Advantages of a husband and wife owned small business

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Husband and Wife BusinessSince 2007, the IRS has given husbands and wives, filing a joint tax return, the opportunity to treat their business venture like a jointly owned sole proprietorship.  This election is only available to “qualified joint ventures” exclusive to husband and wife-only members provided that both parties materially participate in the trade or business and of course, file a joint tax return.  (See IRS.gov Small Business/Self-Employed)

This has several advantages over treating the business as a partnership, the first of which is the reduction in paperwork and record keeping.

Taxes and record keeping requirements are less stringent.

Operating in this manner allows the principals to attend to the business and its needs first and foremost rather than worrying about keeping records that are more detailed for a partnership.  A 1040 return is simple and besides that, each spouse has to fill out separate Schedule C returns according to their pre-determined ownership stakes.…


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The best way to deal with cold-calling rejection

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In the past I shared some tips when you are cold-calling a customer. Cold-calling gets a bad rap. But it can be effective – if it’s done well, targeted and you do your homework beforehand. I also find that cold-calling can be made more effective when you send an email first to warm-up your prospect beforehand.

But even when you do that, rejection is bound to happen. In the event that you have the
right contact info, your prospect is still there and you happen to catch him, he might still flat-out reject you.

So today I want to talk about what sales people can do when they get rejected. I won’t get credit for this – I just witnessed this in a call from Ian, with Vidyard, a company specializing in on-line video. So thank you, Ian, for the inspiration. Interestingly enough, Ian doesn’t sport a “sales” title. But after all, we’re all in sales, aren’t we?…


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Customer Spotlight: Andrijana makes sure your house is just perfect!

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Flipping through a magazine, you come across a picture of a living room with sunlight streaming through large curtained windows, a big white fluffy bed in a cozy bedroom or gaze at the sparkling and flawless bathroom and you sigh and say …”I want that house“. Buying a house is one of the biggest investment and driven primarily by our emotions (mind you, money is involved) but if it doesn’t click the first time then its just not the one.

Andrijana Furniss specializes in accentuating the best parts of the house and making the house speak for itself. Her company Homes Aglow is a staging and redesign company that  enhances the appeal of the house that’s listed on the market for sale. From her experience, she says ,

It’s all about the aesthetics. If the house is not visually appealing then it is either sold under market value or not sold at all.

…


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Launching, 8 huesome themes

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A combination of technology and art is essential in the making of a great website. It is also important that theme speaks the soul of your business, and reflects the mood of what you want to convey. Launching, 8 new themes, mostly inspired by color combinations.

Measured:

To add a subtle touch to your business with a dash of measured hues.

Aristocrat: 

As aristocratic as Blue. A stylish but formal touch to your website. A poised one.

Timeless: 

The dull vintage lanterns glowing in gray adds to the classic feel. Preciously timeless..!

Teak:

A blended theme of solid wood with communication and technology. For a sturdy business design.

Compact:

Compact and self-sufficient design that gives a neat outlook. A humble design.

Twilight:

A theme that is explorable in all senses. The alternating Orange stripes are refreshingly fresh.…


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A letter of appreciation for Zoho Sites

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Six months ago, we launched Zoho Sites. It has been a wonderful journey since then, with memorable events along the way; customization of themes, password protection, checkout buttons and Zoho Mail integration. But it is letters like this that keep us pushing for more.

Friends, colleagues, even some gallery directors have urged me for years to build a website for my artwork. “It’s the most effective and sophisticated marketing technique ever devised to reach a global audience”, they said. With an online gallery, I’d be representing not just myself, but other artists whose work I felt was worthy of a shot at international attention. So, what does one in that situation do? One Googles.

Web building software, No HTML code required, Widgets, themes, drag & drop… Hell, I barely knew what any of that stuff meant. Then, about half way down the first page, “Watch out, Google…” It was an article about an up-and-coming challenger to the corporate giant’s hold on web building, hosting, and email services.

…


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Zoho Projects 4.0 Preview Is Here: New, Easier and Faster

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It’s been over a year since we started working on the new version of Zoho Projects and are very excited about it. We believe the new Projects 4.0 is the best version our customers have ever experienced.

We recently opened this new version in preview mode for a few of our customers and we are thrilled to share some of the things they had to say about it so far:

When developing Zoho Projects 4.0, we had 3 clear goals in mind:

  • Fastest Tool. All in One Page. 

    Your projects move fast. Zoho Projects moves faster. It loads in a flash, giving you a complete view of events as they happen.

  • See What’s Ahead Feeds keeps your finger on the pulse of every project. Plan for upcoming events/tasks, be alerted to missed deliverable, view critical requests and more.
  • Helps to do things you do everydayWant to know what your fellow team members are doing (or not)?

    • …


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Customer Spotlight: Gatsby Valet believes it’s all about the ‘experience’

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You know your event is a success when your guests leave it with an experience to remember. Simple act such as parking your car, can make or break that experience. If you are hosting an event, you would definitely want to liberate your guests from the parking woes and accidental damage to their precious car and wallet.

Giving the grand experience to each and every guest is what Gatsby Valet services excels at. This valet parking service in Toronto shows you that parking a car can be an experience all by itself. Daniel Grima, VP, Gatsby says

Gatsby Valet

What makes us different from the rest is the experience we offer to our customers. We show them that chivalry is still alive and give them luxury, charm and professionalism which all is a part of the Gatsby experience.

When they started their business, they focused heavily on their systems. Gatsby was using Salesforce and Freshbooks for their customer relationship management and invoicing needs.…


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