Small Biz Ahead The Hartford

Episode Notes
What Are 5 Prompts You Can Use for Your AI Software Application?


Ask your AI software to work on macros for you. Creating macros typically requires knowledge of formulas. However, these applications can help you create them quickly and easily.
Use your AI software to find out the best time to publish your content like blog posts. The software will read that blog and make suggestions based on the content.
Consider your AI software to be like an executive assistant. For instance, if you have a contract from a supplier, you can upload the contract to ChatGPT. It will read it and give you points of view.
Ask your AI software to create a business continuity plan. For instance, you can go on ChatGPT and say, "as a seasoned operations consultant, develop a detailed business continuity plan for my business in this industry."
Use your AI software to get pointers on customer service. If you have an unhappy customer, you can go to ChatGPT and ask it to coach you on how to create a tactful response to this customer email.

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Episode Notes
Business acquisitions are primarily seen as a way for aspiring entrepreneurs to purchase their own companies without having to start from scratch. However, did you know that a lot of established business owners will also acquire other additional companies to further expand their existing product lines and resources? In this episode, Gene Marks and Joey Korenman, the Founder of School of Motion and Co-Founder of Rolo, discuss the benefits of business acquisitions and how to negotiate the terms of your next acquisition deal so that you can take your small business to the next level.

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Episode Notes
Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to this week's episode of the Hartford Small Biz Ahead podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. I wanna talk to you about the Corporate Transparency Act and some updates on it, which probably doesn't affect you in the end, but you need to know about it 'cause I'm getting a lot of questions about it. Now, first of all, just to go back a little bit, and I've written about this before and talked about it on the podcast, the Corporate Transparency Act was established a couple years ago actually, under a bill that was previously passed by Congress. It is being administered by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Basically, by the end of this year, 2024, you are going to be required to report all of the beneficial owners of your company or any other entities that you own.

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Episode Notes
Are you having a difficult time deciding on a business structure? You're not the only one. While having a formal business structure can provide you with significant legal protection and save you a lot in taxes, figuring out which one is most suitable for your small business can be a real challenge. In this episode, Gene Marks along with Christina Lewellen, a PhD, CPA and associate professor of accounting at NC State University, and Nathan Goldman, a CPA, PhD and also an associate professor of accounting at NC State University, discuss the different factors you need to consider when choosing the best structure for your new company.

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Episode Notes
5 Things You Should Know About Tax Preparation Software


The out-of-pocket cost is pretty low for these applications. Typically they cost about $50 to a hundred dollars, putting aside any filing fees. However, it's important to remember that you are going to have to spend a significant amount of time working with the software and understanding how it works.
The more complex your situation, the more you should avoid tax preparation software. It's a good idea to ask a professional tax preparer questions and to go over certain things. There's nuances, anomalies and other things involved. The more complex the rules are, the more complex your transactions are. Sometimes the software itself might not step up to answer the questions or perform the tasks needed.
Software applications still make mistakes. It's important to scrutinize for accuracy and any potential problems. Software can leave out certain things.
The more you integrate your tax software with your accounting software the better. This way you can move the numbers over quickly.
Engage a tax professional or a CPA. While you might be able to be doing 90 to 95% of the work with software, it's still worthwhile spending a couple hundred bucks to have a professional take a look at the results, give you any comments and any thoughts. They might have some tax planning ideas or strategies they can add.

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Episode Notes
Hey everybody, it's Gene Marks and welcome to the Hartford's Small Biz Ahead podcast. Thank you so much for joining me today. This week, let's talk about the supply chain, right? Are we looking at more or less supply chain problems in the near term or not? So I just wanna share a little bit of data with you if you are running a business that is impacted by supply chain and just some takeaways here. First of all, the bottom line is this, supply chains are getting back to normal because the freight industry has actually slowed. And let me give you some data behind this. For starters, there is a metric called the Baltic Dry Index. The Baltic Dry Index is a measure of freight costs through the Baltic Sea.

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