At the moment I’m trying valiantly to get going on Social Media, but I’m overwhelmed. Social media, for those of you who are wondering, is the recent phenomenon of connecting with others on websites for mutual information and promotion.  The problem, as I see it, is that there too many of these sites.  And I don’t see the value – what are we all supposed to be doing on these sites?  How will we make money?  Will someone see me on Twitter and hire me?

I have been on Twitter, but all I find is people self-promoting or talking about their cats.  I am connected via LinkedIn and FaceBook, but MySpace is so GenY I can’t see myself on it.  Jenny Cromie over at The Golden Pencil lists lots of social media sites for freelancers, but I don’t want to get so bogged down in social media that I don’t have time for my work.   And now we have social media sites to keep track of social media sites.

I’m sure there will be lots of people who think this is heresy, but I just don’t get the point of “social media.”  There has to be a better way to promote a business online.  What do you think?  Have you received business by connecting to people via social media?  If so, which ones?  Do you really care what other people are doing online?   I guess I want someone to tell me to go to THIS SITE (whatever it is) and get connected with all the people I need to connect to in order to promote my business.

“Social media, we don need no steenking social media. “  (Treasure of the Sierra Madre)

Does anyone use that phone book anymore?  I had a conversation about this subject with someone over Thanksgiving, and we decided that within 5 years printed phone books will be going the way of the dodo bird.  After all, why would you want to look in a book that is possibly out of date and a pain to look through when you can go online and learn a lot more about the products/services of this business PLUS see a cool map.

So what are you doing to get your business into the online yellow pages?  Here are some suggestions:

• Google Local. If you want to get seen, you must be on Google. Google is by far the most used search engine, and they have many tools for business success.  When you sign up for Google Local you put in your address and a map is generated.  You can include information about hours of operation, payment options, and even include photos and videos.  AND you can include a coupon people can print and bring in.
• DEX/Yellow Pages – the old/new Yellow Pages.  You can get a listing and set up local print and online advertising together with DEXOnline or yellowpages.com.  The Yellow Pages site also gives you a free listing.  Combining local print advertising with online advertising makes sense to make the best use of your advertising dollars.
• Specialty Listing.  Whatever your type of business, I’m betting there is an online listing by city/state that you can get into.  For example, if you have a bed and breakfast, you can get on bedandbreakfast.com or bbonline.com.  If you do machine quilting, advertise on quiltprofessionals.com.  It should only take a little searching to find a couple of online listing sites in your field.

Even if your business does not serve a local market, you may still want to get on one or more of these listings, just to get a higher search engine rating.  I’ll be interested to know if you have tried any of these and your results.

Maybe you can still use that phone book for small children to sit on at your next holiday dinner.

Image source: Newscom.com

What are you doing in your home business to prepare for Black Friday – the biggest shopping day of the year?

After you are done eating turkey and everyone is watching the National Dog Show  (or football), here are some things you could do to make sure your home business is ready for the big day and the holiday season:

1. Check last year’s sales.  If you were in business last year, check to see what sold and what didn’t.

2. Check your website.  Make sure all of your links are working and your pages don’t end up in a “Page error” (404 thingy).

3.  Check your Search Engine Rating.  See where you are on Alexa, Google Analytics, and other websites, and decide if you should change keywords to move up in the ratings.

2.  Check your inventory.  If you’re selling products, make sure you have enough of everything.  If you need to make more, get going.

3.  Prioritize holiday tasks, personal and business.  What must be done and when?  What can you do online now to save time when you are busy filling holiday orders later?

4.  Decide on gifts to vendors, suppliers.  If you give gifts to other businesses, now is the time to get those purchased online or in stores.  You can have them shipped later in December.

5.  Check your cash flow.  Make sure you have enough cash to pay employees or to buy inventory.  You may need to set aside some money for year-end expenditures.

6. Synchronize December business and personal calendars.  What events must you attend?  Do you need employees to cover for you? Reviewing your schedule now may prevent some difficulties later.

7. Relax and enjoy the holiday.  Whew! If you have done all of these tasks, you are ready for Black Friday and the holiday season, and you deserve a break.  Egg nog, anyone?

Home Shopping Network can get away with it, but you can’t.  As a home business owner, you may have already selected a business name.  If you haven’t, think carefully before you use the word “home” in your home business name.  Here’s why:

1.  It diminishes the image of your business as a REAL business, and makes you look less professional. Cindy’s Home Crafts,  for example, doesn’t sound as professional as The Craft Boutique.  One of the cardinal principles of business is “LOOK BIGGER THAN YOU ARE.”  People don’t have to know you’re operating a “mom and pop” operation.  With the web and excellent graphics and design people, you can create an image of a thriving, big business.  Having the word “home” in your business name might keep you from looking as big as you want to be.

2.  It lets people know you are operating from home, and you just gave them your home address.  Unless you use a PO Box, putting the word “home” with your address gives people way too much information about you.  I would not want people to know I am operating from home and what my home address is. Sure they can find out, but why make it easy for them?

3.   It limits your ability to grow and move out of your home.  In some instances, it might be ok to continue to use Cindy’s Home Crafts, just as a branding thing, but if you wanted to take your business to the next level and move to a location outside your home, it might limit you. Having “Home” as part of your business name might limit you if you wanted to sell your business, because the new owners will probably want to move it out of the home environment.

I also recommend to people that they NOT use their name as part of the business name.  Similar reasons as above – it isn’t as professional, it gives people too much information about you, and if you want to grow or sell your business, you are limited.

Creating an image of your business as big and professional helps you in your dealings with customers and others, and it sure helps you to feel big and GROW BIG.

Someone asked me a question about my post yesterday about home business deductions. First, a clarification. I said your home business must be used “regularly and exclusively” for business. Your home business location must also meet at least one of these qualifications.  It must be:

• Your principal place of business, or
• A place where you meet customers, clients, patients in the course of your business, or
•  A separate structure used for your business, or
• A daycare facility.

So, your home business must meet the “regularly and exclusively” provision and one of those criteria above.

The question: How does the IRS know that you are using this space “regularly and exclusively” ? Good question. If the IRS decides to audit you to see if you are following the rules, it can:

• File an Information Document Request (IDR) for information from your business records.
• Issue a summons to appear before the auditor to answer questions.
• Issue a summons to someone else to testify about their dealings with you, including banks and business associates.
• Issue a summons to you to appear in court and testify about how you use your home office space (and this is the “I swear to tell the truth” kind of testifying)

All of these processes must be followed in a certain specified way and the IRS must let you know what they are doing. You have the right to object.Finally, the IRS can get a court order for an auditor to come to your home to verify your home office deduction. You don’t have to let the auditor in, but they also can disallow the deduction.

In other words, don’t take a chance. Play by the rules. If you want to have your home business space allowed so you can take tax deductions on your business expenses, do it the right way. Get a CPA to help you figure everything out. Playing in the margins doesn’t work well with the IRS.

My disclaimer again: I’m not a tax attorney or tax professional. Get advice if you receive an audit notice.

Do you know how to claim your home office expenses as a tax deduction?  As promised a few days ago, I’ll give you the ins and outs of the process, and include some limits on home office deductions.

Here is the trick: In order for your home business expenses to be deductible, the space you use must be used (1) regularly AND (2) exclusively for your home business.

Regular Use. Regular use can be daily or weekly or monthly. But you will need to be able to prove that you use the business space regularly. If you have a computer and use the business space as an office to pay your bills every month, that can certainly be considered “regular.”

Exclusive Use. This one is a little more difficult. The space cannot be used for anything else at any time. Here’s an example: Let’s say you have a 2 car garage and you use 1 garage space for storing business inventory and you ship from this space. You can’t park a car in that space – EVER! You can’t even store a bicycle or lawn mower in that space. In another example, let’s say you use the dining room for your home craft business, but once a year you clean off the dining room table and use it for Thanksgiving dinner. You can’t deduct any home business expenses for that space because it wasn’t used exclusively for your home business.

The IRS looks very carefully at home businesses, to make sure the expenses claimed are truly for the business. If you want your home business expenses to be considered as deductible, you must use the space REGULARLY and EXCLUSIVELY for business.

I’m not a tax attorney or tax advisor, so check with your CPA or tax professional for details.

First, the picture again:

Here are my responses to my Fun Friday post yesterday:

1. The counter she is working on is clear. Couldn’t be a real house.

2. She is working at the counter – an ergonomic no-no, for sure.

3. In a dress?!?

4. There is no mess on the counter behind her either.

5. Where is the food? I don’t work without food around. Preferably chocolate.

6. Same with drink. I need my diet coke with lime.

7. It’s dark outside – why isn’t she fixing dinner? Or maybe it’s late and she just got home from a party – that would explain the dress.

8. If she has enough money for a kitchen like that, why doesn’t she have enough money for a separate home business office?

Here is the picture:

I can find at least 8 things wrong with this picture of a woman working at home. How about you? Send me your list or at least one thing wrong in a comment and we’ll see how many we can find. I’ll post my responses and yours tomorrow.

I found lots of valuable information for home business owners on the U.S. government’s Business.gov website  , and I thought I would share some of these with you.  Here you go – Happy Thursday!

1, Pros and Cons of Starting a Home Based Business

2. Zoning Laws for Home Based Businesses

3. Business Plans for Home Based Businesses

4. Home Based Business: Market Your Product

5. IRS FAQ’s For Home (and other) Businesses

6. Energy Efficiency for Home Businesses

7. Market and Sell Green Products in Your Home Business

8. State and Local Resources for Home Business Owners (check out zoning regulations here)

9. Can You Live Where You Work…And Work Where You Live?

10. Understanding Self-Employment Taxes 

11. Find Local Licenses and Permits for Your Home Business

12. Video: Marketing 101

13. Social Security Information for the Self-Employed

There is lots of good stuff to read here.  Have fun and let me know what you learn or if you have questions.

Part of the start-up process for any home business should be a check on the zoning requirements of  your locality.  The restrictions on your home business depend on two factors:

1.Type of business.  If you have a business that is noisy or smelly or that has many customers coming in and out, it will be more difficult for you to get a zoning variance (exception).

2.  Type of area.  If you are in a residential area with restrictive covenants, you will have to deal with the homeowner’s association, in addition to the local government, to get your business allowed.

Here are some factors considered in zoning codes in most localities:

• Physical differences.  Exterior differences between your business and the neighbors may be cause for concern.  This includes signs, storage buildings, displays, and commercial vehicles parked in the driveway.

• Traffic.  Residential areas are zoned that way to protect the residents from a lot of traffic, particularly when young children are present.  If your business has a lot of traffic, from customers and employees, that can pose a problem, and if you need extra parking spaces for customers, that can also be difficult in a residential area.

• Nuisances.  This is where the noise, odors, and other external effects of a business can keep you from getting a zoning variance for your home business.  You may also be restricted from keeping or using hazardous materials in large quantities.

If you want to start a home business, check with the zoning board in your locality.  If your business isn’t a problem, they will probably let you petition the neighbors to see if anyone objects.  If no one does, you can then take your variance petition to the zoning board or the city/town council to get it approved.