Twitter is thought as the best way of reaching prospective customers for your home based business. Many consider it as the most cost effective tool of reaching your customers and updating them about your products, services, news and many more. In a way, it is the most happening social networking site that lets your home based business to reach your customers in an unconventional way.Now, you must be thinking – What on Earth is TWITTER?It is the most happening social networking website over the internet. Many regard this site as a micro-blogging service. A person or home based business entrepreneur can write short text messages and post in Twitter. These messages are of 140 characters and you can update your friends and networks through this unique and free media. You can also receive their messages, updates, concerns and many more. Thus, you can connect with your customers through this unique micro-blogging tool.Why is it so IMPORTANT for Home based Business Owners?If you are a home business entrepreneur then Twitter can be the best way to market you products and services. This is the most cost effective and at the same time effective marketing tool. It can be accessed by anyone at free of cost. After creating an account you can start making friends of your niche. Then start networking with them. It is the most unconventional way to reach your consumers and offer them service. Not only this, you can make your offered service and product better by getting real time feedbnack from your networks. Through Twitter, you can also reach and connect with experts of marketing, analyze the works of your competitors and expand business by networking with other companies.Is it possible to enhance online presence of your home based business?The easiest and most effective form of marketing tool over the internet is Social Media. Some of the most happening social media sites (both Book-Marking as well as Networking) are Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Delicious and many more. Now, as a marketer it is desirable for you to connect all your accounts in the social media sites with each other so that exchange of thoughts take place in a more concerted and effective manner.A short guide for home businesses to expand businesses through TwitterFirst of all, what type of home business do you have? Do you have a restaurant or ticket agency or PR expert or online business? If that is so then let me help you in expanding your business through Twitter. Here are some of the things that you can do:
1. If you have your own restaurant in your home then you can update your friends by tweeting about the daily specials of your restaurant.
2. If you have a ticket agency then it will be meaningful for you to tweet about those tickets that are on their way to expiry.
3. If you are a PR expert then tweeting about your publicity opportunities can help you earn more money.
4. If you have an online home based business then it will be prudent for you to update your networks on the latest product and service offered by you.Thus, choose your business from the wide array of home based business ideas available in the market. Make good use of it and market yourself effectively through Twitter.
Twitter and Home Based Business Success – Does it Really Help?
Tax Time: Tax Reporting Requirements for Property Managers
The beginning of each calendar year is a very busy time for many businesses, and Property Managers are not left out of that category! Whether you are a large Property Management Company or an individual Property Manager, this is the time when all tax forms should be issued for funds paid out to Rental Property Owners or Vendors during the previous calendar year. The form that is used to complete this task is the 1099-MISC, and this form must be submitted to the recipient and the IRS by a specified date each year. When 1099s are submitted to the IRS, they must be accompanied by a summary form, Form 1096, to meet the tax filing requirements.
- Why is the 1099-MISC necessary?
The IRS uses 1099s to monitor any income source that is not filed on a traditional W-2 form, which only shows income received as a salary or wage. This is a way in which the IRS captures any income received by an independent contractor or rental property owner that may otherwise go unreported. A Property Manager or Property Management Company is acting as a reliable source for the IRS to help enforce that all income is being reported.
- Who should receive a 1099-MISC?
• Rental Property Owners – all rental property owners that have received $600 or more in rent disbursements in a given calendar year should be issued a 1099-MISC.
• Vendors – all independent contractors or vendors who are unincorporated and have received $600 or more in a given calendar year for services provided should be issued a 1099-MISC.
- When does a 1099-MISC NOT need to be filed?
Every situation has exceptions, and tax filing and reporting is no different. Here are some of those exceptions:
• If the total payments to a rental property owner or vendor are less than $600, a 1099-MISC does not need to be filed.
• If a rental property owner is a corporation, a 1099-MISC does not need to be filed.
• If a vendor is an incorporated business, a 1099-MISC does not need to be filed.
- What information is required on a 1099-MISC?
• Tax ID # – this can be an individual’s SSN or an EIN for an unincorporated organization.
• Address – this is needed for the 1099-MISC to be sent to the recipient.
• Funds Paid – this includes a total of all income paid to a vendor or individual rental property owner during the previous calendar year. (Remember, only if the total is greater than $600)
- What boxes are used on a 1099-MISC to report income?
• Rental Property Owners – all income collected that was for rent should be reported in box 1 “Rents” on the 1099-MISC. Any additional income paid (late fees, utility bill reimbursements, NTQ fees, etc.) should be reported in box 3 “Other Income” on the 1099-MISC.
• Vendors – all payments made for vendor services should be reported in box 7 “Non-employee Compensation” on the 1099-MISC.
It is also good practice to send all rental property owners a copy of their financials for the previous calendar year so they can see where the amounts in each box on the 1099-MISC were derived from.
Not filing 1099s when required can lead to penalties and fines by the IRS, so it is very important to keep accurate records of amounts paid to each vendor and rental property owner and request any necessary forms that you may need to file the tax forms to be compliant in this process.
The Link Between Education and Wealth Part 1 – Education and Money
As a good citizen who worked hard all of my life, last year I started wondering what happens to all of my money. I was constantly digging in to my overdraft and couldn’t remember the last time I didn’t have a personal loan. Sure, I had normal expenses. I am the only worker in our house and we run a car along with the usual stuff, mobiles, Sky TV etc.
However what I did not realise was how much was stolen from me by the government. It seemed I had been sleepwalking through adulthood not realising what was happening. I was part of the biggest cash heist in history and I wasn’t the only one! My money, which I work hard for was been stolen from me via taxes, inflation, debt and my diminishing pension. WOW! But what could I do to prevent this?
One thing is certain and it is that there are winners and losers when it comes to money. 96% of us are in the losers bracket, herded around like sheep, happy and content if we have a small amount of money at the end of the month. There are however an increasing amount of people who are experiencing too much month at the end of the money!! When I say increasing I should say cascading.
The last 2 governments have told us untruths about the “global recession”.
Try telling parts of Asia we are in a global recession, I was visiting my best friend in Singapore earlier this year and the future was looking very bright. The massive growth taking place in China and India is all over the press. Sure, they have a long way to go but they are moving in the right direction.
Try telling emerging countries like Brazil that they must tighten our purse strings and save for a rainy day. The truth is that 88% of countries have a higher growth rate than the UK. These are countries like Poland, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Uganda. Nigeria and Ethiopia to name a very few. These countries are managing their growth perfectly well during this “global recession.”
But what can we do now?
The answers will divide opinion but my own view is we have to become more entrepreneurial. We can no longer rely on the government of the day to look after us. We have to start listening to the right people, we have to change our mindset to adapt to a changing world. Simply put, we have to start to look after ourselves.
We have to change the way we think through education. Schools have 2 types of education, academic and professional. These are very important but they do not teach us financial literacy so we must learn this for ourselves. When we learn it we must start to educate our children and encourage them to educate theirs. Financial education has nothing to do with how academic you are or how much money you make, but more so what you do with the money you make.
Last June InvestUS attended the National Achievers Congress at The Excel Arena on the bank of the River Thames. There were 3500 entrepreneurial minded people at the congress. Most of the people attending were very successful and considered the £250 ticket price, a bargain. The energy created was incredible, the education was mind-blowing and the speakers were some of the most inspiring people you could ever meet.
During the afternoon of day 2, a straw poll was taken. Attendees were asked a series of questions and had to remain sanding if a particular statement applied to them. The net result was staggering! Out of 3500 attendees at this congress, only 7 people went to university, got the grades they studied for and were now working in their field of study. Of those 7 people, all were investors so they were excused by the other 3493 bewildered delegates. The average student leaves University with good grades and £23 000 of debt. If we take the conference, around 2000 people were still standing at the “did you go to university stage”. 2000 people will create £46 million of debt. Many of them will struggle for successive years to pay this money back, this is no way to start your working life. I will leave it to you to work out the relationship between £46 million of debt vs 7 people working in their field of study. My brain is scrambled trying to comprehend it.
I often look at the people who didn’t go to university. In many cases, these were labelled stupid at school. The disruptive one at the back. We all hear stories about how well these “thickies” did in their working life. Most were not bright enough to go to university so they were forced out of education and became entrepreneurial thinkers educating themselves in the real world. We are all aware of the merits and success of high profile entrepreneurs like Richard Branson and Bill Gates who decided for what ever reason that they preferred the education of life as opposed to studying “industrial age theories”. There are however, thousands of people you will never have heard of, for example:
Robert Braithwaite left school with no qualifications at the age of 14. he is now worth £130 million.
Charlie Mullins runs a plumbing business and is worth £14 million.
Lawrence Graff left school at 13 and is now worth £2 billion.
I could list hundreds of these people but you can find them for yourself. We need to have successive generations thinking like entrepreneurs to once again become a progressive nation. Entrepreneurs are not bothered about market forces, they don’t lose their jobs during a recession, they don’t mind who is in government because they position themselves to make money and create jobs whatever happens. They take the good with the bad and move on. They solve financial problems by constantly searching for new answers and we must all be encouraged to take their lead. Sounds like a great job to me!!
I am not advocating that education is a waste of time. I am all for encouraging people to be the best they can in terms of education. What I am stating here though is some areas of the education system have to change. We need educating in finance and free thinking and not in how to become “good employees”. Being good employees will simply put you in the hands of the state, surely this is not what you work all of your life for?