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Small Business

Financial management strategies and tools for small business owners

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Your App Doesn't Have to Be 'for Kids' to Owe Kids Privacy: A Small Business Guide to COPPA in 2026

The FTC's amended COPPA Rule, finalized in January 2025 with compliance required by April 2026, reaches any app or website with actual knowledge of users under 13, not just products built for children. It requires a separate opt-in parental consent before sharing a child's data or serving targeted ads, a published retention schedule that bars indefinite storage, and a written security program, with civil penalties above $50,000 per violation. This guide lays out who is covered, which consent methods the FTC accepts, and a seven-step checklist a small team can run without a privacy department.

mike

privacycomplianceregulatory

Goat Dairy and Microdairy Bookkeeping: Pricing Milk, Cheese, and Soap From One Herd

A goat microdairy earns on a lactation curve but pays on a calendar. This guide shows how to keep separate enterprise books for fluid milk, cheese, and soap — using extension budgets of 1,650–1,800 lb of milk per doe per year, retail goat milk near $18 a gallon, the 10-pounds-of-milk-per-pound-of-cheese rule, and FDA's line between soap and a cosmetic claim.

mike

agriculturefarmingsmall-business

Conditional vs. Unconditional Lien Waivers: Which One to Sign, and When

A lien waiver comes in four forms, and two words decide whether you kept your lien rights. Conditional waivers release rights only if the payment clears, so they go out with the invoice; unconditional waivers release immediately whether or not you are paid, so they go out only after funds clear the bank. Includes the through-date, retainage, and preliminary-notice rules that make the system hold up.

mike

constructionlegalcontracts

Closing a Business in the Philippines Under RMC No. 47-2026: The 3-Day BIR Tax Clearance Guide

Under BIR Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 47-2026, issued May 19, 2026, Philippine micro taxpayers with gross sales of 3 million pesos or less can close their registration without a mandatory audit and receive a tax clearance within three working days, and non-filing penalties stop accruing once a complete BIR Form 1905 packet is submitted. This guide lists the exact documents, the manual and electronic filing channels, the five-step closure sequence, and the mistakes that still delay an exit.

mike

business-closuretax-compliancesmall-business

Do You Need a Music License to Play Spotify in Your Store? A 2026 Small Business Guide to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and the Section 110(5) Exemption

A personal Spotify plan is not a public-performance license. Playing it for customers exposes a business to statutory damages of $750–$30,000 per song ($150,000 if willful), while blanket licenses from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, and GMR run roughly $500–$2,000 a year and business music services cost $17–$60 a month per location. The Section 110(5) exemption covers only over-the-air radio and TV in establishments under 2,000 square feet (3,750 for food and drink), never streaming.

mike

small-businesscompliancelicenses

Your Product Warranty Is a Federal Case: Full vs. Limited, Implied Warranties, and As-Is Sales Under Magnuson-Moss

The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act applies to every written warranty on a consumer product costing more than $10, requiring a full or limited title, forbidding blanket disclaimers of implied warranties and brand-name parts requirements, and mandating pre-sale access to the terms above $15. A small-seller guide with a 10-point compliance checklist.

mike

consumer-protectioncompliancelegal

Security Camera and CCTV Installation Business Bookkeeping: Job Costing, Monitoring Revenue, and Truck Stock

A security camera installer runs three businesses out of one bank account — installs, monitoring contracts, and truck stock. This guide covers job-costing installs as separate equipment and labor buckets, booking monitoring fees as deferred revenue, cycle-counting truck inventory, budgeting licensing and certifications, and the eight monthly KPIs that decide what the company is worth.

mike

small-businessbookkeepingjob-costing

Selling Seeds Legally: Federal Seed Act Labels, the Five-Month Germination Clock, and State Permits

Seed is only sellable if the label behind it is compliant — the Federal Seed Act requires kind, variety, lot number, germination percentage and test date, allows no more than five calendar months between the germination test month and interstate shipment (24 months for hermetically sealed containers), and demands three years of lot records. Most states add a labeler permit and their own sell-by limits on top.

mike

agriculturecompliancesmall-business

Service Animals vs. Emotional Support Animals: What a Small Business Can Ask, Refuse, and Must Allow Under the ADA

Under the ADA a service animal is a dog individually trained to perform a disability-related task; emotional support animals do not qualify. Businesses may ask only two questions, cannot demand papers, vests or fees, and may remove a dog only if it is out of control or not housebroken. Covers the staff script, the FDA Food Code kitchen line, why housing (HUD) and airlines (DOT) differ, the 35 state fake-service-animal laws, and how to track compliance costs.

mike

compliancelegalsmall-business

Shopify Plus Quietly Raised Its Transaction Fee: What the New Variable Platform-Fee Tier Actually Costs High-GMV Merchants in 2026

Shopify Plus now starts at $2,500/month and the variable platform fee on online sales is reported at 0.40% of GMV (up from 0.25%), capped around $40,000/month. Here is the fee math at $3M to $120M in annual GMV, plus how to book the license, variable fee, and payouts so margin erosion shows up in your P&L instead of at tax time.

mike

e-commercepaymentscost-management

Soft Pretzel Shop Bookkeeping: Per-Batch Dough Costing, Food Cost Targets, and Kiosk vs. Storefront Math

A classic salted pretzel costs about $0.29 per unit once packaging and realistic yield are counted. This guide shows how to build per-batch recipe costing cards, hold a 28-35% blended food cost and 55-60% prime cost, book waste and samples honestly, and choose between a kiosk and a storefront with a break-even calculation instead of a gut feel.

mike

small-businessbookkeepingcost-of-goods-sold
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