Begin looking at the budgeting and forecasts for 2010 now. Look at 2009 and see how sales were. Did they slip, maintain or possibly even go up? Whatever happened, for a conservative 2010 forecast, take the sales number and drop it by 10%. Is the company going to be able to survive with 10% less income. If not, start looking at what needs to be cut. Do layoffs need to be made in the beginning of 2010 or does over head need to be cut. Determine what items can go and start planning on how that will be executed.

Then start thinking about how sales can be prevented from dropping. If marketing avenues are being ignored, pursue them. Start contacting clients about next year, beat your competition to sale. If new products are in development, focus on how they are going to be placed in the marketplace to be competitive and make money.

Start focusing on cuts and sales maintenance now for success in a rocky 2010.

Recently as an example, we had a manager inform us that the owners of the building adjacent to ours wanted to buy our building. Valuable information for us to have. In turn the manager was asked to get the owners names for future reference; we have no intention of selling at the moment. The manager in the process of getting the name, took the owners on a tour of the building with other employees present. The net result was widespread panic that we were closing down the office and they would all be out of a job. This simple task of finding out a name and walk through of a building – sharing information – created fear and panic and cost us hours of productive time.

So as a caution, be aware of the information that you are passing along as a business owner, as well as how that information may be relayed to others. Usually it is best to keep information on a need to know basis unless you have an extended period of time to explain the ramifications of the information.

Employees often talk about how they wished they were on salary. Why? First I am going to examine the pros and Cons of hourly then salary pay and let you discuss which you think is better.

PROS of Hourly Pay
*Employees are paid for every hour in fact every minute that is worked.
*Employees are paid overtime for any hours over 40 per week, and perhaps holiday rates and double time rates depending on the industry.
*Hourly employees have the ability to decide how much work they are going to complete over their required regular hours. An employee can turn down overtime, although it may be detrimental to a career.
*In a business slow down, employee hours may be cut, but the employee is still paid for all hours worked.

CONS of Hourly Pay
*There are no guaranteed minimum hours, so a paycheck can vary from week to week.

PROS of Exempt Salary
*Guaranteed pay check from week to week.

CONS of Exempt Salary
*No payment for overtime. Employers expect salary employees to work a minimum amount of overtime and in some cases an exceptional amount of overtime at no extra pay. It is included in your salary rate.
*Employees average hourly pay will probably be less on salary when the loss of overtime is factored in.
*Employers expect the employee to finish their job assignments regardless of how long it will take them.
*More work will be pushed to the salaried employee since they are getting paid anyway and they don’t have to be paid overtime.
*During a slow down in the business salaried employees will often be given a pay cut and be expected to pick up the slack of hourly employees whose hours have been cut. More work for less money.

When deciding whether or not to pay an employee a salary or an hourly wage, the decision may not be up to the company. The federal government, through the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) section 13(a)(1), has set out guidelines on the use of exempt salary for employees. An exempt employee is one who an employer is not required to pay overtime.

While one may think that an employee is an exempt salary employee, perhaps because of job title, it is wise to check the guidelines first. There are three tests that the government uses to determine if an employee is eligible for exempt salary.

*Salary Level Test – the employee must be guaranteed a salary of $455 per week.

*Salary Basis Test – the employee must be guaranteed a minimum amount (at least the $455) a week which is
not subject to reduction based on the amount of work or type of work being performed.

*The Duties Test – This Test contains three parts of which all three parts must be met.
* Supervises two or more employees
* Management is a primary duty of the position
* Significant Input or the ability to hire and fire employees

So when you are considering paying an employee an exempt salary, check with the Department of Labor or your legal professional as to whether or not the employee qualifies for an exempt salary position. The result of accidentally putting someone on an exempt salary could be fines, interest and unpaid overtime being paid to the employee and government as well as any other employees the Department of Labor may find that have not been paid correctly.

The premise is that there is a panel of 5 business “sharks” who entrepreneurs are pitching their businesses to. These entrepreneurs are looking for investors in their company and are offering a piece of the company for some investment cash. The sharks are brutally honest about how they feel about the company, the entrepreneur and the products.

The part that I liked the most is it actually felt real. And by that I mean it is extremely tough to get capital for a new and often even an existing business. These sharks expected a large piece of the business for their cash. They weren’t just going to give someone a pile of money for a small stake in their small company. They were looking for a real Return on Investment. The entrepreneurs for the most part seemed shocked that the investors wanted such a large share of the business.

The fact is if you are the one putting up the money and in effect taking the risk, you expect to receive a high return. So I would recommend this show to gain an understanding of what it is like when you are out looking for funding and venture capital for your great idea. It is not meant to discourage people, but to let them know that while you came up with the great idea, the chances are high that someone else is going to profit as much or more off of that idea if you cannot afford to fund it yourself.

Check out Shark Tank Sundays 9/8c on ABC.

When starting your new business focus on what you are good at. If it is cranking out widgets, then crank out widgets. Have someone else execute the sales, accounting, and other operation tasks. This will allow you to turn out an exemplary product and not be bogged down trying to do every task your business requires. You are a specialist in your product and others are specialists in theirs, let them educate you and help make your business a success. You are still in charge and have the final say in what happens but you are allowed to move your business forward with highest quality product.

This way you will not lose focus on what your business is about. Many new businesses fail shortly after they begin because no aspect of the business is done well. The product suffers because the producer is focusing on other tasks. These other tasks are not executed well because it is not the expertise of the producer and eventually most aspects are done poorly and the overall business quickly deteriorates.

Next, networking gives you a perspective that you may not be able to get any other way. By networking you are receiving instant feedback not just about your product but the market that you are looking to enter. You may have the ability to react quickly to changes that others may not be aware of for months or even years.
Last networking is an excellent sales tool. You get to talk your company up to anyone who will listen. No one will ever sell your company better than you. You will also be able to gauge reactions in people’s faces versus just words. Sometimes being able to see how people react is much better than just hearing what you want to hear.

Networking can occur in any number of places. A good start is always local civic organizations, so become a joiner. Join the local Chamber of Commerce, Civitans, Small Business Groups or whatever is available in your community. Go to the meetings and events and talk to people. These are the same people who have done what you want to do. They will be able to provide you with an ear to the ground on what is going on and provide feedback about what you are doing. They will also become a great resource on who provides the best services for small businesses. Often once you become involved with one of the above groups, you will find people who can steer you to even more specific groups such as clubs or organizations that may be pertinent to your product.

Social organizations also provide a great avenue for networking. Groups such as the Elks or Shriners provide access to large groups of people who are involved in the community. If one of them is an organization that you may be interested in it could be a great avenue to pursue. Activities such as golfing, as cliché as it might sound, will provide another opportunity to meet people in business. Join a weekly golf league, bowling league, or book club and talk, talk, talk.

If your business lends itself to a specific industry, join any trade associations that may be affiliated with your business. Attend trade show and conferences to keep abreast of market changes and advancements as well as talk to others who may be in the same position as you and able to provide valuable insight.

Networking can also be very informal. When you are talking with friends be sure to share what is new and exciting about your business. When you are getting your hair cut or talking to a nurse at a doctor’s visit, or when you are waiting in line at the grocery store, talk. You have nothing to lose by talking up your business. You never know who might tell who about what you do or have and that person down the line may become your best client.

The people in these groups have just become part of your grassroots marketing. If you are excited about what you are doing and convey it, the people you are networking with will share your excitement and begin telling others. You are the epicenter for your business and everything ripples out from you. While every person you meet may not be a potential client, remember they may know someone who is.

As a small business owner, a raise in minimum wage can have impacts on your business’s the bottom line and beyond. First, lets address the obvious effects of the raise. For those businesses such as food service, lawn care, child care and the like that are dependent on minimum wage workers, the impact is instantaneous, payroll goes up. Or worse than that for some employees, they lose their jobs and their work is re-distributed.

Of course these increases will be most prevalent in the areas of farming, food service, guest services, etc., and minimum wage reliant fields, but it doesn’t stop there. While not all businesses will see an actual bottom line increase, many will use the minimum wage increase a reason to raise prices. So overall the increase in spending dollars received through minimum wage will be diminished on price increases from businesses. It is like chasing your tail, you can go round and round and still never get what you wanted.

Next we have an issue that effects every employee making more than minimum wage. In this economy where employees are possibly not getting merit raises, let alone Cost of Living Raises, to receive a negative impact on their spending dollar by minimum wage being raised will probably have negative impacts on your business most likely in morale. You may very well pay your employees an excellent wage, but are you going to give all of them a $.70 per hour raise on July 24th? Probably not, so in effect you are decreasing their wage by $.70 per hour, that is what they just lost because the prices of goods will soon be going up.

So while there is no right answer, shouldn’t we let the market, ie the business owners, determine what their employees should be making. By forcing employers to pay more, are we really helping those who need it? Most businesses that employ good practices, including a fair wage, stay in business and retain good employees. It is the responsibility of the business owner to treat their employees fairly or they will lose them to the competition, if the market supports it. Right now with the highest unemployment in history and and 11% increase in minimum wage, all we are doing is setting more people up to lose the meager jobs they have and the ones who keep minimum wage jobs don’t gain any spending power and every other person who doesn’t get a $.70 per hour raise loses out too.

Her first business was a preschool center. My mom had been a special ed teacher and had a masters degree in special education. When I was around 5 and my little sisters were 1 and 3 she decided to leave her teaching job and open a preschool. I had never really understood why until one day she explained that at the time the preschool allowed her to spend time with us while growing up and save money on daycare costs. She said even though the preschool was successful and she eventually opened an additional center that there was not a lot of money to made in the preschools. It was purely a means to an end. She was able to continue her career, while spending time with her family. Eventually she turned the centers over to a non-profit and continued on to get her Doctorate and become a national consultant in the education field.

So understand why you are starting your new business. It may very well be to make a lot of money, but look at the other reasons when assessing your success down the road. Are you able to spend more time with your family, are you able to do something you love, are you able to have the schedule you want, are you able to help others? Once you know what you are basing your success on it will be easier to evaluate how your business is doing down the road.

If you live in the state that you are conducting business in, this is generally not a problem. You, a partner in your company or your attorney can serve as the registered agent. But if you live outside the state where you are conducting business, you will need to “hire” a registered agent, since the registered agent must be a resident or entity residing in the state you do business in.

There are hundreds of companies that offer this service. Registered Agent Listings has a fairly comprehensive list of registered agents in each state that offer this service, with easy links to their web sites or phone numbers. As well a google search for registered agent “state” will yield many results as well.

Once you have found a company or person that works for you, it is usually a matter of filling out a brief form with your company information and paying a generally small yearly fee. The registered agent will then send you a name and address to use when submitting your paperwork to the Secretary of State.