The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are for informational purposes only, and solely those of the podcast participants, contributors, and guests, and do not constitute an endorsement by or necessarily represent the views of The Hartford or its affiliates.

You're listening to the Small Biz Ahead podcast, brought to you by The Hartford.

This podcast is brought to you by The Hartford. When the unexpected strikes, The Hartford strikes back for over 1 million small business customers with property, liability, and workers compensation insurance. Check out The Hartford's small business insurance at TheHartford.com.

Gene (00:04):

Hey everybody. This is Gene Marks and welcome to this week's segment of Small Biz Ahead. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm glad that you are here and I've got a lot to talk about, this week. Listen, you're fine with employees, right? You got plenty. It's all good. Your payroll is full. You're just turning around employees at the door, correct? I mean, you don't need any more help in your business. Obviously I'm kidding. This is the biggest issue that is facing small businesses and large businesses all around the country. It's finding good people. Well, we know there are 11 million open jobs right now. We know that, you know, unemployment rate, although it's low, there are still a lot of people that are not coming back to work right now, people changing and switching jobs. When there's a low supply of something and a high demand for it, it drives up the price.

Gene (00:48):

So you gotta pay your people more. That's a given, but you also wanna provide good competitive benefits for your employees as well. And so what I did is, I talked to a bunch of people, some HR experts and small business owners around the country and did a little bit of research to find out what are some of the hottest employee benefits that are being offered in 2022. And I've got five of them that I would like to share with you because you should be offering these benefits or some combination of these benefits. And I wanna make sure that you are doing that because it's that important to make sure that you are attracting and recruiting the right people from your business. So you ready? Benefit number one, better and more flexible hours. I mean, listen, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that many employees are able to get their job done, even when they're not in the office.

Gene (01:40):

Right? And as countless surveys have proved, employees very much want this type of benefit. So, whether it's a flexible pay time off plan, a work from home program or just offering the ability to stagger hours and work wherever and whenever you want, that is a benefit that's critical for attracting and retaining employees this year. I spoke to one business owner who runs a, she's an HR manager at an online gaming place where they have their dealers, deal Blackjack online for thousands of people at a time. But she says, they've got like five different shift times. They can be flexible around their dealers, livelihoods. I mean,

When approaching a bank for a traditional loan, it can be easy for business owners to get overwhelmed by their desire to impress a potential lender. But, while it is important to present a strong case for your small business, applying for a traditional bank loan is less about simply borrowing money and more about cultivating a relationship, especially since most banks genuinely want your business to succeed in the long run. In this episode, Jon Aidukonis and Gene Marks, along with John Gambardella, Managing Director and Region Director for JPMorgan Chase's Commercial Bank in Connecticut, and Joel Nowakowski, Business Banking Manager for Chase's Connecticut region, discuss how small business owners can work more closely with their banks to not only raise capital, but also optimize their financial practices.

1:02—Today's Topic: What Should Small Business Owners Know Before Applying for a Traditional Bank Loan?

2:03—When applying for a loan, banks will typically look at your business's credit score and cash flow. Most banks offer resources that specialize in assisting small business owners with the application process.

3:54—Banks genuinely want to help your business grow, so any initial meetings will focus on getting a clearer understanding of your business and its operations.

5:19—Having a business plan with concrete goals will help a bank determine whether you can generate a steady enough cash flow to eventually pay off your loan; your plan should also show how you intend to deal with any unforeseen challenges.

6:51—Don't be afraid to ask your banking partners for their guidance or insight, especially if they've worked with small businesses in the past.

8:55—Given their extensive experience with finance-based technology, your bank can help you find more efficient ways to manage the collection and distribution of your funds.

11:39—Because this pandemic has forced so many small businesses to rely primarily on digital channels for their transactions, it should come as no surprise that a lot of banks are also observing an increase in online and mobile banking activity among their business owner clients.

14:18—As you discuss your goals with your banking partners, you need to be honest about your expectations. This includes how much capital you will need; how long it will take for you to pay back that investment; and how long you intend to work with them.

16:01—Because a lot of startups don't have the track record to apply for a traditional loan, in particular those whose owners have been historically denied such resources, many banks are making it a point to support these marginalized groups so that they can build the necessary credit history.

20:58—In order to protect themselves from inflation, all business owners should divide their funds into two groups: operating cash and strategic cash, also referred to as liquidity. Ideally, they should be consulting with an assets management specialist to discuss how to invest their liquidity so that it supports their goals.

23:39—While it's good to be conservative with your assets, at some point you need to embrace uncertainty, especially if there is the potential to grow your business.

26:59—Right now, the most successful business owners of this pandemic are those who have learned to efficiently manage their inventory through a diversification of suppliers. Since these types of businesses are constantly replenishing their stock, they tend to rely on revolving credit rather than on one-time loans.

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are for informational purposes only, and solely those of the podcast participants, contributors, and guests, and do not constitute an endorsement by or necessarily represent the views of The Hartford or its affiliates.

You're listening to the Small Biz Ahead podcast, brought to you by The Hartford.

This podcast is brought to you by The Hartford. When the unexpected strikes, The Hartford strikes back for over 1 million small business customers with property, liability, and workers compensation insurance. Check out The Hartford's small business insurance at TheHartford.com.

Gene (00:02):

Hey everybody. This is Gene Marks. And welcome to this week's episode of The Hartford Small Biz Ahead. Today I wanna talk about cash, just for a few minutes. The question I want to answer is a question that I get from a lot of my clients. A lot of my readers, a lot of people in the small business community is exactly "how much cash should you actually have in the bank?" How much cash do you have available? Like what, what's the right number?" I mean, if you ask any small business owner, we'll tell you that having plenty of cash in the bank is probably the most important indicator of our financial health, but unfortunately managing cash flow, that continues to be one of the biggest issues we face. Almost two thirds of small business owners are regularly stressed or have anxiety to cash flow concerns.

Gene (00:46):

According to a recent survey that was done of more than 500 entrepreneurs from the Small Business Lender Kabbage. More than a quarter of them said they have gone as much as six months without receiving a paycheck. I mean, obviously cash is a big headache for us and it's a big stress to us. Six months, of course, without a paycheck seems pretty bad to me. And the question is, "does it really have to be that way?" The answer is, "of course not." Now most businesses today, we are benefiting from a recovering economy, which is good news, small business sentiments. According to the National Federation of Independent Business' is still at a pretty strong level. But we all know as we learn from COVID, that things can turn south pretty quickly.

Gene (01:28):

And we are dealing with things like high prices and labor shortages as well. I mean, even the most profitable business can still be short of cash. If you and as an owner are not paying attention, which is why it's important for you as a small owner to target a minimum cash reserve to keep on hand and manage your expenditures around running your business. I mean doing so would go a long way towards helping both you and me decide whether or not we're able to afford that next employee or make that capital investment or commit to a large inventory purchase. So the question is like "what's the magic number," "What is that cash that we should have available?" "What is the amount that we should have in reserve?" Well, I've spoken to lots of different experts about this, and of course, in my own humble way, I've got a lot of experience with this.

During times of economic uncertainty, adhering to the old “cash is king" mentality might seem like the safest choice for a small business owner. However, as we've observed throughout the course of this pandemic, the businesses that have fared best were usually the ones that were flexible enough to offer a wide variety of payment options. In today's episode, Jon Aidukonis and Gene Marks, along with Nitin Prabhu, Vice President of Merchant Platforms, Developer Ecosystem and In-person Commerce at PayPal, discuss how small businesses can benefit from partnering with a mobile payment company.

*Consumer demand for global pay-later products on Black Friday exceeded our expectations with volumes nearly 4x the TPV generated in 2020.

1:03—Today's Topic: How Can Mobile Payment Platforms Support the Growth of My Small Business?

1:25—Over the years, PayPal and other mobile payment companies have enabled small business owners to increase their revenue by diversifying the types of payments they can accept.

3:34—PayPal primarily serves as a point of sales solution for businesses that want to offer both in-store and online payment; now, thanks to technological advances, PayPal has expanded their services to include inventory onboarding, tax management and payment collecting.

4:12—QR codes also became popular among business owners during the pandemic because they enabled customers to make secure transactions instantly and provided them with notifications about their purchases.

7:31—Before reaching out to PayPal or another vendor, you need to consider the reputation of that company and whether the brand will inspire your customers to trust them.

8:17—You need to have a clear understanding of the type of security measures or tools that a company utilizes to protect you and your customers.

8:53—Look for a payment platform that has a wide breadth so that you can grow an international client base.

9:11—Lastly, before you partner with a company, find out whether they can help you with your post purchase experiences, such as shipping, taxes, and invoicing.

10:14—PayPal offers a number of services that cater specifically to B2B businesses. These services include keeping track of international taxes and regulations; managing different currency exchange rates; and assisting with invoicing.

12:17—PayPal supports a wide array of payment methods, such as credit cards, virtual wallets, and crypto currency.

13:55—PayPal developed a product that sells the customers' crypto payments at the merchant's set price, so that the merchant will always receive full payment, regardless of marketplace fluctuation.

16:06—PayPal is equipped to integrate easily with almost any ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platform.

18:01—The main advantages of using PayPal are that they cater to the customers' payment preferences; they offer top notch safety and security; and they have a trustworthy reputation.

21:16—Business owners should keep in mind that all the additional fees help ensure the high quality and security of PayPal's products; if you're interested in saving on PayPal fees, you might want to consider getting their business debit card which offers one percent cash back.

24:52—The additional fees also help cover the convenience of PayPal's products and services.

27:16—Based on trends,

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are for informational purposes only, and solely those of the podcast participants, contributors, and guests, and do not constitute an endorsement by or necessarily represent the views of The Hartford or its affiliates.

You're listening to the Small Biz Ahead podcast, brought to you by The Hartford.

This podcast is brought to you by The Hartford. When the unexpected strikes, The Hartford strikes back for over 1 million small business customers with property, liability, and workers compensation insurance. Check out The Hartford's small business insurance at TheHartford.com.

Gene (00:01):

Hey, everybody. This is Gene Marks. And thanks again for joining me for this week's edition of The Hartford's Small Biz Ahead podcast. And you know what? Let's just cut to the chase. We want to talk...or I wanna talk this week about the four day work week. What is it? Is it something that you should be considering? Is this something that's just a fad or a phase, or is this something that really is a viable way to attract employees and retain employees? So a couple of thoughts I just wanna share with you, first of all, maybe you're like a lot of my clients. I mean, when I bring up the idea of a four day work week to my clients, particularly those that are like me over the age of 50, I often get the eye roll that's because most of my small business owners, I know they think it's just a way for employees to work only 80% of the time for a hundred percent of the pay.

Gene (01:03):

I admit that in some cases that may be true, but is this really a bad thing? I mean, is that really what's going on? I talked to Joe O'Connor who works for a nonprofit organization called the 4 Day Week Global. There are a nonprofit that helps companies implement four day work weeks and he says, "Hey listen, it's not about 80% of the work." He said, this concept is about shifting from time as a measure, or as a surrogate for productivity, towards a focus on the work that's actually getting done and what's being delivered for your business. And what he says does make a lot of sense. I mean, think about it. We're all used to having a 40 hour work week, but if you've got employees that you're tasking to do certain things and they get their certain things done and you're happy with that or their supervisor happy with that.

Gene (01:54):

And if they get it done in 20 hours, rather than 40 hours, who cares as long as they're getting their job done. And I think that's what the four day work week concept is all about. People translated into just working four days, but it's not four days. It's flexibility. You know? I mean, like Joe O'Connor says, this is not something that's about paying people for doing less work. It's just actually about shifting towards a more smarter way of working. Now listen, this is happening all over the world. Consumer electronics giant Panasonic recently said that it will be offering a four day work week as an option to its employees. Microsoft conducted a similar test in Japan and they claimed a 40% increase in productiv...

From a business owner's perspective, the decision to invest in cryptocurrency and its supporting technology can seem like a risky venture, especially when you consider the cryptomarket's volatility. But while this new financial system still has a long way to go in terms of security and efficiency, the latest trends suggest that consumer usage of Bitcoin and other digital currencies isn't going to wane anytime soon. In today's episode, Jon Aidukonis and Gene Marks along with Beth Kindig, Lead Tech Analyst at IO Fund, discuss how recent developments in cryptocurrency technology and digital assets will impact the small business world.

*Please do your own research before investing in cryptocurrency or other digital assets.

0:26—Today's Topic: How Will Advances in Cryptocurrency Impact My Small Business?

1:40—IO Fund is a tech portfolio for stocks that can also serve as a valuable resource for business owners who are interested in cryptocurrency investments or digital asset management.

5:05—The core technology behind any cryptocurrency is the blockchain, which is essentially a digital ledger of transactions. However, unlike the internet, which uses one external source to monitor it, the blockchain is decentralized and relies on multiple nodes to verify a transaction.

8:01—Because the blockchain is based on trust and there is no third party to check for fraudulent activities, transaction costs tend to be significantly lower when using this protocol.

11:31—In order for the blockchain to become a more viable option in the future, it needs to increase the number of transactions that it can process per minute. The blockchain will also require security improvements to reduce the risk of data corruption.

15:17—A number of companies are currently attempting to stabilize cryptocurrency by restricting how fast investors can withdraw or deposit their funds within a restricted pool.

17:04—Provided that the blockchain can achieve a competitive level of speed and security, it is predicted that a lot of Fortune 500 companies, insurance companies, and accounting firms will be among the first businesses to switch over to this protocol.

19:23—An NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a unique digital asset that belongs exclusively to you; NFT's are typically distinct to specific virtual spaces or platforms within the metaverse.

22:41—With so many people moving their interactions from social media to the metaverse, a lot of brands are now trying to capitalize on its popularity by creating their own NFT's that customers can use within these different digital realms.

26:07—While investing in NFT's or digital assets has the potential to generate some future capital, it might be wiser to focus on investing in the larger companies that are contributing to the changes in our primary protocol system.

29:51—If your small business doesn't lend itself to the digital gaming realm, it's a good idea to consider how you can build a demand for it within the marketplaces on social media.

32:01—The reason why NFT's are a risky investment at this point is because there is still a lot of market volatility when it comes to the value of digital assets.

34:21—Business owners should be prepared for cryptocurrency to become another preferred payment option within the next few years; they should also start to consider how their current point of sales system can adapt to accommodate this shift.

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are for informational purposes only, and solely those of the podcast participants, contributors, and guests, and do not constitute an endorsement by or necessarily represent the views of The Hartford or its affiliates.

You're listening to the Small Biz Ahead podcast, brought to you by The Hartford.

This podcast is brought to you by The Hartford. When the unexpected strikes, The Hartford strikes back for over 1 million small business customers with property, liability, and workers compensation insurance. Check out The Hartford's small business insurance at TheHartford.com.

Gene (00:02):

Hey everybody. And welcome to the Hartford's Small Biz Ahead podcast. My name is Gene Marks. Thanks so much for joining me. What I wanna talk about this week has to do with apps, mobile apps. I've been speaking to a bunch of clients and people in my community and asking them, "hey, what kind of mobile apps are you using to help run your business?" It's kind of a big deal. One of my clients says who's been running his company for 14 years. I mean, he says that like, he's never been able to work smarter or more efficient, thanks to the mobile apps that he's using. People are using mobile apps in their businesses to get things done in a more expedited and well organized pace than ever before.

Gene (00:48):

The whole mobile app thing is really catching on. In 2021, check this out, consumers and small businesses spent almost 4 trillion hours using mobile apps and paid more than $320,000 at app stores every minute of the day during the year, it's a 20% increase from the previous records recorded in 2020. That is an unbelievable number. And I thank App Annie, which is a report, you know, a research firm that studies mobile data and analytics. You can tell that mobile apps are really, really important. So let's talk about the mobile apps. What are small businesses using? Well, let me go over a few of them that I think that you should know. First of all, there's email, so if you're out and about, I think that that is an obvious thing.

Gene (01:37):

Microsoft Outlook, Google's Gmail are very, very important. I personally use my email from my CRM. It's called Zoho Mail. Some people do all their communications on mobile apps from some messaging services like Facebook and LinkedIn have great mobile apps. Two other mobile apps that you might wanna look into. One is called Aqua Mail, and the other is called ProtonMail. All those stand apart from Outlook and Google and have more administrative capabilities. I have some clients that like both of those applications very much. And also I have one client who likes a little mobile app called Spark. What Spark does is it brings together all messages into one place and helps him prioritize his responses. So, those are some of the really great email apps you should consider: Outlook, Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Zoho Mail, Aqua Mail, ProtonMail and Spark. Those are the email applications you should consider.

Gene (

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are for informational purposes only, and solely those of the podcast participants, contributors, and guests, and do not constitute an endorsement by or necessarily represent the views of The Hartford or its affiliates.

You're listening to the Small Biz Ahead podcast, brought to you by The Hartford.

This podcast is brought to you by The Hartford. When the unexpected strikes, The Hartford strikes back for over 1 million small business customers with property, liability, and workers compensation insurance. Check out The Hartford's small business insurance at TheHartford.com.

Gene: Hey everybody, this is Gene Marks and welcome to this week's Small Biz Ahead podcast. This week's topic has to do with your taxes. Now, don't turn me off because this is a really, really important topic for you. If you are a business owner and you are obviously going to be filing your taxes this year, and I'm a CPA, and I know you can't see me in this podcast, but trust me, if you took one look at my face, you'd know that I'm a CPA. I have some advice for you. You better file early. You got to get on the game this year in particular because the tax filing season started in late January and already the internal revenue services is warning individuals and small business owners, that's you and me to expect delays.

Gene: I'm going to read you a quote, okay. This is from IRS commissioner, Charles Rettig. He said in a statement just last week in many areas, we are unable to deliver the amount of service and enforcement that our taxpayers and tax system deserves and needs. This is frustrating for taxpayers, the IRS employees and for me. IRS employees want to do more and we will continue in 2022 to do everything possible with the resources available to us. Doesn't sound good for the IRS. They are behind, they are undermanned, they have lack of resources. They're struggling with finding employees and dealing with COVID just like the rest of us are as well. You would think like, "Okay, good. That lessens the chance of them coming after me." That's not really the case, but what it does is, if you're expecting a refund this year, it could really delay you getting the cash back from the government.

Gene: So let me give you some advice, okay. Advice number one, file early. It's important to start your tax filing process as early as possible, meet with your accountant now, understand what's needed, gather the necessary filing and documents, that way your accountant can get a head start on your returns before things really get busy in March and April. Now, remember just as a little reminder if you have a calendar year end company and an S corporation and a partnership like a pass through, your returns are due by March 15th, 2022. C corporations and individual returns are due by April 18th this year. So March 15th, if you're a pass through business, April 18th, if you're a C Corp or an individual, just so you know what the dates are, okay. As the season goes on, the IRS becomes overwhelmed with an increasing number of returns being filed and that's a problem. In addition to that, if you're going to be using an accounting firm to prepare your taxes, you will expect faster turnaround times earlier in the season, and you can avoid the need to go on extension if that is the case.

Gene: So get all of your information organized, complete, ready to go before sending it to your accountant because often delays are going to occur when you're chasing down those last few pieces of information that are still missing. Accountants will tell you again and again, the IRS works from the top of the pile down.

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are for informational purposes only, and solely those of the podcast participants, contributors, and guests, and do not constitute an endorsement by or necessarily represent the views of The Hartford or its affiliates.

You're listening to the Small Biz Ahead podcast, brought to you by The Hartford.

This podcast is brought to you by The Hartford. When the unexpected strikes, The Hartford strikes back for over 1 million small business customers with property, liability, and workers compensation insurance. Check out The Hartford's small business insurance at TheHartford.com.

Gene (00:01):

Hey everybody. This is Gene Marks. And welcome to another episode of the Small Biz Ahead podcast. I am going to give you seven ways that you can protect your business against rising costs. Now look as you know, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the consumer price indexes rose 6.8% from November to November 2021, the largest 12 month increase since the period ending June of 1982. I mean, no one can know how high inflation is gonna go, but most economists agree that inflation is gonna continue to rise in 2022. So what do you do? Right? We know we're in inflationary time. What do you do to protect your business against rising costs? Well, here are my seven ways. Number one, sweep, extra cash into interest bearing accounts. Look, I mean, for as long as so many of us can remember interest rates have been so low that whether or not we kept our cash in, in regular checking account or an interest bearing account, it really made a little difference.

Gene (00:59):

But look guys, the environment is changing. The federal reserve is likely to increase its federal funds rates. That's the rate at which commercial banks borrow and lend their excess reserves to each other overnight. As many as three times in 2022 and projected interest rates may rise to anywhere from two to 3% over the next year or two. Now that's certainly nowhere near the levels we saw in the early 1980s, but it's still significantly higher than we've seen in the past decade. So although this increase the cost of borrowing, which I'll get to in a minute, it will eventually mean higher payouts on interest bearing assets. So this will likely take some time to occur, but as rates do start to increase, you should make it a practice to start sweeping that extra cash into interest bearing certificates at deposits, money market or savings accounts, and even some bond funds because the earnings will start to make a difference.

Gene (01:49):

Number two, refinance your debt. As I'm speaking to you now, mortgage rates are around 3% and interest rates on a typical bank loan or anywhere from two and a half to 7%, but rates are going up in 2022. We are already talked about that. So now's the time to lock in on lower rates and convert your short term debt to something longer term, pay down your variable high interest credit card debt, or shift the balance to cards that offer lower rates better yet refinance this debt into a longer term loan with lower fixed interest rates.

Every small business owner has goals that they would like to achieve for themselves. However, in order to do so, they first need to make sure that all their finances are in order. Having an organized and clear understanding of your finances will not only help you build a plan for the future, but it will also give you the credibility you need when you approach banks or lenders for additional capital. So what can you do to get a better handle on your business's finances? In this episode, Jon Aidukonis and Gene Marks, along with Andrea Harrington, a CPA and partner at Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina, offer several strategies that will enable small business owners to take control of their finances.

2:27—Today's Topic: What Can Small Business Owners Do To Get Their Finances in Order?

3:02—The first step in getting your finances in order is to set up a budget. This will not only give you a clearer understanding of your cash flow, but it will also show you whether you'll need to raise some additional capital.

4:24—While a budget focuses on your existing income and expenses for the next few months, a forecast will span an even longer time frame and include more financial variables.

5:26—In order to predict your business's cash flow, you need to know both your fixed and variable costs.

6:10—You need to keep track of the amount of revenue that you're generating so that you can determine whether it is enough to sustain the growth of your small business.

6:57—If you plan on working with a bank or another lending institution, you will need to provide them with a balance sheet, an income statement, and a cash flow report. You might have to give your personal guarantee on the loan as well.

8:01—A bank or lender might also ask you to agree to some form of debt maintenance or a covenant when you apply for a loan.

8:19—There are three levels of documentation that an accountant can provide: a compilation, a review, and an audit.

10:32—Utilizing QuickBooks or any other bookkeeping software is one of the best ways to establish a strong foundation for your financial system. As your business grows into a more mature company, further segregation of responsibilities within your accounts department will help ensure that every aspect of your finances is receiving careful attention.

12:04—As a business owner, you need to set up an internal review process to ensure that every financial decision is being properly evaluated.

14:04—During an audit, an agent will check your balance sheet to make sure that all your assets and liabilities have been recorded and that you have the appropriate documents to support their validity.

15:19—If you are an emerging small business with no history, it's best to bring a business plan with you when you apply for a bank loan; another good idea is to bring records of any previous loans you've acquired through either the SBA or personal relations.

16:19—Banks also appreciate it when business owners have documented their fund flow, particularly if they've been adhering to a regular repayment schedule for their loans. Many banks have a small business group that can assist you with your loan application packet.

17:15—It's important to have a specific legal structure in mind as you grow your business, as well as an exit strategy.