This time of year, you might be revising your strategy. If you’re trying to call your audience to you, one of the foundational pieces of a marketing strategy is to have a positioning statement. It goes something like this:

For [target customer], our company provides [products / services / benefits], to [reason to believe]. 

Maybe you have one of these. Perhaps you’ve defined a targeted audience, or you have a why-centered statement as your reason to believe.

I’m struggling to write one of these right now. The words I can think of feel messy and co-opted by people and things I don’t want to call to me.

Is targeting a niche group going to get you cancelled on social, or even sued? Fearless Fund, a venture capital company with a grantmaking arm targeted at Black women entrepreneurs, just settled a year-long lawsuit by shutting down their philanthropic arm. The person who brought the lawsuit claimed those grants should be open to everyone and the fund was discriminatory. Hello Alice, a trusted source of small business financing, has faced a series of lawsuits in recent years for providing targeted business grants. 

I also struggle with using the phrase “purpose-driven.” McKinsey has a purpose-driven consulting unit. As the world’s foremost leader in downsizing, what does that even mean? What if your purpose is to bring down democracy? Strip me of my civil rights? It’s still a purpose-driven business. What are better words? Intention-centered? Fair? Changemaking? DEI? ESG? Not gross? These are all relative to the outlook of the person wielding them.

I can write you a playbook for how to build a business around a meaningful centering principle that drives the change you want to see in the world. What is my responsibility for how you will use it? Is that a playbook I really want to hand out indiscriminately, in exchange for your email address? 

How about one of my favorite head scratchers, “Nothing bad happens when women have more money?” Nope. I can point to lots of uses of funds by wealthy women over the last 150 years, and particularly since 2012’s Citizen United ruling. Miriam Adelson was the third largest federal donor in the last election. Let’s say I put my focus on teaching you about wealth-building tools. How can I be sure those tools aren’t going to be used to further inequality, set up griftcoins, and buy mass media outlets and elections?

The positioning statements I’ve written in the past do not work for the present. If you’re a person who believes that the playing field is not equitable but you’d like to make it more so, without exploiting people or causing irreparable environmental harm, welcoming people regardless of their gender identity or expression, what pithy, concise words and phrases do you use? 

I’m pitting my little business against someone who has $270 million in stray cash laying around to buy an unelected position in government and stand on a dais, high on ketamine, making did-he-or-didn’t-he salutes. Is my outlook messy, ill-advised, dangerous, or revolutionary? 

And I’m in the top five percent of income earners. What are the other 95% of people supposed to do?

While I lack a concise positioning statement, I know that small business owners’ top 3 reasons for starting companies are to chase a personal passion, to support a need in the community, and to improve their family’s financial security.  And that most want a better understanding of how money, taxes, and finance works so they can spend more time on customers and products. So I’m going to continue to write about topics at the intersection of those things. 

If you’ve got a pithy ten-word statement for all of that, let’s talk. Until I have the words, I’ll keep writing and helping business owners run their companies with abundance and equity.

Last call: January 31 deadlines

W-2s: This tax report of employee compensation must be filed with the IRS by January 31 and delivered to employees by February 15. If your W-2s have errors, request revised versions as soon as possible. The most common error is missing benefits like health insurance or qualified reimbursements (Box 12 with code DD), or employer retirement contributions. All of these must be reported, even if they’re not taxable.

1099s: Payments to contractors totaling $600 or more with sole proprietor, partnership, or LLC taxed as one of these, made by ACH, check, or wire transfer, must be summarized on a 1099-NEC and reported to the IRS by January 31. Congratulations on surviving that word salad. Unpack that in my updated and revised 2024 blog post with step-by-step guidance on who needs a 1099. File through your payroll or bill pay system, or use Track1099 by Avalara for $3 per 1099.

Exchange-based health insurance: open enrollment is still available in Massachusetts, California, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and DC, to start on February 1. Complete your plan selection and provide your first payment before midnight. If you missed your state’s cutoff, you can apply within 60 days of a qualifying life event. 

Sales and use tax filings: File your local sales and use taxes by January 31.

Some quick notes to build on last week’s LA County disaster relief update:

• Application deadline for FEMA relief and SBA home and business physical disaster loans: March 10, 2025

• Application deadline for SBA EIDL loans: October 8, 2025

• Updated City of Los Angeles tax deadline: April 14, 2025

• Weekly unified business resource webinars with federal, state, and local officials take place on Wednesdays at 12 PM PT

Check out January’s AMA replay here. Our next live subscriber AMA will be on Thursday, February 31. Add to your calendar via this link. Send us your AMA questions at any time via [email protected].

For me, TikTok is like 7Up: never had it, never will. But if you are following the ongoing saga, TikTok parent company proactively shut it down on Saturday, turned it back on Sunday, and is now unavailable for download from the Apple and Google stores. Follow The Current Status of the TikTok ban for the latest updates.

Are founders motivated differently based on location? Check out these fun graphics from OnDeck’s recent survey.

Having a snow day and not sure what to do without your phone? Check out these books people read in 2024 to prepare for the future. No need to leave the house - download them on your Libby app with a virtual library card. My vote is for Blockchain Chicken Farm.