Rick Gossett – GoSmallBiz.com

Whenever you start a business, it needs to have something about it that is special, some unique quality. Sometimes, that quality is just bringing an existing product or service into a new market. But other times, the unique quality of your business is a new product or service that you’ve invented. When you’ve taken the…

As you add employees to your small business, it becomes increasingly important for you to have a way to evaluate their work and keep your workers on the right track. Having the framework in place for effective performance reviews will give you the opportunity to identify the goals and objectives for your company and determine…

Whether a worker is an Independent Contractor or must be put on payroll as an employee is a question of facts and circumstances. The primary issue is whether the employer has the right to “direct and control the exact duties and manner in which a worker carries out those duties.” There is no specific law…

Small home-based businesses have been touted as the last great opportunity for tax shelter. Maybe they are, but there are rules requiring that your business actually be a business and not merely a hobby for which you bring in a little cash to help cover costs. Hobby Loss Rules A Hobby Loss is a loss…

Your accounting will ultimately produce financial statements for your business. They are there to help you run the business, and effectively represent each decision you’ve made in the past to help you make decisions for the future. The financial statements accomplish this by translating everything into dollars and cents. But there are other benefits to…

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on small businesses across the United States. The federal government has already passed multiple pieces of legislation attempting to help, and businesses have all kinds of new concerns with health, safety, technology, compliance, and more. So what does your business need to do to survive the crisis?…

Underinsuring your business can be devastating in the event of a loss, yet overinsuring your business can waste money with each payment of a premium. Risk management is the discipline that allows us to plan for an appropriate amount of coverage in each aspect of our business lives. This article outlines 6 steps to help…

Situation #1: You’re preparing your income tax return for the current year and notice that you forgot to claim a large charitable contribution. Situation #2: You prepared your tax return and filed it on time, then you receive a corrected Schedule K-1 from an LLC in which you are a member. What to do: In…

Every startup has to develop a process for doing business. Whether that means the business owner has sketched a detailed map of each employee’s day-to-day functions or merely drawn out a list of guiding principles that lead the organization through each and every business transaction. There must be a process in place to set out…

A well thought out business plan is critical to the success of any new venture. The business plan not only identifies the goals of your business, but it also will outline the plans to execute those goals. It tells you both where you want to go as well as how you are planning to get…

Posts by Rick Gossett

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

4 Elements of an Effective Performance Review

The Independent Contractor Checklist

Is This Really a Business?

Understanding a Financial Statement: 3 Key Metrics

How Your Business Can Survive Covid-19

6 Steps to Proper Risk Management

Correcting Prior Year Tax Mistakes

Streamlining Your Processes

4 Essential Elements of a Business Plan