Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Spring into a New Client Base It may finally be Spring. Here’s hoping, we in the Northeast, will not see any snow again for months! Spring is a great time to review your client base. We have had a few experiences recently thro...

This week’s Blog: www.illuminatebc.com/making-a-poi...

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Self-Employment Tax As April 15th approaches, all workers have taxes on their Agenda. For those of us who are self-employed, that means we are subject to a self-employment tax. Per an internet search on Google, here is ...

This week’s Blog - Business Owners are subject to a Federal Self-Employment Tax.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Driving for Dollars They are called Working Dogs. An internet search defines them as a canine specifically bred, trained, and used to perform tasks that support human activities, such as herding, guarding, hunting, detec...

This week’s Blog, Driving for Dollars.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Health Insurance for the Self-Employed We have spent some time recently understanding what limited options are available for the self-employed, the sole proprietor and professional. It has been an interesting journey, to say the least. Ye...

This week’s Blog discusses Health Insurance for the Self-Employed.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Grants It is almost Spring in the Northeastern US. It is a good time to emerge from your office and identify some Grants for your business. Below are the top Small Business Grants we have identified in a re...

Grants- Show me the money!

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Rising Above the Obstacles We recently assisted a colleague in achieving a simple goal, submitting paperwork to be paid. Why is it so challenging? If you have ever worked on a project that is funded by a government agency, you...

This week’s Blog - Rising Above Obstacles.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Big and Small - Is it Always a Choice? If you have offered your pet a treat, they will most likely take the largest one in your hand. Big equals more or so we are often taught. Small Business Owners often compete against larger organizati...

This week’s Blog - big or small, is it always a choice?

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —The Art of the Proposal Likely, you have come across the phrase ‘it’s all in the presentation’ at some point in your career. What does that really mean to you as a business owner trying to garner new clients or new projects?...

After working on several proposals recently, this week’s Blog addresses ‘The Art of the Proposal’.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —On the Lookout If you have ever trained a dog, you know that the use of silent hand signals can be very effective in training. Audible sounds are always important but there may be times that a quiet visual-only sign...

We recently had great difficulty locating a business as they had little to no signage. Don’t be that business!

www.illuminatebc.com/making-a-poi...

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Venmo Recently, we have seen an uptick in small business contractors requesting to be paid by Venmo. We had resisted until recently. With many options to pay for services, we often gravitate to the ones mo...

This week’s Blog addresses our recent experience with contractors requesting to be paid via Venmo.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Get Carded When adding a pet to your household, you always want to make sure they have tags or cards on them identifying their name and where they live. Small business owners also need to make sure they are prop...

This week’s Blog - Get Carded.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Paper Mail In today’s digital world, there still can be a place for ‘old school’ paper mail. We recently embraced this method for our book. As an Author, getting your book in front of potential readers is how y...

This week’s Blog: Using Paper Mail to sell your product or service.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —R E S P E C T Recently, we have noticed an uptick in some small business partners experiencing what may be a lack of respect for their time and work. It therefore deserves its own conversation. When making a pitch...

R E S P E CT for Small Business Owners, our weekly Blog engages this topic today.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Payment Points As we enter the New Year, there are many ways you can further define your payment approach with clients. Dogs keep trying to get food or your attention until something finally works and they achieve t...

Payment Points for the New Year.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Happy New Year Wishing all our readers a very happy 2026!

With all the wintry weather this week around us, we are taking the week off and want to wish all our readers a very happy and safe 2026!

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Small Business Big Heart Diverting a bit from our usual dog metaphors, we wanted to highlight a local small business, new to us. And without a certain type of marketing, perhaps it would have taken us longer to learn about th...

Today’s Blog shares a very positive experience we had discovering a local small business! 🧡💛💙❤️

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Speak Up & Be Heard A barking dog will always receive attention. In today’s urban landscape, responsible dog owners cannot leave an unattended dog to bark at its will. A dog that barks is always heard. Similarly, in the...

Our canine companions use their voice to be heard and get our attention. Do the same in your meetings. Speak Up & Be Heard.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Partnerships In the canine sports and work environments, partnership is the key to performance. Partners need to be a good fit. It is no different in our business world. Recently, we watched a television show tha...

Partnerships.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Happy Thanksgiving! We have taken the week off to prepare for Thanksgiving festivities with family and friends. We wish all our readers a fun and safe Holiday! 🦃 We will return next week with a new Blog. See you then...

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Is Your Product or Service a Stocking Stuffer? Hard to believe, the holiday season begins next week. It is a great time for some creative marketing. Stocking stuffers, as they are often called, include smaller gifts which physically fit in a holi...

Is your business product or service a candidate as a sticking stuffer? Read this week’s Blog for ideas.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Veteran’s Designation On today’s National Holiday, Veteran’s Day, it is a good time to review veteran-owned businesses. If at all possible, it is always the right thing to patronize a Veteran-Owned Business Enterprise. T...

Happy Veteran’s Day and thank you to all who have served.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Small Business is Never Just Black & White When working with a locally owned small business, that interaction is never just black and white. Each experience with every company often has its own attributes. Recently, when shopping a local reta...

www.illuminatebc.com/making-a-poi...

Thanks to the CHQ Chamber for featuring my Ad in a great location of their weekly email Newsletter!

Join your local Chambers, they help small businesses in many ways, and enrich your community! #fetchyourcopy #brandpartnerships

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Do you have a Slow Season? Recently, a small business owner mentioned that an Ad for my book inspired her to make her own Ad. She mentioned it is her slow season and it seemed like a good time to focus on marketing. Some firms...

This week’s Blog addresses what to do with your down Time if your business experiences a down time.

Thank you to Sheila at CHQ Chamber for creating this Ad for me in their upcoming Email Newletter.

Invest in your local Chambers, it helps your business and your community!🩵

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Going Live on Social Media Social media sites like Instagram are full of videos or reels of animals doing cute things. Sometimes, a reel we post is chosen to be featured and suddenly hundreds of views occur. It really can be a ...

This week’s Blog discusses a recent experience with Going Live on Social
Media and the local Chamber.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —‘With money, the dog dances’ A common Spanish proverb, ‘with money, the dog dances’, seems symbolic of the change in behavior we are experiencing with upfront deposit requirements on projects. Often, in the past, tradition saw ...

This week’s Blog. Read it to understand the meaning of the title.

Illuminate Business Consulting, LLC - Buffalo NY —Making a Point —Expert by Choice or Default In the dog world, there are breeds that excel in certain sports over others. Some of it is instinct, some of it is breeding, and other times it is specific training or a combination of any or all of ...

This week’s Blog - Expert by Choice or Default.