Alexandra Levits Water Cooler Wisdom Tax Hacks for Business Owners

Alexandra Levit's Water Cooler Wisdom Tax Hacks for Business Owners Ill never forget the first time I had to file taxes as a small-business owner. Between the myriad of IRS forms, deductions, payrolland quarterly installments, I was overwhelmed. I quickly learned that the best plan of action was to concentrate on how to file taxes throughout the year, rather than waiting until the precious few days before the early spring deadline. This month, I spoke to three small-business owners who know a thing or two about how to file taxes. Along with her partner Beth Doane, Kelly Gibbons runs the communications firm Main Rosein Los Angeles; Nick Pirollois the co-founder of Philadelphia-based scholarship website Scholly; and Vincenzo Villamena is the owner of tax consultancy Online Taxmanin New York City. Some business owners view taxes as one of the least fun aspects of running a business. Why is itimportant to know how to file taxes? KellyGibbons: Taxes are definitely an aspect of business ownership on which most people have a horrible perspective. We made a conscious decision to look at taxes as something positive. Filing taxes is a reminder of all the great things we take for granted living in a first-world country with countless opportunities. We want to pay our fair share and the focus should be on just thatâ€"paying the amount we should be and honoring why taxes are not a bad thing. It behooves owners to know tax law, to hire expertsand to make smart decisions that benefit us now and for the longterm. Nick Pirollo: Taxes are logistically challengingand giving away money always hits home. Its for those reasons, however, that doing your taxes properly is an important business focus. Ive seen a good number of businesses retain a lot more income by adopting better tax habits. The secondary benefits of proper planning are countless, including being better prepared for audits, seeing issues in your expensesand minimizing inconsistencies in your books. Vincenzo Villamena: Tax planning is important because it represents an immediate and definitive short-term return of investment in accountant fees. Business owners can make decisions based on real analysis on the tax rates and associated scenarios. What isyour tax preparation process like? Pirollo: My preparation officially begins in December, but because I dont manage my year-end filing in-house, it is important to manage the relationship with my accountant year round and make sure they are clued in before tax season rolls around. In December, I round out my books, gather any necessary paperworkand make projections for the remainder of the month in order to form a full picture of the businessyear. This means I am only making slight adjustments once Decembers final numbers come in. It also makes the coming year much more manageable, giving me ample time to get any extra cash in place to cover costs. Villamena: We generally sit down with each client and look through their previous filed returns, examining improvement areasâ€"for example, investment in capex before year-end, retirement plans, making an S-Corp electionor declaring year-end bonuses. Gibbons: We prepare well in advance with respect to our cash flow, and set aside more than we think we will need in order to compensate for higher earnings than what we may expect. This is crucial with a client-based business like ours. For the rest of the interview, check out the AMEX Open Forum.

Catherine Zeta-Jones, workplace reformer

Catherine Zeta-Jones, workplace reformer Last week Catherine Zeta-Jones performed at the Oscars when she was eight months pregnant. What a surprise that behind her Hollywood glitz is a working mom who challenges workplace stereotypes. Image is so important at the workplace, and the image of a pregnant woman does not scream workplace success. In fact, the image of a pregnant woman usually induces quiet musings about whether shell ever work again after the baby comes. Hollywood is the extreme of this problem, because in Hollywood, ones job is to look good. But Hollywood is also the crowd that sets the tone for what is socially acceptable, so its a big deal that Catherine stood in front of the most important audience of her career and did her job: She sang a song. Working through ones pregnancy is difficult enough, but Catherines job is to look sexy and confident. Whether or not she did look sexy is up for discussion (the ranks were divided at the Oscar party I attended). But Catherine did make serious progress toward making people comfortable around working women who are pregnant. And her presence on stage should make the world a little more comfortable with pregnant women wielding power. My own version of fat Hollywood happened one week before my baby was due. An editor called me to say the magazine (not Bankrate) needed a photo of me. They wanted to set up a photo shoot that week. I went ballistic. I said no way. I reminded the editor that I was forty-five pounds overweight. I vowed to never answer the phone again until the baby came. But I did answer the phone again. And again. Because the editor called relentlessly. When I could feel myself starting to cry (it happened all the time during the pregnancy), I agreed to a photo session a week after my babys due date. The baby came, and in the biggest rip-off of my life, I lost only five pounds during delivery. The day of the shoot was day three of no sleep, and day four of no shower. The stylist called to ask me to bring shirts in three different colors. I said, I have one shirt that fits, and its dirty, and Ill be wearing it. Ever since then, I have admonished myself for going to the photo shoot before I lost the pregnancy weight. But now Im thinking maybe I wasnt so stupid in the ideal world all women would feel comfortable being their fat, pregnant selves at work. Take note, though: Catherine made a point of mentioning her hormonal imbalance during her acceptance speech. She mentioned hormones to make sure everyone knows she is not JUST fat, but fat because shes pregnant. Surely a publicist advised this tactic, and I think its a good one. For better or worse, people perceive fat and pregnant as much more acceptable than just fat. Recently, I told my editor I lost all my pregnancy weight, and I asked if we could take new photos. He said; I think you look like a babe in your photo. When he told me that I thought to myself, He is full of crap. But that was before the Oscars. I thought Catherine looked good. Fat. But confident. So maybe I exude confidence, too. If only I could write a caption below my photo that mentions something about hormones

Job Search Tips for 2016

Job Search Tips for 2016 Whether youve recently graduated and are still looking for that first career opportunity, or have been shopping for a career upgrade, one thing is obvious.  Seeking out a quality position requires much more in 2016 than just sending out a few resumes.  Start out with a mindset that the quest for a new position is an educational process in itself.   With that mindset, weve gathered the best tips and tools of the pros to help you search for and find the perfect position.  Read on to open the door to your future. Make Your Resumes Perfect Did you notice that its plural, as in more than one?  Gone are the days when you can get by with just one general purpose resume. Youre selling yourself, and just like an advertising campaign, your pitch must be targeted.  According to the professionals, youll need several versions  and youll still need to tweak each of those for the specific employer. On a more basic level, be sure to fine tune your resume.  If possible, find a reputable (one with lots of positive third party endorsements) resume service to develop a solid framework.  If you want to go it on your own, check out these things to avoid    recently covered in another Ms Career Girl article. Online Prospecting There are literally tons of online career boards and advisory sites.   Put your information on all the major ones.  Then, make it a regular weekly habit to add at least of couple of smaller niche sites that are more targeted to your desired career.    Be sure to keep track of every site youre on, and keep all the information there up to date. Remember also to register with as many direct corporate career sites as possible.  Not all openings are sent out to the major job boards.  If the company checks their own pool first, you just may be lucky enough to find yourself at the front of the line rather than one of hundreds of potential applicants. Network and Network Some More Traditional networking is still an important part of any job search plan.  Make sure your name is out there.  And this isnt just face to face interaction.  Chat boards and forums where youre doing things other that job search shouldnt be left unseeded.  You never know when someone will know or have heard of the perfect opportunity youve been looking for.  If they dont know youre looking, theyre not likely to mention it to you. Of course, social media is a critical part of networking.   Again, put the word out.  And the premiere social media site for job seekers, LinkedIn, deserves your utmost attention.   In fact, LinkedIn has become such an important part of job search that weve done several articles recently on using it.  They are must-reads, and here they are for your convenience: HOW TO ROCK YOUR LINKEDIN PROFILE IN 8 STEPS HOW TO USE LINKEDIN WISELY DURING JOB SEARCH 7 TIPS FOR CREATING THE PERFECT LINKEDIN PROFILE PHOTO Images: Resume  Flazingo Photos

Are you waiting for your real life to begin

Are you waiting for your real life to begin The following article by  Jon Westenberg  originally appeared on  www.jonwestenberg.com and Medium.com.  His bio follows. There’s something sad about thinking that the life you’re living right now is a place holder, something to tide you over until your real life begins. That’s the mentality that we often have in our first jobs, or when we’re at college. We just have to get through this, we think, and then we can start living. There’s a quote I love from Douglas Coupland about this: “When you’re young, you always feel that life hasn’t yet begun?â€"?that “life” is always scheduled to begin next week, next month, next year, after the holidays?â€"?whenever. But then suddenly you’re old and the scheduled life didn’t arrive. You find yourself asking, ‘Well then, exactly what was it I was having?â€"?that interlude?â€"?the scrambly madness?â€"?all that time I had before?” All that time I had before, I was too busy focusing on what would come next, and how good it would be. How I’d feel, when I finally “made” it, and I was never thinking about?â€"?or enjoying?â€"?the moments I was living in. Waiting for my life to actually kick off, I was ignoring and missing out on all the living that was right there, right in front of me. All the experience and the joy, everything. I wouldn’t even commit to anything long term, because I looked at all the things I did that weren’t contributing to realizing my dreams as just being temporary. My relationships, my friendships, even some of my passions. Looking back now, I know my life began when it began. It certainly didn’t spring into being the moment I started my first company, or the moment I signed my record deal, or the moment I got into (or dropped out of) law school. My real life was already in motion then, in each of those periods, and they contributed to it?â€"?but they never defined it conclusively. When I used to fail, I’d always think about it as though I was just delaying starting my new, better life. I wasn’t really fucking up, I told myself, just pushing my time line back a little. I wasn’t living my real life yet, so none of it really mattered. That was incredibly freeing, once. But now I think that just imprisoned me. It made me feel as though there wasn’t anything important in the world directly around me.  And that stopped me from doing so many things, and making so many memories. Real life is every single passing second though. Real life is today, when I’m sick. It’s not something I enjoy experiencing. I’ve been up all night, and I feel incredibly run down. I need a blanket, a hot drink and a hug. But I’m writing anyway, and later I’ll catch up on my work. I know that this is all a part of the story now. And that my life won’t be any better or any more real if I close more deals. Or if I get a better job, if I start a new company, or if I make more money. All of that would be nice, sure?â€"?but it’s not going to invalidate all the stuff I’m doing now. The days I’m living through. Real life is doing the little annoying things that just have to get done and get dealt with. Real life is very rarely going to match up to what I think it should all be like. Real life is hard. And real life is wonderful. John Westenberg Jon has appeared and published in Business Insider, Inc.com, TIME and dozens of other publications. For over 10 years, he has combined his passion for business with a drive to create art and build products.   Jon is rated one of the top writers on Medium.com.   He has grown a massive audience with his down to earth style and refreshing approach to startups, small business entrepreneurship, and creativity.   Images: Main  Alessandro Pautasso

Loving And Compassionate Consider A Career In Care - CareerMetis.com

Loving And Compassionate Consider A Career In Care Photo Credit â€" Pixabay.comAre you in a job you just don’t enjoy? Do you long for employment which you find fulfilling, where you go home feeling as though you’ve positively impacted the world in which you live? Maybe it’s time to retrain in a career in care!If you’re compassionate, sympathetic, and want employment with high job satisfaction, a caring career is the job for you. There are many different roles within the care sector that might be appropriate for your interests, just keep on reading to find out more.1. Teach the Next GenerationsIf you enjoy working with children and like the idea of molding the next generation, why not look into becoming a teacher â€" either in schools, as a private tutor, or even as an e-learning teacher?evalTraining will enable you to specify the age group with which you’d enjoy working, and for many training roles, no specific experience is required. Many people choose to retrain as teachers later in life, from office managers to physiothe rapists â€" it’s a very varied profession, and experience in the workplace can really help when it comes to working with youngsters and classroom management.If you think this could be the career for you, your first step is to contact a local school and ask to shadow some lessons. This will help you to decide if you want to pursue this further.2. Care for the ElderlyThanks to the great healthcare that has become available in recent years, we now have an aging population. This means that we’re living longer, but it also means that there are more seniors that require care than ever before.A career in caring for the elderly can take many forms. Some people choose to work as care home nurses, whereas others may choose to become a senior companion, to keep people company as they age. If you’re compassionate, chatty, and loving, this could be the perfect career move for you.3. Try MidwiferyGiving birth can be one of the scariest, most stressful times in a woman’s life, so the midwi fe by their side is the most important person to get them through it. Midwifery can be a really rewarding job, and the new mothers’ gratitude is enough to get you through the day.It can also be emotionally draining, and physically tiring, but despite this, it’s still a really popular profession. If you love babies, and you’re great at staying calm under pressure, midwifery might just be your future.3. Give Occupational Therapy a goSometimes people suffer from a physical or mental illness which stops them from being able to work. In these situations, they’re encouraged to see an occupational therapist as their recovery progresses, in order to get them back into their occupation.evalPeople with previous occupational experience, particularly managerial, make great occupational therapists, but compassion and understanding are also a must.Retraining to a career in caring can be a huge jump, but really rewarding. Many people find that helping people on a day-to-day basis makes the m feel happier and more rewarded than their previous occupations did. If you think a career in caring could be for you, start researching it today and make that jump â€" you won’t regret it.

A Case Against Multiple LinkedIn Profiles - CareerEnlightenment.com

YOU are Not Your JobYou are brand you, what ever that brand is. Period.None of your profiles has anything more than that.LinkedIn is not a company profile, it is a personal profile. If YOU are job seeking AND selling real estate, then thats you. You cant hide. Nor should you.The same goes for Twitter or any other social media profile.If you own a business, then create a business page on LinkedIn and Facebook. But dont pretend to BE the business.And if you cant decide what you should be, then share your journey.LinkedIn is About NetworkingLinkedIn is not your online catalog or personal website. The value of LinkedIn is who you are connected to, how you can give value to them, and what you can ask for in return.Imagine having 2 profiles, each one connecting to different people. How would you know who to connect with or what account to login to?Or imagine having to duplicate invitations, doubling your work.Networking is hard enough.But What if My Side Job Jeopardizes My Employment Chanc es?First, ask yourself how much business LinkedIn gets you for your side gig. Then ask yourself how many job interviews you can get with LinkedIn.If you can run your business on LinkedIn, and you dont need to find a job. The choice is obvious. Stop looking.But if you NEED the job and your biz isnt getting new clients from LinkedIn, AND having it on your profile might hurt you, then take it off. There is a higher chance of your business failing then you getting a job, believe it or not. Designate LinkedIn to job seeking.But, if mentioning your biz in your profile doesnt affect your employment prospects (and chances are it wont) then:have a paragraph for both biz and career in your summarymention both in your headlinecreate custom links to both in the links sectionDont beg for work, or youll have some explaining to do to your customers!If you are getting serious with a company, you are going to send a customized resume anyway.As always, comments are welcome.

Writing a Rockin Resume - What Should You Do?

Writing a Rockin Resume - What Should You Do?In today's world, writing a rockin resume is more important than ever before. There are many employers out there who have questions about the candidates' work history, previous education and any other relevant information.Rockin' a resume is all about expressing your best qualities and skills that you posses. It is more than just a piece of paper with some nice fonts and pictures attached to it. It is your way of showcasing how you are as a person, how much potential you possess and how much you can do for the company you are applying for.The difference between a decent and rockin' resume and one that does not meet the requirements of the company you are applying for is really quite different. It may seem hard to believe but it is actually very easy. In order to impress the employer who is reviewing your application, you need to start by improving on your written communication skills.First, be sure to put down all the right information. Li sting your work experience in your resume will get you noticed and the prospective employer will be able to read it without skipping a single line. In addition, he or she will be able to find out the names of the companies you have worked for and what are the job titles of those jobs.Remember, a rockin 'resume can also be a rockin' book or dissertation. When you are writing a book or dissertation, it should be written according to the rules of grammar and syntax. You should understand how to avoid spelling mistakes and how to organize and place your thoughts and ideas in a logical and organized manner.A rockin' resume should be concise, factual and informative. It should also have the proper format so that the prospective employer can skim over it and make up his or her mind about whether to call you for an interview or not.Also, ensure that the resume you are writing is as good as it can be. If you feel that your resume is lacking, then you can either edit it or rewrite it.Writing a rockin' resume is important and it should never be done hastily. Have patience and give yourself ample time to compile and write your resume. This will not only help you land that job but will also help you get a new career.