The Importance of Niche

In the highly competitive world of today, having a strong personal brand is what makes you stand out among the rest and be successful in your chosen field. It’s not enough to have the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform the job anymore, when there are others out there who say the same thing about themselves. To classify yourself as the true expert, you need to offer something unique and different, something that only you can provide, and this is basically what personal branding is all about.

One of the first things you need to do in order to establish your personal brand is to identify your niche. Whether you’re a direct seller, an executive, or a small business owner, defining your niche market is the essential first step before going ahead with the rest of your personal branding campaign. This will essentially be the foundation of your personal brand, and without it, your brand is simply going to fail.

Why exactly is this so? Why is finding your niche so important? Here are the reasons:

1.   It gives you a clear vision of what you need to do

People are bombarded with so much noise and information nowadays that if you don’t clearly define what you want to do, then they’re just going to move on from the products or services that you’re offering. Knowing your niche will give you a clear vision of what goals you want to achieve and what steps you need to take to achieve these goals. You also have a clearer vision of how to tailor your products or services to suit your target audience.

2.   It gives you a specific topic to focus on

The market is so highly saturated that you really need to have a specific topic you want to tackle in order to stand out from the crowd. Maybe you want to focus on blogging, but can you just imagine how many people out there are already talking about blogging? How do you differentiate yourself? This is why you have to choose your niche carefully. Narrow down your focus. Blogging for stay at home moms, for example, would be a better market because it is a lot more specific and targeted. You can now go into detail about this topic because you clearly have an idea about the niche market you’re targeting.

3.   You can more easily position yourself as the expert

When you find your niche market, it is a lot easier to position yourself as the expert that people look up to. First of all, there’s less competition – imagine the number of bloggers out there compared to bloggers who are also stay at home moms. Second, a niche market will give you more focused topics to talk about, which makes it easier to become the go-to person for your chosen niche. Third, with a clearly defined niche market, you would know exactly where to go to find your target audience. It’s a lot easier for you to find related groups, blogs, communities, networks, and so on.

Now that you understand the importance of finding your niche, how exactly do you define who your niche market is? Here are some tips:

·         Know what you’re passionate about – though you may be interested in a lot of topics, there is surely one topic that you find yourself very passionate about, and this should be the basis of your niche market. When you’re passionate about something, it clearly shows in what you do, and this is what you want your target audience to see, so they can share in your passion.

·         Know what makes you different – to effectively position yourself in the market, you need to identify what separates you from all the others who may be offering similar products or services. What can you bring to the table that no one else has? This is basically your unique selling proposition, which is a vital part of your personal brand.

·         Know your target audience’s pain – What do you need to address? What is it that you offer that can solve problems or offer solutions to your target market? You need to be able to offer your niche market something of value, something that they need, that only you can give.

The importance of knowing your niche for your personal brand cannot be stressed. It can be the difference between success and failure. So make sure you clearly define your niche market before proceeding with the other steps of your personal branding campaign. 

Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm.   She helps create connection, credibility, community and cha-ching through mobile marketing and social commerce around your brand. She is co-founder of #brandchat - a weekly twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding.

Talking the Talk

Successful people know the importance of having a distinctive and strong personal brand. Wherever you go, whatever you do, your reputation precedes you, so having a strong personal brand can ensure that you will survive even if you get laid off from your job or have to move to another town or state to start over.

Nowadays, there are so many tools you can utilize in order to establish your personal brand. The online world has given people the ability to create a name for themselves without having to spend too much – through blogging, networking, and social media, there are so many ways for you to create a powerful online presence that people can look up to and admire.

But even if you have a strong personal brand in the online world, you need to remember that establishing yourself offline is just as important. And one of the most powerful things you can do for your personal brand in the real world is to speak in public.

You see, your personal brand is basically how people perceive you, and it is directly linked to what people’s experiences of you are and how they are exposed to you. When you place too much emphasis on your online reputation without considering your offline one, then you limit how people perceive you.

This is why even politicians who have successfully utilized online tools such as networking and social media to become popular, but don’t know how to speak well to an audience about their viewpoints, can never succeed in their political campaign. There’s just something about hearing someone passionately speak about their ideas and opinions that really resonates with people – and this is why public speaking is one of the best tools you can utilize for your personal brand.

Other reasons why public speaking should be part of your branding campaign:

·         It positions you as the expert – most people assume that if you’re qualified enough to speak in a roomful of people with confidence, then you’re most likely an expert on the subject.

·         It builds your credibility – there’s a reason why not everyone is a sought-after speaker; becoming one can definitely help you build credibility in your chosen niche.

·         It helps people get to know you – in branding, it’s important that people know you and what you’re about. Speaking in public can help people get to know you better so people relate with you and remember you.

So how do you use speaking to promote your personal brand? What are some of the best practices when speaking in public?

1.   Choose your topic well

It’s important that you speak about a topic you’re passionate about and that means something to you. People can easily see if you’re really into a topic or you’re just forcing yourself to speak. It should also be a topic you’re already familiar with and something that you have personal experience with. This is important in establishing your personal brand and your expertise.

2.   Know your audience

You should know your audience and what they’re interested in so that you can tailor your presentation to address them. If you’re addressing a group of social media managers, for example, you may want to refrain from going over social media once again and how it can help businesses – you should offer something different, something new that offers them value.

This is where listening to your audience is very important – it’s a good idea to connect with your audience even before your presentation, or to come early to mingle with them and learn what their viewpoints are. This will be very helpful in giving you some insights on how to tailor your presentation for them.

3.   Tell a story

Sometimes, people don’t even remember what you’re talking about, but if there’s one thing that many people always recall during presentations is a good story told that helps them relate with you. So to avoid being just one of the random speakers they’ve heard in the course of time, tell a story – specifically, your story. Make it relevant to your audience so that it resonates with them. This is how you connect with your audience and make yourself remembered.

How people perceive you is your personal brand. And this is why it’s important to utilize as many tools as possible to position yourself as an expert in your chosen niche and be remembered by your audience. Don’t just rely on having a strong online presence, because this limits how people know you. Utilize public speaking so that people can really get to know you and what you can offer to them. 

Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm.   She helps create connection, credibility, community and cha-ching through mobile marketing and social commerce around your brand. She is co-founder of #brandchat - a weekly twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding.

Tax Planning Follies - Part Two

Lady Gaga is touring the country promoting awareness of bullying. I think she is a good argument for more bullying. If she had been bullied the proper amount, she wouldn't be so strange. If she didn't have a great singing voice, she would be toiling at a tattoo parlor in some God forsaken place. She is a fine example for kids everywhere. How many more tattoo artists does the world need? If you're “born this way,” you might want to consider changing.

Late breaking news – I read in yesterday's Washington Post that Maryland's Governor, Martin O'Malley, wants to team up with Lady GagMe for an anti-bullying initiative. This is political correctness for a political purpose. He would rather deal with bullying than face the perennial Maryland budget mess to which he contributes annually. Soon he'll announce that motherhood is sacred, and that we should all eat our veggies.

If you believe your child has been bullied on Facebook, please learn some parenting skills. Bullying, by definition, cannot happen on a web site. Really. If little Susie can't survive a little drama on Facebook, don't be surprised when she is thirty years old and still living with you. At this point, I intended to write, “I get so mad about this subject, I could smack a dwarf.” But my wife made me delete it. I wish I had a great segue into tax planning from this, but I don't.

There are two primary tax planning techniques that can be used to reduce your income taxes. Actually, there are three. The first is doing no planning at all. I covered that adequately in my first installment on tax planning.

The first real method of income tax planning is creating less taxable income or creating more non-taxable income. For example, you can accomplish this by investing in tax free municipal bonds instead of regular taxable bonds. You can also create less taxable income by something as simple as accurately tracking all of your business expenses. In other words, take full advantage of the tax breaks available.

Contributing to a Roth IRA is another great way to create non-taxable income. While you don't get a tax deduction for the Roth contribution, the income in your Roth account grows tax free, and most importantly, can be withdrawn tax free at retirement.

Similarly contributing to a section 529 college savings plan creates non-taxable income. The contributions get only a limited state tax deduction, but the earnings can be withdrawn tax free for qualified college expenses.

Another cool way of creating taxable income that isn't as taxable as it might be is to put your children on your payroll. Kids are typically in lower tax brackets than their parents. In many cases, the tax rate on a child is zero. Shifting income from parents to children saves taxes. There are rules governing how you have to do this. Your kids actually have to work – unlike many of your other employees. There are other restrictions as well, but this is a fine technique we suggest regularly. Consult with your CPA for details – yada, yada, yada - insert disclaimer here.

The second method of tax planning is deferring income or accelerating deductions. One popular way to defer income is to delay your December billing so that you don't get paid until the next year. The key point about tax deferral is that you aren't really reducing your taxes. You are electing to pay them later. The problem is that later comes eventually.

A really popular real estate tax strategy is the section 1031 exchange. In a 1031 exchange, you defer taxes on the profit from selling a property by buying another piece of real estate. The profit from the first property doesn't escape tax. The profit reduces your tax basis in the new property. When you sell the second property, you pay the taxes then unless you do another 1031 exchange. This tactic seems like a no brainer. You get to delay paying taxes. Isn't that always good?

No, in fact it is not always good. I know a few people, who have done 1031 exchanges in the last couple of years, who have really screwed themselves. In the year they sold the first property, the federal capital gains tax rate was fifteen percent. Given the federal deficit, how long do you think the low fifteen percent capital gains rate will continue? I am betting in another year or two, that these people will find out they deferred income from a fifteen percent year into at least a twenty-eight percent year. Yes, I raised this issue with them. This pay no taxes now attitude is just a variant of the pay no taxes ever attitude I discussed in part I. The saying in the tax business is “Pigs get fat. Hogs get slaughtered.” Oink oink, Miss Piggy. Two years from now, these people will incur an ugly tax bill.

There are lots of other ways to defer income taxes. Accelerating depreciation deductions is another effective tactic. As I write this, you can fully depreciate up to $500K of equipment purchased during 2011. For 2012, the amount goes down to $125K. This is called a section 179 deduction. There are a number of limits that would take more space than I have and more indulgence than you would give me. But I should mention that a section 179 deduction cannot reduce your taxable business income below zero. It cannot be used to create a loss.

There is another type of accelerated depreciation still in effect for 2011 called bonus depreciation. Bonus depreciation only applies to the purchase of new equipment, furniture, and fixtures. Purchasing used items doesn't qualify. In 2011, you can deduct the entire purchase price paid for most equipment, furniture, and fixtures. Again, there are some limits, but nonetheless, it is a really good deal in a lot of circumstances.

Notice I didn't say accelerated methods of depreciation are good in all situations. When you deduct accelerated depreciation now, you are really just borrowing deductions from future years. For instance, if you deduct the cost of a $25K machine you purchased in 2011, you will get no further depreciation deductions on this machine in the future. This isn't always the correct decision. If you expect to be in a lower tax rate in 2011 than in the future, you shouldn't take accelerated depreciation. Save the deductions for the higher tax rate years. Many tax preparers automatically use accelerated depreciation without considering the effect of future income and tax rates. If you are using one of them, it sucks to be you.

From mid-October through December 31^st, I work practically full time preparing income tax projections for clients. I believe strongly in the value of tax planning. Of course, it pays pretty well too. All I am really doing over and over is using the two basic methods of tax planning discussed above: creating non-taxable income and deferring , or accelerating in some cases, taxable income.

Thanks for reading. Merry Christmas! For more information on S&K tax planning services, please visit the main S&K web site www.skcpas.com. End of commercial message.

Google+ for Brands

Google has finally launched its Google+ business pages, allowing brands and businesses to join its social network. Many people have been looking forward to this, ever since Google banned companies from setting up Google+ profiles, letting people know that it’s only for personal users. They have been hinting about what they’re going to roll out for brands for quite a while now, and finally it is here.

Though somewhat similar to Facebook fan pages, the Google+ counterpart does have some additional nifty features that brands may like. One of the most promising is, of course, the integration of Google+ brand pages with the Google search engine. Having a brand page with Google+ will definitely help brands and businesses rank better in search. There is also a new feature called Direct Connect, which allows anyone using the Google search engine to jump straight to a Google+ brand page simply by searching for “+name of brand.”

This latest feature is still in beta phase, however, and won’t work for every Google+ that has been set up. Right now, there are certain criteria that determine a page’s eligibility for Direct Connect, which is mostly based on how popular it is with people through the number of searches for the brand and other social signals.

Other useful features that Google+ brand pages have that Facebook fan pages don’t include the Hangouts video chat service and the Circles feature. With Hangouts, brands can actually chat with their customers – this could be useful for doing promotions, offering deals, engaging customers in conversation, and even giving them customer support that’s personal and interactive. Since brands have the ability to deliver video and IM via the Google+ platform, they can offer unique content broadcasts to targeted consumers, which can be very helpful for the business.

And with Circles, similar to how personal users are using it, brands can create groups of users whom they can target specifically for special deals, promotions, events, and many more. Unlike Facebook, where businesses simply post to their page and hope that everyone who would like to see would be able to, with Circles, brands can target their communication based on what you know about these particular set of customers. Though it may sound tricky at first, once a brand is able to manage their Circles well, they can really give consumers what they want to see.

And there’s the +1 feature of Google+, which is somewhat similar to Facebook’s Likes, with the main difference is the fact that the +1 has Google juice. Google seems to plan to utilize this for its search engine, so that users will be able to see the most popular content – aka, the one with the most number of +1s – so that it can stand out among the rest.

Generally, however, many people are still speculating whether Google+ can become the giant that Facebook is today for brands and businesses. Though Google+ reports that it has over 40 million users now, the main question is, are these users interacting with brands through the platform? A recent report by BrightEdge, an SEO firm, discovered that although 61 percent of the world’s top 100 brands have created a Google+ page, most of them don’t really have a huge following yet, and fans aren’t doing a lot of brand interaction within the site as well.

Of course, remember that Google+ brand pages have only recently come out, so it’s not a surprise that they’re still struggling to establish themselves in this world of social networking sites. It would definitely be interesting to see what they come up with in the future, as they push out more features that would help brands connect and engage better with their consumers.

The main challenge for brands is convincing their customers to connect with them through this excellent platform. As Google+ continues to provide more value to its users, brands also need to determine what experiences they can offer through the site that’s different from other pages they have established.

Many predict that Google+ will continue to put out more features that will prove to be invaluable to brands and businesses later on. An integration with Google Analytics, for example, would definitely be an excellent feature, since right now, Google+ brand pages don’t have any way of determining the success of their campaigns.

The truth is, Google+ can still learn a lot from Facebook, but if it really wants to succeed in competing with the giant, it really needs to offer brands and users something different and more innovative than what Facebook has to offer. 

Author:
Maria Elena Duron, is managing editor of the Personal Branding Blog, CEO (chief engagement officer) of buzz2bucks.com – a word of mouth marketing firm.   She helps create connection, credibility, community and cha-ching through mobile marketing and social commerce around your brand. She is co-founder of #brandchat - a weekly twitter chat focused on every aspect of branding.

Can I write off start-up costs?

Q: Can I write off the money I’ve spent to research and prepare to startup my new small business?

A: Yes, you can claim tax deductions for, i. e., “write off,” amounts incurred in connection with investigating, creating or acquiring an active trade or business before you begin operating.  But the tax and accounting rules for startup costs are complex, so you should consult with a CPA.

For tax years beginning in 2010, you can write off up to $10,000 in startup costs and another $10,000 in organizational expenses in the year that you start your business. These deductions are reduced if you have more than $60,000 of either type of expense.  Any costs over the $10,000 limits will have to be amortized, or spread out, over 15 years.

Sound like a long time to have to wait to get the full benefit of a startup deduction? It is. But most small business startups typically don’t have much more than $10,000 in total pre-opening costs and can live with these rules.

Startup and organizational costs incurred by new businesses are generally treated as capital expenses. Therefore, they need to be amortized, that is, part of the cost is “written off” in each of a number of years.

Startup expenses include such things as the cost of travel, trade shows, educational or training seminars, consulting fees, building costs, and supplies or materials needed to get your business started (not inventory or raw materials).

Organizational fees include the costs relating to forming or creating the business, such as, fees paid to obtain licenses, and accounting or attorney fees paid to form a legal entity for your company.

But, from a tax standpoint, when does your business actually begin? You can be in business if you are ready to accept customers. The actual event that triggers you being in business will vary by the type of business and your own personal way of operating.

You don't have to have customers or made a profit to be in business, but, if you don't make a profit in three out of five years you could trigger the hobby-loss rule and face restrictions on your startup tax deductions.  Review your situation with a good tax pro.

In any event, it should be clear that, for those investigating or starting up a business, it’s important to keep good records of your costs or you will have difficulty recovering all of them.

Your Social Editorial Calendar

There are a lot of challenges for businesses of today in managing their social presence. Let’s face it – it’s become essential for businesses to be active in the online social world, because this is where most people can be found. The fast-paced world of the Internet, however, has made it tricky for brands to keep their customers engaged and focused. You want your audience to remember your message, not get lost in all the different voices available out there.

This is where a social media editorial calendar comes in handy. Having a strategy for your social media posts will ensure that you have a solid social media presence that effectively reaches your audience and gets your message across.

As you know, content is what drives marketing – without content, no one will ever know that you’re offering some excellent products or services. Though you could easily just post whatever content you have randomly without planning it beforehand, this is not going to be effective in making sure that your posts get as much visibility as possible and reach a greater audience. Remember, social media has changed how the world communicates; sometimes it seems like content becomes so easily obsolete because of how rapidly people absorb a message and then move on to the next available post.

So how do you create your social editorial calendar? How do you make sure that you’re able to reach your audience and customers?

1.   Choose your platforms wisely

First of all, it’s important that you choose the platforms where you will share content wisely. Though you may like to use all the platforms available to you, this may not be a good decision, especially when you’re looking into managing your time well. So choose a couple of platforms that you believe you’ll be able to reach your target audience the most and stick to them.

Some of the platforms you could use include a blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr, and so on. Having a blog is definitely recommended for any brand out there who wishes to engage their audience through long, informative posts that encourage discussion. Though Facebook and Twitter are ideal for short, quick and interactive messages, a blog lets you go deeper into a topic and showcase what makes you or your company awesome and unique. Your customers can easily participate in the conversation by commenting on your blog posts, giving you invaluable feedback and insights.

2.   Decide on the topics you’ll cover

Though you could easily jump from topic to topic in the content you share with your audience, that’s not going to help your customers understand what your brand is all about. So in your social editorial calendar, you need to determine the key topics that you’re going to be tackling. You should also decide on how specific or broad you want to be. The more specific your focus, the better you’ll reach your target audience. On the other hand, if you’re looking to attract more people who may not be aware of your brand yet, you can offer broader content that would be appealing to wider array of people.

3.   Choose what types of content you’ll offer

After you’ve chosen the topics you’ll be covering, you can now specify what types of content you’ll have for your audience. These could be articles, blog posts, status updates, videos, photos, events, newsletters, and so much more. It’s a good idea to vary your content so that people who prefer one over the other would better accept the message you’re trying to deliver.

4.   Specify your social media goals

A very important aspect of your social editorial calendar is your social media goal. Ask yourself how many times per week you plan to post on each platform, and then detail how many times you’re going to cover a specific topic, post a particular type of content, and on which platform you plan to share it. The more detailed your strategy is, the better for your brand.

5.   Laying it all out in your calendar

After you’ve made a decision on the four things tackled earlier on, it’s time to place them in your social editorial calendar. Most people simply use an Excel file to make this, but you can also utilize other software programs as well. You can now create a weekly schedule of what content you’ll be sharing and have it all laid out neatly and precisely.

With a social media editorial calendar, managing your social media content will be a lot easier and less confusing. This would enable you to focus more on offering value to your audience and make sure to engage and connect with them. 

Tax Planning Follies – Part One

Raise your hand if you think the Redskins have a quarterback problem. You're wrong. The Redskins have a quarterback problem the way a kid flunking algebra has a calculus problem; the way a homeless man has a wealth management problem; the way a blind man has a problem at a shooting range. Actually, if you're with a blind man at a shooting range, you have the problem.

The Redskins have two more urgent offensive issues than settling Grossman versus Beck versus the next great white quarterback hope from the draft. First, the offensive line can't consistently run or pass block. Second, the offense suffers from a chronic case of knucklehead syndrome. Two members of the offense, Trent Williams (tackle) and Fred Davis (tight end), have been suspended for the rest of the season for failing at least one drug test, they knew in advance was coming. Mike Shanahan needs to tell these two knuckleheads what the manager of the trading department told Charlie Sheen's character in the original Wall Street movie. “Somebody's gonna pay for this and it ain't gonna be me.”

One of these guys has to go to maintain even a joking sense of discipline. My choice is Fred Davis. Offensive tackles are hard to find. Tight ends are almost as easily available as day laborers in Herndon, Virginia. You can find one at any Seven Eleven.

December is the silly season for tax planning. We will have at least one hundred meetings aimed at minimizing taxes while there is still time in the year to make changes. I strongly believe in tax planning. The most important reason is that I don't like getting yelled at during tax season. Yes, it truly is all about me. Every March and April, I have five or six really brutal conversations with clients who owe far more in taxes than they expected. Before we really focused on bringing people in for tax planning, I used to feel really bad about these conversations. Now, I approach these conversations with a clear conscience, since I know we offered the opportunity for every client to know exactly where he stands tax wise while there was still time to make changes. Here is how these conversations now unfold.

Client: “Frank, I really didn't expect to owe ten grand this year.”

Here's the thing about expectations. To have an expectation, you have to have an idea what you are expecting, so that you can compare that to reality. Here is how I would like to reply.

Frank: “And how did you come up with what you were expecting? Tarot cards? Ouija board? Mike Shanahan? Here is how you might have come to your expectation. You might have accepted one of our half dozen offers for a tax planning meeting.”

Of course, I don't really say that. I sugar coat it a little. The subject of tax expectations is a good place to start a discussion about tax planning in general. The first step in tax planning is to develop a set of objectives. Some people just want to know they won't have to write big checks on April 15^th. Some people want the opportunity to actually change their eventual balance due or refund. One way or the other, we have to discuss objectives at the start.

One of my least favorite types of client is the business owner who insists on paying zero taxes. To pay zero taxes, you have to have zero taxable income. That should seem obvious. Your income can't exceed your deductions like mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and all your other itemized deductions. For wage earners,this is typically unlikely. For business owners, however, a bad year can result in very little income. I don't have a problem with that situation.

I have a problem with the business owners who do every thing possible, and some impossible things, to manipulate their income. For example, they want to hold all of the customer checks they receive for the entire month of December under the mistaken impression that they aren't income if they aren't deposited until January. You might find this hard to believe, but the IRS already knows this trick and how to look for it in an audit. However, I have a problem with this sort of tactic not just because it is wrong. The tactic isn't even in the business owner's best interests. Here is a typical conversation that occurs a month or so after we have completed the income tax return for the prior year.

Client: “Frank, the bank wants financial information. I need you to make me look good.”

Frank: “It's not my job to make you look good. That's your job. Remember how you insisted on paying nothing? That means your profit and loss statement looks like hell. Good luck with the bank.”

Imagine that?! Showing zero profit isn't good for bank relations. From this, you can conclude that tax planning is a balancing act. You are getting some benefit in exchange for giving up something else. It is a classic trade off situation. Lowering your taxes makes getting a bank loan less likely. What is your objective – paying less in taxes or getting a bank loan? That's your decision as a business owner. I can help you go in either direction, but I can't set your objectives.

In my next installment, I will cover basic tax planning techniques and some common mistakes. People can be amazingly creative in torturing themselves.

Thanks for reading! Please check out the real, authentic S&K web site http://www.skcpas.com.

Frank