With statistics like “85% person of people shop online”, there is plenty of incentive to get your service listed online. David Alexander, an eCommerce expert from Microsoft Office Live Small Business, describes Microsoft’s product and how they provide easy solutions at an affordable price.

Listen and learn how improving your sales efforts will lead to a more successful business. Ed Lewellen joins us to help outline  5 Steps to Successful Selling.

In the audio, we discuss best practices for each step:

1. Know your target market
2. Prospecting/Target Marketing and Setting Appointments
3. The presentation

Health Insurance may only go so far for many small business owners. Companies can pay some of an employee’s out-of-pocket health costs. As long as the plan is provided on a nondiscriminatory basis to staff, the business deducts the payments and the employees receives them as a tax-free fringe benefit.

Seeking startup funds? You generally have two options: debt or equity.

Debt is a liability or obligation owed to another person or institution and legally required to be paid by a specific date. Examples include bank loans, government guaranteed loans, lines of credit, credit cards, mortgages, bonds, accounts payable, trade credit, home equity, leasing contracts, etc.

What’s the difference  between a hobby and a business?

The IRS defines a hobby as an activity that you pursue without expecting to make a taxable profit - such as coin or stamp collecting, as opposed to setting up your own dealership.

Even though a business plan isn’t required for starting your corporation, its not a bad idea. In fact, it’s a good one. Based on a study by Jessie Hagen of the US Bank, most businesses fail due to a combination of four factors: poor business planning, poor financial planning, poor marketing, and poor management
If you write a good business plan, there are two likely results:

When starting a business, small business owners are wary but remain optimistic about their current business outlook, according to a recent survey from Business Owner’s Toolkit™.