The new year is up and running and small business owners are implementing their plans and looking for new ways to improve and optimize their operations. And one of the ways to do that is by understanding the complex tax system.
In this week’s roundup, one of the articles looks at the new W-4 Form, which has been redesigned to simplify tax withholding. According to the IRS, the goal is to make the process more transparent in order to produce greater accuracy in withholding.
The article goes into detail on what employers need to know when and how to integrate the new form into their payroll process.
Beyond the new W-4 Form, this week the roundup looks at how to choose the right advertising and marketing channels. As more small businesses increase their digital presence with their physical stores, choosing the right channel goes a long way in reaching your audience.
Other articles address a new video streaming tool, the appointment of the new SBA Administrator, how to use Instagram to generate leads and much more.
As always, the weekly roundup is just a jumping-off point for more content on Small Business Trends. Make sure to look at the site for more content for all your small business needs.
Taxes
New W-4 Form: 10 Things Small Businesses Need to Know
Due to changes in various tax rules made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the IRS has completely redesigned Form W-4 for 2020, which is used for income tax withholding purposes. The new form is intended to be more transparent and produce greater accuracy in withholding. Employers need to know when and how to incorporate the new form into their payroll practices. 2020 Form W-4 Changes.
Marketing Tips
How to Choose the Right Advertising and Marketing Channels
Where and how do you spend advertising and marketing money? Which advertising and marketing channels should you use? These become two of the most important questions a business owner has to wrestle with year after year. And today, you find so many channels available to you and so many “expert” voices clamoring for your attention. Don’t get swept away by a current of media buzz.
What is a Loss Leader?
A loss leader is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost in order to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. Specifically, in retail businesses such as grocery stores the price of a loss leader is lower than the actual cost the retailer paid for the item.
Small Business News
Mevo Start Offers Easy to Use Video Tool with Recording, Editing and Streaming
Video, in all its forms, including streaming is becoming the preferred way of consuming content. The Mevo Start is a device that looks to capitalize on this growth with a small live streaming video camera that can fit in the palm of your hands. Even though smartphones are improving their video capability, a dedicated device for just streaming video makes sense in today’s ecosystem.
Jovita Carranza Appointed New Administrator of SBA
The US Senate has appointed Jovita Carranza as the 36th head of the Small Business Administration (SBA). Carranza, 70, was confirmed through an 88-5 bipartisan vote in the Senate replacing acting administrator Chris Pilkerton. New Head of SBA, Jovita Carranza Prior to Pilkerton, Linda McMahon and Joseph Loddo had also served at the helm of SBA under Trump.
52% of Shoppers Don’t Buy Online Fearing a Difficult Returns Process
If you think a ‘free shipping’ is the only determining factor for most online shoppers, then you should look beyond. A significant number of shoppers don’t buy online fearing that it will be difficult for them to return the purchased items. In fact, 52% of consumers have abandoned an online purchase out of fear of a difficult return process, according to a recent Splitit survey.
Survey Reveals How Much Time and Money Your Company Loses to Commuting
A long commute is one of the biggest reasons employees want to work remotely. And the new study commissioned by 8×8 and carried out by Dynata highlights this very point by revealing the wasted costs of commuting. Wasted Costs of Commuting The study says 58% of employees believe their company loses $10-25K annually because of their commute to and from work.
Social Media
How to Use Instagram to Generate Leads for Your Small Ecommerce Brand
Have you ever considered Instagram as anything more than a brand building platform? Here is how you can use it to generate leads and drive more sales. Instagram is not just for posting beautiful sunset and creative lunch photos. It’s a great lead generation platform with over 1 billion active users every single month. 90% of them follow a business on Instagram.
Retail Trends
Why Your Small Business Needs Amazon
In 2020, small business can no longer ignore Amazon as the 800-pound gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about. In fact, if you are a retailer, you need to see Amazon with their enormous customer base as a partner, not a competitor.
Small Business Operations
Anatomy of a Unicorn Business and How to Become One
In the business world, a unicorn is a private company with a valuation of $1 billion or more. It’s a rare and extremely difficult moniker to achieve, and as of August 2019, there’ve only been 379 unicorn companies ever (here’s the list). In fact, experts estimate a new business has just a .00006% chance to achieve unicorn status.
Technology Trends
AI Can Bring New Value to These 4 Key Business Data Types
The amount of data companies deal with can feel crushing. In order to stay competitive, they have to harvest and harness information on every product they develop, every sale they make, and every candidate they hire. The good news is that as data volumes grow, so do analysis tools and techniques. Artificial intelligence is able to crunch numbers exponentially faster than human beings.
Building a Home Office for Two
Lots of entrepreneurs work from home at least on occasion. In fact, there’s a good chance that more than one person in your household may need a home office. Whether you and your partner both work from home every day or you occasionally bring in a coworker to help with tasks, you may benefit from having a home office that’s optimized for multiple people.
How to Get the Best WiFi for Your Home Office
If you work full time from home or split work between the office and your home, you no doubt have WiFi for your home office. WiFi in your home office can help boost productivity, save time, and offer convenience for the entire family. Even if you have a WiFi in place, the performance might leave much to be desired.
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