Getting old is no fun. It takes longer to do pretty much everything, your body starts failing you, and a lot of times you’re living on a fixed income. As we all get older, who will be there to take care of us when we need it most?

You and your family may watch out for your parents or grandparents but not everyone has the resources to take care of elderly relatives. Of course the government has programs to help out people in this situation but many times they need more help than the government can offer.

One of the ladies that applied for the Small Business Stimulus package is starting a non-profit organization who’s goal is to help out seniors in this situation. She’s looking for ideas on funding her organization, to offer suggestions or feedback check out the profile of her senior citizen assistance start up.

Are women more entrepreneurial than men?  We’ve had twice as many women apply than men for the Small Business Stimulus Package so far. 

Of course, it’s by no means a statistical indicator that women are more likely to start a small business, perhaps they are just more willing to share the details of their current or future business.  Whatever the reason, we have some women who need your help with their business ideas.

Virtual Assistant Business – Dee was recently laid off from her job and is in the middle of starting her own virtual assistant business to support her family. 

Craft Supply Business – Sara has identified a potential need for a craft supply store in her hometown and is building her marketing plan.

Both of these ladies want to build a business of their own, and they are both enterprises that could potentially help create jobs in a time of economic turmoil.  Sara will create business for her suppliers and may need to hire someone to help out in her store.  Once Dee has customers for her business, she would like to hire other administrative assistants that have been laid off.

Please stop by the small business section and offer these enterprising women some words of advice or encouragement!

Market research is on the mind of the first featured applicant of the Small Business Stimulus package.  Sara is in the middle of the market research phase for a sewing and craft supplies business.

You can read more in the small business section about her market, her plans for the business, and some suggestions I make for how she could research her market.  Check it out and give Sara some other ideas she could use to connect with people locally to pick their brain about their craft needs – Market Research Tips

Contest Sponsors

I’d like to thank contest sponsors Anne Haynes, Oak Ave Productions, and Write and Promote for offering their services as prizes to help out small businesses.  I’m currently in discussions with a few other companies that would like to provide prizes as well.

I was contacted by someone at Intuit yesterday about their MyCorporation service that lets you incorporate online.  They’re currently offering their corporation and limited liability filing services for free, here is what he had to say about the offer:

“We now know that the economy is in a recession.  And one of the best ways to turn the nation around is to get people back to work.  So, MyCorporation is doing our part, offering our services for FREE, so entrepreneurs nationwide can start new businesses and give back to their local communities through the creation of new jobs.”

Click Here to start your business (use coupon code MYGIFT)

Business owners and entrepreneurs are submitting their applications for the small business stimulus package!  Some the entries we’ve had so far are:

• photography business
• sewing and crafting supplies shop
• senior citizen assistance service

Thanks to Anita Campbell for announcing the contest on her site, Small Business Trends.

Business Sponsors

We’ve also had some more sponors come forward.  A QuickBooks and Peachtree software trainer is offering a free QuickBooks Pro software consultation or a business plan review for small business owners.  She’s also a SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executive) counselor, SCORE is a service you should definitely check into if you’re a small business owner.  From their about page:

“SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business” is a nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA).”

Basically, these are experienced business people that are offering their advice and counsel to small business owners free of charge.  I’ve visited our local SCORE resource center several times and also received some assistance from one of their online business counselors.  It’s a great resource for business owners, I’d check it out.  Even if you don’t want to take advantage of the counseling they offer tons of great information.  For example, they teamed up with Visa to offer a free small business financial management course online.

What can you do with $250?

I did have someone email me asking what good only $250 would do a small business owner.  Well for $250, you could get at least an annual subscription to any of the below services:

• Cut the time and money you spend on faxes, sign up for an online email fax service from Myfax
• Start an email marketing newsletter for your small business with Aweber
• Put your business on the internet, sign up for Bluehost small business web hosting at bluehost
• Cut your telephone costs and get a toll free number with Ringcentral online phone service

Free Business Incorporation

MyCorporation is a service that lets you incorporate online and they’ve extended their offering to help you start a business.  It’s their version of a small business stimulus package; they’re offering free incorporations and LLC formations for the rest of the month. 

Click Here to start your business (coupon code MYGIFT)

We are currently examining the economic policies of the presidential candidates. First, we looked at some of the economic policies of Barack Obama, and today we’ll take a look at John McCain’s plan bring the economy out of its current slump. Both candidates have stark differences when it comes to their philosophy for changing the economy, but right now their words are just words. All we can do as voters is discern who we think will stick to their word about their policies. Here is a look at some of the economic policies of John McCain:

Immediate Relief For American Families

Food and Gas Relief:

The gas thing is a little outdated, because I just filled up my gas tank for $2.69 a gallon, which is pretty low for today’s standards. However, back when gas was $4.00 a gallon, McCain wanted to take away the 54 cent gas tax on imported sugar-based ethanol. Of course, oil prices could always shoot up again in the future. McCain also wants to repeal the ethanol mandate in gasoline to help drive back down the price of certain foods.

Housing Plan:

McCain has a plan to help individuals who genuinely can’t afford their current mortgage whom are currently the primary resident in the home. He wants to put a plan together that will allow individuals to apply for a new mortgage at a fixed rate with a different amount. Apparently, if your current mortgage is $300,000, but you can only afford a payment on a $250,000 mortgage, then the $50,000 difference would be forgiven, and the new loan would be backed by the FHA.

Protect student loans:

The goal of McCain’s plan is to make sure that student loans are available during the credit crunch.

Federal Spending Reform

Balancing The Budget by 2013:

By the end of his first term, McCain claims he will balance the budget by administering comprehensive spending controls, reasonable economic growth, and bi-partisanship in budget efforts.

Eliminate Wasteful Spending:

McCain has a decent record when it comes to voting against bills with too much wasteful spending, and he vows to continue that trend if he is president.

Reforming Social Security and Medicare:

How he’s going to do this in four to eight years, I am not sure, but this seems to me to be a typical Republican thing to promise. Social Security and Medicare are basically federal government liabilities, and I think they’ll just keep pumping money into it to fund it.

Small Business

Cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent:

No one seems to talk about this in the media. This could be a huge stimulant to the economy. The Republic of Ireland was in a huge economic recession, and then they slashed the corporate tax rate, and their economy is now flourishing. Small business accounts for 80% of American jobs, and his plan focuses on protecting small business owners.

McCain wants to establish a permanent tax credit equal to 10% of wages spent on research and development.

Good for companies in health care, energy, and other innovative industries, but not for the local pharmacy and the general contractor.

Reduce the estate tax to 15 percent. The goal is to help keep businesses in the family.

Miscellaneous

• His would like to ban taxes on goods and services sold on the internet and taxes for cell phone/text message use.
• Promote workplace flexibility by allowing people to work at home, maintain a flexible work schedule, and make health care more portable.

Whoever you support for president, whether it’s McCain or Obama, make sure you get your say, don’t forget to vote next week!

The Presidential election is just over a week away, and there are millions of undecided voters out there. The economy seems to be the hottest topic for this election, because we have recently seen the stock market go crazy, investment banking firms go under, and the sub-prime mortgage industry wreak financial havoc throughout the country.

We try to avoid partisan political discussions on this site, however, we want you to be be aware of some of the economic policies we might see when you vote for Barack Obama or John McCain. As the election draws near, we’re going to look at the candidates financial plans for topics like energy costs, tax reform, job creation, and home ownership.

We’re not political experts but this is what we understand from listening to McCain and Obama, if we didn’t explain something correctly or you disagree with our take, let us know in the comments.

Energy Costs

One of the things Obama promises to do is enact a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give Americans a $1,000 energy rebate to help pay for rising energy costs. How he will define “excessive” is not explained, and now gas prices are back to the price they were a year ago, so this concept may not have as much traction as it would of a while back. 

Tax Relief

This tax relief is part of his plan to restore the economy, which is different from his tax reform plan.

• Provide a tax cut for “working” families. He will set up a tax credit called the “making work pay” tax credit, not sure what criteria he will use to classify a working family.
• He’ll eliminate taxes for senior citizens that make less than $50,000 a year.
• Obama wants to amend the way taxes are filed by requiring the IRS to gather basic financial information from banks and employers, pre-fill the forms, and send them to taxpayers whom then can verify that the information is correct and add or delete anything else on the forms.

Trade

Obama’s philosophy and plan towards trade is to make moves that help American workers keep their jobs and create new manufacturing jobs for American workers.

Part of this plan is to amend the NAFTA with Canada and Mexico. This was the center of controversy during the primary season, because he took a very strong position against NAFTA early on his campaign, and then retracted his strong comments after that. Although, he still wants to amend it, he is not specific what he would like to do with it.

Creating New Jobs

Obama takes two issues, creating jobs and creating alternative sources of energy, and fuses them together. He starts out by investing $150 billion dollars toward clean energy, and thus creating more jobs for workers because more of these plants will be created.

Obama also wants to mandate that all households derive 25% of their energy from renewable energy by 2025, and this will in effect, force the creation of more jobs due to higher demand for renewable energy sources.

Supporting Small Business

• Eliminate capital gains taxes on start-up businesses and small businesses; which I don’t undertand because small businesses don’t typically pay capital gains taxes do they?
• Plant entrepreneurship incubators around disadvantaged areas of the country to encourage small business start-up in areas that need their economies boosted.

Homeownership and Mortgage Reform

• Create a universal mortgage tax credit that will give an average of $500 tax savings to households making less than $50k per year.
• Ensure more accountability for the subprime mortgage industry, and create a more standardized way of helping consumers learn the true cost of a loan or mortgage product.
• Work to eliminate the provision that allows mortgage companies to prevent bankruptcy courts from modifying the mortgage payments of individuals that file for bankruptcy.

Those are some of the economy policies proposed by Obama that could effect your wallet in one way or another. Make sure you note that political candidates make a lot of promises on the campaign trail so you should do your own research and make an informed opinion about whether you think the promises are feasible or realistic. Next time we’ll take a look at John McCain’s economic plan.

Want to make extra money while working from home?  You could join the thousands of other independent consultants, distributors or representatives that work in the direct sales industry and sell products or services directly to customers. The products are sold mainly via in-home product demonstrations, parties, and one-on-one selling.

According to the Direct Selling Association, annual sales from the direct selling industry currently exceed $100 billion. They list the benefits of a direct selling business as:

• Good way to meet and socialize with people.
• Offers flexible work schedules.
• Good way to earn extra income.
• Good way to own a business.
• Earnings are in proportion to efforts.

Direct Sales is Everywhere
Chances are you’ve either been approached by or have purchased something from one of these independent consultants. A study referenced by the Direct Selling Association estimates that 55 percent of American adults reported having, at some time, purchased goods or services from a direct selling representative.  If you have a friend that sells Mary Kay or  Pampered Chef then you know what I’m talking about.

Good for Corporations
The reason direct sales is so popular has to do not only with the benefits to the people selling it but also the benefits to the companies that make the products or services.  The sales model allows these companies a low risk, low cost method of expanding their sales force throughout the country.

It’s low risk to the company because the sales reps typically aren’t paid anything unless they make sales. The company doesn’t have to risk a bunch of money hiring a sales force, they pay out a commission only after they’ve already made money via a sale.

A direct sales model is low cost not only because companies don’t have pay salaries but also because they don’t have to offer benefits to the independent consultants.

Selling to Your Friends
So direct sales is good for businesses and good for sales reps, what’s the downside?  (I’ve never been a direct sales consultant so forgive me if I state things incorrectly but this is my understanding). People who get started in direct sales are coached to sell the product or service to their most accessible market, their family or friends. 

With products like Mary Kay you start off by having a party at your house where you invite your friends, give them free samples, and ask them to host future parties at their homes and invite other friends.  Eventually through word of mouth and the network approach of selling to a friend of a friend you build up a customer base.

Effects on Relationships?
Although direct sales has proven to be an effective selling approach, I wonder if it could also prove to be damaging to relationships.  I would imagine that not everyone will enjoy being sold to by their friends, some people may even be offended or feel “used” when asked to come to “sales party”.

There’s probably another group of people that will go along with it but inwardly feel uncomfortable.  They’ll buy from you not because they want what you’re selling but because they feel like they should.  Although they won’t say anything, the value of your friendship may decrease in their mind as they see themselves as just a sales opportunity for you.

The Real Story
As I said earlier, I’ve never been a direct sales rep so I don’t know what really goes on between friends when selling is introduced into the relationship.  What are your thoughts and experiences with direct sales?  Do you like buying products from your friends instead of the store? Do you enjoy attending or hosting sales parties?  Have you ever lost a friend or damaged a relationship because of it?