The U.S. Congress certainly kept things interesting during the holiday season. They wiggled our toes over the fiscal cliff then pulled us back to terra firma just as our New Year’s Eve champagne bottles ran dry.
Cautiously optimistic, we now pass through the portal of a new year. 2013: The year we come to terms with ObamaCare. The year (we hope) our economy finally, fully recovers. And the year that will take us even farther away from the traditional employment model of our ancestors.
Having avoided the aforementioned fiscal cliff, many if not most of us are forecasting revenue growth. But there’s one thing missing from our ’13 business plan … a bigger budget. Once again, it’s about doing more with less. So, we’ll need those contractors that helped us get through the darkest part of the recession to come back for an encore performance. But instead of treading water, this time they’ll be helping us make rain … if they’ll take our calls.
You see, some of us haven’t exactly been model clients. We’ve been late with payments, vague in our expectations, and rarely offered feedback. Any of which, by the way, are great candidates for your new year’s resolutions. The trick is to fit these management tasks onto our already full plates. It’s probably time to get serious about a process for managing our contractors, freelancers, consultants, etc.
As we stare down our 2013 opportunities, let’s not forget about the governmental challenges we’ll be facing. Namely, you’ve got to get your head around the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. ObamaCare isn’t going away, so if you’ve got more than 50 full-time employees in your company get educated and get ready.
Finally, as you cheer for your favorite sports teams, remember the teamwork that’s occurring between state labor departments and the IRS. They’re sharing data on companies that are known to be misclassifying employees as independent contractors. The number of audits conducted and resultant fines has been climbing steadily since 2010. The risk for those who are non-compliant has never been greater.
Fortunately, all of these challenges can be overcome with the right game plan and the right partners. Here’s wishing you a healthy and prosperous new year. Make it your best one ever!
PayReel’s clients, who are some of the biggest companies in the world, are constantly immersed in the chaos of producing multimedia content or executing live events. PayReel makes sure they have the right contractors at the right time in the right place, and that everyone gets paid properly. And, most importantly, they handle every last detail perfectly while making sure their clients think nothing of it. Relax. We got it.