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5 Tips to Succeed In Your First Year as a Small Business Owner

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We all know that launching your own business may be challenging. Still, it can also be quite rewarding, so let’s be optimistic as you approach your first business anniversary! The end of your first year as a small business owner should be an occasion for celebration if you have a sound business plan, are aware of the environment you operate in, and are prepared to handle any unexpected events that may arise.

Here are the 5 tips to succeed in your first year as a small business owner.

1.   Make a Commitment to Yourself

Business solutions experts like those at www.cbs-cbs.com recommend that it’s crucial that you commit to yourself that you will be in business for the first year when you start your small business. In the first year of operation, the vast majority of enterprises fail.

The first year of a business is indeed the most challenging, particularly for someone who has never owned a business and has no prior experience dealing with staff, bookkeeping, or accounting. However, this is the year when you will pick up the greatest knowledge and wisdom, which will pay you back handsomely in the future. When starting your business, make a commitment to be in business in your first year.

2.   Send Out Invitations to Potential Customers

Creating a brand and marketing awareness strategy is a fantastic idea if you want to draw in more customers.

Here are some tips for hitting the ground running:

  • Make an effort to stand out at conferences and networking gatherings so you may meet new clients and learn about the competition.
  • Think about setting up social media and website profiles for your small business; being present online will make it much easier for people to learn more about you!
  • Another thing to take into consideration is whether you have the resources to fund an advertising campaign. Paid advertising, when done right, could be a terrific way to effectively attract new customers.

3.   Define What Distinguishes You from Others

If you look closely enough, any successful business will probably have something unique about them at its heart. The USP (Unique Selling Point) is a component that gives businesses an advantage over rivals. What does your business brand represent? You may stand apart from the competition because you offer a unique feature or invaluable service that addresses a particular customer need. You may also handle business differently than everyone else. Study what your rivals are doing and ensure you can provide something unique.

4.   Spend Time Building a Curated Business Plan

Your business plan is a place to outline your vision, target market, priorities, distinctive value proposition, funding strategy, product and price plan, and marketing and sales plan. It also serves as a guide for managerial decisions as you start and expand your business.

Your business plan is evidence that you have worked hard to validate your idea, whether you are applying for funding or making a pitch to investors, so take the time to develop a robust foundation.

5.   Make Plans for Success Rather Than Failure

Set your thoughts on huge success when defining the goals of your business, and you will succeed. There are many excellent ideas that become successful because business owners think they will, and just because a business fails doesn’t necessarily indicate the idea wasn’t good. It can imply that the initial baking process wasn’t done properly or that the timing wasn’t perfect for that specific idea. It doesn’t even make sense that many business people envision failure rather than success.

Conclusion

These are the five basic tips to succeed in your first year as a small business owner. While building a successful business in the first year requires a lot of effort and commitment, with these five tips explained in this article, your small business is destined for huge success.

Employee Incentives: Health Insurance

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The current and continuing increases in medical costs can be a major issue for many Americans, especially when they require medical treatment.

Group health insurance plans are offered by an employer of a member organization. Members of the plan usually receive coverage at a lower cost because the risk to the insurer is spread across multiple members.

Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), businesses with 50 or more full-time employees must provide health insurance to full-time employees and dependents under the age of 26 or pay a fee.

Employers with fewer employees might also choose to have a plan as part of an Employee Incentive Scheme.

Approximately 50% of Americans with health insurance coverage gained this through group plans provided by their employer. However, many of them have little idea how their plan works.

Group health insurance provides many benefits, but when your insurance plan is tied directly to your employment, you will usually lose this cover if you change jobs. In 2017, 22% of uninsured Americans reported losing their health insurance due to job loss or change in employment status.

The 2002 movie John Q, starring Denzel Washington, is an example of one of the traps of employer-provided health insurance. In the movie, due to a downturn in business, his employer changed health providers to save money, and when John’s hours were reduced temporarily, he became classified as a part-time employee.

This resulted in him and his family no longer having full cover. When his son suffered a significant medical event requiring ongoing treatment. The plan in place when he began employment would have covered everything, but the new cheaper plan and his temporary part-time employment status meant only some of the initial medical costs were covered, and none of the major costs would follow.

Benefits of Group Health Insurance

Many employers provide supplemental health plans, which include dental coverage, vision, and pharmacy coverage, either separately or as a bundle.

The main benefit is lower premiums. A 2018 study found the average premium cost per individual in a group health insurance plan was $41/month cheaper than an individual plan. The same study discovered small group health plans had an average deductible of more than $1,300 less than individual plans.

Family members and dependents can be added to group plans at an additional cost to members. These assists families with sole providers, or where other family members don’t have group health insurance with their employer.

Group health insurance plans provide numerous tax benefits to both the employer and employee. Employers’ costs are tax-deductible, and employees’ premiums are made before tax, reducing their total taxable income.

Smaller businesses may also qualify for the small business health care tax credit.

Who can get Group Health Insurance?

To be eligible for an employer’s group health insurance, an employee must be on payroll and the employer must pay payroll taxes. Independent contractors, retirees, and seasonal or temporary employees are not eligible. If you take unpaid leave, you may be ineligible for group coverage until you return to work.

Make sure you know what cover you are entitled to if you work less than full-time hours, even if only for a temporary period.

Coverage must also be offered to an employee’s spouse and dependent children until age 26, though some employers may increase the age, provided children are still dependents. Unmarried partners of the same or opposite sex, may also be eligible for the same cover as their spouses.

Without a doubt, job seekers favor employers with a group health insurance plan, but it is important to fully understand what the plan covers and any changes.

Check out http://www.cbs-cbs.com as a starting point for advice on how a group health insurance plan could be a great fit for your business as part of an employee incentive scheme.