Quick Tips for Obtaining a Trademark

Quick Tips for Obtaining a Trademark
The Difference Between Managing And Directing
Save Time When Managing Multiple WordPress Sites
7 Reasons You Should Switch to Google Apps
Small Business Owners: The IRS Says You Are Tax Cheats
Customer Service Flub Hurts Wal-Mart

Posted: 28 Jan 2013 01:00 PM PST

Have you ever been through the process of registering a federal trademark whether for your company / brand or a particular product? It is a nightmare… at least it was for me. I’ve been through the process three times – one of which was successful and the other two, dismal failures. On the two fails, not only did I not get the trademark I wanted, I was out several hundred dollars.

Now, I must mention that I went through the process on my own. If and when I ever have to do it again, I think I’ll hire a copyright attorney, not only to avoid all the hassle, but to ensure the best possible chance of success as well. That being said, anyone can register a federal trademark. You do not necessarily need to hire a lawyer, but you will need to prepare yourself for a lengthy and cumbersome process.

The following infographic from GerbenLaw is an excellent guide that will help you navigate through the process of registering a trademark with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. I only wish I would have had this handy through my processes.

trademark

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The Difference Between Managing And Directing

Posted: 28 Jan 2013 11:00 AM PST

managing Let me tell you a tale of business.

A small businesses starts out as a one man show, just a guy who “bought himself a job.” Let’s call our guy Bob. Bob’s got no one to manage and nothing to direct. Just do the work; go home; repeat.

And then it happens: Bob succeeds. Bob’s business starts getting busy, really busy. It’s a nice problem to have but it’s a problem all the same.

Bob realizes something has to give. So he hires Mark. Now Bob is no idiot. He makes sure that Mark is the kind of guy who can handle himself. As a result, things get busier yet.

Feeling he is now getting pretty good at this hiring thing, Bob brings on Jim. Jim is no slouch either, so everything is going to be great. Except it’s not. There are conflicts and details are being overlooked. Customers aren’t as satisfied as they once were. In short, hiring Jim has lead to more headaches.

It’s not that Jim was a bad hire. It’s just that the dynamic has changed. There didn’t used to be any need for coordination. Resources didn’t need to shared. There was nobody to step on anyone else’s toes. Bob realizes that he needs to start managing.

Managing is a completely new skill set for Bob. Bob may be great at what he does but that doesn’t guarantee that he is great at passing on his skills, either with training or documentation. He always did things intuitively but now he has to consciously create systems. But it’s Bob’s company so he sucks it up and starts to learn.

Mark and Jim put up with Bob in his new role as a neophyte manager. It seems like there is a bunch of unnecessary overhead and regulation. Bob’s occasional indecision is disruptive. But hey, it’s a job. Bob’s a good guy, they reason. He’ll figure it out. In our story, he does.

Bob the Worker Has Morphed Into Bob the Manager

Bob has now learned how to go from worker to manager so as the business continues to expand, he starts grooming Mark and Jim for more responsibility. After all, he reasons:

“I was able to step up, so can they.”

Mark and Jim have an easier time of it than Bob. Since Bob laid the groundwork, they just need to learn how he has been doing everything. Bob feels a sense of relief that he finally has some help in shouldering all the management responsibility. Everything will be wine and roses from here on out, he figures.

Except. . .

Mark and Jim still seem to need to be managed. So he tells them how to do their jobs on a daily basis. He assigns tasks like he always used to. Mark and Jim don’t feel comfortable making decisions in this arrangement. So they are always going to Bob for approval on matters big and small. Bob is getting more and more frustrated because he feels like he is doing three jobs, his own and Mark’s and Jim’s.

Bob realizes that the problem isn’t Mark and Jim. Bob’s problem is Bob. He knows he needs to let Mark and Jim do their jobs. He gave them more responsibility but what he failed to give them along with it was authority. Now Bob gets scared. Giving away responsibility seemed okay, but authority? What if they make a mistake?

Let’s Stop Our Story for a Moment

Do you see what is happening here? Bob got good at what his business does before our story began. He learned how to manage as our story unfolded. But if this story is going to continue, Bob has another learning curve to master: learning to direct.

Management has to do with tasks. It is about how to do things, when to do things, and who does those things. It is about delegation, all surrounding the accomplishment of tasks.

You can manage schedules. You can manage materials. You can even manage workers. But it turns out you cannot manage managers.

The reason you can’t manage managers is because the minute you do, they stop being managers themselves. Lots of companies call some of their employees managers. But when you examine how things work operationally, you see that they are not truly managing. The issue is usually not a failure on the part of these would-be managers. No, the problem is they are not allowed to manage.

Bonafide management has two key characteristics: responsibility and authority.

Responsibility can be imposed and it must also be accepted. This usually happens without much fuss. But authority is a different matter. People can be rather stingy about handing out authority. If you want a manager to succeed, it is a necessity that they receive enough authority to carry out their responsibilities. When management fails, it can often be attributed to the lack of adequate authority.

Let’s say that a manager is giving the requisite amount of authority to do their job. So what is their boss supposed to do? The new job of their boss is to direct. How does that differ from managing?

Directing has to do with outcomes. It is about defining results, setting time tables, and providing resources. It is about communicating and mentoring, all surrounding the accomplishment of goals.

A good manager gets workers to do things right. A good director gets managers to do the right things.

It’s not really any harder to direct than to manage but it does require a different mindset. Most managers who rise to become directors could direct. The question is, will they? Will they stay in that comfortable place of managing or will they make the hard choice to delegate authority and then support their managers?

Bob is at that crossroads. He has had to step up before. How will his story continue? Will Bob rise to this new challenge and become the kind of director that every manager hopes for? Or will he neuter Mark and Jim and never really cede to them the control they will need to step into their new roles?

You are Bob

It is up to you to write your own ending. Of course, it never ends. Business is of an ongoing nature. So do what needs doing, manage what needs managing, and direct what needs directing.

Businessmen Photo via Shutterstock

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Save Time When Managing Multiple WordPress Sites

Posted: 28 Jan 2013 09:00 AM PST

ManageWP, a management console that allows users to control multiple WordPress sites, just launched a new redesign that aims to save users time by keeping all the available features and functions more organized and simplified.

manage multiple websites

The photo above shows the new ManageWP 3.0 dashboard, which includes an overview of all your websites, plugins, pageview statistics and themes. On the left side, the column labeled "favorites" is a new feature that allows users to organize the functions they need to access most often on the dashboard. You can add favorite sites, pages, tasks, and links to the list of favorites, and then drag and drop them into whatever order makes the most sense for you.

Another new feature, which had been highly requested from users, is the ability to open all your WordPress sites in different tabs with just one click. So if you're working on editing projects and need to go back and forth between multiple sites to make sure your updates are correct, there's no longer a need to manually open each site.

ManageWP also added a new client reporting feature that allows you to create customizable and professional looking reports that can be converted to PDF files and sent via email or secret links so that site managers can easily keep their clients updated about site information and statistics.

Other added features include selection filters and shortcuts to save time when editing multiple sites and account action logging to keep tabs on what actions you've used. While some of these new features might not seem like major upgrades, together they have the potential to help you save time when updating multiple sites.

ManageWP offers a free plan to manage up to five sites, and other plans priced based on number of sites and additional features such as bulk publishing and SEO analysis.

ManageWP was founded in 2010 and officially launched to the public just one year ago. Since its launch, the tool has gone through a lot of changes aside from this new redesign, including a website performance scan tool and an iOS mobile app.

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7 Reasons You Should Switch to Google Apps

Posted: 28 Jan 2013 07:00 AM PST

Late last year, Google Apps for Business eliminated its free version.

The reason?

Many business users tended to outgrow the basic version too quickly and personal users were left waiting on updated features that had to become business ready before launching. But even with the new price tag, Google remains a viable option for small business.

Below, I outline the top reasons your business needs to be on Google Apps:

1. The Cloud

2012 was the year of the cloud and 2013 is carrying the momentum. With that momentum, businesses see the opportunity that Google Apps presents. In fact, according to International Data Corporation analyst Melissa Webster, Google will gain momentum this year because there'll be a lot of collaboration and content in the clouds.

Just to be clear, however, Microsoft does offer an updated set of Office Web Apps, accessible to individual users from their SkyDrive accounts, and to business users through Office 365 and SharePoint. Though the Microsoft Apps show promise, the Google Business Apps have a tad bit more functionality.

2. Price

Google Apps is less expensive than Microsoft Office 365. Whereas, Google costs only $50 each user per year while Office 365 costs $72 per user per year. It even has more features added since Google started offering the application to the public. Office 365 charges more if a user adds other options.

3. Google+

Google+ has been slowly making a name for itself. Though, it's no where near Facebook, it's nothing to sneeze at either. As of October 2012, the site attracted 105 million users compared to 65.3 million in October 2011, a 60.9% increase.

The main features small businesses can use to get the best out of Google+ is Integrated Google Hangouts.

4. Google Voice

Through 2013, all domestic calls made through Gmail will be free. It's becoming a tradition just like at the end of 2011 and 2010.

Google Voice has already had video chat integrated into the service; this competes with video calls made through Skype, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, and other chat services. Adding free local and low-price international calls will be attractive to users who can easily launch a voice call from within Gmail if video isn’t an option.

5. Google Apps Vault

Vault is an easy-to-use and cost-effective solution for managing information critical to business and preserving important data. It helps in reducing the costs of litigation, regulatory investigation and compliance actions.

Since businesses of all size need to be prepared for the unexpected–using Vault to manage, archive and preserve your data is a big help. Litigation costs can really take a toll on a business and even minor lawsuits can run up to many thousands of dollars. Vault adds archiving, e-discovery, and information governance.

This service is optional and is an additional $5/user/month.

6. Google Consumer Survey

Now I have to say that this is NOT part of Google Apps per se, but it's too useful to NOT include. Google takes free online surveys, that you can create through Google docs, and brings it one step further. With Consumer Surveys, site owners create online surveys to be shared with Google's publisher network and pay as little as $.10 per response. To target a specific demographic, it would be $.50 per response.

With the data, Google will provide charts summarizing responses, insights and highlight interesting differences, which can be segmented by age, gender, location, etc.

7. Google Maps Coordinate

Again, like Google consumer survey, this is not part of Google Apps. But it's useful so I had to include it. If your business has workers on the go, Google Maps Coordinate combines the power of Google's mapping technologies with modern smartphones to help you improve communication with employees in the field.

The idea is that if you can visualize where your employees are at, you can better deploy them. Employees, in turn, can update the status of their jobs and watch for new assignments via the mobile app.This is extremely relevant as IDC estimates that there will be more than 1.3 billion mobile workers by 2015 (37.2% of the total workforce).

Can you understand why I had to include it?

What are additional reasons can you think of to switch over to Google Apps?

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Small Business Owners: The IRS Says You Are Tax Cheats

Posted: 28 Jan 2013 05:00 AM PST

tax cheat Small business does a lot for America, accounting for roughly half of private sector GDP and employment.

Their economic contributions probably account for part of the reason that small business is our country's most trusted group. A recent Pew Foundation survey revealed that 71 percent of Americans held a positive view of small business, 8 percentage points higher than churches and religious organizations and 10 percentage points higher than colleges and universities.

But small business owners aren't saints. They are also America's top tax cheats, according to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taxpayer advocate Nina Olson. Not all of them, of course, but, on average, small business owners are much more likely than other Americans to underpay their taxes.

Their cheating is substantial. The IRS reported that the United States Treasury faced a tax gap – the amount it was owed less what it was paid – of $385 billion in 2006, the most recent year data are available. The largest chunk of this gap – $122 billion – is unreported business income on individual income tax returns.

But just as we shouldn't look at the Pew Foundation survey and think that more trustworthy people become small business owners than politicians, bankers, ministers or college professors, we shouldn't look at the IRS figures and conclude that dishonest types start companies. Small business owners aren't less honest than the rest of us. They are just better able to get away with cheating on their taxes.

People don't under report their wages because their employers report their earnings to the IRS. Knowing that, the IRS knows what's in your paycheck keeps most people from lying about the amount they are paid. Therefore, only 1 percent of wages go unreported.

By contrast, the IRS has no idea how much cash sole proprietors are taking in. That's why the IRS estimates that a whopping 56 percent of sole proprietors' cash receipts are not disclosed to the tax authorities.

The IRS doesn't think checking up on most small businesses is worth their time. While they regularly audit giant corporations like Apple or General Motors, coming through the records of a bunch of tiny companies doesn't yield enough unpaid taxes to justify the costs.

A small business owner earning $155,000 per year faces an average tax rate of 20.5 percent, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation tells us. If the IRS catches the business owner under reporting income by 25 percent, that yields only $7,800 in lost income. Therefore, it's not surprising that the IRS audits only 1 percent of taxpayers earning less than $200,000 per year, but 12 percent of those earning more than $1 million.

Moreover, the IRS knows that a chunk of small business under reporting isn't deliberate. It comes from the difficulty of figuring out what one actually owes. Fear of punishment might motivate small business owners not to purposefully misstate their income, but it does little to help them calculate the right numbers under a maddeningly complex tax code.

Finally, our elected officials inadvertently preserve small business tax cheating when they try to avoid burdening small business owners with costly tax reporting requirements. The IRS and many tax experts explain that small business owners would reduce under reporting if third parties provided the IRS with more information. But Congress has repeatedly voted down third party reporting requirements for small businesses as too burdensome.

Whatever the combination of causes, a recent New York Times article summed up the outcome succinctly. The best way to cheat on your taxes is to "run your own company. More specifically… be the sole proprietor of a Schedule C business."

Hiding Money Photo via Shutterstock

The post Small Business Owners: The IRS Says You Are Tax Cheats appeared first on Small Business Trends.

Customer Service Flub Hurts Wal-Mart

Posted: 28 Jan 2013 02:30 AM PST

A customer service flub by Wal-Mart employees has put the retail giant on the front page. Small to medium sized businesses can be hurt just as easily by customer service issues. Make it a priority to keep your customer first and your brand will flourish as a result.

Customer Service Faux Pas

Wal-mart employees embarrass cancer survivor. You would probably be horrified to see a story like this one about your business on a news site or on the evening news. Wal-Mart employees allegedly gave an unnamed customer such a hard time when she tried to return a purchase that she eventually felt the need to show employees the scars she had received as part of her cancer treatment. Huffington Post

Retailer apologizes to customer for poor treatment. Wal-Mart apologized to the customer attempting to return a $13.00 book after employees questioned the validity of her photo ID because chemotherapy had caused her to loose her long blond hair shown in the picture. An apology is the least your business should do when attempting to correct a customer service error. WTVM.com

Wal-Mart introduces self-service kiosks. The mega-retailer is also introducing 10,000 self-service kiosks in hundreds of stores this year. Automation can improve customer experience, but some feel it can also limit the human touch. In fact, even as Wal-Mart gears up, some retailers are already dropping their self-service efforts. Computerworld

Improving your Customer Service

Pay attention to customer complaints. Wal-Mart has learned the hard way that paying attention to complaints can help improve customer experience. Customers are more comfortable with voicing complaints, according to research. Small business owners can learn from this too. bOnline Blog

Under promise and over deliver. Business consultants Harry and Sally Vaishnav blog about promising more than you can deliver and its consequences. Customers will always be satisfied with your products or services when you keep your word. Small Biz Viewpoints

20 tips for better customer service. Valentine Belonwu shares these pointers for better customer service. Here are some suggestions to improve customer experience: Be responsive, keep customers informed, and show them you care. Small Business Trends

Here are more suggestions. Some investments will improve customer experience even more. Check out the competition. Build a team. Gather customer feedback. Wal-Mart and other businesses have a lot to learn to improve service. KSL Training

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