Posts Tagged ‘start ups’
Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby featured in Jennings Social Media Marketing newsletter for April 2010
Monday, April 12th, 2010
I wanted to share a new video being featured in Jennings Social Media Marketing newsletter for April 2010. It discusses what I think is the reason so many people are in debt and ways to improve your personal income from your own home.
Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby and founder of the 3 Step Plan home-based business system is featured in Jennings Social Media Marketing newsletter for April 2010. Valerie Jennings, CEO of Jennings Social Media, wanted to interview Willoughby on the economy and the importance of living debt free. Willoughby is a friend and client of Jennings, so she felt comfortable featuring Willoughby because of his insights regarding building home businesses and addressing the need to live debt free. In the interview, Willoughby discusses what it takes to achieve financial success even in times of a recession, how to build a business, where to begin and why being an entrepreneur is the best financial route to success and freedom.
“Well the reason I think so many people are living in debt is just the challenge of what the society has set forth. I mean, today’s society has been promoted to live the “American Dream.” So people are searching for this dream, and debt is easy. There’s two ways to avoid being in debt. You either have to spend less money or make more money. I think the easiest way to actually be able to increase your income is to become an entrepreneur and develop your own business.”
With April being Tax month, Use the Recovery Act’s Loss Carryback Provision
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
Posted By: Andy Willoughby
It’s April, and that means the tax deadline is right around the corner. As I was reviewing Business Week’s daily tips for small businesses I came across this information which I feel is very beneficial for small businesses.
Use the Recovery Act’s Loss Carryback Provision
The 2009 tax deadline is quickly approaching. Balancing the demands of running your business with preparing a complicated tax return can be a daunting task, especially with new tax laws in place.
Enacted as part of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009, the loss carryback provision extends the opportunity for small businesses to take those losses and offset income from five years instead of two. To qualify for the five-year carryback provision, a small business must have no greater than an average of $15 million in gross receipts over a three-year period that ends with the tax year of the net operating loss. It is available to corporations and companies organized as a partnership, sole proprietorship, or S corporation.
If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, the loss carryback provision is helpful to keep in mind when filling out forms 1045 and 1139.
Peter Bingaman
Vice-President, Small Business Services
Deluxe
Shoreview, Minn.
Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby reviews his 3 Step Plan home business system providing financial freedom to families while working from home
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
I operate a most unusual franchise. It is a mini-franchise. It is actually a system for building a home based networking business. I looked at the network marketing industry and found a model that was working extraordinarily well for some people and not well at all for others. Because of the very low cost of entering the network marketing industry many people can afford to start a business. But not everyone has the skills and contacts to operate it in a profitable manner.
My background is in advertising, mostly radio advertising. Over the past 30 years I have worked with nearly every business category there is to help them advertise and market their business. Through working with tens of thousands of retail and service businesses I found that the successful ones had similar marketing and business strategies.
So I took these successful practices and put them in a system for home based business operators in network marketing.
I developed an advertising co-op for these businesses where their money could be pooled together and made more productive. This gave me the ability to brand the overall business concept called “Andy Willoughby’s 3-Step Plan” this increased the value of the independent operators business because of its association with the brand. It thereby developed credibility and trust for the brand is had been lacking in most network marketing companies. We are one of the few systems of this type to actually be accredited by the Better Business Bureau.
Since most networker marketers don’t have a sales background I developed pre-recorded presentations so that the independent operators could simply 3-way in a recording over the phone or email it through the Internet.
The product delivery, research & development and most of the detail work are provided by the network marketing company. So the independent operators spend most of their time returning phone calls generated by the advertising. Websites are available to offer detailed product information and ordering.
This simple system has helped thousands of people build successful networking businesses. Many people who had previously failed at networking have created successful businesses using this system. I have been able to develop a network of over 150,000 distributors and a monthly product volume of over $3 Million dollars.
Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby comments on how Social Media provides real results for your small business
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
Posted By: Andy Willoughby
Here is an article recently written by Samuel Axon on mashable.com about small businesses using social media to gain results for their company. I found this to be very insightful being a small business owner myself and believe that there are some beneficial examples within the article.
How Small Businesses Are Using Social Media for Real Results
Social media can be a scary prospect for small businesses; unlike traditional marketing methods, it puts part of the message in the hands of the customers. But while it’s easy to be concerned that the message will go the wrong way, the benefits can outweigh the risks if you use the available services wisely.
The most obvious benefits are increased customer loyalty and engagement. Less obvious but just as important: Your business will gain exposure not through your own advertisements, but through folks who’ve already been patrons. We’re more likely to trust a Facebook update or Yelp review from a friend than from the business itself.
We spoke with small business owners and social media managers around the world who have successfully used social media to increase business performance, and we asked them for their stories and their tips. Here’s what we learned.
Entrepreneur Andy Willoughby reviews New York Times article; How to Prepare Your Small Business for Succession
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Posted By: Andy Willoughby
Here is a New York Times article I want to share written by Ian Mount on how to prepare your business for succession.
SMALL-BUSINESS GUIDE
How to Prepare Your Business for Succession
By IAN MOUNT
Published: March 17, 2010
WHEN his father died in 2006, Allen Frechter thought that his work as executor of the estate would be fairly straightforward.
But then he looked under the hood of his father’s firm, Plexi-Craft Quality Products, a manufacturer in New York City of acrylic furniture. Mr. Frechter’s father, George, had worked until the day before his death, at 86, and like many small-business owners, he had made no plans for what followed.
Purchase orders were still handwritten. There was no list of best customers or products. There was no data and no way to analyze the company’s performance. So Mr. Frechter, 49, wound down his own home-improvement firm in Boston and started commuting to New York to run Plexi-Craft. He moved it to a cheaper location and had an employee spend 250 hours entering six years’ worth of customer data.
Not only did the firm survive, but Mr. Frechter expects it to double its annual revenue to $5 million by 2012. But many are not so lucky. Business owners who do not form a succession plan create a time bomb that can not only destroy their companies but tear apart their families. “A lot of families fight and fight until the business is gone,” said Jim Clay, who heads the trusts and estates department at the law firm of Morrison Fenske & Sund in Minnetonka, Minn. “It eats up everyone’s inheritances.”
Here are some suggestions to avoid a succession disaster:
IDENTIFY YOUR SUCCESSORS Deciding which child or relative will sit in the corner office is often so emotional that it can stop succession planning before it starts. But it is the necessary first step. “You have to make an honest assessment of your children,” said Robert W. O’Hara, owner of O’Hara & Company, a financial planning firm in Chelmsford, Mass., that specializes in exit planning for entrepreneurs. “Don’t assume the next generation has the same skills.”
Andy Willoughby Reviews Small Business and Entrepreneur Resources
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Here is an article about an organization helping small businesses and entrepreneurs.
KC BizCare helps get new businesses on a firm footing
By LYNN HORSLEY The Kansas City Star
When Therese Nash was starting up her Kansas City weatherization business last year, she went from office to office at City Hall, trying to navigate a complicated bureaucracy.
“There are all these different departments,” she recalled. “You go so many different places.”
Finally, someone told her about KC BizCare, in the Oak Street parking garage just west of City Hall. The one-stop shop is designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners obtain the permits they need and meet other requirements to legally ply their trade in Kansas City.
The small staff at 1118 Oak St. provides guidance on the city’s regulatory, licensing and approval processes; helps people use city computers to look up property, zoning and employment information; and provides suggestions on other small business resources throughout the city.
“They were so helpful,” Nash said. “Everybody needs this. It was so nice to have a place where if I had a question they would always find out for you.”