The Launch Blog: Expert Advice from the CorpNet Team

While you know the importance of continuing to develop your own knowledge about running a small business, have you given much thought to helping your employees with their own professional development?

Whether you work from home or run your business elsewhere, having your kids at home for three months can create a logistical problem that can threaten your small business’s productivity during the summer.

Short of closing your business for several months (not happenin’, am I right?), here are a few strategies to help you keep your business booming while still being a kick-butt parent.

One of the things that I’m most proud of in running CorpNet is how long our staff has been with us. Many were there at the start. Our turnover is incredibly low. Clearly, we’re doing something right to keep our employees happy! Here are a few of the ways we do that.

Before you form an LLC in Texas or incorporate a business in Texas, it’s important that you know what your responsibilities will be in reporting on your business in future years. If you’ve already formed an LLC or corporation, you need to be aware of an important deadline on May 15.

That’s the date your Annual Report — also called Franchise Tax Report — is due. Here’s what you need to know to ensure that you stay compliant with the state of Texas.

There’s an important holiday on Wednesday, and it’s likely one you’ve overlooked. It’s Administrative Professionals’ Day, and a day that you need to make sure you show support to the people in your office that help you run like a well-oiled machine.

This time of year, most business owners are thinking about their small business taxes: how much they owe, what they need to do to file them, whether they have enough to pay what they owe. But did you realize that if you incorporate a business, how you file your small business taxes and how much you pay can sway in your favor (depending on the corporate structure you choose)? Let’s take a look at how incorporating affects your taxes.

If you’re like a lot of other small business owners, you drag your feet until the last minute to file and pay your taxes. It’s getting down to the wire, folks, so even if you want to wait until April 15 to file your taxes, you still have a lot of work to do to prepare.

When you first start a business, you may not need to hire, But as you grow, you start looking for people to help you take your business to the next level. But where can you find the right motivated people? Sure, you can post your job on a job board, Craigslist, or career site, but you can’t always know that you’re getting quality applicants.

So where DO you find the right people?

When you first start your business, whether you are set up as a sole proprietorship, partnership, a corporation, or a Limited Liability Company (LLC), you may take on all the work yourself. After all, you consider yourself a great multitasker, so why not do it all yourself?

You’ll learn this lesson sooner than later, but I’d rather you do it now and save yourself a lot of headache later: you’ve got to delegate to be an effective entrepreneur. That means that from Day 1, you should have the right people on your team that will help you skyrocket to success.

Running a company — and therefore being in charge of people — is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing because it’s fulfilling in so many ways. But it can be a challenge because every day, regardless of how you feel, you have people looking to you for guidance. You’ve got to be on your toes and ensure that you’re doing your best to lead by example so that your staff emulates what you do and works their hardest for your company.

Here are 6 tactics I’ve found effective in my leadership strategy.

I get asked a lot: does incorporating my business automatically trademark it? The fact is: being incorporated keeps anyone else in your state from using the name, but it doesn’t protect that name in the other 49 states. For that, you need a federal trademark.

One thing that makes CorpNet.com unique is that it's run by husband/wife team, Phil and Nellie Akalp. In honor of Valentine's Day, Phil answers a few questions about working with the one he loves.

What's the best thing about working with your spouse?

Well…we have A LOT more to talk about at dinner and on date night. Although it’s important to separate the stressful part of our work lives from our personal lives, I find it very beneficial to our relationship to share and discuss the exciting and/or creative parts of our business…even during “personal time.” We really “connect” when we are excited about something at work. Thus it’s always a good idea to discuss a new project or idea…but we NEVER discuss accounting, taxes, or legal matters on date night.

Do you ever find yourself blaming everyone around you when things don’t go the way you want in your business? Maybe it’s “the economy” that kept you from hitting your sales numbers this year. Or your lack of employees that had you in the weeds all year. Whatever your favorite excuse, put the the kibosh on it in 2015.

If any of these sound familiar, make a New Year’s resolution to strike them from your vocabulary.