Small Business

September 8, 2021

Exigo Business Solutions Announced as a Top Kansas City Accounting Company by UpCity!

Ronald B. Allen

Exigo Business Solutions is thrilled to officially announce that we have been recognized as one of the top accounting companies in Kansas City and nationally by UpCity!

April 30, 2021

Review of WordAgents

Ronald B. Allen

WordAgents is a content writing agency powered by more than 500 North American writers. They're known for providing incredibly high-quality, keyword-optimized articles with swift turnarounds. In fact, those features represent two out of the three main parts of their selling point: SEO written content: SEO is the name of the game if you're ever going to have a significant web presence. This is the key to earning organic traffic for your website, which in turn, will improve your visibility, expand your audience reach, and boost your conversion rates. Content at scale: Scaling your online platform essentially means that you can shrink or expand your business as needed.

February 1, 2021

Plumbing Accounting

Ronald B. Allen

You work hard to make your plumbing business a success. To maintain control of your finances, plumbing accounting services are invaluable.

April 28, 2020

Get Your Small Business Rank #1 on Google

Ronald B. Allen

To get decent ranking on Google and even on the first page you need relevant content and keywords that match search terms used by your prospective customers.

January 13, 2020

New DLP Policies in Office365 Prevent Data Loss

Ronald B. Allen

Your business stores and uses information that 1) you don’t want to lose to competitors, 2) is private information that should not be seen out of the proper context

October 7, 2019

Marketing List Maintenance and Tune-ups

Ronald B. Allen

Maintain and update your marketing list for best results.

October 7, 2019

Increase Your Work Efficiency

Ronald B. Allen

Switch to Office 365 to upgrade your email service and improve business efficiency.

October 7, 2019

Office 365 on Windows, Android, and iOS

Ronald B. Allen

Take Office 365 wherever you go with your mobile device.

October 7, 2019

Office 365 Tools

Ronald B. Allen

Upgrade to Office 365 and take advantage of tools like Office 365 Groups and Planner. Share content, plans, conversations, to make your business more efficient and more profitable.

August 13, 2019

QuickBooks for Electrical Contractors

An electrical contracting business has lots of moving parts. The best way to keep track of costs and maximize profits is to use QuickBooks for your bookkeeping.

August 9, 2019

Expand Your Electrical Business?

When your electrical business is established there may be a temptation to expand in search of greater profits. Before doing this ask Exigo Business Solutions.

August 9, 2019

Why Is It Important to Back Up Office 365 Files?

Ronald B. Allen

When all of your business information was on your office computers you routinely backed up your data. Now that it is in the cloud, what do you do?

August 7, 2019

Non-collecting Sellers, Use Tax, and Report

With recent changes in the law, online retailers now have to worry about use tax notices and reporting. Let us help you with this problem and how you manage it.

August 6, 2019

Making a Profit in a Skilled Trades Business

Making a profit in a skilled trades business is often as simple as outsourcing to a different bookkeeper and change the way the books are being done.

August 6, 2019

Marketing List Maintenance and Tune-ups

An important and too often forgotten part of reaching out to your customer base is marketing list maintenance and tune-ups. Routine updates are important.

August 5, 2019

Business Profitable by Outsourcing

You find yourself working harder and harder for fewer profits. What can you do? Make your skilled trades business more profitable by outsourcing the bookkeeping.

August 3, 2019

Office 365 and One Drive Backup

Ronald B. Allen

As more and more businesses move their business software online they come to depend on their online platform for backing up all of their information.

August 2, 2019

Scalable Accounting Software

Your business has grown and you are starting to see the importance of scalable accounting software that integrates with your other business functions like CRM.

August 1, 2019

How to distinguish Employees and Contractors

You may have several people working for you on a project but not all of them will be employees.

July 31, 2019

When Your Electrical Business Show a Profit?

You set up your own electrical business in order to be your own boss and to make more money. How soon should your electrical business show a profit?

July 30, 2019

Lose Your Data,You Lose Your Business?

Ronald B. Allen

When you lose your data can you lose your business? Seventy percent of companies with significant data losses go out of business. How can you prevent this?

July 30, 2019

How Much Should Your Marketing Cost You?

Most businesses need to do marketing in order to gain new customers. How much should your marketing cost you as a portion of your total sales or your profit?

July 26, 2019

Too Much “Screen Time” Shrinks Child’s Brain

We all want our children to be happy and successful in life. So, we do things like buying them a smartphone or tablet, even at an early age.

July 25, 2019

Remote Retailer Sales Tax Obligations

Remote retailer sales tax obligations are here to stay. Work with us at Exigo Business Solutions in the Kansas City area to meet this evolving challenge.

July 23, 2019

HIPPA Compliance and Your Business

The HIPAA Act of 1996 set national standards for electronic health care transactions. There are penalties if you don’t protect PHI, personal health information.

July 21, 2019

Office 365 Backup Plan For Your Business?

Ronald B. Allen

Working in the cloud is an efficient way to share data and get work done. But, does your business have a backup plan for Office 365 data and emails?

July 20, 2019

Customer Value and How You Get It

Customer value and how you get it is important. You may sell practical and cheap products or expensive items that last forever. Sell what your customers value.

July 19, 2019

Integrate Your CRM and Accounting Software?

Why integrate your CRM and accounting software? Business management software becomes more and more important to business success. Don’t build separate systems.

July 19, 2019

Ways to Make Your Business More Profitable

When plumbing business is not making a profit, talk to Exigo Business Solutions. We will show you the best ways to make your plumbing business more profitable.

July 18, 2019

When to Collect Sales Tax on Internet Sales?

One of the many advantages of doing business on the internet has been you did not need to collect sales tax on your sales. That is changing so learn the rules.

July 18, 2019

Using a Real Revenue Calculation

Ronald B. Allen

To get a clear idea of what your plumbing business is really worth, use the real revenue approach in your bookkeeping. Make sure to deduct sub-contractor pay and materials before calculating your income.

July 11, 2019

Does It Pay to Specialize Plumbing Business?

Your plumbing business has plenty of work in new construction as well as a steady stream of leaks and clogged drains to fix on an emergency basis.

April 12, 2019

Increase Your Electrical Contracting Profits

Ronald B. Allen

When you are working more for less, what can you do? Increase your electrical contracting profits by outsourcing your bookkeeping and using Profit First.

March 23, 2019

What Does Your Business Stand For?

Ronald B. Allen

What does your business stand for? Stand for something good like integrity, honesty, and exceptional service and your business will always succeed.

February 11, 2019

Important Factors for Small Business Success

Ronald B. Allen

Everyone who starts a small business wants to succeed. But what are the most important factors for small business success? How do you proceed?

February 11, 2019

Small Business Marketing Essentials

Ronald B. Allen

Marketing your small business these days may involve social media, email campaigns, and more but small business marketing essentials come first.

January 24, 2019

How to Claim the Federal R&D Tax Credit

Ronald B. Allen

Qualifying research and development in the USA provides tax deductions - learn how to claim a federal tax credit for your research

January 24, 2019

Does Your R & D Work Qualify for Tax Credits?

Ronald B. Allen

Engage in Research & Development to make your business more successful - and learn the specifics of how to get tax credits for your R&D work.

January 18, 2019

Qualifying Activities for R&D Tax Credits

Ronald B. Allen

Do you know what research and development activities qualify for tax credits? In order to receive tax credits for your R&D it must take place in the USA and meet certain qualification rules.

January 18, 2019

Research and Development Costs And Your Taxes

Ronald B. Allen

Ask Exigo Business Solutions how to benefit from the R&D tax credit, and deduct research and development costs from your federal taxes.

January 17, 2019

R&D and Development Tax Credit

Ronald B. Allen

If your company carries out R&D in the USA, learn about how the US Research and Development Tax Credit can help your business.

January 8, 2019

What Is SEO and Why Does Your Website Need It?

Ronald B. Allen

Learn how to raise your ranking on internet search engines with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and get more business through your company's website.

January 8, 2019

Update Your Business Plan for 2019

Ronald B. Allen

Resolve to update your business plan for the New Year. Using Liveplan will allow you to create an effective business plan and integrate it with your Quickbooks data.

December 29, 2018

Reduce Your Health Care Practice Overhead?

Ronald B. Allen

Your health care practice is taking care of the health of your patients but expenses are killing your finances. How can you reduce your health care practice overhead?

December 27, 2018

Find the Hidden Costs in Your Small Business

Ronald B. Allen

Hidden costs are eating into your profits each and every month. Work with business intelligence tools like QuickBooks Online to ferret out and get rid of these costs that are dragging down your profits.

December 22, 2018

3 Good Ways to Increase Business Profits

Ronald B. Allen

If you would like to increase your business profits, here are five great systems to implement in your business to help you to achieve your goals.

December 20, 2018

Negotiate Better Agreements with Health Insurers

Ronald B. Allen

The good old days of your health care practice are gone. You need to take a long and hard look at the financial aspects of your business and negotiate better agreements with health insurance companies.

December 12, 2018

SmartVault Is the Smart Way to Work in the Cloud

Ronald B. Allen

SmartVault is smart business when you need to store and access documents online. It seamlessly integrates with many of the software apps you already have.

December 11, 2018

Work in the Cloud Securely with SmartVault

Ronald B. Allen

When you decide to upload your business information to work and share in the cloud go with the solution specifically designed for business use, SmartVault.

December 8, 2018

Which Is Better - SmartVault or Google Drive?

Ronald B. Allen

When you want to store family photos and collaborate on a document or two, Google Drive works OK. When you need a cloud-bases service for business purposes, choose SmartVault.

December 6, 2018

Professional Document Sharing with SmartVault

Ronald B. Allen

When you want to store documents or collaborate online, go with the professional grade document sharing solution, SmartVault.

November 27, 2018

Getting the most out of your QuickBooks data?

Ronald B. Allen

Are you getting the most out of your QuickBooks data? Here are a few ways to address this issue...

November 12, 2018

Tax Resolution for Cryptocurrency Trading Profits

Ronald B. Allen

It has been estimated that as many as fifteen million US taxpayers will need to ante up on back taxes as the IRS forces cryptocurrency exchanges to turn over their customer lists.

November 9, 2018

Do You Need Help with Taxes on Coinbase Profits?

Ronald B. Allen

This year the cryptocurrency company, Coinbase, sent out 1099-K forms to customers whose capital gains rose to the level needed to pay taxes.

November 9, 2018

How does the IRS Collect What You Owe Them?

Ronald B. Allen

If you owe the IRS money, or at least they think you do, the first thing is that you will receive a CP14 notice. This communication tells you how to resolve this issue.

November 8, 2018

Need to Do When the IRS Contacts You?

Ronald B. Allen

If you receive a notice from the IRS, that can be pretty nerve-wracking. What do you need to do?

November 3, 2018

Outsource Bookkeeping and It Can Pay Itself

Ronald B. Allen

Outsource Your Bookkeeping - use the Profit First system to manage your cash better and see your profits increase.

November 3, 2018

Protection with Office 365 Authentication

Ronald B. Allen

Store your information in the cloud and it is accessible from everywhere. But, be sure to protect Office your valuable data with 365 multi-factor authentication!

November 2, 2018

Three Reasons Why You Need a Business Plan

Ronald B. Allen

Business startups need a plan. Good business plans make it easier to get business loans...

November 1, 2018

Combining Data from Multiple QB Reports

Ronald B. Allen

Do You Need to Combine Data from Multiple QB Reports into One? Learn how to use business intelligence tools to report on QuickBooks info from several sets of data.

November 1, 2018

Are You Creating Reports Each Month in Excel?

Ronald B. Allen

Your business reports deserve more than just an Excel spreadsheet. Learn to use all of the tools that Excel offers for your business reports.

October 26, 2018

Using QuickBooks, Live Plan, and Profit First

Ronald B. Allen

At Exigo Business Solutions our goal is to help you meet your small business goals. We love to help our clients turn their dreams into a profitable reality.

October 25, 2018

Outsource Bookkeeping For A More Profitable

Ronald B. Allen

When Exigo Business Solutions talks to any business owner about taking over their bookkeeping, there is one recurring question...

September 6, 2018

Smart Accounting to Smart Financial Decisions

Ronald B. Allen

When your books are a mess, so is your business. If this is your problem you need to outsource your bookkeeping and accounting.

August 30, 2018

Get the Exact Bookkeeping That You Need

Ronald B. Allen

With smart outsourcing, you can pay for and get exactly the bookkeeping that you need. But, if you pick the right company for the task, like Exigo Business Solutions, there will be some pleasant surprises.

August 29, 2018

3 Advantages of Outsourcing Bookkeeping

Ronald B. Allen

Outsourcing your bookkeeping helps you get the job done right and on time at a lower cost. It increases your own efficiency at work and can provide information and insights critical to the success of your business.

August 14, 2018

If You Fail to Maintain Bookkeeping Records

Ronald B. Allen

Running a business is hard work! Your books are one of the biggest tasks that are easily messed up if you don't make sure to get things set up correctly or don't maintain good records. Here are just some of the things that can happen if you don't keep proper books.

August 10, 2018

A Quick "How to" on Choosing a Bookkeeper

Ronald B. Allen

Small business owners typically do the bare minimum when it comes to bookkeeping. However, your financials are what give you insight to your business. Don't allow lack of time to ruin your business. Hire a Bookkeeper. Here's how...

July 27, 2018

Preparing a P&L (Income Statement)

Ronald B. Allen

Learn what a Profit & Loss Statement, otherwise known as an Income Statement, is , what it does, what's needed to run the report, as well as how to run the report.

July 27, 2018

Creating a Balance Sheet

Ronald B. Allen

Learn what a Balance sheet is, what it does, how it helps your business, what it uses to run the report and step by step instructions on how to run the report.

June 28, 2018

5 Simple Bookkeeping Tricks for Small Businesses

Ronald B. Allen

5 Tips to keep your small business bookkeeping accurate and in order.

June 25, 2018

Effective Inventory and Performance Tracking

Ronald B. Allen

Effective inventory control is an essential part of your business growth. It should always be in trustworthy hands for uninterrupted growth and conversions.

Setting Up Small Business Payroll

Ronald B. Allen

When you set up a payroll structure for employees in your small business, there are several pieces to the puzzle. Your system for payroll includes how employees log in to record time worked and how wages are distributed for time worked. What might seem to be a simple process at first needs to include sick day calculations, holidays, vacation days, and varying rates of pay for overtime. The job can be stressful, especially if you have no experience setting up small business payroll. You need to pay employees on time, withhold the correct amounts for Medicare taxes and Social Security as well as state, federal, and local taxes. You are required to report all tax liabilities to your employees and the appropriate agencies as well. The Small Business Administration provides useful information on their site on the Hire and Manage Employees page. Here is some info to get you started.

How to Run a Successful Electrical Business

Ronald B. Allen

You need electrical skills in an electrical business but how to run a successful electrical business also requires business savvy. Let us help you.

How Is Your Plumbing Business Website Performing?

Ronald B. Allen

In today’s business world, your plumbing business needs an effective website to attract attention to your business. Your site needs to explain what you do and provide an efficient way for customers to contact you. When your site is not working, it hurts your business. If this is the case with your plumbing business, we offer an audit of your website landing page to help you get back on track.

Plumbing Business SEO and Success

Ronald B. Allen

“Here’s What Gives Your Plumbing Business the Same Advantages Large Companies Possess When It Comes to Marketing, SEO, and Web Design.”

Increase Profits in Your HVAC Business

Ronald B. Allen

You can increase profits in your HVAC business without working yourself to death. Smart business management is the answer.

Control Electrical Business Costs

Ronald B. Allen

When your electrical business has lots of clients and lots of cash coming in, you would think that you would be seeing handsome profits as well. That is not always the case. Inefficiencies in your business, hidden costs, and poor control of cash flow can shrink your profits. But, there are ways to control electrical business costs so that you see routine and growing profits.

Make More Money with Less Work in Your HVAC Business

Ronald B. Allen

Profitable Electrical Business Specialties

Ronald B. Allen

Reduce Plumbing Business Overhead

Ronald B. Allen

Here are some thoughts on how to reduce plumbing business overhead, make your business more efficient, and realize higher profits.

Tips for a Successful Plumbing Business

Ronald B. Allen

There are tried and true ways to develop a successful plumbing business. Here are a few suggestions.

Profitable Plumbing Contracts

Ronald B. Allen

The key to success in your plumbing business is not just how much work you do but how many profitable plumbing contacts you have. How do you go about having profitable work instead of lots of work that barely pays your bills?

Bookkeeping for Plumbers

Ronald B. Allen

To run a successful plumbing business you need to know your trade and how to manage the business of providing plumbing services. Bookkeeping for plumbers is not just about tallying the numbers and showing how much profit (or loss) you have. Your bookkeeping should help you identify opportunities to exploit and problems to fix.

Send Information to the Right People

Ronald B. Allen

Use Outlook 2016 to ensure that sure everyone you send an email to gets correct access and modern attachments. At the same time use this tool to avoid having lots of versions of the very same files clogging up your inbox.

Update Your Business Plan for 2020

Ronald B. Allen

When you started your small business several years ago you developed a business plan. Your plan helped you to set priorities, maintain control, and get financing. But, every year you need an update!

Online Bookkeeping Services

Ronald B. Allen

In the Kansas City area, Exigo Business Solutions offers online bookkeeping services. Save time and money by outsourcing this job and realize the benefits of insightful reports and efficient business practices.

Remote Retailer Sales Tax Obligations

Ronald B. Allen

Remote retailer sales tax obligations are here to stay. Work with us at Exigo Business Solutions in the Kansas City area to meet this evolving challenge.

The Role of Profit First in Managing a Business Crisis

Ronald B. Allen

Profit First professionals like the folks at Exigo Business Solutions can show you the role of Profit First in managing a business crisis. As us how this is.

Accounting Outsourcing Services Kansas City

Ronald B. Allen

Cost of Outsourced Bookkeeping

Ronald B. Allen

Does Your Company Need a Controller or a CFO?

Ronald B. Allen

You need a controller or CFO. In this article we discuss which you might need, if you need both, and if virtual controller or CFO services are your best choice.

Kansas City Area Bookkeeping Services

Ronald B. Allen

For any small business in the Kansas City area bookkeeping services are a must. Exigo Business Solutions also offers IT upgrades, marketing strategies, and more.

What Are Research and Development Tax Credits?

Ronald B. Allen

What are research and development tax credits qualifying activities? | In order to receive tax credits for your R&D it must take place in the USA and meet qualification rules.

The New 2021 1099

Ronald B. Allen

The 1099 Form is what you need to fill out, file, and give to a person who did work for you but who is not a regular employee. Independent contractors and freelancers may require a 1099 MISC form or a 1099 NEC form. But, there are other 1099 forms. And the new 2021 1099 form will have changes from 2020.

9 Tips for Reducing Small Business Taxable Income

Ronald B. Allen

Set Up Reminders for Payments and Deadlines

Ronald B. Allen

When you set up reminders for payments and deadlines in your payroll system, you will avoid problems and unnecessary expenses. Using an automated payroll system cuts down on human error and reduces expenses. At Exigo Business Solutions we commonly recommend QuickBooks to our clients for standard bookkeeping work, payroll, and tracking financial issues to increase productivity and profits. By setting up payroll and payment reminders you will get the work done on time and not make the mistake of making unnecessary payments that deplete your capital before pay day.

Payroll Problems and How to Solve Them

Ronald B. Allen

Payroll problems can be a huge headache in any business. Expenses go up, time gets spent fixing things that should have been done right in the first place, and everyone is unhappy, especially your employees. Payroll problems are easier to avoid than to fix. While many small businesses still do manual payroll, the more efficient route is to invest in payroll software and learn how to use it. But, even with advanced payroll software, there can be problems. Here are a few of those payroll problems and how to solve them.

Why Your Company Needs a Virtual Controller

Ronald B. Allen

While regular bookkeeping tallies up the numbers after the fact, a controller oversees the daily bookkeeping and accounting operations of your business.

Are You Managing Your Business Finances Successfully?

Ronald B. Allen

A good idea and lots of hard work can result in a successful business, providing that you are managing your business finances successfully. How do you do this?

Small Business

Running a small business can be very rewarding and profitable. And, running a small business can be difficult as you deal with all of the details. In our Small Business section our aim is to help you put things in perspective, learn to do the most important things first, and find the hidden costs that sap your profits and your strength. Small business sales can be strong but your small business profits may not be. Read our articles in this section for help in avoiding small business pitfalls and realizing growing profits.
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Business Strategy

Strategic planning is a process. It helps you to document and establish a direction for your small business. Strategic planning allows you to define your business's mission, vision, and values. A well-formulated business strategy can play an essential role in your company's growth and eventual success as it tells you and your employees how to respond to challenges and opportunities.

Marketing Strategy

Marketing plays an integral role for small businesses. Even if you have excellent employees, sell the best products, or offer top-notch services, your business may not grow as expected if you do not have a well-planned marketing strategy. As a business owner, you need to identify your customers and develop a plan to make them patronize your business. Having a Strategy First Mindset will help get your company known and have a solid online presence.

Tax and IRS Resolution

Tax season can be a stressful time for everyone, especially small business owners. Staying compliant with the IRS is one way to remove stress from owning a business. Waiting till the year ends before preparing your taxes will only make things more complicated. Creating a Tax Strategy, Consistently Filing Quarterly Taxes and Staying current on Payroll Taxes are also key to staying compliant with the Internal Revenue Service.

Small Business Tips and Tricks

No one is born an expert at business. For any business to succeed, the business owner must be ready and willing to learn. Some specific tips and tricks contribute to the success of small business strategies. Some of them include: investing in marketing, separating business and personal finances, and periodic training of employees.

Technology and Apps

The introduction of accounting software and other technology to businesses can increase productivity by a large margin. Technology helps reduce human errors as much as possible and helps to save time. Quickbooks, Dext, LivePlan, and Fathom are a few of the applications that will be useful for your business.

IT Strategies

IT (Information Technology) strategy is a plan or document that outlines your organization’s ability to create value using technology. An IT strategy is essential for organizations for several reasons. Some of these reasons include improvement in budget planning, reduced emergency planning expenses, and increased uptime. An IT strategy helps you harness technology to improve your business’ overall output. When your IT strategies agree with your business strategy, technology becomes a tool that opens up your business opportunities to grow.

Outsourced Accounting and Bookkeeping

Small businesses need time to succeed and doing your own accounting and bookkeeping is often time consuming and frustrating. Outsourcing these responsibilities will give you time to focus on other aspects of the business. By outsourcing, you also benefit from things like having a team of experts to handle your accounts, more cost-effective services, professional advice, and access to advanced accounting and bookkeeping technologies.
Profit First Strategies helps business owners experience profit.

Small Business

Successfully run a small business, you need to know and apply the basics but you also need to know a few "tricks of the trade." A profitable small business does not just have lots of sales but also systems in place to turn sales into profits. This includes having a bookkeeping system that provides you with insights instead of just presenting you with columns of numbers. Your bookkeeping should help you make good business decisions and direct where your business in headed next. At Exigo Business Solutions we don't just do your books and taxes or give accounting advice. We work with you to help make your small business efficient, effective, and ultimately profitable. We offer unique ways to approach doing your books such as the Profit First System. And, with the Fix This Next approach we help you find and fix the basic issues in your business that steal your time and rob you of profits. Read our articles for general principles and a few tips and tricks to make running your small business efficient, profitable, and fun!