Do you have a new business? Are you revamping your existing business? Whether your business is old or new, you can greatly benefit from a proper business plan. Many people think that a business plan is only beneficial if you are trying to raise money for your company and while this is one reason to write a business plan, it is certainly not the only one.

Creating and writing a business plan for your company is a great idea to ensure the success of your business. Your business plan will greatly increase your chances of being organized and successful with your business. When you have a plan with set goals, it is easier to achieve those goals. This is a much better business practice than leaving things to chance or being so unorganized that you can not track your progress.

What is included in a business plan?

So what does your business plan need to include in order for it to be sure it is successful and complete? You will need to have a description of your business, details of what it is and how it will operate, some information regarding ownership, a start up summary as well as market research and target market information.

You want to walk through the business and the function of your business from the beginning all the way through. What is the purpose of your company? Do you sell a product? Do you provide a service? What are you offering to customers? How much experience do you have and how are you qualified to perform the job duties? Ask the same questions of your employees or business partners.

Why Create your Business Plan?

So why is it worth your time to write and create a great business plan? There are different reasons, as we mentioned before. One popular reason why people choose to create a business plan is to try to convince potential investors and lenders to fund money to your business.

Most of all a good business plan will help you determine whether or not your business has a good chance of producing profit. If results show that you will not make a good profit, you might need to adjust your business plans and goals somewhat. It can also serve as a great way to estimate your start up costs and needed investments to start or continue the business.

Do you want to spruce up your business plan or create a simple, easy to use plan for your business in 2012? Join me for the Business Planning Work Day on Monday, January 2nd. Find out more information by going to:

www.solopreneur.biz/planning/

Don’t you just love technology? A few short years ago it really wasn’t possible to run your business from your phone. Now you can do almost anything with the help of applications for your iPhone.

Writing/Editing

There are a number of apps that let you view and edit documents directly from your smartphone. One of the most popular is called Documents to Go. It lets you view and edit documents right on your phone.

You can also find text-based writing tools like PlainText and iA Writer that are inexpensive and easy to use.

Desktop Communication

You can use the GoToMyPC app to connect to your work computer. This makes it easy to access your work files directly. No need to plan ahead. You can also use Apps like Dropbox and CloudTalk to share and store information that is accessible both from your computer and your smartphone.

Communication

With Skype you can have voice chats (and video chats if your device has a camera) with customers and contractors.

You can also use dictation applications like Dragon and QuickVoice to record your thoughts or create business content or documents.

Payment and Invoicing

PayPal offers an easy to use payment application that lets you send invoices and manage your account from your smartphone. Many banks also offer applications that let you manage your account from your phone. Intuit, the makers of Quicken and QuickBooks also have a payment processing application called GoPayment that you can use on your smartphone.

Blogging

Like to blog on the go? Check out the WordPress application that makes it easy to write, edit and publish blogs from your smartphone.

Social Networking

There are myriad applications to manage your social networking for both Facebook and Twitter. You can post pictures, comments, and stay in touch with your friends from just about any mobile device. Check out Friendly and the iTunes Facebook app for Facebook. Check out the HootSuite application for Twitter.

Organization

Last but definitely not least are the wide number of organization and brainstorming applications that you can find to not only grow your business but also to manage it from your phone. Check out MindNode for mind mapping applications. Evernote and One Note are both fantastic note taking, clipping, and organizational tools.

And don’t forget the basics. You can access your Google accounts with Google applications which means you can check your AdSense earnings, analytics and of course you can check your email too.

Smartphone applications make owning and operating a business easier than it has ever been before. You can network, invoice, pay bills, brainstorm, publish content and launch new products – all from your phone.

Most word processing software programs don’t come cheaply. Even the most commonly used, MS Word comes at a hefty price tag if it wasn’t preinstalled on your computer. If you’re looking for a top-notch word processing software that is absolutely free, don’t look any further than Google Docs.

Google Docs is Google’s answer to a web based documents system. To use the software all you have to do is have a Gmail account or go to http://docs.Google.com and register for a Google account. It’s absolutely free. In addition to word processing, you can create spreadsheets, forms, and presentations.

Once at the Google Docs website the rest is easy.

Step #1

Click on the Create button in the upper left hand corner.

Step #2

Choose the type of document you want to create. If you’re familiar with Excel, MS Word, and PowerPoint, these document types will look and feel familiar.

Step #3

Once you’ve made your document choice a new document will open. If you have chosen to create word processing document you’ll see the same type of toolbar at the top of the page. You can format your content the same way you would a Word document. You can choose your font type, size, and formatting. You can justify the page right or left, highlight, list items, and include text links.

Step #4

After you have created your document, the final step is to save it and here’s one of the ways where utilizing Google documents really pays off. You’ll save your document as a Google document. It won’t really ask you how you want to save your document. And it will store the document in a main folder or you can create sub folders, this allows you to label and organize them how you see fit. Whenever you sign into your Google or Gmail account you will have access to all of your Google documents.

Step #5

If you want to export the document and store it on your desktop or hard drive all you have to do is click on the file menu and choose “download as” from the pop up list. There you will see that you have the option to download the document as HTML, Open Office, Text, Word, RTF or PDF. That means if you’re sending the document to someone who uses MS Word, you can download it as a word doc and send it to them quickly and easily.

Step #6

Here’s the final reason Google documents is a great resource, you can share your documents by simply clicking the word “Share” in the upper right hand of the document toolbar. There you will see you have a number of options including sending a link to the document to a person, emailing the documents to a person or persons, inviting people to view the document or publishing as a web page. This makes collaboration very simplistic.

Google documents is one resource that makes creating, editing and sharing documents quick and easy and perhaps best of all, it’s extremely user friendly and it’s free.

Email is a great way to stay in contact with friends and family. It has become an essential part of doing business in today’s economy. Because email is so easy to use, it’s easy to find yourself overwhelmed with the number of email messages you receive each day.

This clutter can become a source of stress. If you take an active role in addressing your email clutter, you’ll be able to reduce this stress. You’ll also spend less time dealing with your emails. And you’ll have time left over for more important things. Below are a few steps you can take to assist in your email clean-up.

Prevent Unwanted and Unsolicited Emails

Major email service providers such as Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo Mail have gotten very good at identifying and filtering spam email, but you can help them get better. For example, if you’re a Gmail user, click the “Report Spam” button to identify any spam messages that you happen to receive. Hotmail users should use the “Junk” button.

When enough users identify a certain sender’s messages as being junk or spam, then the service will be able to better filter future message from that sender.

Prioritize Your Incoming Emails

One way to reduce future clutter in your inbox is to have a system that can help you prioritize new emails as you receive them. If you can deal with the important emails right away and leave the low priority emails until later, then your inbox won’t get cluttered quite as quickly.

Most email providers give you the ability to create rules or filters by which you can identify emails which come from certain people as being the most important. If you use Gmail, consider giving Gmail’s “Priority Inbox” a try if you haven’t already. This feature does a great job at automatically highlighting the emails you’re likely to find most important.

Organize the Emails You Must Keep, But Delete as Much as Possible

Another key element of the decluttering strategy is to identify the emails you absolutely must keep. Also identify why you must keep them. If you’ve already acted on the email but still need to keep it, then get it out of your inbox and into a storage folder or archive. If you don’t need to keep the email, simply delete it.

Finally, one of the most important things you can do is identify those emails that you can address in a few minutes or less. Once you identify those emails, take the necessary action – right away – so that you can be done with it, and delete the email. Simply leaving these emails and telling yourself you’ll “deal with them later” leads to more clutter.

You can save a ton of money on tax write-offs if you’re running your own business. For many small businesses, taxes are one of their larger expenses, sometimes even their largest expense. Are you aware of all the write-offs you can use to reduce this expense?

Sample Write-Offs

Home office space – You can’t claim your entire house as a deduction, but if you have a specific room or area of the house that’s solely used as a home office, you can claim that space as a tax write-off. Just figure out the percentage of the square footage in your home that your office space takes up and divide your monthly rent or mortgage by that amount.

Health insurance, self employment taxes and contributions to retirement plans – Your health insurance is most likely completely tax deductible. You may also qualify for tax breaks depending on your retirement plan.

Internet and phone – If an internet connection is required for business operation, chances are you can deduct it. The same can be said for your phone. You can’t deduct your primary line, but if you have additional lines specifically for business it can probably be deducted.

Filing fees – In most states, you have to pay some sort of filing fee to maintain your corporate or business license. These fees can almost always be deducted.

Any office supplies – Staplers, paper, pens, etc. can almost always be deducted.

Computers, printers and scanners – So long as the digital equipment is used primarily for business, you can probably deduct it.

Domain, hosting, shopping cart, etc. – Any expense that you incur as a result of having your website up can be deducted.

Meals – You can deduct 50% of your business meals. What is a “business meal?” A business meal is basically a meal you have with one or more persons who are in some way related to your business.

Recording Tax Write-Offs

Save all your receipts. If it’s not self-explanatory what the receipt was for, make notes on the back of the receipt so that when tax day comes it’s clear to you or your accountant what the expense was.

If you’re deducting a meal, make sure you write down who the meal was with on the back of the receipt as well.

In general, if it’s an ordinary expense, you won’t raise any red flags at the IRS. On the other hand, if you start creatively deducting things that generally aren’t considered business expenses, you risk getting audited.

If you keep good records and keep abreast on what your write-offs are, you can greatly reduce the amount of taxes you need to pay at the end of the year.

Google Cloud Print allows you to print any email from anywhere, with one click from an Android or iPhone device. It’s a revolutionary service that makes printing easier for professionals on the go. How does it work and could you benefit from it? Let’s find out.

How Google Cloud Print Works

To get started, you need either an Android device or an iOS device. You also need a Windows PC computer connected to a printer. Linux and Mac aren’t currently supported, but will be supported in the near future, according to Google.

Download and install Google Chrome, Google’s proprietary browser. Connect your Google Chrome browser to your printer in Chrome.

Once that’s set up, you can now print from any portable or even non-portable device by clicking “Print” in any email. Note that you need to be using Gmail for this to work.

Once you’re set up, do a test print from your Android or iPhone device to make sure the connection is working properly.

Who Benefits Most from Google Cloud Print?

Naturally, Google Cloud Print is most beneficial to people who are on the go often, and who also often need things in paper form. This could include people such as lawyers, product based businesses, coaches and really just about anyone who often gets work-related emails that need to be printed.

Since so many people read their emails on the go today rather than when they’re sitting at their desk, it really doesn’t make sense to force people to wait until they’re at a computer to print everything out.

You should be able to read, delete, archive and even print all your email from a mobile device on the go. Google Cloud Print allows you to do this.

Google Cloud Print for a Business Address

One further use for Google Cloud Print would be to attach it to your office’s printer rather than your own printer. That way, anyone who needs to print on the go can use your office printer to print things out.

Create one email address that’s shared among employees. That email address is connected to Google Cloud Print and any employee can forward emails to that email address, log in and print documents from any mobile device anywhere.

In other words, you can effectively wire a printer in such a way that anyone working for you can print any document anyone needs, no matter where they are.

Google Cloud Print may be a truly revolutionary technology for offices all around the world. Would your office benefit from using Google Cloud Print? The only real way to find out is to give it a try. Since it’s included in Google Chrome, it’s quite easy to install. Getting started only takes five to ten minutes. Why not give it a shot?

Join me for a free call on Monday, March 7th at 4 pm Eastern, when I’ll be talking to Carol Hess about how to create “Your Client-Winning Communications Plan.” Register today!

We’re going to talk about how to put together a communications plan that produces:

• A steady stream of ideal clients
• Fully booked programs
• Products that sell like hotcakes

The kind of communications plan that:

• Gets the job done (and done well)
• You don’t have to be a professional writer or communications expert to do
• Doesn’t take forever to create or implement

Carol Hess, www.TameTheWritingMonster.com, is a writing coach and mentor who helps her clients communicate clearly, consistently, and confidently so they can make the connections and build the relationships that turn into clients and sales. She is all about how to be a smart communicator – how to get the biggest bang for your communications buck in the shortest amount of time.

Carol is going to reveal:

• The secret you don’t know about your ideal client that might be costing you the sale.
• Her 30-minute communications stress buster trick.
• The most important thing you can do to communicate smarter, not harder.

I hope you’ll join Carol and me for this information-packed free call. Here are the details:

“Your Client-Winning Communications Plan”

Monday, March 7th from 4-5 pm Eastern

No charge!

Register today!

Exquisite Client Support: Extending the Ripple Effect of your Work to Increase The Longevity of Current Clients, Build Referrals and Create Raving Fans!

Exclusive, 1-time teleseminar with Melinda Cohan & Kate Steinbacher, Founders of The Coaches Console

During this powerful call you’ll learn:

• Provide exquisite support before, during, after AND in-between client contacts (without spending MORE time).
• Avoid a trap that entrepreneurs fall into that only creates more marketing work for them in the future.
• The #1 reason clients will hire you, rehire you and refer you!
• The distinction between Good Support vs. High-level Support vs. Exquisite Support (and why you better know the difference if you want a thriving business)
• Gain back 55 minutes each day; 27½ hours each month and 2 months a year (imagine how many more clients you could work with if you had that kind of extra time)
• 4 specific strategies you can implement immediately to integrate this level of service in your business

I’m excited to be hosting this call which will be filled with valuable ideas for your business.  Mark the date into your calendar

and register now!

Reserve your spot now – it’s happening March 1, 2011 at 3pm ET!

Did you know February is Time Management Month?  In honor of this “official” holiday I’ve teamed up with Elaine Quinn, time management and organization expert, and more than 13 other experts to celebrate.  Our celebration is all about you and how you can best help your target market, niche, ideal clients, or audience manage their time.

The celebration started today and goes for the next two weeks – until February 28^th We’ve launched  something special  –  The Time Management Giveaway!  It’s designed specifically for small business owners and solopreneurs.  Everything in this event is a gift of free information to help you, the business owner!

There are gifts so you can discover:

• organizing your small business and office
• how to save time and trouble for you and your business
• online time management strategies
• business systems and structures
• productivity tips
• ready-to-go articles
• social media made simple
• office makeover checklist
• how to get more done in less time
• how to beat information overload
• and so much more!

There is even a little something from me, too.  We’re all excited to participate in this fabulous giveaway that won’t cost you a penny! Hope you find just what you need to make your business more productive.  Here’s that link again.

Guest post by: Carol Hess

I’m watching one entrepreneur after another fail to become a master client communicator.  I watch them start out strong (or not), and then I see their newsletters and blog posts and ezines and social media tweets become fewer and fewer and fewer.  The gaps between spurts of communication become longer and longer and longer.

They become the entrepreneur who went quiet.  And pretty soon after that, they become the entrepreneur who didn’t make it.

It makes me sad.  It makes me especially sad because it doesn’t have to happen.  It doesn’t take all that much to become a master client communicator.  People do it all the time.

You know why they do it?  Because they’ve figured out something.  They’ve figured out that the first step to grow any business is communications.

When you communicate with someone, you begin to form a connection with that person.  The more you communicate with that person, the more you deepen that connection.  Eventually that connection becomes a relationship.  The next thing you know, that relationship has turned into a client – maybe even a client who becomes a raving fan.

Guess what?  Your raving fan then turns around and starts communicating about how terrific you are – communications that lead to more connections that lead to more relationships that lead to more clients. . . . .  You get the idea.

So we’ve pretty much figured out that successful communication equals successful business.  Now comes the tricky part.  How the heck are you supposed to get all that communicating done and still find the time to – gee, I don’t know – do the work you get paid to do and maybe even have dinner with your family before they forget what you look like?

All master communicators have a Client Communications and Connections Plan.  No, they probably don’t call it that, but they’ve got one.  So let’s get you one of those, shall we?

Your 6 Steps to Becoming a Master Client Communicator

1.    Determine Your Primary Communications Goals

This will probably depend on what stage your business is in and what your major goals are for your business.  Do you want to build awareness of your business?  Expand your mailing list?  Increase your credibility?  Build your know-like-trust  factor?  Land more clients?  Increase revenues?

Get clear on your primary goal for your client communications plan (at least for   right now) and you will increase your chances of actually accomplishing that goal.  (By the way, what does “accomplish” look like?  Spell your goal out in specifics so you will know when you’ve achieved it.)

2.   Nail Your Core Message

Oh so much easier for me to type than for you to accomplish, but it’s important.  Keep honing in on who you work with, what you do, what makes you unique, what  makes your work unique, why you do what you do, your beliefs, your passions,  your purpose.  Keep focusing in tighter and tighter until you get that “Ah ha, I’ve  got it!” feeling.  That’s when you’ll know you’ve nailed your core message.

By the way, your core message will never be perfect, and it will never be set in stone.     It is going to keep changing and evolving as you, your clients, and your business keep changing and evolving.  Don’t wait until your core message is perfect before you start communicating.  Get out there and start communicating today.

3.   Get to Know Your Ideal Client

99.9% of the time you are going to be communicating to, for, and with your ideal  client.  Get to know her as well as you know yourself.  (Well, maybe not quite that  well.)  This isn’t new advice, is it? The world is telling you to get to know your client  – demographics, psychographics, etc.

I want you to take it one step further.  Get to know how your ideal client communicates and how she likes to be communicated to.  What’s her lingo?  What  are her frames of reference?  Does she prefer the written word, audio, video, a combination?  What are the compelling words that make her sit up and take action?  You need to know not just who you’re talking to but how to talk to her (without sacrificing your own authentic voice of course).

4.  Think Strategically

Think big picture, short term vs. long term, goals and objectives, action steps to   achieve those goals and objectives.  What do you want to  accomplish in your business this week, this month, this quarter, this year? How are you going to get there?  What role is communications going to play to help you get there?  Which writing vehicle (blog post, ezine article, social media tweet) is best suited to get the            job done?

This is the step most entrepreneurs don’t take.  They don’t approach their   communications in a strategic way, and that’s too bad.  Because this is when you   start communicating smarter, not harder.  This is when you know what you want to say, why you want to say it, and when and how to say it.  This is when you and your message start to stand out from the noisy crowd.  This is when you start making those connections that turn into relationships that turn into clients that turn  into a thriving business.

5.   Figure Out Your Communications Timetable (also known as an editorial calendar). Now it’s time to take everything from Step 3 and plug it into your calendar.   Figure out your various communications projects and activities and their corresponding lead times and deadlines.  Schedule your communications work so it is consistent,   steady and well timed.

This is not the step to wing.  This is not the step to do in your head.  Get it down on paper.  (Email me at carol@tamethewritingmonster.com, and I will send you  information about my very simple, very easy-to-use, very low-tech way to produce your monthly communications calendar.)  Your timetable is the tool that is going to help you avoid the hit or miss, chaotic, ineffective, and stressful  communications  effort that characterizes so many businesses.

6.   Repurpose, Repurpose, Repurpose

This is the step when the magic starts to happen.  Repurposing is how you’re going  to get all those writing and communications projects done and maintain (1) your sanity, (2) a consistent presence in front of your market, and (3) a personal life.  This  is what writing smarter, not harder is all about.  This how you squeeze the most  juice out of every single piece of communications you create.

Here is how I plan to repurpose this guest blog post:

(1)        Use it as an ezine article

(2)        Submit it to the article directories

(3)        Publish it on my own blog

(4)        Turn it into two signature talks – one 30 minutes long, one 60 minutes long

(5)        Use it as the basis for a free teleclass

(6)        Expand it into a 2-day virtual retreat group coaching program

(7)        Transform it into an information product

Of course I’ll need to tweak, expand, and reformat the post to be able to repurpose it in such a variety of ways and forms.  But it will be worth it.  Think of the time I’m  saving by not having to sit down and reinvent the wheel each time.  Repurposing.  Utter magic.

So there you have it.  The six steps to take to become a master communicator.  Once you are a master communicator, then you’ll be making those connections and forging those relationships that will lead to more clients, more sales, and more revenues.

Don’t be the entrepreneur who went quiet and was never heard from again.

Carol Hess, the Coach’s Writing Partner, shows coaches how to harness the power of writing to gain clients, credibility, and confidence.  How to write smarter, not harder for the coach who wants to write less, stress less, and coach more.  Get Carol’s report, “15 Foolproof Ways to Bust Through Writer’s Block.  Email her at carol@tamethewritingmonster.com to get her quick and easy communications timetable system (no charge).