Coming to crossroads in your business plans is never an easy time period. Businesses will always have up and down periods and you have to make adjustments to things that change around you. I am coming upon my second year celebration and making plans for the coming year so it is review and reflect time and starting goals for upcoming year.
Recently a bigger box store opened down the road from my shop and it has affected my business some, not much but I do notice some changes and I am making adjustments accordingly.
I have much to ponder as I am trying to expand to the next level by adjusting my inventory to include more top selling items, expanding my online sales, considering options for a permanent location, expanding the size of my location for storage, and adjusting my plan for processing new items alone or if I am stable enough to hire staff, and increasing my marketing. As my store grows and changes my older ways of completing these tasks are becoming more a challenge so now I must find a way to expand yet remain stable. Biggest challenge is having the capital to make the choices I need to make, but since having enough capital is always a challenge for small business, I have to find something that works for both and that requires creative thinking.
I have gotten a lot of inspirational words today to help in my planning for the upcoming year so I want to share them. All entrepreneurs are searching for the opportunity to prove to themselves they are something more than they believe. I do this each day and may be my worse critic which can be self sabotage if you allow it. I am now in the researching phase of this planning and it is much like the research for a business plan. Each business must grow and have slower periods to reflect and grow again. They only continue to grow when you continue to make choices that allow for growth. So review your original purpose on your business plan, refocus your thoughts, surround your self with positive business owners like your self and push on through the crossroads as I plan to do in the next few weeks.
Stop by this weekend and check out my two year celebration with my famous Treasure Chest of prizes and Rummage Sale outside where you can pay what you want to pay for overstock items outside only!!!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Nightmares with taxes!!
I realize I have not posted much lately. Not many changes with my business but I am now nearing the 2 year mark so I am beginning the phases of becoming an established business and no longer wet behind the ears as older people say.
I can not stress enough to keep all your tax info from all types of taxes close by and organized. I received a letter from collections about a month ago for very small amount that I owed on back sales tax and employee withholding tax. First, I do not have any employees yet other than me so I do not owe any withholding tax. As a self employed person, I pay a self employed tax which is similar but not the same. I also keep all my tax documents for many years even over the 7 year requirement since I have needed to go back before on my personal taxes for my local office and I think it was at 7 year mark or older. But I file them with all my year end stuff since I know I paid it and everything is filed. This request was for the 2nd quarter that I paid in right after I opened so I had to dig out everything and find out what document was missing or misfiled. After some research, I found that I spoke with someone about resigning my employer withholding and was told not to file since I did not qualify at this time, so I called and asked who I need to work this out with and I was given the run around but we came to an agreement and I filed 00 to clear it from the machine and they dropped the fee attached. The other discrepancy I have a check number and date it cleared so it was taken care of immediately. The hardest challenge was finding the tax info among all other end of the year stuff so I am suggesting keeping all tax info in a safe spot to its self. We think that our local, state, and federal IRS do not make mistakes with all there paperwork but in my two times of having to review, one time was my error and the other was theirs. I always recommend calling and working out any problems right away.
Another suggestion that someone gave me once and I really like it is, using a different checking account for taxes. I collect sales tax each day at my store but only pay it quarterly. That couple of dollars each day really adds up after 3 months and for a newer business that dos not have the large cash flow to pull from it can sometimes be overwhelming to come up with. This goes for any taxes, like withholding and ect. When you make your deposit, pull aside the amount of taxes and deposit into the separate account then you know you can make the payment on time after filing. The tax agency will tell you that is their money not yours and you collect it from employee or customer directly so it should be paid directly. It is not coming from your sales and was never your money so that helps keep it that way. I really like this system and it works well if you use it properly.
Some of the most important paperwork you have is proof of sales, tax forms, and proof of payments. Keep and organize these well so you can tackle anything that comes your way.
I can not stress enough to keep all your tax info from all types of taxes close by and organized. I received a letter from collections about a month ago for very small amount that I owed on back sales tax and employee withholding tax. First, I do not have any employees yet other than me so I do not owe any withholding tax. As a self employed person, I pay a self employed tax which is similar but not the same. I also keep all my tax documents for many years even over the 7 year requirement since I have needed to go back before on my personal taxes for my local office and I think it was at 7 year mark or older. But I file them with all my year end stuff since I know I paid it and everything is filed. This request was for the 2nd quarter that I paid in right after I opened so I had to dig out everything and find out what document was missing or misfiled. After some research, I found that I spoke with someone about resigning my employer withholding and was told not to file since I did not qualify at this time, so I called and asked who I need to work this out with and I was given the run around but we came to an agreement and I filed 00 to clear it from the machine and they dropped the fee attached. The other discrepancy I have a check number and date it cleared so it was taken care of immediately. The hardest challenge was finding the tax info among all other end of the year stuff so I am suggesting keeping all tax info in a safe spot to its self. We think that our local, state, and federal IRS do not make mistakes with all there paperwork but in my two times of having to review, one time was my error and the other was theirs. I always recommend calling and working out any problems right away.
Another suggestion that someone gave me once and I really like it is, using a different checking account for taxes. I collect sales tax each day at my store but only pay it quarterly. That couple of dollars each day really adds up after 3 months and for a newer business that dos not have the large cash flow to pull from it can sometimes be overwhelming to come up with. This goes for any taxes, like withholding and ect. When you make your deposit, pull aside the amount of taxes and deposit into the separate account then you know you can make the payment on time after filing. The tax agency will tell you that is their money not yours and you collect it from employee or customer directly so it should be paid directly. It is not coming from your sales and was never your money so that helps keep it that way. I really like this system and it works well if you use it properly.
Some of the most important paperwork you have is proof of sales, tax forms, and proof of payments. Keep and organize these well so you can tackle anything that comes your way.
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