Small businesses need to save as much money as possible. Smaller companies simply do not have the same financial resources that a larger company will have. Controlling how much money is spent on payroll can be a way for a small business to stay competitive. Hiring independent contractors offers a cost-effective solution when a business needs to hire extra help.

Save On Payroll Taxes
All workers must devote 15.3 percent of their salaries to payroll taxes. Employees only have to pay half that amount while employers pay the other half. Independent contractors must pay the full amount of payroll tax themselves. Employers are also responsible for unemployment taxes as well for their employees. Independent contractors do not get those benefits in most cases.

Negotiate A Price Per Project
Independent contractors will be used only for specific projects. All payments are negotiated ahead of time meaning you know what your labor cost will be per project. Employees paid by the hour must be paid for each hour they are on the clock. A project that takes longer than expected would cost more if a small business relied heavily on hourly employees. Any increase in payment for an outside contractor must be negotiated and approved by the company.

Terminate The Relationship Whenever You Want
It can be very hard to terminate an employee. There are many laws that dictate how you must fire an employee. It takes a long period of time documenting behavior before you have enough protection against a wrongful termination claim. Court costs and legal fees also could potentially add to the cost of terminating an employee. Independent contractors may be let go after the completion of a project. You may even be able to end your relationship even sooner than that depending on your contract with that contractor.

Contractors Cover Their Own Costs
Employers generally will cover travel and other expenses racked up during the course of business. Contractors must provide the funds to cover their expenses. A small business can now afford to send a contractor out to Arizona from New York for a sales meeting without footing the bill. This allows the company to expand its marketing reach without spending too much money. Not having to cover these costs can be a winning scenario for a company that is just starting out with limited funds.

Small businesses need to use every advantage available to save money on operating expenses. Using independent contractors to save on payroll costs can be one advantage to large to overlook. Contractors will usually perform at a high level while offering increased flexibility to the company. Small businesses can operate more like a large company without having to spend like them as well.

Springtime is gardening time, and all you need to make the most of it are a few staple items. From window boxes full of flowers to flourishing vegetable plots, creating the garden of your dreams is easy when you have the right tools.

1) Work Gloves
Digging in the dirt with bare hands is okay if you don’t mind having to scrub soil out from under your nails all the time. But when you’re working with fertilizers or using tools for long periods of time, it’s important to protect your hands with sturdy work gloves. Gloves keep your hands safe from potential chemical contact and help minimize sores and blisters.

2) Triangular Trowel
Whether you buy flats of plants at your local gardening shop or are putting in seeds that need depth to grow properly, a pointed trowel helps get them in. A triangular metal blade lets you cut into the dirt and dig out the right sized hole without hassle.

3) Hand Rake
A lightweight hand rake with metal prongs helps to lift matted leaves, eliminate stubborn weeds and even out the rows in your flower or vegetable plot. The small size allows you to target specific areas in ways a larger rake can’t.

4) Kneeling Pads
Gardening means a lot of time spent kneeling on hard ground, and that can take a toll on your knees and back. Colorful, portable kneeling pads offer comfort and relief no matter how long you’re planning on spending outdoors.

5) Self-Watering Planter Pots
Some plants need to be started indoors. Plastic self-watering planter pots are an inexpensive way to jump start your tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables with long growing seasons.

6) Window Boxes
For starting larger vegetable plants or creating decorative flower displays, window boxes are a good solution. Place them on the front porch or around the house and yard to brighten up the atmosphere.

7) Liquid Plant Food
If you love flowers, you want your favorites to be as big and healthy as possible. Give them a boost with concentrated plant food and watch them grow into a stunning yard display.

8) Organic Fertilizer
Sometimes your vegetables need a little help growing. If you’re wary of using chemicals to increase yields, try organic fertilizer for an environmentally friendly alternative that won’t put harsh ingredients into the soil.

9) Steel Plant Stakes
Tomatoes and other tall, heavy plants require staking to reach their full potential. With sturdy six-foot steel plant stakes, you can be sure that your plants will stay off the ground and have enough room to grow.

10) Plant Ties
If you’re using plant stakes, you’ll need plant ties. Try handy Velcro ties instead of twist ties or twine for quick, no-hassle plant support that can be easily adjusted any time.

With these basic gardening items, you can get your flower and vegetable plots well on their way to reaching their full potential.

Opening a small business is a daunting enterprise these days. There’s a lot to remember, but most small business tips fall into four broad categories: plan, specialize, advertise and save.

Plan
Small business owners may be tempted to start right away, but without a plan, they’re going nowhere. An owner needs to take the time to sit down and write out a business plan. A business plan is simply a road map that lists business goals, how the owner means to achieve them, and in what time frame. Owners who plan to borrow money should always have a business plan. Potential lenders will demand to see this document, because a detailed plan shows them that the business owner is serious about his venture. It also tells them exactly how he proposes to pay back the loan.

Specialize
A small business owner won’t be able to undercut large competitors on price – at least, not for long. The best small business strategy is to offer unique, value-added products or services that customers will be willing to pay more to get. An owner should find a unique niche and do his best to provide products or services that others don’t have.

Market research is also essential for a small business owner. He needs to identify not just a unique product or service, but who he’ll be selling it to. A business owner should ask if there’s a demand for his product or service, and if so, how much? He needs to determine if he will have many competitors, or few, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Advertise
Once a business owner has chosen a product and identified his market, he must get his business out there, and these days, that means going online. While it’s possible to be up and running within hours with free or nearly-free websites, it may be wiser for a business owner to spend a little money for a professional website, since the look of a business website influences customer perceptions about the company. It’s also important for the website to be glitch-free and easy for customers to use. A business website should offer customers many payment options, and every page should have a link to the checkout.

A business website needs to rank high in online searches to be found by online customers. Ranking high requires an understanding of search engine optimization, or SEO. If, for example, the owner of a small spa wants his business to rank well in online searches, he might sprinkle phrases like “spa services” or “spa facial” many times throughout his website. When potential customers search for those terms, websites with heavy concentrations of those terms get called up.

An owner should also consider establishing a Facebook and Twitter account for his business. Social media are increasingly important marketing tools and can provide a fledgling business many new customers.

Save
It’s important for a business owner to resist the temptation to max out that new business card. It usually isn’t necessary for a new business to have brand-new furniture or office equipment. Owners should buy used equipment whenever possible to save money, and purchase non-perishable supplies in bulk. An owner should work out of his home for as long as possible to save on rent. Banks, libraries, conference centers and many apartment complexes and resorts offer rooms that can be reserved for business meetings–sometimes for free.

Our small business contest was a huge success! We want to thank everyone that entered a local business in our February 2012 Contest. We received hundreds of nominations.

Here are the winners:
Small Business Name City State
KidZone Child Care Pittsfield Mass 1st Place – $1,000
Behind The Scenes Inc Greensboro NC 2nd Place – $500
CRC Construction Lake Geneva Wisconsin 3rd Place $100
Izzy’s Restaurant New Bedford MA 3rd Place $100

We are happy to support small businesses that keep moving forward during these tough economic times. Thanks again for all the entries.

Debt settlement is a suitable debt relief option that helps you reduce your outstanding debts to some extent when you find it difficult to repay the entire debt amount in full. This situation happens mainly when your financial condition is not strong and you cannot manage your outstanding debts on your own. You may settle your debts either on your own or seek professional help so that you can free yourself from its clutches at the earliest time possible.

5 Advantages of a debt settlement program

Have a look at the 5 advantages of a debt settlement program.

1. Outstanding balance gets reduced – The main advantage of enrolling with a debt settlement program is that your outstanding balance gets reduced by 40-60% of what you actually owe. This can be done when your debt expert negotiates with your creditors and makes them understand about your financial condition due to which you cannot afford to make the debt payments in full.

2. One time payment – This is another advantage of a debt settlement program. You pay the settlement amount to the company and when the entire amount gets accumulated, the company distributes it amongst your creditors. Thus, you do not have to face the trouble of paying your creditors individually.

3. Professional experts guide you – If you are a debtor who finds debt unmanageable, you decide to enroll with a debt settlement program. In this program, the debt expert assesses your financial condition thoroughly and then fixes upon a payment that you have to pay to the company. With the proper guidance of the professional experts, you find it much easier to repay your outstanding dues within a specific time period.

4. May get rid of harassing calls – As you enroll with a debt settlement program, you make your debt payments through them. The company then informs your creditors about it so that they may stop giving you harassing calls for payments. Thus, you may get rid of the harassing calls of the creditors.

5. Quick way to get rid of debt problems – Debt settlement is an easy and quick way to get rid of your unnecessary debt problems. When you find it difficult to repay your entire debt amount, you opt for this debt relief option so that you can manage to make your debt payments and, at the same time, free yourself from the clutches of debt burden.

If you are a debtor who has fallen into excessive credit card debt problems, it is advisable that you do proper research and get in touch with an authentic debt settlement company. Debt settlement is the right option to wipe away your debt problems even when you face financial problem so that you may be able to live a debt free life.

Often, when people discuss living frugally, the discussion turns to saving a little extra cash by skipping that daily gourmet coffee or dining out less often. But when circumstances warrant trimming more than a few discretionary purchases, it is time to find ways to save more significantly on the monthly expenses. A close examination of one’s budget often reveals that savings, in amounts both both large and small, can be found.

1. Getting A Grip: In order to find ways to trim the budget, first one must know where the money is going. A review of spending habits over the past twelve months is helpful, as it will take into account seasonal expenses, but even a review of three months’ spending is a good starting point. Keeping a journal of every penny spent will provide a detailed perspective of any wasteful discretionary spending.

2. Look At The Big Picture: Once the household budget records are collected, start the review with the largest expenses, as they offer the largest potential savings. For most people, that means housing. By reducing housing costs, households can often trim hundreds of dollars per month from their expenses. If homeowners cannot or do not wish to downsize or move to a more affordable home, savings can still be realized by looking for a less expensive homeowner’s insurance policy, or by adopting energy saving practices to reduce utility costs. Another large expense that can often be reduced is vehicle expenses, by continuing to drive one’s current vehicle after paying it off, or choosing to purchase a pre-owned or more fuel efficient vehicle when replacing one’s current car.

3. No Savings Too Small: For recurring monthly bills, even small amounts of savings can quickly add up. For instance, by choosing a pre-paid cellular service rather than a monthly service plan, a cell phone user may save fifty or even one hundred dollars per month. While that in and of itself is a sizable savings, consider also that, over the course of a year, this snowballs into a $600 to $1200 savings! Similarly, reducing cable television subscriptions, eliminating landline phone service, and cutting subscriptions to magazines or online entertainment, can yield several hundred dollars of savings per year. Even transferring a credit card balance to an account with a more favorable interest rate can save a borrower significant interest charges.

4. Find Money At The Grocery: Many household purchases, such as food and household necessities, are essential expenses. However, how much a family spends on groceries can be significantly reduced by smart shopping at the grocery store. Clipping coupons, and then using them when the product is on sale, can add up to substantial savings on grocery bills. The recent return to popularity of coupon shopping, and the ease of printing coupons from online couponing websites, can give a household significant relief from rising grocery bills.

5. Keep Trimming The Fat: After considering the household budget and making a first round of expense cuts, commit to making a periodic review. By undertaking quarterly reviews of the household budget, additional savings opportunities may surface.

When money gets tight, many people cut expenses as a quick and easy way to get back on track. Cutting back on restaurant meals is not only good for your wallet, it’s also good for your health. But what if you were to take it one step further and grow your own food? Not only could you save money on groceries, but you would also have total control over what you eat. You wouldn’t have to worry about dangerous pesticides or rising produce prices. Best of all, you could cut back on your trips to the grocery store, which would save both money and time.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a huge yard to grow a garden. People living in apartments grow rooftop gardens or container gardens in their own kitchens. To get seedlings started, all you need is an old egg carton. Once they’ve sprouted, you can transport them into larger containers or into the ground. If you don’t have a lot of room to grow, try smaller plants like herbs, tomatoes, or strawberries. These plants are easily grown indoors and can be grown in hanging planters so they don’t take up any room. If you have enough room for an outdoor garden, the sky is the limit! You can grow large vegetables like pumpkins, watermelons, corn, cabbage, and many more.

To get your garden started, you first need to decide where it’s going to be and what you’re going to grow. If you’re growing plants indoors, you need to look for small plants that don’t need a lot of sunlight. Before you decide to grow anything outside, make sure it can withstand the temperature ranges in your area.

If you want an outdoor garden but don’t want to dig in the dirt, you can give new life to old containers that you have laying around by turning them into planters. Almost anything can be used from old boats, bathtubs, water containers, and even buckets. These items can all be used to grow plants, and as an added bonus, they’ll keep out many insects and rodents that would dine on your vegetables if they were planted in the ground.

To make your garden even more “green,” you can create a compost pile and add kitchen scraps, such as old fruits and vegetables and egg shells, as well as a variety of other items such as grass clippings, hair, and cardboard. When mixed with water, these items will eventually decompose and turn into a nutrient rich mixture that helps plants grow.

While many people grow gardens to save money or to eat more healthy foods, it’s also a great way to stay active and it’s something you can proudly say that you did yourself. Imagine having guests over for dinner and being able to tell them that you grew all of the vegetables or herbs in their meal. The wonderful thing about gardening is that anybody, young or old, can do it and it’s beneficial not only to you, but also to the environment.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. Running a company needs a lot of different types of considerations. One of the major challenging tasks is to understand what you should do if a customer disputes the debt in his account or just refuses to pay the debt. As long as the customer agrees to pay some part of his debt through debt settlement, the situation is still under your control. However, when your company is facing overdue accounts, returned checks from customers or even cash that is due to you from other individuals or companies, the process of keeping a track of these and retrieving them through various transactions can become cumbersome for you. This is especially true when you have a number of other things in mind that is related to business development. However, don’t be disheartened. There are debt collection companies which can take the responsibility of collecting the outstanding debts that others owe to you. The advantages of using a debt collection agency are written below.

1. Professional help - When you seek the help of a debt collection agency they would know the process that are to be used and all the legal details behind it. A debt collection company is controlled by Fair Trade Commission. This commission has initiated the use of Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which ensures that a collection agency by no means violates the privacy of a consumer and is yet able to exercise enough control to withdraw debts from them.

2. Experience and will to perform - Another advantage that you get with a debt collector is that they are experienced in their field and are determined to collect delinquent accounts. Usually a debt collection company is commission based and what they will earn is through the quantity of funds they will acquire through the business. An individual debt collector is usually paid a low bottom income and is granted a commission on the actual bad debts that they specifically obtain. Thus they have an incentive to perform well.

3. Transferring your tension regarding debt collection - When you give the responsibility of collecting the delinquent account to a debt collection agency, you are basically transferring all your tension and headache to them. These people will manage the task of coordinating with multiple people, writing and delivering emails, making phone calls and tracking how much progress the claim is making. The collection agency will also make the ultimate work of reporting the status of the debt to a credit bureau once it is required. All these work required continuous attention and can get tedious. Thus making a collection agency do the work will help you save valuable time and effort.

Thus you can see how deciding to take the help of a collection agency to collect the debts that are delinquent can spell several benefits for you and help you in shifting the issues that can affect the finances of your business considerably into the hands of professionals.

The Easter basket is an important tradition for many children. If you have lots of baskets to create, such as for all your nieces and nephews or for a class full of kids, you can save a considerable amount of money by buying the treats for the baskets wholesale. You can even buy the baskets wholesale.

1. Easter Stuffed Animals are an adorable addition to any basket and incredibly inexpensive when you purchase them in bulk. Choose from a chick, bunny or lamb. If you want, mix and match the stuffed animals or put one of each in each basket. You can also put realistic looking stuffed bunny in the baskets.

2. No Easter basket is complete without several Plastic Easter Eggs filled with sweet treats or other surprises. Get at least five eggs per basket. What you put in each egg is completely up to you. If you prefer, get the mini plastic eggs for a cute little basket. Give the basket a sports theme by filling it with sports themed eggs.

3. Bunny ears headbands add a touch of silliness to an Easter basket. The adorable white and pink ears rest on top of a comfortable, snap-on headband. They are a perfect addition to a set of baskets given to a class of kids.

4. Jelly Beans and other candies are a must for any basket. Use the jelly beans to fill the plastic Easter eggs or leave them in the package and give each child an entire bagful in their baskets.

5. Easter grass simply needs to go in the bottom of the basket. You may regret it and the parents of the children may not appreciate it, but the colorful strands of plastic are an essential tradition (a tradition that makes a big mess). You’ll get an assortment of cheerful pastel colors, so feel free to mix and match in the baskets.

6. Inexpensive and colorful Easter slide puzzles add a bit of fun. Kids will spend minutes or hours trying to solve each puzzle.

7. Add some more fun to each basket by tucking in an Easter paddle ball game. Buying multiple paddle ball games in bulk means you’ll pay less than $1 per each, even though the kids will get hours of fun out of them. The games come in an assortment of Easter themed prints. If you prefer, you can get inspirational paddle ball games for the baskets.

8. Get creative with the Easter bunny Hatchem Eggs Growing Pet. After opening the egg, a child places it in water and watches it grow. It’s a fun and slightly different Easter treat.

9. Add sparkle to the baskets with 2-tone Putty Eggs. The putty inside the plastic egg is both slimy and sparkling.

10. Don’t forget to finish the basket by wrapping it in cellophane. The kit contains all you need to finish off the baskets in style.

Here’s an idea to put to work with your small business, one you can apply to your work no matter what you do whether you’re a real estate developer, a baker, an artist, a copy writer or an inventor: Every morning, you probably hop on your computer and check your emails. Tomorrow when you wake up, don’t do that. Instead, use those early minutes of the day to create something new.

Put together a new banner ad, write a new article, make a new contact and start a new business relationship, but take the first hour of the day and use it to focus on what new things you’re going to experience in your immediate future. Don’t waste that hour reading up on how everyone responded to what you did yesterday, use it to make people respond to something you’re going to do today.

The approach that people have to communication and business on the internet is quite often totally backwards. They’re more focused in studying past successes than pursuing new ones. Don’t fall into that trap. It’s true that you can learn from your mistakes, but dwelling on them suggests a timidity about making new ones, and making new mistakes is how you learn from them, not by focusing on ones you made yesterday or a week ago.

Say you put in a proposal at your favorite freelancing website yesterday. You’re probably eager to see if any of those proposals got a response. Why not put in five more proposals before checking? The sting of disappointment when your proposals are turned down hurts a little less because you’re not focusing on your past mistakes, you’re focusing on future opportunities.

Many bloggers do their best work in the morning for this very reason. At 7 AM, there’s no telling how the day is going to turn out and anything is possible. It’s exciting to start a new day full of possibility, and the easiest way to squander that excitement is to immediately start worrying about whether the client replied to that email, whether that banner ad you designed yesterday is drawing in hits, whether you have any positive comments on the new video you posted and on and on.

Use lunchtime to focus on the past if you like, but use the morning to create something new, to do something exciting. As fun as it might be to look and see if you’re getting any extra hits from that new blog directory you just submitted to or whether your new ad campaign is working, the bottom line is that it’s not getting you anywhere to obsess over those factoids early in the morning. Start something new every time you get out of bed and you’ll be surprised at what you can accomplish in a day.