While many of you out there are working from home, especially when just opening up an LLC or forming a corporation, the attire is often pajamas, or comfortable clothing that allows you to feel relaxed. Although it doesn't really matter how you look while in your home, it's important to dress professionally when going to meetings or even having Skype or video chats with clients or employees. If you're meeting up with a client be sure to dress professionally, for men, slacks, dress shirt and dress shoes is often good enough, if you're having a more casual meeting, polo shirts and khaki pants are also acceptable, be sure that your clothes are always clean and pressed, regardless of what they are. For women, there are a little more options, slacks and a dress shirt also work, but you can also wear a skirt or a dress. It's important to make sure that your clothing isn't too flashy, or you don't have too  many accessories, as they can be distracting. When having meetings from home, be sure to find a quiet clean place to have the meeting from, whether it's a video or phone meeting, background noise can cause major distractions.

In this edition of Successful Small Business Tips we're going to discuss the importance of having a set of policies. Obviously every client is different, and we've talked about having an attitude that allows you to sway a bit when it comes to your standard practices, but it's important to set that standard as a foundation of what others will look upon as your company grows. When your company gets bigger, you will have bigger responsibilities, which leaves everyone under you to take care of dealing with clients. There may never be a day that you transition out of the customer service part of your business, but you may be gone one day and your company should have a policy that everyone follows. Having policies in place will ensure that there is no panicking when a problem arises and that you can rely on your staff to carry out tasks just as you would like them to. It's important to set up these policies prior to doing business so that all your policies will be in the same vein as each other.

For example, if you run a book store, most book stores do not allow book exchanges, but they do allow exchanges for other items they may sell, such as book lights. If your general store policy is no exchanges, it may upset someone if they try to return an item that is not a book, like the book light, and they are turned away. If you had a policy set up where there is no book exchanges, but anything else can be exchanged for up to 7 days, that could resolve a problem before it even occurs. Think of problems that could arise, and be sure to write your policies down, have an easy to find area on your website with your policies listed.

If you have any questions about business policies or starting a business, call us at 866-999-8200.

Here at IncorporateFast we get a lot of calls with questions regarding how to make sure that the state shows the business as a woman-owned or minority-owned business. In most cases the state does not ask for the ownership percentage, and minority & woman owned businesses are for the most part, required to be 51% owned by minority or women. With LLCs, members are the owners of the LLC, and with corporations, ownership is shown by who holds shares of stock in the corporation. While the state might not request this information, in order for you business to be registered as a minority owned or woman owned business, you must apply with the Small Business Administration. There are a lot of benefits to having your business registered as minority or woman owned, a big advantage is that there are special loans and grants that your business can apply for. If you have questions about forming your own business, please don't hesitate to call us at 866-999-8200.

When you start your own business, most people are not used to interviewing potential employees, because not too long ago you were just an employee yourself.

You have to remember that the person being interviewed is probably nervous, so try and write your own set of questions, rather than only going the general what-are-your-strengths-and-weaknesses route. Ask the interviewee questions that would actually pertain to your business, if you work in an office that always has people walking in and out or loud music, ask your interviewee if they can concentrate in that type of environment, many people cannot, and although you may do  your best to accommodate someone who you think is good for the position, if that someone doesn't adjust well, they may leave, or be unhappy.

Also when interviewing, make sure you try your best to make the interviewee feel comfortable, the environment for an interview doesn't have to be uptight and by the book. I've had interviews where the interviewer asked what type of music I preferred or what my favorite movie is, questions such as these allow you to gauge the interviewees personality better to see if they are a good fit for your company, it opens up the invitation for chat, which can put the interviewee at ease.

I myself don't have much experience being the interviewee, and very little being the interviewer. I've only had a few jobs, and I didn't interview many times before I found somewhere I fit in, but there is one interview that will always stick out in my mind, and it's basically what not to do when conducting an interview. It could have been the uncomfortably quiet office that I walked into that didn't help put me at ease, but the company owner who was interviewing me also was cold and inviting. Part of the interview required me to do a basic math quiz, after the test, the owner came in to score it, I had got all problems but one correct, and the owner's comment was, "Well, you're not dumb." I pretty much wanted to leave right then, but I stuck around for the remainder of the interview, basically being given the rundown on how operations work. I left knowing that if I had got offered the position (even though the pay was higher than I was expecting), I would not take it. I was offered the position within the next week, I declined.

If you ever watch NBC's The Office, you've noticed that the Dunder Mifflin employees generally seem to be happy, regardless of office hijinx or their boss's unconventional way of running the office. We all want to work at an office that is exciting and always has something going on, but that's not the reality for most work environments. In a professional office there are lines you have to draw, but just as important as employees keeping their boss happy, the boss should also be keeping his employees happy. There are a few tips you can use in order to increase happiness in the office, and in turn, increase productivity:

Music, if an office is too quiet time seems to drag, allow employees to wear their iPods or play their music at their desk at a low volume, just be sure that they have a quick mute button in case they need to take a call, or if someone comes to speak to them.

Potlucks, a good idea to bring up office cheerfulness is to have a potluck, maybe every month or every other week. This gives employees something to look forward to when they come in for the day, other than the probably stressful tasks they have at hand. A potluck is also good because it's one less thing the employee has to think about doing for the day, lunch.

Award gift cards, if someone is excelling in their position, they should be rewarded. People love recognition and who doesn't love gift cards, they don't have to be expensive gift cards, but a $25 gift card out to one employee at least a once a month can boost performance as well as employee happiness, because the employees will actually feel like you notice them.

Host a softball game with a vendor you work with, if you have enough employees, ask them to participate in a softball game for your company against one of your vendors. This will not only lead to happiness but it will also show the sense of pride your employees have for being a part of your company.

If you have any questions about starting your own business, please don't hesitate to call us at 866-999-8200.

So many people out there have hobbies that they enjoy doing, on weekends or time off from work, and some of them even dream about doing their hobby full time. We've worked with several clients who have turned their hobby into a business, and sometimes it might not be a full time business at first, but who wouldn't like being paid for what you love to do anyway. Look at businesses like fishing guides or skydiving businesses, the people who run those businesses aren't your everyday business people, they are people who loved something so much, they decided to make it their business, and since work takes a big chunk of your time, why not do something you love.

The first step in making your hobby your business is to write a business plan. It might not be a detailed business plan, but you need an outline of what needs to be done and how you plan to accomplish these tasks.

Including in that plan should be whether you're going to form an LLC, form a corporation or simply file for a DBA; your marketing plan, which these days has a lot to do with your online presence. Once your business plan is in place, you can hire a company, such as ours, to take care of a lot of the parts of getting the business up and running, or do it yourself. If you're going to be doing any of the tasks yourself, be sure to set up deadlines for every task. Too many times people will start something, only to leave it sitting forever, unfinished, where if they just gave themselves some sort of deadline, they could make it work. If you have any questions about making your personal hobby a business, give us a call at 866-999-8200.

Many business owners, especially new business owners want to have their hands in everything, and that's fine, but there is a line between having a hand in everything and doing everything yourself. As a small business owner it's important to accept help when available. Sometimes you may think it's easier to do something yourself or because you have a specific way of getting things done. If that's the case, take a few moments to show someone how you'd like a task completed, from then on they should pick up on how you like things done, so when the task comes up again, you can rely on that same person to take care of things the way you like them to be taken care of. If you take the time to teach someone how to do something, they will continue doing that something the way they were taught, if you do not teach them, there will be trial and error. Some business owners are OK with their employees figuring out their own way of doing things and will step back when it comes to teaching something, but some business owners do not have that luxury. Regardless of how things are getting done, you have to take time for yourself, and if there is help available, take it.

For many of us, record keeping is not a glamorous part of running a business, but just as your customer service and product or service quality it is important to your business. Although you may think that you're doing a great job keeping records, it's also important to backup the records your savings. Most hard drives will fail at some point, so it's crucial that you backup your files often either on an external hard drive, or a secure online backup service. It's also a good idea to back up your website locally, so it will be easy to re-upload if your server ever crashes. If you have any business related questions, don't hesitate to call us at 866-999-8200.

In big cities, high rises are built with a little room to sway around, because of high winds and earthquakes, if they were not built so they would crack easily when exposed to such conditions. As a business owner, you should have a firm foundation, but you should also learn to sway. All clients are not the same, and some may require a little more attention for the same service you provide to countless others. It's important to make these clients feel as though they are an extremely valued client, although it may at times be a little annoying, the client is going to you for a job or service, because it is something they do not know how to do themselves, or they may know but they don't have the time or energy to take care of it. If a client feels like they've been treated right, they'll definitely tell their friends about you. Good Luck.

When starting a business, filing for an LLC or forming a corporation, it's important to know who's going to be a part of the business at hand. Because some states require you to list the members or the directors, choosing your partners in business can be an important task that is a hassle to update should you wish to do so after the creation of the entity. It's important to choose savvy business people who you can trust to become business partners with. Many times people form businesses with their families, and while it may be a good idea in some ways, if there is ever a dispute it is likely to spill over into the personal relationships of the partners. When forming an LLC or corporation it's important to have guidelines in place, an operating agreement and bylaws are required in every state to ensure that the business is being run rather fairly. Take a good amount of time to consider who will be the best person or people who will fit well with your business, be sure they have the same goals, values and ethics as yourself. If you have any questions about starting a business, contact us at 866-999-8200.