I know most of us receive spam and other junk mail both in our mail box and through email and my intention is not to add to that, but rather to provide you with some timely and useful information about the financial side of your business. At the same time, I hope to offer you, my customers and business associates, exposure to each other. I have derived great benefit from my colleagues and clients referring me to their networks, and I would like to do the same here.

DEADLINES / DATES FOR JANUARY

 

BUSINESS TIP OF THE MONTH Create a folder or envelope for all those tax-related items that are going to be coming in soon! W-2's, 1099's, 1098 (mortgage interest statements)... even your tax organizer from your CPA. That way, everything is in one place and easy to find when it comes time to do your taxes. WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW Many of you received my letter and brochure, so you may have read about one of my new services. I am offering to set my payroll customers up with EFTPS (Electronic Federal Tax Payment System). It's a free service through the IRS which will allow me to make your payroll tax deposits on your behalf. (No more taking the coupon and payment to the bank.) If you are interested in setting this up, please let me know. VIRTUAL SPOTLIGHT This section of my newsletter will "spotlight" a business each issue that I consider particularly noteworthy because of the quality of the business and integrity of the business-person. This may be one of my clients or a colleague I work with. I thought this would provide a good opportunity to spread the word about companies I think are great to do business with to the rest of my "network." Of course, since this is the first newsletter, I though I'd start the stoplight by introducing myself and my business... so here goes! Jeanne Davis, Virtual Jeannie Business Services, Inc. For those of you who didn't already know, I have an office at 133 Southwest Blvd, in Rohnert Park. It is conveniently two blocks from my home! As of February 2008, I will have been in business for nine years and incorporated for seven. What do I do? I provide bookkeeping, payroll, sales tax and related services. I'm also the person you call to contact the IRS or Board of Equalization when you get a "nastygram" from those agencies regarding your accounts. I'm a Quickbooks Pro advisor, which means that I can answer most of the questions you have regarding your Quickbooks program....AND I can get you discounts on your software. And I'm excited to be able to introduce my assistant Kay Brenner! Kay has been with me since May and I am eternally grateful to have her for organizing my office and consistently keeping me on track! My website is now live (as of January 1st) at www.virtualjeannie.com. Check it out!!! On the personal side..... As of last November, I've been married to my wonderful husband, Michael for 15 years, and when I am not working, I am raising our two boys Michael, 11 (who has a huge interest in trains), and Brian, 7 (who is on a fast track to becoming an artist of note!) My interests and activities (in my spare time--ha!) I love sewing, embroidery (on the sewing machine), camping, white water rafting, softball and playing with my kids. And I just picked up a new road bicycle from one of my customers - Windsor Bicycle Center www.windsorbikes.com - and I'm going to be training with Team in Training to ride 100 miles. (more information to come.) Organizations Sonoma County Bookkeeper Discussion Group-a good sized group of bookkeepers who meet once a month for a brown bag lunch to discuss bookkeeping issues-this is a fantastic group of people who share ideas and solutions to problems that arise in the bookkeeping/accounting field, and provides us with sounding boards to issues as well as continuing education in our field. BNI - Business Networking Int'l -this is also a fantastic organization with whom I meet on a weekly basis. This is a referral group with a diverse, dynamic group of professional business owners. You will be hearing from some of the members of this organization. Order of the Eastern Star-they have a mission of community service and fundraising for cancer and Shriners Hospital http://shrinershq.org/Hospitals/Northern_California/ Rohnert Park Pee Wee Youth Baseball-their mission is to teach kids from 4 1/2 to 8 the fundamentals of baseball and team sportsmanship (It is just hilarious to watch these little guys try to run, hit, and catch when they would rather be watching airplanes or picking daisies.) Team in Training-their primary mission is to raise funds for Leukemia and Lymphoma society to support patients and families who have blood cancers. This is an awesome group of people who train on a weekly/biweekly basis to run, bike, swim, (or all three) and in turn raise funds to fight the nasty diseases that leukemia and other blood related cancers are. http://20th.teamintraining.org/ Growing My Business Clients I'm looking for this month: Who is ready to have their W-2's processed? If any of your business associates do not already have a professional bookkeeper available to tie up their year-end with processing payroll quarterlies and sending out W-2's and 1099's, have them give me a call...I'd be happy to help! www.virtualjeannie.com

If you would like be under the Virtual Spotlight in an upcoming newsletter, please let me know! And of course, feedback is always welcome! This newsletter will also be posted on my website under Newsletters.