Small Business Tax Tip - Turn Personal Expenses Into Business Deductions
Most small business owners have heard that they're supposed to get special tax breaks. The problem is, they don't know what they are or how to go about claiming them. Not surprisingly, the IRS doesn't go out of its way to spell it out for you when you go to file your income taxes!There is a general rule in tax law that says all "ordinary and necessary" business expenses are deductible. I'll spare you the details about the arguments over this phrase, but suffice it to say that it basically means that in order to be deductible, an expense must be a legitimate expense that pertains to your business.So what personal expenses do you have that could legitimately pertain to your business? Well, let's take an easy one: Subscriptions. Do you subscribe to your local newspaper? Can you deduct it? Well, do you need to keep up on your competitors' advertisements in the paper

When Good Employees Go Bad - Maslow's Ladder
When a good employee starts performing poorly, it may be something outside the workplace that is causing his performance to suffer. Is his marriage in trouble? Does he have crushing debt? Did a parent recently die? You will learn this only if you talk directly to the employee. If you are respected and trusted, he should have no trouble confiding in you.An excellent guide to diagnose the behavior of the employee is Maslow’s Ladder. Abraham Maslow was a psychologist who studied successful people, unlike some other famous psychologists who studied less successful or mentally ill people. Maslow believed that people are basically good and that their actions could be explained by the satisfaction of a hierarchy of needs, which encompasses five levels. As one level of need is satisfied, then satisfying the next need level becomes the focus of the individual. This is c

Virtual Office - Setting Up Yours
Basic Virtual Office SuppliesTo set up a virtual business you'll need to establish a home base. Most virtual offices are home offices created from a spare room, a corner in the family room or some other location. Your home office may consist primarily of your laptop computer. There are certain items you will need to have to start a virtual business. These are described below.Computer – You have to own a computer to have a virtual office. Many prefer using a laptop because laptops are easily transported from one location to another. Yet another option is having a desktop in your home office and reserving a laptop for travel. You don't have to invest in an expensive laptop. A lightweight model will likely suffice for most home based virtual offices.Docking Station – This is a must have if you have a laptop. This will allow you to plug your laptop into a sta

Cutting Out Managed Care Middleman Reduces Cuts Health Plan Costs
Cutting out the managed care middleman and contracting directly with medical providers may seem like a drastic solution for reducing health plan costs. Yet for employers who've been whipsawed by relentless cost increases, it may be the only solution that actually works. The profit-bloated managed care industry, with much to lose, has propagated many myths about why this sensible approach won't work. But their solutions haven't worked. Costs continue to surge and employers are desperately seeking relief. It's time to debunk the myths about direct provider contracting and shed some light on this highly effective, innovative cost-containment strategy.Myth 1: Employers cannot negotiate as good a deal with medical providers as can managed care companies. The truth is employers can often negotiate just as good a deal, or better. Providers welcome

Public Relations Success Starts Here
For discerning business, non-profit and association managers, PR success is pretty much a matter of achieving their managerial objectives by altering perceptions leading to changed behaviors among those important external audiences that MOST affect their department, group, division or subsidiary.Period.If, however, as a manager you choose to view public relations as simply a collection of tactics, you might see PR success through the lens of press release pickups, successful special events, or newspaper columns mentioning your chief executive.I don’t believe the underlying premise of public relations allows such a limited interpretation. See for yourself: people act on their own perception of the facts before them, which leads to predictable behaviors about which something can be done. When we create, change or reinforce that opinion

Are You Putting Technology Before Your Customers?
Which is more important the technology or the customer?The one thing about the online world you can be sure of is change. It seems like every day there is a new technology being added which will make the internet more accessible. As online marketers, we strive to keep up with all these trends and incorporate them into our marketing arsenals.Going back to when the internet started, it was a bit of a nerdy place to be, with lots of people communicating in text only. Some savvy individuals saw how this growing community could be exploited and used to advertise their wares, and with all the hyperlinking joining them to other sites they could be easily found.Then the world wide web evolved from the basic internet adding pictures and multimedia and eventually adding videos too, and it became even more useful to marketing. Added in with email whi