Author Archives: Kari VanNoy

Business Trips – Make it a Family Affair

Posted on by November 14, 2012

Business Trip + Family Vacation = One Happy Family

Make it a Family Affair.

Now that the holidays are upon us, we all want to spend more time with our families enjoying the season. While we want to take all this time off to enjoy it with our loved ones, we know that if we do that, Santa won’t have the means to bring a big Christmas to all the girls and boys. Instead of letting  a business trip stand in the way of family time, make it a family affair and bring them with you!

This trip will take a little bit of planning before you go, but it is possible to take the crew along and enjoy some family time. Before you go, you will need to:

  • Find time in the family schedule. Is there time during the holiday breaks?
  • Okay it with the boss. They need to know that you’re going to fulfill all professional requirements.
  • Plan out the trip itinerary. Set expectations beforehand, including the business schedule and the family time schedule.
  • Don’t forget to put it in your minutes! Send us all of the details and we’ll make sure they are documented correctly for you!

There are some great benefits of combining business and family trips. You’ll save money that would have been spent on two trips. Your family will get to spend more quality family time together. Also, your children will have a greater appreciation of Mom or Dad’s hard work!

Today it seems like there’s not enough time in the day to accomplish everything we want, but if we take a little time to make some plans, we’ll find that the days aren’t short after all!

 

Peach Mango Salsa

Posted on by October 30, 2012

Peach Mango Salsa

4 peaches, pitted & diced
4 roma tomatoes, diced
1 mango, diced
1 green pepper, diced
½ red onion, finely diced
1 jalapeno, seeded & finely chopped
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
Lemon juice from ½ lemon

Combine all together and allow to sit for 15 minutes for flavors to marry. Stir and serve as a dip, or as a compliment to tacos, salad, chicken or fish. Delicious!

 

End of the Year

Posted on by October 29, 2012

It creeps up on us: The Last Quarter, The End of the Year.

What do you need to do to wrap your year up right for your business?

Many business owners are now thinking about CONSOLIDATED PROMISSORY NOTES. Or if you aren’t, maybe you should be.

How many “Loans to officer” has your company issued this year? Hopefully each loan has been accompanied by a promissory note.

Now’s the time to take a look at those notes and consider consolidating them into one nice lump sum promissory note. It will give you a cleaner record book and an easier end-of-year report.

 

If you are a client of ours, simply click here to let us know you’d like a consolidated promissory note (or two)…we’ll ask you a few questions and prepare your Notes for you! [Save this link to send in your report at any time before December 15th to get your Notes done before the end of the year.]

 

 

 

When Minute Books Can Be Spooky

Posted on by October 25, 2012

I was talking to a business owner friend the other day and he asked me to review his minute book to see what needed to be done.

I asked him “When was your company filed?”

“In 2010,” he said, “and I’m pretty sure I’m missing some minutes…”

So I opened his minute book and that is when I got a surprise

(cue spooky music here)….

Inside his book, he had his Operating Agreement (a good first sign), but it wasn’t signed, there were no minutes at all…not even his Organizational Meeting, and the certificates were blank.

It is something we see a lot unfortunately: a client gets their Minute Book and then promptly puts in on the shelf.

I asked him, “Why haven’t you done any minutes, or even signed these documents that ARE done?”

And the answer he gave was typical: “I didn’t KNOW that I needed to do anything!”

That IS spooky! A Minute Book needs some attention and care to keep it up. And that’s why I’m sending a simple (not scary) reminder to take a look at yours and get that book up to date!!

If you’re not sure what needs to be documented, click here to review our simple checklist. If you need help, click here to learn more about our service.

No tricks, just treating you and your minute book right!

 

Making the Most of JAM, Part Two

Posted on by October 3, 2012

2-13-making-most-of-minutes-service-part-2

 

Remember when we gave you some great ways to get the most from you Just A Minute account here? Want more ways to make sure you are making the most of your account with us, making sure you are completely covered when it comes to your minutes? Here are some more tips from us, your minute experts, to make sure you get the best service possible!

Completing Monthly Minutes

Use the “Reminder Sheet” you’ve filled out during the previous month to help you remember all of your business activities.

Gather any receipts & documents from the previous month for details.

Set aside 15 minutes of time to complete the Monthly Questionnaire.

After you’ve submitted your minutes to JAM, keep your eyes peeled for emails regarding your minutes. It will probably have to do with:

  • clarifications on the information sent to us, or
  • Your completed Minutes!

Keep In Touch With JAM

We love communicating with our clients!

Emails

    • Add us to your “safe Senders List” so that you can be sure to receive all of our important emails regarding Contests, Updates, or Questions for clients

Facebook

    • We’re on Facebook and we would love to be your friend. Look for us as Just A Minute, LLC.
    • Read about: Business Tips, Tools for keeping your minutes up to date, and bits of advice from our JAM Team!
    • Comment! WE would love to know what you think, and we would love to answer any of your questions!

Blog!  Here, we share:

      • Our weekly inspirations (straight from our weekly JAM sessions)
      • Tips, for you business, and for your Minutes
      • Online Tools from Linda, our computer whiz
      • What is JAM reading? Our latest paperback obsessions
      • All our favorite JAM minute recipes! Everything with jam or else just takes a couple minutes to make!

Now you know how to make sure you are covered when it comes to your minutes, and keeping yourself protected! and make sure to utilize us to get the best bang for your buck, that’s why we are here after all!!

 

Socail Media Tips: FaceBook Platform and Your Website

Posted on by August 29, 2012

These days, being “Social” online is very important for small and large businesses. It lets your customers know about special sales you are having, what is happening at your business, and helps them get to know you, and become more likely to buy and use your products if they are familiar with your business.

One great way to help your company’s website become more “Social” is to take advantage of Facebook. Just about everyone you know and their mother is on Facebook these days, so what better way to connect with your clients than to go where they go? One of the best tools that has come from Facebook for the many businesses that have joined is PLATFORM. Your Facebook Platform is an easy way to connect your company’s Facebook page and your company’s website together, and to be able to bring customers and fans right to your website, while you are socializing with them and the millions of Facebook users. Platform is there to help you create a strong presence of Facebook, and when you have a strong presence on Facebook, your business is part of these conversations and has access to the most powerful kind of word-of-mouth marketing. Another great benefit: they can help you build apps just for your fans and customers to use!

3 Ingredient Banana Strawberry JAM “Ice Cream”

Posted on by August 28, 2012

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ice cream! Right?? Or, at least we would if it wasn’t so unhealthy for us. Well, how about a delicious, HEALTHY alternative to all those grams of fat and unwanted calories? And the best part, You probably have all the ingredients at home right now!

3 Ingredient Banana Strawberry “Ice Cream”  –  Serves 3-4ice cream

  • 3 frozen bananas
  • 2-3 tablespoons half-and-half
  • 5 tablespoons seedless strawberry jam

Peel, slice and freeze 3 bananas over night. place in a food processor and pulse till pea sized or just smaller. Slowly add half-and-half, a tablespoon at at time as you continue to process the bananas till smooth and well blended. If you have an ice cream  maker, this is where you get it out, and if not, just put banana puree back in the freezer for 30-45 minutes before continuing to next step.

Put mixture in ice cream maker (or leave refrozen mixture in food processor) and add strawberry jam. Turn on and let it mix slowly till well blended. If using ice cream maker, follow your machines instructions. If using food processor, remove well mixed creamy mixture, place in a metal container, and freeze 2-3 hours, until it reaches ice cream consistency. Enjoy your low calorie, healthy “ice cream” replacement!!

 

Hot Pink Breakfast Drink

Posted on by August 7, 2012

We all know that starting the day off right means starting with a healthy breakfast. Lately, everywhere you go you  hear about “Green Smoothies” and all the amazing benefits of drinking your vegetables for breakfast. Over here we have as different, more delicious, color to try to amp up your morning routine!

The Hot Pink Breakfast Drinka bright pink juice made from fruits and vegetables

We have this every morning. The recipe serves 2-3.

 

6 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 leaf kale

½ beet with greens

2 apples

1 orange (peeled)

 

Put all above in a juicer…. delicious!

 

Making the Most of JAM, Part One

Posted on by August 1, 2012

2-13-making-most-of-minutes-service

Now that you’ve hired us, make sure you are getting the most out of us! After all, that’s why we are here for you, to make your life easier and save you lots of time so you can focus on running the business, not worrying if you are properly documenting that you are running your business! If you are wondering what making the the most of your Just A Minute, LLC (JAM) account, let us fill you in on some tips from us, your minute doing experts!

Initial Questionnaire

Gather all of the company information you’ve received so far. It most likely will include:

  • Operating Agreement or Bylaws
  • EIN #
  • Bank documents for the business
  • Lawyers, Accountants, or Insurance Brokers information

Submit the Initial Questionnaire with 2 weeks, so we can begin on your Minutes!

  • We will either ask you for (1) a copy of your Operating Agreement/Bylaws, (2) clarified information, or (3) send you the Initial Set of Minutes for your company

Organize Yourself!

Keep tabs in your minute Book! (Need a Minute Book? Get one here!)

  • Certificate of Organization
  • Operating Agreement
  • Minutes
  • Certificates
  • Membership Listing

Set a day each month to complete your minutes

  • Example: Every 1st friday of the month
  • Mark in your calendar the day you will be holding your Annual Meeting

Keep login information close and handy

  • write it down, or type it up and put it in the front pocket of your Minute Book

 

Tax Free Back to School Days in August

Posted on by July 26, 2012

 

Mark your calendars, it’s that time again! Select States’ Local governments are offering TAX FREE shopping days in August to help out with back to school shoppers. Eligible items include school supplies and some include computers and computer software. We talked about it last year, and here is an updated list of dates for your state for this year.

Check the list below to see if your state qualifies.

Sorry, Arizona, we are not on the list!

Alabama
Eligible Items: Clothing (up to $100), computers (up to $750), school supplies (up to $50), books (up to $30).
Dates: August 3-5

Arkansas
Eligible Items: Clothing (up to $100 per item), accessories (up to $50 per item), items normally sold as school supplies.
Dates: August 4-5

Connecticut
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $300).
Dates: August 19-25

Florida
Eligible Items: Clothing (up to $75 per item), accessories (up to $75 per item), footwear (up to $75 per item), school supplies (up to $15 per item).
Dates: August 3-5

Georgia
Eligible Items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item), computer (up to $1,000), school supplies (up to $20).
Dates: August 10-11

Iowa
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item).
Dates: August 3-4

Louisiana
Eligible Items: Items not used for business purposes (up to $2,500 per item).
Dates: August 3-4

Maryland
Eligible Items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item).
Dates: August 12-18

Mississippi
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item).
Dates: July 27-28

Missouri (check your city, only some cities participate)
Eligible items: Clothing (up to $100 per item), school supplies (up to $50 per item), computer software (up to $350 per item), computers (up to $3,500 per item).
Dates: August 3-5

New Mexico
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item), school supplies (up to $15 per item), computers (up to $1,000 per item), computer equipment (up to $500 per item).
Dates: August 5-7

North Carolina
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item), school supplies (up to $100 per item), sports and recreation equipment (up to $50 per item), computers (up to $3,500 per item), computer equipment (up to $250 per item).
Dates: August 3-5

Oklahoma
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item).
Dates: August 3-5

South Carolina
Eligible items: Clothing, school supplies, computers (no limit).
Dates: August 3-5

Tennessee
Eligible items: Clothing (up to $100 per item), school supplies (up to $100 per item), computers (up to $1,500).
Dates: August 3-5

Texas
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item), school supplies (up to $100 per item).
Dates: August 17-19

Virginia
Eligible items: Clothing and footwear (up to $100 per item), school supplies (up to $20 per item).
Dates: August 3-5

For more informattion visit: http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales_holiday.html