Professional Development and the Home Business Ownerby Kori Rodley Irons | More from this Blogger 20 Feb 2008 11:39 PM Perhaps you are thinking that now that you are an entrepreneur and a home business owner, your training and professional development days are through. Unless you have licensure to maintain or certain training requirements to fulfill for the industry that you work in, you might think you don't need to spend money or time on professional development. It might be a good idea for you personally and for your business, however. The great thing about professional development now that you are on your own in your business (besides the fact that it can help get you inspired and make you better at what you do) is that it may be tax deductible. Certain types of training, conferences, etc. can be considered a business expense so make sure to check with your tax accountant or financial advisor to see if you can deduct professional development expenses. In addition to the deduction, you can consider professional development to be a solid investment in your business. Besides the training, education and information you can get from classes, workshops, conferences, books, etc.-many of these also provide prime networking opportunities and the chance to market and promote your business. Professional development can make good business sense on so many levels-as well as make good sense personally. I know a few small business owners who use professional development opportunities as motivation-attending a workshop, conference, or class when they start to feel their focus drop or they need to get reinvigorated with their businesses. Conferences, in particular, can be fabulous resources for getting excited about what you do all over again-and meeting some great new people at the same time. Whatever you do for professional development, make sure to keep accurate records of what you attend, what it costs, any individuals you meet, transportation, items purchased, etc. as it will all likely need to be itemized in your business records (the individuals and networking records are for helping your grow your business!) See Also: The JOBS Blog and the EDUCATION Blog Learn more about Kori Rodley Irons  Bio has been removed by administrator Relevanthome business tags User Comments Community Tags education, improvements, professional development Discuss this article
|
Home Biz categories |
