Small Business Advocacy

IRS Tax Calendar: Protection for Small Business

January 5, 2013 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Get the IRS Tax Calendar for the safety and protection if you’re a small business owner or self-employed.

Protect your small business with this year’s IRS Tax Calendar. This is also known as “The Tax Calendar for Small Businesses and Self-Employed” (Pub. 1518, Catalog Number 12350Z). It’s a scary world out there!

It’s back in print. Hurrah! We’ve missed having them. We used to give these out each year to our clients because they are really valuable. They have also been known to cause nail-biting and hair-pulling. Unfortunately, all the Spanish language wall calendar print versions are gone and will not be re-printed. Maybe next year they will print more since Hispanic businesses are one of the fastest growing startup groups. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Management, Financials, Government Legislation, Planning & Vision, Research, Self Employment, Small Business Advocacy, Small Business Champion, Small Business Research, Small Business Taxes Tagged With: 1974 Executive Order 11821, Cost of Tax Compliance for Small and Large Businesses, Daniel W. Diener, Hispanic Businesses, Impact of Regulatory Costs on Small Firms, IRS, IRS Calendar Connector, IRS Pub. 1518 Catalog Number 12350Z, IRS Tax Calendar for Small Businesses and Self Employed, IRS Tax Calendar Tool Application, Mark Crain, Nicole V Crain, Regulatory Right-to-Know Act, SBA Office of Advocacy, Self Employed, small business, Small Business Tax Protection, Tax Compliance Research, US Tax Code Hours to Complete, White House Conference on Small Business, Willie Nelson IRS Tapes

Federal Contract Opportunities Shrink by 18K+ in October

October 13, 2012 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Are you a small business? Do you provide goods or services to the federal government or want to? Starting October 24, 2012, you will have over 18,000 new competitors for federal contract opportunities with the potential of even more competitors after November.

According to the Small Business Administration Office Of Advocacy, the Small Business Goaling Report, 2012 reported that in fiscal year 2011, 21.7 % of federal government small business eligible purchases went to small businesses.

Now, contractors will have to work even harder because their competitors are larger and stronger. That’s because effective October 1, 2012, Federal agencies and programs must use the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) small business size standards that are based on “NAICS 2012″. These are modifications adopted by the Office of Management and Budget. They include 76 new industries and changes to 11 sectors. Oddly, the public can comment on this “adopted requirement” until October 19, 2012. This has big implications for federal purchasing, loans, etc. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Ideas, Business Management, Business Trends, Government Legislation, Legal, Planning & Vision, Resources, Small Business Advocacy, Small Business Champion Tagged With: 13 CFR 121, 48 CFR Part 19, Are You a Small Business or a Mouse, Business Regulations, Competition, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Executive Orders, Federal Contracts, Federal eRulemaking Portal, Federal Procurement, Federal Small Business Loans, Government Procurement, Independently-owned Business, NAICS 2012, NAICS Codes, NAICS Sectors, SBA Loans, Size Standards Methodology, Small Business Administration, Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, Small Business Advocate, Small Business Champion, Small Business Size Standards, Texas Small Business Advocate, Unlevel Playing Field, What's New with Size Standards

Small Business Definitions Vary Historically & By Government Agency

October 10, 2012 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

The small business definition by the government isn’t simple. It has changed over the years. It changes by agency or federal program. Sometimes a small business is defined as a “mouse”. Really!

Your small business definition is probably very different. If you are one, you may be surprised at who else is included.

Small business wasn’t small until Eisenhower said so

Until the creation of the Small Business Administration (SBA) in 1953 by President Eisenhower with the signing of the Small Business Act, there was no difference. A business was a business and some were smaller than others. The beginning of a small business definition starts here.

How the SBA Office of Advocacy defines small business is a matter of history

In the 1970′s, during another economic downturn, those who looked at the economy saw that there was a group of businesses doing better than others and creating jobs. The federal SBA Office of Advocacy was born at that time to identify, track, report, and make recommendations to government agencies on how to keep this momentum going. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Government Legislation, Legal, Research, Small Business Advocacy, Small Business Designation, Small Business/Entrepreneur History Tagged With: Angel Investors, Micro business, NAICS, President Dwight Eisenhower, SBDP, Small Business Act of 1953, Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, Small Business and Labor Law, Small Business Candidate, Small Business Designation, Small Business Impact Statement, Small Business Regulation, Venture Capitalist, Vote

Why Independent Businesses Must Do More Than Donate

October 25, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

Worked to Keep Austin Neighborhood & Small Independent Business Friendly

Next month, it will be four years since I became the Business Liaison Chair for Responsible Growth for Northcross (RG4N).

I chose to get involved because I am a business owner, a small business activist and I live and work in the area.

Last night was the VIP opening of the more neighborhood-sized WalMart on Anderson Lane in Austin, Texas. The RG4N board was invited and several of us went including the original President, Paige Hill.

Our efforts to stop the supercenter were not about size as much as about the impact of that size. That impact includes traffic, litter, security, safety issues for those with disabilities, crime, air and water quality. It was also about the impact on locally owned stores that do not fare well with a big box, especially a WalMart, nearby. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Activism, Networking, Small Business Advocacy Tagged With: Activism, Alamo Drafthouse, Austin, Big Box, Business Neighborhood, community, Encore Music, Genuine Joe's, Impact, Independently-owned Business, Jason Meeker, Kids & Cats, Locally-owned Business, Neighborhood Associations, Networking, Paige Hill, Responsible Growth for Northcross, RG4N, Scandinavian Design, Scott Gray, small business activist, Small Business Owners, supercenter, Texas, Thunderbird Coffee, WalMart, Zingers

Getting Real About Who’s a Small Business

September 23, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

I’ve said for years there’s a problem. The issue of the Bush tax cuts just points this out in spades.

I saw Keith Olbermann’s Countdown program, “Small in Name Only” on MSNBC on September 22, 2010, about the “kooky” (their word not mine) definition of small business. It isn’t weird, it’s just flexible as the Small Business Act intended it to be. Maybe it needs work. I certainly think so.

This is what the SBA (Small Business Administration) says on the FAQs page of their website. You can check me out on this.

“Size standards define the maximum size that a firm, including all of its affiliates, may be to participate in federal government programs that are reserved for small businesses. The Small Business Act states that in determining what constitutes a small business, the definition will vary from industry to industry to reflect industry differences accurately.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Activism, Government Legislation, Research, Small Business Advocacy, Small Business/Entrepreneur History Tagged With: Austin, Bush Tax Cuts, Countdown, Definition, IRS, Keith Olbermann, legal entity, NAICS Codes, SBA, SBIR, Small Business Act, Small Business Size Standards, Small Business Sizes, Standards, Statistics, taxes, Texas, Texas Workforce Commission, Vernon's Civil Statutes

Austin Small Business Summit, Now What?

August 11, 2010 By Jan Triplett Leave a Comment

What is Austin City Manager Marc Ott doing about the Small Business Summit Resolution?

I wrote a post in April about Austin’s March Small Business Summit.

I have not seen City Manager Marc Ott’s proposed budget. I am curious to see if he followed Council’s directive and included anything about how the City will try to address the needs and wants expressed by the 40 business representatives that were part of the original Summit.

According to the resolution that passed in June, Ott has 120 days to come back to Council with a report and policy recommendations to enhance the City’s effort to facilitate growth of locally-owned businesses.

That means there may be nothing in the budget. If his budget passes, it looks like it will mean higher sales and property taxes (and they wonder why we aren’t hiring or buying). [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Management, Community Activism, Government Legislation, Small Business Advocacy Tagged With: Austin, City Budget, City Manager, Economic Development, Good Business, Locally-owned Business, Marc Ott, planning, Policy Recommendations, Promotion, Property Tax, Regulation, Responsibility, Sales Tax, Small Business Growth, Small Business Summit, taxes, Unfair Competition, Visionary

Adequate Government Brings Neighbors & Businesses Together

July 31, 2010 By Jan Triplett 2 Comments

There must be a better way to bring neighbors and businesses together. And, I went tonight to see if I could find someone to lead the way and what an adequate government could do.

I was invited by Bijoy Goswami of Bootstrap Austin to attend an event sponsored by the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) in Austin that was billed as an “Intimate Conversation with Bill White”. Bill White, former mayor of Houston, is running against Rick Perry for Texas Governor this fall. It turns out that White is an honorary EO member.

Former Houston Mayor Bill White is running for TX Governor

It was intimate as promised. I was about two feet away from the man who started by saying that he was pleased to be here for this “job interview” which brought some chuckles. In his prepared remarks, he said if he were “hired”, he would run the state like a customer-centered business. He would focus on what people want, not what the state wanted to “sell”. Sounds pretty good.

When Q&A time came, I asked Mayor White a question about how he viewed the state’s role in something that is near and dear to my heart: the role of government especially in hard economic times when there are tough decisions to be made. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Community Activism, Government Legislation, Small Business Advocacy Tagged With: 40K foot view, ADA, Allandale Neighborhood Association, Americans with Disabilities Act, Austin, Austin-bashing, Bijoy Goswami, Bootstrap Austin, business recruitment, Business Retention, Economic Development, Entrepreneurs' Organization, Faciiitator, George W. Bush, Governor Ann Richards, Governor Rick Perry, Governor's Business Leaders Network, Governor's Office on People with Disabilties, governor's race, Governor's race in Texas, Mayor Bill White, Mediator, ombudsman, Property Rights, Responsible Growth for Northcross, role of government, small business, small business activist, Texas, Virginia Roberts, Voting

Fox TV Interview on WalMart at Northcross in Austin

February 3, 2010 By Jan Triplett 1 Comment

It’s been a long fight as Fox 7 Reporter Rudy Koski pointed out in a 2010 interview with me and people who were pro or anti a big supercenter in the center of Austin at Northcross Mall.

Are people tired of it? Some are. Almost five years is a long time to keep volunteers working together on an issue.