10 Heathy Tips for Entrepreneurs

by Elle Ray | May 22, 2017 | Small Business Advice

Don’t Get Sick or Plan for It — It’s Your Choice

Sick Leave? What’s that? As the boss, you probably read tips for entrepreneurs every day. And every day, you learn something new. While running your own company is hard work, you get tons of perks:

• You can’t be fired
• You can work when you want to work
• You can change the rules any time you want
• And you can take a vacation whenever you get an itch to

But you can’t get sick. Sickness means laying up, feeling helpless. At least when you’re on vacation or playing hooky, you can draw on those years of reading tips for entrepreneurs — and quietly check your email, place orders, close sales and take care of behind-the-scenes business with little effort.

But when you’re sick, not only do you not even feel well enough to touch a keypad, but there’s a good chance you’re in no mental state to make sound decisions. And forget about trying to pass it off like there’s nothing wrong. You know it; your team knows it and your customers probably wonder what that frowny-face emoji means at the end of your email. (Perhaps something you added in a medicated fog?)

When the Tsunami Hits

When the big one hits — something like cancer or a car wreck — you do what you have to do to make it through to the other side. If that means working your contacts on a laptop in a hospital room or running your partners and staff through every possible scenario while you’re out healing, do it. The best tips for entrepreneurs who get sick, however, involve keeping stress to a minimum.

Ills of the flesh heal in time. How fast and how well you heal depends on keeping your ills of the mind at bay. Research proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that physical health and psychological health are intricately intertwined. So much so that stress has a direct impact on poor outcomes following surgery and leads to less-than-stellar immune systems.

Prevent What You Can and Deal with the Rest

Stress not only impedes healing when you experience a big health crisis, it also can lead to lesser illnesses that can just as easily disrupt your business. For while you certainly can take a day off to get over a bug, it’s far more productive to play on those days off. To that end, here are 10 tips for entrepreneurs to live by — to stay healthy and free to enjoy all the perks of being the boss:

1. Build in time each day for a stress-busting practice — whether that’s 20 minutes on a treadmill or in deep mediation. Do it regularly to reduce stress so that even if a crisis hits, you’ll be in a better state of mind to heal.
    
2. Boss, know thyself. You may or may not be able to heal yourself, but when you’re honest with yourself, you know how much sleep you need to stay sharp; you know better than anyone what relaxes you and you know when you need a break. Listen to your body; it will tell you everything you need to know.
    
3. Understand and follow the guidelines for healthy eating. The standard drill involves: 35 percent from lean protein (think skinless chicken and tofu), 25 percent from healthy fat (like avocadoes and olive oil), leaving close to 60 percent for good carbs (whole grains and raw veggies).
    
4. Stay hydrated. Your body and your mind stay sharp and on-point when you take in the standard 64 fluid ounces of water a day. Keep a glass of water at arm’s reach.
    
5. Keep your energy level high by breaking up your daily food intake into many small bites instead of big sit-down meals.
    
6. Sleep deeply. Sleep is vital for peak performance. Even when you burn the midnight oil on a big project, take power naps to keep the edge off until you can bunker down for a solid eight or nine hours.
    
7. Stand up and move. If you, like the partners at Ray Access, often are tied to the computer to meet deadlines, then you need to consciously make the effort to get up and move at least once an hour for about 10 minutes.
    
8. Fight germs as fastidiously as if you were the charge nurse in the ICU. Wash your hands thoroughly after every human encounter. When you come in from a lunch away from your desk, a meeting or even just a trip to the office supply store, wash your hands. (Secret tip for entrepreneurs: nursing students have to sing the alphabet while they wash their hands to ensure they wash long enough.)
    
9. Take advantage of slow times and breaks in the business rush when they happen. Use the time to get ahead of your work so that when you need to slow down because of a tickle in your throat, you’ll be ahead and can afford the break.
    
10. Surround yourself with smart people on whom you can rely to take over when necessary. Don’t hoard your knowledge. One of the benefits of sharing — besides increasing your own prosperity — is that you have people ready and trained to step in when you need them.

S**t’s going to happen. No doubt. That’s why lists like these tips for entrepreneurs to stay healthy were invented. That’s why, just for today, I like to think that the measure of an entrepreneurial success is not how well you plan ahead, but as Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook puts it:

“The seeds of resilience are planted in the way we process the negative events in our lives.”

Or if you prefer to listen to Hippocrates:

“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”

Stay well. But if you can’t, then heal quickly.

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.

20/20 Vision

by Elle Ray | May 8, 2017 | Small Business Advice

A Clear Vision Statement Gives You Direction

Perfect eyesight is measured by how clearly you can see at 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, according to your optometrist, your visual acuity is sharp and clear for 20 feet. If only the future of your business was so distinct and easy to measure.

A mission statement is supposed to embody your passion, your raison d’être. In other words, it reveals who you are and what you do. Your vision statement, on the other hand, answers the how and why of your company. And it involves a little fortune-telling and gazing into the future. Your vision explains where you see your business going.

Why Bother?

Just as a clear mission defines your daily work, your vision forms the basis of the roadmap to your future. You’ve undoubtedly heard the saying: “You’ll never know when you get there if you don’t have a destination in mind.” Wandering willy-nilly through the business world is no way to build something of value, something that lasts and something that you can be proud of.

A vision statement also helps you attract talent, people who want what you want and align with your mission. Sure, every business owner wants to make money, and that should clearly be part of your vision. But it has to be inspirational, too. Making money for money’s sake is cold, even in a capitalist society like America.

So what if you make a lot of money? That accomplishment doesn’t always equate to happiness or fulfillment. For proof, just look at the hundreds of millionaire athletes and entertainers who use drugs or other numbing behaviors to mask their feelings. Do you think they’re really happy or fulfilled?

Gotta See Clearly Now

Like sight, a company’s vision statement needs to encompass reality in all its technicolor. Truly satisfying work makes you feel good; it makes your team feel good; and ultimately it allows your customers and associated partners and vendors to feel good. Tapping into a goal with altruistic intentions makes for a satisfying life, something worth all the hours you put into it.

A vision statement doesn’t necessarily have to be attainable, either. Some might complain that vision statements often are too pie-in-the-sky and unreachable, if not outright misleading. But if you can contribute in even a small way to a future that comes closer to your vision, then you’ve been true to your values and maybe helped someone in the process. Take, for example, a few visions statements that are nice in their sentiment, but tough to really imagine:

• Microsoft’s written vision statement: “To help individuals and businesses realize their full potential.”
• Alzheimer’s Association goes big: “A world without Alzheimer’s disease.”
• Walmart really cares about all of us with its vision statement: “To be the best retailer in the hearts and minds of consumers and employees.”
• And who better to guide a vision statement than the American Optometric Association: To be “the acknowledged leader and recognized authority for eye and vision care in the world.”

Big Vision Statements Mean Big Returns

The bigger your vision, the greater impact you just may make on the world. Of course, as with all global visions, you’ve got to start at home. For example, the partners at Ray Access have a mission to “get everyone to appreciate and evaluate the media in their lives,” and to make communication understandable and valuable.

As a vision statement, we strive “to strengthen the written word to give every company in the world words that empower their business.” If we did that, we’d definitely make money, but more importantly, we’d play a huge role in maintaining the English language and reminding consumers that they can get a clear message.

We believe we do that for our clients and their customers. We also strive to help business leaders show respect for their customers by presenting their messages clearly and consistently — every time. Nothing less than 20/20. We invite you along, too. What’s your big vision?

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.

What’s Your Mission Statement for Business?

by Mark Bloom | May 2, 2017 | Small Business Advice

Decoding Your Life’s Passion into One Sentence

It may seem strange to discuss the fire of your life’s passion with the clinical rationality of a mission statement for business. As if the burning core of your soul could be summarized by a line in your company fact sheet. And yet that’s exactly what’s supposed to happen when you develop your mission statement.

A mission statement for business isn’t about dollars and cents. It’s not about operating strategies, marketing techniques or product development. If you’re a small business owner, your business must derive from your passion, or you’re just punching a clock. Starting and running a business is too dang hard not to have skin in the game — in other words, your business has to make your passion come alive.

Finding Your Passion

Before you can start, of course, you’ve got to know what your passion is. Many know what they’re passionate about already. It can be big, but it doesn’t have to be. It might be:

• The environment
• Education
• Perfectly manicured lawns
• People using turn signals
• Urban green spaces

You could develop a business that encompassed each of those passions. For education, for example, it could be starting a charter school, designing better classrooms or publishing new textbooks. And that only scratches the surface of possibilities. So, ask yourself: What’s my passion?

Putting Your Passion to Work

Once you’ve identified your passion, you can evaluate how it fits into your work. Your passion should form the basis for your mission statement for business. It’s what’s supposed to drive your business. It’s what gets you up in the morning. As Joseph Campbell said, “Follow your bliss.” In our words, “Work your passion.”

In real terms, that means putting your passion into your mission statement. The mission of your business should align with what drives you. If you can accomplish that, your business will thrive because you’re doing what you love.

The Mission Statement for Business That Drives Us

For Ray Access, communication is a passion, but not only written communication — although that’s certainly our little piece of it. But our passion is bigger than that. We want nothing less than to educate the world to be aware (and be wary) of media. We want people to recognize and appreciate content — and be able to recognize when it says nothing.

The principals of Ray Access visit many websites every day in the course of their work, and they see many that offer nothing — absolutely nothing — of value. When a website doesn’t work, nobody wins. Visitors don’t find the information they’re after, and the business loses a sale. So, that’s become the Ray Access mission statement for business:

“To help companies succeed online while educating business leaders about the value and purpose of well-crafted content. It’s not enough for you to say something; you have to say something meaningful. Your message must be worth your customers’ time and attention.”

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.

Each One Teach One

by Elle Ray | Apr 25, 2017 | Small Business Advice

Become a Business Mentor to Pay It Forward

While helping your customers is rewarding, the word “customers” implies that you got paid for the service or products you provided. And that’s certainly all well and good, especially when you strive to actually help people.

But there’s a certain satisfaction you get when you go out of your way, with no compensation in sight, to help another as a business mentor. Every major religion, every spiritual philosophy and every successful business person understands the “pay it forward” mentality that truly reaps the biggest benefits — for you and the recipient of your efforts.

Always in Style

“Each one teach one” is a philosophy, or way of life, that originated in the U.S. during the early days of slavery. Africans were thought of as chattel by their owners and not worth the time or resources it would take to educate them. Leaders within the slave community started the practice of teaching reading and writing in secret. And they passed on their knowledge to their friends and family members one at a time.

In true leadership fashion, they encouraged each new student to pass on their newfound knowledge to another person. If each one who gained new knowledge passed it on to one person and the pattern continued, then they believed that eventually everyone could become educated. And it worked!

But We’re Not Enslaved Anymore

The each one teach one philosophy gained traction over the years, and many religious and community organizations have adopted the concept into their practices today. It isn’t a stretch then to think that you too — as a small business owner, successful entrepreneur or seasoned professional — can pass on your knowledge to someone who could really benefit from it. The end result may be that no one goes without fulfilling, prosperous work they love to do.

The organization called SCORE, a division of the Small Business Administration, is one example of a group of professionals, mostly retired, who volunteer their time to become business mentors and share their expertise with new or wanna-be business owners. Some areas where their experience is prized by hungry knowledge-seekers include:

• IT
• Accounting
• Legal
• Branding
• Marketing
• Business development

So How Can You Get Involved in Becoming a Business Mentor?

Once you make the intention to become a business mentor to small business owners who can really benefit from your expertise, your mentees will appear. That’s how the universe works. And if you don’t recognize those people as they cross your path, consider other sources to find willing learners:

• Your church. Ask your minister or someone in the office who may be involved in the business community.
• Business networking groups. As you talk to people to build your network, explain what you have to offer and ask if they know anyone with whom you might work (at no charge of course).
• Re-entry programs, such as those provided by your local Goodwill office or through the courthouse. Former offenders often have difficulty finding lucrative opportunities for work, especially when they’re first released from prison. Many are interested in starting their own businesses.
• The local community college counseling office, which can direct you to a program administrator or other small business advocate who works with students of all ages trying to get settled in a new business.

Once you start as a business mentor, you’ll begin to reap your own rewards immediately, not the least of which is feeling pretty good about yourself. When you pay it forward and follow the premise of the original each one teach one philosophy, you’ll make a difference in the lives you touch — in your community and in the world.

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.

10 Tax Tips for the Mathematically Challenged

by Elle Ray | Mar 13, 2017 | Small Business Advice

Small Business Tax Tips That Just Make Sense

Did you know you may be able to deduct part of the cost of that new water heater you installed in your house? How about that class you took that taught you how to use social media to promote your business? Ever think the new treadmill you put in your basement could serve as a tax deduction?

Fact is, small business owners — particularly sole proprietors and partners — usually are unaware of all the potential small business tax tips they’re missing. In 2014, the most recent year when statistics are available, the IRS reported that about 24.6 million tax returns listed income from non-farm related sole proprietorships. That’s 2.3 percent higher than in 2013.

Taking It to the Bank

Of the more than $1.78 billion earned by those solo entrepreneurs, only a little more than $9 million was deducted for home offices. And that’s 1.3 percent lower than in 2013. That’s just downright crazy!

The point of the matter is: if you aren’t taking all the deductions you legally can, you’re giving Uncle Sam extra money to take to his bank. So if you’re tired of letting your hard-earned dollars slip through your fingers just because you don’t know the most recent tax codes or don’t think you’re allowed to follow too many small business tax tips, then grab a pencil and get out your calculator — you very well may get a bigger return or a lower tax bill if you pay attention to the following small business tax tips.

DIY or DIFY

There are plenty of easy-to-use small business tax tips and tax programs available so that you can do it yourself (DIY). On the other hand, if you have an astute accountant who also provides business advice, ask him to do it for you (DIFY). Either way, it pays for you to know your rights and know how to take advantage of those rights. For example:

1. The Home Office: This is one of those small business tax tips that baffles many entrepreneurs, yet it’s one that’s easily overcome. If you have an office dedicated to work, simply find out what percentage of the square footage of your whole house it takes up. Then deduct that percentage of every expense — from home improvements and utilities to maintenance, rent or mortgage, and insurance payments you made.
    
2. Make Space: If you don’t have a dedicated room, then invest in a simple accordion room divider and make a separate space dedicated to work. In addition to creating a legally deductible office, you’ll cut down on the distractions while you conduct business.
    
3. Start Up Right: Long before you even crack a book or take in your first buck, you can be earning tax deductions. All the effort, money and advice you pay for to start your business are work products that you can deduct.
    
4. Pay Yourself: Many small business owners and sole practitioners don’t get much of a paycheck for the first year or two. But that doesn’t mean you can’t be paying yourself in perks and necessities, such as a retirement account. Open a SEP IRA for tax deductions and retirement savings.
    
5. Stay Healthy: When you work for yourself — whether as a sole practitioner, partner or owner of an S Corp with more than two percent equity — you can deduct your health insurance premiums off your personal 1040 tax returns.
    
6. Pay Me Later: It may be too late this year, but consider sending invoices out on December 31 to clients. They can take the cost of your services off your taxes, but you won’t have to report the income until the following year, if they wait at least a day to pay you.
    
7. Take Heed: If your heart doctor told you to get an indoor exercise bike because the stress from your work is giving you high blood pressure, you may be allowed to deduct the cost as a medical expense if you meet the minimum required in other medical costs.
    
8. Time Well Spent: Mileage adds up. Keep an electronic or old-school log of every mile you drive for business. And if almost every trip you take outside the house has a work-related component — from meeting a client for coffee to picking up extra printer paper — then that trip counts.
    
9. Learn More: Self-improvement, professional development and skills training are all deductible on your taxes. And that includes books, money spent on meals, rooms, mileage and any other related expenses. So, as an example, if you want to do your own taxes next year, take a QuickBooks course and deduct the costs.
    
10. Document, Document, Document: If there’s only one of these small business tax tips that you take out of this blog, we bet it will be this one. Save every receipt, write down the purpose of the receipt, who you were with, why you spent the money and what you were doing it for. Many small business owners worry about getting audited, but when you cover your butt with receipts (figuratively speaking), those concerns are declawed. And as the budgets for the IRS keep getting cut, your chances of undergoing an audit as a small business get lower every year. In 2014, only 0.3 percent of small business owners reporting less than $200,000 income were audited, according to the IRS itself.

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.