Tax season is over, but you may still be waiting to recover from the stress and anxiety associated with that hectic time.  In order to be your best professional self, sometimes you have to hit the reset bottom.   Here are three things you can do to strengthen your focus and rejuvenate your efforts:

Move

From January first to April 15^th, tax preparers spend hours upon hours sitting at a desk.   Often these hours stretch long into the evening with no opportunity to move around and exercise.  Getting back into or starting a regular exercise regime is a great way to boost your energy level.  It’s no secret that exercise increases your metabolism as well as your self-image.  When you exercise regularly you feel better about yourself, are more confident, and work with vigor and vitality.  And even if you don’t follow a specific exercise plan, try to inject a little more activity into your life.  This means taking time everyday to do something that makes you feel good, like cycling, gardening, walking or playing the Wii.  This gives you the opportunity to unwind and release tension, which helps you work at an optimum level and give your business the best you have.

Sleep

Tax season can knock any sleep routine out of whack.  And if you practice sleep deprivation for long enough, you may come to struggle with insomnia as well.  You owe it to yourself and your business to get enough sleep.  Experts suggest you get approximately eight hours of sleep per night.  Unfortunately many people are currently running on a sleep deficit, in need of catching up on sleep in order to function properly.  In order to get your body back on track, try refraining from caffeine and alcohol for a week and consistently getting seven to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep per night.  On the seventh day let yourself sleep in.  If you sleep longer than eight hours, you’re functioning on a sleep deficit and your body has some catching up to do.  If not, you should continue to get those eight hours of valuable sleep.  In the end, this one act can improve your performance at work, thus improving your business.

Vacation

What good is it to have your own business and work hard to bring in more income if you don’t occasionally enjoy it?  In order to truly refresh yourself and spend quality time with your family, you need to take a regular vacation and enjoy one another’s company.  Whether you cruise the Caribbean or go camping, it’s important that you spend dedicated time away from work.  In fact, a good time to plan for that vacation is right now.  Get out your calendar and schedule a celebratory summer getaway!

It’s important that you take the time to relax and recover from yet another stressful tax season.  By engaging in more activity, ensuring your body gets enough sleep and planning a relaxing vacation, you can give yourself the opportunity to revitalize your efforts and avoid burnout.

A Good Read

If you’re looking for a good book to enjoy as you try to schedule more R&R into your work week, consider one that will enable you to increase your business’s profitability. In the Black by Allen Bostrom, President and CEO of Universal Accounting Center, is filled with 9 straight-forward and proven principles that will make your tax practice more lucrative.  It’s been on Amazon Japan’s bestseller list and is a quick read that will give you valuable principles that you can begin applying immediately!  For less than $20 you can change the course of your business while enjoying a little downtime.  Order your copy today!

It can be difficult to plan during a recession when uncertainty is often the only predictable factor.  So what do you do?  Bnet, a professional website offering business advice, suggests a framework for Discovery-Driven Planning, developed by Wharton professor Ian MacMillan and Columbia Business School professor Rita Gunther McGrath.  Their six-step process is intended to gather the information necessary to best navigate through uncertain situations.

1. Framing

This first step requires you to ask a lot of questions regarding your business and its purpose.  For example, in order to be profitable, what type of bottom-line must you achieve?  How many clients do you need in order to realize that bottom-line?  And is your current (or anticipated) business model able to facilitate profitability.  The purpose of framing is to articulate your goals and then work backwards to see what steps are required to achieve them.

2. Competitive market reality specification

In order to make the best business decisions you must attain a realistic view of your competition.  Benchmarking compares your business with competitors of equal size in order to identify areas of improvement for short and long-term action.  Without this data you’re flying blind through an economic storm.

3. Specifying deliverables

This is where you articulate what you want your business to achieve.  Your deliverables should not only be realistic but specific.  How many clients will you add?  How much income will that generate?  Once you have a list of specific deliverables you can determine what’s necessary to achieve your desired results.

4. Assumption testing

Whether or not you acknowledge it, your deliverables come with certain assumptions or expectations that must be managed.  As you move forward on your action plan, you must take note of these assumptions, and then prepare to test them.

5. Managing milestones

Once you determine what your assumptions or expectations are, you can plan to test them in the form of milestones.  In the description of their Discover-Driving Planning process, MacMillan and McGrath explain, “A milestone is a critical, identifiable point in time at which key assumptions are tested. In discovery-driven planning, you plan in detail as far as the limits of current knowledge make sensible, then stop, revisit your assumptions, and replan at each milestone.”

6. Parsimony

As much as possible, you should keep costs down until your assumptions are tested.  MacMillan and McGrath suggest that you “think of this step as spending your imagination before your money.”

In today’s uncertain economic environment, it’s important that you use as much information as is available to make strategic business decisions.  In order to help you achieve that, Universal Accounting Center offers customized business assessments designed to help you compare your business with the competition, fulfilling step two of the Discovery-Driven Planning process.

UAC Provides Customized Business Assessments for Businesses

Universal Accounting Center (UAC) is in the business of seeing small businesses like yours succeed.  And we know one of the ways to accomplish that is to provide you with all the valuable information of a customized business assessment.  How does it work? From several of your company’s key business metrics, we will run a full analysis of your organization’s financial health. This includes a follow-up counseling session with one of our profitability coaches to help get your business on the fast track to increased profitability.

Universal’s reports will interpret and explain your industry benchmarks and provide the following customized features:

• Executive Summary highlights strengths
• Industry percentile rankings for 20 major financial ratios
• Interpretation of variances from industry norms
• Bold graphs that show comparisons
• Profit improvement “what if” financial capabilities
• “Discussion Ideas” section that provides a springboard for action

Click here to view a sample business assessment performed by Universal Accounting Center.

You owe it to your business to get a complete financial picture of how it compares to others in the industry. It’s a tool that will enable you to better navigate through the recession.  Add to the detailed analysis provided in your business analysis an hour of business consulting, and you have an amazingly great value.  Call UAC at 1-(800) 343-4827 for more information about getting your own customized business assessment!

Resources

Girard, Kim.  “Three Tools to Manage Uncertainty.” BNET
MacMillan, Ian and Rita Gunther McGrath.  “Using Discovery-Driving Planning in Business Building.” October 2002   Wharton@Work

There are countless entrepreneurs who have paved the way to success with fortitude and perseverance.  In this article we examine a handful of great minds whose journey to success may provide a good example for others, like you, to follow.

Bill Gates

“As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – BG

Known as a revolutionary in the computer world, Bill Gates became successful largely because he was able to anticipate market needs.  Whether or not you like Gates, you have to acknowledge his widespread success and fame.  More than a nerdy computer techie, he has an expansive vision that includes a strategic approach to both product marketing and distribution.

Henry Ford

“An idealist is a person who helps other people to be prosperous.” – HF

Henry Ford is known for making the horseless carriage affordable enough for the masses.  Once he had accomplished that he went on to increase production with the use of the assembly line.  Ford’s great success came in his vision of a limitless prospective client base.  He would continue to wonder how he could make his product more accessible to customers.

Mark Kay Ash

“I think the biggest legacy we are going to leave is a whole community of children who believe they can do anything in this world because they watched their mamas do it.” – MKS

A cosmetic giant, Mary Kay Ash built a company that has promoted the entrepreneurialism of women around the globe.  Her desire to upturn stereotypes and afford women the opportunity to work independently has made her famous for not just her pink Cadillacs, but her undying spirit and unwillingness to follow social conventions.  And in providing her consultants an appealing business opportunity, she has become one of the most prominent businesswomen herself.

George Lucas

“You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you.  If you don’t have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle.” – GL

Known mostly for his success as a film director and producer, George Lucas’ true staying power as an entrepreneur was found in believing in a product no one else, at the time, believed in.  In order to retain ownership of the Star Wars sequel and merchandizing rights, Lucas cut his directorial fees by $500,000.  In the end, that half a million dollars exploded into tens of millions as Lucas became the forerunner of film merchandizing.

What can you learn from these prominent entrepreneurs?  You must believe in your vision enough to pursue it relentlessly, regardless of what others may think of your tactics.  You must also believe in your prospective customers and work tirelessly to give them a valuable product and/or service.

Let Universal Lift Your Entrepreneurial Spirit

If you need a little inspiration to kick your entrepreneurial spirit into high gear, we suggest you consider working with UAC’s motivation speakers.  Universal Accounting Center has some exceptional speakers on staff who can motivate you and your team to excel.  With a number of individuals experienced in a variety of topics, they can help you better serve your clients, better market your practice, and better grow your wealth.  Learn more about Universal Accounting Center’s speaker and book one for your next event!

Resources

“Great Minds in Business.”  Entrepreneur.com

“The best effect of any book is that it excites the reader to self activity.” – Thomas Carlyle

“I often feel sorry for people who don’t read good books; they are missing a chance to lead an extra life.” – Scott Corbett

“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” – Walt Disney

Whether you have an established tax practice or you’ve been thinking about starting one, you can benefit from the advice of others who have gone before and, in one way or another, achieved success.  Once again, we’re helping you find books that will enable you to achieve your business goals.  This week we took a cue from Entrepreneur.com to supply you with 5 book recommendations that others have found helpful, in no particular order.

Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World’s Greatest Company by Michael S. Malone (Portfolio, 2007)

This book follows the rise of corporate giants William Hewlett and David Packard, examining those characteristics that made them both successful.  The San Francisco Chronicle calls it “a lesson plan for managers…” while Businessweek calls it “…a biography, management guidebook, and business history, all in one.”  What sets this book apart from others is that Malone focuses on the honesty and integrity upon which Hewlett and Packard built their empire.

New Ideas from Dead CEOs: Lasting Lessons from the Corner Office by Todd G. Buchholz (Collins, 2007)

Author Todd Buchholz follows the lives of 10 successful CEOs, including Estee Lauder, Ray Kroc, Walt Disney and Mary Kay Ash.  Buchholz himself describes the book’s purpose upfront: “I dare you. Search this book for the solitary secret that will guarantee riches while protecting you from being flung against the wall by competitors. You won’t find it.  Not because I have failed to divulge the lives and lessons of great CEOs, but because I tried to reveal the simple truth about making it big: It does not take a village, a Harvard MBA, or even a rich uncle. It takes passion, and obsession with turning a great idea into a sweeping revolution.”

Your Management Sucks: Why You Have to Declare War on Yourself…and Your Business by Mark Stevens (Crown Business, 2006)

This book enables anyone in a management position to reevaluate his/her approach and identify weaknesses that must be overcome in order to run a successful business.  In fact, this book presents a week-long “battle plan” that, in Stevens’ own words, “challenges assumptions about success and provides a road map for taking your business to the next level.”

Buddha: 9 to 5 – The Eightfold Path to Enlightening Your Workplace and Improving Your Bottom Line by Nancy Spears (Adams Media, 2007)

This book takes the Buddhist practice called the Eightfold Path and gives it a corporate spin, complete with practical exercises and case studies that enable readers to see the Eightfold Business Path in action.  Focusing on the Buddhist concepts of intention, mindfulness, and right action, this book provides a very zen approach to better managing your business, your employees and your work environment.

Red to Black in 30 Days by Allen Bostrom (Universal Accounting Center, 2008)

Small businesses are failing right and left; we hope yours is not one of them.  Red to Black in 30 Days enables readers to learn the Universal Project Management Model that will enable them to save failing businesses.   This book is a guideline for financial professionals who work with disheartened small business owners in need of a good turnaround plan.

Each chapter focuses on a crucial aspect of the turnaround process. Simple steps are outlined from initial contact through stabilization and profitable growth. This can be the guide through your first turnaround experience or it can enhance the management skills of even the seasoned tax preparer.  You may find that in offering turnaround services your business (and those of your clients) will be the few that thrive in these difficult financial times. For the cost of this one book you can enhance your value to current and prospective clients.  Order your copy now.

Resources

Edelhauser, Kristin. “10 Biz Books to Read This Summer.” 31 May 2007  Entrepreneur.com

7 Easy Ways to Streamline Your Business

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. – Hans Hofmann

To simplify complications is the first essential of success. – George Earle Buckle

Managing a small business can be overwhelming.  If you’re not careful, you can be overrun by paperwork, appointments, and countless finite details.  The one way to focus your business’s efforts is to simplify.  Here are seven quick tips in streamlining your tax practice:

1. Pay small bills in advance.

When you’re able to cut back on the number of bills you’re paying, you streamline your accounts payable and simplify one important accounting process.  Focus on those bills that are smallest and pay them off as quickly as possible.

2. Maintain a business bank account.

Another tip for streamlining your accounting processes is in establishing a business account.  In this, you avoid the hassle of trying to distinguish personal transactions from business transactions.

3. Use a business credit card.

This will not only simplify your accounting process, but it will enable you to get a snapshot of your spending all on one statement.

4. Perform an organizational overhaul.

Precious time is wasted when you operate in a cluttered office.  The time you spend looking for files could be better spent on preparing tax returns.  When you find a place for everything and put everything in its place, you are able to operative your business more efficiently.

5. Practice good time management.

Be militant in managing your schedule.  Don’t plan more meetings than necessary. Prioritize your tasks so that you spend more time on profitable endeavors.

6. Reduce processes.

As much as possible, you must streamline your business operations.  Look for repetitive tasks that can be eliminated or combined in order to simplify your processes.

7. Determine your benchmark.

Have you established any benchmarks for your business?  When you’re able to compare your practice with others in your area, you become better equipped to compete and operate both efficiently and profitably.  You are also able to establish reasonable goals for your business that will enable you to accomplish the success you dream of.

Universal Accounting Center (UAC) is in the business of seeing small businesses like yours succeed.  One of the ways to accomplish that is by providing you with all the valuable information of a customized business assessment.  How does it work? From several of your company’s key business metrics, we will run a full analysis on the financial health of your organization. This includes a follow-up counseling session with one of our profitability coaches to help get your business on the fast track to increased profitability.

You owe it to your business to get a complete financial picture of how it compares to others in the industry. Add to the detailed analysis provided in your business assessment an hour of business consulting, and you have an amazingly great value. It’s time your business’s health was examined; it will ensure your business enjoys a longer, more vibrant life.  Call UAC at 1-(800) 343-4827 and order your business assessment today!

Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right. – Oprah Winfrey

With the New Year just a couple weeks away, many are preparing to jump-start their businesses with new approaches and strategies.  Last week we introduced the following five tips to help you prepare for a more productive and profitable New Year:

1.    Revamp workplace

2.    Clean up computer files

3.    Revisit damaged relationships

4.    Create a financial forecast

5.    Implement new techniques and services

This week we’ll complete this series by covering the final five tips on preparing your tax practice for a New Year of business:

6. Consider final tax benefits

You’re a tax professional; this one should be a no-brainer.  In fact, you’ve probably already given your clients this tip.  Take advantage of holiday sales to purchase items your business will need next year. They’re deductible and you should easily be able to stock up on furniture, supplies, and other equipment you use in your business.

7. Contact clients

Some businesses send holiday cards or even give gifts.  Whatever you do, it’s important that you remind clients of your services before the New Year begins.  You may also want to take the opportunity to share with them your valuable, year-round tax planning services which can help them lower their tax liability and ultimately save them money.

8. Go green

More and more professionals are looking for ways to lessen the impact of their businesses on the environment.  Consider incorporating a few environmentally conscious techniques that will ultimately save you money in the long run: recycle, look at alternative energy sources, cut back on energy consumption and waste, and consider purchasing a hybrid vehicle.  Some of these practices are accompanied with valuable tax breaks.  That, and it will just make you feel good.

9. Eliminate clutter

No one likes to start the New Year with a messy office.  Give your office a good cleaning before 2009 so that you’re not dreading the paperwork stacked on your desk.  Along with revamping your office, creating a clean and functional workspace will make you more productive.  Not to mention, you may enjoy your work more.

10. Create your New Year business strategy

Every business should evaluate their standing and, based on scrutiny of past performance, create a strategy that will enable their practices to be more productive in the New Year.  As you assess your business’s performance, consider ways you might improve your marketing strategies, networking approaches, and work processes.  From there you can develop a list of resolutions that will make your business more profitable.

Choose the Programs that Will Best Suit Your New Year Needs

Universal Accounting Center has a host of programs designed to help professionals like you enhance their service offerings and grow their practices.  Learn more about these programs by purchasing our special DVD set which includes the following:

Introduction to the Professional Bookkeeper Program

Learn how becoming a Professional Bookkeeper will enable you to enhance your service offerings and remain busy year-round and not just during tax season.

Yes Sample Marketing CD

Learn how to introduce your services to a potential client. Use this to role playing, watch with a prospective client or pass it out.

Start Today and Have Your Own Bookkeeping Service

Learn how to make over $80,000 per year working from home while getting more clients than you can handle. Know how to charge your client so you can afford to take that next vacation while they get such a great deal they will be telling all their friends about you.

The Art and Science of Getting Clients

Learn how to get more clients by using our proven methods.

After watching these videos you’ll have the information you need to select the programs that will benefit your practice and enable you to experience the profitability and growth you desire.  2009 is your year!  Realize your New Year resolutions this time around.  Order this special video library today!

5 Questions to Ask Yourself

Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. – George S. Patton

There’s nothing more demoralizing than a leader who can’t clearly articulate why we’re doing what we’re doing. – James Kouzes and Barry Posner

Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in front of it. – John Naisbitt

Small business owners are, by default, managers.  And if they have employees, they better be good leaders as well.  Leaders, by definition, are able to steer an organization and its resources to success.  Are you a good leader?  Ask yourself the following five questions to determine whether or not your business has a good leader at its helm:

1. Is your business headed in the right direction?

The best sign that you are a good leader is when your business is headed in the right direction, headed being the operative word.  While your business may not have yet achieved perfection, it’s important that it be improving by the month.  If not, you should reevaluate your current financial situation and see where you must shift your attention in order to see more profitability and growth.

2. Do you regularly research industry trends?

It’s important that you know what’s happening in your industry.  If you become too busy to follow current tax trends and keep up with the every-changing tax law, you’ll not only be ill-informed, but you’re most likely to be out of work very soon.  Small businesses that have a lead on the competition are generally run by individuals who know where their industry is headed and have incorporated those trends that will help them remain on top.

3. Are you enthusiastic, sharing your vision with clients and employees?

Employees are inspired by leaders with a clear vision.  Do you have a vision?  If not, you must create one, and soon.  If so, you must practice sharing it with employees and clients.  Your ability to transmit your enthusiasm to those with whom you associate will do wonders for your business.  Enthusiasm is contagious, and the sooner it starts catching at you business, the better.

4. Do you communicate clearly and succinctly?

Your ability to communicate well will often evidence itself in your employees’ actions.  If they are following your directions and fulfilling your requests without incident, chances are you’re communicating clearly, in a manner that is well understood by those who work for you.  If not, chances are you’re not being as straightforward and clear and you might like.  Good leaders are also good communicators who can articulate their messages without extreme effort.

5. Are your employees proactive and independent?

Good leaders hire and train employees that don’t require much oversight.  Not only that, if you lead by example you’ll find that your staff desires to work independently, fulfilling their job requirements in such a way that your vision will be quickly realized.  If you find yourself continually micromanaging your employees, you need to change your approach.  Perhaps they need more training or encouragement to magnify their responsibilities.

Good Leaders Provide Employees with Valuable Training

If you would like to improve your leadership skills, consider offering group training to your employees.  You can learn from UAC’s example while offering your employees something that will impact your business in a positive and profitable way.  We offer valuable business management training, which helps your employees develop a strong company culture that’s committed to its own financial success.  Or consider accounting, bookkeeping and tax staff training which enables each employee to become a Profit Expert within your organization.  Either would jumpstart your business for the New Year.  To learn more, visit Universal Accounting Center today!

Business Advice From a 21 year old Entrepreneur? You Betcha!

Learn from Those Who Have Thought “Out of the Box”

At 12-years old Cameron Johnson started his second (yes, second) business. He purchased his little sister’s Beanie Baby collection for just $100. He sold it on Ebay for $1000, after which he promptly applied to become a retailer for several Beanie Baby manufacturers. Using a personal computer he got for Christmas when he was nine, he sold Beanie Babies from his website, eventually making $50,000 from this venture.

Now 21, Cameron has successfully started, managed and sold 12 businesses. You might say he’s an entrepreneurial phenomenon. He continues to be involved in several businesses, has been featured in over 200 news stories, is a motivational speaker, and is currently celebrating the publishing of his first book, You Call the Shots. This young businessman offers 3 principles for success to other entrepreneurs like himself.

Believe in yourself.
Cameron mentions the first principle to success is confidence. A little moxie, pluck, spunk, and self-assurance can go a long way. He says, “It’s actually not that difficult to succeed. It’s much more common sense than rocket science. But it starts with finding the courage to put yourself out there.”

Self-confidence is what give you the courage to respond positively to rejection; it also gives you the ability to trust your own instincts, which Cameron says is crucial when running your own business. “You can learn all kinds of things from other people, but ultimately it’s your own instincts that you’ll need to rely on.”

And finally, a belief in yourself will resonate to those you interact with. While your product and/or service may be exceptional, clients and potential clients must also believe in you for your business to be successful.

Believe in what you’re selling.
It’s difficult to sell something if you don’t believe it has any value. Regardless of what you’re selling, you need to appreciate its worth. Cameron firmly believes that a business person is also a salesperson, and that there’s a difference between being pushy and being persuasive. People resort to being pushy when selling something that’s useless. He says, “I’m persuasive when I’m selling, but that’s because I truly believe in what I’m selling and the value it will create for my customer. My feeling is, I’d be doing my customers a disservice if I let them not buy my product.”

Treat others with respect.
When you respect yourself, respect for others follows naturally. Cameron states that respect is the best secret of business success. When you treat each person you encounter with respect, your client base will grow as more and more individuals are attracted to both you and your services; these same people will also send family and friends your way because they will trust you to treat them well.

For such a young businessman, Cameron Johnson is brimming with confidence and ease. With such a bright past his future appears even more radiant. But the important thing to remember is that Cameron doesn’t have an MBA, and when he first started he didn’t have an impressive repertoire of business experience; he was simply a kid with a good idea, some common sense and gusto. And while he’s just 21, there’s probably a lot we can all learn from this young entrepreneur about believing in yourself.

For this and more information straight from Cameron himself, visit his article “A Teen Millionaire’s Three Principles to Success.”

Are you ready to take that next step? Are you tired of thinking, “Why not me?” You have gotten this far in your search to do what you want to in your chosen career, take the next step. The time is now to be able to get the training and the change you desire in your professional life. Click here to find out if Professional Tax Preparation Certification is a fit for you.

Young and Successful Entrepreneurs: What’s Their Secret?

Recently Inc.com released an article naming the top 30 entrepreneurs under 30 years old. From iPod accessories to business furniture, from real estate to large and trendy women’s shoes, and from popcorn seasonings to insomnia cookies, these young upstarts are clever and dedicated. But what else to do they have in common and how can it help other entrepreneurial hopefuls like you?

Obviously one thing they have in common is youth. But interestingly, they are part of a generation more likely to start their own businesses, not once but countless times. Donna Fenn reported that a recent survey conducted by OPEN from American Express found that 55% of Generation Y (born between 1977 and 1994) view themselves as serial entrepreneurs while only 33% of baby boomers do.

There are other commonalities among these young entrepreneurs, including a desire to take risks, familiarity with technology, and an understanding of their peers’ wants and needs.

Risk Enthusiasts
We all know that starting your own business requires a fair amount of risk taking. 70% of Gen Y says they like taking risks while only 53% of their older counterparts agree. While some of that can be attributed to having less to loose, it enables them to move forward without fear, focusing all their energy on making their venture work.

Familiarity with Technology
Because they’ve grown up with the Internet, multimedia, gadgets, widgets, and other technologies, they recognize its inherent value in helping promote and build their businesses. Not only do many of these 30 under 30 entrepreneurs have technology-based enterprises but most of them recognize the value of using the Internet to promote their businesses, either through viral marketing, blogging, websites, or other electronic means.

An Understanding of Their Peers Wants and Needs
Obviously, Generation Y makes up a large portion of the American population, nearly as much as the baby boomers. And because Gen Y is a large group of like-minded consumers, it serves these entrepreneurs well to know what appeals to them. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that many of these risk enthusiasts have a pulse on this young and hip market and know which business ventures are viable and which are not.

But you don’t have to be 17 to 30 in order to become a successful entrepreneur. But perhaps we could learn a thing or two from these trendy upstarts. Here’s some advice from just a few of these 30 young and successful entrepreneurs:

One thing I’ve learned is that you have to learn to celebrate the little successes when they happen, and not just worry about the failures all the time. —Ben Goldhirsh, Good

Identify your own weaknesses and find people that you can work with who will make up for that. —Nick Kenner, Just Salad

You have to have a vision of what you’re actually going to provide for someone. Why is someone going to use my service? What is it going to do for them? If you can actually solve somebody’s problem, the money will always follow. —Raj Lahoti, Online Guru

See yourself first, then sell your idea. Ninety percent of investors will invest in a person. If you create an ‘A’ team with a ‘B’ product, then you’ll have an ‘A’ company. If you create a ‘B’ team with an ‘A’ product, then you’ll have a ‘B’ company. —Miles Munz, InterviewStream

The most important thing is just to go out and start something. I think a lot of people feel as if they are not qualified yet or they just need to get X-amount of money in the bank before they go out and start something. And it doesn’t really matter what it is, you’ll get phenomenal experience starting everything. And eventually you’ll get a successful business under your belt. —Hayden Hamilton, GreenPrint

If It’s Accounting, It’s Universal:

Get to Know More About the Company That Will Change Your Career!

Universal Accounting is a company that is making a difference in the lives of their students! For those who are pursuing or looking into the possibilities of pursuing a career path into the Accounting, Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation services, you need to get to know more about what all Universal offers in their comprehensive training programs.

If you prefer onsite classroom study or looking for the benefits received on independent study, we have developed the programs that you will be able to get the one-on-one experience in your own home. The skills we have used over the course of the last 28 years, with the trial and error, the fine-tuning of accounting methods and strategies, and what we and thousands more have experienced running their own practices – we have provided to you the advantage to stay on top of your profession. Our coursework is designed to be exactly what you will be doing when you are servicing the biggest customer base available, the small business owner.

If you are looking for the knowledge, the skills, and the know-how to start or build your accounting or tax practice, or just looking to gain the essential skills to further your career in your place of business, Universal’s Programs are what you are going to need.

Click here to take the Video Tour of Universal and all that we offer to you, the accounting and tax professional to be the best in your field and to have the success in business and in your professional life that you are seeking.Our exclusive short term courses do just that!

Imagine staying on top of the latest in the industry and having access to the experts who can assist you through training? Imagine what you are learning can be applied the very next day at work? Imagine being able to keep the materials, and the reading for continued referencing as you take that path in Accounting, Bookkeeping and Tax Preparation? You don’t have to imagine too hard, because that is one of the many things you receive when you enroll in these specialized programs! Click here to get to know Universal Accounting.

Are You Ready For The Next Step?
Be in business for yourself, but not by yourself getting paid what you’re worth! Are you tired of thinking, “Why not me?” You have gotten this far in your search to do what you want to in your chosen career, take the next step. The time is now to be able to get the training and the change you desire in your professional life. Click here to find out if Professional Tax Preparation Certification is a fit for you.

Be the Profit Expert Professional for Small Business! Don’t hesitate another day in getting the Accounting and Marketing Training that makes the difference. Click here to get more information on what you need to know about becoming the Profit Center Expert for small business accounting and tax!