Get Rid of bad Clients
Businesses use up a large amount of time trying to satisfy bad customers. Hours upon the phone, refunds and constant headaches are caused by bad customers.  Your best customers are the ones that generate the most amount of money for you.  Bad customers may generate money, but then they suck it away with their bad behavior and over the top demands.  Businesses can really save money only focusing on the great customers.  Sort through your customer list using a simple grading system of A, B, C, D and F clients, and get rid of anyone who isn’t an A or B client.  You will be amazed at how much time you save...which is money.

The news that the Borders chain is liquidating is not surprising given the trouble the company has faced for quite some time. A lot of folks have great memories of time spent in Borders, but they will soon fade into the past. Meanwhile folks are telling me that some Borders stores are already in heavy liquidation mode and great deals can be found. Not to beat on a chain when it’s down, but the stores are going to be totally liquidated between now and September so if you have one nearby it might be a good idea to check in frequently. Don’t forget that Borders sells (or perhaps couldn’t sell) the Kobo eReader, and while there is no word these will be liquidated cheaply it does sound like everything must go. It might be a way to pick up a decent eReader on the cheap. Details on the Kobo Reader can still be found on the Borders web site, but don’t count on that being live for much longer.

Kobo runs the Borders online ebookstore and is separate from Borders so the readers will still work with the Kobo store.

By James Kendrick

If you're still scrambling to get your 2010 taxes filed, take heart. Last year was awash with small-business tax deductions.

And since 2011 may be less so, here are six tax breaks to take advantage of now: 1. Extra-big business vehicle deduction. If you bought a vehicle used for business last year, you're in luck -- some of the biggest deductions for business vehicles in recent years apply to vehicles bought in 2010, thanks to a one-time $8,000 bonus depreciation rule. You can get a total of over $11,000 in first-year writeoffs for a new car or truck purchased after Sept. 8, 2010, and 50 percent of the bonus for vehicles purchased in the earlier part of last year. For 2011, expect maximum depreciation of around $5,000.

2. General business credits can be applied against the Alternative Minimum Tax. The normal rule is if you or your business has to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, which is applied to high earners, you cannot apply most business credits to the AMT portion of your tax. But for 2010, you can reduce AMT tax with general business credits. 

3. Bigger, faster equipment write-offs. Rather than spreading a writeoff out over multiple years -- better known to accountants as depreciation -- you can write off up to $500,000 of new equipment that was purchased and in use in 2010 via the Section 179 deduction. This extends recession-era breaks that have been rolling for several years now.
 
4. Bonus equipment write-offs, too. If you bought more than $500,000 of equipment, you can write off the extra on your 2010 taxes as well -- 50 percent of the cost if you bought before Sept. 8 and put into use by the end of this year, and 100 percent if you bought after Sept. 8.
 
5. Double-deduction for self-employed health insurance premiums. Ordinarily, solopreneurs can deduct the cost of their health-insurance premiums from their profits, but the deduction doesn't reduce the gross-income figure on which self-employment tax is figured. This year, health-insurance premiums reduce both, helping to lower self-employment taxes, too.
 
6. Rising credits for employees' healthcare premiums. If you pay part of any employees' healthcare premiums, you can claim 35 percent of the cost as a tax credit. This healthcare-premium credit stays at this rate until 2013 -- and then goes up to a 50 percent credit, making it one of the few credits slated to rise.

The tricky part of this year's taxes is planning for estimated taxes for 2011. With all the uncertainty in the economy and in the outlook for next year's business writeoffs, it's time to take a best guess on what you should pay through the year.

My tax tip: Consult with a tax pro this season to plan your strategy for next April.  -Carol Tice, Entrepreneur Magazine

We all know that small businesses got turned down for loans more often during the recession -- especially newly formed businesses. But it's been a mystery how many business owners weren't even bothering to apply. Without that figure, it also wasn't clear how much pent-up demand for credit was really out there. A new study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation finally gives shape to the problem that dare not speak its name the past few years: How many entrepreneurs were afraid to even try to get a loan. 

A startup entrepreneur has to have a certain level of confidence to go into a bank and apply for a loan. In 2009, that confidence flagged badly, the Kauffman Firm Survey showed.

More than 20 percent of the nearly 5,000 firms surveyed said they didn't apply for loans that year because of fear of being turned down. Another 5 percent said they held off looking for private equity financing for the same reason. Their biggest challenge to getting credit was slow and/or lost sales, with 44 percent citing this as their primary problem. The runner-up was "unpredictable business conditions," which 22 percent of respondents named their top challenge.

If they didn't approach banks, how did entrepreneurs fund their businesses through the downturn? The survey showed about half the owners went into personal debt in 2009 to keep their business afloat.

"These firms clearly continue to feel the effects of the financial crisis in terms of lost sales and inability to obtain needed funding," Kauffman vice president of research and policy Robert Litan said in a statement on the study's release. "To promote job creation and strengthen the economy, entrepreneurs must be able to access financial capital to expand investments in research and development, and other growth strategies."

It'll be interesting to see the data for 2010 -- Kauffman plans to continue its data-collection project on new business ownership through this year. My gut tells me the fear of applying for loans has lingered straight into 2011. Once you've been hit with something like the economic crisis we've just experienced, it can take a while to get over it and regain your confidence.  - Carol Tice, Entrepreneur Magazine
Tight Times Solution:  Try Peer-to-Peer lending with Prosper.com

The number two question on everyone's mind is how to save money.  Number one, of course, is how to make more money.  But as we really dive into cutting costs, and being more savvy with with each dollar, we make the most intelligent choices about how we spend, and when we spend.  What is your favorite way of saving money, or what have you done to save money that you are most proud of?  Start by asking these questions to get the juices flowing.