The IRS gives small startups considerable latitude in their choice of accounting methods. Part 1 of this tutorial lays out the IRS guidelines governing which method your startup is free to use. It then contrasts the way income and expenses are reported in the two primary methods, cash accounting and accrual accounting.
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For encore entrepreneurs starting a small business, cash accounting is simpler. But accrual accounting may serve your small business startup better. Here are some tradeoffs in choosing one over the other.
Continue readingThe third part of a three-part series on determining whether an accrual accounting system or a cash accounting system is best for your business. This installment looks at the trade-offs in choosing one of these systems over the other and shows how inexpensive accounting software allows you to draw on the unique advantage of both systems to monitor the health of your business.
Continue readingVision and mission statements should be developed as part of a process that also spells out the values on which your business functions. Moreover, there are three different tiers of values in your company. Each of these tiers interacts in a unique way with your vision and mission statements.
Continue readingFor businesses (or any other human enterprise) our values serve as our navigational buoys. They keep us in the right channel moving forward. As encore entrepreneurs, we’ve had enough life experiences that our values are well-established. And when we start a small business, these values flow into its operation.
Continue readingVision statements come in two varieties. One type describes what you want your business to become at some distant date in the future. The other describes what you want your company to be known for. Whichever type of statement you choose, your mission statement then lays out what you are doing currently and in the foreseeable future to carry the vision forward.
Continue readingFrom the moment of startup, small business owners must be concerned with establishing and exploiting their competitive advantage. The first step in this process is to determine the unique customer benefits which they provide and which their competitors do not.
Continue reading>As you move toward developing your Unique Positioning Statement, the place to start is with your mission statement. If it has been properly developed, it frames the say that you are profiling and positioning your business.
Continue readingThe beginning point in developing a Unique Positioning Statement is to make specific points of comparison with your competition. The purpose is to identify any competitive advantages that you have over them. From this list of advantages, you then eliminate any that are not sustainable.
Continue readingThis article (Part 4 of a four-part series) takes you through the final stages of our step-by-step guidance for creating your Unique Positioning Statement. In these steps you identify your most compelling competitive advantage for your primary target customer. You are given a checklist for defining your customer’s buying criteria.
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