University of La Verne SBDC Small Biz Blog

  Identify the licenses and permits you need to start your business legitimately. If you are confused about what licenses you need and where to start, then this webinar is for you.  In this webinar, we will cover:  The 6 major licenses and permits needed by most businesses  Specialty licenses used in many major industries  How the University of La Verne SBDC helps small businesses with license and permit obligations Entity Formations   Forms of Ownership LLC 6 Most Common Licenses and Permits Fictitious  Business Name Statement Federal EIN State Seller's Permit  / Resale Certificate State Tax Registration (State EIN) State Payroll Withholding (EDD) City Business License Specialty Permits Health Permits Restaurants, S pas Tattoo Food Safety Certifications Restaurants, Bakeries, Cottage Food  ABC License  (Bars, Distilleries or restaurants serving alcohol) Contractors License   (60+ specialty trades) Professional Licenses  (...

Do you have a small business google site and are looking for an upgrade? In this second part, let’s take your small business google site, give it an upgrade and make it a functional business site. In part 1 , I showed you how to use Google sites to create a simple website for your small business. In this part, I’ll show how to upgrade your site with a professional domain & email, set up an appointment calendar to schedule, and set up a blog. So, let’s get started.  Step 1: Professional Now that we have our business site set up and published, you may have noticed the web address for our website starts with sites.google.com/ with our business site name at the top of our builder page. If you want to have a professional site you want to have a professional domain that people can trust instead of some random name .  Domain name  Head to your google site and enter your google site editing screen. To add a domain, click on the gear in the top bar and move down to custom doma...

Google sites is a free web builder from google that has been retooled into a viable option for personal sites and even business sites. It’s not as robust as a lot of paid tools but it doesn’t need to be. If you want to create a simple website for your small business or local services company then this may be the one to use. So let’s get started. Creating your Google Site  The first thing you will need to do is to find where you can make your site. Head to Sites.google.com and you will find the google sites page. If you already have a Google account you can create your site and host it for free on your google drive. At the top are some templates you can start with or a blank one to start from scratch. The bottom is where all of your sites will be when you start making them. Let me show you the project I’m working on. This website is going to be a video production and marketing company for small businesses. This center pane is where all the content or the wording and graphics will ...

Leah Skinner is the Executive Director of the La Verne Chamber of Commerce in La Verne, Ca. Today she is going to explain what the Chamber of Commerce is, what the benefits of the local chamber are, and how to reach your local chamber to get help with your small business.  What is a Chamber of Commerce The chamber provides support and services for a specific community, in La Verne, it is the geographical community. There are chambers based around heritage and nationality, regional chambers, state chambers, and a World Chamber of Commerce.  We are not a government agency. We are not in any way affiliated with the government. We are our own tax-exempt nonprofit organization. We are a membership organization and our members are the businesses They do pay a membership investment every year. Chambers are tax-exempt but are not charitable organizations like a 501(C)3. your member investment does not count as a charitable donation but is a qualifying business expense. What are the be...

Find out everything you need to start your small business so you can launch your business with confidence. Learn all the steps you need to take to start a business: from developing your plan to market research to filing your licenses in this simple step-by-step webinar, including: Business Planning Business planning resources Get the business plan template (Business Plan Outline)   Financial Projections Training  - Template Marketing Strategies NAICS Code Lookup   LA County Library / Reference USA LA County Demographics Licensing and Permits   Franchise Tax Board - Forms of Ownership LLCs & Corporations Name Search Los Angeles County Name Search for FBN (Sole Proprietorships) San Bernardino County Name Search for FBN (Sole Proprietorships)  Domain Name Search    Licenses & permits lookup Record-Keeping Record Keeping Systems    LA County Library / Lynda.com / LinkedIn Learning Outsourced accounting  ( https://bench.co/ )...

Magic Oil Box, LLC www.themagicoilbox.com/ Alex Cordova is the owner of Magic Oil Box, LLC, a horror-inspired aromatherapy business whose name is a reference to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer '' tv show magic shop. “Working with essential oils, I simply added ‘oil’. So, the Magic Oil Box,” Alex explained. Alex is a 1st generation Hispanic college graduate from the University of La Verne and a member of the Los Angeles LGBT Chamber of Commerce.  Alex was receiving information from several different organizations including NASE and LALCC . Alex received updates on the California Dream Fund, a grant aimed to fund new start-up businesses with up to $10,000 in seed funding. Alex reached out to start working with the University of La Verne SBDC to get help with his business and the Dream Fund Program. Challenges Alex's main challenge was having the working capital to run the business. As the Magic Oil Box was only starting up and Alex was still working a full-time job and doing even...

Hiring your first employee can be a daunting task especially if you have never done it before. In this video, I’ll show you how to notify the state when you hire an employee, what taxes you have to account for, and worker’s compensation insurance. Independent Contractor vs. Employee Before we get to how to set up with the state and in your business we have to cover what an employee is and the difference from an independent contractor. An independent contractor is a person or entity that provides a service but is not an employee. There is a 3 part test that determines if you are really an independent contractor if all of these conditions are met: ​​1.  The worker is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, both under the contract for the performance of the work . For example, if I hire a plumber to fix my sink, I don’t need to manage how they actually perform the work step by step. As long as my sink gets fixed, I shoul...

By Joshua Botello Bookkeepers and accountants are professionals that help your business manage the money in your company and are worth their weight in gold. Accountants charge a hefty fee, while some bookkeepers run a simple business. But when do you need a bookkeeper and when do you need an accountant? In this video, I’ll cover what each professional does and stay till the end to find out which one you might need.   What’s a Bookkeeper or Accountant? So let’s start with what is a bookkeeper and what is an accountant. Let’s do a quick rundown before we get into the differences. Bookkeepers are in charge of recording and keeping financial data. The bookkeepers are responsible for keeping track of daily transactions. They are concerned with the day-to-day operations of the company. Accountants are responsible for the creation of reports. They are in charge of summarizing, evaluating, and interpreting the work of the bookkeeper. Accountants deal with financial issues such as cash flow...

  In this webinar, we will be covering the common forms of ownership for small businesses and their filing requirements: Sole proprietorships General partnerships Limited Liability Company Corporations Our Guest Speaker, Lucius C. Davis III is the Small Business Liaison in the Taxpayers’ Rights Advocate’s Office. He assists with the development of small business education and outreach programs in order to help business owners better understand their income tax requirements and responsibilities. He also provides information about the Franchise Tax Board’s (FTB) programs and services that are available to them. Prior to becoming the Small Business Liaison, Lucius worked in Collections and in Filing in the Business Entities Section as an analyst at FTB. In the private sector, Lucius owned a small business for 10+ years. Prior to that, he played professional basketball overseas for 13 years. The Forms of Ownership presentation is a discussion of the most common forms of business owners...

www.ACRAtech.net   ACRAtech, Inc.  2502 Supply St Pomona, CA 91767 Scott Dordick is the CEO of Acratech, inc., which designs and manufactures photographic tripods and equipment. Scott became a client of the University of La Verne SBDC and Malcolm Geffen for help with automating and managing their accounting systems for the business.  The photography industry was in decline due to the improvement in cellphone picture quality. Cameras had been getting incrementally better years before but had gotten to the point where consumers were upgrading their cameras less often. "We were looking at our sales numbers over the years and they were just declining. We would go to the trades shows and it was doom and gloom...The writing was one the wall that we needed to do something," explained Scott.  Scott continued to work with Malcolm to help with declining sales and increasing production costs. Malcolm advised to established strategic alliances with major competitors and Acratech...