb Appeal

Because your business is your “baby,” you may be too close to it and too emotionally invested to see the wear and tear, the outdated systems, or the client rut preventing business growth. Just as with getting your home ready to put on the market, selling your business requires sprucing it up inside and out.

However, it takes more than a new coat of paint to get top dollar for your business. In addition to enhancing its curb appeal, you need to ensure all internal systems are running smoothly. Are your technology and equipment up-to-date? How strong is your business brand? Buyers want to know how you are generating new sales and what your lead-generating strategy is. How diversified is your business? If you rely on a few key clients for most of your sales, that can be a red flag to buyers, indicating your business isn’t financially stable since those clients could leave. What expertise do your employees have, and how likely are they to stay with the business after it has a new owner? Do you have long-term contracts? Some buyers might consider those an advantage (less for them to worry about), while others would rather form their own relationships with outside parties.

If you’ve been running the business as a sole proprietorship or partnership, you might consider reorganizing as a corporation to take advantage of the new tax laws making corporate rates lower.

Just like a real estate agent can help you stage your house for sale, an unbiased third-party can suggest ways to make your business more appealing to potential buyers. Talk to a counselor or mentor at one of the SCORE offices, Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) or SBA district offices across the country to get personalized advice.  You can also search online for free webinars and guides on selling a business.

4. Transition: Letting Go

Before you can move on, you may need to dissolve your corporate entity or business structure. This is a multi-step process. In fact, if your business is a corporation or you’ve formed an LLC, you must dissolve your business entity. Get started by having a meeting with your business partners or Board of Directors and holding a vote. Be sure to record this vote in your meeting minutes. Other things to note, according to CorpNet:

• If you issued shares for your corporation, you need ⅔ of the voting shares to agree on the dissolution.
• If no shares were issued, it’s the Board of Directors who must agree on dissolution.
• If you run an LLC, check the dissolution requirements in your state’s Limited Liability Company Act.

Once that’s done, no matter how excited you are about selling your business and moving onto the next phase of your life, transitions can be unexpectedly tough. You may go through more emotional ups and downs than you expect once you close the sale. (Just ask your friends and family: They probably have a better understanding of how hard it will be for you to let the business go.)

When Nellie Akalp, founder of CorpNet, sold her first business, she experienced feelings of seller’s remorse, betrayal and the isolation of no longer being a part of the company’s decision makers. Even if you are ready to sell your business, you might still suffer feelings of loss. MRI scans from a 2017 study by the University of Helsinki showed entrepreneurs are attached to their companies in the same way parents are to their children.

If your exit strategy includes starting a new business, then you may think burying yourself in work again will make the “mourning period” easier to handle. But starting a new business is so time-consuming that jumping right into another venture without taking time to refocus could hurt your future business’s chances of success.

Instead, give yourself some downtime in between businesses to adjust to your new reality. Spend time with your family and friends.  Get a good night’s sleep for a change. Do the things you haven’t been able to do as a busy business owner, such as taking a vacation, exercising regularly, or doing volunteer work.

By giving yourself time to properly process the transition from one business to another — or from business ownership to retirement—you will be better able to savor your new life.

The post What to Expect When Selling Your Business appeared first on CorpNet.

If you’re just starting out or, like us, tired of paying for office space, there is another option: Become a virtual bookkeeper.

With the right business technology, attention to legal compliance and marketing savvy, you could become a virtual bookkeeper and make your entrepreneurial dreams come true—right from your own home.

All the Right Tools to Become a Virtual Bookkeeper

As a virtual business owner myself, I know both the pleasures and the frustrations of working at home. According to a survey by Endurance International Group, the biggest challenges that entrepreneurs face when working from home are:

• Time management (41%)
• Attracting new clients or customers (34%)
• Family or friends interrupting my workday (32%)
• Limited resources (26%)
• Scaling my business (23%)
• No time for my personal life and interests (22%)

Fortunately, there are plenty of tech solutions to help. To become a successful virtual bookkeeper, effective time management is a crucial skill. Working from home, it’s easy to get distracted by home projects or even the refrigerator. Start by tracking your time with an app like Toggl. Simply create an account and connect the Toggl timer to your computer’s apps. Just click to start the timer whenever you begin a task and then click again to stop when you’ve ended the task or whenever you take a break.

It also helps to have a project management app you can use to keep projects on track, as well as a customer relationship management (CRM) program to track progress on leads and keep notes on clients’ personal and business details. HubSpot CRM is a popular option that’s free for multiple users. Nimble is a simple solution, offering contact management, sales and marketing automation, business intelligence, social listening and engagement and mobile/browser apps.

You’ll also want to store your business data in the cloud so you can easily access your files and get work done wherever you are, making you more efficient.

Because you’re most likely on a budget, you don’t want to overspend on equipment when you’re just starting out. On the other hand, outdated technology could slow your growth and hinder your productivity. Consider leasing office equipment instead of buying it outright. This can save you money, and you’ll get the most current technology, plus the support you need to keep the equipment running smoothly.

Compliance and More

Starting a virtual bookkeeping business, like starting any business, requires adhering to the rules and regulations established by the state in which you do business. A good first step in starting a successful bookkeeping business is choosing your legal form of business.

Sole proprietorships are the most prevalent form of business for solo entrepreneurs but provide no protection for your personal assets. If you want to shield your personal assets (and enjoy some other benefits), you can register your business as a corporation or limited liability company (LLC). Be sure to learn the differences between the various business structures before you commit. The business structure you choose affects everything from your tax filings to your legal status and more, so it’s important to do your homework. Check CorpNet to get help understanding your state’s compliance requirements and choosing your business structure.

To learn your city’s regulations on virtual home-based businesses, you need to check with your city’s business development office. Your city not only wants to ensure you’re running a legitimate business, it also wants to be sure you’re not violating the rights of the other residents in your neighborhood. All cities and towns have specific zoning laws concerning physical changes, traffic restrictions, and nuisances that could affect how you run your business.

Restrictions on physical changes might include prohibiting exterior physical changes to the home for the purposes of conducting business and prohibiting business signage on your home. There may also be traffic restrictions such as limiting the numbers of visitors to your home, where visitors can park, or whether or not you can have employees working in your home.

Marketing Savvy for the Virtual Bookkeeper

If marketing skills are not one of your strengths, it’s wise to outsource these important tasks to someone else. In fact, since starting a business takes a lot of your time, getting expert help with marketing is a good way to becoming a successful virtual bookkeeper Although getting referrals from happy customers is one of the best ways for a bookkeeper to get new clients, you also need to develop a well-planned marketing strategy so you have multiple ways to attract customers, including social media and direct mail.

To keep costs down, look for a freelance marketing person who can handle everything from website SEO to social media campaigns. Outsourcing doesn’t mean you can completely let go of the responsibility for your own marketing. After all, you want to make sure your marketing efforts truly represent your business. Make sure your marketing person sets you up to get reports on the progress of marketing campaigns, social media activity, and website analytics. Because search engine optimization (SEO) algorithms are always changing, staying on top of what works for your industry is not always possible. There are plenty of programs available to keep track of SEO trends if you want to do it yourself, but most small business owners quickly realize their efforts are better spent elsewhere. If you choose to outsource, make sure your marketing person understands SEO for the bookkeeping industry and your particular target market.

Once your business grows and you need to hire employees, you don’t necessarily have to leave the virtual business world behind. Today’s workers appreciate and sometimes expect to be allowed to work remotely, assuring your virtual bookkeeping business can stay virtual and still be successful.

The post How to Become a Virtual Bookkeeper appeared first on CorpNet.

Making enough money to support yourself and your children as a single mom while still handling all of the childcare duties yourself is one of life’s biggest challenges. For some single moms, the traditional 9-to-5 job may not fit their schedule (nor sufficiently pay their bills).

One way around this: Start a side hustle that allows you to earn extra income while still having time to spend with your children. In this post, I’ll share five of the best side hustles for single moms.

I realize you don’t want all the extra money you make to go to additional child care, especially since childcare costs are skyrocketing. That’s why I looked for side hustles that can be run from home or when your children are in school. However, you can also create free childcare by asking another parent (or parents) to watch your children for a few hours (and you can return the favor later on). If you’re lucky, this can become a permanent solution so you can set a regular schedule.

Side Hustle #1: Education and Extracurricular Activities

If you can train or teach, you’ve got lots of opportunities to start a side hustle. Research from IBISWorld shows the changing labor market is creating opportunities for entrepreneurs in the education field. This doesn’t mean becoming a teacher. You can also provide tutoring for local schoolchildren, or teach extracurricular activities such as music lessons, dance or gymnastics, art or science. Yes, you’ll need to do these outside of school hours, but you may be able to take your children along or even enlist them to help, depending on their ages.

With the number of college applications rising every year, there’s also plenty of opportunities to help older teenagers. You can help them write their college essays or complete applications, provide consulting to help with college selection or financial aid and provide test preparation services.

Side Hustle #2: Accounting and Bookkeeping

If you are a CPA, work full-time as a bookkeeper or have a background in finance, starting an accounting or bookkeeping business is another smart side hustle for a single mom. Start by checking with your city’s business development office to see if running a business from home is legal in your residential area.

If you can run your business from home, but can’t have clients come to your house, you can always schedule meetings at their homes or offices. You can also rent meeting space from an executive suite company or co-working space that allows you to rent by the day or by the hour.

Aside from client meetings, most of your work can be done online during hours you set for yourself, which makes this a perfect side hustle you can work on after your kids are in bed. Joining a local accounting society or group like the ones listed on the American Institute CPAs (AICPA) website can help you get new clients.

Make sure you get all the appropriate business licenses and consider specializing in one of the following particularly hot fields: financial forensics, business valuation, information technology or personal financial planning.

Side Hustle #3: Home Services

According to Zillow research, half of today’s homebuyers are under the age of 36, and they have an average household income of $87,500. These homebuyers tend to have more money than time, and many lack the life skills to handle basic home services themselves. That’s where your side hustle comes in.

Whether you consider yourself an expert home organizer, interior decorator, shelf builder or any other kind of do-it-yourselfer, new homeowners are a lucrative market to target. You can do everything from painting a room or installing a ceiling fan to organizing a home office or setting up a nursery for an expectant client’s future child. You can also provide interior design consulting that advises clients on how to make their homes look new with the furniture and accessories they already have.

To get customers, promote your business on social media and sign up with a service like Lula, which offers a mobile app that instantly provides consumers with on-demand home services like lawn care and housecleaning, from home-care professionals.  You should also get listed on HomeAdvisor,  Angie’s List, Houzz and other sites that match home services providers with homeowners.

Side Hustle #4: Home Deliveries and Driving

By now you probably know someone who has either used Lyft and Uber or drives for them. Driving can be a great side hustle opportunity since you can do it whenever you have some spare time. For example, if your children’s dad has them on the weekends, use that time to drive.

If you don’t like the idea of having strangers in your car, you can still have a side hustle providing food take-out services. Uber Eats lets consumers order food through their Uber app from any restaurant and get it delivered wherever they want. You can also look around your community to find food delivery services you could work for.

Do you have a truck or trailer? Dolly is an Uber-like service that allows users to request help with local deliveries from their smartphones. You can earn money by using your truck for deliveries.

The best thing about being a “gig worker” for home delivery and driving services is that you can work when you want and as often as you want. This makes it ideal for single moms with unpredictable schedules.

Side Hustle #5: Crafts

If you love crafting, you’re in luck. Whether you make jewelry, clothing, home decor, hair accessories or knitwear, there are more ways than ever to sell your wares.

You could start your own e-commerce website, or you can save a lot of time and hassle by setting up shop on Etsy or Amazon Handmade. With 1.9 million sellers, Etsy is one of the most popular online marketplaces for handmade products, vintage items or artwork. And with some 250 million regular shoppers, I don’t have to convince you of the marketing power of Amazon. Both marketplaces make it easy for single moms to set up a storefront and create a listing.

Selling online is an ideal side hustle for a single mom since you don’t have to leave your house to do it (well, except to mail your products). You may even be able to get your kids involved making or packaging the products. You can also sell your crafts at local crafts fairs, swap meets or crafts cooperatives on weekends. Finally, reach out to local boutique retailers to see if they’d be interested in selling your products. Offer to put a trial display on consignment so they only pay you if products sell.

Ready to Start Your Side Hustle?

These are just a few ideas to get you started brainstorming different ways to make money as a single mom. Who knows? Play your cards right, and maybe one day that side hustle will turn into a full-time business.

One note of caution. Just because you’re operating a side hustle, doesn’t mean you can gloss over the business aspects. To protect your personal assets, make sure you have business insurance and incorporate your business.

Do you have other ideas for single moms side hustles? Share them in the comments.

The post Five Side Hustle Options for Single Moms appeared first on CorpNet.

I know in my business, bandwidth can be a barrier to growth—but not bandwidth in the technical sense. Instead, we’re sometimes limited by our own bandwidth and how much our team can accomplish with the time and resources we have. Sometimes we manage our bandwidth well, and sometimes we don’t.

There were times we tried to take on a task we should have outsourced, or skimped when a tech upgrade would have done the trick. Management can make or break your business growth. Is there room for improvement in your accounting firm management?

According to Karbon, a resource for accountants, accounting practices of all types are stifled by nearly identical barriers. Here are five of the most common:

1. How to acquire new clients
2. Setting the right prices
3. Standardizing processes
4. Marketing for growth
5. Maintaining a healthy work-life balance

We’re here to help eradicate these barriers to growth—or at least offer some accounting firm management tips that will make them manageable enough to surmount.

How to Acquire New Clients

The best advice I can give any business owner seeking to acquire new clients is this: work your connections. Your current client base can be your “in” to boost your client list. There’s no shame in asking for referrals. Money is such an important area of consumers’ and business owners’ lives that they almost always seek out referrals and reviews before making a decision on what company to trust with their finances.

According to the most recent BrightLocal survey, seven out of 10 consumers will leave a review for a business if they’re asked to, and 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Bottom line: You need to ask for referrals and reviews and then act on them. Once you’ve completed a service, let clients know you’d appreciate it if they would recommend your business to their friends, family members, and business peers. Make sure to promote your social media platforms on your website and in your email correspondence. Finally, don’t forget to add a quick note on each invoice thanking the client for their business and asking them to put in a good word for you on Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn or anywhere else your business has a presence.

Setting the Right Prices

Deciding how to price your services is always a tricky task, but it’s one of the most important things accounting firm management should concern itself with. First, take some time to analyze and list your services and what makes your accounting business stand out from others. Then consider your pricing model. Are you still charging by the hour? Billing by the hour has long been the standard in the accounting industry, but it’s not necessarily the most profitable route.

More and more accounting firms are making the switch to a value-based pricing model. For many, determining your price based on the value provided to your clients makes more sense. Now you just need to convince your clients.

Value pricing is not a set-in-stone price. It requires constant review and adjustment, and you must know what’s important to your clients. One way you can add value: Look for extra services you can outsource that bring in money for your accounting firm. For example, if you join the CorpNet Partner program, you can offer your clients business formation and compliance services. CorpNet handles the work and your firm makes money.

Standardizing Processes

Even if you have only one employee, having an employee handbook for him or her to read and sign is essential to good accounting firm management. Written workplace policies can help prevent disagreements and lawsuits. In addition, an employee handbook is vital to spell out procedures and systems involved in different aspects of your business. Making the effort to standardize processes can save you a ton of time, since you won’t have to explain certain procedures over and over or reinvent the wheel. Better yet, standardization ensures all your clients get the same level of service from your firm. For more help on what to include in an employee handbook, check the Small Business Administration (SBA) website.

Marketing for Growth

The key to marketing for growth is attracting and retaining targeted leads. Leads that fit your specific target market are more likely to become clients, which means those leads are worth spending a little more time and money to get.

Study your best clients and look for similarities in gender, income, occupation and other characteristics. Jot down how you acquired these clients and determine whether you’re currently doing enough of that type of marketing. Finally, brainstorm to come up with new ways you can sell more to your existing customers. The probability of selling to an existing client is up to 14 times higher than the probability of selling to a new client.

Maintaining a Healthy Work-life Balance

I need to be honest here: I don’t believe attaining work-life balance is possible for small business owners. Well, at least not an equal balance. You may not be able to “turn off work” completely at the end of the day, but there are a few things you can do to keep some sanity in your life (and have a part of your life that doesn’t involve work).

Who or what in your life is most important other than your business? Now think about how you can put that person, people, or passion into your daily life. It might be as simple as setting aside time for dinner with your significant other a few nights a week, reading bedtime stories to your children every night, or having a monthly brunch or golf date with your best friends.

If you’ve got a passion outside your business, like fitness or spirituality, figure out how to make that part of your life every day. For example, meditating in the mornings or going for a run four days a week can help keep your business from completely taking over your life.

Getting Over the Growth Hurdles

Which of these five barriers are hampering the efforts of your accounting firm management and ultimate growth? What tactics have you used to overcome them?

The post Don’t Let Poor Accounting Firm Management Stifle Your Growth appeared first on CorpNet.

There are a number of accounting franchises available, some of which you may have heard of and some you likely haven’t. The decision to start an accounting business on your own or with the support of a franchise system depends on what kind of operation and lifestyle you want to have.

Let me explain further:

As a franchisee for one of the accounting franchises, you pay an initial fee to buy into the system, plus ongoing royalties to a franchisor during the operation of your franchise. In return, you get the right to the use of the franchise’s trademark, ongoing support from the franchisor, and the right to use its proven operational system plus any products or services specific to that franchise. For example, as one of the system’s accounting franchises, you’d most likely be supplied with proprietary software, marketing assistance, ad templates, and more.

Starting from scratch means going about all of that on your own, which is harder but also gives you more freedom. In this post, we’ll look at the pros and cons of buying an accounting franchise.

Pros of Accounting Franchises

According to the Franchise Business Economic Outlook for 2018, the franchise sector grew faster than the overall economy in 2017 and is set to do so again in 2018. The number of franchise establishments increased by 1.6 percent in 2017 and is expected to increase another 1.9 percent in 2018 to 759,000. In addition, franchise employment is forecast to grow 3.7 percent in 2018 and employment in the franchise industry as a whole will continue to outpace economy-wide employment growth. Finally, the economic output from franchise businesses is estimated to increase by 6.2 percent in 2018.

Buying an accounting franchise doesn’t mean you’ll achieve instant business success right immediately. But it can give you a significant head start in terms of the following:

Location: A good franchise company will have already researched market trends and demographics to find potential new locations, which increases your odds of success. Market research is one of the most important tasks a new entrepreneur must do, and buying an accounting franchise in an area with potential for growth can give you an edge that an independent startup doesn’t have. A franchisor may also be able to give you information on your competition in the area and building lease costs.

Financing: While independent small business owners must find their own resources for startup funds (such as family and friends, bank financing, crowdsourcing), franchisees frequently reap the benefits of in-house financing from the franchisor and access to third-party financing from partner resources. Financing helps with startup costs, equipment, inventory, accounts receivable, and payroll.

Proven operational systems: New business owners often make a ton of mistakes during the startup phase. However, as the owner of an accounting franchise, all the kinks have been worked out for you. Daily routine operations have been fine-tuned so you’re getting a proven operating system and the training to keep it running smoothly. Even though you have the skills to be an excellent accountant, you may lack the skills to actually run an office, such as managing human resource issues, obtaining business licenses, and more. Investing in a franchise offers you support in areas you may be weak in.

Brand recognition: No matter how well known you are in your community, as a franchisee you’ll benefit from hanging out your shingle with a recognizable brand name with years of a solid reputation behind the name. For consumers seeking out accounting services, the power of a brand name can help you attract clients you might never have attracted otherwise.

Strength in numbers: Being a part of a franchise system also means you have the power of the franchisor behind you when you’re negotiating terms with partner businesses, buying materials and supplies and more. Other businesses are more likely to trust you as a new business owner when you have a well-known brand name behind you.

Are Accounting Franchises Worth It?

You started your business in order to be your own boss. By buying a franchise, are you giving up control? Not altogether, but you may find some of the rules and restrictions of being a franchisee a drawback.

Fees: First, although most franchises offer help with financing, the fees involved in buying into the system can be hefty. In Item 7 of the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD) required by federal and state franchise law‚ states franchisors must disclose the initial investment amount to potential franchisees. The initial investment could be $10,000, $80,000 or more depending on the franchisor, but the amount stated must include:

• The initial franchise fee;
• Training expenses;
• Real property whether purchased or leased;
• Equipment‚ fixtures‚ construction‚ and decorating costs‚ whether purchased or leased;
• Initial inventory;
• Security deposits‚ business licenses‚ and other prepaid expenses; and
• Additional funds required by the franchisee before operations begin and during the initial phase of the franchise business.

In addition, you can expect to pay ongoing franchise fees, an ongoing royalty fee, and an ad royalty fee. Most likely the franchisor will also have minimum requirements for net worth and liquid cash. All of this can be a huge detriment for startup entrepreneurs considering going the franchise route.

Restrictions: If you don’t think you can follow the accounting franchise’s rules, think twice about buying a franchise. Most franchises have strict rules on everything from how customers are greeted to how and where you can publicize your business. If you’re the type to want to forge your own path and make your own decisions, franchising might not be the best route for you.

Do Your Homework

The franchise option is worth investigating if you think you’d like the support and guidance accounting franchises provide. Here are some resources to help:

• International Franchise Association (IFA) Start here with your franchise research. The IFA reports the latest news in franchising, holds events around the country, and provides information on over 1,200 franchises in its online directory. Check out the IFA’s special programs for veteran, women and minority franchisees.
• The Franchise King Joel Libava is a franchise guru, advisor and author of Become a Franchise Owner!: The Start-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money, and Owning What you Libava also has a website with information about franchising, including a blog, and a franchise quiz to help you determine if franchising is the right path for you.
• Franchisedirect.com Franchises are categorized by industry and by business type on this directory site; you can click directly from FranchiseDirect to request more information.
• SBA’s Introduction to Franchising This self-paced training exercise from the Small Business Administration (SBA) presents an overview of franchising, as well as how to determine if franchising is right for you, and how to choose the right one.

You can’t build a business overnight, so take the time to investigate if investing in accounting franchises are a good fit for you.

The post Accounting Franchises: Are They Really Worth the Money? appeared first on CorpNet.

These are extreme examples, but because brand recognition plays such a vital role in today’s business world, companies have become very aggressive when it comes to protecting their names and identities.

So, what are trademarks? When and why do you need them? What role do trademarks play in your business? Finally, how does the trademark application process work? Here’s a closer look.

Trademarks vs. Copyrights vs. Patents

First, let’s make a clear distinction between the three types of protection available from the Federal government.

• Copyrights – A copyright protects original works of authorship both published and unpublished. These include literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.
• Patents – Patents protect inventions or discoveries. These include utility patents for inventions of processes, machines, etc.; design patents for new design of manufacture; and plant patents for new varieties of plants.
• Trademarks – A trademark is a word, phrase, name or symbol that identifies the source of a product or service and distinguishes it from competitors. You can trademark your company name, product names, logos and taglines.

Interestingly, trademarks don’t have to be registered with the USPTO (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office). If your company creates a logo or name that you want to use exclusively, you can attach the TM symbol, which gives you “common law” rights, also called an unregistered trademark.

You can do a common law trademark while you wait for your trademark application to be approved. However, you shouldn’t rely on a common law trademark as your sole protection. Common law trademark rights depend on who uses the trademark first. Plus, you can only enforce a common law trademark in the geographic area where the trademark is used. If you want to expand your business products or services to another geographic location and another business has already claimed common law rights in that market, you’re in trouble. Realistically, common law trademark rights are hard to enforce because there is no public record of your trademark.

The Trademark Application Process

Although you can find all the information you need online and apply directly at the USPTO website, saying the trademark process is an easy one would be a major misrepresentation. Going through the process with my own company taught me that, as with most aspects of business ownership, you don’t know what it’s really like until you’ve gone through the process yourself.

First, you need to understand exactly what you’re trademarking. Is it just your business name or more than that? In my case, I needed trademarks on my business’s name, a newsletter and a microsite, as well as all logos and domain names associated with the brand. Most small businesses begin using a brand name and logo without trademarking them—which is a good thing since once you start the trademark application process, you’ll need to provide examples of where and how you are using the name. For example, you can show that you’re using it on your company letterhead, business cards or your website URL.

Even if you’ve searched for your brand name online and didn’t find anything similar, it’s still possible another business owner has started the trademark application process for the same trademark. You can search online on the USPTO TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) database or have an expert like those at CorpNet do it for you. (Using TESS requires understanding what the database includes, how to construct a complete search and how to interpret the search results, which is why many entrepreneurs prefer to have a service handle it for them.)

Next, your application must include a clear “drawing” or depiction of the trademark you want to register. Federal trademark law requires a drawing either be words only (called a “standard character drawing”) or a “special form drawing” (which shows a mark with stylization, designs, graphics, logos or color). Obviously, the more specific and original you can make this drawing, the better chance you have of securing the trademark. For example, in my company, we used a specific color scheme, font, and layout for the logo.

Determining your business’s classification is vital to the trademark application process. The USPTO recently updated their system for classifying goods and services by providing the Trademark Next Generation ID Manual on their website. You can search for a few words describing what your business does, how it does it and where it does it from. The system then tries to match your description with several options for classification.

In our case, we found there was no perfect match, but something that came close. We used that classification, but our application was rejected because the USPTO did not agree with our classification. Luckily, the experts we used knew how to fix the issue. They helped us reapply with a better classification, and we got the trademarks we wanted. You most likely will also have to go back and forth a few times before your trademark application is approved, but the point is to get the best protection available, so it’s worth it.

Next Steps for Applying for a Trademark

Once your trademark has been approved, you need to start using it right away and keep it in the public eye as much as you can. Include it in your marketing materials, social media posts, signage, business collateral, etc. Why does this matter? The U.S. trademark system is based on use, so if another company files for the same trademark and can prove you have not used your trademark consistently and in a high-quality manner, you could lose your rights to the name.

To make sure you are using and protecting your trademark, the USPTO requires trademark owners to file a “Declaration of Use” between the fifth and sixth year following registration (don’t worry; you’ll get a reminder to do this). Then, the owner must file a combined Declaration of Use (or Excusable Nonuse) and Application for Renewal between the ninth and tenth year after registration, and every 10 years thereafter, to continue ownership of the trademark.

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Whether your accounting firm is just starting out or growing by leaps and bounds, running your own business can be extremely stressful. You may never have imagined that your entrepreneurial dream could turn into an entrepreneurial nightmare, but CPA burnout is real.

Running your own CPA business means being all things to all aspects of your business. Not only are you the boss (the buck does stop with you), you’re the accounting expert, manager, marketer, quality control department and more. No wonder CPA burnout is so prevalent. Here are five tips to help you avoid burning out before your light gets a chance to shine.

1. Keep a Journal

For a few weeks, make the effort to write down how you spend your time. Be honest and record how much time each task takes. Even if you know it’s taking longer than it should, record the minutes or hours involved. Later, review the records and decide which tasks are taking longer than they should and what tasks you feel you are you wasting time on. Make sure you also consider the importance of the task to your business and whether or not you feel the outcome would have been the same if you had not taken that amount of time to perform the task. Also, make note of which tasks consistently get pushed to the bottom of your “to-do” list. Finally, make a special mark next to the tasks you think may be contributing to your feelings of CPA burnout.

2. Prioritize All Your Efforts

Once you’ve reviewed your activities for the past few weeks, go back over all of your tasks and rank them in order of which projects, clients and actions give you the best return on investment. There’s an old saying that 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your efforts. Can you tell which of your tasks really need your attention, and which can be outsourced, delegated to an employee or simply dropped altogether? Have a peer or trusted advisor go over your tasks and get their opinions. Can you really justify why you’re spending your precious time doing certain activities? Are there some tasks that create pure stress because they’re not within your area of expertise?

For example, are you spending too much time on social media? Yes, it’s important, but you could be using it inefficiently or spending too much time on the wrong platforms. Make use of the analytics tools on each social networking site which measure things such as likes, shares and activity on your account. You should already have Google Analytics set up for your CPA website; check the specifics that show you which social media platforms drive traffic to your website so you can put your attention there. Better still, outsource social media to an expert.

3. Delegate

Sometimes CPA burnout occurs because business owners refuse to let go of any aspect of the business. As your accounting company grows, you’ll find it’s impossible to manage without bringing on additional help to ease your burden. If hiring full-time employees isn’t an option yet, try outsourcing certain tasks to freelancers or partnering with other businesses to offer services that are attractive to clients but aren’t in your wheelhouse. CorpNet offers compliance partnership options so you can offer incorporation services to your clients without creating extra work for yourself and your staff. Developing joint ventures with complementary or related businesses is a smart way to expand your reach without investing a lot of capital in new infrastructure, new hires, and overhead.

4. Strive for Work/Life Balance

You may never achieve the perfect balance between work and your personal life, but it’s still a good goal to take time out of every day for something non-work-related. Whether it’s setting aside 90 minutes for dinner and family time every weeknight or taking quick breaks throughout the workday to eat a healthy snack, go for a run or catch up with a friend, taking time away from your business can actually improve your productivity.

One study showed the highest-performing 10 percent of participants worked for 52 consecutive minutes followed by a 17-minute break—with those 17 minutes spent away from the computer. Another study suggests using a 90-minute routine to help you start and maintain productivity. According to the research, the human body operates on cycles called “ultradian rhythms” and during each of these cycles, there is a peak when we are most energized and a period when we are exhausted. You can try the 90-minute technique by working in 90-minute increments broken up by 20–30 minutes of rest. Obviously, there’s not one method that works for every person, but if you hope to avoid CPA burnout you’ll need to find some type of balance that works for you.

5. Build a Support Network

Finally, to avoid CPA burnout, it might be time to get some outside help. I’m not necessarily suggesting you find a therapist (although I do know a lot of people who get real solutions from their therapists). I’m just pointing out the reality of being an entrepreneur: It can be a lonely existence. No one but another entrepreneur understands all the responsibilities and worries you carry at all times. Bottling up emotions to keep your employees from worrying only accelerates burnout.

I make it a priority to make lunch dates and attend conferences on a regular basis to get out of the office and talk to other entrepreneurs. Not only do I enjoy the camaraderie, I also find talking to others jumpstarts my enthusiasm and creativity. Rarely do I come away from a meeting without a new idea (or five!). If you’re feeling restless, ask a trusted peer to meet with you regularly for inspiration or just some much-needed venting. You can also search for business networking groups in your own community.

Whatever you do, don’t let burnout get the best of you. Take steps to deal with the stress now, before it harms your business, and you’ll find a renewed passion for your business that’s sure to energize you, your employees and your clients.

The post CPA Burnout is Real: Take These 5 Steps to Push Through appeared first on CorpNet.

As you well know, your operations are the crucial activities of your business, from sales and accounting to marketing and customer service. It’s important for all parts of your operations to balance and support each other. Keep reading to learn how to optimize your accounting firm operations and boost your bottom line.

1. Cross Train and Educate Staff

One of the advantages of running a small company is the ability to make employees feel the success of the company is their success as well. To keep them invested in your company, it’s a good idea to train your employees to do each other’s jobs (or at least elements of each other’s jobs). This also helps optimize your accounting firm operations, especially during hectic seasons. Crosstraining enables you to get by without hiring new employees, gives your current staff new skills, and makes it easier for people to take vacations or fill in when someone is out sick. Most employees jump at the chance to learn new skills because they know it makes them more valuable.

Another way to optimize your operations is to improve your knowledge by taking classes either in person or online. Most local colleges offer a variety of business classes that can benefit you or your staff. These could be specifically about accounting practices or focus on other areas, such as marketing or customer service. Not everyone has to attend: Consider assigning a few classes to a staff member and then have that person share what they learn with the rest of the staff. Don’t forget about online courses that offer flexibility, plus the support of an instructor, or webinars that allow staff to learn whenever they have the time.

2. Add Services by Partnering Up

By adding new services to your offerings, you not only expand your market, but also add value to your business. To add new services with as little manpower and expense as possible, find partners and build relationships with complementary businesses so both of you benefit. For example, if a good portion of your clients own businesses, partnering with another B2B service makes it easy for clients to get more done in one place.

CorpNet has two different partner options for accounting firms to offer business formation and compliance services to your accounting customers. One is by becoming a referral partner, which simply means you earn a commission on each referral. The other, becoming a CorpNet Reseller, adds more value to your company by taking the middleman out of the equation. Your company offers business formation and compliance services as part of your business; CorpNet acts as your silent partner, fulfilling the services behind the scenes while you reap the rewards.

Can you think of other services or products you may want to add to your business to optimize your operations? Search online and you’ll find offers for partnerships such as becoming a QuickBooks reseller or providing investment advice through Ameriprise’s Professional Alliance Program.

3. Create an Operations Manual

When you created your business plan, you probably didn’t write an operations manual for day-to-day processes and procedures, but it’s never too late. A written manual is crucial to optimizing your accounting firm operations and preparing your business for growth. The manual should describe clearly and in detail how the business runs so that any employee or manager could handle operations if you weren’t around.

According to SCORE, your manual should include:

1. Organizational chart
2. Job descriptions and duties
3. Employee contact information
4. HR policies and procedures
5. Sales policies and procedures
6. Marketing and advertising policies and procedures
7. Customer service policies and procedures
8. Financial policies and procedures
9. Purchasing policies and procedures
10. Safety policies and procedures
11. IT policies and procedures
12. Daily operations policies and procedures (opening for business, closing, ordering supplies, etc.)
13. Templates (for email, forms, ads, etc.)

Involve your staff in developing and reviewing the manual to ensure it provides solutions to daily problems and answers to common questions. Tie operations to company goals so employees know the impact each process has on the bottom line.

4. Fine Tune Customer Service

Having a clear customer service policy is another way to optimize your accounting firm operations. By clarifying the level of service you expect from your employees, you’ll cut down on time spent solving problems, and increase customer satisfaction. Customer service is a measurable operational activity since you have the opportunity to discover what your client really think via complaints to your customer service team or from bad reviews from unhappy customers.

Every step in the customer service process, such as greeting, wait time, or going the extra mile with coffee and cookies offered in the lobby is a measurable operations function. Think of your employees as quality control for your business. Each person represents your business and in turn is responsible for letting you know what processes are working and what needs improvement. Hold regular staff meetings to talk about ways to improve customer service and brainstorm new ways to keep clients content.

5. Make Office Improvements

You can optimize operations for increased productivity with a few simple changes:

• It might sound counterproductive to initiate an open-door policy, but being accessible to your staff shows you’re open to comments, questions and opinions. It also makes employees feel they’re a valuable part of the team. If you can’t keep an all-day open door policy, set certain hours when you’ll be accessible.
• If your office has no natural light, consider finding a new office space. According to a study from Cornell University, workers in daylit office environments reported an 84 percent drop in eyestrain, headaches and blurred vision, all of which can detract from productivity. In addition, offices with more natural light reported a 10 percent decrease in drowsiness. If you can’t get natural light, install indirect lighting that distributes light equally upward and downward and reflects light off the ceiling and other surfaces to avoid glare.
• Painting your office walls a different color can improve operations and productivity. Most research shows green boosts creativity and blue increases productivity. But some researchers say hue intensity also plays a part in mood alteration. Color psychologist Angela Wright recommends using blue for accounting offices to reduce stress and stimulate the mind, but add splashes of orange to add some energy and emotion.

By making changes in these five areas, you’ll have your accounting practice ready for spring and be able to face the post-tax-time season newly energized.

The post Five Ways to Optimize Your Accounting Firm Operations appeared first on CorpNet.

10 Steps to Help Accountants Survive Tax Season

Step 1. Create a Game Plan

You can’t go into any battle without a plan if you hope to win. The same goes for tackling tax season. Meet it head-on by developing a plan to guarantee the best outcome for success. The more preparation you put into your plan, the better equipped you’ll be when the inevitable snags and delays come into play. The following steps should be incorporated into your plan.

Step 2. Put the Word Out

Most of your family and friends who know your business expect you’ll be out of commission during tax season, so they’ll understand when you have to cancel plans or skip extracurricular events. But have you explained to your clients the stress and time limitations that go along with the extra work of tax season?

It’s important to explain that you may not answer their emails as quickly as you normally do or be able to call them back as quickly as you would like. Politely ask for patience and remind them you are spending the time working on their projects and tax returns. For your most important clients, consider giving them a special phone number or email address to use, and check those contacts more regularly so you can respond in a timely fashion.

Step 3. Hire Temporary Workers

An essential element of the tax season survival kit for accountants is hiring extra help, whether that means hiring more accountants or additional administrative workers. If you normally take care of responding to email, answering the phones, and paying the bills all by yourself, you’ll definitely need some extra hands during this time. No room for someone else in your office? No worries: You can hire virtual temporary help online at websites such as Indeed.com and Flexjobs.

If you’re offering your clients additional help with their businesses such as incorporation and business filings, having a full-service partner to handle the details alleviates the responsibility from you. Your busy season means more business and more sales, so you’ll be able to budget for more help to get through those long days (and nights).

Step 4. Plan for Problems

When everyone is so busy and moving fast, there are bound to be mistakes and setbacks. What will you do if there’s a power outage? What if your computer suddenly crashes or your network gets a virus? Your tax season survival kit needs a backup plan detailing what you’ll do to keep your accounting business humming along in case of an emergency. Have IT support numbers handy, back up all your data remotely, and have backup locations you can work from if needed in case of disaster.

Step 5. Delegate More

If you’re trying to build your employee bench or cross-train current employees, tax season is a great time to assign other employees duties that you usually handle. Get employees started now so they can learn new skills before the real crunch hits. Use tax time to see who works well under pressure and who can be trusted with more difficult tasks.

Step 6. Set Goals and Benchmarks

Set interim goals for yourself and your employees to keep you motivated through tax season. Keep everyone updated on a daily basis on how the business is doing. Make it a game and encourage friendly competition. For example, set a goal to have so many clients’ returns handled per day. Setting benchmarks and working to hit them is a great way to help your team keep their eyes on the prize.

Step 7. Plan Time Off Ahead of Time

It’s perfectly normal to tell employees not to take any time off during the busy tax season, but there are occasions when you’ll need to make an exception. School functions, doctor’s appointments and illness are understandable reasons employees may need some time off. In addition, the long hours and late nights rest can contribute to your staff getting sick.

Building in some time off for yourself and your employees is wiser than hoping nothing goes wrong. Play it safe: Make sure more than one person is handling each client so Employee B can take over if Employee A is out sick.

Step 8. Work to Stay Healthy

Prevent the spread of flu in the office by promoting good hygiene. Encourage employees to wash their hands frequently and provide hand sanitizer and tissues. Set up remote work options for employees so people who are sick can work from home instead of coming in and infecting others. For employees in the office, provide healthy snacks and encourage exercise breaks every hour or so. For example, you can set a time for everyone to stand up and stretch or walk around the office for 10 minutes. Finally, give your employees a treat by bringing in a masseuse to give your team a quick chair massage.

Step 9. Reward Yourself and Your Employees

Once the busy tax season is over, make sure you thank everyone on the team for their hard work. Give them extra time off, hand out bonuses, and/or treat everyone to a fancy dinner out to celebrate a job well done. But don’t wait until the job is done to reward your employees. Along the way, be sure to share positive results, compliments from happy clients, and praise for good work.

Step 10. Review the Results

Once everyone has recovered from the busy tax season, take an hour or two to assess what went right and what went wrong this year. Get your team’s opinions as well. How could you make the process run more smoothly next tax season? Conduct customer surveys and talk to your clients to get their feedback, too. Ask satisfied clients if they’re willing to review your firm online, make positive comments on social media. or provide a testimonial you can use in your marketing materials.

Finally, start planning ahead for next year. It’s never too soon to start building a tax season survival kit.

The post Tax Season Survival Kit for Accountants appeared first on CorpNet.

Step 1. Gather All Necessary Documentation

The first step in preparing for taxes is gathering any necessary documentation. Ask your tax accountant for the list of figures and files you need to provide.

The checklist of documentation required for small business taxes may include:

• Income
• Gross receipts from sales or services
• Sales records (for accrual-based taxpayers)
• Returns and allowances
• Business checking/savings account interest
• Inventory
• Items removed for personal purposes
• Materials & supplies expenses
• Expenses
• Advertising expenses
• Phone (landline, fax or cell phones related to business) charges
• Computer & internet expenses
• Transportation and travel expenses
• Local transportation costs
• Commissions paid to subcontractors
• Depreciation
• Business insurance
• Business loan interest
• Professional fees
• Entertainment and dining costs
• Lawyers, accountants, and consultants
• Office supplies
• Office space rent
• Business-use vehicle lease expense

If you run your business from home, you’ll also need the square footage of your office space and the total square footage of your home, plus the cost of your home utilities, mortgage, and any work improvement expenses.

Step 2. Remember Startup Costs if You Are a New Business

The IRS classifies costs associated with starting a new business as either “investigative” or “opening-a-business” expenses.

To qualify as a startup expense (a capital cost), the IRS says the expense must meet two requirements:

• The expense was paid or incurred before the day your active trade or business began.
• The expense would be deductible for your business if you were already operating the business. (Note: The actual business you open must be in the same field as the business you had in mind when you made the purchase.)

Expenses for marketing research include doing surveys or any marketing consultant fees. Investigative expenses include lawyer and accountant fees, plus any background checks.

Other costs associated with opening a business include:

• Travel and other necessary costs for securing distributors, suppliers or customers
• Advertising and marketing costs for the opening of the business
• Training and wages for employees and instructors/classes
• Office setup such as software purchases, website design and development
• Mileage and car maintenance associated with research and setup appointments

Purchasing equipment is not considered a startup expense and must be capitalized and depreciated.

Some of the costs of setting up your business structure can also be considered startup expenses. If you decide to form a corporation or LLC, you can deduct the costs involved in forming the corporation such as directors’ fees, meetings, state incorporation fees, and legal fees. You cannot deduct expenses associated with issuing stock or securities. The rules are similar if you decide to form a partnership.

Step 3. Consider Employer Deductions

January 31 of each year is your deadline to mail an employee their W-2 forms and independent contractors their 1099s. New forms must be ordered each year, so order them early from your payroll service. W-2 forms are also filed with the Social Security Administration (SSA) and show all the wages and taxes your company paid during the tax year. You total your W-2s and file the totals with a W-3 form. Make sure you verify all your employees’ names and Social Security numbers before you prepare the W-2s. You can verify up to 10 names and numbers on the Social Security Business Services Online website.

Employers must deposit and report employment taxes by the IRS deadline schedule. The taxes include state and federal income taxes withheld and both the employer and employee social security and Medicare taxes. There are two deposit schedules, monthly and semi-weekly. Before the beginning of each calendar year, you must determine which of the two deposit schedules you are required to use. The schedule for depositing and reporting will not be the same. To determine your schedule, see IRS Publication 15.

Step 4. Review Deductions vs. Credits

Tax deductions lower your taxable income while tax credits directly reduce the tax you owe. Eligible tax credits range from providing disabled access to pension plan startup costs. For a list of possible business credits your business might be eligible for, check the business tax credit section of the IRS website.

Your accountant should be able to give you tips on deductions your business can take, but here are some frequently overlooked deductions:

• Charitable contributions. Did you make any kind of contribution (physical donation or money) to a charity? Consider setting up a monthly donation through your company credit card to make it easy.
• Business gifts. You can deduct no more than $25 for each business gift you give directly or indirectly to each person during your tax year. Gifts to employees could be considered income by the IRS and may get employees in trouble if they are not claimed. Check IRS Publication 15-B for exclusions to this rule.
• Tax prep fees: Fees for tax preparation and filing count as deductions. The same goes for any fees paid to a business financial planner.
• Employee education: If you pay or reimburse education expenses for an employee, you can deduct the payments if they are part of a qualified educational assistance program.  For details, see IRS Publication 15-B or ask your tax preparer.

Step 5. Carve Out Time for Taxes

Across the country people are hunkering down to gather tax documents, talking with tax preparers and learning how the new tax laws affect their situation. For small business owners, the stress factor is multiplied, because you’re expected to still run your business and file taxes by the deadline. You can’t make clients wait and you know the IRS won’t wait, so what to do?

It’s important to make sure you’ve communicated the extra time you’ll need in the next few months to everyone involved. That includes family, friends, and employees. Carve out some time each day to make sure you’ve made progress toward filing your taxes while still touching base with the most important business issues at hand. You may need to delegate more than you normally do. Hopefully, you’ve built a good support network to help you through this busy time.

After your taxes are filed, make time to review how you fared this year. Talk to your tax accountant and make any changes necessary to save money and time next year.

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