I found an article that talks about business performance. Making sure that your company is functioning competitively will determine its success. There are questions asked in this article that help you ready your business for success. Enjoy!

http://www.pwc.com/extweb/challenges.nsf/docid/3ddf16cc86dc60b18525701300574bf0

It is tax time!  We might as well try to find some humor and enjoyment in a sometimes difficult and distressing responsibility.  I see that Turbo Tax is doing a promotional contest using YouTube where contestants upload tax rap videos.  Here is one that I found entertaining.  Enjoy.

If you need some help getting your taxes prepared, contact our tax professionals at Integrated Tax Solutions.  Click here to get a free tax consultation with one of our experts.  It can't hurt!

It is always important to focus on personal growth. I found a website that focuses on many different areas of an individual’s personal growth and development. A few areas that the site focuses on is time management, stress management, information skills, communication skills, memory improvement, leadership skills, problem solving, decision making, project planning and practical creativity. You owe it to yourself to set aside twenty to thirty minutes to review the information.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_HTE.htm

There is an Associated Press article on Law.com about the mess that Anna Nicole Smith left behind for her estate. In addition to the paternity suits, DNA tests and jurisdictional wars between the Bahamas and the U.S., there is also the highly personal tragedy of an infant daughter who will never know her mother.  This tragedy, and the uniqueness of Smith's life underscores the need for proper and up-to-date estate planning.

If you have reviewed my previous post on "How to Hire Passionate Employees", then it is also important to make sure you are getting the most out of each employee.  I found the most amazing article to assist business management on how to strategically and properly dismiss a poor performer. I found this interesting because it provides tips on evaluations pinpointing areas of concern and dealing with areas of frustration. Please take the time to review the article as I am sure you will find it to be useful just as I did.

For years, our company has put on a series of Corporate Boot Camp Seminars in Reno and Las Vegas to teach people about the basic essentials of forming and maintaining their new business entity, and becoming successful.  In our Boot Camp, I make a presentation about Nevada's past, present and future as an incorporation center that attracts tens of thousands of new corporate and LLC filings every year from people living outside of Nevada.  I am frequently asked to compare the benefits of incorporating in Nevada to that of incorporating in Delaware, which has a long-standing reputation as a corporate haven.

My answer to those questions is lengthy and technical.  But to boil it down to its simplest form, Delaware law is designed for large, publicly-traded companies and Nevada law is designed for privately-held companies.  Delaware protects stockholders by holding officers and directors responsible, while Nevada protects officers and directors - who are frequently also the owners.

I bring this up to provide some perspective to some interesting statistics that I stumbled upon.   The Ewing Marion Kaufman Foundation released a study that ranks all 50 states for their level of entrepreneurial activity.  It is no surprise that Nevada is ranked very high.

But guess which state is ranked dead last.  New York?  California?  Massachusetts?  No.  Last place belongs to DELAWARE!  While Delaware enjoys this great reputation for being a corporate haven, the truth is that for all the corporate filings it generates, it is a terrible environment for nurturing entrepreneurism.  Its corporate laws just are not designed for small business.

ADVANTAGE:  NEVADA

Download KIEA_state_052206.pdf

The January edition of CFO magazine has an interesting article about the relationship between state development authorities and same-state taxing agencies.  The article documents that a number of state development organizations promise and deliver some nice incentives to encourage corporate moves and expansions.  The "hook" in some incentive packages is that state taxing authorities recoup the incentives (and sometimes more) through tax channels.

The magazine did a poll of CFOs across the country and asked them to rate the "business friendliness" of all fifty states when it comes to taxes.  The exact wording of the question was, "What is your overall impression of the tax environment in this state?"  Nevada was rated by CFOs who responded to this poll as having (the) most fair and predictable tax environment.

The Commerce Department released a report last Thursday showed the Personal Savings Rate in the U.S. at its lowest rate since 1933.  In 2006, the average consumer spent 1% more than they made during the year.  Obviously, the only way that can happen is if people are spending previous savings or are living off of their debt. 

It's not a good sign for our economy, and it was combined with a report that manufacturing was contracting in the month of December, which is a early sign of recession.  It might be time to start thinking about your asset protection strategy.

I wanted to focus this session on “How to Hire Passionate Employees”. It is a continuous issue that costs companies thousands of dollars each and every time an employee is brought into the company. This article gives both good advice and great tips that will put companies, especially smaller companies, on the right track when it comes to hiring the passionate employee.

The following link will bring you to the article where you can obtain the information on hiring passionate employees.

http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/11/news/economy/annie0712.fortune/index.htm

Works Cited:

Fisher, Anne. "How to Hire Passionate Employees." CNNMoney.com. 12 July 2006. 1 Feb 2007 http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/11/news/economy/annie0712.fortune/index.htm