Raising Equity and Venture Capital on Main Street

Michael Hanley, author of Effective Tax Planning for the MicroBusiness, is a CPA specializing in small business. We asked him for year-end tax planning tips that can help entrepreneurs and small buiness owners. Michael gave us his top five action items.

Analyze You Business Structure: are you operating under the best structure for you business? Various items such as how much tax you will pay each year, your risk of being selected for a random IRS audit, and the level of protection of your personal assets are determined by the type of entity you operate. If you operate as a Sole Proprietor, DBA, Partnership, LLC, or C Corporation, this should be Priority #1 in your life. You could be overpaying your taxes by $10,000 if you are not operating under the best business structure.

 If it's December and you have no idea where you stand for the year or how much tax […]

When it comes to research on entrepreneurship, few organizations do more of it than the Kauffman Foundation. For a  just-released study called Making a Successful Entrepreneur, Kauffman surveyed 549 company founders of successful businesses in high-growth industries to determine the factors that influence the success or failure of startups. The key success factors, it turns out, are "prior work experience, learning from previous successes and failures, a strong management team and good fortune." Let's look at the highlights one at a time.
1. "Nearly all of the company founders surveyed - 98 percent - ranked prior work experience as an important success factor, and 58 percent ranked it as extremely important." This seems obvious, but it's surprising (some might say alarming) how many people start businesses without any relevant prior experience. I have known people who were laid off from their jobs and felt forced into entrepreneurship, and then failed because they […]

When it comes to research on entrepreneurship, few organizations do more of it than the Kauffman Foundation. For a  just-released study called Making a Successful Entrepreneur, Kauffman surveyed 549 company founders of successful businesses in high-growth industries to determine the factors that influence the success or failure of startups. The key success factors, it turns out, are "prior work experience, learning from previous successes and failures, a strong management team and good fortune."
"Nearly all of the company founders surveyed - 98 percent - ranked prior work experience as an important success factor, and 58 percent ranked it as extremely important." This seems obvious, but it's surprising (some might say alarming) how many people start businesses without any relevant prior experience. I have known people who were laid off from their jobs and felt forced into entrepreneurship, and then failed because they had no models for success. That doesn't mean people with […]

Here are links to some new business contests posted on About.com.  It would be great to see some of my readers featured in Inc. Magazine!

Be a Winner in "2010 Top Small Companies Workplace" and Get Featured in Inc. Magazine
Free "Holiday in a Bag" Email Marketing Tool Kit and Chance to Win Marketing Consultation Package
Win a Free Website and 1 Year Free Hosting Plan
New York Business StartUP Competition
Local Business Competition to Win $5,000 Grant (Nation-Wide Contest)
Compuware $1 Million Dollar Biz Contest

More Business Contests and Grant Opportunities

Business Contests originally appeared on About.com Entrepreneurs on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 10:23:11.
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