| If you want to run a sucessful home business, somtimes paying a little extra for a professional to help you can mean the difference between sucess and failure. For example, allowing an accountant to do your taxes frees up your own time, and this means you can get more work done. In essence, the professional should pay for him/herself! But how do you choose such a professional? 1. Choosing People You should hire people from large corporations that have years of experience behind them and are legally accountable for their actions. This way, if your company encounters a problem, it will be on their heads, not yours. I find that the best way to do it is to narrow the people youre considering down to a shortlist, and then do as much research about them as you possibly can. Seek out their clients and their premises, find out how long theyve been in business for and who the business is owned by - make sure theres nothing youre uncomfortable with. 2. Lawyers Whenever youre dealing with the law, you really shouldnt try to go it alone - and when youre running a home business, you will be hitting up against the law quite often. Its important to build a good working relationship with a lawyer in your area, so that you have them available both for day-to-day things and for emergencies. Sooner or later, you will probably need a lawyer to help you with licenses, permits, regulations, contacts, or employment. You need to get one straight away if someone violates your trademark, copyright or patent, or someone threatens to take legal action against you for some reason. 3. Accountants Accountants are mostly useful for saving on tax, but you will find that tax is a big business expense, at least if you do it wrongly. Accountants know the tax laws inside out, and will be able to point out all the savings you might be entitled to without even realising it, as well as the best ways to do things like taking money out of the business without paying a ton of tax. It is best to try to find an accountant who will keep in contact with you occasionally, reminding you of tax deadlines and telling you if anything changes in the law. They should also be able to advise you on bookkeeping methods, and suggest computer software that could be helpful for this. 4. Business Advisors You may wish to contact a business advisor if theres anything youre still unsure about when it comes to running your business - they can be affordable yet very helpful. They are also very useful people to be able to contact in a crisis. 5. Advertising Agencies Advertisers are the most important part of your professional staff - without marketing, the only way customers will know about your products and services is word of mouth. And that's not good enough! Even a simple and relatively inexpensive advertising campaign can result in hundreds of sales. |
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