I've received alot of questions lately about starting a new business so I did some basic research and found this on business.gov.
Here is a 10 step.guide for new employers. I hope this helps. The guide is specific to the US based on hiring regulations in the states. If you live outside of the US check with your local governments to find out what you need to do. Step 1: Obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) Before hiring employees, you need to get an employment identification number (EIN) form the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Step 2: Set up Records for Withholding Taxes The IRS states that you must keep records of employment taxes for at least four years. Federal Income Tax Withholding (Form W-4) Every employee must provide an employer with a signedwithholding exemption certificate (Form W-4) on or before the date of employment. The employer must then submit Form W-4 to the IRS. Federal Wage and Tax Statement (Form W-2) On an annual basis, employers must report to the federal government wages paid and taxes withheld for each employee.This report is filed using Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement.Employers must complete a Form W-2 for each employee to whom they pay a salary, wage, or other compensation. State Taxes Depending on the state where your employees are located, you may be required to withhold state income taxes. Visit your state tax agency for further information. Step 3: Employee Eligibility Verification (Form I-9) Federal law requires employers to verify an employee's eligibility to work in the United States. Step 4: Register with Your States' New Hire Reporting Program The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 requires all employers to report newly hired and re-hired employees to a state directory within 20 days of theirhire or rehire date. Step 5: Obtain Workers' Compensation Insurance Businesses with employees are required to carry Workers' Compensation Insurance coverage through a commercial carrier, on a self-insured basis, or through the state Workers' Compensation Insurance program. Visit your state's Worker's Compensation Office for more information on your state's program Step 6: Unemployment Insurance Tax Registration Businesses with employees are required to pay unemployment insurance taxes under certain conditions. Step 7: Obtain Disability Insurance (If Required) Some states require employers to provide partial wage replacement insurance coverage to their eligible employees for non-work related sickness or injury. Step 8: Post Required Notices Employers are required by state and federal laws to prominently display certain posters in the workplace that inform employeesof their rights and employer responsibilities under labor laws. Step 9: File Your Taxes If you are new employer, there are new federal and state tax filing requirements that apply to you. Step 10: Get Organized and Keep Yourself Informed To get more detailed information, including links to websites thatoffer more detail and access to the applicable forms, read " " *Information from Business.gov
0 Comments
One mistake I see a lot of tennis pros and clubs make is waiting until January to put together a plan to take full advantage of the opportunities in the first quarter of the year.
Clubs scramble to put together a plan without really thinking about what their goals are for the upcoming year. It is an absolute requirement to have all of your systems in place, your employees at all levels trained, and a marketing plan ready to go. If you head into January without a plan of how you are going to attack the new year you are going to be disappointed with the outcome. So let’s find a few things that you need to do by December 31 to get ready for the first quarter of 2014. 1. Make Your Goals Count In order to be able to have a positive first quarter, you have to produce the numbers and objectives that you consider to be successful for your business. You have to know the numbers that you want to reach and your entire staff has to know what the goals are which means that they need to know the numbers you are trying to reach. Don't hide it from them. If the goal is to increase lessons by 6% you need to show them how to get it done. Once your know the numbers then you need to break them down into daily, weekly, and monthly goals for each staff member. Remember, “Sell as many lessons and memberships as possible” is not a goal. Goals have to be specific and they have to be measurable. Be sure to have goals for everything: lessons, new members, referrals, personal training, stringing, and other profit area, etc. Everything that you sell needs to have a goal linked with it. 2. Design Your Marketing with a Plan There is no magical plan that is a perfect mixture of strategies that is going to always work best for your facility. To decide what plans you should implement, refer to what has worked best in the past years….but don’t just copy and paste! Think about what has produced a positive return on your investmetns in the past and see if it will work again this year. You have to have an approach that is planned out and not just done by the seat of your pants. You have to plan for the day, week, and next month but don't just copy and paste last years plan. 3. Update Your Systems Make sure that your systems that you have in place are running smoothly. If any of them are not running as you would like them to be you need to start fixing them now rather than in January. The systems we are talking about include the way in which phone calls are answered, how lessons are scheduled, billing, maintenance, marketing, membership tours, follow up with clients and anything else you do on a daily basis. In the club business your systems are important to make sure the little things don’t get missed. 4. Staff Training From the maintenance staff to the managers everyone must realize the mission of the business and the plan you have in place to make 2014 a success. Now is the time for everyone to understand what is expected of them. You need to spell out the expectations for them on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. If there are any problems with the staff now is the time to take care of it. 5. Everything has to be cleaned All clubs need to be clean but the end of the year is the time to look at the club with new eyes. If you have had a busy year take the last week of the year and clean everything so you start 2014 with a “fresh start”. One of the biggest complaints of club members is how clean the facilities are so now is the time to clean up! Clean all of the fitness equipment and any other equipment that needs to be cleaned. Get the dust cloth and get behind the front desk and make sure that every area is cleaned. You need to realize that members notice everything. So now is the time to start getting ready for the new year and new revenue. By starting now you will be way ahead of the competition! Even though its only September you should be thinking about whether or not you should get a raise. You've just finished the summer and hopefully it was successful. Most clubs start their budget process right now so now is a good time to talk to your boss about having a review of your performance and what you need to do to get a raise.
When we have our annual review we assume our boss will know everything that we have done and reward us for what we have accomplished this past year. If it was only that easy! Depending on what department you are in could decide what your raise is. The person doing the review usually already knows how much they can afford to increase your pay. In fact they may be looking to cut your pay regardless of how well you think you have done this past year Even worse they may be looking to take away some of your benefits, bonuses, or your vacation time. So here are 7 tips to get the raise you deserve 1. Be Prepared before the review You should keep a performance review file on your own. Throughout the year put in a list of completed projects or additional work taken on during the year as well as documentation of what you believe is a good performance. The file will serve two functions. First, it provides you with proof of everything that you accomplished throughout the year. Second, it reminds you of everything that you have done when it’s time for the review. So if you are like most tennis pros you will try to do it all at once and then you can’t remember what you did last February so remember to write it down and keep it in a file. 2. Know the Market In order to have some leverage at the table it’s good to know what the market is paying. You also need to know how much money you are bringing into the club. Put pen to paper and figure it out. 3. Listen to the gossip During the performance review time you need to figure out what is going on with the other staff. After some of the staff is out of their reviews observe how they look after words. If they come out upset then you know that they were not happy with their reviews. If people are coming out happy then you know that you may have a shot at that raise. The club may already be telling employees what to expect. It may be a COLA raise or based on the economy there may not be a raise this year. 4. Have a Number already in mind If you are planning on asking for a bigger raise than what the club is planning on giving you need to have a number already in mind. If you have had a good year then ask for something big if not keep it at a number that is reasonable. If your sales were better than last year then you need to point that out but if you had a down year don’t expect a raise. 5. Don’t Back Down Once you have a number that you want to ask for in mind and your list of accomplishments in hand it will be easy to answer to the person giving the review when the tell you that you are not going to get the number you expected. This is when all of the homework comes into play. You have to remind them of everything that you have accomplished this year. You need to expect your boss to take a step back and think about what you are asking for. At that point you need to give more reasons why you think you deserve more. The typical answer will be that this is the number everyone is going to get. Most clubs have set aside a certain amount of money for each employee and this is your time to get the extra money that is on the table. Like most clubs there is always some extra money to be handed out to the top employees. 6. What If they still say no? If your boss says no the raise you were expecting ask if they can will revisit the number in a few months. The other thing you can do is to try and negotiate other benefits. Ask for more education money or ask for them to pay for a trip to a conference or more vacation time. 7. Follow up Once the meeting is over you need to follow up with your boss about what was said. If you were given a 3% raise then remind them that was the number. Also thank them for taking the time to speak with you and make sure everything is in writing. After its over you need to make three copies: One for you, one for human resources, and one for your boss. Do this immediately and don’t put it off because the longer you put it off the more chances that you will forget. Here are ten things that tennis professionals must be able to do everyday.
1. Know Your Target Markets Problems and have solutions to their problems 2. Create Customers who love you 3. Ask For Referrals 4. Know How To Communicate With Your Students and Customers 5. You Have To Make Your Players Better 6. Create products that make your customers coming back again and again 7. You Must Be Creative 8. You Must Be Consistent & Be Predicable 9. Become an expert 10. Don't Be Afraid To Stand Out From The Crowd Thanksgiving is over and now it’s time to get ready for the holidays!
Holidays are about stepping back, taking a look at your life, and giving thanks for those things you appreciate most in your life. So what am I thankful for? You! Without you I wouldn't be able to be doing the things that I love to do. I love that I can help so many fellow tennis entrepreneurs with my products and my messages. I have you to thank for that. As we get closer to the big day of thanks, here are a few things you and I should both remember to be thankful for: Customers They might drive you crazy from time to time, but they're the reason you don't have to work that uninspiring 8-5 job. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them. Your Team It's a wonderful thing when you have a great team to work with. I am very grateful for my employees and contractors who all play a huge role in helping many tennis entrepreneurs. You need to let your employees know how much you appreciate them. Make a difference How great is it that you are changing peoples lives. There is nothing else in this world that can make more of an impact in someone's life than to improve their health. How great is it to work with kids and adults doing something that you love to do and to be a positive role model in others. No approval needed You get to control your own destiny. By being an entrepreneur you don't have anyone to ask whether you can or can't do something. A lot of times we forget how key this is as compared to our middle management friends. Just think how your life would be if you were sitting behind a desk 8 hours a day….ugh! Family and friends Being a tennis entrepreneur often means working long or unexpected hours. Think about those 6:00 a.m. lessons or having to work a holiday. Be sure to thank your family and friends for putting up with the hours as you've built the life you love. Without their help it would have been difficult to make it this far. Getting paid Isn’t it incredible that we are able to make a living doing exactly what we love to do. How many people do you know that can get paid doing what they love to do? Failures Yes, there are some pretty dark days, those tough circumstances you've found yourself in. It’s the tough times that define you. It is what has molded you and what will continue to mold you, much more than the good times do. It’s about how you recover from the failures that will define you. If you are not making mistakes occasionally then you aren’t pushing yourself. Freedom This needs no explaining for a tennis entrepreneur. Be thankful for this. Be thankful for journey I know that being an entrepreneur can be stressful but would you trade your job with someone else? Maybe you would but I know I wouldn’t. In your job you have a lot of fun, you enjoy an independence that others cannot, and you have a greatlife. So be thankful for what you have because I do every day. Success at your job will not be measured by how many days you get to "TAKE OFF" but instead by how many days you "TAKE ON." Think about it because we all know what days we get to take off but what days do we really take on?
How often do you wake up and immediately think that your day is going to be bad? Are you thinking about that 10 o’clock lesson that you absolutely hate? Are you thinking about that one lady on the 3.0 tennis team that is always on you about team tennis or the junior parent that doesn’t like the group her child is in? Are you the pro or manager that doesn’t fully engage with your clients or staff because you are already thinking about what you are going to do later on after work or next weekend? LIke all of us we go through those times when you just are not into your job. For whatever reason things distract you and you start thinking about other things and the next thing you know your day is over and you haven’t finished anything. If this is happening to you know you need to get out of that funk before you get fired. Your staff and your members know when you are not quite there so you need to find your passion within your job. That is the difference between taking days off and taking days on. When I talk about taking days off I don't mean not going to work, I mean showing up to work but not actually working. I’m talking about just going through the motions to collect a paycheck. If you find yourself just going through the motions at work it will affect everyone around you including your family, your staff, and your clients. When you take days on you are never wasting anything during the day. Working in the tennis business is one of the greatest occupations there are. Would you rather sit behind a desk and do paperwork all day? Instead of dreading your day you should be focusing in on how great your life is by being able to hit tennis balls for a living! Just think how you would feel if you woke up every morning ready to “TAKE ON” your day? What if you went to work every day and set goals for your day and then worked hard during the day to achieve those goals. Think how happy you would be to actually achieve something everyday. So challenge yourself to TAKE ON everyday. Wake up tomorrow morning with a feeling of purpose and determination. How happy you are and your success is ultimately in your hands. Remember that as a Tennis Professional your clients look to you for support and guidance. If you are taking days off then you are not truly helping them or yourself. So start taking your days on and not off. It's that time of year when bad weather starts keeping employees from getting to work.
Does your club or organization have a policy as to how you handle absences or tardies for weather related instances? Bad weather is tricky because what one person thinks is bad weather the next person may think that its not bad at all. Having grown up in Michigan I was used to bad weather all of the time and I was taught at an early age how to drive in the snow. Now that I live in Virginia it's a whole different story. No matter where you live you have to have some type of policy as to what is expected of your employees when the weather is bad. I've uploaded a FREE document on our home page for you to download that you can use today. |
AuthorPatrick Kearns Archives
October 2016
Categories |