New Biz on the Block interview

I did a radio interview with WDLM, a Moody radio station in the Quad Cities.  Host Jason Crosby and I discussed my article:

New Biz on the Block: Starting a Micro Business in your Neighborhood

(originally published in Home School Enrichment magazine)

Here’s the introduction:

Dictionary-dot-com defines a micro business as a very small-scale business with few employees. Carol Topp believes your teenager should consider starting one.

Carol Topp, CPA, is an accountant and the mother of teenagers. She consults with teenagers launching micro businesses, presents workshops, teaches classes, and has written several articles on business start-ups.

Listen to my interview (8 minutes) on Jason’s blog

Jason asked a lot of great questions such as:

• How can a teenager get started in a business?
• How should they market their new business?
• Do they need start up money?
• What kinds of work can a teenager do?
• Will they have to pay taxes?

Carol Topp, CPA

PBS wants your story!

I was contacted by a TV producer from PBS’s Biz Kid$.  She is looking for teenage entrepreneurs to showcase on the show. If you are reading this blog, she wants your story!

Here’s what she wrote:

Hi Carol,

I came across your website while researching stories about young entrepreneurs. I am a TV producer currently producing Biz Kid$ – an award-winning PBS series where kids teach kids about money and business. The series helps young people understand the basics of making and managing money, and how to start their own business.

Biz Kid$ is produced by the creators of Bill Nye the Science Guy and has aired on over 90% of PBS stations, reaching over 115 million US households.

Biz Kid$ includes short profiles of young entrepreneurs from across the country. We are always looking for interesting business stories about young business owners. I would love to enlist your help in reaching out to teen entrepreneurs, and possibly showcase their business stories on Biz Kid$.

Please visit our website for more information: www.bizkids.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards
–
Shilpa Singru
Associate Producer
Biz Kid$, Seattle, WA
www.bizkids.com
425-286-3567

So can you help Ms. Singru?  Are you a teenager with a business?  PBS might put you on their show.

Contact her directly or email me and I’ll forward your story to her. Be sure to tell me if you get picked for the show!

Go check out an episode (or several) now.  You’ll learn a lot and maybe get encouraged by what other teenagers have done.

Biz Kid$ shows

14 Record Keeping Tips

Record keeping is extremely important to the success of every business. Small businesses that keep good records are more successful in the long run.

Micro business owners should keep record keeping simple.

Here are some great tips to help:

• Use duplicate checks

• Separate your personal and business checking accounts

• Do not mix personal and businesses expenses

• File your receipts by category, not date

• Use the memo line of a check to explain the expense

• Keep a mileage log even if it’s just a calendar with the destination noted. Look up mileage using Google Maps or Mapquest

• Keep a calendar of appointments

• When buying equipment that you will use for longer than a year, make note of the date and total price including sales tax and shipping. Your accountant will need this information to calculate a depreciation deduction.

• Estimate the business use percentage on items that are both personal and business such as Internet usage, cell phone usage.

• Count your inventory at the end of the year

• Keep records of income such as sales slips, deposit slips, invoices for services

• Use a petty cash account and balance it frequently

• Get a W-4 form from every independent contractor you hire before paying them. A W-4 form records their legal name, address, EIN or SSN and is needed at tax time.

• Record who paid you on your bank deposit slips. Use carbon-less copy deposit slips.

Carol Topp, CPA

Teens and Taxes

If you started a micro business in 2009, you are going to have some extra tax issues in 2010.

I have just launched a new website, TeensandTaxes.com to help teenage business owners understand when and if they owe any taxes on their business income.

Taxes can be confusing, so grab a copy of my new ebook, Teens and Taxes: A Guide for Parents and Teenagers.  It will clear the confusion for you.

A 40 page ebook with chapters on

• employees
• independent contractors
• household employees
• kiddie tax on investment income
• business income

Read more about the ebook here

Read a sample chapter here

View the Table of Contents here

Available for immediate download. $14.95 or bundle with an audio for $19.95

Read more HERE

Get a Small Business for Christmas

What does a good son give his hard-working mother for Christmas?  The small business she has been dreaming about!

Tammy Murray of Sacramento, is about to get an amazing gift this Christmas: the business of her dreams.

Tammy’s son, Bryan, heard his mom talking about her dream business — sending cookies and care packages to college students — for more than a year. Tammy’s done a bit of groundwork. She has the recipes and lined up a commercial kitchen. She even had a possible name for her business: Tammy Loves Cookies or TLC.

Like so many entrepreneurs, Tammy’s timid about taking the next steps. So Bryan decided to give her a gentle push. For Christmas, he’d give his mom some business cards, a website, and a domain name.

What a neat idea!  Read more here.

If you are a teenager looking to start a micro business, did you put I want a micro business on your Christmas list? Why not!

Here’s what you could ask for:

• Computer
• Accounting software like Quickbooks
• An hour with an accountant to guide you and answer your questions
• A logo designed by a graphic artist
• Business cards
• Books on business and entrepreneurship
• A few hours with a virtual assistant to set up a mailing list or a shopping cart

Some of these might be difficult to wrap, but a gift certificate explaining the gift can be drawn up on a computer or simply written by hand.  It’s the thought that counts!

Merry Christmas

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