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You started a business; Now what?

You started a business; you went and had an LLC drawn up by an attorney, and you have your business name registered with the state.  So you're ready to go!

Planning

Nope guess again.  Did you come up with a business plan? Now your saying to yourself; "What is a business plan?"  So you sit down and stare at a piece of paper.  Then you do some research, and you learn that a Business plan is a document containing your goals, where do I want to be in 5 years?  Can I reach these goals?  You need to also describe the nature of your business, are you selling a goods? (example:  Fishing Lures) or are you selling a service? (example:  Bookkeeping Service).  How are you going to organize your company?  Your financial projections, and the strategies it intends to achieve the stated targets.  This document serves as a road map so to speak, that provides direction of your business.

checkbook

Next stop the Bank to open your Business checking account, and a possibility of talking to the banker about getting a loan for your business.  They are going to want to see your paperwork concerning your LLC name, EIN letter that you have now received. 

Then you're on your way to starting your discussion about what your business will be doing.  For this article let's say you are an Accounting Firm, so you are selling a service.  You are all about the number, well you know that a bank is the same all about the number.

So you have been doing Bookkeeping on your own, and you have new business clients and you need to hire more employees and move you business into a bigger building

Before you can move forward you will need to come up with a Mission Statement for you business, and an employee handbook.  I think that the Mission Statement is the hardest thing to come up with.  What do you want your mission statement to say about your business?

Mission Statement

Why is a company's mission statement and why is it so important?

A mission statement guides the company forward by identifying the purpose of your work, so that you can get a better understanding of your goals that your company should be committed to accomplishing by having a strong foundation. You can build your organization from the ground up and ensure its stability through the challenges ahead.

Mission Statements focus's your energy & attention

The mission statement shouldn't just be your beginning.  It should stay with you through every decision you make.  The mission statement opens this communication and can focus a team that has been pulled apart in too many directions.

Mission Statements sends out a powerful message to the public, mission statements aren't merely a form of important internal communication.  They're one of the strongest messages you can send to the public.

Mission statements spark new ideas!  While you are discussing and considering your mission statement, it may open you up to new ideas.  New ideas are not a bad thing.

Employee Handbook

Employee Handbook

Now this is where you really must think about a whole lot of things.  What do I put in my handbook? Some things you can include is :  Your Company Mission Statement, the purpose of a handbook, and to make sure everyone knows that this handbook could change at any given time. 

Employment policies; policies that are following Federal, State and Local laws and regulations that govern the business.  Equal Opportunity employment, non-harassment, non-discrimination, and employee eligibility.

This part of the handbook is where business owners are challenged and have lawsuits filed against them.  General policies:  standard of conduct; work schedule; payroll; promotions; bonuses; dress code; social media policies.

Health and safety

You should have in place what employees should do in case of an accident, weather related policies.  Leave of absence; sick time, FMLA, Jury duty, Maternity/Paternity leave, Military leave, grief.  Disclaimer: should the state that you are an at will employment.  That is just a few examples.

Stressed Out

I know by now you are feeling overwhelmed.  You start to think "how am I going to handle all of these duties?"  All I want to do is work on the bookkeeping part of my business.  So I think it's time to hire someone who can handle the management side of your business, so you can concentrate on your clients.

Why should you hire a Human Resource Manager?

This person is an important position in any organization.  It is their responsibility to direct the administrative side of the business.  They are responsible for recruiting new employee prospects, interviewing and hiring the best candidates for each open position.  

Employee

 This person will be valuable in your business; now you don't have to worry, as you have someone who can handle these tasks listed below. 

 Your HR Manager will now hire your employees for your company; and they will see that training is set up for each new employee.  

Oh wait if I'm going to have employees, I need to do a few more things to run my office and payroll

All Liabilities

payroll taxes

Now the fun really begins.  I must get a log in to pay Federal deposits, State Withholdings, School District Withholdings, Job and Family Services, and oh yea I need a Workers Comp Policy.  That's a lot to do.  Not really.  Make a check list and mark off everything that you need to do, this way you will make sure that you don't forget anything.  First thing you must do now that you have your EIN Number.  Go the the webstite www.eftps.gov, after you register on that site; they will send you a letter with a 4-digit pin number.  Please keep this piece of paper in a safe place.  Now that is all set up let's go on to the next step.

Now you need to go too www.gateway.ohio.gov from that site, you will be able to set up your State Withholding, School District, Municipal.  Once you answer all of those questions your good to go.  When you create your user name and password, I would write those down somewhere safe.  The gateway site will tell you how often you need to pay your state withholding, school district, and your municipal tax.  You will either pay monthly or quarterly.

You will need to set up Job and Family Services, for that one you need to go to the following site: www.eric.ohio.gov once that form is sent out, and they give your percentage rate for Job & Family Services.  Now lets get going with Workers Compensation.  Please go to www.bwc.ohio.gov this site will walk you through everything that you need to know for this.

Ready to Go

desk
sticky notes

I know that is a lot to do, but you need to make sure that you keep all of your usernames and passwords in one place.  Keeping them on sticky notes all over your computer screen doesn't cut it.  I would make some kind of a username/password sheet so that everything is right in front of you

Now that you have everything all set up.  You need to keep track of how much you had a month in Gross payroll, what you paid in Federal Taxes, what was paid in all the other taxes you have to pay.  Trust me you will want it all written down by the end of the year so that you can balance everything out, before you close out your payroll year.  Because you don't want to get a penalty at the end of the year.

Now the end of the year is here and it's time to do W-2's and 1099's.  Do you know the difference between 1099's sub contractors and W-2 employees?  Let me help you out.  Your W-2 employees are employees that you tell them that they have to be to work at a certain time every day, and when they can leave.  1099 employees they tell you when they can work.

Untitled design 5

This is a lot of things to think about, but you have hired an HR Manager you can rely on to help you out.  In all reality this person will be able to take care of all these details, and you won't have to worry about if all of these things are getting done.  You can concentrate on the day to day operations.  When there are issues you will have  your HR Manager to turn to.

Marketing

My business is growing, but not as fast I would like it to.  So far it has been word of mouth, but I feel like I need to find someone who can help me with this.  I start looking at different website companies and I finally have chosen one.  Go to www.troyerwebsites.com  They will build me a website, and run google and Facebook ads for me. Now I start thinking I need a Logo, Troyer Websites can  help me with that, and I would like to blog so I will have them set that up also.  One more thing off of your plate.

Logo

I have covered how to set up your LLC for your company, looked for an attorney who can do this for you.  You have hired an HR Manager who will take care of hiring my employees and setting up all the Payroll Liabilities.  And I have hired Troyer Websites.

I think you are all set.  now let's get this business running smoothly.

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You started a business; Now what?

You started a business; Now what?

Jonas Troyer


Jonas Troyer is the founder and owner of Troyer Websites, a full web-design and SEO company based near Orrville, OH. When he's not working on a website, you'll probably find him in a treestand hunting, in a boat fishing, or wishing he was. Reach out to him if you need help with your website.

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