Has Your Client Asked You to Charge Less?
June 26, 2009
This is a comical video for anyone who has ever had a client request that you lower your rates.
As business owners, we do need to be able to identify areas where deals can be negotiated, but it is much more important to be able to identify areas where scrimping can actually hurt your business. Spend your money where you will receive the most value, whatever that may be: increased productivity, improved time management, or greater quality of life. The benefits to move your business forward will far outweigh the cost. Watch and learn. am5nr293hu
Intuit Small Business Town Hall on Using Social Media
June 23, 2009
I am happy to say Intuit, makers of QuickBooks software, is continuing to improve. They are building their Small Business Community with town hall events, webinars, training, conferences, Ask the Expert events and more. This Thursday, June 25 at 9am PT (12pm ET), the Town Hall topic will be Using Social Media to Grow Your Business. Join Michelle Long, CPA and the following guests as they discuss how to use social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, for effective marketing.
- Scott Wilder – Small Business Group at Intuit
- Chris Kim – Senior Marketing Manager with Intuit
- Dante Layton – Owner of Dante Layton, Inc.
- Ruth Perryman – Owner of the QB Specialists
Cost is free and there will be a Q&A session following the discussion. Hope you can make it!
Adding To My Ideal Client Profile
June 22, 2009
Have you started developing your ideal client profile? It is important for every business owner to identify who that ideal client is and create a list or profile. At first, this was a challenging concept for me to grasp coming from the corporate world where I really had no choice in who I worked with. As a Virtual Assistant, I work with many different clients and have been continually learning who meshes with my personality. When our partnership is successful, I make note of those characteristics. Having this profile has helped me initiate conversations with potential clients as well as feeling comfortable letting clients go if our styles don’t blend.
Most recently, I added a very key characteristic to my client profile. A potential new client noted that she was direct. A bell went off in my head because I am too, but I hadn’t identified it. As a bookkeeper, I find this works very well with several of my extremely busy clients. I like to be quick and to the point in my emails. My questions are small and words few but there is no love lost in the directness of my message or their quick reply. We are not ego involved in the communication.
I struggle with email because fluffy writing does not come naturally to me. In fact, I normally don’t charge for my email time because I know this. I must carefully craft emails writing and rewriting sentences to get my message across. Just this past month, a client let me know they prefer email over phone contact and it proved to be more than challenging. I was told I spent too much time answering an email. Initially I felt discouraged but now realize that had I relayed my direct communication style to this client ahead of time, I may have been able to spend less time crafting and worrying if I was going to offend her in some way. Adding directness as a core characteristic to my client profile will definitely encourage me to seek such partnerships with my future clients. What characteristics would you include?
Remember to Send Your Second Quarter Tax Payments
June 12, 2009
If you are required to send in quarterly estimated tax payments, June 15 is the due date.
- Individuals - Pay your 2nd quarter estimated tax for 2009
- Corporations – Deposit the 2nd installment of estimated tax for 2009
I’m Excited About The Way WordPress v2.8 Handles Widgets
June 12, 2009
How exciting! WordPress version 2.8 is now available with many cool new features to simplify and improve our user experience. Notably, it is now possible to browse the theme directory like you can the plug-ins directory, all widgets are multi-instance widgets which allow use more than once, and screen options appear on every page to adjust for varying monitor sizes.
My favorite new feature is the ability to drop widgets into any one of your theme’s sidebars in a single screen, inactivate them, and save their settings. I know this would have come in handy when my blog page crashed this week because I used a one-time only widget that was suddenly invisible.
Watch this video for a nice overview of the new WordPress version 2.8.
I know it’s enticing to see that dashboard message “WordPress 2.8 is available! Please update now.” but do not select that link until you back up your database, widgets, your pages and posts and any customization you’ve done. Then, by all means, click away!
Home Based Tax Savings Courses
June 8, 2009
Last month I finished Dr. Ron Mueller’s Tax Savings Basic Essentials Course with the hopeful goal of saving a few thousand dollars on my taxes this year. I was not disappointed in his thorough review of tax deductions and simple record keeping requirements. I was able to read through his book “Home Business Tax Savings Made Easy!” in 2 days. Dr. Mueller arms you with the knowledge and confidence to take those known tax deductions without fear of the IRS. I’ve never written off my home office but now that I understand the IRS tax code requirements better, I will realize more tax savings this year.
Ron explains better than I can, so here is his message to all of us! The BIG bonus is that I am now armed with the IRS tax code to share with my clients 
This course will seriously pay for itself by the time you have finished it. Let me know what you save.
