October, 2018

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The Anatomy of the Perfect Small Business Instagram Profile (Infographic)

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No matter what your business is, it’s likely that you’ve considered implementing a social media strategy. Whether your company is B2B or B2C, it’s essential to consider connecting with your customers in the digital space — especially when you consider that there are 2.77 billion social media users around the world. Once you know you need a strategy, where do you start?

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10 important questions to ask when choosing a Direct Debit provider

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Are you using Direct Debit as a fast, efficient, low-cost method to collect regular fees, subscriptions or one-off payments from your customers? Or considering adding Direct Debit to your payments mix?

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How to Find and Pick a Business Attorney in 5 Steps

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How to Find and Pick a Business Attorney in 5 Steps. Determine why you need a business attorney. Source attorneys through your network or legal directories. Compare attorneys by asking the right questions. Work out a fee arrangement that fits your budget. Know when it’s okay to skip the lawyer. If you run a small business, one of your biggest fears is probably getting sued.

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Buy Sell Agreement: What Is It and Do You Need One for Your Business?

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In all of the business planning you’ve done, you might not have thought about how to hand over your stake in the business when you retire or move on. Or, in a worst-case scenario, what happens to the finances when selling your business in the event that you’re incapacitated or die. Hard stuff to think about, but it’s better to have a plan for selling your business in these cases—known as a buy sell agreement—than be left unprepared.

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EAP: What Is an Employee Assistance Program?

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What Is an Employee Assistance Program (EAP)? An employee assistance program is a workplace benefit that helps employees through mental health problems, family issues, substance abuse, and other personal or work-related problems. Businesses typically contract with an EAP provider for the services. Licensed counselors provide confidential services at no cost to employees up to plan limits.

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Articles of Incorporation: Everything You Need to Know to File Them

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What Are Articles of Incorporation? Articles of incorporation, also known as certificate of incorporation or corporate charter, are a legal document that you file with your state’s business filing agency to establish a C-corporation or S-corporation. The document contains basic business information, such as company address and number of shares. Once approved by the state, the articles of incorporation legally establish your corporation.

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10 Best Low Cost Franchises to Buy If You Want to Own a Business

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Many people have dreams of becoming a business owner, but aren’t sure where to begin. If you have an entrepreneurial spirit but don’t necessarily want to start a business from the ground up, looking into low cost franchises is an opportunity worth considering. It’s one of the easiest ways to break into business ownership, giving aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to make their business dreams a reality without the challenges of starting from scratch.

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Home Office Deductions: How to Claim for Maximum Impact

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What Is a Home Office Deduction? Business owners who regularly operate their businesses in their home can deduct some of their expenses and save money on their taxes , granted they keep careful records and meet the IRS’s requirements. If you use part of your home exclusively and regularly for your business, keep reading for our guide on how to claim home office deductions.

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How to Start a Cleaning Business in 7 Steps

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Many individuals looking to start a new business or earn extra income turn to cleaning businesses due to the promise of low overhead, absence of many typical operating costs, and reliable demand. Cleaning services tend to have lower up-front costs than other ventures, and this is one of the few businesses you can start operating quickly with little capital, provided you’re willing to work hard for modest profit and gradual gains.

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5 Ways to Figure out If You Need to Patent Your Invention or Treat It as a Trade Secret

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Patent law and trade secrets law can both offer helpful protections for your business’s intellectual property assets, and can often work in tandem if your patented process or invention involves proprietary know-how. Both strategies provide different types of protections, along with different benefits and drawbacks. . As a small business owner, when it comes to protecting a product-based invention, you likely need to decide whether to patent it or to pursue trade secret protection.

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Small Business for Sale: How to Find One If You’re Ready to Buy

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So you want to be an entrepreneur and you’re looking for a small business for sale. Maybe you love the idea of being your own boss and growing a successful business, but one roadblock is keeping you from moving forward: You’re having trouble coming up with an actual business idea to execute on. Some entrepreneurs are lucky enough to stumble across a million-dollar idea and start a business.

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Credit Card Processing Fees: The Lowdown on Every Provider

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Any small business owner who accepts credit cards should understand how credit card processing fees work. Credit card processing typically costs businesses between 1.7% and 3.5% per transaction. At the end of the day, that means that if a customer spends $100 at your store, you’ll only end up with between $96.50 and $98.30. When you add up credit card processing fees over time, they can really eat into your bottom line.

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Customer Lifetime Value: How to Calculate It and Why It Matters for Small Business Owners

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You know that your company’s viability depends on your customers returning again and again. If everyone just purchased your product or service once, not only would you be spending every moment of your waking life chasing down new consumers but you’d also be churning through your cash reserves spending on customer acquisition. This is why customer lifetime value matters so much.

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Merchant Services 101: Everything You Need to Know

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What Are Merchant Services? Merchant services are essentially any services your business uses to accept and process payments from your customers. Historically speaking, the merchant services definition only encompassed the services required to accept credit cards. However, as payment technology has evolved, so too have business practices and customer preferences.

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What Is a Point of Sale System? Here’s Your Ultimate Guide

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The world of small business finance is abundant with confusing acronyms. One of the most frequent, acronym-based questions that come up for small business owners is “What is a POS?”. POS stands for point of sale. But beyond a simple POS definition, a POS system meaning can encompass a lot. You’re in the right place to learn all you need to know about point of sale systems , because we’ve created this ultimate guide to understanding this financial concept.

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What Is Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio?

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How Do You Calculate the Accounts Receivable Turnover Ratio? The accounts receivable turnover is a ratio that is used to calculate just how effective a company is at extending credits and collecting debts. It can be calculated by dividing net credit sales by average accounts receivable and is typically calculated on an annual basis. Accounts receivable turnover sounds like one of those complex accounting concepts that can make your head spin, but understanding and using the concept to improve yo

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Professional Employer Organization: Everything You Need to Know

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What Is a PEO? Professional employer organizations, or PEOs, work with small and midsized businesses to provide human resources support, payroll, benefits, and other administrative services. Partnering with a PEO could help improve your business’s productivity and profitability while allowing you to focus on growing your business. PEOs provide services to over 175,000 small and mid-sized businesses , according to statistics from the National Association of Professional Employer Organizations (NA

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The Definitive Intuit QuickBooks GoPayment Review for 2018

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What Is Intuit QuickBooks GoPayment? The Intuit QuickBooks GoPayment app is the mobile payment processing app by QuickBooks. Through Intuit GoPayment, business owners can process keyed-in, camera-scanned, magstripe, chip, and contactless payments, depending on which GoPayment card reader they opt for. If you use QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, TurboTax, and/or Mint to manage your business’s finances, then QuickBooks GoPayment will easily sync with your pre-existing accounts.

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SBA Form 413: A Step-by-Step Guide to Filling It Out

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Of the many forms you can expect to complete for your SBA loan application , SBA Form 413—which you may also know as the SBA financial statement—is one of the most essential: This personal financial statement factors into how the SBA determines your ability to repay an additional debt and, by extension, your eligibility for an SBA loan. SBA Form 413 is made up of eight sections.

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How SBA Loans Work: FAQ (Infographic)

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SBA loans: Every small business owner who is looking for financing wants them, but few fully understand them. It’s true that the SBA loan application process can be complicated. After all, the government’s money is involved—even though intermediary lenders furnish the loan, the U.S. Small Business Administration guarantees those lenders repayment if their borrower defaults.

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The Ultimate QuickBooks Pro Review for 2018

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Supported by thousands of accountants and bookkeepers, choosing one of QuickBooks’ platforms as your business accounting software virtually guarantees that you’ll find the accounting solution you need. With more than 2 million users worldwide , Intuit’s QuickBooks products are by far the most popular small business accounting software in the U.S.—and there are lots of QuickBooks products to choose from.

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Customer Financing: Should You Offer It?

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After starting your business , your next (and continuing) task is finding ways to keep it up and running. One way to do that? Adjusting your business to the needs, wants, and budgets of your customer base—a surefire way of keeping your sales up. And depending on the size and price of your inventory, offering customer financing might be a great way for you to increase sales and customer loyalty.

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IRS Form 941: Who Needs to File It and How to Fill It Out

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What Is IRS Form 941? Businesses with employees must file IRS Form 941 on a quarterly basis to report income taxes, social security taxes, and Medicare taxes that they’ve withheld from employee paychecks. This form is also used to report the employer’s quarterly portion of social security and Medicare taxes. Filing deadlines are the last day of January, April, July, and October.

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How to Find and Choose a Business Bankruptcy Lawyer in 5 Steps

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How to Find and Choose a Business Bankruptcy Lawyer in 5 Steps. Evaluate your business’s financial situation and goals. Recognize the red flags of bankruptcy mills. Source bankruptcy lawyers through referrals, bar associations, and legal directories. Compare bankruptcy lawyers by asking the right questions. Ensure that court fees and lawyer fees meet your budget.

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Navy Federal Business Account Review, Plus Top Alternatives

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The number of small business banking options out there can feel overwhelming. It’s not easy to figure out which business bank account might be best for your business, or even where to begin looking. If you’re an active military member or veteran, or a Department of Defense employee, you’re probably curious about what Navy Federal Business accounts offer.

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The Best Small Business Phone System 2019

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Best Small Business Phone Systems. RingCentral: Best Overall Small Business Phone System. 8×8: Most Secure Small Business Phone System. Phone.com: Best Budget Small Business Phone System. Grasshopper: Best Small Business Phone System for Home-Based Businesses. Google Voice: Best Small Business Phone System for Side Hustlers. It often seems like you can’t go anywhere without your phone nowadays.

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6 Ways a Restaurant Can Get the Most out of Yelp

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Yelp has become a permanent fixture in the restaurant industry. Consumers rely on it to get information about nearby establishments, while business owners can use it to advertise their company and gain considerable exposure. Even if you have a Yelp page for your business , you might not be taking advantage of everything this platform has to offer. In this post, we’ll detail six ways that your restaurant can utilize Yelp to increase sales, connect with customers, and gain valuable insights.

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Getting paid on time: Free e-Guide for SMBs

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The ultimate guide to getting paid on time for SMBs in Australia. We guide you through practical, low-cost, high-impact tactics that will reduce your average payment times and debtor days.

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5 steps to healthy cash flow for you and your clients

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For accountants, getting to grips with cash flow allows you to lead by example and become a trusted adviser to your clients. In this guide we take you through 5 steps to healthy cash flow for you and your clients.

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What Is an ACH Deposit?

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What Is an ACH Deposit? An ACH deposit is an electronic, automatic transfer of payments between banks. “ACH” stands for Automated Clearing House, a U.S. financial network that manages and oversees these transactions. The ACH network itself is regulated by the federal government and the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA). If you’ve ever paid a friend on Venmo, purchased an item through PayPal, paid your cable bill online, or if your (former) employer deposited your wages direct

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How to Accept Credit Card Payments

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These days, accepting credit card payments for your products or services is a virtual requirement. In fact, some businesses have begun to do away with cash transactions entirely—perhaps because researchers have found that people overspend with credit cards. (Good news for you as a small business owner, but maybe something to keep an eye on for you as a consumer.) .