Starting a business in a recession might seem counter-intuitive. However, history shows that economic slow downs have been fertile ground for new business start-ups. Many companies started in economic downturns including Google and General Electric. A good idea is a good idea. A recession might just be the right time to bring that idea to market.
Why?
Financial need is a strong impetus. Maybe you are unemployed or underemployed. You’ve been mulling over a business venture for years but you never had time or you felt tied to a secure paycheck. The recession might just be the push you need.
Getting started is cheaper. Prices often drop in a recession. You’ll find or be able to negotiate good prices on equipment and supplies. Office space is plentiful and less expensive. To keep costs low you might want to start your business in your home.
With high unemployment, qualified talented people are available. They, like you, will be highly motivated to make the business work.
It is easier to find partners. Maybe you don’t want to go it alone. There are others like you who would savor the opportunity to start something new. A partner would spread the investment risk and could complement your talents.
Friends and family may be looking for investments other than the stock market. Returns on money market accounts and other saving vehicles are extremely low. If you have a clear, viable business plan, your family and friends may help finance some of your venture.
Competitors are weakened. The status quo may not be working for companies. Operating companies are more willing to look for changes in suppliers, seeking more cost effective and innovative partnerships. A new company will have a chance to step in.
You’ll face less competition. Most people are reviewing why they can’t or shouldn’t start a new business now.
Starting in a slowdown shows your faith in business. Your optimism will help sell your product. Laying the groundwork in a recession will position you to take advantage of the inevitable upturn.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to U.S. Treasury Department Regulations, we are now required to advise you that any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and enclosures, is not intended by the Sender or Sandra G Johnson, CPA, P.C. to constitute a covered opinion pursuant to regulation section 10.35 or to be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax-related penalties under Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.
DISCLAIMER
Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message and any related attachments. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy, review, distribute or forward the contents of this message to anyone. In such case, you should notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete this message from your computer.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Protecting Yourself from Identity Theft
Identity theft refers to fraud that involves using another’s identity to obtain money, goods or services. With so much financial activity occurring electronically, identity theft has become a booming business. The consequences to the victim can be extensive and take years to clear. The financial loss may be accompanied with a ruined credit rating, creditors calling constantly, and the possibility of having your name linked with illegal activities. There are some simple ways to protect yourself and reduce the risk of your becoming a target.
Shred. We’ve heard this before but it is essential. Careless disposal of documents which have identifying information is a fertile source for identity thieves. The information doesn’t have to be complete or all in one document. By sifting through a variety of trashed mail, a thief could build a fairly complete profile. A boon to the identity thief is the pre-approved credit card offers. Shred them on disposal or better yet opt out of receiving them. (1-888-5-OPTOUT).
Use on-line access to your bank and credit card accounts to check activity between statement cycles. A lot can happen in a month. If you check weekly, you’ll find any problems that much sooner. Additionally, some banks allow you to set up alerts on your accounts so you can receive an e-mail or text message when activity on an account exceeds levels you set.
If an expected bill doesn’t show up in the mail, don’t sigh with relief. Better to wonder whether your mail has been stolen. If you are comfortable with e-mail, arrange for bank and credit card statements to be sent to you via e-mail.
Identity thieves use equipment called skimmers to capture debit card numbers and pins. The skimmer is attached to an ATM card slot or to any card swipe unit. If the card swipe looks strange, don’t swipe your card.
Be careful responding to e-mails or phone calls asking you to confirm identity information. If the requester is someone with whom you normally do business, call that business using a number you have from a prior statement.
Be aware of people around you when using your debit card. Cell phones have cameras. These cameras can be used to capture your account and PIN.
Identity thieves favor debit cards over credit cards. Stealing debit card information gives the thief direct access to your bank account. If you can control your credit card use, use credit cards instead.
Taking precautions will go a long way toward preventing identity theft.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to U.S. Treasury Department Regulations, we are now required to advise you that any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and enclosures, is not intended by the Sender or Sandra G Johnson, CPA, P.C. to constitute a covered opinion pursuant to regulation section 10.35 or to be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax-related penalties under Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.
DISCLAIMER
Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message and any related attachments. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy, review, distribute or forward the contents of this message to anyone. In such case, you should notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete this message from your computer.
Shred. We’ve heard this before but it is essential. Careless disposal of documents which have identifying information is a fertile source for identity thieves. The information doesn’t have to be complete or all in one document. By sifting through a variety of trashed mail, a thief could build a fairly complete profile. A boon to the identity thief is the pre-approved credit card offers. Shred them on disposal or better yet opt out of receiving them. (1-888-5-OPTOUT).
Use on-line access to your bank and credit card accounts to check activity between statement cycles. A lot can happen in a month. If you check weekly, you’ll find any problems that much sooner. Additionally, some banks allow you to set up alerts on your accounts so you can receive an e-mail or text message when activity on an account exceeds levels you set.
If an expected bill doesn’t show up in the mail, don’t sigh with relief. Better to wonder whether your mail has been stolen. If you are comfortable with e-mail, arrange for bank and credit card statements to be sent to you via e-mail.
Identity thieves use equipment called skimmers to capture debit card numbers and pins. The skimmer is attached to an ATM card slot or to any card swipe unit. If the card swipe looks strange, don’t swipe your card.
Be careful responding to e-mails or phone calls asking you to confirm identity information. If the requester is someone with whom you normally do business, call that business using a number you have from a prior statement.
Be aware of people around you when using your debit card. Cell phones have cameras. These cameras can be used to capture your account and PIN.
Identity thieves favor debit cards over credit cards. Stealing debit card information gives the thief direct access to your bank account. If you can control your credit card use, use credit cards instead.
Taking precautions will go a long way toward preventing identity theft.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to U.S. Treasury Department Regulations, we are now required to advise you that any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and enclosures, is not intended by the Sender or Sandra G Johnson, CPA, P.C. to constitute a covered opinion pursuant to regulation section 10.35 or to be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax-related penalties under Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.
DISCLAIMER
Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message and any related attachments. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy, review, distribute or forward the contents of this message to anyone. In such case, you should notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete this message from your computer.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Are You Ready for a Disaster?
Every business should have a plan for a disaster. A disaster can be large or small, impact part of a business or shut down a business in its entirety, be localized to the business itself or caused by an external event occurring in the business’ community. Long Island has experienced storms that have brought extended electrical outages and flooding. Buildings may experience fires or gas leaks or environmental issues that make them inaccessible. Whatever the cause, a business must take steps to ensure its ability to function and survive, safely, when it has been impacted by a disaster.
Developing a comprehensive plan can be difficult. Many businesses don’t address the issue at all finding the process overwhelming, time consuming and tedious. However, tackling some key areas would be better than doing nothing at all.
Communication
When a business experiences an outage, you would like to easily contact those affected. Copies of contact lists should be maintained offsite and distributed to the appropriate personnel. Remember to update the offsite copies periodically.
Employees – have phone numbers (home & cell) for every employee. Decide who will call employees. A calling tree might be advisable if there are many employees. Each employee should have a contact number (home or cell) for a supervisor or the business owner which is not a business number.
Clients – Your clients are essential to your business. Have a copy of your client contact list offsite. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses should be on the list.
Suppliers/Support - Maintain a contact list of suppliers and service companies you use. It will be easier to get help if you have the phone number and your account number for insurance, utilities, phone, tech support, etc. You may want to contact suppliers to delay or reroute deliveries. You should include in your list alternate suppliers. What if your supplier has a disaster?
Data
The most common business disaster is loss of data. This can result from human error, computer failure, natural disaster, or theft. To protect yourself, know your data – what is it, where is it, and what is most important to your business.
Data kept in paper form is vulnerable to fire, flood, theft, or loss. You can maintain copies offsite. If paper files are too voluminous to offsite, consider making digital copies for offsite storage.
Most small businesses today use computer technology whether for accounting support or as an integral part of the business. It is essential that regular backups are taken and stored offsite. If you do your own backups, take the media home with you at least weekly. If you are not computer savvy or your system setup is sophisticated, a technology support company can help design the most efficient, cost-effective way to provide backup support. An essential step to successful backups is actually testing a recovery from one of those backups – time consuming but worth the effort.
Additionally, the business should know each software product used by the employees and the login id and password for each employee. If an employee could not be reached, you might have to perform the employee’s function. Would you have access?
A comprehensive disaster recovery plan could include much more, costing time and money to develop. However, thought about some crucial pieces of a plan, documenting your plan, and sharing it with your employees, will go a long way to help, if a disaster ever befalls you.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to U.S. Treasury Department Regulations, we are now required to advise you that any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and enclosures, is not intended by the Sender or Sandra G Johnson, CPA, P.C. to constitute a covered opinion pursuant to regulation section 10.35 or to be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax-related penalties under Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.
DISCLAIMER
Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message and any related attachments. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy, review, distribute or forward the contents of this message to anyone. In such case, you should notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete this message from your computer.
Developing a comprehensive plan can be difficult. Many businesses don’t address the issue at all finding the process overwhelming, time consuming and tedious. However, tackling some key areas would be better than doing nothing at all.
Communication
When a business experiences an outage, you would like to easily contact those affected. Copies of contact lists should be maintained offsite and distributed to the appropriate personnel. Remember to update the offsite copies periodically.
Employees – have phone numbers (home & cell) for every employee. Decide who will call employees. A calling tree might be advisable if there are many employees. Each employee should have a contact number (home or cell) for a supervisor or the business owner which is not a business number.
Clients – Your clients are essential to your business. Have a copy of your client contact list offsite. Phone numbers and e-mail addresses should be on the list.
Suppliers/Support - Maintain a contact list of suppliers and service companies you use. It will be easier to get help if you have the phone number and your account number for insurance, utilities, phone, tech support, etc. You may want to contact suppliers to delay or reroute deliveries. You should include in your list alternate suppliers. What if your supplier has a disaster?
Data
The most common business disaster is loss of data. This can result from human error, computer failure, natural disaster, or theft. To protect yourself, know your data – what is it, where is it, and what is most important to your business.
Data kept in paper form is vulnerable to fire, flood, theft, or loss. You can maintain copies offsite. If paper files are too voluminous to offsite, consider making digital copies for offsite storage.
Most small businesses today use computer technology whether for accounting support or as an integral part of the business. It is essential that regular backups are taken and stored offsite. If you do your own backups, take the media home with you at least weekly. If you are not computer savvy or your system setup is sophisticated, a technology support company can help design the most efficient, cost-effective way to provide backup support. An essential step to successful backups is actually testing a recovery from one of those backups – time consuming but worth the effort.
Additionally, the business should know each software product used by the employees and the login id and password for each employee. If an employee could not be reached, you might have to perform the employee’s function. Would you have access?
A comprehensive disaster recovery plan could include much more, costing time and money to develop. However, thought about some crucial pieces of a plan, documenting your plan, and sharing it with your employees, will go a long way to help, if a disaster ever befalls you.
IRS Circular 230 Disclosure
Pursuant to U.S. Treasury Department Regulations, we are now required to advise you that any federal tax advice contained in this communication, including attachments and enclosures, is not intended by the Sender or Sandra G Johnson, CPA, P.C. to constitute a covered opinion pursuant to regulation section 10.35 or to be used for the purpose of (i) avoiding tax-related penalties under Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing, or recommending to another party any tax-related matters addressed herein.
DISCLAIMER
Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this message and any related attachments. If you are not the addressee indicated in this message (or responsible for delivery of the message to such person), you may not copy, review, distribute or forward the contents of this message to anyone. In such case, you should notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete this message from your computer.
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