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Delaware's Annual Report Filing Deadline is Approaching

Posted on January 12th, 2012 by Joey Donovan Guido

Delaware-Annual-Report-Filing If you’ve formed a business in Delaware, either as your home state or Foreign Qualification, you’ll need to file an Annual Report.

The due dates for Delaware’s Annual Report are as follows:

Domestic Corporations and Not for Profits
March 1, 2012

LLCs
No annual report is required, but LLCs must pay an annual tax of $250.00 by June 1, 2012

Foreign Corporations
June 30, 2012

Please keep in mind that there are state fees associated with all of these filings, except for exempt domestic corporations.

What Happens if the Report is Filed Late?
The penalty for not filing a completed Annual Report on time varies depending on which type of formation you have.

Domestic Corporations and Not for Profits: the penalty for failing to file a completed Annual Report on or before the deadline is $125. In addition, interest on any unpaid tax balance is charged at 1.5% per month.
LLCs: the penalty for payments made after the due date is $200.00. Interest accrues on the tax and penalty at the rate of 1.5% per month.
Foreign Corporations: if the Annual Report is not made by the due date, Foreign corporations are assessed a penalty of $125.

We’re Here to Help
If you have questions, or would like our assistance with the your Delaware Annual Report Filing, feel free to give our customer service team a call between 8am and 7pm CST, at 800-981-7183. Or, send us an e-mail anytime.

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Top 10 Reasons to Use a Registered Agent Service

Posted on December 2nd, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Home Business, How To Information, Internet Business, Small Business, Start A Business, Women-Owned Businesses

Are you acting as your own Registered Agent?

To follow are the top ten reasons why you might want to consider using a Registered Agent Service instead of performing the job yourself. But first, let’s define what a Registered Agent is.

What is a Registered Agent?

A Registered Agent is as someone who “receives important legal and tax documents on behalf of a business, including important mail sent by the state (annual reports or statements), tax documents sent by the state’s department of taxation, and Service of Process—sometimes called Notice of Litigation, which initiates a lawsuit.”

This may seem simple and straight forward, but there are certain things to consider before you decide to take on this role yourself (or have someone within your organization do so).

Top 10 Reasons to Use a Registered Agent

When utilizing a Registered Agent Service, all of the following contingencies are met every business day — year in and year out. This alleviates any stress or inconvenience that may occur when these responsibilities fall on you or someone within your company.

Availability. The Registered Agent must be available during normal business hours.
Physical Presence. The Registered Agent must have a physical address in the state of incorporation or Foreign Qualification. Post office boxes and private rented mailboxes are not acceptable.
Doing Business in Multiple States. Growing your business? If you’re expanding into an additional state (or states), having a Registered Agent in every state you do business is one of the contingencies a company must meet to remain compliant.
Frequent Change of Address. Every time your business moves, your must update your Registered Agent address with the state. Changing it requires a formal state filing and possibly a state fee.
Working from a Home Office. The Registered Agent address is a matter of public record. That means any documents, including Service of Process that may be delivered by the sheriff, would be delivered to your home.
Privacy. Tagging on to the previous point, having a Registered Agent Service handle receipt of documents allows you to retain privacy. This is true with a home-based business or in an office space (or storefront) where you would prefer that neighbors, employees and customers are not privy to document delivery.
Overlooking Important Documents. It is very important that Service of Process be handled in an expedited manner to avoid a default judgment, which will signal that the other party wins, and your company may need to pay damages. If your Registered Agent is in house, they must be diligent in responding promptly and accurately.
Non-traditional Business Hours. If your business is not open Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm, your Registered Agent may not be present if papers are served. In some instances, attempt to deliver papers may only occur once.
Mobile Office. If you don’t have a permanent worksite, or your business requires you to move around, it could be very difficult to perform the duties of a Registered Agent.
Taking a Vacation. If you, or someone in your company is acting as the Registered Agent, taking a vacation becomes more difficult because, as mentioned above, the Registered Agent is required to physically be present at all times. Certain types of business formations can transfer the Registered Agent from a person to the company, but that involves additional work. Most importantly, do you really want these types of docs being seen by an employee who’s “on-call” to receive them?

Have questions? Let us know. Our customer service department would be happy to help in any way they can. Just give them a call @ (800) 981-7183.

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How to Greet a Customer So They'll Love Your Small Business

Posted on September 28th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Customer Retention, Home Business, How To Information, Internet Business, Small Business

This morning, while I took my run, I had about ten interactions with people who were walking along my route. How they interacted with me (or failed to interact with me) reminded of the importance of how we greet our customers.

Nine out of the ten people did not acknowledge me in any way — even when I said hello! There was only one woman who looked me in the eye and exchanged the briefest of conversations — commonly referred to as a greeting.

The Small Business Greeting
How many times have you been in a store and simply been ignored? Or been approached by a phony, piranha-like salesman who just wants to take your money?

The greeting, which lasts mere seconds, sets up the interaction you’re going to have with your customer for the duration of their visit. This is true in person, online or over the phone. It lets them know whether you’re open, friendly and willing to help — or if you’d prefer for them to turn around and leave (or click through to another site).

What I’m really talking about here is intention. And it begins with your greeting.

If your goal is to genuinely help someone, giving them a warm welcome when they enter your store or Web site is a great start. If you and your staff can consistently do this, you’re going to develop loyal customers — even if they don’t buy anything today.

Whether it’s working with them to choose a new pair of glasses, or simply directing them to the aisle where they can find bread, your intention is easy to read.

What the piranha-like salesman doesn’t realize is that selling is not the answer. If you have something a customer wants and your price is fair, they’re going to buy it from you. What you’re really selling is yourself, your business and your authenticity. If the customer likes you and trusts you, they will buy from you. And you won’t have to push for the sale.

How do you get your small business to the point of consistently delivering customer-driven service?

Hire employees who already have an innate desire to serve the customer well. And then offer training that makes these customer-focused employees shine even brighter.

How do you greet your customers? The success of your small business depends on it …

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Are You Pushing the Envelope or Pushing Paper?

Posted on August 29th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Business Inspiration, Goals, Grow a Business, Home Business, Internet Business, Small Business

Whether you’re a huge company, a small business, or somewhere in-between — you’re either pushing paper or pushing the envelope.

A Quick Word on “Pushing”
In the literal sense, we shouldn’t be pushing anything at all, because pushing equals forcing — which can lead to disaster.

But in this article, pushing has a slightly different meaning. Are we status quo, staying within a tiny little paradigm that gets us a paycheck or a modest profit for our business? Or are we pushing the envelope by creating innovation that makes us a leader, a trend setter or a world changer?

What We Choose to Push Affects Our Entire Life
Beyond the business model, pushing paper is a choice that typically brings us no personal satisfaction or accomplishment. Weren’t we put on this earth for more than just going through the motions?

Sure, pushing the envelope can be scary. And if we don’t do our research, learn from our mistakes or ensure the highest quality, it can be fatal. But the rewards are great for those who are brave enough to go into uncharted territory — both personally and professionally.

A true desire for pushing the envelope is the path of high integrity. But it also involves extreme dedication and hard work. Remember, even Michael Jordan (the greatest basketball player who ever lived) was cut from his high school basketball team. What would have happened if he would have walked away and stopped trying because it was too “hard?”

FACT
We’re at work anyway. Why not be the Michael Jordan of what we do? We have a choice, no matter where we’re at in our lives. We can be our best or we can be mediocre.

There may be hundreds, or even thousands of people, awaiting our decision. What’s your choice?

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Effective Marketing Software that Won’t Break the Bank

Posted on August 3rd, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Home Business, How To Information, Internet Business, Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News, Women-Owned Businesses

Drive more traffic.

Convert visitors to customers.

Measure and share results.

These are all goals small business need to accomplish on an ongoing basis. But what’s a small business owner to do when his company is composed of just a few people — or in the case when HE is the entire company? When time is not abundant and the budget is small, creating a relevant online marketing campaign can feel impossible.

Enter Optify, a leading provider of marketing software and services for real time web analytics. Optify is also affordable, with their Basic Edition costing only $99 per month.

What You Get:

Keyword Marketing: Research keywords with ease, using Optify’s Keyword Suggestion Tool. You can even include a competitor’s website to find out what they’re targeting.
Website Optimization: Optimize your website with step-by-step guidance, while identifying pages with the greatest opportunity. Optify scores each web page so you know what to focus on first.
Link Management: Optify gives you the ability to keep track of links you have and find links you want.
Lead Scoring: Focus on your hottest leads and close more sales.
Visitor Tracking: Turn website visitors into customers.
Twitter for Business: Manage campaigns and measure results.
Marketing Analytics: Maximize ROI and track your success.
Salesforce Integration: Get the most out of your data.
Get Your Ducks in a Row: Align your marketing and sales groups and close more deals.

The great thing about each of these tools is that you can track your progress to see what’s working and what needs further improvement.

Visit Optify’s website for more on their services, or to sign up for a FREE TRIAL.

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Online Marketing Assistance for Small Businesses

Posted on July 28th, 2011 by The BizFilings Team

Category: Grow a Business, Home Business, Internet Business, Internet Marketing, Small Business, Small Business News, Small Business Technology, Women-Owned Businesses

Search Engine Optimization and social media have become a staple in the marketing schemes of many small businesses. Integrating SEO and social media marketing, Optify — the leading provider of online marketing software and service for the Real Time Web — launched a new Basic Edition designed especially for small and medium-sized businesses.

“We get everything we need for our online marketing campaigns in one single product, no more juggling across different applications,” said Jonathan Saad, president and CEO at BlueCosmo, a sales and rental source for satellite phones, pagers and accessories.

Offering page optimization, link tracking, Twitter for business, and more, the Basic Edition of Optify is able to handle all of the online marketing needs of a small business. Optify also can track 250 keywords and includes one global search engine.

Another great, inexpensive resource is Tom Heatherington’s SEO and Social Media Marketing Guide. Tom is an online marketing consultant, and he’s cut the price the Kindle and online versions of his bookby 75 percent.

Heatherington compares a website that has not been optimized to a business that has an unlisted phone number. The SEO and Social Media Marketing Guide outlines how to utilize SEO and social media marketing in simple terms to help businesses instantly improve its brand.

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Fantastic Free Cloud Apps, Part 6: Google Docs

Posted on July 22nd, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Home Business, How To Information, Internet Business, Small Business, Small Business Trends

Welcome to the Fantastic Free Cloud Apps series, where we look at the very best cloud-based apps and how they can be harnessed to help your small business get organized and grow.

Next up: Google Docs.

Unless you’ve been living under a very heavy rock, you’ve probably used Google’s search engine. But have you ever noticed the black navigation bar toward the top of the page? There’s a “more” button in this navigation bar that leads you to some amazing stuff — including Google Docs.

What exactly is Google Docs?
As the name implies, it’s a word processor app — much like Microsoft Word. The difference here is that it’s cloud based, making it super-easy to access documents from any computer or a mobile device like an iPhone, Android or Blackberry.

But there’s a whole lot more this app can do. Google Docs lets you:

• Create documents, spreadsheets or presentations from scratch or from one of Google’s templates.

• Upload existing files, including Word docs and many other formats.

• Customize your docs just like you would with a desktop application (bold, indent, bullets, etc).

• Instantly share documents with the people you want to see them. Simply enter their e-mail address and send them an invite.

• Choose whether you want guests to view only, or have the ability to edit a document.

• View and make changes to documents with multiple people in real time, at the same time.

• Safely store all your docs, spreadsheets and presentations — and keep them well organized.

• Save docs and spreadsheets to a computer in multiple formats including DOC, XLS, PDF and HTML.

• Publish your docs as a Web page or post them directly to your blog. You also control of who gains access to these pages.

Click here to get started with Google Docs.

Links to previous Fantastic Free Cloud Apps articles:
DropBox: Simplify your life and your business
Survey Monkey: Create smart, professional surveys with ease
Evernote: Capture anything. Access anywhere. Find things fast
Google Calendar: Never forget another event
HootSuite: The social media dashboard

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Fantastic Free Cloud Apps, Part 4: Google Calendar

Posted on July 18th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Home Business, How To Information, Internet Business, Small Business, Small Business News, Women-Owned Businesses

In previous installments of our Fantastic Free Cloud Apps series, we discussed DropBox, Survey Monkey and Evernote. We also defined the “cloud,” and discussed some of the ways it can be harnessed to help your small business.

Next up in the series is Google Calendar.

There was a time, not that long ago, that I used my Moleskine Weekly Planner exclusively. Don’t get me wrong, Moleskine makes some fantastic notebooks and planners, and I still use them regularly. But trying to schedule my work, my wife’s work, as well as the kids’ camp, school and play dates proved difficult.

Enter Google Calendar, the free calendar service that you can access from any computer, as well as many mobile devices. It’s easily accessible, and since you can sync up with the Google Calendars of family, friends and coworkers, you can finally gain a clear picture of everything that’s going on. If you’re a small business owner, syncing up with your team can help you keep your ducks in a row — making it easier for your business to grow. And, since the calendar lives in Google’s cloud, every time you add an event, anyone who has access to your calendar will see the update — whether they’re viewing it prom their iPhone, Blackberry or great grandma’s old desktop.

Here’s an overview of some of the benefits you can expect from this calendar app:

Easily share your schedule
Receive e-mail and text message reminders to keep you on schedule
Send invitations through the app, and receive RSVPs via e-mail or Google Calendar
Sync with iCal, Outlook and Mozilla Sunbird
Choose different colors for your events and the events of others
View and edit your calendar from any computer or mobile device
Offline access lets you see your schedule when you don’t have access to the cloud
This technology is free!

Visit Google’s About Google Calendar page for more info, or click here to create an account.

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Fantastic Free Cloud Apps, Part 3: Evernote

Posted on July 15th, 2011 by Joey Donovan Guido

Category: Home Business, How To Information, Internet Business, Small Business, Small Business News, Women-Owned Businesses

In previous installments of our Fantastic Free Cloud Apps series, we discussed DropBox and Survey Monkey. We also defined the “cloud,” and discussed some of the ways it can be harnessed to help your small business.

Next up in the series is Evernote.

What is Evernote?
It’s is a free, cloud-based app that’s compatible with Mac, PC and many mobile devices. It’s great for keeping all your notes, Web page clips, Web links, photos and screenshots all in one easily accessible place.

“Capture anything. Access anywhere. Find things fast. Everything you capture is automatically processed, indexed and made searchable. If you like, you can add tags or organize notes into different notebooks. Search for notes by keywords, titles and tags. Evernote magically makes printed and handwritten text inside your images searchable, too.” — The Evernote Team

I like to use Evernote as the central location for all of my notes and project documents. I have different folders for different projects, and they can be organized in a variety of ways to suit my needs and personal preferences.

It’s like having a basic version of Microsoft Word at your fingertips from any computer or on your mobile device — with one major difference. As you filter through your files (in my case mostly documents), you also get to see what’s in each document WITHOUT having to open the file. Not only is this incredibly convenient, it’s also a great time saver.

The Evernote team suggests a variety of uses beyond maintaining notes like I do, including:

Snap a photo of a business card with your phone, and have an easy way to store and access contacts.
Capture plane tickets and confirmation numbers, hotel invoices, and receipts for your expense reports.
Keep notes from your meetings all in one place. Take a picture of a whiteboard and you’ll be able to find it later.
Plan your next trip. Clip web pages, maps, and itineraries. Capture sights, sounds, tastes, and anything else.
Research Web sites and clip pages directly from your browser.
Remember the things you’re supposed to remember. Create electronic reminder notes, to-do lists, jot down random thoughts, leave a voice memo, etc …
Create notes right from Twitter and save tweets that you like by following @myEN on Twitter.

You can read Evernote’s Getting Started Guide for tips and suggestions. Or if you’re ready, sign up now and get started with this fantastic free app!

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It's Time for Small Business to Go Mobile

Posted on July 12th, 2011 by The BizFilings Team

Category: Home Business, Internet Business, Small Business, Small Business News, Small Business Trends, Women-Owned Businesses

Smartphones, tablets and laptops have made it increasingly easier to for small business owners to communicate with their employees. A new study by The Business Journals finds 71 percent of small and mid-sized businesses are “mobile businesses,” allowing for employees to produce in or out of the office.

Of those surveyed, 59 percent believe that such technology is vital to their success, and the facts back it up. Sales at mobile companies ($10.8 million), almost doubled sales of those who are not mobile ($5.7 million).

The study found that 64 percent of mobile small and mid-sized business owners spend more than eight hours per day on their computer, smartphone, or iPad connected to their business. Thirty-eight percent even spend up to 11 hours on their devices per day.

Spending all of that time on their devices, small business owners want the best product. According to the International Business Times, Apple’s iPhone is the cream of the crop. They believe that what sets the iPhone apart is Apple’s App Store, which has approximately 425,000 apps from Apple and third-party developers.

Another superior aspect of the iPhone is iOS, Apple’s operating system. iPhone users have multiple ways to wield their iPhone, including the swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse-pinch, which allow for easy use.

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Archive for the ‘Home Business’ Category

Delaware's Annual Report Filing Deadline is Approaching

Top 10 Reasons to Use a Registered Agent Service

What is a Registered Agent?

Top 10 Reasons to Use a Registered Agent

How to Greet a Customer So They'll Love Your Small Business

Are You Pushing the Envelope or Pushing Paper?

Effective Marketing Software that Won’t Break the Bank

Drive more traffic.

Convert visitors to customers.

Measure and share results.

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