Guest Authored by: Amy Collett  (amy@bizwell.org)
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Starting your own home-based business takes a lot of work and dedication, and even if you think you have a good idea of the kind of company you want to build, there are always a million details to consider and plan for. Not only do you need to think about the best ways to manage and run your business, but it’s also important to consider how it will affect your life. Choosing a business that you’re already familiar with -- say a hobby like woodworking or jewelry-making -- is a great way to get your foot in the door, but it also makes it is easier to burn out, meaning you’ll lose the joy you once found in your hobby and stress-reliever as well as the motivation to continue with your business.
 
Taking these things into consideration will help you create a business plan that works for you and will ensure that you can build your company from the ground up without having any issues. Keep reading for some great tips on how to get started.
 
Think about what works best for you
 
Starting a home-based business is often advantageous for those who are more comfortable working from home and who have experience with remote work. If this is the case for you, it’s important to think about what will work best for your skill set and schedule. Flexibility is often important, but it can be hard to discern the best course of action. To give you a leg up, look for a business coach for hire. A freelance individual with a business coaching background can easily help you get on track for how to set up your business and a business plan.
 
Do your research
 
Knowing what kind of business you’re getting into is half the battle. It’s important to do some research before you make any decisions so you’ll be better informed on how to get started and create a successful company. Look at similar businesses in your area and online, do some homework on business models, and find the best home-based business tools, such as a place to create a free website or create a business slogan or logo. You may also want to look into services that can help you get started by filing the necessary paperwork so you can hit the ground running.
 
Stay motivated
 
Staying motivated can be difficult when there are all sorts of new stressors and things to consider; it can be easy for burnout to set in, making it hard to focus on the good parts of starting a new business. That’s why it’s important to think hard about the kind of business you want to create; starting with a solid plan will ensure that you aren’t second-guessing yourself a year down the road. It’s also a good idea to surround yourself with supportive people who can be cheerleaders when things get rough.
 
Keep learning
 
It’s important that you make a point to never stop learning. Whether that means going back to school or taking an online class, doing some research online, or asking for help from a fellow business owner who can become a mentor, it’s to your benefit to keep learning everything you can about how to run a successful business. It’s especially crucial if you want to become a consultant or a business development specialist, as knowing everything you can about the topic you want to consult on will help give your clients faith in your abilities.
 
Starting a home-based business takes a lot of hard work, but it doesn’t have to be overwhelming. If you can start with a good plan and come up with a way to stay motivated, running your own business can be extremely rewarding and fulfilling. 

​The organization of a small business is the most important step in creating the position.  Most businesses when they start don’t need a lot of organization, as the business owner is everything for the business, or at least that is what a lot of people think.
When creating a business, organizing the business a critical step, even if it is just you to start.  When I started my business, I thought about what I needed to do everyday to grown, and how I wanted the business to look three, five, and ten years down the road.  Now every year when I renew my business playbook, I do the same exercise, and check it with my vision from the year before and when I started.  As I make decisions for hiring and building the business, I check it with how I wanted the business organized.   As you can see organization is important.
 
What is busines organization.  Most people think of busines organization as a the type of tax strategy, i.e. LLC, partnership, S-Corp, C-corp.  While this is a type of business organization, what I am referring to encompasses the tax strategy, but that is simply a part, not the overall. 
Parts of Organization

1. The first part is how you want your business setup – DBA, Partnership, LLC, etc… Know that this may change overtime, but you might start one way at first, but have a vision of growth for that change.  There should be different milestones for when to make the changes, and there should be a lot of thought process put into this.
2. Leadership – How you set up and detail your leaders for the organization is very important.  Once you start delegating tasks to other leaders, you lose a semblance of some control.  SO you don’t want to fill  a position just to fill a position, but instead to enable you to grow more.  A mistake I see all the time is, people get to a certain level, and they hire a CFO.  While CFO’s are great, the reason most people hire a CFO is because they don’t want to deal with the books, so they hire the CFO, but the CFO just frees up the owner from dealing with books but know really strategy for growth.  If you have descriptions of what jobs are needed, and how the leaders will help grow the business will give you a roadmap to adding leadership.
3. Processes – As you work in the business, you will find ways to make the business smoother, these are processes.  However there are several systems and processes you can set up at the beginning.  For example, customer ordering, or employee hiring, etc..  The more you can have repeatable systems that can be passed on as you grow the better.
4. Strategy – As I mentioned, the way you organize the business is a critical step

to its creation.  The most critical step in creating the organization process and system, is your overall business strategy.  While how you implement the strategy might change, your strategy and business purpose is important, and will help drive everyone in the right direction.
These are the four steps to organization of the business, and a good process moving forward.  If you have questions, please reach out, and we can discuss.

​Developing the business playbook
 
In the current environment, small businesses have to make decisions, and some are actually braving the new world and starting themselves.  Small businesses, defined as less than 100 employees, and less than 3MM in annual revenues, per the US Small Business Administration fail at a high rate, anywhere between 88% and 94% depending on the type of business and how long they have been in business, but all in their first five years.
In times of crisis, more small businesses start, usually out of necessity, start, while many more fail.  In a recent study I conducted in 2019, I found there were a few characteristics among successful small business owners that included having a business playbook, strong communication, and a strong vision that was easily communicated and discussed and implemented.
The business play book was considered vital to the business success, and longevity, but what are some things that should go into the business playbook, and how does one create it?  There are three strategies to have a strong playbook in place.
Strategy 1

• Create a business map.  This is a timeline of the different milestones of your potential or actual business.  Putting down details of exactly when you will add employees, what goals and milestones you will hit, and when and how your leadership team will grow and build.  Be very specific and detailed, and list the milestones.

Strategy 2

• Identify a communication plan for your business, how you talk and communicate changes to your clients, your vendors, and your employees.  Utilize the business map to fill in what your culture will look like and how you want to develop in a way that makes it right for you.

Strategy 3

• Research your market, and potential customers.  Identify the trends, and the people that will be a part of your business and enjoy it.  If you are an existing business, identify what your current customers like, and what your competition has developed, and then create a strategy around it.

These three strategies start the business playbook, and start the process.  The next article will be on the business organization piece of the playbook.  As always let me know if I can assist you in putting together your playbook.  You can reach me at rodney@solveurpuzzles.com or 512-680-6851.

​Strategy is an animal that everyone needs to have.  We use strategy every day in our lives.  Whether it is planning how to get the kids from school to karate to gym, to some other sport and how you get work done all at the same time and get dinner on the table.  This is an application of a strategy at its simplest form.  Strategy can get more complicated as it goes up the ladder, from how you juggle school and work to even more complicated items like developing a financial strategy or a strategy for your business.   To describe how a strategy works the example of how the government works and operates will be the guide.
A simple look at how a bill is passed will describe how a strategy works and how complicated or simple it can be.  In the 1970’s education series Schoolhouse Rock, How a Bill can become a Law, there was a deep discussion on how a bill becomes a law and the steps it has to take.  Schoolhouse rock has been off the air for many years and many people, unless of a certain age bracket, may not remember United States Civics lessons, thus here is a description of how it works.
The Government Structure
There are three branches of the government.  The United States Government has the Executive Branch, otherwise known as the President’s office.  The Executive Branch controls all executive options like the Cabinet and the different departments that help run the government except for the judicial governments.  The Executive branch also has powers to appoint different officials which must be approved by the United States Senate, part of the legislative branch, and they also set the vision of the country.  The President has the power to fix any loopholes in the law with an executive order.  The executive order does not give them the power to make new laws, but to correct or tighten up an existing law or to honor something. 
The President, is similar to a Chief Executive Officer, who directs strategy and vision but truly has no real authority.  The board has the ultimate control authority on budgetary decisions and long term strategy. The Chief Executive Officer leads and directs this approval while acting independently to carry out the boards ideas.
This is similar to the relationship between the legislative branch and the executive branch.  The Legislative branch consists of two branches, the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.  The Senate consists of two senators from each state.  The House of Representatives is the house for the people.  There are different congressional districts that comprise the house.  These districts are created based on population of the different states and some states have larger numbers of representatives than others making it the largest body of the branch with over 400 members which can change every ten years as censuses are done looking at different populations.  Think of the legislative branch as the board of directors of a company.  While this is a loose connection the board of directors is tasked with taking the vision of the executive and making sure it fits into the budget and into the overall plan.  They also pass and put all the laws into place just like the Legislative Branch.  The United States House sets the budget and the Senate approves appointments of people to run the different cabinets.
The last branch is the judicial branch.  They keep the checks and balances between all the different branches and they oversee the all the federal judicial courts and keeps the law of the land in place.  If there is an argument between the two branches, i.e. one oversteps their authority, the judicial branch makes the call on whether or not this is legal and should go forward.  This is the loosest connection to business but essentially this might be lawyers who sue a corporation because they feel that their strategy has wronged someone.
The Process of a Bill
Now that there is an understanding of how the branches work, a discussion on how a bill becomes law can be had.  This is where strategy really comes in to the process.  First there is an idea that is created.  This idea can come from the Executive, form someone in the legislative branch or from someone outside.  The idea is then strengthened and written down and then sponsored by one or more legislator.  The bill goes through a committee who then tears it a part and holds hearings from all sides.  If the committee passes it then the bill goes to the floor of the respective chamber that sponsored it.  Then there is more debated and the bills goes up for a vote to see if the chamber wants to vote on it.  If they decide to vote on it then a simple majority needs to pass it.  If it passes then it goes to the other chamber for a vote.  The leaders of each chamber call the Majority leader in the Senate and the Speaker of the House made up of usually the most senior leader voted on by their colleagues from the more dominant party, can decide whether or not to bring these bills to the floor for vote, slow even if it passes one chamber it may not come up for vote in the other chamber.  If it does pass both chambers then it goes to the President’s office for signature.  The President can sign the bill into law or they can veto.  If it is vetoed, the bill can go back to the legislative branch where they can override the veto with 2/3’s majority vote if it is something they want to do and can get past part politics.
Connection to Strategy
How does this transfer to strategy in a business?  Think of it as an idea one might have as an owner or chief executive officer.  The idea then has to go approvals and get buy in from different parts of the organization.  If there is not enough support then it doesn’t happen.  There has to be sound strategies behind the idea and sound opportunities behind how these ideas will help grow and benefit the organization.  In addition, it might take a strategy to get these ideas through the process by identifying who the key players are and what this idea will mean to them and address it with them so that they can support it.
Conclusion
 Understand who the power players are, what steps need to happen and have a plan for the strategy.  If this is done then there is a higher chance for success and accomplishment of the strategy.  How do strategies affect daily life?

​In the day to day world of financial advising and insurance sales there appear to be many mistakes that are made.  One that has become very popular as of late has been that of hubris.  You see many advisors getting punished for being to greedy and too cocky and pulling scams on their clients.  In the general scheme of things these advisors are a minor part of the advisor community but they put a large black stain on our community in general and make the public distrust us even more.  However, there are four sins that we do everyday that are much worse but just not as publicized as their immediate cause and effect are not as egregious or obvious as embezzlement but they are still tragic.
The four deadly sins are:

• Assumptions: To get through case design practices and to see the number of clients we need to do to accomplish our goals, we often make assumptions.  These might be right and they might be wrong but they are done with good intent to move the scenario along.  The problem with assumptions is they may be based on facts but are they based on all the facts.  Slow down and take your time and find the right needs for the clients.
• Cookie Cutter Approach:  Just like assumptions, cookie cutter approach is done to save time.  Too often advisors recommend the same product mix for every client of the same circumstances.  The problem here is that one might miss nuances.  It is easier to provide a cookie cutter approach to clients, but not always right.  Take your time and slow down.  Take a look at each client and figure out where it needs to be.
• Do it Myself Approach:  We are supposed to be the experts.  As advisors we are the resource but we can’t know it all.  Team up with people to learn more and figure things out.  You don’t have to do it yourself you can team up
• Analysis Paralysis:  This is the most common problem for advisors.  We can get too caught up in the analysis.  This is where having a team that you can talk with and help do objective analysis to create the right decisions for the client.

Really simply, it is about taking your time and finding the right tools to help you and your clients.

There are 7 deadly sins you can do that will kill a deal and hurt your business. They are:

1. Not meeting the client’s expectations
2. Mishandling a client crisis
3. Taking on more than you can handle
4. Putting all your eggs in one basket
5. Up cash creek without a paddle
6. Treating your employees as employees
7. Not Planning for yourself

Any one or combination of these can not only kill the partnership, but have the ability to take down your company as well. We’re going to take a bit of time to talk about each one of these, in this lesson we’ll cover the first two.
Not Meeting Client’s Expectations
It’s essential you give your client’s exactly what you promised during the negotiation portion of your relationship. If an event does happen where there is no way to meet the client’s expectations, not only do you have to find a way to fix the situation, but you also have to find out where it all went wrong.
A couple of things could have contributed to this problem:

1. Bad salesmanship. This could mean the salesperson was trying too hard to seal the deal and didn’t listen to the client’s needs.
2. Lack of communication. This breakdown occurs between the salesperson and your operations department.

In order to avoid these mistakes, you need to put a clear plan of action into place that all of your sales staff needs to follow:
·       Think before you speak.
·       Give yourself a break.
·       Perfect your process.
·       Pre-format over-deliverables.
·       Stay hands-on throughout the entire process.
·       Define success.
 
Mishandling a Client Crisis
Crisis’ will happen, but how you respond and fix them will define your company and interaction with your clients’. You need to respond quickly and effectively. This will help you gain even more trust and confidence from your client.
Some simple tips can help you deal with any client crisis:
·       Take responsibility and apologize no matter who is at fault.
·       Act swiftly and effectively.
·       Step in and take control of the situation.
·       Never point fingers or place blame.
·       Stay in constant communication with your client.
·       Stay calm throughout the situation.
·       Keep your eye on the ball.
 
Taking on More than You can handle
When you take on too much, your business can’t keep up and therefore you can easily lose control of everything and find yourself barely functioning. You want your business to be successful, no doubt, but you need to have a plan for how you will handle the growth. Your clients expect great customer service and highly quality products/services, they don’t know or care about your behind the scenes operations to get those things done.
·       Look for these signs that you are taking on more than you can handle:
·       Clients’ needs aren’t being met.
·       Employee morale is low, clients are upset and you’re in a panic.
·       You have to react in emergency mode to save accounts.
·       Your current clients are suffering from trying to keep up with new business.
·       Profits are going down.
·       You are just trying to pick up the pieces of your business.
·       Your clients/customers leave.
·       Resources are being reallocated.
 
There are six steps to this plan:

1. Bring in your best team and have them all help to meet the clients needs.
2. Review your operational system.
3. Anticipate future problems better.
4. Communicate better.
5. Include costs in your quotes.
6. Always have a back-up plan.

All Your Eggs in One Basket
It is common for people to focus one big client as they produce 80 – 90% of the revenues.  Even though you may have other clients, this big client might demand extra time and you let those slip.  It is not uncommon when this happens that you lose customers and are now dependent on this one large client.  What if there is a downturn?  These steps can help.
If you’ve ever mishandled a client, you could drive away potential clients as well. In order to keep balance and prepare for a strong future, there are a few things you can do.
·       These things include:
·       Stay in the loop and try to know what’s going on inside your fish company.
·       Constantly reinvent yourself and stay at the top of your industry.
·       Stay exclusive.
·       Try to secure multi-year commitments and contracts.
·       Spread your contracts out.
·       Price your products/services correctly.
 
Up Cash Creek without a paddle
Even when business is good there’s still a change of running out of cash flow. You have to always be prepared for a slow in sales or a surge in expenses. One of the keys to balancing your cash flow is to get your clients to pay on time. This can seem like a nightmare, but is absolutely essential to a successful business.
Here are some tips to speed up the payment process:
·       Always send invoices on time and adjust your records for potential audits.
·       Learn how the client processes payments on their side and find out precisely where to send invoices.
·       Find out who’s in charge of processing orders and payment, so you know who to contact if needed.
·       Have a follow-up procedure in place, just in case.
·       As a last resort, call your contact to ask questions.
·       Always make sure your invoices are correct before sending them out.
 
You also need to make sure your cash flow is protected. You can do this by:
 
·       Always know which accounts need paid and when.
·       Negotiate with your suppliers for the lowest cost possible.
·       Have a bank contingency plan in place.
·       Build your own inventor network.
 
These are all great ways to protect the cash flow of your business and prepare for fish transitions and slow sales. These last few lessons are all about finding and catching your big fish clients. These clients are essential to your success and your need to take the time to work through each of these steps carefully and correctly for the best success.
Don’t treat your employees as employees
You can’t do this alone.  As one gets stressed and especially if working with a large client or group of clients, stress will grow.  As you work with your employees it is common to think and treat them as employees.  Doing this will create animosity and you might lose them to the competition and or ruin your reputation as they don’t feel welcomed and appreciated.  A simple steps is to talk to your team in details about he parts they play and show them respect.  Treat them with respect and like family.
However, the danger here is getting to comfortable with them and relaxing.  There is a fine balance you need to walk and having open and regular conversation is key with your team.  If there is a problem then it needs to be addressed openly and honestly without any emotion.  I use a tool called the Whole Message Model for this.

• What you have seen and observed
• How does this make me feel?
• Here is what I think we should do to correct it
• What you think about this and the process?

The more you create communication the better.
Not Planning for yourself.
Finally this is the most dangerous thing that people miss.  They don’t plan for their business or themselves.  There are six things you should be doing:

1. A formal business plan looking at strategy, competition, markets, finances – Do this annually
2. A 2 page Quarterly plan – updated and changed quarterly
3. Communicate goals and engage team with goals
4. What are your personal goals for the year? – A detailed and formal yearly plan for your personal life
5. A quarterly personal goal achievement
6. Review and assess monthly – How are your business/financial goals meeting your personal goals and what are the effects to both.

These are things that can hurt you or if aware can make you stronger.  Are you having a problem with mastering these?  What can you do differently to change them and be stronger?
 

By Tina Martin   (tina.martin@ideaspired.com)
 
Whether you are trying to keep your workers safe or keep costs low, there’s no better time than now to let your employees work remotely. Working from home can give you and your staff the flexibility they need to create real work-life balance, but hiring remote workers can also open your business up to a bigger talent pool for new-hires. Despite these big benefits, you may still have some questions about why and how to put your remote team together. Luckily, you’ll find answers to those pressing questions below.
 
Are Remote Workers Really Working?
 
If you’ve only ever worked in offices before, there’s no shame in asking this question. After all, it can be hard to know that your employees are really getting the job done when you can’t check in with them throughout the day. If this is one of your top concerns, you should know that you can use collaborative tools to check in with your staff even when you are all working from your own homes. For instance, you can connect your team via a tool like Slack, which essentially creates dedicated communication channels that can be tailored to teams, projects and other specific purposes. You can even create a company-wide newsfeed so that your team will always be on the same page. Now if you want to keep even more tabs on your workers, you could use tracking tools that will give you a breakdown of their productivity. While monitoring can sometimes be helpful, it’s important to balance these tracking tools with a management approach that includes compassion, empathy and most of all, trust in your team.
 
Will Hiring Remote Staff Cut Costs?
 
The answer to this question is a resounding “yes.” That’s because when you hire remote workers, you can forego the added expenses of renting office space, which can result in huge savings for your small business. In larger cities, like New York and Washington D.C., businesses can expect to spend anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 per year per employee to procure office space. Even businesses in smaller cities can end up spending tens of thousands of dollars annually on an office lease. So this should be reason enough to consider letting your new staff work remotely.
 
Of course, the savings of opting into remote work don’t stop there, especially when you hire freelancers to fill your team. Freelancers have the skills to help you with a variety of projects, including developing a website, designing marketing materials, writing content and improving sales. Freelancers usually use their own equipment, which can save your business considerable costs. Though if you really want to cut costs, the best way may be to work with a financial coach.
 
Can Remote Teams Still Meet Together?
 
Even though tools like Slack make it easier to connect with remote workers, having facetime with your employees can also be important. If your staff members are all in the same geographical location, you could always find a local meeting space where you can collaborate in person. In fact, you can usually find free meeting spaces in most locations, which can include libraries, theaters, coffee shops or restaurants. Depending on your comfort level, you can also host a meeting in your home or the home of another staff member.
 
Another economical yet effective option for working one-on-one with your staff members is a coworking space. With a coworking space, you can rent a desk or meeting area on a monthly or as-needed basis, plus you get an opportunity to connect with other small business owners in your community. Finally, if you simply want to be able to see your team members’ faces, Zoom is another meeting option.
 
Hiring remote staff or transitioning your existing staff to remote work doesn’t have to be nerve-wracking. With the rise in popularity of remote work, there are endless tools to help you manage your team’s productivity and keep everyone connected. Plus, you will be saving yourself a lot of extra expense by allowing your staff to work from home. So really, it’s a win-win for everyone! 

The CARES act passed the House and Senate this week, with the President signing it into law on Friday March 27th 2020, and this is the third Coronavirus related bill to be passed and signed by the bill.

With over 1,00 pages there are many different items in the bill, here are some highlights of the overall bill:

1. Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) 
   1. Businesses fewer than 500 employees
   2. Self-Employed
   3. Loan for payroll, rent/mortgage, utilities and debt
   4. 2/15/20 - 04/30/20 
   5. year later not reduced anything by more than 25% loan forgiveness
2. Retirement Savings
   1. RMD's are suspended for 2020
   2. Participants can borrow up to $100,000 for coronavirus related with stretched out repayment
   3. Waives penalty tax on early withdrawl
   4. Allows a single employee db plan to stretch out contributions
3. Employee Retention Tax credit
   1. 50% tax credit on employer portion of payroll taxes
4. Deferment of Payroll Taxes, spread over 2021 and 2022
5. Unemployment Compensation Benefits
   1. Bill expands @ federal expense to 4 months with an additional $600 a week,
6. Direct payments to individuals 
   1. Cash payments 1200 to each adult and 500 for each child up to 75,000 single and 150,000 married, and reduced and phased out up to $99,000.
   2. Loan program for business