Small Biz Ahead

Episode Notes What Are 5 Prompts You Can Use for Your AI Software Application? Ask your AI software to work on macros for you. Creating macros typically requires knowledge of formulas. However, these applications can help you create them quickly and easily. Use your AI software to find out the best time to publish your content like blog posts. The software will read that blog and make suggestions based on the content. Consider your AI software to be like an executive assistant. For instance, if you have a contract from a supplier, you can upload the contract to ChatGPT. It will read it and give you points of view. Ask your AI software to create a business continuity plan. For instance, you can go on ChatGPT and say, "as a seasoned operations consultant, develop a detailed business continuity plan for my business in this industry." Use your AI software to get pointers on customer service. If you have an unhappy customer, you can go to ChatGPT and ask it to coach you on how to create a tactful response to this customer email. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Business acquisitions are primarily seen as a way for aspiring entrepreneurs to purchase their own companies without having to start from scratch. However, did you know that a lot of established business owners will also acquire other additional companies to further expand their existing product lines and resources? In this episode, Gene Marks and Joey Korenman, the Founder of School of Motion and Co-Founder of Rolo, discuss the benefits of business acquisitions and how to negotiate the terms of your next acquisition deal so that you can take your small business to the next level. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to this week's episode of the Hartford Small Biz Ahead podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. I wanna talk to you about the Corporate Transparency Act and some updates on it, which probably doesn't affect you in the end, but you need to know about it 'cause I'm getting a lot of questions about it. Now, first of all, just to go back a little bit, and I've written about this before and talked about it on the podcast, the Corporate Transparency Act was established a couple years ago actually, under a bill that was previously passed by Congress. It is being administered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Basically, by the end of this year, 2024, you are going to be required to report all of the beneficial owners of your company or any other entities that you own. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Are you having a difficult time deciding on a business structure? You're not the only one. While having a formal business structure can provide you with significant legal protection and save you a lot in taxes, figuring out which one is most suitable for your small business can be a real challenge. In this episode, Gene Marks along with Christina Lewellen, a PhD, CPA and associate professor of accounting at NC State University, and Nathan Goldman, a CPA, PhD and also an associate professor of accounting at NC State University, discuss the different factors you need to consider when choosing the best structure for your new company. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes 5 Things You Should Know About Tax Preparation Software The out-of-pocket cost is pretty low for these applications. Typically they cost about $50 to a hundred dollars, putting aside any filing fees. However, it's important to remember that you are going to have to spend a significant amount of time working with the software and understanding how it works. The more complex your situation, the more you should avoid tax preparation software. It's a good idea to ask a professional tax preparer questions and to go over certain things. There's nuances, anomalies and other things involved. The more complex the rules are, the more complex your transactions are. Sometimes the software itself might not step up to answer the questions or perform the tasks needed. Software applications still make mistakes. It's important to scrutinize for accuracy and any potential problems. Software can leave out certain things. The more you integrate your tax software with your accounting software the better. This way you can move the numbers over quickly. Engage a tax professional or a CPA. While you might be able to be doing 90 to 95% of the work with software, it's still worthwhile spending a couple hundred bucks to have a professional take a look at the results, give you any comments and any thoughts. They might have some tax planning ideas or strategies they can add. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to the Hartford's Small Biz Ahead podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. This week, let's talk about the supply chain, right? Are we looking at more or less supply chain problems in the near term or not? So I just wanna share a little bit of data with you if you are running a business that is impacted by supply chain and just some takeaways here. First of all, the bottom line is this, supply chains are getting back to normal because the freight industry has actually slowed. And let me give you some data behind this. For starters, there is a metric called the Baltic Dry Index. The Baltic Dry Index is a measure of freight costs through the Baltic Sea. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes They say that all it takes to build a successful startup is just one brilliant idea. However, while it's great to have a clear vision for your company, it's important not to be so tied down to your original plan that you ignore the valuable feedback that your client base and potential collaborators are providing you. In this episode, Gene Marks and Tom Bachant, the founder and CEO of Unthread, discuss how Tom used the needs of his target audience to help guide the development of his early startups and how aspiring entrepreneurs can use this strategy to achieve similar long-term success.

Episode Notes Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to another episode of the Hartford Small Biz Ahead podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. As an accountant and as a business owner, as a journalist who covers small and mid-size businesses, for years I've been sort of obsessed about different metrics and financial reporting and what we need to be tracking to make sure that we're running our business the right way. And I've got something a little bit revelatory that I wanted to share with you today, which has to do with reports. I know that when you run your business and you're watching your cash flow, you got a lot of different advice about the different types of things that you should be, keeping track of, which is fine. I mean, yeah, you should be getting a monthly financial statement. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Hiring a marketing agency can be one of the smartest decisions that a small business owner can make, both in terms of boosting their brand visibility and growing their client base. Unfortunately, there are many business owners that sabotage their success by entering the collaboration process with a negative mindset or unrealistic expectations. So, what can you do to get the most out of this professional relationship? In this episode, Gene Marks and Valerie Tyson, CEO of the Unrivaled Group, discuss how small business owners can set themselves up for success when working with a marketing agency.

Episode Notes Hey everybody, this is Gene Marks and thanks for joining me this week on the Hartford's Small Biz Ahead podcast. This week I wanna talk to you a little bit about Roth IRAs and backdoor Roths as well. A Roth IRA is something that everyone should have if possible. You are now allowed if you're a business owner to set up a Roth 401(k) account. That's also like your regular 401(k) account. And as individuals we can also buy Roth IRAs, all with the same limitations, that come with regular IRAs. Now, first of all, let, let's talk a little bit about what a Roth IRA is. When you put money away into your retirement account, like a regular 401(k) or an or an IRA, you do realize that you're just deferring taxes, right? You are not paying taxes on that income and until you take it out and you're forced to take it out sometime after the age of 70, those age ranges are going up, but it's approximately after the age of 70. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks. Welcome to another episode of the Hartford Small Biz Ahead podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. This week, I wanna talk to you about a new federal mandate, which you probably don't know about and you really need to know it. Apparently, this mandate is not getting the kind of attention that it should be getting and it's a bit concerning to me in some of my clients. So, let me make sure that you're aware of this. There's a mandate where you have to report to the federal government this year, the beneficial owners of your business. Yeah, that's right. It's a new reporting requirement. It began on January 1st of this year, and you have to do the reporting by the end of the year, December 31st. And it comes from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, which is part of the Treasury Department. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to the Hartford Small Biz Ahead podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. This week, I wanna talk to you about a little cash management strategy. Particularly these times of, well, higher inflation obviously, certainly higher costs. We're trying to maintain our overhead. For many of us we're facing a sluggish economy or sluggish demand. And obviously every penny counts. And people, people are often asking like how do we get by? Should we, can we get away with raising prices again in this inflationary environment? And I think you will agree that, most companies did raise prices over the past couple years as inflation, was what it was. But now that inflation has been brought a bit under control, less companies are using that as a strategy. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Starting a one-person business is not for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of self-reliance and resourcefulness to run a company without the support of any additional staff members. So, how can you ensure the success of your small business as both its sole owner and employee? In this episode, Gene Marks and Matt Berky, the owner, engineer, and composer at Massive Productions, LLC, discuss the challenges of running a one-man business and the strategies he used to sustain his company for over 20 years.

Episode Notes Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to this week's episode of The Small Biz Ahead podcast. I've been wanting to talk about this study for a long time. It is one that was actually came out back in 2019, and I wanna report to you something that was written on studyfines.org, S-T-U-D-Y fines.org. That study is about coaches, and it turns out that anger is more effective than positivity when it comes to a coach's halftime speech. Now, let me read this out to you. Researchers at the University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business, analyzed hundreds of halftime speeches and final scores from high school and college basketball games. And here's what they found. They found that players seemed to perform better after a harsh, more negative halftime speech from the coach. In fact, researchers discovered a significant relationship between the level of negativity a coach projects during a halftime speech and second half scoring outcomes. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Get familiar with the terminology. What is AI? AI is the ability for software to understand the world around it and interpret it into data, so it can act. Generative AI, means you're asking an AI model a question to do something and it gives you a response back. ChatGPT is an example. Large language models (LLMs), are databases with information that are tagged and structured in a way that you can ask it questions and train it to start giving you predicted outcomes. OpenAI is an example of this. Have an AI policy in your business. As AI becomes widely used, you’ll need to come up with how it can be used in your business. You'll need to specify which employees can and cannot use AI in their work. You’ll want to clarify which types of work AI can be applied to. Talk to your software vendor. Ask them what new features are coming that are incorporating AI and how you can use them. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes A strong sales team is vital to the growth of any small business. But what should you as a business owner be doing to ensure that everyone on your sales staff is performing to the best of their abilities? In this episode, Gene Marks and Cynthia Barnes, founder of the National Association of Women Sales Professionals, discuss how small business owners can help every member of their sales team reach their full potential through proper support and the right sales approaches.

Episode Notes Need travel tips? Check out six ways you can have a smoother trip next time you fly: Get TSA precheck. You can apply at your airport. It does require a face-to-face visit. However, once you have it, renewing it is easy. Going through the TSA checkpoint is also much faster than the regular security checkpoint. You don’t have to pull things out of your bags or take your shoes off. Use Flight Aware. This allows you to check the status of your flight. It tells you where your plane is and when it’s supposed to depart. This is really helpful if there’s weather going on. Download your airline’s app. The app gives you alerts and updates about the status of your flight. It also gives you an e-ticket. Be loyal to an airline. Loyalty helps you when you travel. As you accumulate mileage with them, you’ll gain in status. Having status can help you board and leave the plane faster. If anything happens, airlines also take care of those with status first.   Never use an airport's WiFi. Instead of public Wi-Fi, use a mobile hotspot because it’s the most secure way for you to access the internet. Take a taxi out of the airport and an Uber or Lyft to the airport. At most airports, taxis are always ready and waiting. You can jump in a cab and go. On top of this, rideshare costs are becoming comparable and are no longer cheaper in many instances. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes Creating an e-course has never been easier, especially these days when practically anyone with a smartphone can just film a few instructional videos and upload them on a website. However, if your goal is to create a lucrative online program that students will actually commit to and learn from, then it's important to provide your audience with a more structured format. In this episode, Gene Marks and Joey Korenman, the founder at the School of Motion and the co-founder of Rolo, discuss how small business owners can develop an online educational model that not only fosters accountability, but also prepares its students to work professionally.

Episode Notes What Updates Do You Need to Know About the ERTC? The suspension is still in effect, but it will resume in 2024 at some point. If you think you made a bad application for the ERTC, the IRS just announced that they are giving you the opportunity to give the money back with a 20% discount. It’s a voluntary disclosure program and it’s for businesses that claimed the ERTC in error. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co

Episode Notes What Minimum Wage Increases Will We See This Year? The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. There are still many states adhering to that. In 2024, minimum wage is going up in 20 states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington A few states are hitting a $15 for minimum wages including, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York State, or Rhode Island. The state with the highest minimum wage is Washington at $16.28 cents. Washington D.C., which is not a state, has the highest minimum wage in the country at $17 an hour. There are some states, particularly California, which is implementing higher minimum wages depending on the industry. So, in California, workers in the fast-food Industry are likely to have a minimum wage as much as $20 an hour. Find out more at https://small-biz-ahead.pinecast.co