Can you believe we’re already halfway through Q3? If you’re like us, summer has rushed past you in a blur of fun, sunscreen and barbecue smoke. (Somehow all that time we’ve spent relaxing made it go by even faster!) Hard to imagine during these dog days of August, but in just a few weeks, we’ll…
This Newest Amazon Product Puts the Social Fun Back Into Shopping
Amazon launches Amazon Spark, a social sharing platform that shortens the path between product discovery and product purchase. When I was a kid, my sisters and I used to wait with breathless anticipation for the new editions of our favorite catalogue. At age 8, it was the American Girl doll catalogue–we marked the pages of…
Hate Doing This Small Business Task? You’re Not Alone.
It’s time to admit it: You hate tracking your small business finances. There, you said it. Breathe. You hate keeping receipts. You hate going through your monthly expenses and identifying them one by one. You hate matching your invoices against your revenue reports. You hate the nail-biting moment of calculating your profit and loss, wondering…
Jumping Into Ecommerce Just Got a Lot Easier
How’s this for a wacky statistic? Ecommerce is growing 23% year-over-year. 51% of Americans think shopping online is the best way to shop. Yet 46% of American small businesses do not have a website. What gives? [Tweet “51% of Americans think shopping online is the best way to shop. Yet 46% of US small businesses…
Woo-Hoo! Xero Hits 1 Million Subscribers!
You know that feeling when your sports team takes the championship. When your local school district receives a national recognition. When your neighbor’s high schooler gets accepted to a prestigious university. It’s that feeling of sharing in somebody else’s win. That’s how we felt last week when we heard that Xero had reached 1 million subscribers….
Don’t Miss This Easy Online Business Tax Deduction!
Profit Planners, rejoice! There’s a new deduction in town. Actually, it’s not that new. It’s been around since 2013. But it remains one of the most ignored deductions available to online business owners. Consider this statistic: Although an estimated 26 million Americans have home offices, just 3.4 million taxpayers claim home-office deductions. For those suffering from audit paranoia, Forbes…
Amazon Sellers — You Need This Tool!
If you haven’t discovered the joys of A2X yet…well, today might as well be Christmas for you. This nifty online tool integrates your Amazon financial data into your Xero chart of accounts. Just like magic. No more individual transaction entries. No more untangling the mess of seller fees. Just your two biggest sources of financial data, playing nice together…
Setting Up Your Online Store – A Xero Guide
Happy Monday, Profit Planners! Last month, our accounting software crush Xero reached out to Marilyn for a little help with creating a step-by-step guide for new online retailers. As always, our fearless leader delivered the goods–a simple checklist for getting the bases covered, along with a 3-step process for deciding which format works best for you. (If you’ve ever wondered…
The 1099-K: Everything You Wanted to Know (but were afraid to ask)
With tax season in the offing, we’ve been fielding a lot of questions about one particular bit of IRS business: Form 1099-K. Maybe you received one of these in the mail and were like this: via GIPHY Don’t worry. The 1099-K is informational in nature. The IRS sends it to you to help make sure that…
Forgot Your Year-End Review?
Okay, it’s February. The 3rd week of February, in fact. You’re already knee-deep in 2017, getting your tax stuff together, creating your first quarter plan on the fly, and…wasn’t there something you forgot? Oh yeah. Your year-end review. The year-end review is one of those crucial bits of online business that is just small enough…