If you’re still using Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system, you could be the target of cybercriminals.
Starting this week, Microsoft is no longer providing technical support or security updates for the 12-year-old XP operating system, or for its Office 2003 software suite, which includes Word, Excel and Outlook.
Solely relying on free or inexpensive online small-business accounting tools instead of investing the services of a trained professional accountant can be a costly mistake that entrepreneurs make all too often. Don’t be one of them.
Springing for a licensed accountant can be worth every extra penny you spend, says ff Venture Capital chief financial officer Alex Katz. A qualified, certified public accountant (CPA) can tip you off to potentially irreversible financial missteps and brand new tax savings opportunities that you might not know exist. And we doubt most barebones digital accounting solutions could bring red flags like these to your attention as effectively as an accountant.
When you do invest in the services of a reputable accountant, it’s important to know what to ask and when — not only to be sure you’re getting your money’s worth, but also to ensure he or she helps you do what’s best for your business and your bottom line.
The antidepressant Venlafaxine sold under the brand name Effexor is a pharmaceutical success story; in a single year, U.S. doctors prescribed it more than 17 million times. It’s not without controversy. As Medline Plus points out, it’s among a group of antidepressants that were linked to suicidal behavior in children, teenagers and young adults.
But while that risk has been well reported, most people don’t know that Venlafaxine is also uniquely dangerous to household pets. Especially cats. “Cats love to eat it,” says Dr. Tina Wismer, medical director of the Animal Poison Control Center operated by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ASPCA. She speculates that it may be something about the way this particular antidepressant smells. “It’s crazy when you think about how hard it is normally to give a cat a pill. But in this case they’ll swallow multiple pills.”
Building a successful business is typically done by trial and error, with many hurdles along the way. And when it’s your first company, every day involves making mistakes and learning something new.
We asked small-business owners around America to tell us the one thing they wished they’d known when they first started their businesses.
We’ve broken out some of the best to serve as a primer on getting as much as possible right the first time around.
One topic I see referenced quite often in personal finance books – especially books focused on retirement – is the idea of rebalancing. It’s often discussed as though the writer assumes that the reader knows what rebalancing is, but given the confusion I sometimes see in reader emails, I don’t think the idea of rebalancing is often clear to people.
So, let’s walk step by step through the story of rebalancing. I’m going to look at this with regards to retirement savings, but it’s true for any kind of investments.
A large opportunity exists for businesses to use ebooks as marketing vehicles. With an emphasis on audience engagement over hitting the best-seller lists, a small business entrepreneur can succeed in ways the competition hasn’t yet pursued.
Five Ways Ebooks Can Help Your Business
1. Share your expertise and assert your excellence: Ebooks are a great way to demonstrate your domain knowledge in an easy-to-read and enjoyable format. Providing your audience more value through an ebook will make them more likely to trust you.
With more than 1 billion email users worldwide, businesses are realizing email marketing is no longer something they can go without. Instead of spending their time filling a consumer’s physical mailbox, businesses now target inboxes instead. Recent research shows that businesses are dedicating more money to email marketing than any other marketing strategy. From company newsletters to loyalty coupons, businesses are using email marketing in a variety of new ways to connect with their customers. For those just getting started with email marketing, there are a number of services that can provide the necessary software and tools to create and manage campaigns directly from your computer.
Bitcoin is coming soon to a town near you. Or, more likely, it’s already there.
The five-year-old digital currency is increasingly being adopted by brick-and mortar businesses, including dentists, pet boutiques — even a small honey business in Utah.
In 2012, about 1,000 businesses used BitPay, the largest processor of Bitcoin payments. Today, more than 26,000 businesses worldwide use BitPay, said Tony Gallippi, its cofounder and CEO.
Employers who want to know which employees could be on their way out the door should look for certain signals, new research suggests.
Even if would-be quitters think they are keeping their plans secret, those who are thinking about jumping ship and leaving their jobs often give off cues that others can pick up on, reveals a study by Tim Gardner, a Utah State University associate professor at the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business.
So what differentiates your product from that of your competitors? It’s critical to your business success that you take the time to define what makes you different, and that you clearly communicate this message to customers to ensure that your product stands out from the crowd!
In this episode of “The Little Big Show,” small business expert Denise O’Berry shares how most companies get lost in a “sea of sameness” and the two little words you can use to make sure your business isn’t one of them.
Dispatches From The Front 