Business | Shannon Procise

How to Reduce Your Taxes as a Small Business

December 30, 2021 By Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

Tax season is nearly upon us, and that means that it’s time to start getting things in order if you haven’t already. There’s a lot that can go into the taxes a small business has to pay, so it’s never a bad idea to get a head start. That’s not the only thing you should be thinking about though. You should also be thinking about what you can do to reduce the amount you have to pay in taxes.

Start a Retirement Plan

Everyone should have a plan for retirement. It’s never a bad idea to start planning for the future. You don’t have to wait until then to realize the benefits of retirement plans, however. Setting up a retirement plan and contributing to it as an employer can be a good way to reduce your business taxes. You can even use it to amp up the contributions to your own retirement as the owner. Maxing out your contributions as both the employer and an employee of your small business could see as much as $58,000 through a SEP IRA going into your retirement account every year.

Offering Health Benefits

Health benefits are becoming an increasingly expected employee benefit. It’s no wonder, given how relatively affordable health care tends to be for employees when it comes through their employer. It’s not just something that can benefit your employees though. Having a health insurance plan that you can offer your employees can help reduce your taxes. Your business may qualify for a tax credit if you offer group health insurance. Think carefully about the sorts of plans that make the most sense for you to offer and how to go about doing it. That way both you and your employees can reap the benefits.

Be Strategic about Hiring

There are a few things you can do when it comes to people who do work for your company to reduce your taxes. For starters, there are tax benefits you get when you hire family members. If you hire a spouse, for example, you don’t need to pay unemployment taxes. You don’t have to pay employment taxes on children you hire either. Then there’s the matter of employees vs independent contractors. If you contract work out to independent contractors, you’re off the hook for employment taxes for them either.

No one likes paying more taxes than necessary, so it’s always good to figure out what you can do to reduce your taxes. In many cases, it comes down to how you choose to spend the money your business brings in. In other cases, it can be strategic employment decisions. Remember, you can always consult a tax professional who specializes in business taxes if you ever have questions or are looking for more ideas on how you can optimize your finances in regards to the taxes your business owes.

Click here for more strategies that can save your business time and money!

Filed Under: Business

Upgrades That Will Help Your E-Commerce Business Thrive

December 30, 2021 By Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

Anyone can have a business. But it takes savvy tactics and smart business practices to successfully own an e-commerce business. The e-commerce industry is constantly developing to better meet client needs, so upgrades are important to keep up with competition. Here are a few of the most important upgrades that will help your e-commerce business thrive!

Change the UX

UX refers to the human experience of your website. A website user is a potential customer, and their ability to navigate your website is their experience and impression of your customer. If your website is difficult to navigate, loads slowly, or doesn’t provide what they are looking for, however, you will lose their business. Get inside your user’s mind to find the most simple, logical, and enjoyable shopping experience you can provide for your customers. If you build a great experience, you will attract customers. UX plays a pivotal role in driving conversions.

Add Features to Your App

Adding features to your app will significantly improve your user’s experience and the reach of your company. After all, more than 50% of internet searches are done on a mobile device. Most individuals prefer using their device because they always have it on them, so making your site and app mobile friendly will help to convert customers. Features you should add to your app include a quick registration, product filtering, and multiple payment options. By allowing multiple payment options, including smart wallets, you reduce abandoned carts.

Capitalize Customer Reviews

Over 60% of consumers read customer reviews before buying. The reviews you receive from your customers are vital to your business’s success. You can use them on your website and social media. Use reviews as an opportunity to market your product. When the reviews are positive, they are a great advertising tool for you. Negative reviews should be seen as an opportunity to improve your product and generate a bigger following. Responding to reviews in a positive manner will also make you more personable to the customer base. Upgrade your e-commerce by including customer reviews on your site.

With so many websites competing for your customer’s attention, the most important thing you can do is make your business stand out, and that means staying up to date with the newest innovations in e-commerce technology. Upgrade your users experience, add features to your app, and capitalize on customer reviews to receive the greatest visibility.

Read this next: How to Finance Your New Business Venture

Filed Under: Business

How to Form Lasting Connections with New Customers

December 2, 2021 By Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

As a business owner, you obviously want to maintain your past customers, but you also want to make sure that your new customers continue to work with your business in the future. One of the best ways to ensure this is to form lasting connections with your customers in your interactions with them. Here are a few points that will help you to form those connections and relationships in a way that makes your customers feel special and seen.

Make Their Experience Memorable

First of all, you want to make sure that your customer’s experience with your business is memorable. If they are a walk-in customer at your brick-and-mortar store, take a bit of time to get to know them. Complement the products that they are looking at. Share comments from your own experiences that will humanize you and help you to relate to each other. Of course, customers will remember your business if they are in love with your products, but it is the excellent customer service that they receive that will make their experience unforgettable.

Stay in Contact

Once you’ve helped a new customer, you want to make sure that you stay in contact with them so they are encouraged to return to your store. There are lots of ways to approach this goal. You can offer a discount code or exclusive access for customers to sign up for your emails or texting services. Getting customers to download your mobile app lets you send them push notifications. The more you are able to stay in contact with your customers, without being overly pushy or annoying, the more likely they are to buy from your store again.

Listen to Them

When customers make comments about what kinds of products or services they’d like to see from your business, make sure that you keep those in mind. Even if they have complaints about your website or experience, validating those complaints and seeking to remedy them can help persuade your new customers to continue to come back again and again. If your customers see that you’re truly listening to their concerns or suggestions and trying to incorporate them, they’ll feel appreciated and important.

Forming real, long-lasting connections with your customers will not only help them to return to your business but will also increase the likelihood that they’ll refer someone else to you. Even though this takes extra time and effort, especially if your business is run online, it will be well worth it. Remember to take the time to communicate and connect with your customers and you’ll see how your business will benefit and grow as a result.

Read this next: Why Should Your Business Partner with Larger Retailers?

Filed Under: Business

How to Finance Your New Business Venture

December 2, 2021 By Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

As an entrepreneur, one of your main responsibilities is acquiring financing for your new business. It can be stressful to think about all the money you need to make your business work, but it can also help you to know that there are many different funding sources that can help you meet your goals. With that in mind, you can start creating a business that will be able to sustain itself over the years.

Use Loans

One of the most common types of funding that new businesses use is loans. This kind of funding can be very helpful to get you started in your business, and, as Original Funding points out, there are many small business loans available that are tailored to the needs of small business owners. The main thing here is to make sure that you select a loan with the lowest interest rate that you can get. This will make it easier to repay and help you to balance your budget more effectively. Make sure that you know how much money you are comfortable taking a loan for, and don’t exceed that number.

Attract Investors

Another way to get funding is to have individual investors provide you with funding. This kind of funding can be great and can help you to establish relationships within your industry. You do want to make sure that your expectations for investors are clear, and that they know what level of involvement they will have in your business beyond providing initial funding. It’s also important to remember that the kind of structure you choose for your business will be very important to bringing in investors. According to Freeman Lovell, a C-corp is a great business structure if you want to attract outside funding.

Crowdfunding

A newly popular way to get a business started is through crowdfunding. This method can be great for many businesses because it relies on many small investments from many individuals rather than larger investments from just a few sources. It is also nice because generally speaking crowdfunding will allow you to offer products and services to your mini investors, rather than giving them control over any part of your business.

Getting the funding for your business is one of the most important parts of getting the process started. Once you have secured funding you can start working on other elements of your business and getting things running. Then you are even closer to your goals as an entrepreneur.

Read this next: Why Should Your Business Partner with Larger Retailers?

Filed Under: Business

How to Build Goodwill with Your Customers

November 4, 2021 By Shannon Gronich Leave a Comment

As a small business owner or entrepreneur, you probably realize that one of the best ways to boost your business is to build a good relationship with your customers. While this can take time, money, and effort, it is very worthwhile and beneficial. Here are a couple ways to improve your relationships and goodwill with your customers.

Focus on Product Quality

First off, Business News Daily recommends you focus on your product quality in order to increase your customer satisfaction and happiness. Remember that your customers order a product from your business, they are expecting to receive top tier quality products, no matter how small your business is or how short staffed you may be. If your customers aren’t satisfied with your products, they’ll likely go elsewhere, which is a huge loss for your business. If you notice that you are having repeated issues with some of your products, or repeated complaints from customers, do everything you can to resolve those issues. Train your employees on how to improve the quality of your products in order to improve the happiness of your customers.

Improve Customer Service

Next, improving your customer service will greatly increase your customer satisfaction and goodwill. Sometimes, working in customer service can be very difficult when you deal with customers that are never satisfied and always unhappy. However, you need to remember that your interactions with customers directly affect your sales. If your customer service employees get defensive and hurt about problems, your customers may not ever want to buy from your company again. Instead, ROI Solutions recommends you proactively try to uncover and solve customer issues to increase loyalty.

Have Good Communication

Finally, having good communication with your customers is a sure way to increase goodwill with your customers. This doesn’t only refer to the way that you communicate with your customers when they are in your store, but also refers to other methods of communication. According to ProProfs Desk, you should be easily reachable so that customers can get fast answers to their questions as they are considering buying your products or services. One way to do this is to have a phone number on your website and social media accounts. You can also use texting services to send reminders and updates to your customers.

Customers in the end are the most important people investing in your business. When they feel valued and well accommodated, they will be more likely to buy from your company. If you build goodwill with your customers, you not only secure their loyalty but also are more likely to get referred to their friends!

Read this next: How to Inspire Your Employees to Perform Their Best

Filed Under: Business