Business – Page 3

5 Types of (Not So) Professional Emails You’re Sure to Encounter

Coffee brews, keyboards click, and professional emails fly. Office life is one of constant correspondence, sometimes even with people you could reach out and swat if the desire struck—which, undeniably, it does from time to time (especially when you find yourself the recipient of one of these five common—and irritating—types of professional emails.

1. The “I don’t want to bother you, but…”

What it looks like: Someone asking very politely for a favor.

What it really is: A desperate, clinging, last-ditch cry for help.

RE: A Quick Favor

Hi Kathryn,

How are you? How’s the reboot going? I hope you’re not too busy. How are the kids? I hope everything is well. I’m so sorry to do this to you, but I could really use your help with the project I’m working on. I really thought I could complete it by the 12th, but it wasn’t until I really got going that I realized how massive of a project it really was. If you could help me out, I would really appreciate it. I’ve attached a spreadsheet with the tasks that still need to be completed—could you please let me know if you’re available to take on any of these tasks? Thank you so much! I can’t tell you how big of a help it would be. I don’t think I could do this without your help. Just let me know as soon as you can how many tasks you’ll be taking on. You’re amazing. I’ll be in my office until 3, so feel free to pop by with any questions you may have. You’re the best!

Gratefully yours,

William

2. The short (and not-so-sweet) request

What it looks like: A quick email including a brief instruction about something important.

What it really is: A very clear message that somebody (you know who you are) has done something unacceptable.

RE: Holidays

All time-off requests for July must be submitted by this Friday. Requests received after this will not be processed. Don’t even bother asking. Thank you.

3. The TMI and then some

What it looks like: A professional email about something office-related.

What it really is: Thinly veiled office gossip.

RE: Tuesday’s Meeting

Hey Heather,

I’ve been asked to send you the minutes from Tuesday’s meeting. I’ve attached them to this email. In case you haven’t already heard, the meeting was an absolute disaster. Julie threw a fit about the late reports, and I thought that Erica was going to lose it when Julie accused her of “not caring” about the completion of that competitor analysis. It was pretty intense. I don’t want to name any names, but let’s just say that a certain IT guy probably won’t be writing code for very much longer, if you catch my drift. It’s probably lucky that you missed it. Don’t worry, though—I’ll get you up to speed when we go out for drinks on Saturday. That’s if Bryan agrees to take care of Koen while I go out. If not, Ko will have to come with us. We may have to reconsider the bar scene. Anyway, here are the minutes. See you at lunch!

Kim

4. The “Ha-ha, I’m not here”

What it looks like: A polite out-of-office message.

What it really is: A co-worker bragging about the fact that he or she is on vacation while you are stuck at work sending emails.

RE: Out of Office

Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, I am out of the office, and will be until June 26th. If you have an urgent need to contact me, please stop, think, and remember that there is literally no such thing as an “urgent” Human Resources matter. You may consider contacting my assistant, Karen, who—for the next three weeks—will be taking on five times her regular amount of responsibility and receiving absolutely no compensation for this extra work. Thank you.

Kindest regards,

Sarah

5. The passive-aggressive “You’re wrong”

What it looks like: A helpful, professional email containing important information.

What it really is: A claim on professional territory—a metaphorical lifting of the leg, if you will.

RE: Memo Color

Hello Taylor,

I was just going over last week’s meeting minutes, and I noticed that some concern was voiced over the color of paper the memos have been printed on lately. Of course, I understand this concern, as memo color is a very important office issue that needs to be properly addressed. The minutes state that you personally suggested the memos should be printed on pink paper. While I agree with you that, aesthetically, pink would absolutely be the ideal memo color, I regret that I must be the one to inform you that such a color does not comply with our company’s policy on memos. I’ve attached a copy of our memo policy to this email; as you will see, this policy clearly states that all memos must be printed on yellow paper. Luckily, this is the measure I have been complying with during my five-year tenure as the company’s official memo printer. So we really dodged a bullet there. I hope that clears up any confusion you may have had about the memo paper color. Thank you.

Yours,

Mary

Conclusion

These examples may be a bit on the extreme side, but I’m sure we can all think of a time when we’ve received a professional email that was just a little off in tone. If you’re worried about accidentally sending a professional email like one of the five shown above, you may want to consider checking out a professional editing service before hitting the Send button. When it comes to communication, it’s often better to be safe than sorry!

Top 6 Legal Tools for Small Businesses

Learn about online legal tools for small businesses

No matter how straightforward your business is, you will eventually find that you need some form of legal advice. Keeping a law firm on retainer is not an option for cash-strapped small businesses, and the different law specializations would require you to keep a whole list of law firms in your contacts list to cover all the legal requirements you may encounter. For example, you may need to draw up a contract for a new employee or for a service provided by a freelancer. You may need to have a rental agreement checked before you sign it, or you may need a lawyer to handle a property sale. Even a very simple business will soon accrue a wide range of legal documents.

Many legal services are now provided online, and that means you can have much of your legal work carried out without driving across town and wasting time while waiting for an appointment. Take a look at this review of the top five legal tools available on the Internet to learn whether you can have your legal needs met without hiring a lawyer.

1) LegalZoom

The Business Attorney Plan from LegalZoom is like having a law firm on retainer without having to pay fees for any work the law firm actually does. If you sign up for the service for a year, you pay US $23.99 per month. Doing business in the USA is complicated by the fact that each state has its own legal system, which means that you have to find a lawyer that is experienced in the law of your location. LegalZoom matches you with a lawyer who is local to you and experienced in the law as it is applied in your state. The standard business plan includes a review of your small business’s contracts and legal documents as well as on-demand ad-hoc legal advice. The company also offers a special package for small business start-ups, which includes advice on setting up the legal structure of your company and templates for various types of business contracts. LegalZoom offers a range of legal tools and legal advice plans for individuals as well as for small businesses.

2) DocuSign

Conducting your business online presents specific problems that bricks-and-mortar businesses never encounter. One of the big problems of eCommerce is getting legal documents signed. You don’t want to lose business by insisting that customers print documents, sign them, and courier the original copies to you. Fortunately, there are legal tools that address this problem, and one of the most prominent digital signature services is called DocuSign. This system offers legally enforceable verification of agreements and legal documents. The company also offers options for cloud storage and document distribution tracking.

3) Trademarkia

You may be looking for legal tools that can help you verify the originality of your trademark, logo, company name, or business slogan. Trademarkia, a service created by LegalForce, allows you to search trademarks registered in a number of different locations, including the USA and Europe. The search service can be accessed for free at the Trademarkia website. You can also search the site for patents, web domain names, and logos for free.

4) Docstoc

Probably the most frequent need of small businesses regarding the law is not legal advice, but legal documents that follow an enforceable and legally recognized format. There are many online legal tools that specialize in templates for contracts and other legal documents. Docstoc has a library of templates for any type of legal document you are likely to need. You can either pick individual templates or buy a package of templates typically required for specific types of small businesses.

5) LawDepot

LawDepot is another online tool centered on the creation of legal documents. This service is specifically aimed at small businesses and individuals in the United States. Whereas Docstoc offers downloadable templates, LawDepot guides you through the compilation of your legal documents within its website; you then download the completed contract or agreement.

6) BizPal

Canadian small business start-ups are lucky to have an online legal tool that details the permits and licenses their particular type of trade requires. BizPal is a service provided jointly by Canada’s federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments. The website is free to use and details specific legal permits needed in any given location in Canada.

Assessment

Thanks to these online legal tools, you don’t actually have to hire a lawyer for many of the legal needs of your small business. You can get templates or legal documents written online, and US small businesses can get online legal advice through sites such as LegalZoom. Both online and brick-and-mortar businesses can save money using these online legal tools.

Find Accounting Tools Online

Learn about new accounting tools available for small businesses

Have you ever wondered what the term “cloud computing” means? Simply put, it means you use software that is not residing on your own computer. Instead, you access the program over the Internet. The benefit of this type of application is that you do not have to worry about installing or setting up the software, so you can’t get it wrong. It also means you don’t need a very large device to access all the functions of your business software, so you can do all your business documentation on a smartphone or a tablet. The accounting tools explained in this review are all available online, so you can zoom your accounting tasks up to the cloud.

1) FreshBooks

You don’t have to be a qualified accountant to compile and file your accounts with FreshBooks Cloud Accounting. FreshBooks Cloud Accounting represents a collection of accounting tools for small businesses. All the documents the system produces for you will show your company logo and contact details once you have finished the initial setup of your account. The package starts with an invoicing module, which you can access from anywhere with an Internet signal, so you can compile your invoice from your smartphone directly after leaving a client’s premises. If you travel abroad for work, you can issue invoices in other currencies. You can even accept payments through the system via credit card or PayPal. This sort of facility would be particularly useful in situations where billing and payment occur together, such as in hotels and restaurants. You can email out your invoices straight from the system, and FreshBooks automatically logs late payments with invoice aging reports and can send reminders for overdue invoices. Consultants would benefit from the time tracking and expenses reporting facilities. A particularly neat feature of the expenses system is that you can take a picture of your receipts with your phone and store that image in the system. The system integrates with QuickBooks (see below) to enable you to finalize your accounts.

2) Expensify

As the name suggests, Expensify specifically manages expenses. A key feature of the system is SmartScan, which enables images of receipts to be stored. As it specifically focuses on expenses, Expensify has a much more limited scope than other accounting tools on this list. However, its focus on one area of accounting and cost tracking means it covers that subject comprehensively. Expensify can handle expenses from several different countries, and that includes identifying local currencies and sales taxes. Expensify can feed data into other management and accounting tools, including QuickBooks, Xero, Netsuite, Dynamics Salesforce, and FinancialForce.

3) Wave

As a sole trader or small-business owner, you will likely appreciate that Wave was specifically designed to serve businesses with fewer than 10 employees. Much like FreshBooks, you can customize your invoice template with your own logo and contact details. You can also compile and send invoices from any device, such as a smartphone or tablet. A nice touch with Wave is that the electronic invoice carries a “Pay Now” button, which leads to a credit card payment processing system. Wave also includes payroll and accounts assembly features. This is probably the most comprehensive of all the accounting tools on this list, yet it is free.

4) Zuora Finance

If you don’t know what “chart of accounts” means, then Zuora Finance probably isn’t for you. Zuora’s presentation and use of accounting terminology suggests that it is aimed more at the professional accountant than the distracted small-business owner. If you run a small accountancy firm or if your partnership includes a qualified accountant, you might find this package appealing.

5) Hiveage

Probably the nicest feature of Hiveage is its dashboard. Navigation around the features of this collection of accounting tools is easily done via buttons with icons on them. Like other accounting tools on this list, Hiveage is heavily focused on invoicing and includes the ability to process credit card payments. The system handles multiple currencies and produces beautiful and easy-to-understand reports in tabular and graph form.

6) QuickBooks

You probably noticed mentions of QuickBooks in the descriptions of FreshBooks and Expensify. QuickBooks is a comprehensive accounting package that is well known and trusted. QuickBooks Online offers access from remote devices. You can issue invoices and track payments through the system. The package also includes expense reporting and receipt scanning. The QuickBooks Online system doesn’t include payment processing, however, so if you haven’t already got a credit card processing merchant account with a bank, you will need to do some extra work.

Cloud Advantage

Cloud-based accounting tools enable you to share your books with a widespread management team and a remote or even home-based accountant. Deciding which of these tools would be best for you depends on whether you already have a basic accounting package into which you would like to slot additional features or if you are looking for a fully comprehensive bundle of accounting tools.