General Small Business Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-12-2024

From managing to marketing and everything in between, the world of small business can be both exciting and overwhelming. It’s a place where no two workdays are exactly the same and where unpredictable things happen. If you’re thinking about starting (or you already run and manage) your own business, check out the following list of tips to improve your chances of success.

Article / Updated 08-15-2023

No matter whether you’re just starting your own micro-business or you’ve been working for several years, you want everything to run smoothly and cost effectively. As a micro-entrepreneur, your focus is to meet your target market’s needs while staying ahead of your competition. These free resources can help you. Get a free email account for business use. Email is indispensable for communication, marketing, and other pursuits. You can get free email at Gmail or Yahoo, and other providers. Try Open Office Software Suite. This powerful suite of business productivity tools includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software, and other software programs. The software is free and regularly upgraded and refined by open source software developers. Network with LinkedIn. On this site, you can network with other businesses and professionals. You can make lots of valuable contacts, find prospects, and get answers to many of your questions from other professionals and specialists. Market through e-mail. Mailchimp is a free email service to do e-mail distribution and marketing. You can send an email blast for up to 2,000 addresses on your list at no cost, which is perfect for businesses just starting out and needing a good way to manage a list of prospects and customers. Use YouTube. This popular video platform gives you the ability not only to gain information and news (including lots of free how-to videos on a variety of business topics), but you have the ability to create your own videos (ranging from providing content to doing sales and marketing presentations) at no cost.

Article / Updated 07-13-2023

If you’re thinking about jumping into a side hustle — or if you’ve already taken the plunge — you’re not alone! According to a study reported on Side Hustle Nation, 45 percent of working Americans — about 70 million people! — had at least one side hustle going. Even better: Another 60 million were thinking about jumping into the side-hustle game. Side hustles aren’t only popular in the United States either. According to an article paid for by GoDaddy appearing on the USA Today website, 54 percent of people in the United Kingdom, another 54 percent of people in Singapore, and an astounding 77 percent of people in the Philippines had side hustles. People start side hustles for a variety of reasons. For many people, money is the prime motivator. But to some people, the financial side of their side hustle is so secondary that it’s almost an afterthought. So, why are you interested in a side hustle? Maybe it’s money, knowledge, or experience. Maybe you’re hoping to make a big career change. Maybe you’re looking to monetize a hobby or passion. Maybe you want a safety net in place in case you get laid off. Or maybe you’re trying to make ends meet after losing your full-time job. How a passion becomes a side hustle As mentioned above, you might start a side hustle based on a hobby or passion. For example of how this can lead to a fantastic opportunity, let’s consider a man named Sandy. He’s been a sports fanatic all his life. He played sports when he was young, and he collected sports cards and memorabilia. Today, a man with children and many responsibilities, his sports cards and memorabilia were stuffed in a box, somewhere in the basement. Then, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandy noticed that baseball cards, football, and basketball cards, along with all sorts of sports memorabilia, suddenly became wildly popular. Many people were working from home, and many others unfortunately lost their jobs (but fortunately, millions of them started side hustles!). Overall, people were at home much more than before and had a lot of time on their hands, as well as surprisingly flexible work and personal schedules. For whatever reason, lots of people either discovered sports cards and collectibles for the first time or, as with Sandy, rediscovered their long-forgotten collections. So, it’s settled: Sandy has selected his topical area and is going to start a side hustle related to baseball cards, primarily, but also including other cards from football and other sports along with other types of sports collectibles. But exactly what kind of side hustle is this? Sandy could, under the general umbrella of “sports cards and collectibles side hustle,” focus on any of the following: Just baseball cards Baseball, football, basketball, and soccer cards — but basically only sports cards “Game-used” memorabilia, such as uniforms and hats, or balls and baseball bats Autographs Old sports books, almanacs, yearbooks, scorecards, and similar items But wait! Sandy isn’t even close to being done with his narrowing down and filtering. He decides to focus on baseball cards. But what kind? The baseball-card world is divided into different eras: Vintage (basically, older cards from before around 1980) The so-called “junk wax” era from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s Modern and ultra-modern cards that came after the “junk wax” era ended Sandy decides to focus on vintage cards. However, he still has some more narrowing down to do! He could specialize in: Individual cards Cards for specific baseball teams Unopened packs and cases of old cards (yes, they still exist) Complete sets for a given year Even if you don’t know the first thing about baseball cards and sports collectibles — and don’t care in the least about them, either! — you probably get the idea. Of course, Sandy isn’t limited to only one particular subcategory, or sub-subcategory, or sub-sub-subcategory, or… . But Sandy’s chances for side-hustle success go way up if he hasn’t cast too wide of a net. Whether he plans to buy and then flip (sell quickly) vintage baseball cards, start a podcast about jumping back into the sports collectible hobby, or provide advice to other returning collectors to help them get the most value when they sell their collections, the more focused Sandy is, the better off he’ll be. Sandy could also head right for the techie world for his sports collectible–related side hustle by focusing on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a hot new area in the sports marketplace (as well as the art world and other areas of society). An NFT is a unique “digital asset” (basically, an online image, audio clip, or video) that uses blockchain technology to essentially make that digital asset behave as if it were a physical “piece of something” that is actually owned by someone. Sandy obviously doesn’t have any NFTs stashed away in those cardboard boxes up in his attic, but as he jumps into a sports-collectible side hustle, he absolutely could find something interesting and potentially lucrative related to NFTs. If you don’t have a clue about blockchain or NFTs and you’d like to learn more, check out Blockchain For Dummies, 2nd Edition, by Tiana Laurence, or NFTs For Dummies by Tiana Laurence and Seoyoung Kim, PhD. Sandy began his side-hustle planning the right way: by first selecting some area of interest and then narrowing that area down. No matter what your side hustle is going to be, you’ll almost certainly find yourself following the same narrowing-down steps. The table below shows a few different side-hustle topical areas and then, for each one, some of the underlying narrowed-down subcategories. Side-Hustle Topical Areas Example Subcategories Beauty and appearance Haircutting and hairstyling, women’s haircutting and hairstyling, hair blowouts, manicures and pedicures, eyebrow microblading, laser hair removal Health and exercise Outdoor biking, stationary biking and spinning, hiking, weightlifting, resistance training, martial arts Home-design services Furniture layout, kitchen remodeling, home exteriors, backyard design, firepits Fashion Women’s clothing, vintage women’s clothing, jewelry and accessories, vintage jewelry Even if you’re doing the “just something to earn extra money” version of a side hustle rather than trying to monetize an interest or hobby, you still need to do at least a little bit of narrowing down. Suppose you’ve decided to do some gig-economy delivery service. Do you want to also do shopping and then deliver what you buy at the supermarket or at other stores? Maybe you just want to pick up food from restaurants and deliver the food to homes, with no shopping involved. Making this particular decision will help you decide between, say, an Instacart side hustle versus doing something with DoorDash or Grubhub. Or you may want to just deliver packages for Amazon. You can “package up” as many different side-hustle ideas as you have time for or that make sense for you. You aren’t even limited to ones that are closely related to one another, such as baseball and football cards, or hair and eyebrow microblading. Be careful not to spread yourself too thin, especially as you’re first getting started in the world of side hustles. Taking your side hustle to market You’ve selected your side-hustle topical areas to focus on, and you’ve decided what sort of side hustle to do (providing a service, selling something, delivering content, or monetizing an asset). Guess what: Your decision-making still needs to march ahead! Now you need to decide how you’re going to take your side hustle to market and how you’re going to reach prospective customers. You could: Go to market totally on your own. Leverage an online marketplace. Join a multilevel marketing (MLM) organization. Going to market on your own You can start, build, and run a side hustle that is structurally identical to a full-time business. As another example of someone starting a side hustle, let's say a woman named Breanna went down this particular side-hustle road for her online boutique. She built a simple website and Shopify store and is doing her own social-media marketing. Breanna lined up her suppliers and set aside a spare bedroom in her house to serve as a warehouse and shipping area. She processes customer orders as they come in and then packs and ships each outgoing package herself. Breanna’s brother, Brian, is also in the side-hustle game, but he has taken a different route than his sister did. Brian is a software engineer who wants to do a little smaller-scale contract software development for his side hustle. So, whereas Breanna is selling physical products for her side hustle, Brian is providing a service for his. But other than the product-versus-service and fashion-versus-tech differences, Brian’s side hustle is very similar to Breanna’s. He also built his own website and has been doing online targeted ads to drum up business. Basically, Brian’s side hustle mirrors that of his sister in terms of going to market as a microcosm of a larger business. Leveraging an online marketplace Rather than try to market and advertise your side hustle totally from scratch, you can get a head start by posting your services on an existing online marketplace that’s widely known and that your potential customers frequently visit to find providers for what you’re selling. Keith is a software engineer at the same company where Brian works, and he also wants to start a software development side hustle. Keith, however, doesn’t have the patience to set up his own website or to do his own targeted marketing on social media to try to find business. Instead, Keith lists his services on Fiverr, an online marketplace where people and businesses come to find contractors for software development, video editing and production, graphic design, market research, writing a business plan, or other professional services. Many people like Keith use online marketplaces such as Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, Guru, and other sites as the foundation for their side hustles. Online marketplaces aren’t limited to professional services side hustles, either. For example: If you do dog walking or pet sitting for your side hustle, you can list your services on Rover, Holidog, or Puppy Friends Social Club. If you provide home-related services, you can go to market through Angi or Thumbtack. If you do freelance hair styling or tutoring, or provide dance lessons, you can post your services on the aforementioned Fiverr under the “Lifestyle” category. Suppose Sandy decides his sports collectible–related side hustle will be to help other people figure out how much their long-forgotten vintage card collections are worth. Sandy could list “Vintage Baseball Card Appraisal and Valuation” on Fiverr under “Lifestyle” services. In fact, if you happen to be a Pokémon collector, you’re in good company with other side hustlers who post that they’ll help you figure out how much your Pokémon collection is worth. Another side-hustle freelancer posts that they’ll appraise Peanuts (the comic strip with Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and their friends) collectibles. If you can imagine a product or service, odds are that you can come up with a related side hustle! Multilevel marketing organizations MLM organizations — also called network marketing companies — are the most controversial topic in the world of side hustles. Some people swear that MLMs are the absolute best way to do a side hustle, while others swear at MLMs and regret the day they ever signed up for one. So, what’s the story with MLMs? Suppose you’re interested in selling exercise clothing, activewear, and leisurewear for a side hustle. You could do what Breanna did: Build your own website or storefront. Decide which specific products you want to sell. Find suppliers for the products you want to sell. Figure out the tricks of social-media advertising to reach potential customers. Pack and ship orders if you’re handling your own inventory. On the other hand, you could find an MLM that markets the type of activewear and leisurewear that you want to sell and then join that MLM. You don’t just sign up with an MLM, however. The term multilevel is part of the name for a reason. You typically become part of the sales network for someone who is already a member of that company (thus, the significance of the work network in network marketing). Further, as illustrated in the figure below, that network is constructed in multiple tiers, or levels, thus, the name multilevel marketing. If you join an MLM, you make money from selling products to other people. But you also make money by bringing other people into the company and typically by receiving a small portion of the sales made by each person in your network. Basically, the larger your network, the more money you can make from products that other people sell. The pyramid-like structure of the typical sales force within a multilevel marketing company is why many people view MLMs as a “pyramid scheme.” The full story is somewhat murkier. If an MLM company has a viable product that its independent contractor sales associates — basically, a whole bunch of people doing side hustles — offers and sells to the public, then despite the pyramid-like structure the MLM likely isn’t a pyramid scheme in the classic financial fraud sense. But the key is that the company does need to have real products or services that you and others actually sell. You need to do your homework and determine: How to figure out if a given MLM’s compensation model is good for you Whether you can make any money if you’re way, way down the sales ladder How sales territories are allocated If you’re required to purchase a monthly allocation of products, or if you can purchase products as you sell them From a side-hustle perspective, MLMs have some interesting advantages and possible disadvantages. On the plus side, you can find an MLM for almost anything that you want to sell for your side hustle: clothing, health and wellness products, cleaning supplies, cooking-related products, makeup, and even (ahem) “adult” products. If you can imagine something, you almost certainly can find an MLM to join! One possible drawback, however, is that if you join an MLM, much — maybe even most or all — of your selling will be to family members and friends. Before you head down the MLM road for your side hustle, think about the possibility of constantly pushing new products on your friends and family, or dealing with them as dissatisfied customers, or telling your sister or a parent that the automatic payment on their credit card was rejected last month — yeah, might not be a whole lot of fun.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 07-03-2023

Individuals are now, more than ever, realizing the power of the limited liability company (LLC). If you’re like many people, you probably understand that an LLC can benefit you somehow; you just don’t know the next steps to take. Read on to find out the benefits of LLCs, get help naming your LLC, and get the lowdown on the different tax types for LLCs so you can make the best decisions for your business.

Article / Updated 06-28-2023

Calling in the professionals to help advertise your small business is often the smart choice. But whether to call on marketing professionals at all depends on many factors, including what you’re trying to accomplish, the audience you’re targeting, the talent available within your company, the size and scope of the effort you’re about to undertake, and the communications tools you need to create. When to bring in small business marketing experts Sometimes, especially with lower-budget or short-life materials, the help you need may be available through print shops, media outlets, or online resources. Seeking outside help is like most business investments — you can’t afford to dive in too soon or wait too long. Here’s when to bring in the pros: When you’re creating a long-life marketing piece. If you’re creating a logo, ad campaign, website, or any other major marketing piece that will represent your business for years to come, invest in professional assistance if you’re not certain that your own talents are up to the task. When doing your own marketing takes you or your staff away from more profitable activities. Focus on doing what you do best and contract with marketing professionals to do what they do best. When the budget for a single marketing effort exceeds $10,000. If you’re putting significant dollars behind a marketing effort, don’t risk your investment by trying to do it yourself unless you’re certain of your capabilities. When your annual budget for marketing communications reaches $50,000. Don’t wait until you reach this spending level to call on pros for help in creating important brand and marketing materials. When your budget for brochures, advertising, web presence, direct mail, and other outreach efforts reaches a mid-five-figure total, it’s time to form a creative partnership with an advertising agency or a marketing firm that can help you direct your dollars into a strong message and image for your company. Who to call for help with small business marketing When you’re ready to call in the pros, here are some resources you may need: A copywriter writes ad headlines and text — called copy in print communications, content online, and scripts in broadcast communications. Good copywriters know how to write simply, clearly, and directly to target prospects, using a single-minded approach to grab and hold attention and to achieve the ad objective. A designer — also called a graphic artist — arranges headlines, text, and art elements so they’re visually appealing, using a layout that draws the viewer’s eye to the correct starting point before guiding it with effortless movement through the ad. A producer is necessary if you’re creating a broadcast ad, a video, or a multimedia presentation. The difference in quality and impact between do-it-yourself and professional productions is big and identifiable. Broadcast stations and cable companies can produce ads, but in return for their low production costs, you often have to supply your own creativity. If you’re not up to the task, you’ll likely end up with an ad that looks unremarkably like all other station-produced creations. A web designer adds talent and expertise to the development of website visuals, content, and navigation. Ideally, choose someone who’s both a web designer involved with the visual aspects of a site and a web developer involved with the necessary coding. The result: someone who can design a site that’s aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly, and efficient for your business. An agency or marketing firm handles entire campaigns, from strategic and concept development through design, copywriting, production management, and implementation of printing, advertising, and digital communications. Agencies have teams of professionals they can assign to your job, along with systems to handle multifaceted tasks. They also serve as brokers — screening, selecting, and managing marketing specialists for you. Most assign a liaison, usually called an account executive, to serve as your primary contact and the person who holds the agency team members accountable on your behalf. The management function comes at a price, which is why most businesses don’t hire an agency until their budgets are large enough to warrant management fees in addition to design, production, and media charges. Until that time, small businesses often turn to marketing consultants to provide strategic planning and program management on a more limited-budget basis. What kind of small business marketing expertise to hire Many small business marketers call on the talent of staff members or rely on vendor, media, or online resources as they produce low-budget marketing materials without investing in professional expertise. (Conduct web searches for “online logos” or “online brochures,” for example, to find useful sites.) Others hire professionals on a per-job basis to create more customized and professionally produced material. Usually referred to as freelancers, these experts work for a number of clients at a time. They usually perform tasks under work-for-hire agreements stipulating that copyright ownership of work commissioned and paid for, including credit and control, belongs to the company and not the freelancer who created the work. As needs and budgets increase, businesses move up the professional-assistance ladder to hire a company that specializes not so much in projects as in campaigns or large-scale productions. Included in this category are public relations firms, web design firms, social media marketing firms, and full-service ad agencies that get involved in all aspects of developing your marketing image, message, and materials. How do you choose your approach? Follow these tips: Scale your resources to your needs. If you want a photo of a new employee to send with a news release to the local paper, you hardly need to hire a photographer who charges $1,000 a day to take the mug shot. And you don’t need to pay a public relations consultant $150 an hour to write a two-paragraph news release. Hire the level of talent that fits the task you face. If you need a single solution — say, a logo design or website development — a freelancer may be a great fit. But if your project requires management as well as creative expertise, you may be better off turning to an agency that’s set up to offer full service and to assume the coordination role.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 05-03-2022

Owning and running a small business calls for a variety of skills, perhaps foremost among them organizational. If you’re going to incorporate your business, you need to explore the differences between becoming a C corporation and an S corporation. And if you want to attract investors or even apply for a loan, you’d better be familiar with the key elements of a business plan.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-05-2022

Managing the finances of a small business is a multi-layered task. You need to become familiar with standard financial documents, pay attention to profits, and make the most of the business’s assets. And you always have to be thinking and planning ahead. You have some work to do, get to it!

Cheat Sheet / Updated 03-23-2022

All customers are not alike. Knowing how they differ — what their individual and group needs and preferences are — is key to successful marketing efforts nowadays. Marketing strategy involves segmenting your customers into groups and researching and studying those groups to tailor your messages specifically to them. Social media is a great way to do that because the various types of social media already have their own quirks and styles associated with them, and that can be an aid when it comes time to hone specific marketing messages. Another important modern-day piece of the marketing puzzle is content marketing, which adds value by providing real content that consumers can use, but which also promotes your business.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-23-2022

Being smart with marketing ensures the success of your business by attracting more customers, and keeping them coming back. Whether you own a bakery or a finance business, you need no-nonsense marketing strategies to secure a greater share of the market. This Cheat Sheet includes essential marketing tools, tips for marketing on a low budget, and much more.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-17-2022

Small Business Taxes For Dummies assists both current and aspiring small business owners with important tax planning issues, filing issues, dealing with IRS audits and notices, getting help, and more. To get started, you can discover some strategies to make informed tax moves and ask a few important questions if you're thinking of hiring a tax advisor.