A platform for random acts of kindness, incentivized business promotions and even hiring skilled folks to complete specific tasks.  These are just a few examples of what you'll find on fundwok.com.

Fundwok.com is what I would call a "win-win" platform.  It takes the familiarity and simplicity of Fiverr.com mixed with crowdfunding sensibilities and human-to-human, pay-it-forward positive surprises.

Here's how fundwok.com works:

• You sign up for a free login
  
• You can decide to create a fund (offer money -- a minimum of $5 -- to others who can apply to receive your fund).  For example, I saw one fund this evening where a man was offering $10 to four individuals to take themselves out for a New Years dinner, if celebrating alone -- a fun random act of kindness.
• You can apply to the funds other Fundwokers have created.  In the example mentioned, I could apply to receive the $10 fund to take myself out to dinner.  If chosen for the fund, by the funder, I would receive the $10 and could take myself to dinner.

That's the simple explanation.  This platform is fun and has some useful applications for entrepreneurs, too.  

As an entrepreneur you might use Fundwok.com to find three bloggers in your niche to write guest posts for your blog and pay X amount to each who do so.  It's  a win-win, you get what you need, guest posts for your niche, and those who apply to your fund and are accepted by you get paid for completing the tasks required of the fund.

Unlike other platforms, Fundwok.com allows funders to be in control of their funds' applicant criteria. 

You can even nominate others for funds.  This could be a great appreciation marketing play for entrepreneurs.  You could find a fund that you think one of your clients who just referred some new business to you might like and nominate them to receive the fund.

There are numerous creative ways one could utilize this platform.  Be sure to check it out to learn more.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

I've recently received inquiries for more tax-related posts for entrepreneurs, so you may see a series of a few tax-related posts here on NickVenturella.com.

Disclaimer:  I am not a tax professional or an accountant.  If you have specific tax questions I recommend you speak with a tax professional.

If you don't know, tax form 1040 is what you complete to show your annual income for tax purposes.  It's important that you understand what tax forms you'll need even if you use an accountant to complete your taxes (you should always have an understanding about your tax responsibilities even if you're outsourcing the work).

There are several versions of the 1040 form.  There is the regular 1040, the 1040 EZ, Schedule C (form 1040), Schedule C EZ (form 1040), and several others.

If you're a sole proprietor, like me, you can use Schedule C of the 1040 form.  In this scenario, you're basically claiming your business income on the same tax forms as your personal income.  This makes it easy if your business structure, like a sole proprietorship, isn't too complex.

There are various advantages and disadvantages of different business structures and the tax form options available to accurately calculate and submit your taxes.  It's a good idea to read up on what may be best for you and your business.  You certainly can reference IRS.gov - the official government website of the Internal Revenue Service.  If you can afford to, you may want to consult an accountant or tax professional, if for no other reason than to simply ask some questions to which you can quickly get answers.

However, if you simply need to know where to get the 1040 forms for 2014-2015 along with the 1040 instructions, you can check out the above link. 


Posted by: Nick Venturella

The image you see above this text is from this website, www.lvcostarica.com.  This is the site for a Costa Rican resort.  As far as I can tell they're marketing Las Ventanas Del Mar as a potential vacation destination or a real estate opportunity, should you find yourself in the market for Costa Rican property.

There are some good and bad things this site does to give it's site visitors a good user experience.  Let's take a look at those…

First off, when you arrive on the site there is music that automatically begins playing -- this is a bad tactic.  More often than not it's annoying to the site visitor.  Just don't do it when building your website.

The site owners know that it's audience is viewing their website, at least in part, to get a feel for what it's like to be at this resort and in Costa Rica, so plenty of big, beautiful images are completely appropriate to show off the resort and Costa Rican natural landscape.  

In fact with this kind of site, the more images the better for sharing via social media.  The site owners are hoping you'll share their stuff on social with their social links right at the bottom of the site on the home page.

Also, this site is responsive to mobile, meaning it's laid out to be visually stunning on either a computer screen or a mobile device screen -- the browser recognizes what screen width you're using and adjusts the site's frame to fit your device so you can optimize the site's usability whether you're at your laptop on your desk or on the subway on your smartphone.  It functions correctly and looks good on any device.

A site like this where they're offering something that will likely generate a lot of questions, it typically makes sense to identify the most common questions and provide a proactive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section of the site.  This provides the site user immediate answers to their initial questions and saves you (the site/business owner) from constantly spending your time answering the same questions over and over. 

(To see another example of how a different site from a different industry uses FAQ's, check out, www.mybpd.ca, and their 'Ask the Doc' section.)

If you're planning a new website or giving your current site a facelift, be sure to understand who your site's audience is and what they will expect to do on your site so you can build it in a way that gives your site users the best experience possible.  The end goal is to get them to engage with your site and convert into a lead.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

As many who know me know, I got my entrepreneurial start as a musician and continue to perfect my professional musical craft via live performances, producing, album/song sales, music royalties, etc.

Early on in my musical journey I was more enamored with making a decent living with music than ever being famous, which is something I talked about in my book, The Local Music Journey. 

Fast forward to today with more access and distribution across the internet (and a declining old-school record label model), 80-90% of musicians are independent of a major label -- even those formerly on a major label.

That said, it's a long road to the middle.  Most musicians I know simply want to make a reasonably comfortable living doing what they're most passionate about and motivated to do.

This article, does a nice job offer further details about the dream of the middle-class musician.  Check it out -- it's an interesting entrepreneurial case study, even if you're not a musician.

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

Some quick suggestions to improve the website useability for a visitor to www.boschcarservicewelland.com.

The Site is pretty basic in terms of it's navigation and design.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the site design/layout does seem a bit amateurish.

Here are some things that can quickly and easily improve it.

On the home page:  
The logo is in the upper right-hand corner of the site -- good.  The name of the business is written in text to the right of the logo in the site header -- that's fine.

Underneath that the name of the company is written out again as an H1 heading to the left of the navigational links -- this is redundant and not needed.  Change this for all pages.

The navigation is simple enough -- 3 pages (Home, About Us and Contact Us) -- no problem there.

On the home page there are decent hero images that run as a little slide show -- nice.

Below that is a 'welcome' message, whcih is fine.  On the right hand side of the page is the contact information -- address and phone number as well as hours of operation, which is good to have on the home page.

To the left of the contact info and hours of operation is a map of the location, which is the same map as on the Contact Us page.  I would take the map off of the Home page and leave it on the Contact Us page. Now that will allow you to move up on your Home page the text information that describes your main services, which currently falls underneath the map on the Home page.
 
The About Us page:  
This isn't terrible, but I would suggest having a few more photos of cars that you've worked on successfully to indicate in images what you do.  I like that there's a photo of the physical service station and a description of the business that includes value statements that are relevant to the target audience. 

You might consider adding some testimonials from happy customers to this page.

Contact Us:  
Here is where the map of your physical location should be.  The shop phone and fax numbers are prominent, which is good, but you may want to reiterate your mailing address and possibly hours of operation again on this page in case this is the page people land on from an internet search looking for a service station.

There is also a contact form on this page to allow site visitors to reach out to you, which is good.  However, keep the form short -- Name, Phone (which you may want to have as a required field; currently it is not), and a free-form Message field.  I would get rid of the Subject line field, site visitors can relay what their inquiry is regarding when they type their message in the Message field.

Those are just a few little things that could be implemented today to help improve the useability of this site. 

Posted by:  Nick Venturella

Any time you are trying to market a product or service, if you can show that product or the process and end results of your service it helps.  When you do that it helps the potential buyer to envision what it would be like for them if they purchase your product or service.

That said it's helpful to have great images/photos of your product or service in your marketing collateral and on your website.

I would say it's even more crucial on your website, and there is really no excuse, as it's fairly easy to post pictures to your website.

For example, Ontario Exterior Solutions (ontarioexteriorsolutions.ca) provides windows, doors and more for residential homes.  In this case, they really provide a product (windows and doors for your home) and a service (the installation of those windows and doors), all of which are image-worthy.  Plus, for folks looking to purchase windows and doors, they're going to want to see some results, finished home projects, so they can quickly determine whether or not they have confidence in what you do enough to reach out and ask for a quote.

The bottom line is, show as often as you're able to.  Most people/businesses have a smartphone, often those devices can take pictures more than adequate for the internet, so there are no excuses.  

If you run a B2B organization, photos on your website are still important, but can help to show results in a little bit different way.

For example, virkpersonalinjurylawyers.com is a law firm website.  It's hard to 'show' the results, however, by utilizing nice professional photos of clients with testimonials next to the images makes for a similar effect as what we discussed early when talking about the exterior company's use of end-results photos on their site.

Get creative with how you utilize photos and images on your website, but they should help enhance your ability to tell the before-and-after story you most want share about your products or services. 


Posted by: Nick Venturella