Business Contents Archive

How many hours do you give your employees for PTO per 40 hours worked?

We are wanting to implement PTO for our employees, but I'm not sure how many hours to give them as I have only been managing our employees for a year. I'm just curious to see what the common rate is per 40 hours worked amongst businesses here. Thank you for your help and if there is any other advice about offering PTO I would love to hear it!

Starting an LLC

I am assisting my buddy in starting an LLC. I’ve encouraged him to file the articles in Delaware for the legal benefits. He is leaning towards North Carolina because that’s where most of our eventual employees will live. He is sole member. Everyone else will be contractors. The business will be a nationwide staffing agency. Is it a big deal if he files in North Carolina? An additional question, any recommendations of small business friendly banks? Seeking low fees and just a simple checking account. Ideally, I’d like 2 accounts. One for customer deposits and one for cutting checks/wire payments.

Feel Discouraged When a Similar Business Idea Exists.

So I am an organized, diligent people person with $15,000 in savings and have been thinking over the past several months about starting a small online business that might eventually become a small brick and mortar. The ideas I come up with excite me and tend to exciter the people I tell but then I start doing the ground work. I start looking at costs, looking at similar ideas, and looking at how other places run their business and then I get discouraged. I get discouraged because I see there are other businesses out there that are similar to the one I was thinking about. Not completely but similar in some ways. I feel like everything I think of already exists somewhere and that discourages me from starting. Is this common? Should I just forge ahead and hope that my organization, advertising, customer service, and pricing is slightly better than a competitors? There is a lot I risk in starting a business so I am just looking for advice. Thank you so much in advance.

In business, with regards to breaking even, should business owners always add in the cost of getting a customer the minimum amount of profit they want to make for their own pockets, to ensure they're taking into account actually making some money per customer acquired whenever they break even?

I was just reading about breaking even. The max amount you can afford to pay to get a sale. I was wondering if you should put the minimum amount of profit you want to make for your own pocket per sale in the total costs to get a sale, so that when you break even, you're not techinically never breaking even, but ensuring you're making some money?

Should I make the jump from Sole Proprietorship to LLC?

Hey everyone - I’ve been operating an e-commerce business from home for the past 2 years as a sole proprietorship. I recently switched to full-time on the business earlier this year, and am in the process of hiring my first employee. I know I’m able to hire an employee as a sole proprietorship in my state, but now that I’m full time and the business is growing, I’m considering changing the structure to an LLC. Moving some liability away from my personal assets sounds great, as well as creating more clear lines between business/personal expenses. Are there any advantages/disadvantages from making the switch that I’m missing? I’ve been able to write off a lot of expenses the past 2 years since I’ve been operating out of my home. Also, will it make taxes more complicated to change part-way through the year? Thanks!

Do you pay taxes if your business invests in another business?

I have Business A (LLC), which is a Marketing Business. If I make $100 in revenue, and $60 in expenses, that means I have $40 leftover. If I take that $40 as profit, then I will pay income tax on it. However, if I use that $40 to reinvest in Business A, I do not pay any taxes, since I made $100 in revenue and $100 in expenses. However, rather than using the $40 to reinvest in Business A, what if I used that leftover $40 to invest on my Business B (LLC) which is a different business (tech start-up)? Would I have to pay income taxes on that $40, or could I just show it as a business investment and not pay taxes on it?

PPP- FTE level for terminated employees paid severance during covered period?

I paid two terminated employees severance during the covered period but they weren’t working and didn’t have any regular salaries paid. Would their FTE be 0? My ADP FTE report calculated them to be 1 each but that doesn’t seem to make sense. Tia!

Advice/Opinion: Thinking of selling niche hobby kits (Gundam) to make extra money.

Also posted in r/gunpla As a lot of you know, money's tight these days. I work for a family member; it's just the two of us working the small business and he brings in 100% of the money and business has been slowing down. His business is in the repair service for dental equipment used at dental offices. I was thinking of trying to sell some some model kits (Gundam) on the side, since he is supporting me \*and\* his family financially. With his permission, I can use his business EIN. If things go well, I may do this more as full-time. Just as it is for us in our industry, suppliers require an application to become a dealer. Anyone with experience doing wholesale hobby might have an idea what my chances of getting approved are?

Any recommendations for a small business checking account that links with Quickbooks?

I’m looking at my options and it’s a little overwhelming!

Strategies for paying self (one member LLC)

I’m in the midst of making the transition from working for a fixed salary to now being self employed. Now that I have control over paying myself, what is the best way to handle this? Should I give myself a fixed amount on a schedule just like a normal paycheck or is there a better way? I’m toying with the idea of making all my daily personal transactions on a rewards credit card and then just paying myself enough each month to zero out the card. I know there’s some risk with this like any usage of a credit card but it seems like a pretty straightforward way to handle it.

How to get a "wholefood quality"?

I've launched a small e-commerce business 2 years ago. I am currently selling Kimchi and Korean Meal Kits only on Etsy. Long story short, I am stuck. Number of customers isn't increasing anymore and I want more cash flow. Eventually, I want my product to be sold in markets but I don't have much knowledge about it. As i was doing research on how to get my products on Wholefood Market, I've learned I need to improve the quality of my product. Anyone have any idea of how to improve quality of my product and what the qualifications are? I've already done the taste part. Thanks.

Looking to start a business.

Hello everyone. I have a very rookie question as to starting up. Keep in mind I am starting with nothing. I want to create a food truck business but I do not know the in and out of qualifying for a startup business loan. Just in general, what is the minimum qualification I would need to get approval beyond good credit score, low debt to income ratio and other things related? Thanks in advance.

Lowest fee sites to sell creative electric products? (Udemy, ect)

Besides self promotion via the udemy coupon with 97% pay, every site I see is an arm and a leg. I’m interested in creating courses or even books or anything “digital” (no physical shipping) but with such fees , it sounds like a hole in the boat. Any suggestions for platforms? (I’d want a 1099 tax form from the company too ideally)

Form 1099 - any tax notice / audit stories?? (Freaking out to do my expense deductions)

Expense deduction recommendation would be appreciated too

Where do you interview employees when you work from home? Where do you train them?

Title. I work from a home office. I need to interview and later train employees and I'm just looking for ideas about where others have done this. Thanks for your input.