April 2024

If you are considering starting a business, don’t take the big leap from dreamer to entrepreneur. One common mistake new business owners make is not understanding the five critical essentials before they dive into the world of starting a business. Knowing these critical pieces of information can mean the difference between starting a thriving, successful business or crashing and burning out before your entrepreneurial plane can even get off the runway.

Read these five essentials carefully to understand how to prepare yourself and pave the way for building a successful business.

1. Determine the difference between a hobby and a business

Many believe that if you are making minimal sales or not selling full-time, you do not have a business and instead have a hobby. It’s important to understand both the national and local rules regarding your sales to make sure you are compliant and avoid unexpected penalties and fees.

The IRS states that if you earn $400 or more after your expenses are taken out (known as your net income), then your income is NOT considered a hobby, and all of your self-employed income must be claimed on your tax return.

Additionally, most cities and counties state in their information for new businesses that you must register your business before starting any business operations. This means that if you intend to make sales to customers, in most cases, you do not have a hobby; you do, in fact, have a business, and this will require several steps to be completed before you can make any sales.

Related: The 6 Startup Essentials for a Business That Will Succeed

2. Understand your legal obligations

To determine what you are legally obligated to do to register your business and stay compliant, you must first decide what type of business structure you will have. A business structure defines how a business is registered and operates and what type of taxation options it may have.

The most common form of new business is either a sole proprietorship or an LLC. Deciding which type of business you will operate is important because each type has different registrations and tax implications.

Once you have determined the type of business structure you would like to start, you will need to register your business. The types of registrations and permits required differ depending on whether you are starting a sole proprietorship or an LLC, the type of business you will be starting, and where you are located. Research your county’s information on starting a business. Often, counties have a particular resource area on their website that will outline your obligations and where to obtain required permits.

Related: 5 Common Legal Mistakes Start-Ups Make When Launching Their Business – And How To Avoid Them

3. Understand your finances

Registering your business will require various fees to ensure that your business operates legally according to city, county and state requirements. These fees vary depending on your location. Additionally, some industries require specific licenses and registrations that must be renewed regularly.

4. Understand taxes

Businesses are obligated to file and pay three different types of income taxes: self-employment tax, federal income tax and state income tax. An LLC is also required to pay an annual LLC tax. These taxes are calculated and paid when you file your end-of-year tax return. If you expect to owe $1000 or more in self-employed taxes, you are also required to pay estimated quarterly taxes – which is a prepaid estimated amount of what you think you will owe at tax time, spaced out into four equal payments throughout the year.

If you sell tangible goods, you are obligated to collect and remit sales tax on those goods. This will mean applying for a seller’s permit, collecting sales tax from your customers and filing/paying sales and use tax returns.

Next, plan a method for keeping business financial records. You are obligated to keep business financial records — this means tracking your sales and expenses and the cash flow in and out of your business. This can be done through using a software such as quickbooks or xero, hiring a professional CPA or bookkeeper or keeping a simple spreadsheet to track your cash flow.

LLCs will also be required to have business bank accounts — no personal transactions can be conducted using your business bank accounts. It’s important to track all business expenses so that you can enter them into your tax return — this will lower your taxable income.

Related: Five Tips for Small Business Owners this Tax Season

5. Operational obligations

Creating your products, conducting services and making sales are important parts of your business; however, operating a business on a day-to-day basis has many other elements required in order to keep your business up, running and growing. Think through and make a plan for how you will handle important things such as:

• marketing
• bookkeeping
• inventory
• shipping
• customer service
• scheduling
• operational software
• booking, scheduling and contracts
• invoicing and payments

Ready to start a business?

Congratulations if you have carefully considered these important factors and are ready to start! The decision to start a business and the planning involved deserve to be celebrated. Consider creating a formal business plan to provide structure, organize your goals and start planning the logistics of starting your business. Starting and growing a business is an incredible journey, and with proper planning, consistency, time and dedication, you are well on your way to building the business of your dreams.

One week before National Small Business Week, a new study examines some surprising things that the millions of small businesses across the U.S. have in common.

A Pew Research Center Survey released Monday delved into Census Bureau data points associated with 33 million small businesses across the U.S. The study defined “small business” as a firm with less than 500 workers, with at least one location.

In the report, small businesses overwhelmingly shared one major commonality: they rarely had employees. In fact, 27 million, or about 82%, did not have any workers, and about 3 million businesses with employees only had one to four people on their payroll.

Still, small businesses employed 56.4 million people in 2021 and achieved more than $16.2 trillion in revenue. Larger businesses with more than 100 employees scored bigger pieces of the revenue pie, though they made up less than 1% of the overall picture.

Related: How to Go From Side Hustle to 7-Figure Business and Beyond, According to 3 Women Who Did It

Also, most small businesses are not mom-and-pop shops, according to the survey. One in 10 businesses in the U.S. were equally owned and operated by spouses, and just 27% were family-owned overall.

It’s also not usually franchises. The majority of small businesses (95%) reported that they did not fully or partially operate as a franchise.

A majority of the businesses surveyed, almost three in five, have been running for at least six years, and 15% were operational for over a quarter of a century.

Related: They Designed One Simple Product With a ‘Focus on Human Health’ — and Made $40 Million Last Year

Small businesses also share a positive public perception. Most Americans (86%) indicated that small businesses positively impact the country in a separate Pew Research survey conducted in January. In contrast, only 53% thought positively about tech companies and colleges.

A Constant Contact survey released Monday presents a global picture, showing that over 80% of the 1,300 small businesses surveyed in the U.S., Australia, the U.K., and Canada expressed concern about how the economic climate will affect their business this year.

Pew Research reports that the number of U.S. business applications has trending up, with almost 1.8 million applications filed last year.

Lauren Sánchez has found herself in the public eye, thanks to her high-profile engagement to Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos — and now one national news outlet is looking for a specialized reporter to cover her every move.

The Daily Beast announced that it is looking to hire a full-time senior reporter to cover Sánchez and her daily dealings — from business to social to space.

“The Beast plans to cover tech moguls and their ecosystem, as part of the site’s return to its roots as a ‘smart tabloid,'” per Axios.

This follows trends of other publications, such as USAToday and the Tennessean, which have hired specialized Taylor Swift and Beyonce reporters in an attempt to make sure full coverage of the subject is reported.

Related: Lauren Sanchez Gives Vogue Details on Jeff Bezos Engagement

Not much is known about the specifics of the role, though Joanna Coles, the outlet’s new chief content officer, wrote on Instagram that she was accepting applications through editorial@thedailybeast.com, and told the New York Post that benefits and salary would be comparable to other senior positions listed at the company, which range between $100,000 and $200,000.

“I’ve never seen anybody land on the radar of Americans as fast and as brilliantly as Lauren Sánchez,” said Coles, who is the former chief content officer of Hearst Magazines. “I’m just very excited to find out all about her. There is no detail too small that I am not fascinated by.”

Sánchez is a licensed pilot and former TV anchor who is currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, which just announced it is donating $100 million to AI efforts that fight climate change.

Related: Lauren Sánchez Is Heading to Space on a Girls Trip

The Daily Beast did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur‘s request for comment.

When running a business, it’s important to keep your company’s branding in mind around the clock because you never know when inspiration might strike. For example, when choosing a color palette for your design materials, you don’t have to stick with whatever you come up with off the top of your head. Live with it. Go out in the world, and when you see the right colors, you’ll know it.

Now, to get the exact shade that inspires you, you’re going to need to show up at the paint store or on Photoshop with more than just “yellow.” That’s where a color-matching sensor comes into play. From April 15 through 11:59 p.m. PT on April 21, you can get the Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor on sale for just $59.97 (reg. $99).

This pocket-sized scanning device can scan any surface and match it to any of over 100,000 brand-name paint colors, as well as sRGB HEX, CMYK, and LAB colors. Once you scan a color, you can access the color details via the Nix Paints and Nix Digital apps available on Android and iOS devices. From there, you can take that information and use it to get the exact color you want for your branding materials.

Craft the branding of your company and your product to your exact specifications, and never stop perfecting it. Empower yourself with tools like this color-matching sensor, which is remarkably affordable.

From April 15 through 11:59 p.m. PT on April 21, you can get the Nix Mini 2 Color-Matching Sensor on sale for just $59.97 (reg. $99).

StackSocial prices subject to change.

According to TeamStage, 31 percent of employees waste about a half hour each day, and the top 10 percent of them can waste as much as three hours in a day. Part of that might be attitude, but the other part might be hangups caused by internet speed and advertisements. To nip that lost time in the bud, consider equipping yourself or your team with a tool to help stay on task.

From April 15 through 21, this five-year subscription to Control D Some Control Plan is on sale for just $34.97 (reg. $120). This is the best price for this deal online. This tool is designed to help users browse and use the internet faster while also blocking ads.

Control D is described as a “one-touch solution” for taking control over the productivity of your computer and internet usage. The deal supports use for up to ten devices, and it empowers each user to block advertisements, enjoy faster browsing, and set internet safety rules and restrictions for kids.

Control D’s bandwidth is substantial. It can accommodate up to 10,000 custom rules, block more than 300 servers, support multiple profiles, and unlimited usage. This robust and well-designed tool is a reliable option for any business leader who wants to liberate themselves or team members from distractions online.

Control D is rated a perfect 5/5 stars on Product Hunt.

Remember that from April 15 through 21, this 5-year subscription to Control D Some Control Plan is on sale for just $34.97 (reg. $120)—the best price on the web.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Microsoft published a research paper this week highlighting a new AI model called VASA-1 that can transform a single picture and audio clip of a person into a realistic video of them lip-syncing — with facial expressions, head movements, and all.

The AI model was trained on AI-generated images from generators like DALL·E-3, which the researchers then layered with audio clips. The results are images-turned-videos of talking faces.

The researchers built on technology from competitors such as Runway and Nvidia, but state in the paper that their method of doing things is higher-quality, more realistic, and “significantly outperforms” existing methods.

Related: Adobe’s Firefly Image Generator Was Partially Trained on AI Images From Midjourney

The researchers said the model can take in audio of any length and generate a talking face in accordance with the clip.

The only image that wasn’t AI-generated that the researchers experimented with was the Mona Lisa. They made the iconic image lip-sync to Anne Hathaway’s “Paparazzi,” which starts with the lines “Yo I’m a paparazzi, I don’t play no yahtzee.”
^{A screenshot of the video mid-frame. Credit: Entrepreneur}

The Mona Lisa was one example of a photo input that the AI model was not trained on — but could manipulate anyway. The model could also transform artistic photos, take in singing audios, and handle speech in languages that weren’t English.

The researchers emphasized that the model could work in real-time with a demo video that showed the model instantly animating images with head movements and facial expressions.

Deepfakes, or digitally altered media of a person that could spread misinformation or take someone’s likeness without permission, are a risk posed by advanced AI that can generate digital media with relatively few reference points.

Related: Tennessee Passes Law Protecting Musicians From AI Deepfakes

Microsoft addressed that concern generally in the paper, with the researchers stating, “We are opposed to any behavior to create misleading or harmful contents of real persons, and are interested in applying our technique for advancing forgery detection.”

The researchers stated that their technique had potentially positive applications too, like improving accessibility and enhancing educational efforts.

Google demoed a similar research project last month, showcasing an AI capable of taking a photo and creating a video from it that the user can then control with their voice. The AI was able to add head movements, blinks, and hand gestures.

Taylor Swift delighted fans Friday, April 19, when she released a surprise double album, “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology,” her 11th studio album.

In celebration of the highly anticipated release — and upcoming next leg of her “Taylor Swift: The Eras” tour — United Airlines is offering a special deal for Swifties to garner the best prices for flights to her shows at the end of this summer.

The airline is offering a 13% discount on select domestic flight routes purchased Friday for travel between August 21 and November 13 of this year. In the fall, Swift brings the tour back to the U.S. for shows in Miami, New Orleans, and Indianapolis.

Related: Taylor Swift Is Making Vinyl Cool Again — and Profitable. Here’s How Her Surprise Double Album Is Bringing Back the Old-School Medium.

“Let’s say after exploring Cornelia Street, Louis wants to travel from New York to Miami, Florida for a long weekend,” a representative for United Airlines told ABC News in an emailed statement, cheekily referencing one of Swift’s songs. “By using the code ‘April19’ in the United app, Louis can save more than $50 on a round-trip ticket before August slips away. Of course, the total amount of the discount depends on the fare selected.”

The 13% is intentional, as 13 is Swift’s lucky and favorite number, and the dates selected align with the musician’s next leg of tour dates in the U.S.

To cash in on the deal, United customers can log on to the app and use the code ‘April19’ for a chance to snag the deal.

Swift has had quite the year thanks to her “The Eras Tour” and subsequent in-theater experience, which helped boost her to billionaire status in October. She stands beside Rihanna as the only two female musicians to reach the financial feat.

Related: Taylor Swift Just Filed a Trademark That Could Mean Even More Sales

According to Pollstar, the Eras Tour is estimated to bring in anywhere from $1 to $1.4 billion by its end, with roughly seven months left to go.

There’s no denying that long-term, buy-and-hold investing can produce remarkable results. Berkshire Hathaway is the best example of that. I’m a day trader and find value in long-term investing. Because it’s enough for me to focus just on day trading, I have an investment advisor who manages the long-term portion of my portfolio.

The contrast between what he does and what I do could hardly be greater: My average hold time for a stock is five minutes, and sometimes, I’ll be in a stock for mere seconds. With those hold times, it doesn’t take long to find out if my investment strategy was right, wrong or dead wrong.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that day trading can be like compressing a lifetime of investing into a year. I’ve made over 20,000 trades so far and plan to keep trading for many more years.

Two common phases day traders go through

The first phase is beginner’s luck. I actually think it’s a thing with day trading, and I experienced it myself. In my first year of trading, I made about $30,000. Was I pumped! Yes, it was work, but it sure beat pumping gas, which I had done a few years back, or working for a bad-tempered boss, which I also knew about.

Over the years, I’ve heard enough similar stories from other traders to believe beginner’s luck is quite common. However, a hard reality always waits in the wings for those happy beginners, and it even has a name: regression to the mean.

After my second year of trading, I gave back those early gains and was now at breakeven. But in my third year of studying and hard work at trading — I wish I could say I turned the corner, but I didn’t. I lost a lot of money and was down to my last chance before having to get a “real” job.

Some people can look back at turning points and identify a mentor who said the right thing or a chance encounter that made a difference. In my case, keeping a journal of all my trades saved my day trading career. I recorded not only the trades but also my strategy at the moment I took the trades. In scouring that journal, I discerned a trading pattern that resulted in losing transactions and a different set of characteristics for my winning trades. With this knowledge, I turned my ship around.

This leads me to the second common phase, “investing friction.” Sometimes, when day traders experience a hard loss, they fear taking more risks. They mentally box themselves in, and it becomes more difficult to regain their trading confidence. It can be the beginning of a downward spiral.

But here’s the really interesting thing: The same phenomenon sometimes happens with wins. After an especially memorable win, traders will pull back and make progressively smaller trades.

Back to my trading journal: There are about 250 trading days in a year. I’ve found that my top 10 trading days usually account for over 20% of my entire year’s profit. On those golden days, am I just throwing caution to the wind? No, and this is where the flying analogy comes in.

Related: How Cognitive Biases Can Impact Your Trading and Investment Decisions — and How to Reduce Their Effects

Trusting your instruments

When you learn to fly, you only practice on days with good weather. You’re operating under what’s known as “Visual Flight Rules.” But if you stick with it, you’ll learn “Instrument Flight Rules.” When you’re cleared to fly with those rules, the good news is you can fly in all kinds of weather. The bad news is you must ignore your gut and learn to trust your instruments, or you’ll go into the ground.

The same is true with day trading. Successful day traders are not gamblers or cowboys but more like experienced pilots. They do a profit-and-loss calculation before ever taking a trade. They will see a recognizable pattern in the behavior of the stock price, including other factors like trading volume, news about the company, and so on. If it adds up, they take the trade.

The next part is where successful traders earn money: They stick with the parameters they set up. That means if the stock goes up, they have a process for taking some profits off the table while letting the stock continue to rise. But if the stock begins to go down, they don’t let it ride “a little longer,” hoping it will turn around. Instead, they sell without hesitation and cap the loss.

Either way, they trusted their instruments and would live to trade another day.

Related: Day Trading: How To Get Started

Don’t get me wrong: Even after 20,000 trades, I can control my emotions and trade according to my instruments. It never gets “easy” because I can always follow my parameters. Sometimes, emotions will get the better of me, and I’ll think: What just happened? Then, my journal review will reveal that on that day, my emotions got the best of me for that trade. It’s then up to me to become more disciplined in the heat of the moment, so I apply what I learned from that last trade.

There’s no way to turn day trading into a sure-fire system for profit-making. You can improve your chances of doing well in this most unforgiving of environments. You achieve that by doing three things:

1. Record what you were thinking at the time and how it worked out;
2. Analyze that transaction and how you might adjust your parameters in the future; and
3. Have the discipline to stick to those course corrections on the next day.

There is no guarantee of profits, but it’s the only way I’ve found to stay in this profession for the long term.

Four-day workweeks might have all the buzz, but one major tech company is going in the opposite direction.

Samsung is implementing a six-day workweek for all executives after some of the firm’s core businesses delivered lower-than-expected financial results last year.

A Samsung Group executive told a Korean news outlet that “considering that performance of our major units, including Samsung Electronics Co., fell short of expectations in 2023, we are introducing the six-day work week for executives to inject a sense of crisis and make all-out efforts to overcome this crisis.”

Lower performance combined with other economic uncertainties like high borrowing costs have pushed the South Korean company to enter “emergency mode,” per The Korea Economic Daily.

Related: Apple Is No Longer the Top Phonemaker in the World as AI Pressure and Competition Intensifies

Executives at all Samsung Group divisions will be affected, including those in sales and manufacturing, according to the report.

Samsung had its worst financial year in over a decade in 2023, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that net profit fell 73% in Q4. It also lost its top spot on the global smartphone market to Apple in the same quarter, though it reclaimed it this year.

Though employees below the executive level aren’t yet mandated to clock in on weekends, some might follow the unwritten example of their bosses. After all, The Korea Economic Daily reports that executives across some Samsung divisions have been voluntarily working six days a week since January, before the company decided to implement the six-day workweek policy.

Entrepreneur has reached out to Samsung’s U.S. newsroom to ask if this news includes executives situated globally, including in the U.S., or if it only affects employees in Korea. Samsung did not immediately respond.

Research on the relationship between hours worked and output shows that working more does not necessarily increase productivity.

A Stanford project, for example, found that overwork leads to decreased total output. Average productivity decreases due to stress, sleep deprivation, and other factors “to the extent that the additional hours [worked] provide no benefit (and, in fact, are detrimental),” the study said.

Related: Samsung’s Newest Galaxy Gadget Aims ‘To See How Productive You Can Be’

Longer hours can also mean long-term health effects. The World Health Organization found that working more than 55 hours a week decreases life expectancy and increases the risk of stroke by 35%.

The same 55-hour workweek leads to a 17% higher risk of heart disease, per the same study.

Consider the most impactful leaders you’ve encountered. What about them made you eager to trust and follow their lead? Perhaps they possessed a subtle yet unmistakable “presence” — a magnetic aura that commanded respect and instilled confidence.

This intangible quality, often referred to as “executive presence,” is a potent force in leadership. This article delves into the essence of executive presence, its significance in today’s competitive landscape, and actionable steps to cultivate it. Join me as we explore the vital components distinguishing ordinary leaders from those who inspire, influence and leave a lasting impression.

What is executive presence?

Executive presence is the projection of authority and credibility, and your signature presence defines your personal and professional brand. It encompasses the unique blend of demeanor, communication style and demeanor that distinguishes you as a leader.

Individuals with executive presence maintain a detectable, but undefinable, attitude about themselves. Although others might not be able to put their finger on why they want to follow these leaders, they will be more inclined to trust them.

David Roberts, CEO of Verra Mobility, recently defined executive presence as “the total combined manner by which an executive “shows up” for the job of leadership. It’s that unique combination of skills, style, actions and reactions in service to the goal of leading your employees forward and driving organizational results.”

The strength of your executive presence can also be gauged by how others perceive and respond to you in professional settings. It influences how you are perceived by colleagues, stakeholders, and industry peers, ultimately shaping your career trajectory and your leadership’s impact.

How to develop executive presence

Executive presence isn’t a skill you’re necessarily born with. Fortunately, that means anybody can develop this skill!

It is crucial to remember that developing executive presence is both an inner and outer game. If you are a poor leader internally, you will be a poor leader externally. Executive presence involves cultivating the skills of a leader and projecting them strategically and consistently.

Related: How to Develop an Executive Presence and Earn Respect

Developing inner executive presence

Before we discuss the external features of executive presence, we must address the “inner game” of executive presence.

This inner game of executive presence refers to self-awareness, or a profound understanding of one’s values, emotions, and behaviors. This self-awareness forms the bedrock of emotional intelligence, enabling active listening, emotional agility, and controlled emotional reactivity. It’s this internal alignment that radiates confidence, calmness, and composure in professional interactions.

Recognizing that internal character incongruencies can inadvertently surface in external nonverbal communication, decisions, and actions is crucial. The stories of Adam Neumann of WeWork, Trevor Milton of Nikola, Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos and Rajat Gupta of McKinsey & Company serve as cautionary examples. While they initially exhibited high executive presence, their lack of ethics and integrity ultimately eroded their credibility.

The great news is we can always improve our internal selves and therefore benefit others through our external presence and actions. For instance, if you identify difficulty in managing stress, seeking coaching or therapy can foster healthier internal coping mechanisms that will reflect positively in your external demeanor and decision-making.

Related: How to Develop Self-Awareness and Become a More Effective Leader

Now that we’ve explored the foundational aspects of building an internal executive presence, let’s shift our focus to developing the following external attributes that will amplify your leadership impact and project a compelling executive presence.

1. Positive body language

Effective communication begins with active listening and thoughtful responses. Letting others speak first, actively listening, and then speaking clearly and concisely demonstrates respect and authority. Thoughtful gestures such as nodding affirmatively and maintaining open body posture convey engagement and confidence.

Related: 4 Body Language Mistakes You Didn’t Realize You’re Making at Work — And How to Fix Them

2. Appearance

The significance of appearance in leadership dates back to ancient civilizations, wherein attire signified status and authority. Research consistently shows that a well-groomed appearance commands respect and fosters positive impressions. Pay attention to grooming, attire, and personal presentation to align with professional standards and enhance your executive presence.

Related: Five Tips to Optimize Your Appearance for Business Success

3. Confidence

Confidence is a learnable trait that emanates from within and is reflected in external demeanor. It’s not just about physical posture — true confidence is about controlling your environment and projecting assurance through gestures, voice tone, and spatial presence. Walk purposefully, maintain eye contact, and use deliberate gestures to convey confidence and credibility.

4. Intonation and cadence

The tone and cadence of your voice convey confidence and command attention. Speak with clarity, emphasizing key points with controlled intonation. Practice modulating your voice to convey authority and conviction while also maintaining a calm and composed demeanor.

5. Trust through consistency

Consistency is essential for building trust and credibility. Ensure your actions and behaviors align with your core values and leadership principles. Consistent leadership fosters trust among colleagues and stakeholders, enhancing your executive presence and influence.

Remember, executive presence is not merely a set of skills — it’s a holistic approach to leadership that integrates authenticity, confidence and professionalism in all aspects of your professional journey. By honing these external attributes while nurturing your internal self-awareness and integrity, you can cultivate a compelling executive presence that inspires trust, drives results, and leaves a lasting impact on those around you.