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Support Local Businesses with Google Maps
Do you like supporting local businesses? Most people do. We should all take pride in the unique things that make our neighborhoods home. But did you know that you can use Google Maps to support them?
No more yellow pages
I keep trying to convince my wife that we can throw out the paper phone books. With Google Maps and its awesome local results, yellow pages are simply obsolete.
Why should I dig out a huge book and thumb through the pages looking for the crazy category that somebody decided to stick the business in? I can just type a keyword and zip code in Google (like “cafe 22407″) and find exactly what I want.
As one search industry expert wrote,
My gut feeling is that the Google Trends graph for searches for “yellow pages” is likely representative of a broad behavioral pattern of Internet users who are going to traditional Yellow Pages sites less and less. If we project the pattern out in time, we can see that searches for “yellow pages” might reduce down to nil by as soon as 2011
What are local businesses to do?
Get on Google Maps
Does your local coffee shop have a Google local listing? If not, encourage them to get with the program. The owners can add the listing, or you can even add it for them.
Now when people search for that business type in your area, they’ll find the mom & pop places. But there’s still more to do!
Review businesses!
We can all influence what businesses people use. That’s what the reviews are all about. When a Google local listing has reviews, the listing gets a little “X reviews” link next to it. Searchers can check out the reviews to see which business will best meet their needs.
I’m not saying that your review of a sandwich place will make their business soar. But if everything else is equal, a review will definitely tip the balance. And if several people review the business, that could really mean positive results.
Of course, the same applies to businesses that suck. Just because it’s local doesn’t mean it’s good. I’m a capitalist at heart. If the local print shop ruined your letterhead order, post a constructive and frank review in the Google listings. Don’t be rude, but provide your thoughts. The business can then hopefully learn from its mistakes.
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Finally Back, Check Out Interview
I just realized that I haven’t posted anything new at Legal Andrew in about five weeks. Wow! I know I have been busy, but I’m sorry for neglecting you guys for so long.
In a nutshell, I’ve been crazily busy with work. We have a major project at my day job that is taking off wildly, which is awesome and stressful. Combine that with an increase in my private client work, and blogging had to take a back seat. Sorry!
Cool group interview
I haven’t forgotten about the blogging world completely. My good friend, Mark Shead, is running a cool group interview over at Productivity 501. I answered a few questions with the group.
The coolest part of Mark’s interview is that you get to vote on the best answers. Go to the interview system and select which answers you like best. Then Mark will publish all the results. Cool, right?
Now to put up some great content for you guys. Stay tuned!
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Business Card Help - I Need Ideas
It’s time to make some professional business cards for myself. But I don’t want to be stodgy and boring. Can you provide any advice?
I want my cards to coordinate with my law firm website and letterhead. I plan to keep it fairly plain for now. Hopefully in a few months I can have a professional logo designed and re-image everything.
Erica Douglass has a great new card design that I just love. But I’m afraid that’s a bit too fun for a lawyer. Maybe not.
Would you be scared to hire a lawyer that has a creative business card? Or would you appreciate the uniqueness? Maybe I’m limiting myself too much.
Here’s what I have so far:
Front of card
The grey blob on the bottom left is my address. I don’t have my business address setup yet, so I blurred out my home address.
Back of card
The idea here is to provide a little insight into me. The fourth and fifth spots are for the recipient to fill in with info of his/her choosing.
What do you think?
I really would like your advice. You’ve seen thousands of business cards in your time. How do mine stack up?
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Sell Books Online - Get Cash for Textbooks
Ever since I wrote about selling textbooks online, a lot of people have read and used that advice. It’s definitely a popular post on this site.
Since the book selling season is approaching again (it’s almost April!), I thought you guys might appreciate a quick glance at the process.
We definitely don’t want anyone hoarding books like the guy in POSSESSED. If you haven’t watched that short documentary, do yourself a favor and check it out.
How to sell books online
My previous post focused on maximing your cash. But for this one, let’s just look at the basic process. Getting cash for your textbooks is quite simple.
In my opinion, BookByte is the best site for selling your books, and you can even buy textbooks there for 25% to 45% off.
Just follow these quick steps to get some textbook cash:
- Go to BookByte
- Enter the ISBN’s from the textbooks you want to sell
- Print your shipping label and packing list
- Mail in your books (they pay the shipping!)
- Get your cash in about 10 business days
Sell even more books
If you want to really increase your cash, you can become a volume seller. Collect textbooks at your school, send them to BookByte, and get paid in cash.
I think an enterprising college student could do well with this model. You could setup a table at your school to collect books. Have a laptop there to lookup the BookByte cash price for the used textbooks. Then give fellow students a little less cash. You do the work of sending them in, and you can pocket the difference. I’ll bet you could still beat the bookstore’s buy back price.
Have you ever tried to sell books online? What was your experience?
Photo by One Good Bumblebee
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Setting up a Home Office
To you regular readers, I apologize for the lack of updates lately. I’ve been working hard on some other ventures.
Specifically, I am actively building a private law practice during my evenings and weekends. I have no plans to leave my full time job, but I definitely want to help out private clients as well.
Have you ever tried to setup a home office? Some things are easy, but some are a little more complicated. For the past few weeks, I’ve been dealing with some basic decisions. And now I offer them for your perusal.
Home - Do you give clients your home address? There are definitely some downsides there. A lot of people wouldn’t want clients knowing exactly where they live. Can you imagine a criminal defense lawyer doing that? Scary!
Post office - What about a plain old post office box? UPS won’t deliver there. And I don’t have a post office that’s very handy.
Remote - You could go with a service like Earth Class Mail. I seriously thought about that, but it presents two problems: no third-party deliveries (like UPS and FedEx), and they have no Fredericksburg address.
Storefront mail box - That leaves us with a retail box like the UPS Store. It’s more costly than a standard post office box, but they can accept deliveries for you. And some UPS locations allow you to call in and ask if you have mail. That’s a real time-saver.
Phone
Today, this isn’t much of a problem. Phones are easy to handle.
Home line - You probably don’t want clients calling you at midnight and waking up the kids. So giving out your main home number might not be wise.
VoIP - If you have a service like Vonage, you can easily add a new business line. That lets you route clients to your office area, not the kitchen.
Cell - In today’s world, why not just give out your cell phone? Personally, if clients can’t respect that it’s my cell phone, I don’t think I want them as a client anyway.
GrandCentral - This could be your best option. Give out your GrandCentral number, and then you can route calls wherever you want. I plan to send clients to voicemail during my day job, and let them go to my cell phone the rest of the time. Call me: (540) 318-5824.
Workspace
The options for your home office workspace are only limited by your home.
Closet - That’s really all the space you need. Check out Chuck’s explanation.
Spare room - If you have a room with some extra space, setup a desk in the corner. This could be your guest room, exercise room, or even the baby’s room. It’s best to not work in your bedroom, but if you have to, do it.
Comfy chair - My home office consists of a $200 club chair we bought at Big Lots. I have a laptop, so I don’t really need a desk.
Be simple - Most importantly, I think a home office should be simple. That’s one benefit to working at home. Keep it to the basics. And there’s nothing more simple than a table and a computer, like Leo Babauta’s setup (photo at right, explained at Unclutterer).
What are your home office solutions?
Top photo by RaeA
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Charitable Tax Deductions Tracked with ItsDeductible
You don’t want to forget any tax deductions. A big one that everyone remembers is charitable donations.
But how do you easily track all of those donations? You might have donated cash, stock, household items, or even driven your car to volunteer. All of these are prime tax deductions. And you don’t want to forget them.
That’s where ItsDeuctible can help.
Track tax deductions online
This is a FREE online service by TurboTax. It allows you to input all of your charitable donations throughout the year. And then it seamlessly imports into TurboTax at tax time. It easily tracks all different types of donations:
Cash - You can setup charities, and then input whenever you donate to them. Tell ItsDeductible how you made the payment, and it will keep track of the info for you. You can also setup recurring donations!
Stock - I don’t own any stock, so I haven’t tinkered with this feature yet. But I’m sure it works quite well, and it probably saves stock donation headaches.
Household items - This is an area where ItsDeductible really shines. When you donate used items to a charity, input them online. The program then tells you how much they’re worth! This ensures that you get the biggest tax deduction possible. Your used clothing is worth more than you think!
Mileage - Did you know that you can deduct miles driven to volunteer for a charity? ItsDeductible will keep track of these for you, and it automatically calculates the total amount you can deduct.
Input tax deductions all year
The key to really maximizing ItsDeductible is to input charitable donations as you make them. Don’t wait until April to try to remember every donation you made last year.
Since ItsDeductible is free and online, you have no excuse not to use it throughout the year. It will maximize your tax deductions and help save money at tax time. Isn’t that the name of the game?
Photo of hurricane Katrina donations by Schnittke
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Free Technical Support From MinuteFix
Do you need some technical support? You should check out MinuteFix.
This is a new tech support service, pioneered in part by Phil Gerbyshak. If you don’t know Phil, you definitely need to meet him. He’s a great guy, and I’m sure MinuteFix will be a great company!
If you need some technical support, just visit MinuteFix. They have certified technicians who will resolve your problem over the internet, or you don’t have to pay!
The cost is only $0.99 per minute. It’s 100% secure, and I’m sure you’ll be happy with the support.
By the way, it’s FREE until March 15!! That’s right, certified tech support for free. They’re confident that you’ll be completely satisfied and come back for future help.
For more info on MinuteFix, check out Phil’s post.
This is a great solution for all computer users. It can be incredibly useful for small business owners and solo lawyers. Don’t spend your time worrying about computer issues. Spend your time practicing law and satisfying clients!
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Virginia Lawyer - At Your Fingertips
Since I passed the Virginia bar exam and became a lawyer, life has been different.
People ask me legal questions. They bring problems to me. They look to me for help.
And I haven’t even marketed myself as a Virginia lawyer. I just blog, work my in-house counsel job, and ride my bicycle.
I’ve always been open to contact from anyone who needs help. And I want to make myself even more accessible.
Feel free to email me at aflusche@gmail.com. Or you can see other contact options on my contact page. You’ll also notice a new “chat badge” in the right sidebar, courtesy of Google. Ping me anytime!
If you ever have a Virginia legal issue, I am happy to be at your service. You may not live in Fredericksburg, but I can still help you. And if I can’t help, I’m rapidly developing a network of lawyer colleagues. Surely we can find someone to solve your issue.
I’m literally at your fingertips!
Your Virginia Lawyer,
Andrew Flusche
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Get Your Tax Refund In Record Time!
It’s February 23, and my 2007 federal tax refund is already in the bank. Where’s yours?
Tax refund options
I already wrote about tax deductions, so now it’s time to look at the best way to get your tax refund.
With almost every American filing a tax return by April 15, there are lots of services and software to help get the job done. But which one should you use?
Paper forms - I’ve done this every year until now. Go to your local library or download the IRS tax forms from the internet. If you have a simple income situation, this is a solid free option to pursue.
Paid preparer - Businesses and high-income individuals will most likely pursue this option. Gather up your paperwork, go to your local accountant or tax preparer, and you’ll be done in a little while.
Tax software - There are lots of great options here, but my favorite is Turbo Tax
The quickest refund
So how did I get my refund by February 23? Turbo Tax Online!
I filled out the online forms in my spare time over a few days. I e-filed my federal tax return on February 10. I selected the direct deposit refund option. And now I have my refund!
Just to be clear, it’s really easy to get a super quick federal tax refund:
- Fill out the Turbo Tax online forms
- Select direct deposit for your refund
- E-file your tax return with the IRS
I’m pretty pumped by these results. Darn cool! And I won’t be scrambling to the post office on April 15. Will you?
Photo by herzogbr
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Ultimate Handbook for Life and Simplicity - Zen Habits
If you’re looking to simplify your life, Leo Babauta has the resource you need:
The Zen Habits Handbook for Life
This is a brand new e-book that Leo released today! I was privileged enough to receive a review copy, and it’s well worth the $6.95 he’s asking for it.
The Handbook for Life reorganizes a ton of the great tips from Zen Habits and presents them in a slick PDF format. This makes it easy to give as a gift, read on a plane, or just have a handy set of great tips on your computer.
There are three key sections to the book: simplicity, productivity, and happiness. Each section has 7-8 great articles like “Declutter Your Mind” and “Clear Out Your Inbox.” It’s incredibly well-written, and a quick read.
What are you waiting for? Snag a copy of The Zen Habits Handbook for Life and support Leo’s work. It’s only $6.95!
If you enjoy Leo’s writing, check out his great productivity e-book Zen to Done.
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Ask for Help
Andrew Flusche.
Virginia lawyer, at your service.
Free initial consultation.
(540) 318-5824
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