I drove to Bloss today, met with a client, and I also talked to someone who's been a client in the past and would like to be again, about a cake or two for Jill's baby shower, which I stupidly scheduled for the same day as the St. Patrick's Day parade! Argh!

Then I went to the office and Jill & I strategized about several of our projects, and then went to A's house, since even tho we are no longer involved, my doggie still lives there and I wanted to pick her up. I hung out with his bratty little brother and showed him how to properly hook his laptop to his tv without frying anything. Then Nisha and I went to Uncle Dudley's. Uncle Dudley, her bf Bernie and I went to the American Legion Post 572, a fav drinking hangout, which happens to have been my great-great grandfather's home. My great-great grandfather, William B. Wilson, was the first U.S. Secretary of Labor, and one of the very few (only?) Democrats elected to the House of Representatives in what is currently PA-5, a completely red area save the blue-ish dot of State College. Several years ago I wrote a biography about him for our website (even wikipedia references it ) and that got him re-noticed by the Dep't of Labor and we all went to DC one day to celebrate his induction into the Labor Hall of Fame where we met Elaine Chao, GWBush's sec'y of labor, and Roy Blunt, ew-Missouri, and the Anheiser-Busch heir Adolphus Busch IV or something because his granddad was being inducted into the labor hall of fame, too.

But in addition to being a total overachieving immigrant with only two years of formal education, GGGdad William B. Wilson was a teetotaler. And I drink in his living room. Life is good.


(Most of the time I really appreciate the google-friendliness of estrip, but I know tomorrow when I get a google alert about this post, I'm going to regret it.)

I've been volunteering with Westminster Economic Development Initiative since last summer helping low-income people start up small businesses on the West Side . It's really neat work that helps people become financially independent and create wealth-building assets, as well as stabilizes the neighborhood by occupying previously empty storefronts and creating economic activity where there wasn't any before.

In collaboration with MicroBiz Buffalo, Councilmember Rivera's office, Grant-Ferry Association, and other West Side groups, WEDI is working on a bazaar, a kind of retail incubator. We're providing one-on-one mentoring and workshops to help wanna-be entrepreneurs do it right from the start. This includes a creating business plan and cash-flow projection, getting a sales tax certificate of authority, health dept licenses, other permits & licenses that the biz might need, working on customs/import issues, etc. The location is still up in the air, but is starting to get settled. We plan on opening in June. We hope to have about 20 vendors at opening - we're currently working with about 33 vendors but when June comes, 20 ready vendors would be great. Vendors are eligible for Individual Development Accounts through MicroBiz Buffalo & the Belmont Shelter - they put in $500 from earned income and get $2000 back after six months and use it for start up costs for their new business. (About IDAs ).

Vendors have a wide variety of backgrounds - refugees & immigrants from Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda, Sudan, Burma, Arabic-speaking and Latin American countries; African Americans, Latinos and whites. They're interested in starting businesses with a wide range of products: food, electronics, imported crafts, locally produced crafts, books, gift items, other stuff.

This photo is of one bazaar vendor who will be selling baskets made in refugee camps in Darfur. How freakin' cool to help someone set up a business that not only helps her but also helps alleviate some of the most awful conditions in the world.



I'm posting this to ask if any of you would be interested in mentoring. Mentors don't have to actually know the business stuff in advance, they can learn business how-tos along with the vendor-to-be. Mentors are supportive and helpful and know how to ask questions/get answers - kind of like a link to the mainstream. I'm particularly asking (e:jason) & (e:joshua) to consider this - it's helping people become capitalists, right? ;-)

For more information, comment here or message me and I'll connect you & my colleague Bonnie Smith, economic development director at WEDI. Bonnie's the keeper of the mentors and has all the info you'd need to start as an effective mentor.

I gave a presentation on recordkeeping to the vendors & mentors last week that included the basics of sales tax, the point-of-sale process, banking process, and the concepts of a profit & loss statement and a balance sheet. I'm not going to directly mentor any of the vendors, but I'm available as a resource on many of the aspects of the business start up process.

To support the West Side Bazaar, WEDI is holding a fund raising event tonight at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 724 Delaware Ave., $15 per person. Doors open at 6:30, music by the Sugar & Jazz Orchestra starts at 7. Hors d'oeuvres, cash bar, silent auction, raffle. Some of the bazaar vendors will be set up to sell things.

(e:mike)! glitter glue $1 a bottle @ joann fabrics!

Someone (e:messaged) me about my comment to (e:metalpeter,50910) - since I'm not sure who, I'll just make a new post.

1. Don't go to H&R Block or Jackson Hewitt or Liberty Tax. If your return is actually complicated, you should have a real accountant (enrolled agent, CPA, lawyer). If it's as simple as most people's returns (W-2 income, maybe 1099s, a mortgage, child care, student loans) then you should be doing it yourself using one of the excellent online filing applications.

2. Absolutely do not get an "instant refund" or "refund anticipation loans." They are predatory loans with fees and interest representing an annual percentage rate of 50-500%.

You now not only paying H&R Block an obscene amount of money to do a few simple data entry tasks, now you're paying them an even more obscene amount of money to give you your own money! You lent the government your money interest-free during the year when your employer collected payroll taxes from you. Your refund is YOUR money! You deserve ALL of it!

Instead, file and wait the 8 or so days that it'll take for the IRS to deposit your refund into your checking or savings account.

In general, the effective annual percentage rate (APR) for a RAL can range from about 50% (for a $10,000 RAL) to nearly 500% (for a $300 RAL). If a $40 add-on fee is charged and included in the calculation, the effective APRs range from about 85% to nearly 1,300%. An average RAL of $3,300 carries an APR of 72%.

National Consumer Law Center (PDF)

(More refs: Kiplinger Tax Girl and an excellent report by the Community Reinvestment Association of North Carolina (PDF) )

3. FREE FILE!

New York state free file options: I've used Taxslayer and I-Can EFile

(not free NY options: )

The IRS will also help you find a company to free file or efile with. I've used TaxAct (one of the paid versions) for about eight years. Pennsylvania's direct efile site is pretty easy, and free!

Free Tax Help Available Nationwide

R-2010-15, Jan. 29, 2010

WASHINGTON - Nearly 12,000 free tax preparation sites will be open nationwide this year as the Internal Revenue Service continues to expand its partnerships with nonprofit and community organizations performing vital tax preparation services for low-income and elderly taxpayers.

The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Program offers free tax help to people who earn less than $49,000. The Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) Program offers free tax help to taxpayers who are 60 and older.

I'm happy to rant about this if you'd like me to continue :-) Everyone should have a basic understanding of what their paystubs say, how payroll taxes work, W-4s and their annual income taxes. This should not be a big mystery or intimidating.

If you don't have a bank account to direct deposit your refund into, you should (unless you're trying to stay off grid, of course). This helps you build credit history and legitimacy. There are several good area banks that help contribute to a healthy local economy by keeping investment here, including First Niagara, Northwest, Lake Shore, and Five Star. (Thanks to (e:dcoffee) for this link) Another option is the Buffalo Coop Credit Union if you're a member of one of the participating coops, such as the Lexington Coop.

Hope this helps!

I bought myself a printer a few weeks ago (thanks (e:enknot) & (e:terry) for bringing it upstairs and starting the setup!). I finally got it set up today - the book instructions were pretty bad and I had to resort to the extra network setup manual on the CD. I managed to destroy my wireless network in the process and had to reset that, too! I was feeling pretty technically incompetent.

But it works now! I've got it set up on my laptop and desktop.

WIRELESSLY!

Brother HL-3070cw color wireless printer. It uses LED technology, not laser.



I don't know if my Asus EEEpc with its odd linux distro will ever connect to it, but I might try.

I'm in town a lot over the next few weeks - let's do stuff! Classes don't start until 2/4.

Don't forget Mardi Gras 2/16 @ Nietzsche's. (artvoice: ) I had a blast last year. I made it a meetup for the Buffalo Queer Women group, but I want to invite all the (e:peeps), too! Lagniappe's is planning an alligator roast, according to Chris' facebook page.