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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

6 Ways to Recharge Your Business in 2013

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

For the entrepreneur, this time of year typically means a mad dash to wrap-up remaining projects, close deals, and squeeze in time for family and friends. As the days get shorter, it starts to feel like time accelerates faster than ever -- leaving you less and less time to accomplish your year-end goals.

However, amidst the holiday chaos, it is possible to stay grounded and set the foundation for a successful year to come. Here are six ways to help you recharge your business in the New Year.

1. Get your priorities in line: Time management is a year-round challenge for business owners, but schedules get even tighter during the holidays. That?s why it?s more important than ever to know your priorities. Set a stopwatch for 20 minutes and write down everything that needs to get done. Then, give yourself another 10 minutes to assess which of those tasks are the most important to yourself, your business and your family. Keep that list in mind as you start each day -- and make sure all your activities are centered around those core priorities.

2. Ditch the New Year?s resolutions: A FranklinCovey survey found that 80% of people who make New Year?s resolutions will break them. And a third never make it to the end of January. If you?re one of the many people who have left a string of resolutions behind, it?s time for a new approach.

Rather than creating your resolutions for 2013, use the end of the calendar year to reflect on your business and market. What were some of the best things that your business accomplished this year? What were some of the biggest mistakes? Don?t rush to begin planning the new year until you?ve celebrated your wins and acknowledged your mistakes.

3. Evaluate your year as a business leader: In addition to reflecting on your business, this is a good time to reflect on yourself. After all, as an entrepreneur, you don?t exactly get a yearly performance review. Being as objective as possible, write down your strongest characteristics as a leader -- and your weakest. Then, think about how each of these characteristics impacted your business, team members and partners during the year. This type of objective self-assessment can help you pinpoint areas to improve in 2013.

4. Build important connections: As a good entrepreneur, you?re looking out for interesting opportunities around every corner. And the end of the year offers a bevy of parties and events. Make some time to take advantage of these networking events and meet new people. Sometimes a simple party is the key to a great new client, collaboration or partnership that will pay dividends in the new year.

5. Show the love: During this hectic time, it?s all too easy to become inwardly focused -- where you?re thinking more about crossing things off your list than what (or who) really matters. Of course, holidays are the time for family and friends, but I?m also talking about the professional relationships that matter to you.

Think about the most important people you?ve worked with throughout the year -- whether it?s a devoted assistant or a colleague who keeps introducing you to great contacts. Then, let them know just how much you appreciate them.

6. Unplug and recharge your batteries: No matter how busy your schedule gets, every entrepreneur should take some much-needed time away from the office and digital devices. Take advantage, since this is often the one time of year when people expect you won?t be working (unless, of course, you?re involved in some kind of seasonal business). Downtime is the only real way to hit the reset button, both personally and professionally. And it will open the door to fresh perspectives and new inspiration.

How will you refresh and recharge your business this holiday? Tell us in the comments.

More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum

- How to Use Hashtags to Promote Your Small Business
- 10 Things You Didn't Know About Yelp
- How to Master Social Media Like a Famous Comedian

Image courtesy of Flickr, leehaywood

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/01/01/recharge-your-business/

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Alabama Homeland Security: RUN HIDE FIGHT - Business Insider

Alabama's Department of Homeland Security has released a video that is designed to show civilians how to react in the event that they are involved in a mass shooting.

According to the AP, the video was produced after a request from Governor Robert Bentley following the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in December.

The video, originally produced for the Houston Police Department and re-edited for Alabama audiences, shows a shooting inside an office building. It is titled "RUN HIDE FIGHT", after the order in which citizens are advised to react.

The video was uploaded to YouTube days ago and has seen a flurry of discussion over the tactics in YouTube's comments.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/alabama-homeland-security-run-hide-fight-2013-1

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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

The Fiscal Cliff And Physician Finances | The White Coat Investor ...

I wrote a few weeks ago about how I wasn?t all that worried about an increase in the marginal tax rate on income over $250K, and that a lot of doctors shouldn?t be worried either.? After weeks of negotiations, it looks like we?re headed over the fiscal cliff (keep in mind this was written on Saturday, so it?s possible a miracle has occurred in Washington prior to publication), which is a lot more worrying to me for many reasons.? Let me explain why.

1) Macroeconomic effects

Many economists worry that the rapid increase in taxes for essentially all Americans will dramatically decrease consumer spending and tank the economy, sending us back into recession or worse.? I?m not smart enough to know if this is actually true or not, but a bad economy tends to be bad for my income and bad for my investments.? A recession would also encourage the government to maintain interest rates at rock bottom levels, which is bad for me since my only debt is a mortgage that has already been refinanced at a ridiculously low rate.

2) No Doc Fix

This week I emailed the president, my two senators, and my representative to quit screwing around with the doc fix.? Most importantly, dramatically cutting Medicare payments by 27% will decrease access to care for many patients.? My parents already can barely find anyone in their town who takes Medicare.? That phenomenon is gradually spreading throughout the entire country.? It also makes it harder for me to find people to follow-up on patients after their ED visits.

The effect on my income is also significant. Something like 20% of my patients are on Medicare or Tricare.? 27%*20%= 5.4%.? I?m about to have my pay cut by 5.4%.? That sucks.? Many people think Congress will get this fixed in the first quarter of 2013.? I guess that?s better than not fixing it at all, but even so, it will have rather severe effects on cash flow in physician practices.

3) No Social Security Tax Break Extension

While I?m of the school of thought that it was dumb to cut funding for a program that most people like that already was in fiscal trouble, this change will have a significant effect on most physicians.? For 2013, you have to pay Social Security Tax (6.2% from you and 6.2% from your employer) on the first $113,700 of your income.? In 2012, that was 4.2% from you and 6.2% from your employer on the first $110,100.? If, like most docs, you make more than $113K, your SS Tax will go up by $2524, or a little over $200 a month.

4) Elimination Of The 10% Tax Bracket

Many doctors are worried about the rate in the top tax bracket increasing from 35% to 39.6%.? They don?t stop to think about how the loss of the lowest bracket will affect them.? Right now, the first $17,400 of taxable income (post-deductions) is taxed at 10%.? Without changes, that money will be taxed at 15%.? That?s another $870 in federal income tax for a married doc (using 2012 limits).

5) Increases In Other Tax Brackets

It isn?t just the top tax bracket whose rate will increase.? The 25% bracket will increase to 28% (increases taxes by $2160 using 2012 married cut-offs), the 28% bracket will increase to 31% ($2243 increase), and the 33% bracket will increase to 36% ($5127 increase).? A doc in the top bracket (taxable income over $388K), that?s another $9530 in taxes.

6) Increased Investment Taxes

I don?t have much of a taxable investment account right now, so this won?t affect me much.? If you have a taxable investment account, going over the fiscal cliff increases your long-term capital gains taxes from 15% to 20% and your qualified dividend taxes from 15% to your regular tax bracket, which could be as high as 39.6%. For many people, that could increase taxes by thousands per year.

7) Increased Progressivity of Tax Code

Not only will taxes go up (on everyone), but they will become more progressive, hurting a typical doctor much more than a more average earner.? It?s hard to calculate the effects of this, as everyone will be a little different.? Your personal exemption used to be phased out before the Bush tax cuts.? That means the $3800 exemption you get for each dependent starts disappearing at a certain income.? It isn?t entirely clear what income this would occur at, but in 2009 the phase-out started at $250,200 and was complete at $372,700 (married.)? That means for someone with a taxable income over $372,700 and 3 dependents, you?ll owe another $6019 in federal taxes.? But wait, there?s more.? Your deductions (you know, charitable giving, mortgage interest, property taxes, state taxes etc) also get reduced.? Before the Bush tax cuts, this phase-out meant your itemized deductions were reduced by 3% of the total of your income above a certain threshold up to 80% of your total deductions. In 2009, that threshold was $166,800.? So if your taxable income were $400K, and you had $50K in itemized deductions, you?d lose $6996 of them.? At the 39.6% marginal rate, that?ll cost you another $2770.

8) Child Tax Credit Reduction

The child tax credit is being reduced from $1000 to $500 per child.? That?s okay.? If your taxable income was over $130K you didn?t get it anyway thanks to the phase-outs.

9) Marriage Penalty Is Back!

Prior to the Bush tax cuts, it was possible for a married couple with disparate incomes to pay a lot more in tax than a couple with similar incomes, even for a similar amount of income.? They would also pay more than if they hadn?t ever gotten married at all.? The Bush tax cuts fixed this problem.? If they?re rolled back, the problem returns and will affect many of us, particularly if only one spouse is a high earner.

Putting It All Together

How bad could this potentially be?? Let?s take a high-earning physician ($400K taxable income) with a large Medicare practice (60%) and 3 dependents.? His income will be decreased by 16.2% ($64,800) and his taxes could go up by $21,713 or more.? All told, his after-tax income is reduced by $86,513, or about 22%.? Even a good saver is going to have a dramatic decrease in lifestyle with a hit like that.? Most of us will take less of a hit than this theoretical worst-case scenario, but I would guess that the majority will probably have at least a 10% decrease in after-tax income as we plunge over the fiscal cliff.

What do you think?? How will you cope with this drop in after-tax income?? Comment below!? (Keep comments civil and on-topic.)

Source: http://whitecoatinvestor.com/the-fiscal-cliff-and-physician-finances/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-fiscal-cliff-and-physician-finances

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Video: Behind the scenes as Mad Magazine turns 60

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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50323787/

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Easy Propositions For Searching For A Quality Pest Control ...

Do you need credible sources in choosing a qualified pest control contractor for you? Are you willing to give it a try in searching for one? Here are some friendly reminders in choosing a good pest control contractor.

There are several permits that must be obtained prior to the start of your job. You may need a plumbing permit an electrical permit and more depending on the type of job. You need to make sure your pest control contractor verifies that all of the sub-contractors obtain the proper permits prior to starting work on your project.

If anyone does unauthorized work on your home or office, contact the proper authorities if they request payment. Make sure to get everything down in writing before the project starts. Ask for examples of their best work.

Penalties for missing a deadline, will keep you in a good position with your pest control contractor. It a pest control contractor is legally obligated to keep a deadline or suffer a consequence, they will be more likely to follow a set schedule and finish with a certain deadline.

Hire a pest control contractor who you think will meet all your expectations. Conduct a market research and create a clear outline for your entire work process. You need to know all the materials required for the work and the whole process till the day of completion.

A resolved conflict is always better than irrational actions taken against others. Firing a pest control contractor over a small conflict that could easily be resolved is not fair to the pest control contractor, and it doesn?t look good for other pest control contractors that you may need to hire. Give every conflict a chance to be resolved.

When encountering problems, you should first request a meeting with the pest control contractor to discuss the problem and available solutions. Make sure you discuss the problem in a professional and civil way. After the meeting, if you find you are still not satisfied, you should look into your options for firing the pest control contractor.

If you run into a problem with your pest control contractor that cannot be resolved ask to meet with them and discuss things in a civilized manner. If the meeting does not help the situation, your may need to fire your pest control contractor.

Insurance and references are two things that a pest control contractor should have. Insurance protects the client or pest control contractor from being liable for any damage done on the job, while the references are to make sure that the pest control contractor themselves are a good fit.

Before you fire a pest control contractor, make sure to follow the method mentioned in the contract signed between you and the pest control contractor. Even if such a clause is not mentioned in your contact, make sure to make a written document about your communication with the pest control contractor related to why you are firing him.

Be sure to visit your favorite search engine and search online for best termite extermination company santa ana if you wish to improve your understanding related to pest control.

Source: http://www.cohocton.org/213-easy-propositions-for-searching-for-a-quality-pest-control-contractor-in-your-area

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