Category: Small Business
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Verizon Wireless cellular data throttling revisited
Today the news coverage of ATT’s $60 million fine for deliberately throttling cellular internet data raises new questions for me. I’ve covered the same issue with Verizon Wireless in detail here on my blog for years. The most recent blog post documenting the problem is here. Verizon Wireless admits to the practice of deliberate throttling.…
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A workers’ compensation insurance primer for small businesses
In the past many small businesses avoided carrying workers’ compensation insurance. In the future, more small firms will carry this insurance. This blog post is meant for small employers who are facing this issue for the first time. This is a big risk facing the smallest unsuspecting employers. What is changing? State laws have always…
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Accounting services engagement agreement – updated for 2020
This page is outdated. A more recent version is available: Sample accounting services engagement agreement 2021 Dear : Thank you for choosing me to help you with business services and accounting. This engagement agreement is meant to clarify the details of our work. Even though it is long, it is written in plain language for…
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Lenovo Thinkpad T-580: one year review of a solid notebook computer
A little more than a year ago I purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad T580 notebook computer and by now I now have at least a thousand hours of use on it. I reviewed it last October in another log post here. This is a short bullet point update of that review now, a year later. No doubt, this…
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Why hourly billing rates are a bad idea in small business accounting
This excerpt below comes from a 10/23/2019 article in Accounting Today by Loren Fogelman titled “Your Hourly Rate is Unfair to You and Your Clients”. It echos and reaffirms many of the concepts I’ve used to develop my Pricing Policy. An Hourly Rate Creates Tension Clients closely watch the clock when you charge for your…
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Edge vs. Chrome for small business
I am considering switching from Chrome to Edge as a primary business browser on Windows 10 machines. Security will be the highest consideration in the decision with privacy, speed and resource consumption also important issues. No decision is made yet. One thing is clear: the two were not even close until the most recent fall…
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How comfortable are you with your small business’ online security?
We already know that a large portion of cyber attacks reportedly target small businesses. SCORE put out a useful summary report earlier this year and this article by People Driven Solutions gives a good overview. CURRENT STANDARDS What should we do about it? Most of my clients follow these basics standards: Keep software up…
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Tech changes this week rock small businesses
Both of these issues came in the last days of September. As of today, I only know that both issues deserve more attention. MICROSOFT: This is significant technical news for the legal and accounting fields as well as many other small businesses who use a Windows based system to manage data. Bottom line: I will…
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New problem with cellular internet
Preface: Of course Murphy’s Law dictates that this internet access issue rose to a crisis status in the last two business days before the business tax filing deadline on Monday. I’ve been thinking how ironic it would be if lack of internet access is the factor that finally causes me to leave my home office…