Archive for the ‘Business Ownership’ Category

If you work from home, whether for yourself or someone else, you know how quiet it can be. Deadly quiet. So quiet, at least when the kids are at school, that the sound of the air conditioner turning on sets your heart racing.

Once the adrenaline rush is gone, you decide you’ve GOT to get out for a little while. You pack up your computer and head to the local wireless hotspot, or a park if you’re working offline. It is undeniably noisier, but you’re still alone. No one knows you and many people will deliberately avoid you, afraid they might be interrupting.

So what do you do? Find a jelly! A jelly is a combination social event, networking and just plain work designed to help the self-employed or remote employee get a little human interaction every now and then.

For more info, check out this spiffy post on The Virtual Legal Assistant Blog. If you’re in Austin, and curious about co-working (another term for people working side by side who do not work together) and the new meeting venue for it here, check out Conjunctured’s web site.

As a virtual assistant I am particularly aware of how little affect geography can have on a business’ ability to survive and thrive. That said, where you base your business can impact how you conduct business.

If you’re thinking about opening a business, or thinking of moving one, check out KPMG’s 2008 Competitive Alternatives report.

For the short version, check out the accountingweb article about the report here.

The federal government is one of the last entities most of us think of when we think of going green. For the most part, that is not without reason. The SBA (small business administration) is not only an exception to the generalization, it’s been one for a while.

Check out what accountingweb has to say about the SBA’s green program here.

Or, go straight to the source and see the SBA’s green loan policies yourself here.

Today was one of those weird days. I had phone calls set up and payrolls to try to rush out of the door and just all kinds of funkiness going on. And then my son comes in while I’m on the phone and stands there with his finger over his lips to tell me he knows I’m on the phone and to be quiet. He stood there and waited for me to get off the phone and then ultra politely asked me to help him put new batteries in his toy. He was just SO cute that I had to load up and go buy some batteries for the kid. I try to reward good behavior like that – especially phone manners. I work at home and the kids are here a good bit of the time when school is out.

Anyway, so I come back and find this on my porch. It was from a client and read, “Candy, For the days we drive you to drinking. Thank you for all that you do!”

How nice is that! See, I LOVE frozen drinks, especially margaritas. Oh, I’m not some alcoholic or anything, but I love even just frozen lemonade.

Some days, I love what I do so much. This is one of those days.

And to my son who showed what a polite little child he is, we will use it the first time tonight to make frozen lemonades. (Pina Coladas later for Dad and I!)

AccoutingWeb recently had a great article about simple ways to go green by safely recycling electronics and reducing the waste paper in the office by eliminating unwanted junk mail. Check it out here.

OffAssist has been moving toward a paperless office since January of this year, and we encourage others to go green for everyone’s future.

Click HERE to read the latest from OffAssist…

If you like it enough to want to sign up, visit our website at OffAssist.com and sign up on the left hand side.

Enjoy and Happy Summer!

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I first read about New York’s “Amazon Tax” in April, when it was still waiting to become law. Now that it has, the online retail giant is fighting back.

Check out the first article at Gizmodo. It’s old enough now that it has TONS of interesting reader comments, too.

Then check out the update at Ars Technica.

This is a bad, bad thing. As a service professional providing intangible intellectual property (writing and editing) most of what I do is not subject to Texas sales tax. If I have to worry about New York (or any other state) wanting me to collect taxes on their behalf, well, it’d be bad. Numbers are already not my forte and you’re going to make me keep track of MORE?!?

*sigh*

Just to satisfy my inner conspiracy theorist, does anyone know if there are any major small business accounting software firms based in New York? I am sure widespread adoption of this type of law would be a boon to them!

PS -

Did everyone else out there know that you are supposed to report online purchases to the IRS on your taxes? Dude! Turbo Tax so does not have that in their taxes-for-the-befuddled questionnaire!

The US Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy has announced their top ten issues to work on for 2008, as part of r3 initiative. The r3 initiative takes nominations from small businesses and puts together a top ten list of issues to act on during the year to help small businesses. r3 stands for Regulatory Review and Reform.

The SBA forwards the list to the agencies in charge of each issue, posts the list on their website, and posts updates to the issues twice a year.

This is not the same as the IRS initiative we mentioned back in August. For more details, check out the accoutingweb article, or go straight to the list on the SBA website.

The one most interesting to OffAssist is the request for a standardized home office deduction. I know that I don’t claim the home office deduction because the rules are draconian and the tax complications if we ever sell our house make it more trouble than it is worth. A simpler system would be great!

My birthday is this weekend. I’ll be 29 again (shut up, Tom). One of my clients sent me a huge bag of goodies from Austinuts – one of my favorite addictive places – Yum! Oohh… it had those praline pecans I love… It came in a big pretty box, but my daughter confiscated the bow for her stuffed dog and the box “for her party dolls”.

Sometimes, you just don’t ask questions.

The USPS has finally jumped on the inflationary bandwagon. I didn’t notice the fine print when postage went up last year, but apparently it is going to be an annual thing.

The post office, like most VAs I know, will be evaluating their rate plan yearly from here on out and will adjust accordingly. By law, the price increases, on average, cannot be more than the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

By average I am assuming they mean across all types of postage, since the rate change is not the same for all types, weights, and destinations.

On February 12, 2008 the Postal Service gave their legally required 90 day notice that postage will be going up again in May, just $.01 this time, to $0.42 for a standard first class letter.