There are many benefits to establishing a business as a teen, and there are really no reasons not to.

Here are 6 things to think about as a young entrepreneur to increase your chances of success.

1. Is your business idea feasible?

You want your new company to be successful when you first launch it.

However, it happens frequently for new business owners, regardless of age, to become hooked on a venture that isn't really viable. You probably won't have the knowledge or the time to create the newest technological advancement as a teenager.

Instead, to increase your chances of business success, choose a concept that you are confident you can implement—from the original development of the product or service to its marketing to your confidence that there are enough people in your area who could profit from your venture.

Related: How to Make Money Online Without Having a Business Plan

2. Who your customer is and what do they need?

Once you've decided on a concept for the good or service you want to offer, you need to identify the people who are most likely to be interested in using or purchasing it.

To respond, consider the following:

What issue is your company resolving for your client?

What preferences does your intended market have?

Where is it most probable that your target consumer will look for the good or service you're offering?

This is only a beginning point; to get a better understanding of how to appeal to your customer, you can do your own research and develop a client profile.

3. What the legal requirements are for you to run your business?

There are legal standards that must be followed by every firm producing money in the United States, regardless of your age.

One of your first considerations as a kid establishing a business should be how to obtain the licenses and documentation required to make your enterprise legitimate so that you can start selling to clients.

To find out what you need to do to lawfully establish your firm, check online or with local officials.

4. What unique value are you going to provide to your customers?

Now that you've identified your product or service and the target market for it, you need to determine why clients will choose your company over one that provides a comparable good or service.

This is your Unique Selling Point (USP). Do you have a product or service that is priced much less than those of your rivals? Do you provide a service that a customer cannot obtain elsewhere? Determine your company's USP to attract customers (and keep them).

To keep customers coming back to your business and to benefit from word-of-mouth marketing when they recommend your excellent product or service to others, give them an extra tip: overdeliver on the value you provide.

5. How are you going to market your business?

The saying "build it and they will come" is no longer as applicable in the present business world, when competition is fierce in almost every industry. This is because entrepreneurship is becoming more and more common.

Since you're presumably not flush with cash as a young person, you need to determine the best way to target them at a minimal cost using your improved understanding of your customer.

If you're developing an online business, social media is a wonderful approach to target the kind of customer you want because different social media platforms are popular with different demographics.

To target local leads, you can, however, advertise through your network of contacts if you provide a local service, print business cards and post them, and put up fliers. Similarly, websites like Craigslist can assist you in online local targeting.

6. What is your plan for the future of your business?

As a teenager, you go from high school to college or straight into the workforce, making these years some of the most transitory of your life. You'll need to give the direction you want your company to take over the following few years more thought.

Is your business a means of earning supplemental income? Or do you intend to use your business as your primary source of income after completing your education?

In either scenario, you should create a long-term plan for your company's future, including how you want to continue operating it or shut it down as you adjust to the changes that come with being a young adult.

When beginning a small business online, there is a tested process you can use to ensure your success. I've witnessed thousands of people launch and expand prosperous enterprises by carrying out the following:

1. Find a need and fill it.
2. Write copy that sells.
3. Design and build an easy-to-use website.
4. Use search engines to drive traffic to your site.
5. Establish an expert reputation for yourself.
6. Follow up with your customers and subscribers with email.
7. Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling.

Anyone interested in learning how to launch a business online, from novices to seasoned internet entrepreneurs, can profit from this approach.

Related: How to Make Money Online Without Having a Business Plan

Step 1: Start a business that fills a need.

The majority of newcomers make the error of searching for a product first and a market second.

Start with a market to increase your likelihood of success. Finding a group of people who are trying to solve a problem but are having trouble doing so is the key. This type of market research is simple because to the internet:

• Check out internet discussion boards to see what issues individuals are trying to solve and what questions they are asking.
• Find terms using keyword research that are popular yet don't face a lot of competition from other websites.
• Examine possible rivals by visiting their websites and noting what they are doing to meet the demand. Then you may apply what you've learnt to develop a product for an existing market, outperforming the competition.

Step 2: Write copy that sells.

From the minute visitors arrive until they make a purchase, there is a tried-and-true formula for sales text that does this:

1. Arouse interest with a compelling headline.
2. Describe the problem your product solves.
3. Establish your credibility as a solver of this problem.
4. Add testimonials from people who have used your product.
5. Talk about the product and how it benefits the user.
6. Make an offer.
7. Make a strong guarantee.
8. Create urgency.
9. Ask for the sale.

You should highlight the specific ways in which your product or service can help individuals or improve their lives throughout your copy. What's in it for me? question yourself in the position of a consumer.

Step 3: Design and build your website.

You're ready to start your small-business web design once you've determined your target market, your product, and your selling strategy. Always keep things straightforward. You just have a few seconds to capture someone's interest before they disappear, never to be seen again. Here are some key pointers to bear in mind:

• Choose one or two plain fonts on a white background.
• Make your navigation clear and simple, and the same on every page.
• Only use graphics, audio or video if they enhance your message.
• Include an opt-in offer so you can collect e-mail addresses.
• Make it easy to buy -- no more than two clicks between potential customer and checkout.
• Your website is your online storefront, so make it customer-friendly.

Step 4: Use search engines to drive targeted buyers to your site.

The simplest technique to get visitors to a new website is through pay-per-click marketing. Compared to waiting for organic traffic to find you, it has two benefits. PPC ads allow you to test various keywords, headlines, prices, and selling strategies. They also immediately appear on search results pages. You may find your best, highest-converting keywords by using PPC ads in addition to getting quick traffic. Then, you may sprinkle the keywords liberally throughout your website's language and code to improve your rankings in natural search results.

Step 5: Establish an expert reputation for yourself.

The internet is used by people to find information. You'll experience increased traffic and higher search engine results if you provide that information away for free to other websites. Always include a link to your website with each piece of information is the trick.

• Provide free, specialized material. Create any kind of useful material, including articles, videos, and other media. Share that content on social media platforms or online article directories.
• On your website, add "mail to a friend" links to insightful articles.
• Join social networking sites and industry forums where members of your target market are engaged.

You'll find more readers. Even better, though, is that every website that publishes your work will link back to it. Links from relevant sites are highly valued by search engines, and you will benefit in the rankings.

Step 6: Use the power of email marketing to turn visitors into buyers.

One of the most significant assets you can establish for your online business is an opt-in list. You have been granted consent to send emails to your clients and subscribers. That implies:

• You're giving them something they've asked for.
• You're developing lifetime relationships with them.
• The response is 100 percent measurable.
• Email marketing is cheaper and more effective than print, TV or radio because it's highly targeted.

A very hot lead is anyone who views your website and chooses to join your mailing list. Email is the best method for following up with leads, after all.

Step 7: Increase your income through back-end sales and upselling.

Creating a lifetime value for each consumer is one of the most crucial internet marketing tactics. If you get in touch with customers who have already made a purchase from you, at least 36% of them will do so again. The hardest and most expensive element of the process is without a doubt closing the first transaction. To persuade them to repurchase, employ upselling and back-end selling strategies:

• Promote goods that go well with their initial buy.
• Send them electronic discounts for future visits that they can use.
• On your "Thank You" page, once consumers make a purchase, provide similar products.

Customers that receive rewards for their loyalty will stick with you longer.

Related: How to Make Money Online Without Having a Business Plan

One year online is roughly equivalent to five years offline due to how quickly the internet evolves. However, the fundamentals of how to launch and expand a profitable online business remain the same. Follow this order if you're simply starting a modest online business. Whether you've been online for a while, take a moment to check your progress and determine if there is anything you are missing or never got around to accomplishing. The fundamentals are always a good choice.

We all know what it's like to mourn the loss of a friend, family member, or other close person; we wear black, go to the funeral, and honor the life they lived.

The process of dealing with someone's death, however, becomes more challenging if you are the executor or chosen representative.

You find yourself suddenly in charge of sorting through this person's life, possessions, and documentation.

Not only is it difficult to determine which papers must be retained, but it's also not always clear how long they must be kept.

While a qualified law firm may assist you in sorting through records and choosing which documents to save, the following list of items should be preserved and for how long:

HOW LONG SHOULD TAX RETURNS BE KEPT?

The tax returns are typically the main issue when handling a deceased person's legal records.

The four-year statute of limitations applies to tax audits. This permits the CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) to audit the deceased's tax returns at random for the following four years.

Despite this statute of limitations, it is advised that you keep all tax documents for at least six years in case any issues with the decedent's returns come up.

This contains any files that have been filed as well as significant tax forms and receipts.

WHAT OTHER RECORDS SHOULD BE KEPT?

Documentation for a deceased person goes beyond tax filings.

Despite the fact that keeping track of all the paperwork may seem burdensome, the following key records should be preserved in four different categories:

LEGAL RECORDS

Any document pertaining to the law, whether it be federal, provincial, or local, is considered a legal record. Records of this nature ought to be preserved indefinitely.

This implies that all legal records must be transferred from beneficiary to beneficiary.

Therefore, if you have inherited these documents, you should save them with your own important documents and provide them to your beneficiary.

These records include the death certificate for the deceased as well as the records listed below:

• Birth certificate
• Social security card
• Marriage certificate
• Divorce decrees
• Legal will
• Death certificate

Any of these documents can be needed to handle estate-related business. Particularly, you should have proof of your marriage, prenuptial agreement, and/or divorce since if you don't, estate issues might arise.

If nothing else, you might want to save these significant papers for family history or genealogy purposes.

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

The necessity of preserving the decedent's tax returns has previously been mentioned, but there are additional financial records that must be preserved as well.

These records need to be kept for at least three years after any required estate taxes have been paid.

Financial records of importance include:

• Account statements
• Receipts
• Pay stubs
• Retirement benefit and distribution statements
• Tax returns

These documents might be required during a tax return or possibly an audit, so it is essential to have them on available.

MEDICAL DOCUMENTS

It is recommended to save medical records and information for at least ten years.

However, due to privacy rules, you would need to be a designated representative or legal executor of the person's estate in order to access their medical data.

Important medical records include, for instance:

• Health insurance cards
• Medical tests
• Medical history
• Prescriptions
• Hospital discharge papers

These records will assist in determining the deceased's health coverage options and any ailments they may have had (or did not suffer from).

This knowledge is particularly beneficial because it enables family members to determine whether any of these ailments are inherited.

Additionally, you might wish to maintain track of the visits and treatments that were given by keeping paperwork of the outcomes of hospital stays.

OTHER IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

After a person dies, you could find yourself going through a collection of unrelated paperwork.

How do you decide what to save and what to discard?

Be sure to maintain the following records before discarding anything that is not legal, financial, or medical:

• Diplomas
• Home and car insurance
• Rental agreements
• Mail

If you and the deceased lived together, you can still handle their correspondence and read their mail. You might want to think about getting in touch with the sender to let them know the person has passed away.

Before you may make any changes to the deceased's postal service if you did not reside with them, you must show that you are the executor of their estate.

In addition to mail, you should aim to maintain these records for at least 10 years, especially the home and auto insurance records because they can be useful in effectively administering the estate.

Other than that, degrees are rarely legally necessary for anything but could hold sentimental value.

ORGANIZING IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

It can be difficult to sort through a deceased person's possessions, especially when there is paperwork involved.

Purchase an accordion file folder to arrange the workload and make it less stressful by dividing the paperwork by year.

Every year, check the folder to see what information no longer needs to be preserved and make sure to label everything.

Do not hesitate to get in touch with your qualified attorneys if you are managing the papers of a deceased family member, friend, or loved one.

We will take the time to help you understand the paperwork and make sure that the important papers are kept secure.

When you finish completing your 2021 federal taxes, which are due on April 18th, you can find yourself with a mountain of papers. Your initial impulse could be to collect them all in a paper bag and stow it beneath a set of stairs. Avoid doing that. Keep only the necessary records instead. And sorting things out is the first step in that.

Try to stay tidy

Financial records that are neat, complete, and well-organized speed up the tax return filing process and can help you avoid mistakes. If the Internal Revenue Service has issues about your form, keeping your paperwork organized after you've submitted it will be helpful. Avoid throwing everything into a filing cabinet or shoebox.

"The biggest blunder is not being organized about what records ought to be kept,” says Neal Stern, CPA, a member of the National CPA Financial Literacy Commission of the American Institute of CPAs. “There are people who somehow believe that they should keep all of their paperwork, but they don't think through what the important paperwork is that should be kept or how it should be kept or how it should be organized."

Both those who store excessive amounts of financial paperwork and those who don't keep any files frequently struggle to locate necessary documents. “They end up having drawers full of old papers,” Stern says. “It's not much better than not having the paperwork if you can't figure out what you have and where it is.”

What to keep

You must keep any documentation that supports the amounts you included on your individual tax return. The W-2 and 1099 forms you receive from your employers, for instance, as well as any 1099-B or 1099-INT tax paperwork from banks, brokerages, and other financial institutions, should all be kept.

Keep your 1099-G form, which details the amount you received in unemployment benefits if you lost your job last year and got them from the government. The government is allowed a tax exemption of up to $10,200 of unemployment income ($20,400 for married couples filing jointly) earned in the 2020 tax year; however, this exemption vanishes for the 2021 tax year, so you will be required to pay federal income taxes on the full amount.

Keep receipts for the following if you're itemizing your deductions: credit card and other receipts, invoices, mileage records, and canceled cheques. You'll need confirmation slips (or brokerage statements), which detail the prices you paid for the investments and the proceeds you received when you sold them, if you've acquired or sold mutual fund shares, stocks, or other assets. After you sell all of your investments, keep a copy of them for at least three more years.

Similar to this, you'll need records to show what you paid and how much money you made from selling your house. Additionally, if you've sold a rental property, you'll need to keep thorough records of the sums you spent over time on the property as well as the amount you deducted for depreciation. Schedule E, the document you complete annually to report rental revenue, should be kept for as long as you hold the property.

How long to keep it

It's possible that you've heard that seven years is the ideal time to keep tax data, including returns. According to Steven Packer, CPA, of Duane Morris' Tax Accounting Group, the actual timing of keeping records isn't that straightforward.

"In most cases, tax records don't have to be kept for seven years because there's a three-year statute of limitations,” Packer explains. “So assuming there's no fraud or nothing else wrong, the IRS cannot look at your tax returns beyond that three-year statute.”

You must maintain your tax returns and documents for a period longer than three years if your tax return falls under any of the significant exceptions to the statute of limitations. The statue of limitations, for instance, is six years if you grossly understated your income. The percentage of your gross revenue that constitutes a major underestimate is 25%. If you report a gross income of $50,000 but your actual income was $100,000, you have greatly overstated your income.

If you have materially exaggerated the cost of property to reduce your taxable gain, the six-year rule still applies to you. The IRS has six years to initiate legal action against you if, for example, you sold a piece of property for $150,000 and stated that you paid $125,000 rather than the actual $50,000. Additionally, the statute of limitations is six years if you failed to report revenue from an offshore account that totaled more than $5,000.

If you submit a claim for a loss from worthless securities or bad-debt deduction, keep documents for seven years. There is no time restriction on when the IRS can press charges against you if you failed to file a return or if you filed a fraudulent return.

Property records can be forever

You must pay capital gains tax on the profit you make when you sell a property for a profit. You frequently need to keep your records for as long as you own your investment in order to calculate your capital gain. To determine the cost basis for the property, which is the actual cost adjusted upward or downward by other considerations, such as significant changes to the structure, you will require those records.

Due to the fact that the majority of people can avoid paying capital gains tax on their primary dwelling, determining the cost basis of property you live in is rather straightforward. If you sell your primary house, you can deduct up to $250,000 in gains from taxes when filing an individual return, and up to $500,000 if you file jointly. To be eligible for the exclusion, you had to reside in your residence for at least two of the previous five years. Even so, you must keep your transactional records for at least three years after selling the house.

If your sale doesn't fit the aforementioned requirements, you must maintain track of significant upgrades for at least three years following the sale. What improvements you can add to your cost basis to lower your capital gains tax is detailed in IRS Publication 523, "Selling Your Home." In the case of rental property, the same is true.

Although they only have to do so for stock transactions since 2011 and mutual fund transactions since 2012, the majority of brokerages will calculate your cost basis for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. However, it's a good idea to maintain all of your transaction records in case your broker changes. Your broker is not required to keep your records on file forever. Keep track of any inherited property's value at the time of the owner's passing as this will serve as your tax basis.

If it gives you peace of mind and you can handle the clutter, there is nothing wrong with keeping your records longer than what is required by law. You might think about renting out some distant computer storage space in the cloud to store some of your documents.

The documents should be converted to electronic files and kept in the cloud, even if many people still preserve paper records. Having two sets is a good idea in case one is damaged. Finally, keep in mind that your state may have different regulations on record-keeping; consult your accountant or the state tax office.