Posts Tagged ‘new york’

When the Bank Says No: 6 Alternatives to a Bank Loan

The Tax Club, New York, New York City, Empire State Building, Small Business, Startups, Entrepreneurship, Tax Consulting, Tax Preparation, Tax Advice, Tax Tips, Financial Consulting, Financial Services, Small Business Owner, Loans, Startup Capital, Raising Capital, Bank Loans, Business Credit, Accounts Receivable Financing, Factoring, Angel Investors, Investors, Venture Capital, Venture Capitalists, SBA, Small Business Administration, SBA Backed Loans, Community Banks, Credit Union

As your business grows and experiences success, you will need additional capital to sustain its expansion. Although times are getting better, it still can be extremely difficult for a startup or small business to receive a bank loan. According to BizCredit, 9 out of every 10 loan applications end up getting rejected. If you are part of that 90%, what are you going to do? Don’t lose hope yet! At The Tax Club, we want to see your business grow and succeed! Here are some alternative financing options that your small business might want to explore:

Government Backed Loans: The SBA has been extremely helpful in providing loans to small businesses that have exhausted traditional lending channels. How it works is, the SBA will guarantee a percentage of the loan, which is given by a private lender; the organization will guarantee up to 90% in some cases! Preferred SBA lenders… Read the rest

Finding the Perfect Name for Your New Business Venture!

The Tax Club, New York, New York City, Small Business, Tax Advice, Tax Preparation, Financial Services, Startups, Entrepreneur, Brainstorming, Business Planning, Naming Your Business, Branding, Marketing, Image, Brand Image

So you’re starting your own business? You have put countless hours of time and energy into securing your capital, have spent sleepless nights going over the details of your business plan, but we would bet there is one thing that you probably have not given enough thought to; the name of your business! A business name can be a severely underestimated and powerful tool when it comes to your company’s visibility and rise to success. Words can deliver pretty powerful messages; you want your message to be appropriate, enticing, and memorable. Here are some of The Tax Club’s best tips to consider when coming up with a name for your business!

 

Get Your Message Across: The name of your business is the first step in creating your company’s identity and brand image. Your name should give some sort of clue as to what service you provide or what product… Read the rest

Going Viral: The Tax Club’s Top Tips

The Tax Club, New York, New York City, Small Business, Startups, Entrepreneurship, Tax Preparation, Financial Services, Tax Tips, Tax Advice, Business Planning, Viral Marketing, Social Marketing, Internet Marketing, Marcel The Shell

Viral marketing is one of the newest online marketing crazes; we can’t say we are surprised, given the exposure viral content receives and the speed at which it spreads. But what is the best part about going viral you may ask? The web community does the work for you! If done correctly and efficiently, little to no effort is needed by your marketing team, once the content has taken off. Your viewers will simply share and spread your message for you! Here are The Tax Club’s best tips at getting your content to go viral:

Don’t Be Afraid To Be Ridiculous: In the world of viral marketing, anything goes; as a matter of fact, the weirder the better in many cases! Some of the most successful viral campaigns have included ridiculous tactics and characters, such as, some of our favorites, the Burger King Subservient Chicken and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=marcel+the+shell&oq=marcel+the+shell&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_nf=1&gs_l=youtube-psuggest.3..0l10.824.2493.0.2655.16.15.0.2.2.0.198.1622.5j8.13.0."… Read the rest

The Daily Deals Taxation Debate

The Tax Club, TTC, New York, New York City, Tax Preparation, Tax Advice, Financial Services, Tax Code, Tax Law, IRS, Social Media, Daily Deals, Small Business, Startups, Entrepreneur, Groupon, Living Social, Social Media, Marketing, Couponing

How many of you have purchased a Groupon, LivingSocial, or some other sort of daily deal voucher? Did you notice that you did not pay any sales tax on your purchase? Probably not, but don’t get too excited, this does not mean that you get to bypass the taxman. It does poses the questions, on what amount should taxes be paid and at what stage in the process? Should consumers who purchase and use daily deals be required to pay sales tax on the face value of the coupon or the dollar amount that was actually paid for it? Meaning, if a deal is purchased for $50, but is worth $100, which amount should the buyer be taxed on? And should this tax occur at the time of purchase, or redemption?

What seems to be a minor issue can actually have a significant impact on your wallet. According to Vertex,… Read the rest

Deciding Which Business Structure Is Right for You

Entrepreneurs, Startups, The Tax Club, New York, New York City, Tax Preparation, Financial Services, Tax Advice, Small Business, Incorporation, LLC, S Corporation, C Corporation, IRS, Tax Code, Business Structure, Business Planning

 

Starting a business? One of the first steps you will take towards establishing a solid business plan and foundation will be legally incorporating your business entity. Determining which legal structure is right for you and your startup is crucial, and will play a significant and consistent role throughout the duration of your company’s lifetime, especially when it comes to how your business will be taxed. The three most popular forms for small businesses are C corporations, S corporations, and Limited Liability Companies, more commonly known as LLCs. Every entity type has their advantages as well as disadvantages. It is important that you are knowledgeable on how each type will affect your company structure, as well as your bottom line.  Give us a call today if you would like for one of our accountants to walk you through this process!

 

C Corporations: When a small business incorporates, it automatically… Read the rest

Email Marketing 101

The Tax Club, New York, New York City, Small Business, Email, Email Marketing, SEO, Marketing, Tax Preparation, Financial Services, Tax Tips, Tax Help, Small Business, Entrepreneur, Social Media

Email marketing, if utilized correctly, can be an extremely powerful traffic driving tool. The line between an efficient and successful email marketing campaign, and a campaign that is viewed as spammy and irritating, is a pretty blurred one for a lot of businesses. Email marketing must be researched, planned, and just like anything else in your business model, executed strategically. The main purpose of an email campaign is usually to drive traffic to an organization’s website.  In order to do this, you must do everything in your power to stand out in your recipients’ inbox. After all, the first step in leading someone to your site is getting them to click “open.”

Split Testing: First and foremost, you want people who visit your website to subscribe to your company emails. This will, hassle free, add more recipients to your database, leading to more potential clients as well as website traffic.… Read the rest

Exploring the Interest in Pinterest

Pinterest, Tax Club, New York, New York City, The Tax Club, Small Business, Tax Preparation, Startups, Entrepreneurship, Social Media, Marketing, Financial Services

If you are not yet familiar with Pinterest, it is the invite-only social network which has taken the social media world, unexpectedly, by storm.  Pinterest ranked as one of the top ten most visited social networks of 2011. According to a recent study, it’s receiving 260 million visitors monthly, and driving more traffic  to sites then YouTube, Reddit, Google+, and LinkedIn.  Pinterest is a “virtual pin board.” It consists of images, linked to sites, which people “pin” and categorize into customized boards of their choosing. Boards range from animals, to wedding planning, to recipes, to fashion ideas, to really, anything one desires.  If you are a small business and have not started pinning, what are you waiting for?! Here are some ways in which Pinterest can benefit your small business!

Send Traffic To Your Website: By doing as little as creating an account and pinning photos from your site, if… Read the rest

Love Is In The Air…Even For Small Businesses!

The Tax Club, New York, New York City, Small Business, Tax Preparation, Startups, Financial Services, Small Business Owner, Small Business Tips, Valentine's Day, Holiday

Valentine’s Day, a day that began as a celebration of the one or more early Christian martyrs, Valentinus, has morphed into not only one of the most romantic days of the year, but one of the biggest gift giving days as well.  All you lovebirds out there are not the only ones who benefit from today, but many businesses do as well!  The National Retail Federation expects consumers to spend  $17.6 billion this year on Valentine’s gifts and activities for not only their lovers, but for their friends, family members, and even their pets!   In a January survey, results showed that consumers, on average, will spend $126.03 for the holiday. This is an 8.5% rise from last year and the highest amount the survey has seen in its 10 year history!

From candy shops, to restaurants, to jewelers, Valentine’s Day provides a lucrative boost of sales during the somewhat… Read the rest

The Tax Club’s Best Tips for Employee Motivation!

The Tax Club, New York, New York City, Small Business, Small Business Owner, Tax Preparation, Financial Services, Seasonal Businesses

Business Insider - Your employees might not hate their jobs, but that doesn’t mean they’re motivated to do any more for your organization than they have to. 

A new report by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 83% of American employees in 2011 were satisfied with their jobs, but far less — only a little more than half — were actually focused and enthusiastic about their work. (Read the rest of this article at www.businessinsider.com)

The article also quotes “Since one of the most important things to employees was the opportunity to use their skills and abilities, the report suggests that employers can improve job satisfaction and engagement by tapping the talent within the organization instead of hiring from outside.”

So, how can you do this? As a small business owner, how can you motivate your employees? Here are what we at The Tax Club believe to be some of the… Read the rest

Tax Breaks to “In-Source” Jobs Back Home

Economy, Election 2012, Financial Services, Job Market, new york, New York city, politics, President Obama, small business, Startups, tax breaks, tax incentives, tax preparation, tax tips, the tax club, New York, New York City

President Obama announced last Wednesday that he will begin a new initiative aimed at “bringing jobs home” to encourage US based companies to bring their manufacturing facilities back to the United States, as well as promoting investment in US factories by foreign companies. The goal is to bring manufacturing jobs that were once moved overseas, back to the United States, by providing tax incentives, the details of which have not been released yet.  ”My message to business leaders today is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to the country that made our success possible. And I’m going to do everything in my power to help you do it,” Obama said after meeting with the executives at a White House forum to discuss ways to boost domestic investment.

In the past two years, we have seen an increase in manufacturing jobs returning… Read the rest