Saving for retirement is even more important for solo-entrepreneurs because you dont have a company sponsored pension plan or matching 401K contributions to rely on. There are many retirement plans available to self employed individuals and small businesses. Which one is right for you?

Here is just a sample of the retirement plans available to solo-preneurs and small businesses:

Roth IRA although this is not just for solo-preneurs, this is the first place you should look to save if you are just starting to save for retirement (or resuming to save after starting a business). Roth IRAs are low-cost, very flexible, and allow you to grow money tax-free as long as you follow the distribution rules. Contributions can be made up to 4,000, and can be withdrawn at any time without tax or penalty (earnings withdrawn may be subject to penalty and tax if withdrawn before age 59 and certain other conditions are not met).

SEP IRA if youre maxing out your Roth IRA, and are ready to save more, a SEP IRA allows you to save up to 25% of your compensation (20% of your self-employment income) for a maximum of 44,000 per year. Contributions are tax-deductible, and SEP IRAs have low maintenance fees. Contributions can be made for employees also, but employees cannot contribute to their own SEP IRA. This is a good choice if you just have a handful of employees and are looking for a low-cost way to save for your own and your employees retirement.

Simple IRA a Simple plan offers many of the benefits of a 401K, but with less IRS reporting requirements. You can contribute up to 10,000 to a Simple IRA, with an employer match of up to 3%. Contributions are tax-deductible, and Simple IRAs also enjoy low annual fees. Employees are allowed to contribute to Simple plans, and a company match is mandatory. If you have a lower salary (or self-employment income) in your small business, a Simple IRA allows you to put more away towards your retirement than other plans.

Solo 401K for small businesses with no employees, the solo-401K allows you to put the maximum amount away, with less cost and less reporting requirements than a traditional 401K. Similar to a SEP IRA, contributions max out at 44,000. However, unlike a SEP IRA, participants in a Solo-401K can contribute up to 100% of the first 15,000 of compensation or self-employment income, and an additional amount up to 25% of your compensation. This is important because it allows you to save substantially more than a SEP IRA, if your compensation is less than 220,000 per year. A solo-401K is not appropriate for small business with employees or expecting to add employees.

Theres no one best plan for all small businesses. The best plan for you will depend on many factors, such as whether you have employees or not, how much you want to contribute each year, how much time you want to spend administering the plan, etc. To get more information about small business retirement plans, contact a no-load mutual fund company, a discount brokerage company or a fee-only financial planner.

So youre starting a small business. You figured out what you wanted to sell or do and went out and got it all set up, had your DBA framed and on the wall and now all you need is for someone to buy your product or use your service. Right?

How are you going to go about getting your public to know you even exist?

Promote! Promote! Promote!

Well that all sounds simple, but say youre a financial specialist, a boat builder or llama farmer. They probably didnt teach the basic principles of starting small business promotional campaigns in boat-builders school. So what do you need to know, and how do you go about it?

Lets start with the Basic Principles of promotion:

What is Promotion?

Promotion (promō′shun) n. Anything, as advertising, public appearances, etc., done to publicize (get the attention or interest of the public) a person, product, event, etc. The New Websters Concise Dictionary2003 Encyclopedic Edition

Why do you promote?

The purpose of promotion is to make sure people know you are in business. You promote because if you dont, you wont make it in business. You promote because it is communication that you need to engage in in order to survive. You promote in order to expand and get the attention or interest of the public for your products or services. You promote because if you dont, no one will know you exist and no one will buy from you andwell, you get the point.

How do you promote?

There are more ways than you would ever think. Have you ever heard someone say, I never promote and I am always busy OR I dont have to promote, all my business comes from word-of-mouth? They may not be aware of how theyre doing it, but I promise you they are promoting somewhere. Maybe they just go around telling everyone they talk to, that they dont promote. (Sound funny? Its still promoting.) Maybe their larger-than-life running water faucet in front of their store attracts so much attention that they dont need to do anything else. Well here are some ideas you can do knowingly to drive in the business.

Greeting your customers with a smile is a great place to start.

Calling your customers after they have had a chance to use your product is a good way to promote that you care about their experience with your organization. It can also create an opportunity to make more sales.

A neatly packaged product, the shipping label on straight, promotes that you take pride in what you do.

Always keep up-to-date brochures or catalogs about your business in your reception area for people to see and take with them.

If you have customers coming into your business, make sure they are greeted pleasantly, professionally, and immediately.

Anything that gets the attention or interest of the public for the company, its employees, its products or services (in a positive way) is promotion.
But how do you go about promoting to the masses?

Here is a story that could save you thousands of marketing and promotional pounds, as well as months or years of experience.

I was working as the Communications & Promotional Director in a medium size business. We were fortunate enough to have our own commercial printing press, that put out lots of very fancy letters, catalogs, brochures and other promotional items, and oh yes, envelopes to put them in. My full time pressman and his helpers, spent several days each week getting everything printed, cut, folded and sent over to the mailing house.

There, they had machines that automated all the stuffing, sorting, addressing and stamping. All in all everything was going very well. We were sending out about 40,000 pieces per week at a cost of about 10,800.00, and getting around 120 to 140 good leads per week. This generated an average of 2 new sales per week for a product that cost around 12,000, and re-sign income of around 45,000 more. We werent growing very fast, but we were making money.

THEN911 hit. ”

Suddenly, nobody wanted to open envelopes. Our leads were dropping to nothing. We were heading toward our own disaster like so many other companies did. I knew I needed to promote, but what good did it do if nobody read it!

I was talking to the owner of the mailing house and he suggested the use of POSTCARDS instead of letters. So we decided to give it a try. Unfortunately, I had much less money to allocate towards promotion, so I started by sending about 20,000 postcards weekly. The total cost-per-piece, needing only one day on the presses, half the labor at the mail house and a substantial decrease in postage, was reduced by about 60%.

What was the result? Try 120 to 140 leads per week!

Why?

You don’t have to open a post card!

You see it right away, the bright picture is not hidden from view by an envelope.

The message leaps right out and you can’t ignore it or throw it in the trash unopened (the fate of many bulk mail pieces).

Postcards are the best medium to reach new customers when starting a small business promotional campaign.

In today’s high tech world, it no longer has to take extensive amounts of time to start a small business. Many of the business startup steps can be handled quickly via the Internet, including the ability to incorporate online, apply for a tax ID number, and apply for a small business loan.

Incorporation
To begin with, it is beneficial to incorporate your small business for many reasons. The main advantage is the protection of personal assets that is offered. Under this setup, business owners property cannot be a target of lawsuits or creditors. Also, corporations are taxed at a lower rate and credit ratings are established for the corporation, not based on the individuals rating.

There are websites that offer secure application forms for incorporating your business in as little as 10 minutes. The information you will typically need in order to complete the form are the state you are incorporating in and what type of corporation you will be establishing (e.g. Basic Corporation, S-corp, or LLC).

Tax ID Number
Next it is necessary for new business owners to apply for a Tax ID number, also known as EIN (employer identification number). This is the nine digit number that is assigned by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to any type of business entity (corporation, sole proprietorship, partnership, etc.). The Tax ID number is used for tax filing, business, and banking purposes, as well as for the identification of your business by various federal agencies. Again, this is a quick process online it can be done in about 5 minutes.

Small Business Loan
If you need funding for your small business, you will want to consider applying for a small business loan online. The process is simple and quick. For this type of loan, there is not usually extensive documentation required and reputable firms do not charge application fees. Also, you can typically find out if you qualify for an unsecured loan (no collateral) or a line of credit usually within a day or two. If you do not want to risk your personal assets and are in the market for a funding between 10,000 and 100,000, this is the avenue to take. It is however important that you have a good credit history and also be sure to apply with a trustworthy company.

Conclusion
All in all not only are these processes simple and quick, but they greatly reduce since margin of error since you are filling out your applications directly online.

Do you remember when you first heard of Ebay. Online auction place. Who thought back then it would end up being so big and so many people would be using this auction site. Most of us are aware that you can auction off just about anything on Ebay. People are making serious money selling products online at Ebay. It is also a great resource to find those hard to find items.

Have you checked into the many possibilities on the web to making some serious cash? There are so many ways to work from home and run your own business. You can buy products wholesale and setup your own internet store. If you do not want to stock items you can find companies that will drop ship your products for you. There are even programs you can buy online that are a complete system that shows you how to do this. Did you ever think you could get your own business up and running for roughly under 100 pounds?

You can make money selling ebooks, writing articles for websites, creating websites…
There are so many ways to make money on the internet today. It just takes a little research and then time on your part to really learn the best ways to promote your idea and become knowledgeable about all the different ways to advertise online.

Do you have what it takes to become an aspiring entrepreneur to start and manage a home based Internet Business? Do you have the Entrepreneur Bug?

Seems with the growth of the World Wide Web more people are becoming entrepreneurs. Just what is an Entrepreneur? There are many definitions the most simple is a person who owns, operates, and takes the risk of starting a business venture. An entrepreneur can also be known as an inventor.

Do you need to invent a product to be an ruthless entrepreneur? Absolutely not, just take an already existing product or idea and create a business and profit from it. Organize a business venture and assume the risks for it. Come up with your own niche to get clients, close deals and start making some serious money. What ever you decide to get involved with you should make sure you really know your product inside and out. What are you waiting for? Start brainstorming today and make your dream of being independently wealthy a reality.

Small business is again in transition. Many employees, now working from home, are no longer tied to a geographic office and the woes of commuting. This is a relatively new phenomenon with hints of explosive sector growth in the days ahead. As this turbulent economy has forced downsizing, offshore restructuring and closures in large companies, many new entrepreneurs have been born. These are people, who instead of tirelessly attempting to find new employment and possibly enduring the same fate as previously experienced, are now starting small businesses and enjoying the benefits and perils of self-employment.

Theres an old story telling of an Admirals decision to fight a battle against overwhelming odds. It seems that he was approaching the coast of an enemy land, with a larger naval force closing in from behind and a great army approaching from the land ahead. He prayed and then addressed his men. He announced that their battle weary forces would land on the beach ahead, dig in and prepare for the upcoming battle. There was no turning back and no other alternative. He ordered their ships burned after they landed. Their only choice was to fight to win or perish. They defeated their enemy because he eliminated any other escape route. They were fixed on the goal of survival and none other.

That is the same attitude we as entrepreneurs must take. We can not afford to be denied. We must grow and prosper or our business will surely perish. We must constantly be looking for ways to cost-effectively market our business and increase sales. We must control costs and have sufficient cash flow for daily operations. Each of us must be persistent, relentless and vigilant. As CEO, we are the manufacturer, the sales team, the marketing department, legal office, accounting office, human resources manager, IT manager, the webmaster and so on. We cant afford to be all these positions. Our job is to sell! We must locate cost effective resources to help us grow and protect our investment in our business.

The growth of the internet has changed our marketplace as well. Years ago, a small business owner decided upon a geographic chunk of the market and set up shop. Today, that shop is typically located in an office at the entrepreneurs home. The marketplace is now the world. The costs of marketing products and communicating worldwide are so low that almost anyone can take part in this revolution. Sophisticated voice mail, cell phones, email and effective ecommerce web sites now provide the illusion of size and grandeur for even the smallest home-based business. The end customer typically has no idea whether their supplier is local or across the world. He may be dressed in a shirt and tie or in his pajamas! All that typically matters is that the exchange of product and services is successfully made for a profit.

It is critically important for the small, home-based entrepreneur to be aware of resources available to her as she makes this great leap. Too many people leap prematurely into business only to fail because of poor planning and insufficient financial resources. Do not get caught in this trap. Dont quit your day job until you have enough cash on hand to pay the bills for at least a year into your new venture. Become aware of and develop the resources available to you. You want everything possible going for you as you make this leap of faith into the entrepreneurial world.

There are incredible resources, partially funded by the State and private resources, available at little to no cost to entrepreneurs, with the purpose of aiding the successful growth of small business. Some additional national resources are:

http:www.national business.org
http:www.nase.org
http:www.gosmallbiz.com
http:www.empoweringbiz.com
http:www.nfib.org
http:www.qualitybusinessdirectory.com

There are also numerous magazines devoted to small business, home-based business, marketing, sales, accounting, etc Get tuned in to these and other resources available to you. Read your industry publications to stay abreast of competition and other facets of your business interests.

A single legal issue, FACTA problem, accounting error or marketing miscue can put you out of business. In the case of FACTA, insufficient security or poor record-keeping these days could find you legally responsible for a single employees identity fraud issue, which may end up being very costly. A single lawsuit or vendor dispute can shut you down. Many entrepreneurs are ignorant, ill-prepared and under-schooled with regard to these and other issues. Do not get caught in the deadly ignorance trap.

There is more opportunity available today than ever before for the wise entrepreneur. Get all you ducks in a row before you make the fateful leap into the new world marketplace. Be smart, learn all you can as quickly as possible and take action on your ideas. Like the Admiral, be determined to win in the face of what may appear to be overwhelming adversity.

Small businesses have special needs, especially in comparison to larger, more established companies. The term “small business” often really refers to “new business”, in that many small businesses that have been around for a while are as large as they are likely to ever become simply because of the type of business they are. Some small businesses, however, are destined to become large businesses. These companies in particular need to weigh the considerations of their unique situation when purchasing a business phone system. Knowing one’s options when it comes to business phones can save a substantial amount of money and time.

If a company is in a physical location that will be able to meet it’s needs for many years to come and their number of employees is well into the double digit range, they may wish to go with a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) system. PBX systems offer increased expansion capabilities and can come with more available features for the end user. Installation expenses for PBX systems can be extremely high, however, and should be factored in any organization’s business phone system budget.

The alternative would be to use a Key System. Key Systems are cheaper and require less in the way of installation expense. Still, they are only expandable to provide service to thirty or forty terminals. For businesses that will eventually require more handsets than Key Systems are capable of supporting, replacement with a PBX system would be inevitable.

The worst case scenario would be for a business to buy a phone system that barely meets it’s current needs only to find that it will have to be replaced soon after. Properly planning for growth will help any business end up with a phone system that can expand with it’s expansion and allow the most value for the overall investment. Like any business investment, phone systems do not last forever, so it is often unnecessary to purchase the very best (and most expensive) system on the market. Still, it does pay to purchase a business phone system that is certain to meet your company’s needs, both now and well into the future.

Its no secret that the United States has a nursing shortage, one that promises to grow to alarming proportions. Too many nurses are retiring, and too few are entering the profession. To compound the problem, within the next 5 to 10 years, over 76 million Baby Boomers are scheduled to retire from the workforce, with only about 44 million Generation X’ers available to pick up the slack. This will soon place unprecedented demands for services on a health system that is already stretched thin.

This shortage of allied healthcare professionals, especially nurses have a created a new boom to the nursing agency registry business, supplemental staffing agency for medical professionals, permanent placement medical recruiter, or starting a business in homecare and staffing pool. The medical staffing industry will continue to grow because of the upcoming baby boomers, and the current supply of nurses are dwindling. The average age for nurses are in the forties, and they are not being replaced by the new generations. Entrepreneurs have made lucrative business in nursing agency, nursing registry, homecare business, medical recruiter recruiting, or as independent contractor in their own field.

The time is now for entrepreneurs to start a nursing agency,nursing registry business, operate a homecare business, or as a medical recruiter or just become an independent healthcare contractor. By being an independent healthcare contractor, you are bypassing the agency and are self employed. Healthcare facilities are the clients. Homecare are regulated by all levels of goverment from local to fedeal level. Homecare levels of regulations depends on the category of service provided to clients. Homecare services ranges from providing just companions or the more medically needed clients such as terminally ill clients. Homecare services can be in the form of social service, non-medical, and medical services.

You have been thinking about it for a long time! That perfect business idea has been incubating in your mind and you just want to let it out. No capital? All you need is a small business loan to get you started on the road to success. Its easy. Small business loans for woman especially in the minority sector are gaining importance today. Women own 38% of businesses in the United States. Our economy is finally opening up to providing woman with adequate venture capital to start a business. Finding venture capital is very important. But finding it from the right source is even more important. Today there are different institutions that provide small business loans for women. Wondering where to start? Let us be your guide into identifying small business loans for women.

The government offers small business loans for women, minorities and start-ups.

U.S. Small Business Administration or the SBA offers small business loan programs for women who may not be offered business loans by other institutions. A small one-page application can get you a loan to the extent of 150,000 and to be eligible you need to be a woman, a minority group, or a veteran. Preference is given for woman from low and middle-income groups. Such small business loans for woman have been instrumental in providing start-up capital to many industrialists.

CAPLines offer five different kinds of loans especially for the construction of a commercial establishment. These are short-term working capital loan programs tailor made for women wanting business loans. Women can take a small business loan up to 200,000.

Government business loans for women can also take the form of 504 loans, Defense loan and Technical loans, Physical disaster business loans, Community Adjustment and Investment, Export Working Capital Program and International Trade Loan, all provided by the government.

Small business loans for woman can also be sourced from Womens Business Grants. This specialized organization offers small business loans specifically for women to support new and existing businesses. They have two programs namely the New Business Grant and the Existing Business Grant. The New Business Grant can get you a loan of 100 to 5000 and the Existing Business Grant ranges from 1000 to 5000. So the next time you need to expand your infrastructure or fund a new product, you know where to look.

Small business loans for women and women minority groups are not that difficult to find anymore. There are several well-reputed firms offering to provide small business loans for women apart from government small loans that are most popular today. So just go ahead and dream big! It could be a reality some day!

The United States is a nation of entrepreneurs. There are literally tens of millions of self-employed individuals that enjoy pursuing their dream business. Of course, few of you enjoy the paperwork and confusing tax issues that arise from owning your own business.

Many self-employed individuals are considered “sole proprietors” or “independent contractors” for legal and tax purposes. This is true regardless of whether you are turning a hobby into a business, selling an indispensable widget or providing services to others. As a self-employed person, you report business revenue results on your personal income tax return. Following are a few guidelines and issues you should keep in mind if you are pursuing your entrepreneurial spirit.

Schedule C – Form 1040.

As a self-employed person, you are required to report your business profits or losses on Schedule C of Form 1040. The income earned through your business is taxable to you as an individual. This is true even if you do not withdraw any money from the business. While you are required to report your gross revenues, you are also allowed to deduct business expenses incurred in generating that revenue. If your business efforts result in a loss, the loss will generally be deductible against your total income from all sources, subject to special rules relating to whether your business is considered a hobby and whether you have anything “at risk.”

Home-Based Business

Many self-employed individuals work out of their home and are entitled to deduct a percentage of certain home costs that are applicable to the portion of the home that is used as your office. This can include payments for utilities, telephone services, etc. You may also be eligible to claim these deductions if you perform administrative tasks from your home or store inventory there. If you work out of your home and have an additional office at another location, you also may be able to convert your commuting expenses between the two locations into deductible transportation expenses. Since most self-employed individuals find themselves working more than the traditional 40-hour week, there are a significant number of advantageous deductions that can be claimed. Unfortunately, we find that most self-employed individuals miss these deductions because they are unaware of them.

Self-Employment Taxes – The Bad News

A negative aspect to being self-employed is the self-employment tax. All salaried individuals are subject to automatic deductions from their paycheck including FICA, etc. In that many self-employed individuals often do not run a formal payroll for themselves, the government must recapture these taxes through the self-employment tax. Simply put, you are required to pay self-employment taxes at a rate of 15.3% on your net earnings up to 87,900 for 2004. For net income in excess of 87,900, you will pay further taxes at a rate of 2.9% on the excess.

In an interesting twist that reveals the confusing nature of the tax code, you are allowed a partial deduction for the self-employment tax. Simply put, you are allowed to deduct one-half of your self-employment taxes from your gross income. For example, if you pay 10,000 in self-employment taxes, you are allowed a deduction on your 1040 return of 5,000. Many self-employed individuals miss this deduction and pay more money to taxes than needed.

Health Insurance Deduction

This used to be a very messy area for self-employed individuals, to wit, you received little tax relief when it came to your health insurance bill. This was a particular burden for small business owners when considering the astronomical cost of health insurance. All of this has changed and you now may deduct 100% of your health insurance costs as a business expense.

No Withholding Tax

Unlike a salaried employee sitting in a cubicle, you are not subject to withholding tax on your paycheck. While this sounds great, you are required to make quarterly estimated tax payments. If you fail to make the payments, you are subject to a penalty, but the penalty is not the biggest concern.

A potential and dangerous pitfall of being self-employed is failing to pay quarterly estimated taxes and then getting caught at the end of the year without sufficient funds to pay your taxes. The IRS is not going to be happy if you fail to pay your taxes and you will suffer the consequences in the form of penalties and interest. Making sure you pay quarterly estimated taxes helps avoid this situation and it is highly recommended that you follow this course of action.

Record Keeping

You must maintain complete records of all business income and expenses. Simply put, document everything. Create a filing system for each month and file every receipt, etc. All business travel expenses must be documented, including auto mileage you incur when performing business tasks. Office supply stores sell business mileage books that you can keep in your car and use whenever you travel. If you have any doubt about documenting something, just do it!

In Closing

As a self-employed individual, your focus and time is spent on making your business successful. Your focus is not on the complexities of the tax code and how to limit the amount of taxes you owe. If any of the information in this article is new to you, then it is highly likely you have paid far more in taxes than required.

New business loans: helping an entrepreneur wear the hat of a financer

Okay, so you are high on the clouds! You have a great business idea and you just want to get on with that. You have a business name, you have the intellectual force, management plan, you have everything. Well, almost everything. You dont have the required funds. There is this major hurdle raising funds. New business loans can channelize your business initiative in the right direction.

New business loans are a huge responsibility. A proper new business loans is fundamental to starting a business and ensuring its expansion. Raising money for new business will not be possible without proper information and preparation. The most common source of new business loans funding comes under banks and credit unions. There is no need to believe that new business loans are harder to procure.

Prepare written proposal especially if you are looking for new business loans. Approval of business loans considerably depend on how well a proposal is written by you. You would not find new business loans if you falter in your presentation. Every lender will be looking for repayment when he is making a decision about extending new business loans. A written proposal will contain general information and details about financial status.

Business name, name of proprietors, with their social security numbers will constitute the general information. Details about the new business loan, the amount required, its purpose and usage will be imperative. Also, mention the nature of new business you are trying to venture in. Provide some information about your education, experience, skills and achievements. Your personal financial statements and of partners will be required. Dont forget to give details about the collateral you are offering.

New business loans proposal will be practically incomplete without business projections. Business projections will include details about how positive cash flow will be achieved. Give information in the profit and loss figures explaining income and expense. Provide concrete examples, easily identifiable from industry standards. Write in a way that can be described with industry standards and which is easily understandable.

New business loans can be either long term or short term depending on your financial demands. Short term loans will have a loan term up to one year. On the other hand, long term loans have loan term ranging from 1-7 years. This term can extend to 25 years in case you are applying for equipment and real estate new business loans. Entrepreneurs can get start up business loans ranging from 15,000-250,000. Some lenders may be willing to offer more as new business loans. However, you should be able to prove that you will be able to repay it.

An important consideration of new business loans lenders is credit ratings. Credit history and credit score is the single most significant criteria that helps the lender to decide whether to provide the borrower with the loan or not. Many people are practically unaware of their credit score or whether they have a credit score or not. Three major credit scoring agencies Experian, Trans Union, Equifax will enable you to find your credit score. Check your credit report carefully and see if there are any mistakes or changes. They can be easily corrected if you happen to inform the credit reporting agency. Credit score above 620 is considered good credit. Anything below will start having problems finding credit on their terms. Below 540 is considered bad credit. New business loans are available for bad credit borrowers. But, only few borrowers are willing to work with them and will come with the drawback of higher interest rates.

When starting new business, dedication and passion are not enough. You will find that finances are something without which your skills and efforts will not be suitably translated. New business loans can provide you with the finance that you want and get you the success that you deserve.