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.

Mixing Family and Business

The month of July has been quite a challenge for me when it comes to mixing Family and Business.  One reason for starting my own business was to allow me more flexibility with my family.  Working retail management often trumps events due to long hours and lots of weekend work.  Plans change often when employees call off, you have to cover the shifts, and handle deliveries that are ahead or behind schedule.  So when I planned my hours of operations I planned time with my family but still weekend and evening hours.  I also put in time after operation hours gathering items, marketing, and accounting but I schedule that when it best suits me.  Since I am owner and operator at this point (when I reach my next financially goal employees will come) I must close my shop for vacations, family emergencies, and other things that may pop up along the way. 

I am beginning to think balancing my business and family is like searching for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  I wonder if it really exists.  I have been struggling with this as a career mom, stay at home mom, and now entrepreneur and I still haven't found the time to do it all yet.  Something always gives so I try to make the best choices and live with the consequences.  Knowing that my career supports my family and I can not live without it that but my career will not love me in return and everything I do, I do for my family because they are my number one.  I am very blessed to have a large well blended family and I would never want to compromise them. 

What describes a good enough reason to close my business?  This month, I have closed down for 3 days connected with my 2 days off so that I could take a much needed vacation.  I have not taken a vacation except for 2 days close to Christmas since I have opened the store.  I know that the longer I am in business the easier it gets because you maintain your business but I am still in the building blocks stage of my business.  I closed early a day last week for a family emergency concerning a family pet and I may have to close a few days next week to help out a group that I support in need because it directly affects my kids.  Those all have been concerns that I have needed to address personally and when it comes to my family it is a no brainer of what to do.  Today is another example, my daughter got to do a once in a lifetime event and cheer with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders but I did not close to go since I knew my mom had her all day and would make it special.  I would get to see her perform at the game after I close.  As I worked all day, I really wished I would have closed to join her but I realize the more often I close the less reliable I am for my customers and that will have a negative effect on my building blocks that I keep placing trying to grow my business.  As a rule of thumb my plans are to close for a vacation each year and concerns that require my direct attention and I can not plan another route.  Unfortunately these many be more negative concerns than the positive ones like today.  I have closed before for positive events like field trips just not as often.  I try to address things via the telephone if it is not an extreme emergency but sometimes I need to find a better balance of phone calls too, since it hurts my bottom line of productivity at work. 

I am searching for others like myself and what they do to balance family and business.  I know everyone has to balance work and family but being an entrepreneur has more demands.  So please share your tips.

"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving" Albert Einstein

Women in Business

Most days I do not feel inferior to men in the business market place but in much of my career I have had to face it head on.  I have done more or better quality work and not been rewarded as equally as my peers that are male.  This continues to be a slap in the face for women who are top in their field of choice.  When I am faced with it head on, I rise above it, move forward in some way, and come out better for it.  This is why I am where I am now being self employed striving to be top in my field.

In some ways, I think we set our self up for this behavior and wish we could stand together to move forward and walk beside our fellow men as equals.  I have come upon this working towards updating some of my training to grow as my business grows.  I have been searching for someone I can relate to and I would love a women role model since so far most of my teachers have been male.  So I ordered a magazine about women in business hoping to be inspired.  I just got my first edition and I am sadly disappointed.  If I wanted to know about parenting tips or gardening tips, I would have ordered one of those magazines.  I want to hear issues other women like me come upon in business.  I do agree with  health tips but they should be business health issues like stress relief or insurance options with new health care laws geared toward business owners.  As a mother, I know it is hard to be the all star mom, business women of the year, and all the other roles each of us play in our lives.  Sometimes as business women we need a break from all the roles we play at home and be looked upon for the business woman we are and we need to support each other, not cripple ourselves.  My mom cuddled me when I was a kid and fell off my bike.  She doctored up any boo boos that I had but my dad told it to me straight and encouraged me to get back on and ride.  If we want equal rights to men we need to be able to offer tough love sometimes and play both roles.  Having said that we can not go out there trying to prove such a point that we push everyone away and sometimes as women in business we do this so we can have personal success.  It needs to be balanced.

There can be no excuses in business and as women we have lots of examples.  If you did not send the mailing list out because your daughter had a chorus concert.  Your business will not get the extra sales for that period of time.  Do not allow yourself to fall victim to excuses but find solutions.  The key is to find time for both, just as many men are finding they have to work harder to be more active in their children's life.  As we adapt to both women and men helping in both areas we find it is harder to do but if we work as a team and stop fighting against each other the results are limitless. 

I am hoping this inspires others like me to chase their dreams and not give up even when it feels like you are climbing uphill.  Please share any resources you have found that are equal tothose available to men in the business world today or if you are searching too, contact me and maybe we can create the answer that others like us are trying to find.  It does not matter what type of business you choose to do, just do it well. 

"I didn't get there by wishing for it or hoping for it, but by working for it."

Estee Lauder

Business vs Children

May seem like a strange title but in may ways a is business just like having children.

The first stage of having a child is when they are in the womb.  You monitor what you eat and drink so they grow healthy.  Get regular check ups to monitor any health problems.  And you start to communicate with them as they grow to develop a healthy relationship.  All this is work you do to have a healthy baby. 

The first stage of a business is the planning mode.  It is inside your self  and all your actions at this phase directly affects how healthy your business develops.  You research about licenses, taxes so you do not have any issues with government, you save or apply for money to make your business grow, and you communicate with those around you to help meet your needs.

After birth your baby is in the first stages of infancy and they grow very quickly but have constant needs like changing, feeding, cuddling, and comforting them.  This is always a big change for parents and is often not what they expected.  You can sometimes become exhausted from just maintaining their daily needs and getting into a new routine. 

After a lot of planning comes the execution part of owning a business.  This is the part when things happen very quickly and you invest a lot of time, money, sweat, tears, and more into building your business.  This is often the 1st cut of survival of a business.  It is not always what you expect and obstacles come up that you are not expecting.  You become exhausted just trying to keep up or wish you could clone yourself to get it all done.

The next steps are the toddler years.  This is one of the first steps of independence your kids take from you.  Although they can not be left alone.  They begin to dress themselves and feed themselves.  This allows you more time just after you have gotten used to the constant flow and demands. Now you can start to develop relationships with other parents and have play dates or have time for a small hobby.

Your business after start up begins to become a working routine.  It is still young but no longer in the beginning phases.  This is first steps of independence for you.  You would not want to just allow staff to make all choices since small issues could come up that you need to adjust but you could get away for an early afternoon or a whole day off.  You may have to work extra hard the day before or after but the time away will allow you to take on the everyday tasks with a better mind set.  You can start to meet other business owners and become active in more community events.

My business is currently in the toddler years and things are becoming more routine for me.  I still have things that come up that need tweaking and it continues to grow as I make choices to continue that growth.  If I was an absent owner those choices may not happen.  The next phases of raising children I am familiar with and I can speculate the next phase of my business will remain similar to rearing children since I have managed other businesses in these phases.

The school age children is next phase and they often leave their parents for the first time during this phase. They quickly gain some independence and skills but continue to look at their parents for support and reinforcement that they are doing the right thing.  This happens all through elementary school as they begin to learn things from others around them.  They also begin to try many new things some that work out and some they do not like as much.

Your business is much the same as you can hire someone to manage your business now and delegate people to do the things that need done instead of wanting to clone yourself.  Your business continues to take shape influenced by you and your staff and it grows to better fit your customers needs because more people have influenced your choices kinda like the kids at school. 

The next phase is middle school and high school children.  Kids at this phase start to have their own personality and like and dislikes.  This is often when parents hold back and try to protect their kids from growing up and the kids push to gain their independence causing friction.  They do not seek the approval they used to and often communicate more with their peers than their parents.  They are learning many life skills of how to care for themselves.

This can be considered growing pains in a business, maybe if it is a family business it can be the time a child takes more effort into making choices for the business or the owner stepping back a little more but the business has become much more than the seed of an idea.  The business changes based upon actions of those who operate it as well as the owner's choices but is more largely effected by those who are there day in and day out.  It could be a make it or fail stage for a business and you  may experience this many times over the course of ownership unlike teenage children.

The next phase is adult children and as I am just beginning that phase of parenthood.  I am still learning but I am seeing some of the skills that I thought my kids would never learn being used in day to day activities and I am proud of who they are becoming.  They no longer need my time but remain a part of my day to day life.

I imagine your business in this phase would be much the same.  It no longer demands all of your time and you can see the outcome of all your sweat, love, tears, and hard work.  You look back and may think if I could do it over again I would change this but who knows maybe that would have taken you a whole other direction so enjoy and be proud of what you accomplished.