Need some money to start up your micro business?
Did you know that more than half of all young companies get their money from their own savings to start.
The “Money Game” from the Kauffman Foundation
Premiere: Starting a Micro Business on PBS
February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
In celebration of National Entrepreneurship Week, Feb. 18-25
Western Reserve PBS
will be broadcasting
Premieres Thursday, Feb. 23 @ 8 p.m.
Repeats Feb. 23 @ 10 p.m. & Sunday, Feb. 26 @ 7 p.m.
Also airs Saturday, March 24 @ 9 a.m.
Discover creative alternatives to earning money in the highly competitive job market — by becoming your own boss!
Discover how to launch your own successful micro business in this new Western Reserve Public Media production!
Carol Topp, a certified public accountant and mentor to many successful teen entrepreneurs, hosts this 90-minute program based on her Micro Business for Teens book series.
Micro Business for Teens: Starting a Micro Business explains what a micro business is, gives examples of businesses suitable for teenagers, offers instruction on writing a business plan and financing the business and more. You’ll meet six teens who are already operating profitable micro businesses by following the guidance of Carol Topp.
This program makes the very notion of creating a micro business an achievable goal if you have a good idea and the enthusiasm to design and implement a plan of action. While the program is targeted to a teen audience, its content will be helpful to any adult interested in starting his or her own micro business.
Look for Micro Business for Teens: Starting a Micro Business to be broadcast on your local PBS station later in 2012.
13 Record Keeping Tips
February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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 focus on simple record keeping.
Here are some great tips to help:
1. Use duplicate checks.
2. Separate your personal and business checking accounts.
3. Do not mix personal and businesses expenses.
4. File your receipts by category, not date.
5. Use the memo line of a check to explain the expense.
6. Keep a mileage log, even if it’s just a calendar with the destination noted. Look up mileage using Google Maps or Mapquest.
7. Keep a calendar of appointments.
8. 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.
9. Estimate the business-use-percentage on items that are both personal and business such as Internet usage, or cell phone usage.
10. Count your inventory at the end of the year.
11. Keep records of income such as sales slips, deposit slips, and invoices for services.
12. Use a petty cash account and balance it frequently.
13. 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.
Looking for record keeping software? See my post on Record Keeping Software and find the option that best fits your needs.
Carol Topp, CPA
Teens and Taxes
February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
If you started a micro business in 2011, you are going to have some extra tax issues in 2012.
I have a website, TeensandTaxes.com , to help teenage business owners understand if and when they owe any taxes on their business income.
Taxes can be confusing, so grab a copy of my ebook, Teens and Taxes: A Guide for Parents and Teenagers. It will clear the confusion for you.
A 42 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 for $2.99
Kindle version $2.99
Nook/Other Ereader versions $2.99
Pdf version $3.00
Carol Topp, CPA
The Best Software for Record Keeping
January 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Record keeping is vital to the success of a micro business, but what software can help the busy micro owner keep good records? The best system is the simplest one that business can get by with. Sometimes a simple paper system will suffice, but some micro businesses need a computer spreadsheet or software.
Start with a simple spreadsheet
Microsoft Excel or the free Open Office Calculate programs work well for keeping records for thousands of micro businesses. Business expenses can be categorized in columns to make tax preparation easier. Totaling income by month, by customer, or by product is quickly accomplished. You can get a little more sophisticated and use multiple worksheets for each month that flow into an annual summary sheet. The spreadsheet is a powerful tool because of its simplicity and flexibility.
Personal Money Management Software
Some micro owners find that personal money management software like Quicken can work well for record keeping. Although these 
programs were not designed for business use, these may already be familiar software from your personal life. They are very intuitive because they look just like a checkbook register and they will generate simple reports showing income and expenses.
But personal finance software cannot create invoices or bill customers, record payroll, record sales tax, or track inventory. For those business-like functions you’ll need accounting software.
Small Business Accounting Software
Accounting software such as Quickbooks works better than personal financial software if you send your customers forms such as invoices, receipts, or statements for progress billing, or if you manage inventory. Accounting software can:
-
Print checks, pay bills, track sales & expenses
- Reconcile bank accounts
- Create estimates, invoices & reports
- Track employee time and calculate payroll withholding
- Generate reports
- Download credit card & bank transactions
- Track inventory and set reorder points
- Create business plans, budgets & forecasts
Start with the simplest method you can for keeping your micro business records and graduate to more sophisticated systems as needed. A good CPA can help you set up an easy to use system whether on a spreadsheet or using software.
The important thing to do is to keep good records.
Carol Topp, CPA
Business tips on video
December 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Need quick tips to start your micro business?
You have got to visit SBTV.com, Small Business TV.
It’s full of short videos on all kinds of micro business topics like:
- Marketing
- Money
- Technology
- Green business
- Legal
- Internet business
- Success stories
These videos are geared toward grown ups, not teenagers, so don’t be overwhelmed. Listen to a few videos; you never know what could apply to your micro business!
Here’s a few to start out:
Small Business Taxes
Social Media Tricks for Your Small Business
Legal Issues for Home-Based Businesses
Make sure to check out my book series, Micro Business for Teens.
Carol Topp, CPA
At least you tried!
November 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In the book 50 Interviews: Young Entrepreneurs, the authors, Nick Tart and Nick Scheidies interviewed Savannah Britt, who runs GirlPez.com, an online fashion magazine. She shares some great advice about managing your time while running a business.
On Time Management and Business Plans:
Savannah Britt is in high school,plays basketball and runs a magazine. She works on her mag on Saturday mornings and keeps a calendar in front of her. She also planned her business: “Basically, I wrote an outline. It was pretty brief, but it covered everything about the magazine: who I want to serve, who it will circulate to, and where I see myself in ten years.”
On learning:
“There is no reason to be hesitant. I know they might be nervous, they might be shy, and they might want to give up after their first try – but becoming an entrepreneur is a learning experience. You are going to use a lot of the things that you learn now as an entrepreneur when you’re an adult. Just try it. If you don’t like it, then you can stop – but at least you will be able to say that you tried. And it’s fun.”
I highly recommend Nick & Nick’s book. You’ll find more great stories of teenagers, like Savannah, who have started their own business. You can learn a lot from them!
Carol Topp, CPA
5 Reasons Entreapreneurship Should Be Part of Every Education
October 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
My friend, Janice Campbell, of Everyday Education shares 5 reasons entrepreneurship should be part of your teenagers education:
Mindset: We live in a society that teaches passivity, rather than active exploration and initiative. … Entrepreneurial training takes this a step farther by teaching students how to act with freedom, integrity, and purpose in their work life.
Flexibility and Preparedness: Entrepreneurial education provides a way for anyone of any age or financial condition to be better prepared to independently generate personal income. Business transitions are a fact of life. Factories close or automate, corporations merge and shift focus. It’s critical to be prepared to observe trends and be ready and able to move into another field or to supplement income with a microbusiness.
Learning: Teens who choose run a business rather than flip burgers for the summer learn not only the service or product they are selling, but they also learn about business structures, bookkeeping, customer service, marketing, creative problem solving, real-world communication, and much more. Real bookkeeping for a small business is a lot more memorable than exercises from a consumer math textbook. Best of all, the skills and knowledge gained can be applied to many other parts of life.
High-School Transcript: A small business is a great addition to a high-school transcript. … entrepreneurship demonstrates initiative, hard work, creativity, perseverance, and other valuable skills and character traits. It’s likely that you’ll be able to grant credit for many of the business functions (bookkeeping, salesmanship, web design basics, etc.) your student learns as her or she builds a business.
Using the Micro Business for Teens curriculum will earn you 1/2 credit of high school credit and running your business can be another 1/2 to a full credit.
Fun: Finally, entrepreneurship is just plain fun. It empowers individuals– moms, dads, teens, pre-teens– to create something of value and share it with others in a profitable way. A young person who starts a microbusiness gains a lot more than spending money. He or she gains confidence, valuable experience, and a host of new skills that can be used for life.
Janice, you are so right. There are so many things a teenager can learn by starting their own micro business-and earn money while learning!
So, don’t delay, get an idea and get started. Start with reading the blog posts here and then my books will help you launch your own micro business.
Carol Topp, CPA
Black Gold: Worm Farms
June 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Here’s an interesting idea for a micro business. Ten year old Alex McDuffie of Ohio raises and sells worms for composting.
Worms make great soil for gardens; it’s called “black gold” because the soil is so rich. Alex sells 10 pounds of worms with a bin, newspaper, and dirt. He leaves his business cards at an a garden store for customer to contact him.
This type of micro business is not very time consuming, but you do have to spend a little time caring for the worms. You probably need a large backyard because compost bins can attract bugs and animals. They can be a bit smelly too. You don’t want them too near your house.
As with any business, you will need to do some research to learn how to raise and sell your worms. Selling compost worms is a great business for a teenager or even a pre-teen!
Weird Idea: Chicken diapers!
April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
I find some weird ideas for micro businesses, and here’s one that may actually work!!!
Chicken diapers!
Ruth Haldeman moved to rural Hot Springs, Ark., in 2002 and promptly took in a couple of orphan chicks. She soon discovered chickens poop–a lot.
According to Entrepreneur.com, in the interest of keeping her house relatively clean, Haldeman broke out her sewing machine and designed a roomy cloth diaper with a disposable liner.
As time went on, she made them in several sizes. Chickens, it seems, outgrow their diapers.
The first diapers were made from fabric scraps. When orders started pouring in, Haldeman ordered a few bolts of cotton blend and tricot, and built a website where a small, hand-sewn diaper sells for $9 ($14 for big birds).
America is having a chicken moment. The ranks of pet-chicken owners are swelling (to more than 60,000–up from 35,000 just a year ago, according to BackYardChickens.com).
The diapers let owners spend quality time with their birds without having to deal with major stain removal afterward.
Haldeman is looking to hire extra help. Right now she can’t keep up with the back orders
Weird, but the lady is making money selling somthing that meets a need! If she can do it, so can you!!
