Business Contents Archive

I run everything I earn through my S corporation. I am owed 43K by a large corporation for whom I have done a lot of work. They are refusing to pay me. Can I write off the money that they owe me on my taxes.

They have owed me this money for about a year and a half. I am just about to give up on every seeing it and want to know if I can write it off on mt taxes as a loss or a bad debt.

Laundromat or Car Wash?

If you had to choose between these 2 ventures, which would you go with?

I’ve started a very small business and need help

I have just started a gardening business. I do work in and around my town and have all the equipment I will ever need thanks to generations of labourers and construction working family members who were all very hands on. However I need a little support with spreading my business further and getting to the point that I can get to employ other people. This is a challenge for me as a have barely enough income to keep me in profit and when winter comes I will have even less work. Although I am willing to enter other valleys of the home renovations businesses. Hope you can help thanks.

Does pricing your services too low make people think it’s not as good?

I don’t want this to come off as promotional so I’m going to be a little vague on specifics… I recently built something allowing me to provide a service more effectively and at a way lower cost (it’s a very saturated market but even so, I believe I am offering the best price that anyone could find, worldwide.) My competitors charge minimum 5-10 times more then me for the same service. Granted, I just did an official soft launch today but it’s such a good deal I thought I’d have to be turning away customers. Yet I just saw someone offering the same service for 5 times more and people were thrilled about it. Do you think potential customers will inherently think there is something wrong with my service because the cost is so low, even though I clearly layout the specifics? Is there anyway to fix that, without charging more?

I need help (a vent)

As much as I hate asking for help on this type of stuff, I realize now that I can't do this small business stuff completely on my own. Maybe I just need patience, but I started this business earlier this year and I've only made two sales and they were months apart. I know I need to keep grinding and promoting but I'm losing motivation at this point. I'm doing what I love which is designing things, and so I'm happy about that, but all in all, I want this to be a business. At least something on the side for me to gain some money. I'm struggling to make things that sell. I'm struggling with marketing. And I'm struggling with SEO. I've gotten some help on Instagram which helped me gain some followers, and someone on Fiverr helped me with SEO a bit, but I'm still not seeing progress. I know, I KNOW I need patience. But if there's anyone who could give me some advice on how to really grow this shop I have, that would be very much appreciated. Thank you.

Auto Insurance for cleaning business?

Started a cleaning business recently and just landed our first commercial building. The building is asking us for forms of insurance which is completely fine but they asked for our auto insurance. I only have 2 employees right now and they drive their own cars to the job site. I’m assuming the building thinks we have a company van, but we don’t yet. How should I address this?

Need help with naming construction business

As a DIY enthusiast, I have accrued an extensive collection of tools while working on my own home, thus honing my skills a bit. Now, I'm contemplating a transition into a professional handyman business, potentially evolving into a fully-fledged construction business in due time. Yet, I'm apprehensive that adopting a title such as '*Name* Handyman' might pigeonhole me into smaller tasks, even though I would ideally like to be paid more by taking on bigger projects. To accurately reflect my capacity for larger projects, would '*Name* Renovations' or perhaps 'Renovations and Construction' be more suitable? I'd greatly value insights from those with similar business experience, and any name suggestions are more than welcome. Thank you.

Considering a small business

A few days ago, I decided I wanted to hopefully meet someone as a potential business partner and start a joint venture. This led me to meeting someone that suggested an airbnb cleaning business. He also told me he could get me approved for a 50,000 dollar loan. Obviously, I’m weary. But it did get me thinking, is this viable? How In demand are Airbnb’s? Is this profitable? Does anyone do this and what would I be looking at start up wise?

Alternatives to ADP

My husband and I own a business and currently operate as independent contractors. However, we are looking to transition into an S-Corporation structure and become W-2 employees. Additionally, we plan to hire another person who will also be a W-2 employee. As part of this transition, we are in need of a health insurance plan for both of us and the upcoming employee. Recently, we spoke with a representative from ADP, but we find their fees to be quite high. They quoted us approximately $2,400 per year in processing fees for three employees solely for payroll services. We are wondering if there are more affordable alternatives available. Could you suggest a cost-effective solution that combines payroll and health insurance services, similar to ADP? We are interested in finding an all-in-one option but will be happy to use more than 1 system if that will result in a significant amount of money saved.

Taking Team to Ball Game

I’m taking my team of seven people, including me, to a ball game. Obviously I’m going to cover dogs and beers., My question is how good do the seats have to be? We are not a huge corporate company. My best guy gets paid 200 K, but the rest of them are in the 70s and 80s. By the way, we live in a big city, so salaries are on the low side of good.

Looking for a CPA (Better to go with small CPA business or large firm?)

My business is finally going to be able to expand to more than just me and I need some help transitioning to an S-Corp (I believe that's what I should do) and figure out what rates I should set when accepting contracts. From everyone's experience, is it better to go with a firm that traditionally handles small businesses or a small business CPA (single employee or few employees). Just a little unsure what I should be looking for... Any help is HIGHLY appreciated!

(Free) Teamviewer Alternative?

Anyone using a freeware Teamviewer alternative with success? I'm looking for something free that allows me to remote view and control a handful of PCs. I'm not supporting a large number of computers and I don't need to do this very often so I'm not willing to pay a subscription fee. I need access to a total of 3-9 computers and only need to remote in every so often (maybe a couple times a month, total).

Best way to finance “large” capital expenditure required for start up

Before everyone torches me, I am genuinely asking advice. The purpose of said funds/financing need directly permits the product to get to market. I need a working closed loop model, to stress test it before an actual micro launch. More specifically, Senior Development Expenses. FWIW, I am bootstrapping my entity and really not super keen to taking on outside investments at our current stage. Is a Biz CC like Capital One Spark, or any alternative that offers extended 0% APR really the appropriate call for the time being? Appreciate any recommendations. Thank you,

INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE and how to do it

Well, I live in South America and a good part of my family has a lot of land all across my country, and many of them have told me to sell this to potential clients. I have this idea of selling it to international investors but I don't know how can I start and how can I manage the documentation and all that stuff. I'll be glad if someone could help me or bring me some advice!!!

S corp and business distributions

So I've formed an S corp single member. Just set up payroll with Gusto. However I'll need to take additional money out of my business account for paying off my student loans each month. Are business distributions something that is filed at the end of year on some form? Or is there some additional process to perform business distributions into my personal savings? Thank you