 This
week, your Professional Learning Institute, unveiled two new info services for home
inspectors -- plus three brand-new CE courses.
Breaking
News brings all Kentucky home inspectors the latest news, such as
regulatory developments, new CE courses, and new construction materials and
techniques. Free to all licensed
home inspectors, it comes out roughly
every six weeks, depending on the news. Breaking News was first to tell you about the
KBHI's new Advisory Bulletin. You get Breaking News only from PLI.
Hii - The Advisor is an exclusive free service limited to PLI
alums. All PLI grads also get Breaking News, of course. Hii, short for "Home Inspector Info," takes Breaking
News the next step - with business and marketing help, networking opportunities,
and special bargains, just for PLI home inspectors. To better acquaint all home inspectors with PLI's benefits -- in addition to cutting edge courses -- this premier issue of Hii - The Advisor goes out to PLI grads and to inspectors who have not yet attended PLI. Future issues, starting with the next issue (vol. 1 no. 2), will be limited to inspectors who have taken PLI courses. For the latest info, classes and support, call PLI! Please take advantage of our
upcoming "Tips" feature to share trouble spots or pass along insights.
For the latest CE,
sign up now - call 502-896-2020. |
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Register Now! Pick a Session-14 hours -2009 CE
March 16th & 17th Monday & Tuesday
April 17th & 18th Friday & Saturday
**Thunder Over Louisville Saturday Night!***
May - Reunion 22nd & 23rd Friday & Saturday
June 15th & 16th Monday & Tuesday |
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14 Hours CE Home Inspector Training - Louisville
Get in and Get out.
Day 1: Ky Law & Regulations 3hrs CE-1002-02 8 - 5pm
Standards Of Practice 6hrs CE-1002-02
Day 2: New CE course
SOPs 8 - 9 am
Manuf Housing 3hrs CE-1002-02 9-12 noon
Home Insp Mkting 2hrs CE-1002-BUS2 1 - 3 pm
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Get This.
IRS Says "Save Some Money!"
Recently, the IRS released a list of 11 important changes that affect business tax returns for 2008. Some key changes:
Standard
mileage rate: Mileage reimbursement for business-use of cars and trucks got
split into two parts for 2008, when gas doubled in price. It was 48.5 cents per mile throughout
2007. For 2008, it went up to 50.5 cents
for the first half of the year. Then gas
prices skyrocketed, so the IRS raised to 58.5 cents for the second half of
2008. As if things weren't complicated
enough already. Still, pennies add up -
especially driving to every inspection.
Business
depreciation write-offs: Buy equipment; save on taxes. To
goose business growth, depreciation (Sec. 179) for business equipment or
property went up for the 2008 tax year only.
The business write off is up to
$250,000 in qualified purchases -- double the amount in 2007. In addition, your purchases can total up to
$800,000 in all (up from $500,000) without reducing your first-year depreciation
write-off. (We're not really loosing
sleep over that part!)
If using the Section 179 deduction
doesn't cover all you spent, you can use a greatly expanded, first-year special
depreciation deduction for up to 50 percent of the remainder, up to the $800,000
limit. For 2008, this special deduction also includes vehicle purchase costs.
In 2008, if you bought a vehicle for
business use, you can depreciate up to $10,960 for cars or $11,160 for heavier
trucks or vans through this deduction. Anything less than 100 percent business
use of the vehicle reduces the deduction.
S
corporation income: Good news for S corps with income like rent
payments or investment returns. It will
be reclassified as regular income, not "passive income," starting with tax
years beginning after May 25, 2007. That
lowers the tax rate and it makes
losses in 2008 deductible. Previously,
losses on sales of assets categorized as "passive" income usually were not be deductible.
Work
opportunity tax credit: Hire somebody who really needs the work - and get a
tax break. This tax credit program
rewards businesses, dollar-for-dollar, for hiring particular categories of
disadvantaged workers. The list of
qualified workers has been expanded too.
It now includes workers in distressed rural areas, older residents of
high-crime communities and more veterans.
The program was extended to cover hires into 2011.
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Paying for Free Money?
Hard times breed hustlers and scam artists.
"You can't
see who's swimming naked until the tide
goes down," investor Warren Buffet famously quipped.
Maybe
you've seen one of the nearly 70 websites
promising "free government grants" - yours, they promise, if you just pay them a measly $3,000 or so upfront. Give 'em your green - and, whaddya bet? - it's gone.
There's no
such thing as free government
grant money for your business. In reality, there are
very few government grants available to start or expand
a business. For more
authentic information about
government grants, check out Separating Myth From
Fact: The Truth about Free Money and Grants.
You can download it at:
www.ksbdc.org/wp-content/uploads/grants-brochure.pdf.
The
federal government does provide some
grant funding for small firms that offer innovative
solutions in certain specialized areas of research and
development. These funds are not for general business
operations. They're
focused on research, development
and
commercialization of unique products or services
that are beneficial to both government and society.
For additional information on the Small Business Innovation Research(SBIR)
program, go to www.sba.gov/sbir or www.zyn.com/sbir.
While
government grants aren't a viable source of
funding for most small businesses, you may be able to
obtain a loan or other type
of financing. Additional information on financing your business can be found at
www.ced.ky.gov/SMBD/funding.aspx. |
In a Jam?
Out of time? In a special situation? Call. PLI offers private tutoring and other special individual
instruction. Call Lorri. 502-896-2020. KBHI:CE-1002
We hope you find this helpful Please remember this is an informational and reporting service only and is not legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice, which is not a substitute for, and can be supplied only by, a knowledgeable professional in the appropriate field acquainted with your individual situation. Readers should rely on their own professional advice, rather than any news or publication.
We're all in this together. PLI stays closely tuned to industry and professional developments, though PLI does not endorse or favor any candidate or contribute to any campaigns. Updates on selected topics may be available. Please call.
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Here's Some Stimulus 4U!
Big
Banks. Bad banks. All we hear about is big, bad and ugly.
But buried in the stimulus package
is a handy small business loan.
It raises the limit the Small Business Administration ("SBA")
can guarantee - to 90% of the loan - and it
authorizes the Small Business Administration to temporarily eliminate or reduce
fees for its flagship loan-guarantee programs.
Those programs pretty
much take the risk out of SBA loans by insuring
lenders against default by small business borrowers.
Need cash now? For small businesses needing quick relief, there's "small business stabilization
financing" - loans to pay off
existing debts. Under the program,the
SBA can issue or back loans of
up to $35,000.
Businesses then use the money to make up to six months of payments on
previous
loans. Interest on
"stabilization financing" is fully subsidized, and no payments come due the
first year. Borrowers must repay them within five years.
There's not much time. The SBA's emergency financing - and cash -
won't last long. Who
doesn't want a
bailout these days? There's $630 million
to fund loan subsidies and modifications, and only through September 2010. If
the cash starts to run out, borrowers get priority over lenders.
Sources: CNNMoney.com, Entrepeneur.com
To reach SBA: SBA Answer Desk, 1-800-U-ASK-SBA (800-827-5722),
www.answerdesk@sba.gov
Kentucky District Office:
600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Place Rm 188, Louisville,
KY 40202-2354. 502-582-5971.
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Marketing Memos:
Logo Magic
The Nike "Swoosh"
was rated "Best Logo" recently by Entrpeneur.com. Why does the logo click? "It's so simple and visible at a
distance. Another logo might have
been well-known but wouldn't have done the brand as much good if it had been
more complicated," said Laura Ries, president of marketing strategy firm
Ries & Ries. She also called it an
"empty vessel." With no content baggage, it can be molded to any
image Nike likes. The Swoosh also embeds
other images, some from childhood, like a teacher's "check mark" when you got
things right. It triggers an indistinct,
amorphous cluster of associations, like "OK," "good work," and "nice job." Those feelings spill over into the
brand. Nike paid Portland State
University graphic design student Carolyn Davidson $35 for the Swoosh. (She could've made more as a home inspector that day!) It's been the brand's mark since it was
introduced on Nike footwear at the 1972 U.S. Track & Field Olympic Trials.
Lesson: KISS.
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Coupons: Expire or
Die!
Starbucks Coffee still
holds the record for Worst Viral Marketing Plague! A free-coffee coupon sent by baristas (coffee makers) with
no restrictions got passed along everywhere on the web, bringing more coupons in
store doors than anyone ever imagined.
Finally, Starbucks said it wouldn't honor its own coupon - igniting a
small bonfire. "Word of mouth" works
both ways! Today, Starbucks Coffee has closed
or sold more stores than it wants to count - kinda like the too successful
coupons. And it's selling instant coffee. Now, there's something to drive out for! Remember the Country & Western hit "What
Was I Thinking?" |
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