I attended the Seattle Chamber Annual Business Conference this week, and managed to take away quite a few helpful tips. The keynote speakers were Tom O’Keefe, Founder and Chairman of Tully’s, and Mary Mitchell, CEO of The Mitchell Organization. Tom O’Keefe admitted to visiting a Starbucks and Tully’s every day, and noted he [...]

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There are a number of deadlines throughout the year to report and file taxes. This can be overwhelming for small business owners who are already busy with day-to-day operations and managing their business. An easy and helpful way to remember key dates is to download tax calendar dates right into Outlook. Visit [...]

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While the IRS isn’t exactly a business owner’s friend, they do have a wealth of information available on the small business portion of their website http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html.   You can easily apply for an EIN if you haven’t done so already, and you can find out what your tax responsibilities are regarding your employees.  In Washington State, [...]

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We’ve helped several clients transition from selling products via PayPal on their website to using a shopping cart. There are a number of shopping carts out there to choose from, such as 1 Shopping Cart or Kick Start Cart.
Shopping carts have monthly fees ranging from $40-$100, or more for sophisticated options. While many [...]

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It’s January, and tax time is right around the corner. I know there are business owners out there who are hiding from QuickBooks or Excel to track their expenses. We work with all kinds of clients – from those who don’t ever want to open QuickBooks to those who want monthly reports [...]

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Champion Assistants would love to help you get ready and really shine next year. From maintaining contact with your clients to increasing internet sales to producing fantastic marketing materials, we are ready to help you reach your goals. Our services are all available on an as-needed basis with no hourly minimums or sign-up [...]

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Champion Assistants ha d a booth again yesterday at the eWomen Network luncheon in Bellevue.  What a fun time!  There were more booths than usual since members wanted to show off their businesses before Christmas.  Champion Assistants was there with Holiday Assistants, our sister company.  People seemed to respond to both businesses very well.  I [...]

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In 4-hour workweek, Timothy Ferris talks about how building a team gets overwhelming because they become dependent on you for information that you keep stuck in your head.  The freedom truly comes when you make people completely responsible for completing a task, give them appropriate authority, and ownership for completing the task.  Being able to [...]

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Holiday Assistants www.holidayassistants.com just launched yesterday after lots of brainstorming and careful preparation.  I partnered with Kristi Bennitt who is managing the operations of the business.  We came up with this after hearing over and over again (even in June) about how stressed people were during the holiday season.  Kristi and I love the holidays, [...]

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