Posted In: Business Development by admin

It can be said that there are primarily two rules to be followed for a self employed individual while framing rules. They may be, the rules regarding taxation and those regarding business ethics.

While considering the taxation for a self employed individual, there is not much he can do towards making any major changes in that area. As a person who is self employed you might see a hefty increase in the taxation sum as you would have to shell out for both Social Security as well as Medicare which would otherwise have been reduced by the employer paying half the amount.

But it is possible for you to change the rules of your organization, in relation to the tax bracket you would come under before the deductions as well as after it. Tax payers, submitting returns which are fully legal, the sum can reduce by up to half the tax amount which you would owe. This is due mainly to their individual approach to deductions as well as depreciations and also any legal advice they may give you regarding the same. But if you decide to file your tax returns by yourself, the golden rule is to pay the correct amount and note every deduction that you would make.

Ethics and morals are important and what one might consider perfectly ethical might not find resonance with another. You, as a self employed business man must run the company on a certain code drawn by your own views as well as those followed by other people in the field. It might be required that you draw up a set of rules and ethics which you would follow, with or without the help of the latter, this helps you in your interactions while working.

This relationship may range from those with your customers to even your future employees. Depending on the rules that you frame for your company, you will accordingly attract the right sort of business but also affect the way you conduct your work. By framing the goals and targets as well as the rules you create as a self employed individual, you can build the vision your company will strive to achieve.

There are basically two types of rules which you would have to follow. Those under the compulsion of law and those which you set for yourself based on your sense of righteousness. Irrespective of what you choose to follow or not, you are still under the law to the respective people with the authority whatever you are required to do so. The rules which you create on your own will determine how your contact with your customers and your suppliers will be. It will also create the framework on which you can gauge the actions of others.

Abhishek is a Career Counselor and he has got some great Career Planning Secrets up his sleeves! Download his FREE 71 Pages Ebook, “Career Planning Made Easy!” from his website http://www.Career-Guru.com/769/index.htm . Only limited Free Copies available.

Posted In: Business Development by admin

Your business day has just begun and you quickly whip out your clearly written plans. Pardon? Did you say you don’t have a written business plan? Then join the club, ‘Business Owners Without Plans’. The main problem this club faces is that the majority of it members’ businesses are likely to fail. Business failure rate is high and a crucial reason for this is lack of planning.

If you belong to this group and I did once, you’re probably an entrepreneur or a creative person. The idea of planning feels boring to you, seems unnecessary and involves a lot of detail. And you’d rather be doing other more interesting things. Your way of working is probably a lot more spontaneous, exciting and in the flow so you don’t want to be restricted with plans. However, without plans you can to easily end up very unfocused, not achieving the results you desire and ultimately face the failure of your business.

So, what’s your reason for not having business plans? Besides the usual reasons, like not having sufficient time to plan, not knowing how to do it or where to begin, perhaps you think that planning doesn’t fit in with your entrepreneurial and creative spirit. After all, this is who you are and you don’t want to lose this. Now fear begins to surface; fear that you many need to change personally or fear of failure. While plans stay in your head, it’s not so frightening and real. Putting them in writing, brings them closer to fruition and although you may say this is what you want, is it really if you’re not willing to commit them to paper. Planning your business takes it from being a hobby to a fully-fledged business. Although a lot of people would say that they operate their business as a business, in reality most operate them as hobbies and don’t take them seriously. Then they wonder why they’re not being very successful and getting results.

I feel one of the problems for creative and entrepreneurial people is that when they consider business plans the picture that spring to mind is of hours pouring over enormous pages of details. That’s enough to turn them straight off. However, it doesn’t need to be that way. There is a way to develop plans for your business, and to be creative and entrepreneurial at the same time. These informal business plans are ones that you’ll use yourself. If you need a business plan for outsiders, such as your bank or investors then this approach might not be for you. It could however be a good process to get your formal business plan started.

Instead of thinking that you need to commit hours to working on your business plans, I invite you to start with just five minutes. Now, without any thought of the appropriate way to do it, just write down the things that first come into your head for your business. Simply capture any goals, strategies, problems, your current situation and positioning. Writing down your plans, clarifies, organises and prioritises them, and clears vital space in your head.

The next step is to tap into your strengths as an entrepreneur or creative person. You’re probably fantastic at coming up with ideas and solutions, and may well be intuitive. So, you’ll tap into all of these using the power of questions. You’ll use questions to come up with answers and solutions that you’ll put into your business plan. Your business plan need only be a straightforward review of your present situation, your strategies, resources and goals. Nothing complicated or too detailed.

Here are some questions to obtain you started:

What is the current business situation?

What goals do you have for your business?

What problems and challenges is your business currently facing?

What strategies are you using?

What strategies do you need to use?

What resources and opportunities do you have available?

Okay, so having spent five minutes on your business plans, I now invite you to make a commitment of five minutes each business day and continue working on your business plans. Once you’ve responded to the above questions, put on your creative and entrepreneurial hat, and come up with your own thought provoking questions to answer. Take your creative and entrepreneurial spirit, and use this to perfect plans for your business that keep you focused and producing the results you want. Once you start laying down some plans for your business and experience the benefits of doing this, you’ll find it easier to continue. The most important step is getting started.

As an entrepreneur or creative, what will it take for you to begin putting some of your business plans onto paper?

What planning for your business do you currently do?

What further planning do you need to do? ie. Sales, marketing, business development.

What will it take to start writing down your business plans?

Wendy works with business owners to be more effective and successful, achieving a more profitable business in less time. Click through to her site www.business-personal-coaching.com and read more of Wendy’s articles and about how business coaching can take your business to the next level.