By Dania Mahmoud


Your business is your biggest passion in life; maybe it was even your first love. You’re willing to sacrifice your time and energy to make sure it’s happy and thriving, and usually, that sort of work ethic is an entrepreneur’s most redeeming quality. But when your health starts to take a hit for your career, it’s time to reexamine your priorities. 

Keeping your body in great condition is more than a fashion statement; it’s a long-term investment. Healthy habits sharpen focus and boost morale, which means encouraging employees to join you in your quest for health will lead to an ultimate increase in productivity. Most importantly, when you reach your retirement goal, you’ll want to be in great shape so that you can either enjoy your spoils or continue working on the projects you love.

“Easier said than done!” you think. We’ve all been seduced by fast-food billboards winking at us on our commute home, especially when the only other alternative is cooking a time-consuming meal for the family. And during a hectic week, the last thing on your mind is how you’re going to squeeze a two-hour workout into your schedule. 

Luckily, business owners can take small, easy steps towards building a healthy lifestyle for themselves and their employees. Here are four tips for getting your business hooked on health: 

1. Meditate before or after a long day. 
Health isn’t all about diet and exercise. Your mental health is just as important as your physical, and that’s why it’s important to address problems with anxiety or stress. 

If you’re feeling overwhelmed at the idea of going to work, try taking fifteen to twenty minutes of quiet time before leaving the house. Focus on a happy image, a motivational phrase, or just listen to the sound of your own breathing. 

Alternatively, you can choose to not focus on any one image and instead allow yourself to think of anything that relaxes you. 

Check out more meditation techniques that will invigorate you to tackle your business challenges with new energy. 

2. Avoid binging at lunch. 
You rush out of the house without breakfast, you’re starving all through morning, so by the time lunch arrives, you’re ready to pounce on all the junky foods within your reach. We’ve all been there, but if you binge eat regularly, you make it harder for your body to burn calories.

Keeping your digestive system active by spreading your caloric intake throughout the day can boost your metabolism. That means it’s better to snack between meals than stuff yourself all at once. 

The key here is to make sure you’re snacking healthfully. Blueberries are a fun finger food that could even help improve your memory, and nuts are great for scaring away hunger because they’re packed with protein. 

Check out more easy snacks like these; they’ll only take a second to grab in the morning, and if you bring a bowl to share, you and your employees will yourselves able to fend off french fries with lunch. 

3. Don’t spend your break in a chair. 
What’s the harm of sitting? If you do it too much, sitting can cause increased risk of heart disease and metabolic syndrome, which can lead to diabetes.

 When break time rolls around, your first instinct might be to race for the nearest chair (or, if you’re working in an office, staying put and pulling up YouTube). Resist the urge to sit and opt for a speedy workout instead: 

Jumping jacks or a sixty second jog in place can get your blood flowing and your heart pumping. 

If you’re feeling ambitious, go up and down a stairwell at a brisk pace to really get your heart and lungs working. 

Want to work on your muscle strength? Try alternating between reps of squats and push-ups to build up leg and arm muscles. 

There are even more great at-work exercises to keep you from getting sedentary, but make sure not to keep them to yourself! Encourage your employees to join you by introducing a daily 2-5 minute break specifically for getting active. After stretching their legs, your employees will be ready to redouble their work efforts. 

4. Run (or walk!) a 5K for a good cause.  
This one’s a little more time consuming, but if you’re able to devote a weekend morning to running a 5K race, you’ll find the benefits are three-fold. 

On top of getting in an excellent workout and supporting a cause that’s important to you, you’ll have the opportunity to meet new people and expand your network. Getting the word out about your business is always important, and doing so in a fun environment is all the better! 

Remember, you shouldn't feel obligated to run the entire 5K; walking gives you great exercise without being harsh on your joints. So leave your competitive side at home and come ready to finish the distance in any way that feels comfortable to you!

Check out Houston’s list of upcoming 5K races and choose one or two that you’d love to support. 



Sources
Web MD
Entrepreneur

By Dania Mahmoud

We can all agree: owning a business is hectic. But when a new task throws itself into the mix of daily routine, small business owners suddenly find themselves overwhelmed with all that must be accomplished in a day. 

Luckily, time management habits can help combat your “so much to do, so little time to do it” mindframe. Tax season and other business events should not dictate how you spend your time-- you should. Take control of your schedule; here are five ways to manage your work week wisely. 


1. Schedule time for scheduling time. 
Setting aside time to plan your day  gives you an important sense of productivity. Attempting to plan your whole week in advance can be nerve-wracking, but so is going into your day blind. Instead, take twenty minutes every morning to decide what you’re going to accomplish for the day and how much time each task deserves.

Also be sure to allot some time at night to take a retrospective look at what you’ve accomplished for the day. This gives you a list of completed goals that you can be proud of. You can also use your accomplishment list to increase your productivity. Try estimating how much time it took to complete each task on the list. Do some tasks deserve more time than others? Keep this in mind when planning your goals for the next day.

Write your schedule into your paper planner or on your phone calendar. Now you have a set plan to refer back to throughout the day; use it to keep yourself on track and measure your success.


2. Create SMART goals.
Short tasks might be able to be listed quickly, but when you’re tackling larger goals, make sure they’re SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The SMART model helps you create clear goals that can be measured in progress, are within your resources, and are important to your success. Most importantly, you will set a deadline for your goals so that you have a vision to move towards. Here’s an example of how you might write a SMART goal:

Goal: I want to expand my business’s marketing outreach.
Specific: I will gain one hundred new Facebook followers.
Measurable: I will keep track of how many followers I gain each week.
Attainable: I will reallocate my marketing budget to put more emphasis on Facebook page advertising.
Time-bound: I will gain one hundred followers by the end of the month.

When you make your goals SMART, you spend less time pondering how you’re going to achieve something and more time actually achieving it. To learn more about SMART, check out this pamphlet by the U.S. Small Business Administration.


3. Focus-- don’t jump from task to task.
As an entrepreneur, your mind is probably always going a million miles a minute. It’s hard to stay focused on one task when you’re itching to begin that brilliant idea you just had. Smart phones make focusing even more difficult; the temptation to put your tax papers down and check your Twitter feed is always tantalizing. Your attention is constantly being competed for, and while it may seem like pausing a task to reply to an email or text only takes a short amount of time, the quality of your work can suffer when it is interrupted.

This means you need to make the conscious decision to prioritize your schedule. Choose which tasks deserve the majority of your time, and then spend that time accordingly. Unless there’s an urgent matter at hand, you can schedule a separate time to reply to your contacts.

Turning off your phone or disabling your laptop’s wi-fi before getting down to business is always an option. Cutting off the source of your divided attention is the best way to ensure that you’re using time as efficiently as possible.


4. There’s an app for that.
Maybe you read that last paragraph and thought, “Not a chance!” If you can’t stand the thought of parting from your phone, you can still turn your habit into a time management tool. Install a productivity app that will hold you accountable to your schedule. Apps like Evernote give you notifications when it’s time to move on to your next task while providing you with a space to collect and share notes, documents, and other useful information. Use it to write down your ideas throughout the day and evaluate your to-do list progress.


5. Give me a break!
Scheduling small breaks throughout your day energizes you and can help you return to tasks with a fresh mindset. Knowing that you’ve already set aside time to return phone calls or grab a snack reduces the risk of procrastinating and instead keeps you focused on the task at hand. Unplanned interruptions can ruin your day’s productivity, but scheduled breaks will enhance it. So as you’re planning your day, go ahead and write in that Kit-Kat break!


Sources
U.S. Small Business Administration
Entrepreneur

By Dania Mahmoud


Tax season has arrived, and if you’re ahead of the game, you're already thinking about filing strategies that will give you a tax advantage. You might be looking to minimize your income tax, or maybe you want to reduce the liability your business attaches to you. Choosing the right business structure is the first step towards making tax season an opportunity for advancement.  

If you have been thinking about changing your business structure, knowing which tax forms you’ll be filling and defining your long-term goals are important before making that final leap. Here are three questions to help you determine which business structure is best for you:


1. Do you own your business yourself? 
Yes, I helm my own ship.
If you’re independent-minded and lead your business on your own, you have a sole proprietorship. Legally, you and your business are considered the same entity. That means all of your business outcomes, whether positive or negative, are considered your responsibility. This makes some things a lot simpler. As a sole proprietor, you won’t find yourself filling out a lot of complicated tax forms. In fact, your business does not incur a separate tax at all because its profits or losses are considered your own. A sole proprietorship is also the most inexpensive business structure to establish. However, it’s also the riskiest. Owning your own business means owning all of its liabilities, including debts, employee actions, and other burdens. If you've taken on a sole proprietorship, check out the IRS’s list of tax forms to file.


No, I’m not going it alone.
If a sole proprietorship doesn’t fit your business, you have several options on the table.  If you equally share ownership of your business with at least one other person, you will probably file as a partnership. As in any relationship, you and your business partner will need to decide if you want a long-term or short-term arrangement. This brings us to our next question. 


2. How long are you planning on operating your partnership? 
I want to be around for a while.
As in any partnership, business partners must consider whether they want their arrangement to be long-term or short-term. If you are planning a long-term operation, you should file as a general partnership. General partnerships assume that the business’s profits, obligations, and liabilities are divided equally between owners. If you have a general partnership, your business will need to file an annual return income, but you will not need to pay a separate income tax for your business. Instead, you and your partners will report your shares of income on your personal tax returns.


I only need a short-term partnership agreement.
If you and your business partners are embarking on a temporary project, you have a couple options. You can file as a joint venture partnership, which is the short-term version of a general partnership. Partners in a joint venture share the responsibilities and profits associated with their business equally. However, this agreement stands only for a limited amount of time. If you want to file your business as a joint venture or a general partnership, check out this list of tax forms.

Another short-term partnership option to consider is a Limited Liability Company, or LLC. For tax purposes, an LLC is like a partnership because it is not considered a separate entity. Once again, your business will not have to pay its own income tax. Unlike a general partnership, an LLC offers your personal assets more protection from any liabilities your business may incur. An LLC also allows you and your partners to distribute profit between yourselves as you see fit. Instead of sharing profits equally, partners have the option to reward those who have contributed a greater amount of effort to the business. 


3. How many shareholders have invested in your corporation? 
I have more than 100 shareholders. 
If you want to sell shares of your business to investors, you are looking to own a corporation. Unlike the business structures discussed above, corporations are separate entities that are liable to “double-taxation”; profit is taxed when earned and later when distributed to shareholders. If you have more than 100 shareholders, you’re probably on your way out of the world of small business. Because of the costs associated with corporations, most small businesses will not file as one.

I have a corporation with less than 100 shareholders.
If you sell shares but are not as large as a corporation, you could benefit from filing as an s corporation. S corporations operate as separate entities, so like corporations, they offer more protection of shareholders’ assets. S corporations, however, are able to avoid double taxations. Profits and losses are recorded on shareholders’ personal tax returns rather than filed for the business itself, just like in a partnership. While s corporations have the potential to save a lot of money this way, it is important to note that shareholders who are also employees must pay themselves a fair amount of wages so that they do not avoid paying taxes altogether. In order to qualify to be an s corporation, a business must be a domestic corporation, have 100 shareholders or less, and have shareholders who are only individuals, estates, or certain organizations and trusts. If your company qualifies, check out the IRS tax files for an s corporation.


Sources
U.S. Small Business Administration
IRS.Gov