It takes a village to run a successful small business. From a banker, financial planner, attorney, marketing consultant, business coach, and of course your CPA it can take some important resources to keep your business running. We are always looking for professional resources to help our clients succeed. Recently we have had an increasing number of clients needing advice on business start up and organization options. Below are just a few of the vast resources that Wilmington has to offer for small businesses that are in the startup stage and beyond:
UNCW Small Business Technology and Development Center
Business Basics Workshops and Webinars:
http://www.sbtdc.org/offices/uncw/events/
Business Counseling:
https://access.sbtdc.org/reg.aspx?mode=counsel¢er=42011&subloc=0
Cape Fear Community College Small Business Center
Link to Seminars for 2014:
SCORE Counselors to America’ Small Business
Counseling Office Hours:
http://wilmingtonscore.org/free_counseling.html
UNCW Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Events and Resources:
http://www.uncw.edu/cie/index.html
Once the small business plan is established and the process to get started has begun it is important to start focusing on the following steps: setting up your organization, establishing funding, and developing an accounting system. Working with an attorney and developing a good banking relationship are essential to successfully completing the first two steps. The third, developing an accounting system, is usually the least favorite part of business for most of our business owners, but essential for running a successful business. While our firm does not focus on bookkeeping services we have a variety of resources for clients for bookkeeping services and training.
As a CPA firm we strive to be a year round advisor for our clients and not a once a year destination. Being tax efficient requires communicating and working with the resources in your village. Even with a properly organized business, sufficient funding, and pristine accounting records one of the major mistakes we see business owners make is that they only think about taxes after the year is over. There are tax planning strategies for all businesses to be as efficient as possible. It is hard to believe, but we are already almost a third of the way through 2014. If you have started a small business and have not thought about taxes yet, you are missing an important part of your village. Now is the time to plan for the rest of the year!