$10,000 In Local Advertising or a Super Bowl Advertisement? Which One Is Best for Local Small Business Owners?

Intuit had a contest to award one small business owner an advertisement on the upcoming Super Bowl, Feb 2nd.

In a recent communication, Sage feels that a Super Bowl advertisement might not be best for a small business owner, based on a survey they took.

Sage is offering a $10,000 local advertising contest to one lucky small business owner.

What do you think? I think both companies are right!

For a very local business, whose customers base and product offers are very local, thousands of dollars of local  advertising to drive new customers to their door front is probably best.

However, for small business who can delivery their products or services nationally, a Super Bowl advertisement could be awesome for them.

Shark Tank is a national show which each week highlights small business owners’ entrepreneurial dreams. My guess is that while some of the companies are quite prepared for their 15 minutes of fame, some of the companies are not. Getting a rush of national attention can overwhelm your telephone lines, crash your web server and open you up to massive opportunity or massive headache.

However, if you are prepared for your crush of new customers flooding your web site, visiting local store calling your phone line, and you’re able to fulfill product orders - the rewards can be massively amazing.

What would you like?

$10,000 in local advertising or an advertisement in the Super Bowl? Leave your comments below or vote!

Lucidpress Offers App for Creating Print Or Digital Documents

If you are a do-it-yourselfer who likes to create your own publicity materials, then Lucid Software has a new free app.

Lucidpress offers free and fairly easy tools for creating print or digital documents. The app is now in beta and is available for use in your browser or on a tablet. All you need to do is sign up with your name and email address, and you are in.

Lucidpress offers many templates which can be altered to your exact specifications. Just pick the one you want, choose the section that needs changed, and use the tools on the left hand side to change it.

If you are familiar with Photoshop or GIMP, then this will be second nature to you. If you are not familiar with these programs, then don’t worry. Lucidpress is quite easy to get the hang of.

The tool is easy to use, so it won’t be long before you are clicking away with confidence.

The app offers multiple pages, fonts and the ability to drag and drop photos and even video into your page layout. It is designed to create flyers, brochures, newsletters, magazines and photo books. In what is similar to Google Drive, you can invite collaborators to edit, view or comment on your work, by sending them an email invitation or special URL.

The app is from the creators of Lucidchart, the app that enables you to make mind maps, flow charts and wireframes. While Lucidpress is in beta, all premium features are being provided free of charge.

Lucidpress says they “plan to continue to offer a version with core functionality that will remain 100% free, and any price we charge for Lucidpress in the future will be affordable and a great value.”  The company is, however, not specifying at the moment which features are being considered as premium and which will disappear from the free version, after the beta phase has passed.

The (Tax) Price of Success

It’s commonly understood that the better you do in business, the more taxes you’ll pay. As Scottish whiskey distiller, Thomas Robert Dewar, said:

“Nothing hurts more than having to pay an income tax, unless it is not having to pay an income tax.”

But in view of new tax rules and other factors, there may be diminishing returns for success - and a price to pay.

Trending to Higher Taxes

There are a number of new tax rules and limitations that combine to substantially increase the taxes that successful business owners pay, starting with 2013 returns.

There’s a new tax rate of 39.6% that applies for individuals with taxable income over threshold amounts that depend on filing status. And yes, those subject to this new tax rate pay 20% (rather than 0% or 15%) on their capital gains and qualified dividends. In the words of infomercials - but wait, there’s more.

You also lose out on some of your itemized deductions and some or all of your personal exemptions. Once your adjusted gross income exceeds a threshold amount based on your filing status ($250,000 for singles; $275,000 for heads of households; $300,000 for joint filers), the limitations on itemized deductions and personal exemptions kick in. Because business income is taken into account in figuring adjusted gross income, a good year may mean new tax limitations for you.

And you may owe additional Medicare taxes:

• 0.9% tax on wages and net earnings from self-employment over a threshold amount ($200,000 for singles; $250,000 for joint filers). This is in addition to the Medicare tax you pay under FICA on wages and self-employment tax on income from an unincorporated business. The additional Medicare tax is not deductible.
• 3.8% on the lesser of net investment income (investment income minus investment expenses) or modified adjusted gross income over the same threshold amount that applies for the 0.9% tax. While income from a business in which you materially participate (and are just a passive investor in the business) isn’t treated as investment income, it still increases your MAGI, which can trigger that tax with respect to bank interest, capital gains, payments from a commercial annuity and other investment income.

The thresholds for additional Medicare taxes aren’t adjusted annually for inflation, as is the case for other tax thresholds. This means that going forward, as business income keeps pace with inflation or grows at an even greater rate, more and more small business owners may become subject to these additional taxes.

Increased Audit Risk

To add to the burden of paying higher taxes, you also face a greater possibility that the IRS will audit your return. For example, according the IRS Data Book for FY 2012 (PDF), the one for FY 2013 should be available soon, while the audit rate was 1% for individuals as a whole, it was 2.4% for individuals with business returns (Schedules C, E, or F) showing gross receipts of $25,000 to under $100,000; 3.6% for gross receipts of $100,000 to under $200,000; and 3.4% for gross receipts of $200,000 or more.

In other words, successful small business owners are nearly four times as likely to be audited then the population as a whole.

Conclusion

In view of the tax burdens on success, it’s enough to make you question whether it pays to be so profitable. But only for a moment. Most small business owners aren’t deterred by taxes. They have a desire to succeed, no matter what the tax cost!

Price Photo via Shutterstock

How to Adjust To The Age of The Customer

How to Adjust To The Age of The Customer

When  Jim Blasingame sent me an autographed copy of his new book, the name I looked at second (after Jim’s) was the person who wrote the foreword:  Steve Forbes.  Color me impressed! The Age of the Customer is about how the buying process has changed.  Fundamentally it’s still a commercial transaction where the seller is …

Content

Usefulness

Freshness

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Summary

Easy-to-digest book that helps small businesses adapt to today's changing dynamics between seller and customer.

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When  Jim Blasingame sent me an autographed copy of his new book, the name I looked at second (after Jim’s) was the person who wrote the foreword:  Steve Forbes.  Color me impressed!

The Age of the Customer is about how the buying process has changed.  Fundamentally it’s still a commercial transaction where the seller is selling and the buyer is buying.  That part hasn’t changed in 10,000 years.

What has changed is the relative power each side has.

In the past it was the “age of the seller.” While the customer has always been the one to make the ultimate decision to buy â€" or not â€" the seller used to “lead in the marketplace dance.”  That’s because in the past the seller had control over product and service information, according to Blasingame.

Today, he says, we have entered the “age of the customer.”  By that he means the power balance has shifted.  The customer now has equal access to product information. The seller no longer is able to dole out just what he is willing to let you know, on his own schedule.   Also, word of mouth has more power, because today it can spread farther and wider online and via social media â€" instead of just face-to-face.

And this has all changed in the past 20 years, due to the growth of the Internet.

What’s Inside the Book

The Age of The Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance is a book about understanding the new dynamics between seller and customer. It’s also about understanding how to adapt for success in your business.

Filled with common sense advice and incisive insights, this is a book written 100% from the small business perspective. You won’t find many case studies of Fortune 500 companies that may be fascinating but useless given the scale of your own business.  Mostly what you get are examples plucked right out of Main Street.  All are written in plain language.

Scattered throughout you get bits of Blasingame’s wisdom, in small boxes set off from the main text. For instance, he distills the concept of business profitability down to this memorable bite:

“Buy low. Sell high. Keep good records.”

Or there’s this one that I just love, on the subject of customer retention:

“It’s not your customer’s job to keep your business top-of-mind.”

So true.

The author does a good job describing the dynamics between customer and seller â€" from prospects all the way to existing customers:

• Today, the prospect self-qualifies himself, and pre-qualifies vendors.  You may be ruled out as a vendor without ever having contact.  Why?  Because the prospect goes online to find information or may see something on social media about your company.
• As for retaining existing customers, the book may give you an “a-ha” moment when you to realize that it’s within your power to give the customer what she wants because her wants may be relatively simple.  But with so much going on in your daily business, your company may have fallen down on the job because of lack of focus or follow-through.

He also paints a big-picture view of social media and online communities, so you can put it all into perspective. You won’t get step-by-step instructions on how to set up a Facebook page.  The social media discussion is not that detailed.  Instead, what you will get is an understanding of the general ways customers engage socially online, and how to leverage online communities.

Small Business Sales and Marketing Made Simple

Some of the customer dynamics he lays out seem startlingly obvious once you read them.

But don’t be deceived.

They are obvious because of the way he lays them out, sometimes using charts and diagrams. They are obvious because he interprets and explains customer motivations.  You may think you know your customer, but have you stepped into the customer’s shoes?  Most of us have not.  So while we may pat ourselves on the back for what we think we know about our customers, we may not be able to see our own business through the customer’s eyes.

And that is the brilliance of this book.  It gives you glimpses into what the customer is expecting today and how the customer is behaving, in the age of the customer.

Jim Blasingame has been dispensing small business wisdom for almost two decades, as host of the Small Business Advocate radio show. He is a syndicated columnist, speaker, and the author of two other small business books.  I’ve known him for a number of years and call him friend. He knows what he’s talking about.

If business in today’s age of the customer seems unsettling, Blasingame will demystify and clarify it for you.   Read the book.