A small business related announcement from the Internal Revenue Service: The Small Business/Self-Employed (SB/SE) division of the IRS will begin conducting its annual telephone survey of taxpayers starting January 18, 2010 and running through mid-April, 2010. This survey is targeted to small business and self-employed taxpayers who file certain income tax forms, including: 1120, 1120S,…
When I visited Peru, one highlight was watching a rehearsal parade. It was the day before the Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun, in Cusco, Peru. The main festival draws a crowd of thousands and thousands. But this was the day before. The local bands and performing troops held a rehearsal. The crowd was…
To get ready for an upcoming presentation, I came up with a list of things about social media that scare small town governments, or roadblocks that keep them from participating in social networks. I think there are lots of similarities to small businesses. We don’t know what to do. We don’t want to lose control…
On the SBBuzz chat this week, we talked about managing multiple businesses. Some great points came out. I was reminded of this old, old business card I found. It lists more businesses than you can make sense out of! This guy is buying and selling and trading, and running a restaurant, motel and club…. How…
Every week, I open a new Basket. I call it the Brag Basket, but it’s not really about bragging. It’s about sharing. I started this so you can introduce yourself or share some good news about yourself or a friend. Speak up and add yourself or another deserving soul in the comments. We all cheer,…
With all the technology available to us, sometimes we work with people for years before we ever meet in person. That can be terrific, or it can be a headache. Digging around in my notes from conferences, I found these tips on managing a distributed workforce from a 2008 session at SXSW with Andrew Huff,…
Another great source for business intelligence: the Retail Owners Institute offers industry benchmark data on six key financial ratios. In a section called Store Benchmarks, they break down industry averages into 51 different retail lines. They give five years of data for these six financial ratios: Current Ratio Gross Margin Percentage Return on Assets Percentage…
Nebraska MarketPlaceJoy Marshall, event planner for the Center for Rural Affairs, reminded me that it’s almost time for the Nebraska MarketPlace, held Feb. 23-24, 2010, during National Entrepreneurship Week. Oklahoma Entrepreneurship ConferenceShelli Todd, director of OKStartup.com for Oklahoma’s Department of Commerce, sent details on the 2010 Entrepreneur’s Conference, also Feb. 23-24, 2010. The conference has…
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