Biz ladies: bookkeeping 101. Today’s Biz Ladies post comes to us from Design*Sponge’s very own bookkeeper, Mandy Miller. With more than 10 years of financial experience, Mandy has assisted businesses in establishing budgets and maintaining financial accounts. Today, she offers some of her extensive knowledge on the subject with a comprehensive guide to managing your business finances. Thank you, Mandy, for this incredibly helpful guide! — Stephanie Read the full post after the jump . . . Small business owners often come to me a few years into their business operations looking to get a handle on their finances.
Bookkeeping Software By regularly entering your business income and expenses into accounting software, not only will your accountant love you at tax time, but you will be able to use the data to measure your business’s performance throughout the year and over time as you grow. QuickBooks and its sister product, Quicken, are the most popular accounting software options. The Income Statement Product Materials Travel. Managing Your Product Inventory. After 5 years of selling, I’ve finally perfected my inventory management in way that works extremely well for me and I’d like to share it with you today. The key to my inventory management is a spreadsheet that I’ve created to track all the pieces I have available for sale as well as the items I’ve sold. It’s the lifeline of my business!
Typically, these are the steps I take every time I produce a new product: Photograph the product and upload the image(s) to my computer.Create a product tag and affix a small, multi-use label with a unique ID (ie: CRD123, CRD124) and price of the product. Post the product on my Meylah Storefront (and now with Meylah’s auto-post feature, I don’t have to worry about manually updating my Facebook Fan page and my Twitter because it does it for me).Upload at least one image of the new product to my Flickr Photostream.Update my inventory spreadsheet to reflect the new product available for sale. Main image courtesy of: Andy Ciordia. How to organize your office space. FollowPics How to organize your office space Source: this image Tags: cleaning & organizing, Get Organized, Home, Misc Ideas, organization, Organization ideas, organize, Organizing and Storage, Organizing!
Home Wine cork ideas - trim for basement bar, bottle holder, wreath, etc. Maybe this for under a nice, big porch? Dinning Table | Do It Yourself Home Projects from Ana White Beautiful Ceiling Modern-design-bamboo-kitchen-cabinet DDD's inspiration station | Daily Dream Decor Your first breath took ours away.... Clean & Scentsible: Making To Do Lists Fun Cat bed Ikea hack... Cat bed Ikea hack... repurposed furniture ideas - Google Search grey bedroom by lauratrevey, via Flickr - I'm gong to DIY the pintuck headboard and I LOVE the grey walls Holy crap, what an amazing space. diy faux fireplace mantle. love all the storage! Love the bed nook with moulded walls and a ceiling fan!
Grey Bedroom. oh yeah. must. Resuming Activities and Exercise After Heart Surgery: A Patient's Guide to Heart Surgery. A Patient's Guide to Heart Surgery Resuming Activities and Exercise After Heart Surgery Lifting and Reaching If your surgery required an incision on your sternum (breastbone), it will take about 6-8 weeks for your sternum to heal. During this time, you may do light household chores, such as laundry, shopping, cooking, light gardening, dusting, and washing dishes when you feel up to it. Do not lift, push or pull objects heavier than 5 pounds until your doctor says it is okay to do so. Try not to stand in one place for longer than 15 minutes. Physical Activities You may do light, quick activities where your arms are above your shoulders, such as brushing your hair.
To get the most out of your day, plan to do the most important activities first. Climbing Stairs and Steps Unless restricted by your doctor, it's okay for you to climb stairs and steps. Fatigue Fatigue is probably the number one patient complaint following heart surgery. Driving and Riding in a Car Returning to Work Traveling Sex Exercise. Operating-a-retail-store-1224059203103940-8-slideshare. Publication 587 (2012), Business Use of Your Home. Top 7 Tax Deductions for the Self-Employed. These days, more professionals are shifting from the role of full-time employee to freelancer, a movement that some refer to as a gig economy. If you have freelance income to report by U.S. tax day (Apr. 17), your taxes will be more involved than your colleagues', who only have W-2 forms.
Whether this is your first year self-employed, or you’re an experienced entrepreneur, freelancing comes with a whole new set of tax issues. But you can still find plenty of opportunities to cut your tax bill. As a sole proprietor, you can deduct a lot of your expenses, such as the cost of a computer, office supplies and work-related travel. You may even be able to deduct your health insurance premiums and part of your rent or mortgage. Read on to learn more about some of the key deductions available to freelancers, self-employed taxpayers with small or startup businesses, or other sole proprietors. 1. If applicable, take this deduction on Form 1040 Line 29. 2. 3. 4. What about your laptop and tablet? 5. 100_Ideas. The Urge to Purge: Developing a Record Retention Schedule. Filing systems often get neglected until they outgrow their space.
Papers accumulate in existing files, and new ones are added until suddenly there simply is no room for more. Then, a frantic purge is needed, or more filing space must be added. Both of these undesirable remedies can be avoided by developing a systematic process for removing unneeded records from the filing system – a retention schedule. The Urge To Purge A retention schedule is simply a documented plan that defines when keeping certain records is no longer needed. How long you keep information depends on your type of business, the nature of the records themselves, applicable legal restrictions and the value of the information to the future of your business.
Even within a business, some records must be retained longer than others. Before throwing out important records, spend time looking at the different types of records you keep. Document Migration Keeping Up With Recordkeeping Practices. How to Set Up an Effective Filing System. How’s your filing system? Frustrating? Do you find that it’s too hard to remember where things go? Do you ever have trouble finding a specific document again once you’ve stashed it away?
You may even have three or four files that contain the same information but are labeled differently – what a mess! Fixing The Problem What causes the downfall of a filing system? Chances are it wasn’t much of a “system” to begin with. To create a truly effective filing system, you need to start with a plan. Creating File Categories Look at your current filing system (or that pile of paper that you’ve been meaning to file for months) and start sorting your documents into broad categories. Subcategorizing Pick one of your “major category” piles and let’s sort through it again. Savings account checking account student loan credit card account Be specific; don’t just say that they are “bank statements”. Color Coding Label Making Now that everyone has their own colored folder, we need to label each file. Peggy_Duncan_COPE_WorkPak_Instructions_for_File_20Index. 101 Secrets to Running a Successful Home-Based Business | Company Activities & Management > Company Structures & Ownership from AllBusiness.
It's a well-known fact that America's small business owners are movers and shakers. They come up with innovative products and services; they employ about 50 percent of all private sector workers; and they persist even during tough economic times. But what might not be such a well-known fact is that most of them do all of this without even leaving their homes. According to the Small Business Administration, more than 50 percent of small businesses are home-based.
Home-based businesses offer low overhead, helpful tax incentives, and the opportunity to work in your pajamas, among other benefits. But before you get started, there are some things -- 101, to be precise -- that you should know about running a company from home. Getting Started We asked home-based business owners to share their best tips and advice. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
Lessons Learned We also asked home-based business owners to share their top lessons. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. Nuts and Bolts 23. How to Understand a Company’s Profits and Losses from Its Income Statement. The income statement (also known as the profit-and-loss or P&L statement) details all of the company’s revenues and expenses — how much the company receives in sales and how much the company spends to make those sales. After all the additions and subtractions, the final tally tells you whether the company earned a profit or suffered a loss and how much.
The income statement contains the fundamental equation for every business: Sales – Expenses = Net Income A positive net income indicates the company is profitable. Zero means it broke even. A negative number shows the company lost money. That’s all pretty straightforward, but the income statement usually contains more detail, covering the following items (among other things): Revenues: Total dollar amount brought in from sales.
Any time you see a number in parentheses, it means that’s a negative number, or outflow of money. Income statements compare the most recent quarter to the same quarter a year earlier. Strtchek.sflb. Why Business Owners Need to Keep Thorough Records. No one likes to pay more in income tax than they have to, but it happens all the time thanks to inadequate record keeping. If a business owner doesn’t understand the accounting process and the basic skeleton of a good set of books, costly errors can go undetected. Business income is a common area to make mistakes, so here are a few tips designed to eliminate potential problems. Sales are the primary source of taxable income for most small businesses, and this is the only income that should be shown at the top of the Profit and Loss Statement.
Sales can be broken down into several line items if you wish. What I often find when drilling down into the gross sales reported on the profit and loss is income that is not taxable at all: loans, capital contributions, deposits of gifts from parents or loan repayments. To prevent confusion, monies from sources other than sales when deposited into the business bank account must be classified according to the type of income they represent. Bonnie Lee. SpreadsheetZONE | Free Excel Spread Sheets. Retail Store Operations - Procedures - Policies - Day-to-Day Internal Control. Store operation resources, daily procedures, creating internal controls and systems, establishing retailing functions and other day-to-day retail store operations. Retail Store Atmosphere: What turns You Off In Certain Stores?
We all have our own little pet peeves and what may turn off one customer may not bother another. When you walk in to a retail store, what part of the store's atmosphere may affect your shopping experience? What turns you off in certain stores? 10 Ways to Better Your Business Retailers all have the same basic path to success. That is, we must increase sales and reduce expenses in order to improve profitability. The goal is the same but how we achieve each milestone may vary. Combatting the Post-Holiday Blues The retailing after-holiday period is often a psychologically down one for both customers and employees. Before You Buy Hangers Hangers are a critical part of any clothing display. Create a Beat Yesterday Book Retailers shuffle a lot of paperwork. Retail Store Operations - Procedures - Policies - Day-to-Day Internal Control. List of Expense Categories for Small Business.
Fax machines and office equipment are included in small business expenses. (Photo: Christopher Robbins/Photodisc/Getty Images) Whether your business offers a service or products, there is another set of unique items needed to serve customers efficiently and effectively. Some general items include computers, printers, fax machines, pens, pencils, folders and binders. 8 Things Really Successful People Do | Inc. 5000. Most people claim to want success. But not everyone is willing to do the hard work and the smart work to get there. Often opportunities present themselves and because people are distracted, they miss them or give up on them before things fully develop. Truly successful people don't leave much to chance. They are disciplined and focused. They constantly seek new methods to achieve more, in bigger and faster ways. Listed below are eight different practices that will help you concentrate your efforts on rising above the tide. 1.
Fancy cars and houses are all well and good, but many foolishly focus on the byproducts of success, rather than concentrating on building sustainable success in the first place. 2. Success comes faster to those who are open, active learners. 3. People in your life require time. 4. Not all successful people are calm and nice. 5. Everyone has a vision of their own perfect body. 6. 7. Really successful people live by rules. 8. Like this post? How to Start a Jewelry Making Business. How Do I Run a Home Jewelry Business? If you're crafty and creative, have an eye for trends in fashion accessories or are ready to start trends of your own, consider starting a home jewelry business.
Entrepreneur, an online resource for business owners, notes that start-up costs for a jewelry business can range from $2,000 to $10,000. But if you operate from home, you can save money by avoiding the costs associated with store rent and utilities. Step 1 Check Harris County's assumed names database to ensure that the business name you want to use is available. Apply for a business name at the Harris County Clerk's Office in Houston, Texas, or download the application from the clerk's website, and submit a notarized copy to the clerk. If you register in person, bring a government-issued identification card with you. Step 2 Step 3 Find reputable, reliable suppliers who carry a variety of supplies you need to create your jewelry pieces.
Step 4 Step 5 Hire a photographer and models who have experience working with accessories. Step 6. Starting a Home Based Jewelry Business on a Shoestring Budget. One of the most promoted home based businesses is a home based jewelry business. While most of the adds that you see that claim you can make big money by making jewelry at home tend to be scams, if you start your own at home jewelry business you can make a great income. However, it is going to take planning, a novel idea and plenty of marketing.
Tip #1 - Perfect Your Jewelry Line First If you want to sell your jewelry line you need to make sure the items that you have are high quality before you start selling them. This may mean that you spend a year perfecting your jewelry making technique, or it may mean taking classes to learn new skills. The key is to have a quality line of jewelry that shows well and that will make the buying public drool. Tip #2 - Create a Sample Case of Items When your jewelry making skills are up to par your next step is to create a sample case of items. Tip #3 - Photograph Your Jewelry Items The next step is to photograph your jewelry items.
Permit and Licenses Fees. DRS: Starting a New Business. Writing a Jewelry Business Plan.