The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report shows the slight increase in jobs in the month of January 2012, yet again making our ascent out of this recession a slow and painful one.  There are still many displaced workers but the increase in economic stability is creating jobs. If you are one of the lucky employers who has the ability to hire employees in this market, the advice herein will be a refresher on how to weed out those with less than desirable histories, and how to spot those who may be omitting or including things that just may not be truthful – and cost you a lot of money in the end.

If you think that digging into prospective employees’ resumes, or even running a background check, is not necessary then you may want to think again. Recent stories of late with Executives who stated certain criteria that never existed makes you think, what else are people hiding? With more than half of all job applicants listing untruths on their resumes you may want to find out more about who you are considering for a hire and run a full background check, before you find out the hard way. Hopefully this infographic will help you improve your hiring process so that you can build the best workforce possible for your business.

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Sure, I know what you’re thinking: Yet another annoying web acronym I’m supposed to master. Just when small business owners were gaining confidence and traction with search engine optimization, or SEO, along comes this explosive social media “thing” that’s making it all even more complicated than it was before.

Do small businesses really need to know about this stuff?  Can social media help me attract customers, keep the ones I have and make more money? Will social media be even more important in the future? Read the full entry

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No matter what your small business sells, there’s one thing you can count on today:  customers and prospects who are already overwhelmed with marketing messages wherever they are, 24/7. Some may be short; just 140 characters long coming via Twitter. Others are much longer.  But all of the messages that bombard us are trying to shape our opinion, elicit some action, or both.

Today’s technology — and especially social media — fosters constant communication. But easy communication doesn’t necessarily translate to messages that are received, understood, and capable of driving action.  With so many messages competing for attention, it’s all the more difficult for any one message to resonate with your target market. Read the full entry

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Selling cars takes more than a handshake and a smile. It takes data. That’s why Alan Fink, Internet sales manager at Freeman Toyota in Santa Rosa, CA, built a FileMaker Pro database. “I needed a way to keep track of my customers, inventory, commissions, taxes, payroll – everything to do with sales here at the dealership,” says Fink. “Now it’s an integral part of my job and it’s used in the dealership every day.”

Fink can also access the database wherever he is with a mobile version of the software called FileMaker Go. “This job is really seven days a week,” he says. “If I get an inquiry from a customer on my day off, I need to respond right away. With FileMaker Go, I have all the information I need on my iPad and I can answer immediately.” Read the full entry

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The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA), signed into law in September, adds or renews several attractive tax incentives for small business, and makes other important tax changes (including beefed up penalties) you need to know about. This is the last in our three-part series explaining key provisions of the SBJA with tax experts from CBIZ.

100% Exclusion of Gain on Sale of Qualified Small Business Stock: Historically, 50 percent of the gain from the sale of qualified small business stock held at least five years could be excluded from income, but remained subject to the alternative minimum tax. The remaining 50 percent of such gain was taxed at 28 percent. The exclusion percentage increased from 50 percent to 75 percent for qualified small business stock acquired after February 17, 2009 and before 2011. Read the full entry

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The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA), signed into law in September, adds or renews several attractive tax incentives for small business. This is Part II of our series explaining key provisions of the SBJA with tax experts from CBIZ.

Expensing Election Extended and Expanded:  Under prior law, the Section 179 expensing election allowed businesses with active trade or business income to immediately expense (write off)up to $250,000 of tangible personal property placed into service in the 2010 tax year. The maximum amount of the deduction would begin to phase out when total eligible purchases exceeds $800,000. SBJA enhances this deduction in several ways for assets placed in service in tax years beginning in 2010 and 2011: Read the full entry

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Washington lawmakers have done their thing again, stitching together a patchwork of small business tax changes that aim to nudge business owners toward spending and hiring. This one’s called the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (SBJA) and it’s a wide-ranging mashup of tax incentives and other changes you need to know about.  Here’s the bullet-point rundown of the top 11 changes in the new law.  We’ll provide a detailed description of each item from top tax experts at CBIZ in a series of posts starting now:

1. Extends bonus depreciation
2. Extends and doubles Section 179 expensing
3. Provides for 100 percent gain exclusion for qualified small business stock
4. Relaxes the S corporation built-in gain conversion rules
5. Allows five-year carry-backs of the general business credit for qualified taxpayers
6. Removes cell phones from the listed property rules
7. Enhances the deduction for start-up expenses
8. Provides retroactive Code Sec. 6707A penalty relief
9. Allows a self-employment income tax deduction for 2010 health care expenses
10. Increases failure-to-file penalties on information returns
11. Establishes a new information reporting rule for rental property expense payments Read the full entry

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The dictionary defines a “funk” as a low or depressed mood, and that certainly matches the mindset at millions of small companies nationwide. Sure, government statisticians have declared the recession officially over. Feel better now?

Not likely.  Employees these days are feeling overworked, under-appreciated, and skeptical.  And despite the hopeful talk of recovery, they remain anxious, distrustful, and worst of all, disengaged.

So why should it matter how your employees feel, as long as they show up and do their jobs? The answer is productivity. Research from Gallup estimates that disengaged employees are costing their companies big bucks – as much as one out of every three dollars you spend on payroll.  Read the full entry

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Business.com has just launched a series of videos to help small businesses navigate the treacherous waters of online marketing and establish an effective social media strategy. Topics include search engine marketing (SEM), how to use advertising networks online, creating and using social media, pay per click advertising, and search engine optimization (SEO) basics. All presenters are experts in their field and help Business.com customers achieve their goals every day. Visit the Business.com Online Marketing Channel to view other helpful videos.

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If your business reimburses employees for out-of-pocket expenses (yourself included), you need a process to track and record those costs and make timely, accurate payments. But for many people, expense report filing ranks somewhere between going to the dentist and doing your taxes.   

Several web-based services are out to ease the pain with easy-to-use, low-cost systems that make the expense reporting process as quick and easy as possible for small business owners. Choices include Expensify, Concur Breeze and ExpensePoint. Read the full entry

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